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Nov. 3rd, 2013 12:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
substituteskullHe'd heard talks when he was little. Bloodlines are important, purity more so. He remembers his father telling him this. Remembers his mother crying a little and his sister yawning. She's the first born. She's the special one. The contract is written and John, barely old enough to hold a pen much less write his name, is told to make his mark on the line labeled 'collateral.' He doesn't understand it but he draws a little Mickey Mouse head, one ear lopsided. He remembers a man with a long nose and a weasel-like face smiling with a pinched expression at him and saying something along the lines of: "well" and "that will do, I'd imagine."
After that, childhood memories resumed like normal. He remembers a few unhappy moments, centred mostly around puberty when all he wanted to do was fight anything that moved and join the Army when he was just a bit older. And he remembers times when his mother would be gone for a week here or there. Always on 'business' though she was a housewife by trade and cultivated flowers for fun.
When he'd gotten old enough to ask properly, his parents sat him down and told him of their alliance, ancient and sacred, of how their family stood in as surrogates for what could well be the entirety of the human race. He'd not believed it at first and even scoffed at the explanation. Vampires don't exist and if they did, he reasoned, it'd be easier to feed off of many people and not just one. People need months to regenerate heavy blood loss. And buying that older vampires need less blood is--
Well, far fetched.
John'd been away on his first tour of duty abroad when his sister's name was drawn and her service started. He wasn't there to meet her protector nor to watch her fall into madness over it.
Madness. Drugs. Alcohol abuse. All of these can cause impurities. All of these can ruin a candidate. It's no wonder that Clara rejected his sister in the end. Or that John was taken from the active duty roster almost immediately because of it.
The collateral was needed. Not to replace Harry exactly, for what protector would be able to stand the blood of the sibling they'd rejected? No, to serve a sentence for the failure of the Watsons to uphold their end of the bargain.
John finds himself unhooded and terrified in an old warehouse, eyes barely adjusting to the light as the weasel-like man with his squinty smile stands before him. It's been decades and the man doesn't look as if he's aged a day. John swallows and despite his terror, realization hits him hard about what this is. And why. "John. Pleasure to see you again. You've aged...well. Oh Sherlock, really. Come out here and meet your human. You really are incorrigible. Dining on rats is for children. I'll not have you sulking."
After that, childhood memories resumed like normal. He remembers a few unhappy moments, centred mostly around puberty when all he wanted to do was fight anything that moved and join the Army when he was just a bit older. And he remembers times when his mother would be gone for a week here or there. Always on 'business' though she was a housewife by trade and cultivated flowers for fun.
When he'd gotten old enough to ask properly, his parents sat him down and told him of their alliance, ancient and sacred, of how their family stood in as surrogates for what could well be the entirety of the human race. He'd not believed it at first and even scoffed at the explanation. Vampires don't exist and if they did, he reasoned, it'd be easier to feed off of many people and not just one. People need months to regenerate heavy blood loss. And buying that older vampires need less blood is--
Well, far fetched.
John'd been away on his first tour of duty abroad when his sister's name was drawn and her service started. He wasn't there to meet her protector nor to watch her fall into madness over it.
Madness. Drugs. Alcohol abuse. All of these can cause impurities. All of these can ruin a candidate. It's no wonder that Clara rejected his sister in the end. Or that John was taken from the active duty roster almost immediately because of it.
The collateral was needed. Not to replace Harry exactly, for what protector would be able to stand the blood of the sibling they'd rejected? No, to serve a sentence for the failure of the Watsons to uphold their end of the bargain.
John finds himself unhooded and terrified in an old warehouse, eyes barely adjusting to the light as the weasel-like man with his squinty smile stands before him. It's been decades and the man doesn't look as if he's aged a day. John swallows and despite his terror, realization hits him hard about what this is. And why. "John. Pleasure to see you again. You've aged...well. Oh Sherlock, really. Come out here and meet your human. You really are incorrigible. Dining on rats is for children. I'll not have you sulking."
