His gentle demeanor is not a farce, but it’s certainly not all there is to him. Aimery is very aware of the way he appears to others, especially to the humans who see him as their line to safety, and it elates him. He’s manipulative, selfish, possessive and so cool-headed, one might think he’s incapable of anger. As regent of the clan, he makes sure to keep the others in line, but not too much, or they might grow dissatisfied and refuse to play along with his schemes. 

Secret:

Childhood Memory

A pureblooded vampire, Aimery was born the first son of an ill-famed aristocrat. His father was drunk on his own power, lording it over the humans unfortunate enough to live in his clan’s territory. They paid their taxes to him in blood and valuables, but it was never enough for someone so insatiable. 

One day, they had had enough, a truth that poor, young Aimery ended up having to suffer from.

He was awoken long before sunset by a harried looking man shaking his shoulder. Aimery, a curious, five-year-old boy who had never seen a human up close before, was so confused by the situation, that he assumed it must be part of the dream. It was only when the stranger moved a little and Aimery’s eyes caught what was in his hand, that his instincts kicked in and he opened his mouth to scream—only to be silenced by the man’s free hand over his mouth.

His wide eyes welled up with tears immediately, but they weren’t focused on that weathered face, only that wooden stake pointing at him. He had heard stories about this before, the sort-of vampiric equivalent of a bogeyman that the older children had wanted to scare him with. “If you misbehave,” they had said. “An evil vampire hunter will appear and put a stake straight through your heart!” 

Had he misbehaved? As he was racking his mind, trying to figure out where he had gone wrong, the man started speaking to him in a hushed tone.

“Don’t scream.” For being an evil vampire hunter, his voice was weirdly desperate, not confident at all. “If you scream… You know.” Aimery nodded minutely. If misbehaving was what had gotten him into this, he wouldn’t disobey him even more. “Good.” He removed his hand and Aimery seized the chance to scoot backwards, up to the headboard of his bed and away from the stake. 

When Aimery stayed silent, keeping the promise he had just made, the man smiled. “As long as you are good, I won’t do anything to you. So you don’t have to be scared of me,” he said, which would have been easier believe if he wasn’t carrying a vampire-killing weapon. “Because I’m not here for you. I want to speak to your father, you see. My problem is, that if I show up in front of him alone, he’ll kill me. But if I have you with me… He’ll be more inclined to listen. He’s a good father, isn’t he?” Aimery, shivering with fear and adrenaline, nodded again. “Well, that’s nice. So, like I said: You don’t have to worry about a thing. Now, tell me how to find him.”

The rest was a blur, one that Aimery still doesn’t remember fully. He must have taken the hunter to his father and his father must have made a deal with him, because his cruelty towards humans lessened in the following weeks. 

Besides the beginning, there is only one other thing he remembers clearly about that day, the words his father spoke when the man left:

“This is why you can't let down your guard around humans, Aimery. Never anger them too much, or they’ll snap and resort to this.”

• He's not with Anastas' clan in modern times anymore, which means he has long dropped sweet-talking humans and keeping them by his side as pets. Instead, he spends a lot more time with his actual family and friends.
• Taught himself how to play several classical instruments over the past few centuries. As he is a person who likes the dramatic, his favorite instrument to play is the pipe organ, but he'll make do with a piano. He's currently studying music theory at a university in hopes of learning something new.
• Still rocks the white goth aesthetic in modern times.
• Has to sleep with locked doors, because he’s scared of being attacked while he sleeps.
• Drinks blood out of a wineglass like a gothic stereotype because he doesn’t want to stain his light clothes.
• Can’t help but act obedient towards vampire hunters, people with violent tendencies and killers (even those that only attack other humans), so he does his best to avoid them.
• Feels fond of demons and all those others with an infernal lineage; succubi, incubi, tieflings and the like. He thinks horns look beautiful.