Ae Fanart - Rube, part 1 of 2

This won’t make much sense to anyone except Gryphon, and there’s some explanation for what I’m doing here down below the transcription of what I wrote.

Hit download for the fullsized image.

AND, YES, THIS IS A THREE PAGE COMMENT! .A.

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((This text doesn’t precisely match what I wrote on the pictures because I had a chance to edit it so it’s (hopefully) better.))

“This was the vampire’s.” Roxy told him flatly. She stood in front of him with one hand on her hip, holding out a bloody, shredded t-shirt on a single crooked finger, “I found it in his bedroom.”

Rube reached out to take the scrap of clothing from her, bringing it close to his face to breathe in the distinct scent that hung over it.

Ae.

The smell of his prodigal son was unmistakable. Grimacing, he threw the shirt away from him. It landed across the back of a leather sofa on the other side of the room. Roxy followed its arc with her eyes, and then turned back to Rube with a raised eyebrow, waiting for instructions.

“Kill him—“ Rube began, then cut off the initial response, standing in silence and looking across the room at the shirt. Half formed plans resurfaced, and he took a long drag on his cigarette. Roxy had already started across the room when he took in a soft, hesitant breath. She paused, turning back to look at him, “No, bring him to me, unhurt if it’s possible.”

Roxy’s lips stretched in a smile, and she inclined her head towards him, sweeping back her wavy hair with a hand to expose her neck to him as a sign of her obedience and submission.

“Yes, Master,” she purred, and in a blur of movement, she was gone.

Rube looked out of the huge window at the New York night and bared his fangs at the darkness.

----

“Silver daggers?” she panted, tightening her grip on his neck, “Why, Ae, if he didn’t want you alive I might just have to rip out your throat and feed it to you.”

----

“Didn’t really think you were one to gloat, Rube,” Ae said.

“I’m not gloating.” Rude grunted, then added, “You need a haircut.” He crossed his arms, scowling down at Ae. Ae almost turned to look at him, to try and read his expression, but through a force of will remained looking steadfastly away. The silence stretched.

Roxy kicked Ae hard and suddenly when he refused to answer, and he hissed in pain, curling in on himself around the place where her sharp toe had dug into his stomach.

Almost before she had put her foot back on the ground, Rube snaked his hand out to grab her wrist, twisting her hand to the side and then throwing her bodily across the room. She hit the opposite wall and slid to the ground, unconscious or choosing to pretend she was to avoid Rube’s further anger.

Relaxing his rictus snarl after a moment, Rube turned back to Ae, who quickly hid his shocked stare.

“What do you want with me?” Ae asked bitterly.

Before he could turn away, Rube had moved into his line of sight.

“You, Ae. I want you.”

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Time changes everyone, or at least it should. For Rube, time was very much in effect. As the years passed, he lost more and more, gained less and less. The balance tipped. He lost one too many sons, or heard one too few success stories. Something within him did not so much snap as twist to the point that he chose a path the old Rube never would have.

He left his fledglings, and killed the two who tried to follow him after a month. He moved to Los Angeles and learned the full extent of his power*. More time passed, and he did not fall but strode confidently deeper into what would be called darkness.

Every step was contemplated, the descent well planned. The violence was not mindless. There was no sudden shift, no moment he could return to and call himself redeemed. He was as much Rube as the man who’d set out to an abandoned warehouse with the first three fledglings in tow.

Word reached him through his network of vampire, human, and otherwise contacts that someone who could be Ae was living in New York.

A flight later and he was flitting from bar to bar, making new connections and within a week he’d pinpointed his wayward son.

The stage was set.


*I’m arbitrarily redefining what it means to be a “master vampire.”

Master Vampires
- certain measure of control over all other vamps excluding Old Blood
- essentially have non-physical skills of Old Blood without weakness
- immune to silver, resistant to holy artifacts/words
- status inherited, not learned; only 3-5 in the world at any one time, usually paired in master-apprentice relationship (like the Sith!)
- able to pass very convincingly for human if they choose to
- tolerate presence of other, subservient vampires far better than other breeds
- superior speed and strength than other New Bloods
- only occur among New Bloods
- higher percentage of male than female
- only 1 in 50 of a master's fledglings are also masters
- if sensitive as humans, keep a lesser form of their ability
known master vampires: Ruben Sofer (NY, USA), Roxanne Castro (NY, USA), Majidah Rahman (Faisalabad, Pakistan), Kueng Zhour (Beijing, China), Thiago Araújo (Sao Paulo, Brazil)


I also have at least one more installment in this particular series that I’ll upload later tonight, so don’t go commandeering Ae just yet (and forgive my godmoding. <3333)

EDIT: next part: [link]