|
While visiting the site of a bridge building project, on the part of the Risans, Aden witnesses a structural collapse.
He rushes forward to catch a woman, dangling off of the edge of a ravine and, while he manages to get her hand for a few precious
seconds, he eventually uses his grip and she falls, plummeting to her death on the rocks below. The episode utterly
haunts Aden, rendering him irritable, angry, and, eventually, quite drunk. Adriana finds him in such a state and, annoyed
that he's blaming himself and wanting desperately to help him, Adriana mixes a potent potion, to help him forget about the
whole incident. She tells him to focus on the thing bothering him, gives him the drink, and sends him to bed.
In the morning, Adriana wakes to find Aden messily going through all of her paperwork. When she questions him about
it, he does not recognize her and angrily accuses her of kidnapping him. After some careful questioning, Adriana realizes
that somehow, Aden has forgotten his entire life prior to the age of sixteen, when he first started out at Thuy Conservatory
and long before he led any unsuccessful campaigns and saw people he loved murdered. Adriana attempts to acclimate Aden
to his new life and is pleasantly surprised by how fun, humorous, and sexually aggressive he proves to be.
Trouble arises when Juliette visits Insa and tells her of a couple of vampires who have settled too close to the Risan
camp for comfort. Insa goes to report this news to Adriana, but happens upon Lucien and Aden playing pool first.
When she tells them what's going on, Aden is very eager to go after the vampires. Though Insa and Lucien try to talk
him out of it, Aden takes Philip's sword and heads out. Lucien follows after him while Insa goes to warn Adriana.
Aden and Lucien find the lair very quickly, but just as quickly, they make a mess of things and nearly end up vampire food.
Luckily, Adriana, Tranns, and Insa arrive to rescue them, and a local farmer who was also captured.
Adriana confines Aden to the Phoenix House and orders Philip to take a team out the next night to take care of the vampires.
Due to a slight miscommunication, however, Aden ends up on the team, along with Philip, Ariadne, and Lucien. They find
the vampires hunting in the forest and Philip makes a plan to take them by surprise. Aden, however, breaks ranks
and goes against orders, attacking the vampires when he perceives the plan as flawed. Philip and Lucien are injured
in the attempt and all the Phoenix Fighters are forced to retreat, the vampires once again escaping. This time, however,
Ariadne notices that the vampires belong to a special clan of vampire, one that cannot easily be killed by conventional methods.
On the third night, Adriana orders Aden to research methods for killing these special vampires, but he is easily distracted,
lacking all of the discipline he acquired between the ages of sixteen and twenty four. Frustrated, Adriana finally admits
she has a cure for his memory loss, but had been holding out because he was so much more fun as a husband in this state.
Realizing they need the old Aden in order to defeat the vampires, Adriana gives Aden the cure. Once restored, Aden immediately
knows how to defeat the vampires. He and Ariadne take care of them quickly and afterward, Aden and Adriana talk about
the person he was and agree that he's better off the way he is now.
|
