I wonder what that one memory Lilith used is. Her and Caleb in a weirdly empty room in ye olde times... prisoners? Although it seemed to fancy for imprisonment. And he was distant, perhaps? (ok, that's wild speculation considering we could really only see the back of his head haha. But he was far from her and not looking at her, so let's go with that). I guess her only fear is losing Caleb? Or something like that
I was wondering about that too. If her biggest fear is losing Caleb (and I'm speculating something major here), and it was enough of an event to still spark genuine fear in her when remembering it... I hate going there, but I wonder if that memory was during a time when Caleb was actively trying to end things. Maybe even the first time? What do you think?
I was thinking that, purely because he was sat very close to that window... but then I figured it wouldn't necessarily just be that specific memory that evoked fear in her, since he's tried a few times... was that the attempt where he was closest to being successful? Or was it nothing to do with that at all? I keep getting stuck on the lack of furniture in that room, why would they be in a room that was so empty? What does it mean? But there's only so much I can make up based on one image haha.
Oh gods Faith this chapter was hilarious I love her witty replies to Caleb and April being awkward pouty teenagers. And Melinda is amazing with smoothing things over and diffusing tension, haha. She has great timing. “Be mature, don’t get jealous, no tantrums” should really become April’s new mantra.
Aaah, so he really doesn’t have any actual experience with women! That’s why he still feels like such greenhorn despite being hundreds of years old. Geez, Caleb. Okay, I’m less hung up about you falling for a teenager now. You’re still a teenager yourself, despite your actual age. Suddenly I want to see the two of them on a super awkward first date.
Hosting D&D sessions on the side. Interested in playing through some fantasy-themed shenanigans? Send me a message 😘
Glad you enjoyed it. Faith absolutely cannot do 'subtle'. Yes, bless him, he's genuinely as clueless as she is.
Ha! I don't know about awkward first date; there's not really anywhere they can go, but maybe things will get awkward anyway now they know that they can drink...
Is Will a direct descendent of Wilbert Wangshaft? That’s what she called him in the previous chapter. I thought it was a cool nickname. Didn’t realise his ancestor used to be so ‘noble’ at least that’s how they must’ve been portrayed then. Man they killed Straud!? But Straud.. I can’t imagine him ever dying.
Y’know I’m trying so hard to give Caleb more leeway, but 300 years and a million lovers later and Caleb has the emotional and cognitive maturity level the same as April? We’ve seen April try to take control of her life by killing Sandy, finally making her own choices (though they’re all screwed up) and embracing her vampirichood as… gracefully as she can. Even though her methods were all over the place, she tried so hard to break out of Sandy’s grip. Caleb just let himself drown in his misery, blaming his insufferable life on Lilith’s lousy care. I really want to know what Lillith does to him that kept him a child all these years. She’s absolutely possessive, controlling and stifling but that wouldn’t be enough for how stunted his growth is. Maybe her dark form will finally reveal it all. Caleb is absolutely traumatised by her dark form for some reason so I’m guessing whatever abuse she inflicted on him must be done in a pit of rage. I really want to see it
Edit: See the dark form, not the abuse. I'm not that demented yet lol.
Yes, Will is descended from Wilbert Wangshaft. Hell yeah, they killed Vlad. Just one of the many ways I have snuffed him over the years. I'm not sorry.
Next chapter, Foamy... just one to go and all your questions will be answered. Kind of. Then you'll have a million more, I'm sure.
Whoa, there, Caleb. You do not get to call Faith a bad influence when you’re the 300-something-year-old adult in the house. That's like saying a kid is a bad influence on the adult neighbour. Take some responsibility for your own actions, ye potato. Also you keep doing what you’re doing Faith, it’s hilarious I do admire his restraint with April. Those three are making it very difficult for him, and he did manage to keep it in his pants, kind of.
Hm. Where have I heard the term “kittenish ways” before?
Caleb, darling. You guys got drunk, watched a scary movie and then all went to bed. You’re all adults. Kind of. Lilith has nothing to get angry over. Stop acting like a child that’s about to get scolded for staying up past his bedtime. Geez, I wonder how they’ve been living for all these years to have Caleb be so young and still so under Lilith’s thumb like that. She doesn’t seem like the type to infantilize people at all. Controlling, maybe. Hmmmm.
Ick, Will tastes good? Those plasma packs must be horrible compared to fresh blood, because I cannot for the life of me imagine someone like that having a good taste of anything. Ah… so she didn’t kill him. Her humanity hasn’t been lost that far, it seems. Interesting how she lost an ability that she did have before. Maybe the more fresh blood you drink, the stronger you get, and those plasma packs don’t count and make you weaker? I wonder if that is how it works.
Hosting D&D sessions on the side. Interested in playing through some fantasy-themed shenanigans? Send me a message 😘
I do give Caleb credit for resisting April. But he does come off as this scared little child that blames everyone else for what is happening.
I totally think Will needs to take a hike off a cliff or maybe a tree will "accidentally" fall on him in the woods. But props to Lilith for doing the right thing, I guess, and letting him live. And it was really interesting to see Lilith's backstory and how she vowed to be a good vampire. I wonder what happened? And how Seth ties into this? And was Caleb traumatized by Lilith's dark past, and that's why he is the way he is? It makes me feel a little more sympathetic to him if that's the case.
Interesting how she lost an ability that she did have before. Maybe the more fresh blood you drink, the stronger you get, and those plasma packs don’t count and make you weaker? I wonder if that is how it works.
I know Lilith said you have to lose a lot of humanity to gain certain powers, so I'm guessing if you roll back and attempt to be a "good vampire" not feeding on people, your powers weaken again. Which I'm assuming is what Caleb meant by saying she threw away what they've been working for. Powers versus humanity, right? At least that's what I'm thinking! [/ spoiler]
He did keep it in his pants! I mean, he might not have if Lilith hadn't rudely interrupted but we'll never know. And they were really trying to do him in. He's only human. OK, he's not, but you understand.
Purr...
Hmm... next time.
Yep, beats me. He's been dined on by nearly all the vamps in my game now and they all think he's delicious. Maybe because his blood is mostly beer. Maybe that's how it works... maybe not.
I love this chapter .... not because I love violence, but because it gave so many answers
However, there are still some issues that flutter restlessly around in the wind....
This is how it started, yes. Then there's another 250 ish years worth of events. Unfortunately, I won't live quite that long, so I'll have to summarise it somehow, at some point.
Okay I read ahead and realised Chapter 41 is not a continuation. Dangit. You do realise you're killing me right? I scrapped and reformulate profiles for Caleb and Lilith. Now I have to do Faith too. OOOf. My brain.
Anyway this is for Chapter 40. I'll comment on 41 when my mind is less buzzed.
Okay so this entire piece here are my assumptions and questions. Feel free to correct any part because eck Imma get a headache with the many possibilities and directions each question has. Totally messed up my head.
Caleb has become more interesting for me. The chapter doesn't give enough reason for his whiny-ness, but I'm liking the amazing lore you build around vamps and how turning halts their development.
Ok so I’m assuming because vampires are considered dead hence if one were to turn when they were a baby their brain wouldn’t have developed the mental capacity required for emotional intelligence. But the fact that Caleb can question “”Am I a monster Lil?”” would mean that although infant-turned vampires start off with deprived emotional capacity, they can learn emotional intelligence, just at an extremely low rate. Right?
This brings me to my next question. (Is this halting of development exclusive to children? Or is it a general application towards all turned vampires? i.e. Our brains only fully mature around age 24-26, so will a freshly turned 21 y.o. vampire struggle with the final bit of emotional development, perhaps only reaching maturity during much later years of 30 or 35? Or would they still reach emotional maturity at the same rate? If I'm right to assume that vampirism halts biological growth, then emotional processing and depth may stop there, but the vampire already has enough reasoning skill and EQ to develop emotional maturity further. I suppose the summary of my question is "Do vampires in your lore continue to grow EQ and capacity after they've been turned, so Lilith could theoretically have the EQ of a 300++ y.o. vampire?" (I know she doesn't, just theoretically, under pure uninterupted, optimum conditions and best variables lol.)
Caleb's compromised emotional growth makes me worry for April and Caleb’s happiness as a couple in the future. There’s a possibility that April may develop her EQ much faster than Caleb would. That may cause a disparity in their needs and wants in a partner in the future.
This also means that whatever and however we perceive Caleb’s current condition/development, without intervention, Caleb’s innate characteristics would be similar to Seth or rogue vampires. I can’t help thinking Seth is the one who killed Charlotte and whatever Lilith’s dog of a father is called. (I mean, look at those pirate boots Charlotte was facing when she breathed her last breath!) Did Seth caught a stray bite when he was slaying vamps?
Anyway back to Caleb, this chapter makes me admire Lilith in a new way in that although Caleb struggles with restraint and emotional perception, she has imparted in him a strong sense of morality. And for all his confusion around why he should care, he took it upon himself to try anyway. So Caleb is admirable too. Although I have to say this is a terrible double edged sword as pointed out in your story since Caleb knows clearly how important morality is to his sister and the world, but cannot feel it nor apply it onto himself. He can develop a learned understanding of it, but it will never be as deep nor will he ever experience it himself. Hence, adopting Lilith's morality is an added layer of torment that he will think himself innately flawed and 'lacking'.
Lilith
A strong question I got though, is that: Is Lilith truly numb when she provided us this chapter? She lost her humanity along the way so arguably yes. But there’s a possibility that the narration/narrator of this chapter is unreliable considering we’re looking at this from Lilith’s point of view. Parts that I expected her to rage or cry, or become aggressive or at least passive aggressive towards Caleb are glossed over. So I am wondering if she simply numbed her feelings, or because it is in her perception hence, she is recounting where she did ‘well’ and ignoring her ‘mistakes’. She grew up in an extremely abusive household. Am wondering if she internalised some of it, embodied some of it and applied it to Caleb. Her recount seems too good to be true.
Read the next chapter and surprise surprise, Seth claims Lilith has the least humanity out of all of them. But Seth can dive into minds so much deeper than Lilith can? And he 'gave her everything'? So she surpassed him? Oops. Stick to chapter 40, Foamy!
By the way, Lilith is hands down DA BOSS. Yes yes, she has no humanity according to Seth and makes Caleb look really bad. But to be treated like cattle, abused and tortured in so many ways, then care for Caleb even though he is the chosen one unlike her the unwanted extra, teach him restraint, care for all the broken girls in his stead, find him food, believe him good even though she has every reason to think him "irreformable". Even parents have their moments of giving up on their child. But even when Caleb killed Nathaniel, Lilith continued to find a way for them. When Caleb abandoned himself, Lilith still hasn't abandoned him. Lilith's resilience and perseverance is admirable. Like what the plum.. she's amazing.
(Am still waiting for Caleb's POV where he reveals her teachings and care to be punctuated with passive aggressiveness and hidden hate for all that Caleb stands for and takes after. Especially after Nathaniel's death. I also have another theory where I think she was so numb at that point that she taught and cared for Caleb without love. That she herself is so numb to emotions that it was simply an obligation or that she was merely used him to prove her own worth. Geez that's really sad. I'm hoping what you reveal is far better! Considering how my prediction is that Lilith almost killed Caleb, maybe my mind is simply geared towards the icky. )
And one last thing!
What does it mean to be bound? Mel and Faith took from April so they are ‘unbound vampires’. So is April bound to Caleb? Why can’t Mel and Faith be bound to April? How does this work? Or is it a ‘social’ bound than ‘blood’ bound so it’s simply a patriarchal practice and not a magic one so there's no such thing as bonds now that vamps have become progressive too?
@mercuryfoam
Right... lemme pull up a chair and bore you mindless.
although infant-turned vampires start off with deprived emotional capacity, they can learn emotional intelligence, just at an extremely low rate. Right?
will a freshly turned 21 y.o. vampire struggle with the final bit of emotional development, perhaps only reaching maturity during much later years of 30 or 35? Or would they still reach emotional maturity at the same rate?
Do vampires in your lore continue to grow EQ and capacity after they've been turned, so Lilith could theoretically have the EQ of a 300++ y.o. vampire
Anything we humans would deem as development (body and mind/emotional development) stops completely when the curse manifests (usually around the age of 18) and they become 'frozen in time'. So, in the cases of these characters: April/Faith/Melinda all swapped bodily fluids when they were already 18/19 so their curses manifested almost straightaway; they're stuck at that level of development now and will forever look 18/19.
Lilith was 15 when she drank from Charlotte. It would have been 3 years before her curse fully manifested, which is why she only had 'tiny fangs' and no real thirst for a while. In those 3 years, she would have still been able to learn, but at a much reduced rate, that reduced exponentially the closer she got to 18. So, we'll split the difference and say her emotional age is around 17.
Then we have poor Caleb, forced to drink aged 2. Again, his curse didn't fully manifest until he was 18, which is when his thirst developed and he attacked Nathaniel. From aged 2, his capacity to learn emotionally was severely reduced by his vampirism, like Lilith. Unlike Lilith, he didn't have memories or experiences to draw from to reference and help him learn, because he was only 2, there's only so much a two year old can actively remember, if anything. Add into this, that his curse would be manifesting for 16 years, pushing out what he was trying to learn, it's safe to assume that by the time Lilith realised that Caleb needed active intervention (when he was a teen and ruining girls) that it was largely too late to do anything. Caleb is, essentially, rogue. A small boy in the body of a very dangerous, urge-driven beast.
Of course, all of the above is assuming there's not a way to manipulate a vampire brain externally, which there may be...
Although I have to say this is a terrible double edged sword as pointed out in your story since Caleb knows clearly how important morality is to his sister and the world, but cannot feel it nor apply it onto himself. He can develop a learned understanding of it, but it will never be as deep nor will he ever experience it himself. Hence, adopting Lilith's morality is an added layer of torment that he will think himself innately flawed and 'lacking'.
Bang on.
Is Lilith truly numb when she provided us this chapter?
Parts that I expected her to rage or cry, or become aggressive or at least passive aggressive towards Caleb are glossed over.
She said it herself "Eventually, I learned that my fear was what really did it for the sick monster and learned to numb myself"
Lilith certainly deserves some admiration for carrying on through all this huge pile of poop she's had to deal with, but it takes a certain type of person to be able to do that.
What does it mean to be bound?
It's a way of turning a human which results in them being the sire's possession. It involves draining the human completely of blood and 'replacing' it with the sire's. Practiced commonly among society vampires during marriage, but deemed archaic and monsterous as it takes away the autonomy of the bride. So in this chapter, Charlotte was bound to Silas; he had complete control over her, body and mind and could bend her to his will, although we do see her manipulating him, too, and defying him as best she can. It's a patriarchal practice, yes, to create a submissive wife. But just because it's not deemed acceptable anymore, doesn't mean there's not a vamp out there somewhere who'd still practice it.
It's a way of turning a human which results in them being the sire's possession. It involves draining the human completely of blood and 'replacing' it with the sire's. Practiced commonly among society vampires during marriage, but deemed archaic and monsterous as it takes away the autonomy of the bride. So in this chapter, Charlotte was bound to Silas; he had complete control over her, body and mind and could bend her to his will, although we do see her manipulating him, too, and defying him as best she can. It's a patriarchal practice, yes, to create a submissive wife. But just because it's not deemed acceptable anymore, doesn't mean there's not a vamp out there somewhere who'd still practice it.
Didn't Lilith do something like that to April when she almost died? Was also mentioned in passing that she gave some of her blood to Caleb too.
EDIT: Thank you for clarifying! Will reread tomorrow too sleepy!
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@_sims_Yimi
Story Blog | Forum Discussion
Chapter 38 - Ten Thousand Lovers
Aaah, so he really doesn’t have any actual experience with women! That’s why he still feels like such greenhorn despite being hundreds of years old. Geez, Caleb.
@_sims_Yimi
Ha! I don't know about awkward first date; there's not really anywhere they can go, but maybe things will get awkward anyway now they know that they can drink...
Chapter 39 - Behave
Y’know I’m trying so hard to give Caleb more leeway, but 300 years and a million lovers later and Caleb has the emotional and cognitive maturity level the same as April? We’ve seen April try to take control of her life by killing Sandy, finally making her own choices (though they’re all screwed up) and embracing her vampirichood as… gracefully as she can. Even though her methods were all over the place, she tried so hard to break out of Sandy’s grip. Caleb just let himself drown in his misery, blaming his insufferable life on Lilith’s lousy care. I really want to know what Lillith does to him that kept him a child all these years. She’s absolutely possessive, controlling and stifling but that wouldn’t be enough for how stunted his growth is. Maybe her dark form will finally reveal it all. Caleb is absolutely traumatised by her dark form for some reason so I’m guessing whatever abuse she inflicted on him must be done in a pit of rage. I really want to see it
Edit: See the dark form, not the abuse. I'm not that demented yet lol.
Next chapter, Foamy... just one to go and all your questions will be answered. Kind of. Then you'll have a million more, I'm sure.
Hm. Where have I heard the term “kittenish ways” before?
Caleb, darling. You guys got drunk, watched a scary movie and then all went to bed. You’re all adults. Kind of. Lilith has nothing to get angry over. Stop acting like a child that’s about to get scolded for staying up past his bedtime. Geez, I wonder how they’ve been living for all these years to have Caleb be so young and still so under Lilith’s thumb like that. She doesn’t seem like the type to infantilize people at all. Controlling, maybe. Hmmmm.
Ick, Will tastes good?
I totally think Will needs to take a hike off a cliff or maybe a tree will "accidentally" fall on him in the woods. But props to Lilith for doing the right thing, I guess, and letting him live. And it was really interesting to see Lilith's backstory and how she vowed to be a good vampire. I wonder what happened? And how Seth ties into this? And was Caleb traumatized by Lilith's dark past, and that's why he is the way he is? It makes me feel a little more sympathetic to him if that's the case.
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Purr...
Hmm... next time.
Yep, beats me. He's been dined on by nearly all the vamps in my game now and they all think he's delicious. Maybe because his blood is mostly beer. Maybe that's how it works... maybe not.
@DeafSimmer
@lone_cat
@ThePlumbob
Character Songs
Chapter 40 - Better Days
However, there are still some issues that flutter restlessly around in the wind....
Yes, there is so much that still we haven't even scratched the surface of yet. I know who you're waiting to hear more from. Soon, very soon.
@DeafSimmer
Chapter 41 - Master of Minds
Anyway this is for Chapter 40. I'll comment on 41 when my mind is less buzzed.
Caleb has become more interesting for me. The chapter doesn't give enough reason for his whiny-ness, but I'm liking the amazing lore you build around vamps and how turning halts their development.
Ok so I’m assuming because vampires are considered dead hence if one were to turn when they were a baby their brain wouldn’t have developed the mental capacity required for emotional intelligence. But the fact that Caleb can question “”Am I a monster Lil?”” would mean that although infant-turned vampires start off with deprived emotional capacity, they can learn emotional intelligence, just at an extremely low rate. Right?
This brings me to my next question. (Is this halting of development exclusive to children? Or is it a general application towards all turned vampires? i.e. Our brains only fully mature around age 24-26, so will a freshly turned 21 y.o. vampire struggle with the final bit of emotional development, perhaps only reaching maturity during much later years of 30 or 35? Or would they still reach emotional maturity at the same rate? If I'm right to assume that vampirism halts biological growth, then emotional processing and depth may stop there, but the vampire already has enough reasoning skill and EQ to develop emotional maturity further. I suppose the summary of my question is "Do vampires in your lore continue to grow EQ and capacity after they've been turned, so Lilith could theoretically have the EQ of a 300++ y.o. vampire?" (I know she doesn't, just theoretically, under pure uninterupted, optimum conditions and best variables lol.)
Caleb's compromised emotional growth makes me worry for April and Caleb’s happiness as a couple in the future. There’s a possibility that April may develop her EQ much faster than Caleb would. That may cause a disparity in their needs and wants in a partner in the future.
This also means that whatever and however we perceive Caleb’s current condition/development, without intervention, Caleb’s innate characteristics would be similar to Seth or rogue vampires. I can’t help thinking Seth is the one who killed Charlotte and whatever Lilith’s dog of a father is called. (I mean, look at those pirate boots Charlotte was facing when she breathed her last breath!) Did Seth caught a stray bite when he was slaying vamps?
Anyway back to Caleb, this chapter makes me admire Lilith in a new way in that although Caleb struggles with restraint and emotional perception, she has imparted in him a strong sense of morality. And for all his confusion around why he should care, he took it upon himself to try anyway. So Caleb is admirable too. Although I have to say this is a terrible double edged sword as pointed out in your story since Caleb knows clearly how important morality is to his sister and the world, but cannot feel it nor apply it onto himself. He can develop a learned understanding of it, but it will never be as deep nor will he ever experience it himself. Hence, adopting Lilith's morality is an added layer of torment that he will think himself innately flawed and 'lacking'.
Lilith
A strong question I got though, is that: Is Lilith truly numb when she provided us this chapter? She lost her humanity along the way so arguably yes. But there’s a possibility that the narration/narrator of this chapter is unreliable considering we’re looking at this from Lilith’s point of view. Parts that I expected her to rage or cry, or become aggressive or at least passive aggressive towards Caleb are glossed over. So I am wondering if she simply numbed her feelings, or because it is in her perception hence, she is recounting where she did ‘well’ and ignoring her ‘mistakes’. She grew up in an extremely abusive household. Am wondering if she internalised some of it, embodied some of it and applied it to Caleb. Her recount seems too good to be true.
Read the next chapter and surprise surprise, Seth claims Lilith has the least humanity out of all of them. But Seth can dive into minds so much deeper than Lilith can? And he 'gave her everything'? So she surpassed him? Oops. Stick to chapter 40, Foamy!
By the way, Lilith is hands down DA BOSS. Yes yes, she has no humanity according to Seth and makes Caleb look really bad. But to be treated like cattle, abused and tortured in so many ways, then care for Caleb even though he is the chosen one unlike her the unwanted extra, teach him restraint, care for all the broken girls in his stead, find him food, believe him good even though she has every reason to think him "irreformable". Even parents have their moments of giving up on their child. But even when Caleb killed Nathaniel, Lilith continued to find a way for them. When Caleb abandoned himself, Lilith still hasn't abandoned him. Lilith's resilience and perseverance is admirable. Like what the plum.. she's amazing.
(Am still waiting for Caleb's POV where he reveals her teachings and care to be punctuated with passive aggressiveness and hidden hate for all that Caleb stands for and takes after. Especially after Nathaniel's death. I also have another theory where I think she was so numb at that point that she taught and cared for Caleb without love. That she herself is so numb to emotions that it was simply an obligation or that she was merely used him to prove her own worth. Geez that's really sad. I'm hoping what you reveal is far better! Considering how my prediction is that Lilith almost killed Caleb, maybe my mind is simply geared towards the icky.
And one last thing!
What does it mean to be bound? Mel and Faith took from April so they are ‘unbound vampires’. So is April bound to Caleb? Why can’t Mel and Faith be bound to April? How does this work? Or is it a ‘social’ bound than ‘blood’ bound so it’s simply a patriarchal practice and not a magic one so there's no such thing as bonds now that vamps have become progressive too?
Right... lemme pull up a chair and bore you mindless.
Anything we humans would deem as development (body and mind/emotional development) stops completely when the curse manifests (usually around the age of 18) and they become 'frozen in time'. So, in the cases of these characters: April/Faith/Melinda all swapped bodily fluids when they were already 18/19 so their curses manifested almost straightaway; they're stuck at that level of development now and will forever look 18/19.
Lilith was 15 when she drank from Charlotte. It would have been 3 years before her curse fully manifested, which is why she only had 'tiny fangs' and no real thirst for a while. In those 3 years, she would have still been able to learn, but at a much reduced rate, that reduced exponentially the closer she got to 18. So, we'll split the difference and say her emotional age is around 17.
Then we have poor Caleb, forced to drink aged 2. Again, his curse didn't fully manifest until he was 18, which is when his thirst developed and he attacked Nathaniel. From aged 2, his capacity to learn emotionally was severely reduced by his vampirism, like Lilith. Unlike Lilith, he didn't have memories or experiences to draw from to reference and help him learn, because he was only 2, there's only so much a two year old can actively remember, if anything. Add into this, that his curse would be manifesting for 16 years, pushing out what he was trying to learn, it's safe to assume that by the time Lilith realised that Caleb needed active intervention (when he was a teen and ruining girls) that it was largely too late to do anything. Caleb is, essentially, rogue. A small boy in the body of a very dangerous, urge-driven beast.
Of course, all of the above is assuming there's not a way to manipulate a vampire brain externally, which there may be...
She said it herself "Eventually, I learned that my fear was what really did it for the sick monster and learned to numb myself"
Lilith certainly deserves some admiration for carrying on through all this huge pile of poop she's had to deal with, but it takes a certain type of person to be able to do that.
It's a way of turning a human which results in them being the sire's possession. It involves draining the human completely of blood and 'replacing' it with the sire's. Practiced commonly among society vampires during marriage, but deemed archaic and monsterous as it takes away the autonomy of the bride. So in this chapter, Charlotte was bound to Silas; he had complete control over her, body and mind and could bend her to his will, although we do see her manipulating him, too, and defying him as best she can. It's a patriarchal practice, yes, to create a submissive wife. But just because it's not deemed acceptable anymore, doesn't mean there's not a vamp out there somewhere who'd still practice it.
EDIT: Thank you for clarifying! Will reread tomorrow too sleepy!