The Valentine Legacy: 3.1
Welcome back to the Valentine Legacy! When we last left off, the vampire coven and the wolf pack, led by Lord Valentine, were planning to launch a full scale attack to end the legacy family- forever. Will they succeed? Or, despite their best efforts, will they fail? Let's find out...
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Time rolled on for the Valentines. Esmeralda, youngest of the first set of twins, had been officially declared by Artemis as heir. However, instead of shooing the spares out of the house, Artemis was allowing them house space until they decided to go to college or aged into adults. Esmeralda, as heir, was therefore constantly hard at work for her job. Esperanza, on the other hand, being quite into Fitness, spent the vast majority of her time working out. She found she could build muscle quite easily, and lost weight quickly as well. She was trying to search for the right college, though Sim State had offered her a very high athletic scholarship.
Lancelot and Celeste had gone two different directions with their hobbies. Though Celeste was a Fortune sim, she was really obsessed with helping to save the environment, as a Nature enthusiast. Once she built up enough funds, she vowed to plant a garden at the legacy home beyond their flowers that were rarely taken care of anymore. She had become leader of the high school's conservation club, which usually kept her quite occupied with her studies. Lancelot, on the other hand, though he did enjoy keeping himself in shape, also found that he loved anything to do with the arts, especially literature and the performing arts. As a future media magnate, he really needed to know how to perform in all media venues. He was on the school newspaper staff, and had recently landed the part of the Beast in their school's production of Beauty and the Beast. However, in order to do that, he needed to have a portrait of himself in costume painted, which was the project he was currently working on with the aid of his grandfather.
"Watch your shading there." Raphael advised as his grandson worked. "Keep it consitent with the lighting in the rest of the portrait. The scene it's being used in is ominous enough. The picture doesn't have to be."
However, Raphael soon was pulled away from his grandson as he felt a tugging on his heart that could only mean a certain skeletal visitor was soon to grace the family once more. With all his children and grandchildren around him bursting into tears, Raphael knew, before the reaper even beckoned him, that his time had come.
"Calm down." Raphael soothed hs distraught descendants. "I've lived a good, long life. And besides, this way... I can see my dear Natasha again."
However, as he followed behind the reaper, Raphael saw another smiling face waiting for him beside Natasha's. One that he had never himself seen while he was alive, but one he recognized on sight.
"Mother?" he asked.
And with that, the Valentine legacy founder, Raphael Gainsborough, faded into the afterlife. At 90 days old, the beloved founder and father would be missed by all of his relatives.
Artemis looked on in shock as his father passed away. He had never expected both of them to die so soon, and was now forced to come to grips with the idea that it truly was his legacy now. He knew both he and Brandi were starting to get on in years, and it wouldn't be long until Esmeralda would be ready to either attend college or grow up and have children of her own.
Vincent watched the elder pass on with a placid expression on his face. Now, more than ever, he was motivated to find the secret to immortality. He had devoted his teen years to studying in solace everything he could, searching for some way, any way, to achieve the ever elusive immortality. In his studies, and the trips to the book store they required, he had met a companion who promised him the secret of immortality. All he had to do was call upon him. Now, the choice couldn't have been any clearer in his mind.
I have to know the secret to never ending life! I don't care what depths I must sink to, I need to know!
Lancelot would have liked a longer period of mourning, but rehearsal schedules paused for the death of no man, so he soon found himself over at his co-star's house for help learning his lines. Her name was Kara, and he had known there was something... different about her, before he had even heard her sing.
"Hey, thanks for the help." he said graciously. "It's just been tough, with Gramps dying and all..."
"i understand." Kara responded quietly. She was so naturally Shy, it was almost hard to believe she did stage work at all. "And I offer my condolences. From what I've heard of him, he was a great family man. Now... let's get to work, shall we?"
Regina made her presence known by slamming the door as she came in from her job in the Medical career track, exhausted from a day's work at the hospital. However, her grumbles were swiftly silenced as she heard two voices echoing from the hall.
"Well, if you hadn't frightened me, I wouldn't have run away!" Kara was shouting indignantly.
Regina peered around the corner to find Lancelot looking away frustratedly.
"Well you shouldn't have been in the West Wing!" he fired back after a moment's pause.
"Well you should learn to control your temper!"
Regina shrugged. It wasn't her problem. And then she turned on the TV.
"By the way... thank you... for saving my life." Kara added hesitantly after a tense pause.
There was an awkward moment, and then Kara murmured, "Well, I just completely fucked that up."
Both teens proceeded to burst out laughing. The moment was completely history once they broke character.
"I thought you were wonderful." Lancelot complimented. "We really had something going there. A connection."
Kara rolled her eyes. "Yeah. But I skipped, like, three of my lines, and stepped all over yours."
Lancelot sighed, laughter still in his eyes. "Why don't we move on to another scene? I still keep screwing up on our timing on the dance for 'Beauty and the Beast', and that damn well better be perfect, or else we ruin the most tender moment of the whole show."
"You're screwing up the timing?" Kara asked incredulously. "It's me that's got the two left feet!"
And so, while Kara played the music from her CD player in her room, the pair practiced their waltz, all the entrances and exits.
The pair remained entwined long after the song ended.
"The music's stopped." Lancelot noted.
"Then... why haven't we stopped?" Kara wondered.
"We... have... stopped..."
Lancelot, his heart pounding fiercely, pulled his love even closer to him. This was something he wanted more than anything else, and if he screwed this up, it was all over. So, trembling within, he gently pressed his lips against hers. Neither teen reacted for a moment, so then Lancelot deepened the kiss.
As they parted, it couldn't have been clearer to them that they had, for the first time in their lives, fallen in love.
"Well..." Kara began awkwardly as the moment ended, blushing red as a cherry, "we did need to rehearse the kissing scene in the finale..."
However, just as the sweet moment was binding, Lancelot felt a razor sharp pain in his head.
Celeste... Celeste is in trouble!
"What's wrong?" Kara asked, having noticed the change in Lancelot's demeanor.
"Listen. I'm sorry, but I really, really have to go. Now. Something's... something's not right with my twin. I feel like she's in trouble, and I need to see what's happening." Lancelot whispered urgently.
Kara nodded. "I understand. Remember, you know I'm a simself, so time has passed differently for us. It's dark over there. Be careful. Go. Do what you need to do."
Lancelot nodded, and with that, the two lovers parted company for the day. However, he was ill prepared for the macabre spectacle that awaited him when he returned to his home...
As soon as he threw open the door to his house, Lancelot could tell something was horribly wrong. The first, and most obvious indicator of that was that his mother was lying in a puddle of blood (her own?) on the floor.
"Mom!" Lancelot shouted, running to her side.
"Lancelot! Don't! Go back over there, get out of here! You have to run! The wolves... your brother-! They're-!" Brandi warned, gasping for breath.
"Mom?" Lancelot asked as his mother collapsed. "Mom! What wolves? What are they trying to do? Mom!"
But it was too late. Brandi Valentine was dead from the wounds the vampires inflicted on her.
Lancelot ran rapidly through the house, searching for his twin sister. In his search, he found Esperanza in the shared teens room, clearly dead from blunt force trauma to the head. The wolves must have slammed her head onto the metal bedposts many times. He ran for the legacy memorial room, and there found Natasha and Raphael's urns completely smashed, with both paintings of founder and heir on the wall slashed to bits. However, the sight that drew his eyes the most was the lifeless body of his twin sister, Celeste, who bore clear signs of having tried to fight the wolves off. Here, he felt a sense of loss overwhelm him. Celeste had been his other half. They may not have always gotten along, but he missed her so much...
As he made his way out of the legacy memorial room, he heard a voice weakly calling his name. He followed it, and found his father lying on the floor of the white bedroom, bleeding profusely.
"Dad! Wha- what happened here?" Lancelot asked, shocked beyond belief.
Artemis could barely muster the strength to look up at his youngest child. "Vincent... somehow made contact with Lord Valentine... He brought the vampires and werewolves upon us... He... stood by as they ripped your mother apart. I tried to fight them, and they left me for dead in here..."
"What about Esmeralda?" Lancelot asked frantically. If the heir had died as well-!
"I... don't... know..." Artemis answered, his strength finally failing him.
"Dad. Dad! Dad, please! Don't die on me! Get up! Get up!" Lancelot shouted as his father's body collapsed.
Silence was his only reply. Artemis Valentine, last of the legacy to carry the full genetic appearance of a child of Vincent and Aerith, had left this world. However, Lancelot had no time for mourning. The pack must have stayed behind, for he soon heard ominous growling behind him.
He had no choice but to run. But what chance did Lancelot possibly have of outrunning an entire pack of werewolves? He tried, but there was no way for it to be done. They were upon him in minutes, slashing and biting every inch of him that they could reach. They left him for dead, but he was able to summon the strength to run across the street before he finally surrendered to unconsciousness.
And behind him, the legacy house burst into flames.
The whole of the simself house was awakened by Kara crying hysterically at the sight of Lancelot's lifeless body outside. Every simself there ran outside to see what on earth was happening after making themselves decent, and saw in an instant exactly, in Regina's words, 'what the hell was going on out there'.
"You have to help him..." Kara sobbed. "Please! He's the last one left! If he dies, the legacy dies with him!"
"Kara, he's not looking too lively. We may have powers beyond ordinary sims, but Boolprop, we can't stop death!" Regina stated curtly.
"I don't care! You have to try!" Kara shot back.
"Kara... Shannon began gently, "he really isn't looking so good. Besides, even if he does survive, he'll be-"
"We'll try." Savanna cut her off. "I'm not making any promises, but we'll try."
And with that, they began casting the spell to keep Lancelot alive. As she chanted, Regina found herself getting lost in the magic, which was good. She needed complete focus if she was to keep the spell going. Savanna, as an Infallibly Good Witch, was the only one qualified to really cast the spell required, thus she needed to concentrate. A single malicious thought from any one of them could break the spell and ruin everything.
Savanna's mind could wander as she cast the spell, but the one thought she could keep coming back to was Please, please, please, for the love of all that is good and holy, please let this work!
Shannon was the only of the witches to allow herself to use a modicum of evil, and thus it was hardest for her to keep the spell going. However, she had mastered being a Gray Witch, so she was able to contain the powerful magic that would have been anathema to an Evil Witch, remaining strong and powerful where others with evil would have been consumed.
With a final burst of magical sparks, the spell was complete. All that was left to do was sit and wait. However, as the sparks descended, all the simselves present saw Lancelot stirring. He had not regained consciousness, but at least he was moving, breathing. With that, they carried him into the house, and laid him on the bed in Kara's room, as she could sleep on the couch, if need be.
A full sim week passed before Lancelot finally regained consciousness. His memories seemed intact, which was a very good thing. But now, the simselves needed to hold a meeting with him, and Kara told him as such. So, he followed her down the hallway to the living room, where everyone was gathered.
"So, what's this all about?" Lancelot asked. "This meeting?"
"Lancelot," Shannon began, smiling, hoping the smile might soften the blow of the news she was about to deliver, "You remember that all the rest of your family has now either died or disappeared, correct?"
"Of course I remember." Lancelot answered, a lump creeping into his throat. "How could I forget?"
"Well, with the rest of your family dead, Lancelot, that makes you the heir." Savanna answered simply. "You're the last one left, Lance, so you're automatically the heir."
"And..." Kara began hesitantly, "I'm afraid that will... interfere with our relationship a bit."
"How so?" Lancelot challenged, starting to feel a bit angry.
"Well, dear," Shannon stated soothingly, "legacy heirs are only allowed to marry townies. Playables and simselves are strictly forbidden."
"Which means that, after this day, we can never see each other again." Kara finished resignedly. Seeing Lancelot's stricken expression, she sighed. "I'm afraid it gets worse... Regina... tell him..."
"Tell me what?" Lancelot asked nervously, now thoroughly disturbed.
"Well, kid," Regina stated, "we managed to save your life. But you were still mauled by a wolf pack. Some of those wounds were bite wounds. We may have healed the scars and everything, but there's nothing we can do about the infection. You were already an eighth blood werewolf, given your genetics, but Lance, we couldn't do anything else to help. So, like it or not, you're a full werewolf now."
Lancelot's expression turned towards fear as the full realization of his condition struck him. He, just like his ancestor, had become a werewolf. And now, he would have to try his damndest to keep the tragedy from occuring again.
When Lancelot had returned to normal from the first transformation he had been conscious for, it was still dark outside. So, he headed for Kara's room, and made a suggestion that she quickly took him up on. You see, both teens were of the opinion that if every night beyond this one would be denied them, they'd best make this night one to remember.
As the two cuddled together, Lancelot whispered in his love's ear, "Je vous aime, mon ange de la musique."
Kara giggled. She didn't know French half as well as she knew Spanish, but she could definitely translate that phrase. So, she ansered back in Spanish. "Te amo, Lancelot. Te amo mas que todos."
They laughed, and then set to make their final night together the most beautiful night in either of their memories.
Kiss me too fiercely
Hold me too tight
I need help believing
You're with me tonight
My wildest dreamings
Could not foresee
Lying beside you
With you wanting me...
And just for this moment
As long as you're mine
I've lost all resistance
And crossed some borderline
And if it turns out
It's over too fast...
I'll make every last moment last...
As long as you're mine...
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And that's all for now. When we next join Lancelot, he will be an adult in a new neighborhood, ready to carry on the family line, but never forgetting what has transpired here.