Cassius now dressed in a vintage three-piece suit was exploring his reflection. He had spent over 500 years in slumber, a state described as a small death so he was trying to get used to the feeling of being alive once again. Now that he was standing, his hair appeared to have grown to fall just past his waist, his face could enamour any male or female but his deep dark eyes still felt very hollow, a reflection of his name. His fangs now retracted looked similar to Vesper, one could easily tell they were related. Cassius brushed his hair away from his face tucking the strands behind his pierced ears but it seemed to keep falling on his face. 'This will not do at all,' as he blew another strand away from his mouth.
'This here is what you press and it will contact me straight away' Estefan was finishing his explanation of how a mobile phone works for Cassius as he was about to leave the mansion to explore this time period.
'Please Estefan it is not the first time for me to be awakened in a new period' Cassius scoffed.
'Of course Sire, but you see things are VERY different this time.' Estefan pleaded feeling like a mum worrying over her child's first day at school.
'I will be in touch if needed.' Cassius said as he was already walking out the front door.
'Yes Master but there's one major...' Before Estefan could even finish his sentence Cassius was already out the door.
The view was so strikingly different to what he last saw before his slumber that Cassius simply stood there in stillness while taking in an enormous amount of new information. He now felt that he had to keep his crimson eyes on all day to adjust to his surroundings. Greeted by the 21st century would be a shock for anyone who just time skipped 500 years.
'Bus 121, 5 stops,' at first he didn't quite believe Estefan when he described what a bus was but seeing so many automobiles he was slapped with reality.
Cassius was simply on his way to the Mall to cut his hair and find clothes appropriate for his current apparent age and period. Estefan suggested that his back story for integrating into society would be attending university as a return student after taking a gap year.
'A Mall, I guess that would equate to the local town centre' he thought as the bus approached. Following the instructions given he tapped his phone to pay, so far this time period kept surprising Cassius. Looking at the people he passed by and the variety of looks and characters he knew boredom wouldn't find him anytime soon.
As he stepped off the bus a smell whiffed passed him that took him be surprise. Vampires had a distinct smell that could help their own kind be identified, for senior Vampires of power they could even tell what family the individual belonged to based on their scent and although it wasn't unusual to briefly find one or two here and there Cassius simply wasn't expecting to find another of his kind so soon in the public. However, since the stranger seemed to get on the bus and was already on their way Cassius moved on just as quick.
Once he turned his attention to the mall again, he was simply frozen in shock by the sheer magnitude of the building he was about enter. The five-storey glass structure loomed over Cassius.
Humanityhascomealongway. He thought to himself. With so many humans crowded in one space he disabled his crimson eyes as the skill was always too powerful for most humans to see for too long. Although his overwhelming charm would cause many bystanders to blush and squeal as he walked past. Cassius found this quite uncomfortable but still used it to his advantage and asked a human female to help him find the hairdressers. However, what he was hit with diverted his attention slightly as a wave of Vampire scents were infiltrating his vicinity at a rate that was simply unheard of in all his lifetime. Cassius was now slightly regretting not listening to Estefan's full briefing.
As soon as he entered the hairdressers there was a loud high pitch scream as a flamboyant man clasped both of Cassius' hands.
'I can tell straight away you are here for a MAKEOVERRR, you are in the best of hands.' The worker said as he ushered Cassius to the seat. Cassius closed his eyes as he thought his charm may hamper the workers ability to work and strangely the worker could feel whatever energy that possessed him fade away.
'I'm a returning university student and need a look fitting of so.' Cassius explained.
'Ha returning from what time period, with a suit like that' the man laughed but then reassuringly said 'leave it all to Freddy'.
A few hours later and Cassius was finally free but not without an updated undercut hair style which surprisingly looked similar to Vespers except the middle parted fringe was longer framing his sharp eyes from either side, revealing his multiple ear piercings. He was now wearing black washed out jeans and denim shirt to match, suitable for his age which one would guess as early 20s now. Cassius was also equipped with multiple bags of clothes and accessories, after such a long and tedious day he was in no mood to traverse using human public transport. Reaching for his phone he tried to contact Estefan but the mobile was refusing to cooperate.
Cassius brushed his hair back in frustration. He was approached by a female, turning his gaze it was obvious what her flushed cheeks were wanting. Already annoyed he thought a small snack would calm him down, the thought made him lick his lips subconsciously. The lady quivered at the sight of this and almost fell to her knees. Cassius caught her, and realised it would have been more trouble than it was worth to feed on someone so weak minded, instead he charmed her into helping him with the phone.
Using his crimson eyes 'leave now.' He commanded and instinctively she walked away as if nothing had occurred.
The phone barely rung before Estefan picked up [I'll be right there.] He said before hanging up, and a few minutes later Cassius was getting into a black Rolls Royce.
'Humans have become so weak that I can no longer walk around in peace, find a solution to dimming my charm' Cassius said.
'Of course Sire.' Estefan replied. Usually, vampires could dim their own charm however with someone as powerful as Cassius this was not the case as there was simply too much to hide.
'Seems like we have grown in numbers or is this city a Vampire commune?' Cassius remarked.
'Yes my lord as we no longer live in hiding the Vampire population has grown to an all-time high.' Estefan explained.
'We no longer WHAT!' The shock and disbelief on Cassius' face was evident as public Vampires topped all the new things he had encountered from this time. 'I'll have to give my thanks to Vesper for waking me up to such an amusing period.' He smirked. 'Oh, and Estefan, I am hungry.'
'Yes sir, one shall be prepared.'
__________
Usually in this day and age vampires have aides who are volunteers that offer to give their blood as sustenance. These are usually humans who are close to other vampires or distant relatives of those that have been turned in the past. Since the vampire community is public there is no effort to keep themselves hidden, although most humans will still go through their whole lives without ever meeting or realising they have met one. In fact, some humans that hear of them still pin it down to people being part of some extreme crazy cult, this was probably the most surprising news that came to Cassius out of everything he's experienced so far.
All vampires would be given blood bags as an allowance and those who had the funds could purchase surplus if needed. Although Cassius tried to adjust to this lifestyle at first sipping blood from a bag from a straw that wasn't fresh tasted stale to him.
'How do you even stomach this?' He scowled laying on a couch in the study while Estefan was busy completing paperwork on the desk. 'Do you not crave the hunt, finding the right prey, cornering them, fresh warm blood' Cassius eyes closed as he recalled the scent. He's been using the blood bags for the day until the arrangements were made for a live aide.
'Prey? Haha don't let Vesper hear you, he'll call you a boomer.' Estefan chuckled. 'It will be hard to find an aide that's willing to physically volunteer to your requirements on such short notice, please be patient sire.'
Not only did Cassius require a live aide, he also couldn't have an aide that had recently been fed on from another foreign vampire, since the stronger you are the more sensitive your taste is.
'It will only be the one time; you know I don't like to rely on such things.' Cassius replied. The awakening is a strenuous process on most vampires and the longer you were in slumber the more blood you needed to recover. For Cassius given his power he would take some time to get his full strength back as well as enough blood. Most vampires lived on blood however it used to be easily addictive, cases of addicts have reduced over the years due to the use of blood bags as they weren't as palatable and eliminated the element of the hunt. For vampires who are natural predators this was huge part of why so many became addicted.
'In the meantime I have enrolled you into your university course, orientation is tomorrow.'
'Ahhhh yes, what was it? Media of some sort.' Cassius replied as he sat up crossing his legs.
'Yes Sire I believe it will be the quickest and most seamless way for you to learn about the current world and systems, as well as helping you adjust to the how humans interact now. They say everyone should experience campus life once.' Estefan explained never stopping his paperwork.
'Would you like me to schedule you in for the next vampire council?' Estefan paused his work for a moment peeking above his glasses at his master's reaction.
'No, I'm not here for them, I'm only here to help our young lord and then I'll be going back to slumber.'
Estefan looked up in joy 'So you will help him! He's young and naive but he's a hard worker! Vesper will be so happy to hear that, he's hungry for strength.'
Cassius gave a slight smile at Estefan's reaction. 'Hard worker, that's an interesting trait for a Crimson family member.'
The Crimson family was one of the original vampire founding families, which meant they had lived for eternity and were immeasurably strong. For such families their strength came from their inherited blood as well as the coming-of-age ritual, this was something similar to the passing of blood that Cassius did for Vesper but on a grander scale.
'Where is our young lord?' Cassius asked as he finished his blood bag and blew out the straw from his mouth. Despite his strength and position, Cassius had lived for so long that there was a comical and light way to how he approached life.
'I'm afraid it will take some time for his body to adjust to your blood Sire, he still hasn't woken up.' Estefan replied still completing what seemed to be never ending paperwork.
'Well looks as though I will have to prepare for university … once again' Cassius exhaled in a nonchalant manner.
The quiet slow life was not one Cassius was used to when being awoken from slumber as family members would only do this when they are in dire need, although the change was refreshing.