The Smallwood Family Legacy Generation One: A Sims 4 Story

The Smallwood Family Legacy: A Sims 4 Story

Chapter Nine: A Means To An End

I break the news to Caleb as soon as he enters the house, I tell him we have another beautiful baby daughter...he says nothing, but he takes the stairs two steps at a time! He enters our room and immediately scoops Raven up into his arms!

He stares at her for a good few minutes until he finally smiles and says "Hey there little Raven! I'm your daddy!"

He snuggles our newborn and coos at her, my heart swells! My worries have been for nothing! Raven gurgles happily in her father's arms as he bounces gently, swaying her.

"Well aren't you beautiful!" Caleb exclaims as he looks into her big eyes. She giggles at him, as if knowing he approves of her!

Caleb sets her down in her crib and approaches me with a smile on his face, I get a kiss on the cheek and a whisper in my ear of love and pride! "Trixie you're such a clever girl, she's adorable just like her mother!"

"You...you aren't angry?" Caleb looks at me with a hint of hurt in his beautiful grey eyes.

"Of course not, I wanted a son yes, but any child is a blessing!"

Max comes to visit Vivvy and even the robotic hoover attacks him, there is just something about this boy that doesn't sit well with me or anyone else in my family, including the electrical appliances!

He seems rather mad, at first I think it is because of the rather aggressive welcome, but i soon discover it is Vivaana that is on the receiving end...

"So you're dating Alex, when were you thinking of telling me?"

"Max I...we were only friends and I told you at the pool that I preferred Alex, I can see who I want to see!"

"Oh really? I just thought you meant one date to see how it went, I only let you because I thought you would come back to me!"

"Max I am no one's property, least of all yours!"

"Yeah well it would just have been nice to be told by you or Alex rather than see you two all over each other in school!" Suddenly Max changes from nasty...

...to nice! "Anyway, how's your big doggy with the purple markings? I like him, he's cool!" Vivaana gives him a sympathetic look and replies,

"Well..."

She gives Max some time to grieve Buzz, it seems the boy was rather fond of him despite being evil. Who would have known?

Vivaana comforts him, he seems to have forgotten his anger towards her earlier. What a strange young man, I am so glad she is seeing Alexander Goth! Mortimer and Bella have raised him very well!

Another night, another of Vlad's lackeys! Caleb watches them watching the house and he has changed! He no longer appears afraid of them or of their Master! Since Raven's birth he has become even more protective of us as a family unit!

The kids' portraits are hanging proudly in the kitchen behind the bar. Caleb loves taking them every time one comes of age!

Raven is growing up today, doting father Caleb is there to witness this event! I wonder how she will look, what colour eyes and hair she will have! I really am excited for this part of the age up!

She is dark haired like me and her oldest sister...

...but she has Caleb's eyes! My complexion and freckles seem to dominate all of my children. Not to mention my prominent pointy ears, it is an inheritance my girls probably would rather not have received!

Raven is a wild toddler, I think she will keep us on our toes!

Caleb presents her with a sandwich, at first she looks at it as if it has come down to Earth in a spaceship...

...but then she tastes it and is content with it. Caleb always pleases our children, he can do no wrong in any of their eyes!

Today the girls return home from school looking drained by the sun. I have no idea what Vivvy is wearing, nor do I care to ask, she is going through some teenage mood swing at the moment.

The three older girls complete their homework together while Raven plays with her blocks. She seems to be getting the hang of them fairly quickly.

The first time she discovers Heidi is rather sweet. She watches as Heidi whimpers and yips at her, then turns in a circle chasing her tail.

Raven attempts to copy her, thoroughly amused by the animal! Caleb watches and chuckles to himself. I think he has truly got over our youngest being a girl, although I know deep down he really would love a boy, there simply is no room!

Little Raven is not short of attention, her sisters are always ready to give her the time of day, as is her father...

...yes Caleb loves his little raven haired girl! My worries during my pregnancy turned out to be unfounded, he truly loves her!

In fact I have never seen him so smitten, not even with Vivvy or the twins! Maybe because he feels she will be our last, he is savouring the time he has with her during these precious stages! Toddlers are so impressionable, this is the stage where they soak up everything like a sponge.

Caleb knows this, he teaches her things, learning to speak and to say please and thank you, he is determined to be there for this one even more than the others. Is it guilt for wanting her to be a boy? Does he regret wishing this after seeing her, witnessing her beauty and sweetness?

There is no doubt that he dotes upon her as if he had never wished it! As if being a girl didn't matter at all! But that is Caleb, he is a family man, a loving man! He is kind and he is caring...and he is mine!

Esme is now going through a mood swing and has been caught by her sisters kicking over our bin!

Abi is always there to appease her twin and resorts to showing her something funny on her phone, Vivvy keeks over their shoulders to see what they are looking at.

But whatever it is, Esme's mood has failed to lift as she chastises her sisters for annoying her.

"You just can't possibly understand! You just can't!"

"Try us!" Abi challenges her.

"Yeah, try us Esme!" Vivvy backs Abi up.

"I am hormonal!" Esme rages as both her sisters nod and reply at the same time,

"Ohhhh yeah!"

Vivvy's object of hormonal lust has arrived to see her, Alexander Goth, what a lovely boy he is! Caleb is still not convinced but then again what father is content with his daughter's choice of boyfriend?

Vivvy greets him with a passionate kiss...

...followed by some neck nibbling, I try not to look and head upstairs to see to Raven. "Oooh what's this?" Alex giggles, "Some kinda vampire thing or..."

"Cuz if it is, ya know dada like!"

"Alex shut up!"

"Okey doke!"

I see them heading to Vivvy's room, she mumbles something about a sleepover and shuts the door. I have no idea what is going on, but I trust Vivaana to be sensible...

I hear giggling, I hear squealing, I do not want to know!

Vivaana exchanges promise rings with Alexander. I knew she was quite taken with him but now I only realise just how much! "Let's be exclusive to one another, let's wait until we're adults and we can get married...but for now?"

"I'll be growing up before you Vivvy, but I promise to wait for you! I promise to wear this ring every day!"

I am happy that they are happy, Caleb will take a little more convincing! But the fact that they are talking marriage and a future together, I am not worried at all, she has her head screwed on! More than I ever did at her age! And it was so long ago, perhaps I remember it differently.

I do remember Darick, he followed me everywhere when I was a teenager! He waited until I was a young adult before turning my head, wooing me and then finally turning me into a vampire! I am so glad that my eldest daughter has found a genuine young man who wants nothing more than to love and cherish her!

"I love you Vivaana Smallwood!" 

"And I love you Alexander Goth!"

Caleb disappears during the night, he mumbles something about going for a walk but I know him better than that...

He is not himself, he has things on his mind I know! What I do not know is he has headed up to Straud Mansion! He's knocking boldly on Vladislaus Straud's door!

Memories come flooding back to him as the doors open by themselves, they remember him, Vlad always told Caleb that the mansion was alive! He still to this day believes that to be true. He is terrified, but this has to be done!

Vlad plays his organ down in the basement of the mansion. Two places he can be in the middle of the night, playing sad tunes down there or playing chess in square across from our house in the centre of town.

Caleb decides to surprise him, rather than walking down the stairs he appears in a black mist in front of him. "Vatore!" He exclaims, "My boy!"

Getting up to shake his hand and smile wickedly at my husband, Vlad has been expecting him to visit for a while but he is not expecting what Caleb is about to say. "Come, sit down my dear boy, back in the bosom of your old home!"

"I have waited for you to see sense my child! I must say it's taken longer than I would have liked but..."

"Vladislaus I am not here to make peace!" Vlad raises a curious eyebrow at Caleb's audacity.

"No?"

"No, I am here to ask you nicely to leave my family alone!"

"Ahhh..." Vlad nods with a smirk, "...and what an expanding family it is becoming I hear!" His spies have no doubt reported everything that they have witnessed. "Vivaana!" He says my eldest daughter's name and it sends shivers down my Caleb's spine.

"Abigail!" He continues as Caleb looks whiter than usual, "Esme and...little...Raven?"

"Please don't do this Vladislaus, it doesn't have to be this way!" Still my Caleb is trying to end this peacefully, and still Vlad wants nothing like that, he wants all out war!

 "Why Vatore I told you! What is mine is mine, and what is yours is mine! Bring me those girls to live here in Straud Mansion with me and we will be the best of pals forever and ever!" Vlad lets a devilish chuckle escape his lips as Caleb's fear changes to something far more dangerous...

...ANGER!!! "Vladislaus I am warning you! I asked you nicely to leave my family alone..." Before he can finish Vlad is chuckling again, mockingly so, and it makes my darling husband feel helpless.

"My dear boy, you are no match for me! I have hundreds of years on you! Not only that but I MADE YOU!" Vlad growls, "I created the monster you are today and I know everything there is to know about you my child of the night!"

"You do not know me as well as you might think, FATHER!" Caleb still has fight left in him, more than Vlad could ever imagine.

"Oh you think so?" Vlad stands up and heads back towards his organ.

"And what is it about you that I need to know? I have never kept my eyes off of you in the years you left my side to go it alone, you and the lovely Lilith! Don't think it has not escaped my attention that she no longer lives in Wolfsbane Manor with you! Although where she has gone eludes me!"
"You stay away from her or I'll..." Vlad laughs at Caleb and it angers him even more.

He pounces upon him with lightning speed, "Master Straud, I am giving you one final chance to leave me and my family be!"

"Or what?" Vlad looks curiously concerned, perhaps he realises Caleb means business.

"I will deal with you! That is my word, and you know I am a man of my word!" Caleb is more angry than afraid, his blood is boiling and his rage is threatening to overcome his composure.

"Caleb..." Vlad calls my husband by his name for the first time ever, "...your place is here in Straud Mansion with me, and your offspring too! Let me be perfectly clear, I will NEVER let your family be for they are my family and I will not rest until they are ALL UNDER MY ROOF!!!" Caleb nods sadly and replies,

"Very well Master Straud, so be it! I give you until tomorrow evening to change your mind, or there will be consequences!"

All the girls are feeling grumbly this evening, perhaps they sense that their father is out of sorts after his disappearing act the night before...

Whatever it is, it has me worried. And I have reason to be when I see Caleb leaving the manor smartly dressed and heading for the town square.

"Master Straud?"

"My dear boy how are you? Where are those girls of yours? Have you seen sense yet? I notice you have reverted to your old sense of dress!"

"I was hoping that you had been the one to see sense!" Caleb stands his ground, for the love of his daughters!

"Well my dear boy it seems that we have a stalemate!" Vlad laughs, winking at Caleb.

"No we don't, Vladislaus Straud I challenge you to a vampire duel! Prepare your dark form!" Vlad laughs again, mocking him,

"I beat you in a duel once before, have you forgotten? You cannot best me!" Vlad is cocky, but he is possibly right. However Caleb is unperturbed.

"I'd like to test that theory..."

Caleb and Vlad begin a battle that I can see from our bedroom window! I have never seen Vladislaus Straud in dark form before, and he is frightening!!!

The duel lasts a long time, or at least it feels like it! My heart is in my mouth and I am terrified for my Caleb! I lost Vivaan, I cannot lose Caleb, not my soulmate!!!

In a blind panic I cry out his name, he cannot hear me I don't think...or can he? As his beautiful name leaves my lips I see him give the final blow to Vladislaus Straud in mid air...

...he falls to the ground like a sack of potatoes, on his knees I see him looking shocked that he has been beaten!

"You...you bested me! YOU?" He splutters, "A mere fledgling of my clan!" At over 700 years old I would hardly call Caleb a fledgling, but Vlad has always belittled him out of jealously and fear that one day Caleb would be the better and stronger vampire!

"Vladislaus..." Caleb addresses him informally, "...you're right, we fought once before and you beat me then! This time, I beat you! All I ask is that you leave my family alone or you will be so very sorry!"

Despite Caleb proving that he will stop at nothing to protect his family, Vladislaus Straud stares him down and replies venomously, "Never!"

"Then you leave me no choice!" Caleb nods solemnly.

"Meaning?" Vlad raises his eyebrow looking amused.

"You shall see! Goodbye for now!"

I don't know what Caleb is up to, he doesn't tell me because he feels the less I know the less danger I will be in with Vlad. He concocts mixture after mixture day after day.

He has even taken to drinking some, he assures me they are merely for making his strength remain during the day.

Meanwhile the twins are at that stage of teenhood where they are noticing boys. Lucas Munch is here to see Esme.

Behind him comes Addison Lugo, a teen Abi was trying to chat to when she was a child. I'm guessing he's here so that Lucas can have some alone time with Esme.

She is pleased to see him, they have a brief chat in the living room and then Esme asks him upstairs for a dance.

A dance? Well it's safe to say the dancing became a little more romantic and embraces were exchanged! Young Esme likes Lucas very much!

Her twin on the other hand is struggling to flirt, and I am not sure whether it's just that Addison is not her type of guy...

...or that he is just not her type! Either way, Abi is not as flirty as her sister and Addison is none too pleased with her feeble attempts at trying to woo him.

Caleb has been at the bar concocting for days, until this evening I hear him shriek "AAAHHH-HAAAAA!" I ask him what is going on to which he merely replies, "Tonight is the night Trixie! I love you, always remember that!" And now I am so very afraid.

I watch him run up the hill towards Straud Mansion, and I feel sick! I look out into the town square at the statue of Vlad, the one the townspeople think is of his great, great, great grandfather! But us vampires know the truth!

Caleb cannot find Vlad at the mansion, so there really is only one other place he can be...

"Is this really necessary?" Vlad scoffs at Caleb as he finds him by the chess boards in the square.

"One final duel Master Vladislaus Straud, and whoever wins will get what they asked! You, my family and me? To cut all ties with your clan!"

"That is a fair deal young Vatore, I accept!"

I watch once again my husband duel with his maker! I do not want to look, and yet I cannot look away! If he is taken from me, then I must see it with my own eyes!

The battle is brief, and Caleb is once again victorious landing a shocking blow through Vlad's chest...

...then finally on his face!

As Vlad kneels on the ground before him, my Caleb hovers in the air, victorious. "I do believe you promised I could cut ties with your clan once and for all if I bested you!"

Vlad does not respond, simply looks at the ground, defeated once again!

"I..." He finally stammers, "...I do believe you were the one who raised the terms not me! How can I give you something I did not promise!" Caleb conjures up a glass of liquid from his hand and sighs sadly...

"Yes I was afraid you would say that!" He nods to Vlad, who's henchmen have arrived on the scene, in one swift movement Caleb throws the glass of liquid at Vlad as he grunts in annoyance.

"What? How dare..."

"NO!" Vlad cries, as his lackeys look on helplessly, "Oh nonononononononono!"

"I warned you Master Straud!" Caleb calls him by his official title for the last time.

"How could you? How...could...you...do this to...me?" Vlad weeps as an amber glow surrounds him.

"I am sorry Vladislaus but this was the only way I could ensure the safety of my daughters! I couldn't trust you to keep your promise to me!"

Caleb has transformed Vladislaus Straud into a human being! He is sad he had to do it, but as he told Vlad, it was the only way to make sure our girls are safe!

When the transformation is complete, Vlad growls "You will be sorry young Vatore! You have not heard the last of this!"

"Know when you are beaten!" Caleb shakes his head and walks away.

"COME BACK HERE!!!" He shrieks, "Boys? Get him!" Vlad's former henchmen also walk away from him, no longer bound to him! "YOU WILL NOT GET AWAY...with...this!"

Defeated and alone, a newly human Vladislaus Straud stands in the square he built, next to the statue of himself. Facing a life of humanity!

Exhausted by the duel and feeling very much human, Vlad sleeps on a nearby bench as Caleb watches him with sadness, "It didn't have to be like this!" Things have come full circle, vampire Caleb was created by vampire Vlad, and now Caleb has created a human Vlad!

I almost feel sorry for the man, I did say almost!

Caleb returns home sore and tired, I give him a massage and try to find out everything I can about the past few days. He is not very talkative.

In fact he is quite snappy when I ask about Vlad and what I saw out the window not once but twice, "Trixie baby leave it be!" He grunts.

But once he feels more relaxed and more himself, I get a lovely warm kiss for my efforts. "Caleb please..." I am cut off...

"Trixie, all you need to know is that we are free! Vladislaus Straud will bother us no more!" I smile, but I am worried! 

"Are you sure?" I mutter as he grins at me and nods.

"Baby, he's done! And if he ever tries to come near any of you again...I'll kill him! I will drain him dry and throw his rotting, shrivelled up corpse into the river!"

"Caleb!" I gasp, is he serious?

"Relax Trix I'm kidding!" He laughs softly at my reaction, "It won't happen!" He shakes his head, then turns serious, "Because he knows I am not kidding, he knows I will snap him like a twig, so he won't come near!" A wide grin appears on his face and his fangs dig into his bottom lip. My Caleb would never harm a human, no matter who they were! What has happened to my husband???

To Be Continued...