~~Damien~~
Damien looked over at Amanda, and she smiled at him before offering a small wave. She seemed like a kind little creature, dark skin and long black hair. Damien did not care for her sire, Gloria Jenning, who had a far larger mouth for gossip than any Mekhet should have, but Amanda seemed alright. Perhaps a little ditzy, but then, after being around Fiona, ditzy didn't seem to bother him so much anymore. Ditzy people had the amazing ability to be happy and enjoy themselves. For people like him, Jack, and others that fit into the stereotypical vampire definition, they did not.
Case in point, Jack was standing outside a forbidden window, the two Mekhet behind him keeping him and them hidden in their cloak of night. His hand was on the window ledge, and his eyes were locked onto the two women within. His mother, and his sister.
While Amanda stood back some ten feet, Damien eventually walked forward, and stood by Jack's side, maybe a single foot back to stay out of the boy's peripheral vision. It'd be disrespectful, to interrupt what was clearly an important moment to him, but at the same time, it was important to Damien to stop him from letting this blatant ghost of his past devour him.
"They look... content," Damien said.
"Time heals all wounds, right?"
The boy didn't believe that. It was obvious in the bitter growl in his voice. But even if Jack didn't believe it, it was plain to see the two women sitting on the couch together wereβoh, maybe not. The two women were looking at a picture album, and their looks of contentment faded as they turned the page. Only now did Damien notice they had tears all along, and their previous looks of contentment were from the memories the boy's family was walking through.
"Why are you watching this, Jack?"
"Glutton for punishment." He nodded his head back toward Amanda, before returning to his self torture. "Amanda's helped me out a few times, spying on them."
It must have been frustrating, to have to rely on others in such a circumstance. All Kindred could learn the cloak of night, though the Mekhet and Nosferatu knew it naturally and instinctively. A young Ventrue had no chance of using it, not to the extent that would allow the boy to spy on his family through their living room window. In Jack's case, it was probably for the best, lest this masochism destroy him.
"But whyβ"
"Your family still alive, Damien?"
"I... don't know. Lucas and his church became my family, and I didn't look back, even after the purge."
Jack nodded to his family, sitting on the couch in the living room. TV off, the two women had a blanket wrapped around the two of them, shoulder to shoulder.
"When Dad died, things were pretty rough for us. Mom never got over it. And Mary, she did all the things a more social person probably would. Drinking, sleeping around β way too young β and probably trying a lot of drugs. And I... became a cold, distant, critical asshole."
This was unexpected. Damien didn't know what to say to people most of the time, let alone during an emotionally heavy conversation; unless it were matters of the Lord and the Lancea et Sanctum. But then, maybe the boy didn't want a conversation, he just wanted someone to listen to him. Antoinette could listen, but perhaps the nature of their relationship made such a conversation difficult, or impossible. Julias? Maybe, but while sire and childe shared a connection, it was also a barrier, not dissimilar to parent and child.
So he said nothing, and waited.
"I never emotionally connected with Mom or Mary, not really. I was comfortable with them, though, and I did miss them a little when I moved out. Now? It's been slowly dawning on me, how much I fucked up, and missed out on something so damn important."
Damien raised a brow, and glanced Jack's way, before he focused his gaze on the two women. They wiped their tears, and flipped to another page in the album.
"I guess, with all the shit that's been coming my way lately, it's nice to remind myself I used to be a... a human being. A normal human being, who didn't spend his days figuring out how to kill people, and help monsters." The boy set his forehead to the glass, and sighed. A Kindred wouldn't leave any marks behind, no skin oil or particles, and the boy took advantage, weight dragging his head down an inch along the glass. "And reminding myself of my past only makes me feel like shit, because I wasted it."
It was clear there was more going on, and Jack was struggling to explain it. Something about Angela, and the rescue mission, had put the boy in a weird, analytical, depressed mood. Something was caught in his soul, and was struggling to make itself known. What that was, Damien couldn't guess. Jack had asked him for information about Viktor not long ago, was worrying about becoming Viktor, and it struck Damien as likely that Viktor was emotionally distant from his own family, as well.
The boy was struggling to reconcile his past and present. It was a unique thing, and Damien couldn't begin to understand the nuances of it. But, there was something the boy could do.
"... you can change that."
"What?" Jack lifted his head, and blinked at him.
"You can turn both of them into ghouls, or embrace them. Either way gives them endless life. The Prince has opened siring, hasn't she? Get permission from her, and bring your family into your new life."
Glass shattered, plain on Jack's face, and the boy turned back to look at his family with new eyes, wide eyes. Had he never considered that before? Evidently not.
"You think... she'd give me permission?"
"You've done a lot of things for the city, and have earned respect, and gratitude." Damien looked down, and then at his hand. Touch the kid's shoulder? No, no, too far. Leave such emotional contact for Antoinette or Julias. "I'm sure she'd give it."
"I... I don't think... I could handle seeing them as ghouls. Ghouls are so infatuated with vitae, and brainwashed to love their owner."
"What about Antoinette's ghouls. Do you take issue with how they think of Antoinette?"
"That's different. They weren't family to her."
Nodding, Damien looked back over at Amanda. The Mekhet had already stepped out of listening range; must have picked up on the social queues.
"Then you could embrace them."