Lullaby Part Two
Title: Lullaby
Characters: Rachel, Jaeris
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Descriptions of violence, racial slurs
Summary: Jaeris tells Rachel a bedtime story
Notes: Rachel created by achika_chan. Used by permission. This story takes place after “ Orientation.” There are one or two racial slurs used in a historical context. I do not condone the language, but there was no other way to write it accurately.
“Keep moving, boys!”
“We’ll push into the north even if it kills us!”
“Chin up, men! You’ve made it this far!”
Jaeris did his best to keep a brave face. Three years. He had been fighting for three years and had somehow managed to survive. He had risen through the ranks fairly quickly and had obtained the rank of captain. He had received a letter from his father saying that he was doing well and his family was proud of him. But that didn’t matter now.
He had seen too much. A dozen battles, numerous medals, and thousands of losses later and Jaeris only wanted to go home and forget what he had witnessed. The boys he’d seen die. The ones he’d killed.
Eventually, General Lee called a halt and they made camp. Nothing elaborate, just a few tents and fires. A few of the men suggested raiding a nearby town, but the general did not permit it. They would not hurt innocents in their march north.
Jaeris sat toward the back of the group of officers with another young captain called Harris. Harris had joined the army a year before, but he was already almost as haunted as Jaeris.
“Do you know where we’re going?” Harris asked bitterly.
“Not a clue,” Jaeris sighed. “North, I guess.”
“Are we trying to take the Union?”
“Dunno.”
“Thought we were just fighting to be left alone.”
“I dunno what we’re fighting for now. ‘Cept that quitting would be embarrassing.”
“We’ll still win, though,” Harris said. “Won’t we?”
Jaeris stared at the fire and didn’t answer.
*
“They tried to keep our spirits up,” Jaeris muttered. “And for the younger ones, it worked. but for me…for anyone who’d seen it…it was too late.”
“Where were you going?” Rachel asked as she pulled her vest off.
“We were supposed to go somewhere important. Somewhere strategic, where we could restock and weaken the Union.”
“But instead…”
“We found a little town called Gettysburg.”
*
Jaeris had never heard of Gettysburg before, but it was where the armies met and the battle broke out.
The first day was bloody.
The second day was worse.
And on the morning of the third day, Jaeris was hit by a stray bullet and remembered nothing else.
But even one hundred and fifty years later, he could still see and smell and hear the battle.
He could still see Harris fall and die instantly.
He could still hear General Pickett ordering them up the hill in spite of the heavy artillery fire.
He could still smell the blood…
Oh, God, the blood. Was it any wonder the vampires come out that night?
All Jaeris remembered after the pain of the bullet was waking up on a hard cot in a small room lit only by a single candle, feeling much more energized but strangely empty.
“Hello?” he called out.
“Oh, you’re awake,” came a very familiar voice.
Jaeris sat up. “Sierra?”
“Master Jaeris?”
At least it wasn’t a Union officer. “What happened?” Jaeris asked.
“You were dying. I found you…but you’ll live. You’ll live for a very long time.”
Something in Sierra’s voice made Jaeris’s heart clench with fear. “What have you done to me?” he demanded.
Sierra lit a match, illuminating his face as he smiled, revealing fangs.
“I turned you,” he answered. “And now, I am the master.”
*
“That was the end of it,” Jaeris said as he and Rachel climbed into bed. “I couldn’t go home again. I was a monster…and bound to a former slave. I guess I was just reported dead or missing to my parents. Never bothered to check.”
“So what did you do?” Rachel asked.
Jaeris shrugged. “Wandered with Sierra for about a century…he was killed by a Hunter in 1957. Learned about vampires…and a lot of other things. Changed my world views. I never went to war again. Couldn’t take any more of it. After Sierra was killed, I just kept my head down and stayed in the city where I met you. Refused to join the High Council’s army…I’ve seen enough already. I saw boys die back then, boys younger than me…I saw men kill their families, and for what? I’ve spent the last hundred years wondering what it was all for…I’ve never gotten an answer.”
Rachel looked at him sadly. “I can’t answer,” she said. “I’ve never seen it.”
Jaeris began to cry tears of blood. Rachel hesitated, then moved to him and took him in her arms. He laid his head on her breasts and cried, releasing a hundred years of emotion.
Rachel stroked his hair gently, wondering what she was supposed to do. She had comforted children at the Academy, but not like this. Jaeris was a grown man, his troubles far greater than anything the little ones could know, far greater than anything Rachel could imagine.
She looked at the blond hair falling on her stomach and the blood staining her breast and finally did the only thing she knew how to do. She began to sing a lullaby.
“Sleep my child and
Peace attend thee,
All through the night.
Guardian angels
God will send thee,
All through the night…”
Characters: Rachel, Jaeris
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Descriptions of violence, racial slurs
Summary: Jaeris tells Rachel a bedtime story
Notes: Rachel created by achika_chan. Used by permission. This story takes place after “ Orientation.” There are one or two racial slurs used in a historical context. I do not condone the language, but there was no other way to write it accurately.
“Keep moving, boys!”
“We’ll push into the north even if it kills us!”
“Chin up, men! You’ve made it this far!”
Jaeris did his best to keep a brave face. Three years. He had been fighting for three years and had somehow managed to survive. He had risen through the ranks fairly quickly and had obtained the rank of captain. He had received a letter from his father saying that he was doing well and his family was proud of him. But that didn’t matter now.
He had seen too much. A dozen battles, numerous medals, and thousands of losses later and Jaeris only wanted to go home and forget what he had witnessed. The boys he’d seen die. The ones he’d killed.
Eventually, General Lee called a halt and they made camp. Nothing elaborate, just a few tents and fires. A few of the men suggested raiding a nearby town, but the general did not permit it. They would not hurt innocents in their march north.
Jaeris sat toward the back of the group of officers with another young captain called Harris. Harris had joined the army a year before, but he was already almost as haunted as Jaeris.
“Do you know where we’re going?” Harris asked bitterly.
“Not a clue,” Jaeris sighed. “North, I guess.”
“Are we trying to take the Union?”
“Dunno.”
“Thought we were just fighting to be left alone.”
“I dunno what we’re fighting for now. ‘Cept that quitting would be embarrassing.”
“We’ll still win, though,” Harris said. “Won’t we?”
Jaeris stared at the fire and didn’t answer.
*
“They tried to keep our spirits up,” Jaeris muttered. “And for the younger ones, it worked. but for me…for anyone who’d seen it…it was too late.”
“Where were you going?” Rachel asked as she pulled her vest off.
“We were supposed to go somewhere important. Somewhere strategic, where we could restock and weaken the Union.”
“But instead…”
“We found a little town called Gettysburg.”
*
Jaeris had never heard of Gettysburg before, but it was where the armies met and the battle broke out.
The first day was bloody.
The second day was worse.
And on the morning of the third day, Jaeris was hit by a stray bullet and remembered nothing else.
But even one hundred and fifty years later, he could still see and smell and hear the battle.
He could still see Harris fall and die instantly.
He could still hear General Pickett ordering them up the hill in spite of the heavy artillery fire.
He could still smell the blood…
Oh, God, the blood. Was it any wonder the vampires come out that night?
All Jaeris remembered after the pain of the bullet was waking up on a hard cot in a small room lit only by a single candle, feeling much more energized but strangely empty.
“Hello?” he called out.
“Oh, you’re awake,” came a very familiar voice.
Jaeris sat up. “Sierra?”
“Master Jaeris?”
At least it wasn’t a Union officer. “What happened?” Jaeris asked.
“You were dying. I found you…but you’ll live. You’ll live for a very long time.”
Something in Sierra’s voice made Jaeris’s heart clench with fear. “What have you done to me?” he demanded.
Sierra lit a match, illuminating his face as he smiled, revealing fangs.
“I turned you,” he answered. “And now, I am the master.”
*
“That was the end of it,” Jaeris said as he and Rachel climbed into bed. “I couldn’t go home again. I was a monster…and bound to a former slave. I guess I was just reported dead or missing to my parents. Never bothered to check.”
“So what did you do?” Rachel asked.
Jaeris shrugged. “Wandered with Sierra for about a century…he was killed by a Hunter in 1957. Learned about vampires…and a lot of other things. Changed my world views. I never went to war again. Couldn’t take any more of it. After Sierra was killed, I just kept my head down and stayed in the city where I met you. Refused to join the High Council’s army…I’ve seen enough already. I saw boys die back then, boys younger than me…I saw men kill their families, and for what? I’ve spent the last hundred years wondering what it was all for…I’ve never gotten an answer.”
Rachel looked at him sadly. “I can’t answer,” she said. “I’ve never seen it.”
Jaeris began to cry tears of blood. Rachel hesitated, then moved to him and took him in her arms. He laid his head on her breasts and cried, releasing a hundred years of emotion.
Rachel stroked his hair gently, wondering what she was supposed to do. She had comforted children at the Academy, but not like this. Jaeris was a grown man, his troubles far greater than anything the little ones could know, far greater than anything Rachel could imagine.
She looked at the blond hair falling on her stomach and the blood staining her breast and finally did the only thing she knew how to do. She began to sing a lullaby.
“Sleep my child and
Peace attend thee,
All through the night.
Guardian angels
God will send thee,
All through the night…”