Name Issues

      It happened about a couple of years after Masters managed to get out of the hospital. He not only did not plan to meet with the Fentons, but even more, he didn't want to at all. However, these people found it themselves, and even at the most inopportune moment. Jack had already changed from his usual human clothes to an orange paratrooper jumpsuit with an eagle patch on the background of the country's flag. As it turned out later, he attended a scientific conference at which Vlad's company and he personally presented a new blood cloning technology, and even dragged his deeply pregnant wife there. Maddy.       The meeting turned out to be unpleasant for many reasons besides the obvious ones. The couple had long been outraged that Masters had made it very difficult for the two of them to explore portals and any attempts to reproduce this technology legally. However, most of the rage came from Maddie. Jack, on the other hand, looked more like a beaten dog who was trying to figure out why she was being treated badly. Although perhaps the comparison with animals was not entirely appropriate. They understood the reasons why they could be angry at them and made a mournful appearance only in order to receive forgiveness or to soften the master's anger. Fenton, on the other hand, did not really understand the reasons for the cold attitude towards himself.       Masters listened patiently to the complaints, sipping his rapidly cooling coffee with milk and thinking more about whether it was worth trying to explain the essence of his act to these two at all. They used to work, study, and even live together, but they never really built a close relationship. At that moment, their so-called friendship seemed to Vlad like a stupid illusion that he had invented for himself during a futile attempt to get closer to people. To become what he was not and never will be.       — Are you angry? — Vlad couldn't identify Jack's exact expression at the time. The world was getting more and more blurry every day because of his injured eyes, and he was not wearing lenses at that time.       — You're very perceptive, Jack, ― Masters couldn't contain his sarcasm.       — Change your tone, Masters, ― Maddie sounded like an angry but infinitely beautiful harpy. The ends of her red hair, which she had not yet cut above her shoulders, still curled in light waves and glittered in the warm light of the lamps of a small cafe, giving the impression that her head was covered with a golden and almost transparent veil. Vlad was even beginning to find her aggression funny.       ― I don't understand why, ― Jack's voice trembled slightly, as if this grown-up kid was really going to cry. ― Because we stopped communicating? But you've been refusing to make contact all these years. You didn't even take a step forward. Even ignored the last Christmas card.       Vlad grinned, covering his mouth with his hand to hide his fangs. An old habit, but it was much more relevant in his new life. After the portal incident, the fangs became much bigger, sharper and more noticeable. It even took a while to regain diction and not hiss like a snake during a conversation. In general, he had to change a lot in his life so that his otherworldly nature would not catch people's eyes. He continued to pretend to be human, just without the old zeal or minimal pleasure.       ― I recall that I received correspondence addressed to a certain "Vladimir". But I don't know such a person, — the man pretended to think, trying to hold back a nervous laugh in which there was not a drop of fun. The situation could be funny if you look at it from the outside and pray that you never get involved in it personally. But fate has never been particularly favorable to Masters in this regard.       — Is this some kind of joke? — Jack said. For the first time in a long time, he sounded really quiet. — That's your name, buddy.       ― "Buddy", — the word was almost physically repugnant. ― If during our conversation at the university you never bothered to find out my full name. If you were too lazy to check in Internet. And if it was too difficult to read the list of speakers beyond the last name at the conference, I'll explain it. That “Vlad" is an abbreviated form of an Eastern European name “Vladislav.” Not “Vladimir.”       — You're an American. Why on earth should the rules of the language of the inhabitants of this third world country apply to you? — Jack was making excuses and being worse than a child. It was starting to get annoying.       It took Vlad a little time to pull himself together. Take a couple of deep breaths and set aside a cup of coffee, the ceramic handle of which began to crackle under his fingers due to the fact that he squeezed it too hard. Fenton had never been particularly curious before, but that could be attributed to his age. After all, even for a human, he was young enough and stupid for that. But, as it seemed to Vlad, enough time had passed to gain his mind. And having children, purely in theory, should have played a role in building intelligence. But not in Jack's case, apparently.       He turned his gaze to Maddie, trying to understand her reaction to her husband's words from the movements of her body visible to weak eyes. The heightened hearing and sense of smell slightly compensated for the rapid loss of vision, but they did not help enough in all cases. The woman's heart was still beating fast and loudly, and the baby in the womb was moving restlessly, adopting the nervousness of the woman. In a compartment with a mind completely closed even from the enhanced abilities of a man, it didn't give useful information. She is pregnant, and she may react excessively vividly to anything due to her banal physiology. Masters suppressed a heavy sigh of disappointment. It wasn't worth talking to Maddie about hot topics at the moment, but since her innate stubbornness and her husband had brought her here, what could he do?       — Is that all you can say, Jack? ― the first burst of nervous merriment faded quickly enough, leaving behind only disappointment from the time spent on these people. At university, he could have spent it much more productively if he had stayed away from these two, his life would not have changed so radically. The new needs wouldn't have made him a monster if he hadn't just been trying to get into human society. If he didn't try to become a part of it by portraying an ordinary representative of the human species.       — You're being stupid, Vlad, — Maddy said sternly, crossing her arms over her chest. Which looked more cute than menacing. ― Petty. You're picking on words.       — It's not just words, but my own name, — Vlad corrected her as tactfully as possible. ― A person wants to establish communication, continues to call me a friend, but at the same time is lazy not only to find out my name, and also disdains even to admit a mistake. After all, “good” guys like him can't make mistakes, right? — Vlad took out his wallet and began slowly counting out the money for the coffee he had drunk and the tips for the waitress. ― This is an interesting way of looking at the world, if I understood it correctly.       His head was painfully empty and he began to feel slightly queasy. From the hypocrisy of others. From someone else's neglect. From a similar attitude. Because no matter how hard he tried to be a “good person” in the past, these efforts made no sense in the present. The status of a “nice guy” was quickly lost if he began to demand minimal respect for himself, or at least pointed out to his judges that they themselves were not good enough. What can we say about some more global and complex actions.       — You're just picking on the little things, — Jack still sounded a little whiny, which irritated the vampire's sharp ears terribly.       — Perhaps this is the end of our conversation, — Vlad put the brand―new, still crisp bills under the coffee cup. It really didn't make any sense to continue when they weren't going to understand him, or even listen to him. A dialogue with the wall would be more useful than trying to communicate with “old friends.” — If you have any complaints about the portal, send them to my lawyer, — he said, getting up from the table and heading for the exit.       ― Vlad! — Jack tried to stop him by grabbing his elbow. Previously, his iron grip would have caused a slight pain in his body, but now there won't even be a hint of a bruise. The vampire's cold-blooded body was too greedy to waste its own blood on such minor injuries and too tough to receive them at all.       — We have nothing more to talk about, ― Vlad roughly pulled away from his former classmate's grip. ― At least until you deign to grow up and learn to admit your mistakes. Or until I need something from you myself. However, both of these options are highly unlikely.       Straightening the lapels of his coat, he went outside, exposing his face to the large snowflakes slowly falling from the gloomy gray sky. The cold of early spring was faint and there was no steam coming out of his mouth, once again proving that there was practically no human warmth left in the man. The incident with the portal seemed to have thrown him back in evolution, leveling the entire long history of assimilation of exclusively carnivorous ancestors among humans. Everything that made him human was burned out by an ectoplasmic flash. Everything that made him good was negated by the fact of who he was. No matter what he does, no matter how he behaves, among ordinary people he will now always be a product of evil and undead, reduced in the general view to the level of a parasite that feeds on such correct, bright and pure “real people.” It didn't take a genius to come to that conclusion. There was no need for long and philosophical conversations with the hunters, which in any case would have come down to only one thing anyway.       He would like to cry, but dead don't cry.       ― Why are you doing this to us? — Maddy's voice brought him out of his thoughts, making him turn around. He had already walked quite a long way from the cafe. Judging by her disheveled hair and unbuttoned jacket, the woman ran out into the street in a hurry, without waiting for her sluggish husband. A crumb of large snowflakes stood out sharply on her red hair and turquoise sweater, hugging her rounded belly.       — How exactly? ― the man decided to clarify. He had a rough idea of the answer to this question, but still decided to ask it out of curiosity. What if this woman is still able to surprise him?       ― Like a bastard, — Maddie never held back in her expressions. A closed mind was sometimes unnecessarily compensated by straightforwardness and a kind of honesty. The future Mrs. Fenton was a bad liar, and she didn't know how to hide her emotions at all. It was probably for this reason that she attracted his attention at the time. ― You've basically appropriated Jack's invention and are now pretending that it's the right thing to do. You get childishly offended by nonsense: how to pronounce your name correctly.       ― From my point of view, this is not nonsense at all, but part of a much more global problem. It's just a pity there's no point in explainI, — Vlad sighed wearily. — You won't listen to me.       — I just don't understand... We were friends, — Maddy's voice sounded hoarse. She was slowly getting cold in the cold, but Masters resisted the urge to come closer and fasten that stupid work jacket with reflective tape on her, which was a couple of sizes too big for her.       — We were. In the past. This is a very important clarification ― a lot of things should have been left in the past, and feelings for this woman in the first place. There was no good reason to continue bullying yourself in such a sophisticated way.       But if only it were that simple... ― Don't be like that, ― from her words, a bitter smell of black pepper appeared in the air, settling on the tongue with an unpleasant heaviness that could cause heartburn.       — How exactly? Inconvenient or maybe overly straightforward? ― it was necessary to look at reality soberly. With a cool head and a sound mind, but it was more difficult to do this when looking at a loved one for whom he had become an enemy. For the first time in a long time, Masters was grateful for his own short-sightedness, because it did not allow him to see her clearly enough for his emotions to finally take over his mind.       — You're acting like an arrogant asshole. That's not how I remember you, — he couldn't see her expression, but he could hear her heartbeat. Words and emotions began to acquire not only color, but also smell, taste, and tangible form. That was more than enough to make him understand. She was angry, disappointed, and began to hate every moment spent on their so-called friendship. In this they were much more similar than Masters would have liked.       ― As if you knew me at least a little, and didn't notice me only when you or yours... — The insult almost came out of his mouth, but Vlad stopped himself in time, not wanting to stoop to the level of people. ― Jack needed something from me. Help with the dean's office, get permission to conduct experiments, or hush up a couple of accidents involving damage to university property. It was the benefits of communicating with me that were important to you. Not I'm, — the words were hard for Masters, but at least they were true. Doing everything for the good of the two hunters, becoming their obedient dog, was the only way to become a good undead in their eyes. Complete and absolute obedience would make him acceptable to them now, but his aristocratic nature would never allow him to descend to the level of a servile beast in his life. Keep your head down low so as not to start a conflict when you don't consider yourself inferior. Apologize so as not to aggravate the relationship when you don't feel guilty... No, he would never be able to do that.       — No... — Her teeth were chattering slightly, and her voice was trembling. It's hard to say if it was from surging emotions or the banal cold.       — No? And where did I go wrong? ― Vlad was incredibly annoyed that even now he was not able to get mad at this woman properly. He had never been so angry with himself before or since.       ― Vlad, you...       — Do me a favor, Maddy, don't go on. Don't spoil the impression of yourself more than you've already done, — the man felt a tight knot of regrets forming in his chest. The words hurt him more than he expected. But they were the only way to end that attachment. ― And as for the portal, you can also thank me for making it harder for someone like Jack to access this technology. With his irresponsible approach to work, I wouldn't be surprised if one day the same thing happens to your child as happened to me in that lab.