February 19th 1985

“So if they get damp they expand?” Dmitri asked curiously, “do they get a lot bigger then or just a little?”

Jennafer dropped another box of her clothes onto the bed and shook her head at him, “Dmitri, don’t play with the tampons alright?”

He made a face, pouting slightly for her insinuation he was that immature, “I’m not playing. I’m just… curious.”

“Well put them back in the drawer for now and I’ll explain later, ok?”

Dmitri had been too young to really remember his mother and being surrounded by men for most of his life he found women exceedingly interesting. He knew very little about them. Of course he knew about the birds and the bees and he had been on a couple of unsuccessful dates but he didn’t really get the fairer sex. To be honest, most men didn’t understand women but while they moaned bitterly about their wives, this young man smiled with wide eyes as his new sister moved into the Vasile home.

More than once Jennafer found him pondering her eyelash curler and stroking the delicate fabrics of her clothes. He seemed to have a particular fondness for chiffon and satin although he had refused to give back one of her cashmere jumpers after touching it for the first time. He’d never had clothes that soft, that colourful, or so many different sizes and types. When he was a child, Max dressed him simply and the most important thing seemed to be was whether they were clean or not.

Now that he was a bit older he had developed his own rather dashing style; half based on his fondness of Adam and the Ants yet still retaining some of Maximilian’s neatness. Dmitri could not even check his reflection so he tended to lay out his clothes on his coffin lid to judge if the colours clashed (which black and grey rarely did) before settling on the usual black boots and trousers, a white shirt and a long black coat with silver buttons.  It depended on his mood whether he added the red sash for his waist although what he really wanted was spurs for his boots. They didn’t seem to sell those in Glasgow for some reason.

Jennafer thought he looked a little bit like a highwayman and she had told him so. But that had made him grin, declaring he was the dandy highwayman and he spent his cash on looking flash and grabbing her attention. She told him not to be silly but she had to admit that she really did quite like Dmitri, despite his many eccentricities. As long as he didn’t steal her makeup or try on her shoes then he could invade her wardrobe all he liked. Growing up with many sisters she was used to finding her clothes missing; Dmitri never took anything, he just looked and admired.

“I like having a sister,” he declared as he peered curiously into the box, wondering what other weird and wonderful treasures Jennafer was bringing into the house.

She chuckled and embraced him with one arm, tugging him slightly away as that particular box had her underwear, “Yes, I can tell.”

“I was supposed to have had a sister you know,” he smiled at her softly, “My mum became pregnant again not long after having Max but she had a miscarriage. They waited a while before having me just in case, but of course I ended up being a boy.”

“Oh that must have been horrible,” Jennafer wanted to feel sorry for Jan but found it too difficult, relating instead to the mother in law she would never know.

Dmitri shrugged, “I think my father preferred boys anyway.  I doubt he’ll be happy if you give him granddaughters but then he won’t be the one playing tea party will he?”

“Right now I don’t think he’d ever get to see them even if I did have daughters,” Jennafer replied, “I’ve never seen Maximilian so angry. It was kinda frightening if you want the truth.”

The corners of Dmitri’s mouth twitched, “Trust me; that was nothing. You will know when Max is really angry, even beyond angry. That argument was practically normal for those two. They are always yelling at each other. But I think Max was right to kick him out for the time being. No one wants to start married life in that sort of atmosphere.”

“Does he have somewhere to go through?” she was feeling really guilty for causing such a family rift. As much as she despised Jan she’d never wanted him literally thrown out. But then, Jan would use that horrible “c” word frequently so he had only brought it on himself.

“Oh he’s fine,” he waved his hand dismissively, “he’s staying with Sir Alfred so they can sit and be old trouts’ together. You never know, he might prefer it there and not come back.”

Jennafer nodded and left Dmitri to examine her various makeup brushes while she hung up a mirror in the corner. After taking a few minutes to make sure it was perfectly straight, she spent another couple adjusting her hair. Then out of the corner of her eye she noticed her lip brush floating in the air behind her. She peered into the glass with wide eyes as the tiny little tool flew through the air and disappeared back into her makeup case which zipped itself shut all by itself.

She spun around to see her brother in law sigh and smile, his eyes darting around the room to find something else girlie to investigate. He became positively enraptured with one of her perfume bottles again and glancing back towards the mirror Jennafer was horrified to see yet again the inanimate object floating in the air.

“Dmitri…” she shivered.

He blinked, and turned his head slightly to smirk at her, “God… I love how you say my name. That accent? Sometimes I just want you to shout my name over and over but if you did then Max might be suspicious. I mean, wouldn’t you if you came home and heard your wife upstairs in the bedroom screaming your brother’s name? He’d kick my arse.”

Jennafer highly doubted Maximilian would ever seriously hurt his little brother but she was a little too freaked out to laugh. An Irish accent was nothing unusual; especially not when compared with this little phenomenon.

“Dmitri, why do you not have a reflection?” she asked, “I know you’re a vampire and everything but… that’s just too creepy.”

He shrugged and scratched his chin, “I don’t know to be honest. We can’t be photographed either which will be a shame when you get your wedding photos developed.”

“But why?” the wedding photographs had never crossed her mind, “I mean, does Max know why you don’t appear in the mirror?”

“Probably,” he smiled reassuringly, “However it’ll probably be really technical and boring and I was never one for studying such things. I’m the sort of guy that knows the sky is blue but doesn’t need to know why its blue. You just accept it, you know?

He paused for a moment and looked so suddenly solemn that he did not even seem like Dmitri anymore, “I have to accept a lot of things.”

She nodded and took the smallest of steps towards him, “Max told me that you are unusual for your kind. I’m still coming to terms with everything but I really don’t understand all of it.”

Dmitri sighed softly, “have you ever felt really thirsty? Or, like had an itch that just never went away?”

“I think I can imagine,” she said quietly.

“You can’t imagine,” his eyes flashed for a moment, “You couldn’t possibly understand, not entirely. Only a man dying in the middle of the Sahara desert thousands of miles away from any water could understand what it’s like to be me. But even then its every waking second of every single day that I feel like this. I get no reprieve and the only thing I can do is try to distract myself from it.

“The girls that I’ve been on dates with found it irritating but the only way I can stay sane is to make jokes. If I’m laughing or someone else is then it makes me feel better and I don’t think about it as much. But I think if it wasn’t for Max then I would have gone insane a long time ago. Sometimes I fear though that I’ve already gone mad.”

A compassionate warmth filled Jennafer’s heart and she put her arm around his shoulders, giving him a gentle squeeze, “You’re not mad. I think you’re wonderful.”

The twenty year old grinned, “Oh I know I’m wonderful. But I can be mad as well. You’re not so bad yourself; you’ve certainly got my brother under your spell. You actually tell him what to do! No one tells Maximilian Vasile what to do. My father tried and you know what happened to him. And he doesn’t take me seriously enough. So how do you do it?”

Jennafer laughed and shrugged, “I’m not doing anything special.”

Dmitri wasn’t buying it, “Is it a sex thing or something? There isn’t a whip or a paddle in one of these boxes is there?

She stared at him in shock, “Dmitri!”

“I’m only asking. I don’t want to know the details of his sex life but if you are doing something special to make him jump then that’s not fair. It means he’ll never listen to me!”

How could you possibly reply to something like that? Jenna tried, opening her mouth three times only to close it again. She settled for glowering at him even though that made him smirk impishly, his eyes full of mischief.

“You’re a very strange young man,” she told him.

“I don’t like that adjective,” he grinned, “in future use words like intriguing, interesting, unusual, unique and original to describe me. Otherwise I won’t listen.”

“I sometimes wonder how Max does put up with you,” it was difficult to stay serious when Dmitri smiled and she ended up grinning back.

“I’m not sure either,” he replied, “He must have the patience of an angel or maybe he really is that stubborn. Max is too damn protective for my liking though.”

Deep down that was one of the reasons Jennafer loved Maximilian. After she had met Dmitri and she had seen the brothers interact, any concerns she might have had about marrying him simply evaporated. She had loved him when he proposed but she loved him even more when she saw his love for Dmitri. And considering everything Dmitri was despite his inhuman thirst then he must have done one hell of a job practically raising him.

“He cares about you an awful lot,” she smoothed a few strands away from his forehead fondly.

“Too much maybe,” Dmitri muttered, “I doubt he will let me go on my trip.”

“The Far East, right?” she questioned.

“If I’m lucky,” he scoffed, “I had wanted to start from Egypt and work my way all the way across the Middle East and the Himalayas, India, Thailand, China and most definitely Japan. I don’t care how long it would take, even if I’m away for like 5 years or something. I’m young and I just have this urge to travel, see the world, experience everything while I still can. But Max isn’t going to let me.”

“Oh I think he will,” she smiled reassuringly.

“Hell no he won’t,” Dmitri crossed his arms over his chest and dropped his voice deep in an uncanny imitation of his older brother, “Have you seen the newspapers, Dmitri? There is no way you are going out there. You are not setting one foot in the Middle East and if I find out that you have been shot, stabbed, beheaded, stoned or blown up then I will fly out there and bring you right back home!”

Jennafer laughed in spite of the imitation, “You’re over exaggerating.”

“I wish I was. I know it sounds silly but I kinda wanted to ride on a camel and wear a turban or something. I’ll be lucky if I get as far as Dover. But I’ve wanted to see the Orient since I was a little boy and I’m determined to get to Japan, no matter what he says.”

“Then go,” she chuckled, “I’ll distract him with my sex tricks.”

“I’ve been practising my language skills,” Dmitri grinned, “Anata wa utsukushii, Jennafer-san. Gomen'nasai, nihongo ga yoku hanasemasen.  Oh, and this phrase of course, ‘o-sake arimasuka?”

She nodded, impressed, “That’s very good, Dmitri. I just wish I knew what you were saying.”

He looked at the floor, going a little red in the face, “Nothing really. Just something about alcohol.”