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Fantasy St. George's School for Young Hunters (closed)

Bram nodded wisely. "She would probably have dismantled the entire court. They really dodged a bullet."

Vlad's lips twitched. He personally thought it would have been a huge headache on both sides, but he didn't feel the need to say so. He had probably made enough snide comments that Bram felt sufficiently bad about it to make him pause next time.

Bram frowned at Maria's musings, glancing at Vlad. He knew that just how much they were bound was something that Vlad preferred to keep to himself. He was pretty certain they were even more stuck together than Vlad let on. Once, when he had been very stressed and tired, he had said something that made Bram think Vlad was sure Bram's death would kill the both of them.

"That has more to do with the method of her creation than our bond," Vlad said. Bram kept his face straight, but he was fairly certain that was a misdirection. So Vlad didn't trust Maria enough to delve into their bond. Ok. Noted.

"I'm still waiting on the paternity test, personally," Bram joked with a grin. If it was misdirection Vlad wanted, he could certainly help with that.

Vlad rolled his eyes. "Magic, Abraham, not genetics."

"I think there are several reasons she's not my kid. The primary one being that you're cute and all, but not really my type."

Vlad shook his head. "See, this is why Agni is so confused. He does not understand you are joking." He slid his eyes back to Maria. "You have nothing to concern yourself over our dealings with the Fae."

"Ain't our first rodeo," Bram agreed, patting Vlad's knee.




Devon cocked his head. "Yeah but like... you don't have to introduce yourself to everyone. And Vlad introducing you would be pretty standard for vampire culture, anyway." He was pretty sure Agni did not want to introduce himself, so Devon was really just trying to help him feel better about not doing it. "Yeah, she'll be back."

"We use body language, too," Devon said. "But probably not to the same extent as you do." He chuckled. "Yeah, not feelings, really. Except the people who can see auras. Like Vlad and Scarlet. The rest of us can... kinda feel other people's feelings? It's really just empathy, though, not actually feeling their feelings."

Devon crinkled his nose. Okay, that made no sense. He was probably just confusing the crap out of Agni.

Devon nodded at Agni's admission. The other boy didn't sleep, right? He always seemed awake and doing things when Devon sneaked to the kitchen to grab a bowl of cereal or something. Like the previous night when he had found Vlad sitting in the dark. If he was going to get caught sneaking around by anyone, it was the two who had an unhealthy relationship to sleep.

"Well," Devon started. "Maybe you should rest then?" He paused, wondering if it was like Winona. "If you need someone to watch your back while you sleep, you can curl up in my bed. I'll make sure... y'know. You're safe."

It felt a little weird to offer, but Bram had once off-handly said it was totally fine that he had to share a room with Vlad now because it meant he could lift his head to make sure Vlad was in the other bed and then he'd sleep easier. So if it wasn't a weird thing to want someone else in the room while you slept, it probably wasn't weird to offer. And anyway, Agni was family now, right?

Devon nodded wisely. "Yeah, well, I think it's fine for people to call themselves that when they're reclaiming slurs, but I don't think it's ok for people outside of their experience to call them that."

Was that right? He wasn't really sure. But it sounded right.
 
"Yeah," Alex said softly. "It does work pretty great." He leaned over and brushed his lips to May's cheek.

"So! The move," he said, hoping May wouldn't notice how much he was blushing. "Anything particular you are going to try to lobby for? I was going to suggest a dedicated room for a library, but I think that's already on Vlad's list of must-haves."

___

"Ah, that makes more sense," Maria said. She supposed it was possible that Bram had magically been involved in Scarlet's creation- Or it was possible they were hiding something from her. But she really didn't have the high ground when it came to concealing information about one's progeny.... So. It didn't really matter to her either way, so she was content to let it be.

"Speaking of Agni," she said, feeling sorry for the kid who had chosen this particular family as his exposure to 'normal' life, "Alex has filled me in on the situation with him and what's going on with May. I'm having my archives digitized, so you will have full access to whatever resources I have available. Some of it is.... Not able to be digitized, but you are welcome to visit at your convenience."

She said this casually, as though she invited people not related to her to her home regularly, and not once every hundred years. Annabelle and Matthew had been married for several decades before the redhead had been allowed to visit.

"My staff is prioritizing anything related to extradimensional entities," she continued. "I've.... Had reason to be wary of such beings in the past, so have been collecting material on them for quite awhile now. I've also asked them to flag anything related to that island, or the geographic area around it, but I'm less optimistic about finding leads that way since it's a much narrower search and personally, I'd never heard of Domina in a supernatural context until I met May."

Maria was apparently of the opinion that if she wasn't aware of something, it was unlikely to have been written down anywhere.

"Can you think of any other topics of research that would be of interest?"
 
May grinned when Alex kissed his cheek, his own face flushing hotter than normal.

"Right! Honestly, I haven't really thought about it. It's a little, uh, freak-out worthy, I guess?" He tried to smile so Alex didn't get too concerned, but he was a little bit overwhelming.

He had grown up in a two bedroom house with his grandparents and his dad, and his dad had wonderfully given up his childhood bedroom for May when he was old enough to need one. He was pretty sure that as much as his dad loved him, he was grateful to have a real bed again when May moved out. Eighteen odd years of sleeping on the pull out couch would kill even the strongest man's back. Gabriel's house had been more spacious, but also very empty. Sure, there was company, and Gabe was always willing to spend time with him, but the hustle and bustle of the townhouse made him feel more at home. It took away the loneliness of having an entire four level house all to himself when Gabe was gone.

Alex had definitely grown up in something more spacious though. Honestly, even Vlad was used to living back at his castle, right? So maybe it was a little odd that May would miss the townhouse.

"A library would be really cool. I mean, it would be kind of neat to have a pool, but I don't know if Bram and Vlad would go for that. Hmmmm... I don't even know if we could have it in this climate, but the one thing I'd want is a mango tree. You saw the one back home, right? My, like, great grandma or something planted that damn tree. I'm pretty sure it's, like, older than Scarlet. You guys definitely get a lot more different produce and stuff here, but by the time it gets here it's not fresh anymore. Nothing is better than just going out and grabbing fruit from a tree in your yard."



Agni looked at Devon, a little taken aback. He opened his mouth and then closed it again, feeling a bit like a fish.

Hearing that he didn't have to do something that was expected of him by his superiors was... a strange feeling. He wanted to argue on principle, but Devon had been right about pretty much everything else so far. Maybe he did know better about this.

"Auras are like energy, right?" he mused, tilting his head to the side. "I didn't know that elder could do that. That may be why the house's magic tastes bad."

Trying to eat the energy of another guardian always felt like trying to eat a particularly sour lemon. Tasting the magic of the house hadn't been quite like that, but it had been unpleasant. Spicy, but also cold, like biting into a frozen pepper. If he left the territory's magic itself alone, the ambient emotional energy around the house was easy enough to feed on, and the magic didn't seem to object to him taking it.

Not that he took more than the bare minimum. Feeding off the energy of other sentient beings was something he had never been completely comfortable with. The birds and squirrels in the back, along with the occasional stray cat, was more to his liking. Animal feelings were less fulfilling, but they were simpler and easier to understand.

When Devon offered to let Agni sleep in his bed, he froze. Nobody had offered to ever look out for him while he slept before aside from May. It made him feel... strange. Warm and fuzzy inside.

He cleared his throat, hoping that the strangeness didn't show on his face.

"I, er. Thank you. I appreciate the offer, it's just..."

He hesitated, suddenly finding the embroidery on his clothes very interesting.

Was it ok to talk about this? He didn't think that Devon would rat him out, and he was fairly certain nobody here would ever attack him. He had been taught never to reveal a weakness, but everyone around here seemed to be ok with casually leaning on one another. He chewed on his lower lip, then ran his fingers through his hair. The hair tie holding it back disappeared, giving him a chance to fuss with it a bit.

Ah, hell. He was already behaving very strangely for a guardian. If the tiger wanted him to experience a more normal mortal life, he might as well go all in.

"I can't really... maintain my body here while sleeping. If I go to sleep, my vessel here will return to just being an ordinary teacup. If it's damaged or broken, I, er... won't be able to come back."

He took in a deep breath, trying his best to calm his nerves.

"I also, er, haven't really slept in... a while. If I went to sleep now, I likely wouldn't wake up for about a week or so, and I have so much work to do already. I can just imagine what would pile up while I wasn't around."
 
Vlad nodded. At this point, he assumed anything that went on in their family was retold to Maria. It wasn't that he begrudged Alex his venting or pleas for help, he just was not used to people outside his family knowing what he considered his business. But he and Bram had already had several hushed conversations in their closet about the matter. In one of those conversations, they had agreed that May and Agni mattered more than Vlad's obsession with privacy and unwillingness to accept outside help. If Maria could help them keep their shortest family members alive, Vlad was willing to sacrifice quite a few of his secrets.

Bram nodded. Archives. Great. More reading. Honestly, why was there nothing he could stab to fix this problem? But he would read for their resident burrito child and many-legged child. Or, he would help Vlad read. It really worked better for him to facilitate the reading rather than actually doing it.

When Maria casually invited them over in the same tone of voice Vlad had used to casually suggest Bram meet the dragon side of his family, Bram raised his eyebrows. He certainly had not been invited to many vampire homes. There was Vlad's, of course, and Von Batts'--though that probably hadn't counted as inviting--and then the Yates'. Well then. Were they friends now?

Vlad nodded. They had heard about Domina due to their line of work. They heard about anything that sounded off. And Vlad had even asked the Starless if she knew of the beings that lived in a nearby dimension. She had, but no specifics.

"Think if we asked the dickheads with rods up their asses they'd help?" Bram asked. It was something they threw around in one of their hushed closet sessions, but they had mostly decided the Guardians would probably say something along the lines of "good riddance" or "It is as it was meant to be" or "you want to prolong the life of the SERPENT??" like Larry was some evil nightmare instead of a little weird kid who just wanted to try waffles.

Vlad was shaking his head, just as he had crammed in their closet. "We do think their may be similar entities elsewhere around the world. We have heard talk of a few things that sound similar over the years. Bram and I think tracking one of them down and talking with them may be useful."

"There's also a few people who study them we plan to talk to," Bram added. "But, uh, we just keep batting zero."

Vlad glanced at Bram. "Was that a vampire pun."

"Vampi--? No, like baseball, you dork." Bram grinned. "If it were a vampire pun, I'd be batting four. Five with Scarlet. Or four total? Do the twins just count as half or...?"

Vlad rolled his eyes before sliding them back to Maria. "We are following after anything that could be in any way, shape, or form related. Homunculi may also be something you could research. Despite being something that was once considered a science, the original creators were remarkably remiss in recording their process."

"Or didn't want other people copying them," Bram pointed out.

"Yes, well, most of the records just hold failed procedures."





Devon nodded. "Yeah, that's the energy. It's like..." He frowned, trying to think how Vlad had described it. Sometimes, he thought he saw something, but he figured it was just because he knew it was there. "Like a halo of energy around people. Vlad, uh, Elder, can use it to see people's magic and stuff."

But then Agni casually said the house's magic tasted bad. Devon was pretty sure you didn't just go around tasting magic? But clearly Agni did so maybe it was a guardian thing. Actually, now that he thought about it, Scarlet apparently smelled people's auras, so who knew. Vlad had once tried to explain how the magic worked when he asked him about his temperamental castle. Vlad had tried to explain that it wasn't sentient, exactly. Just enough magic had built up for the energy to take on various quirks. Bram had added that it usually responded to all the family members but it was peevish because Vlad was peevish. Vlad had then demonstrated this by giving Bram a peeved look, so Devon wasn't really sure why the magic would taste bad.

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, it's all of our energy just sinking into the house right? So it's probably a lot of weird flavors that don't really go together. Since... y'know. We're not, like, all related? I guess?"

When he suggested Agni take a nap in his bed, Agni froze like a deer in the headlights. And then he got a weird look on his face and flushed a bit, and Devon started to feel like Agni was taking it the wrong way or not ready for this level of friendship. He was about to apologize and say no pressure and not to worry about it at all when Agni explained he would turn into a teacup. Fortunately, Devon only had a few seconds of panicking about how he would care for a teacup when Agni explained he would sleep for a week.

Devon's mouth dropped open. Agni would need to sleep for a week and he thought putting it off was a good idea? Devon had no idea what to do with that. He knew for damn sure that delaying sleep was a terrible idea. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before dragging up a conversation he had overheard between Bram and Vlad very recently. Channeling Bram--but removing the slayer's casual explicates that had definitely been intended to get Vlad to pay attention--Devon said, "Agni, I really think you should consider sleeping. I know your body works differently but even you can't survive on no sleep, right?"

Here Bram had said Vlad was a damn-useless zombie and way better as a damn-annoying vampire, but Devon didn't think that metaphor quite applied with Agni.

"And don't you think... maybe... that you not sleeping to do all the work will make you more likely to not do the work well?" But because he understood the worry of letting someone else down, he added, "Maybe we can help. Is there anything I or one of the others could do to help you so you can sleep? Because, uh, I definitely think sleeping is a good idea." And because he didn't want Agni to think he was talking down to him or anything, he added, "I mean, I know you're super important to Dominia. But you need to be on your A-game, right? And that's best done with sleep. I'm sure we can all help you so you won't get behind while you're, um, a teacup for a week."
 
"I think we could convince them of a pool," Alex mused. "Swimming is a great low impact exercise. And Win seemed to really like the beach when we were at Domina, so she might like a pool too." She had never been swimming before and had seemed fascinated by the concept, if a bit scared.

"I bet we could figure out a mango tree," Alex promised excitedly, caught up in May's enthusiasm. "Yeah, it's not really the climate for it, but what's the point of magic if we can't bend the rules a little bit?"

It would have to be a personal research project- He kinda doubted that Maria's magical tutelage extended to 'growing a mango tree as a gift for his boyfriend'.

____

"The 'dickheads'.....? Do you mean the Council?," Maria asked, already shaking her head in the negative. "I doubt they'd be useful- If anything, if you asked for their help they'd claim you can't manage the dangers of your own household and try to justify taking away Devon and Winona."

She paused when Vlad mentioned tracking down similar beings, and sighed internally. She supposed they were trusting her with their family secrets, so.

"The reason I have for my interest in extradimensional entities," she said, "Is because my brother has been dating one off and on for the last several hundred years," she revealed. "It tends not to be on this plane of existence the vast majority of the time, but if it currently is among us, I'll see if I can arrange for it to meet with you. Fair warning, however- I can count on one hand the number of times it has been helpful. It might also decide to solve the problem itself by wiping May, Agni, and all of Domina out of existence," she said with a bitterness that spoke of personal grief. "But I think it has enough of a soft spot for Matthew at this point that such an outcome could be avoided."

She was pretty sure, at least- Maybe it would be best not to involve 'Jack' at all.
 
May grinned, clearly happy that Alex was on board.

'You would really use magic to get me a mango tree?' he asked, the delight in his voice downright palpable. 'You really are the best boyfriend ever. I can't believe how much I lucked out here.'


Agni was pretty sure that it was less that the house's magic was a mix of energies and more that it had perceived Agni's little taste of its abilities as a threat. He had backed off very quickly, because the last thing he wanted was for anyone here to think that he was malicious. When he kept his feeding to tiny amounts of ambient energy, the magic didn't seem to react. He imagined it felt that he wasn't going to do any harm, or something like that. Energy usually wasn't sentient like that unless it was old or sacred. Either way, Agni wasn't going to test his luck.

He grimaced when Devon got caught up on how badly he had been avoiding sleep.

'I have gone longer than this without sleep before,' he said weakly, though it wasn't really a good argument. Even he knew that he was running on fumes. May would be horrified if he found out how long Agni had gone without sleeping.

Normally three to four hours a week was enough, but he'd been sleepless for almost two months. He had kind of hoped he could keep going until he crashed, but that didn't really seem to be an option.

He chewed on his lower lip, shifting from one foot to another. Devon was talking sense, and he seemed to be genuinely concerned. It was an unusual experience, since the only one who ever really seemed to be concerned about him was May. This whole family thing was going to take some getting used to.

'I can't... I have to wrap up loose ends first. Reschedule meetings and send emails. But maybe, er... After that, if you could just... Make sure the vessel isn't damaged?' he suggested, feeling very silly about this. 'I don't really follow the usual traditions when it comes to sleeping, I don't need the vessel enshrined or anything, but just... Maybe put on a shelf where it would be safe?'

He licked his lips, the colour in his cheeks darkening.

'I've, er, never really talked about this before, so I don't know what would be normal? Or maybe this isn't really, er, normal to mortals. As long as the vessel isn't shattered or broken beyond repair I can come back just fine. It's just, er, a little...'

He took a deep breath and let it out.

'It's a bit embarrassing to rely on other people to keep my vessel safe while I sleep. I don't really like it. I could definitely stay awake longer! But I should probably go to sleep soon. Maybe this weekend.'

He hesitated, then sighed again.

'I'm not really used to this family thing, and I don't know what I'm doing, but I figured it would be rude to just disappear.'

He also was terrified that someone in the house would damage or throw away his vessel when he wasn't there to stop them. It took years to build up enough power so that he could stay in the human realm as effortlessly as he did. If he needed to create a new vessel, he would only be able to show up for maybe an hour or two each day, and probably only in a smaller form.
 
“Not those dickheads, the other dickheads,” Bram said.

Vlad sighed. Bram needed more varied nicknames for groups of people he didn’t like. “He means the Guardians,” he translated. “Do not worry, we are keeping this out of the Council’s view.”

Vlad nodded, noting that Maria called the entity “it”. Not him, her, or they. It. Which meant she probably had a very low opinion of the entity, not that they used “it”. Her tone certainly suggested it.

“Perhaps involving a more volatile interdimensional entity is unwise,” Vlad said, thinking he would rather not have to deal with someone who thought that erasing people from existence was the ultimate solution.

Bram made a face. “But what about leaving no stone unturned?”

Vlad sighed. “Yes, but Abraham, I would rather not ask this person for help only to have them suggest death is the best option.”

“I fed Larry waffles,” Bram said, which had been his favorite argument since he had, indeed, convinced an interdimentional creature bent on world destruction back to sleep with his cooking. It had become his shorthand for arguing that they could find a way to defeat creatures Vlad preferred not to tangle with.

Vlad rubbed his forehead, thoroughly tired of this argument. He had not found a good rebuttal yet. “I doubt Matthew’s erstwhile significant other can be placated with waffles, Abraham.”

“You don’t know that.”

“And you do not know that we can stop them if they do decide to snap them out of existence.”

“What if they have answers?”

Vlad pinched the bridge of his nose. He had not been sleeping or eating well since… well. Since they adopted the twins, he supposed.

Bram squeezed his knee. “It may be worth the risk.” He grinned. “With your diplomacy and my raw charm, Matt’s friend with benefits cannot fail to help us.”

“Let me think about it.”

Bram grinned. He winked at Maria. “That’s a yes. Who is Matt’s fuck friend?”

“Abraham.”

“The kids aren’t listening, I can say ‘fuck’.”





Devon nodded slowly. Right. He was still struggling a bit with the teacup bit. Right. He had a sibling who turned into a teacup when he slept. Totally fine. Just normal stuff in the Drakonii-Leeuwen household.

Devon focused on what did make sense. “Well yes, rescheduling all that is a good idea. And sure, I’d be happy to, um, put you—your teacup—on a shelf.”

He glanced nervously at his shelf. It had some books and some art supplies, but he could make room for a teacup. He would have to tell everyone that this teacup was Agni so Vlad wouldn’t try to wash it. But it would be fine. He could totally be responsible for a teacup.

Devon’s worried expression eased. “Yeah, no, I get that. Relying on other people is hard. But it’s also kinda nice? Like I know there will always be food because Bram always cooks. And I know I can ask Vlad any dumb question I have and he’ll answer. I know they’ll look out for us. And sometimes they mess up because they’re only human—er. They make mistakes, is what I mean. And your island relies on you for stuff, right? So it’s okay for you to rely on other people. It takes some getting used to, but some people have always got your back. And that’s kinda what families are. People who always have your back.”

Devon have Agni a little shrug. “And I’ve got your back. I’ll watch over your teacup.”
 
"You may have met it at our New Year's party," Maria admitted. She was still annoyed at Annabelle for having issued the invitation. "It was wearing the body of a Dutch coma patient and going by 'Jack'. It was interested in May, but seemed to be of the opinion that he wasn't any danger to the world at the time- It typically only interferes when the stakes are very high, and cannot be solved by us mere mortals."

Maria frowned as she thought.

"I think perhaps it's wisest to leave this particular stone unturned- For now, at least," she hedged. "Jack is dangerous, and operates by rules I cannot understand even after 500 years. Your 'raw charm', prodigious as it may be, may not be enough to override its central mission of preserving the earth at any cost. If we can truly find no leads in our research, then it may be time to reach out. But I think we would be better served by looking for alternate solutions first."
 
Agni nodded slowly. The idea of relying on others was still quite foreign to him.

"We... my kind don't really have families," he admitted. "The oldest of us are very powerful and demand great respect, but I feel like that's different than relying on someone."

As the youngest, he didn't really get much respect at all. He hadn't accomplished great things, and he was ignorant about a lot of things. The idea of asking an elder a stupid question was unheard of. To admit not knowing something was to admit weakness, and weakness was not tolerated. The elders had figured things out on their own, so it was only expected that he should do so as well.

It was becoming clear that things in the mortal realm were far different than what he was used to.

He listened to Devon's explanation and nodded along, already feeling a bit better.

"It is a little reassuring that the elders are not infallible," he said, then cringed and looked at the door, as if he was afraid somebody was going to come out and berate him for saying so. When nothing happened, his shoulders relaxed again. It would take time to get used to being able to speak freely around others without the risk of harmful consequence.

The fact that Devon was so comfortable admitting that their family wasn't perfect was probably the most comforting thing about this place, as well as the strangest. Normally the guardians held themselves to the highest standards, and would never accept anything less than greatness. A place where the elders were more candid about their failings was certainly different.

It would take some getting used to, but so far it didn't seem so bad.

Agni stretched, yawning. With the promise of sleep soon, he was feeling more tired than ever, but he could finish everything by the weekend.

"Thank you. It means a lot. I will always, er, have your back as well. I don't forget favours," he said quickly, because he didn't want Devon to think he was ungrateful.
 
Bram made a face, but Vlad relaxed slightly when Maria turned down Jack as a potential source. An island full of interdenominational species was more than enough without adding an extra one, in Vlad's opinion. There were too many unknown variables, and while he was quick on his feet, adding 'Jack' was just too much.

Vlad laced his fingers over his knee. "Well. We will start with researching what we can about the Guardians and homunculi."

Bram rolled his eyes. He was fairly sure they'd exhausted that second line of research, and there just was not much on the first. But Vlad said it all calmly as if Bram hadn't woken to him searching with blood-shot eyes for papers on the dark web. Bram hadn't even known Vlad knew how to Google--much less get on the dark web. Vlad had scoffed and said most of it was made by supernaturals for supernaturals so of course he knew how to get on the dark web.

"If you can keep your eyes and ears open, it would be appreciated," Vlad concluded, in the stiff way he did when he asked favors of other vampires.

Bram shook his head. He was pretty sure Maria would do just about anything for Alex--including sacrifice her time to save his boyfriend. Vlad probably didn't even need to offer a favor in return.

"I know Alex appreciates it," Bram said casually. He felt Vlad's attention slide to him, even if his eyes didn't. Bram pretended not to notice. He could and would be casually manipulative. This was May's life they were talking about.





Devon frowned. "Yes, demanding respect is not the same as relying on someone," he confirmed. He glanced at the door, confused for a second. Agni had acted like he had thought something was there. When nothing materialized, he added, "No one is infallible. Not even your elders in Dominia."

Agni's yawn made Devon remember he had also not been sleeping well. His own shoulders slumping, he pushed his hands into his pockets. With May not doing well and Bram and Vlad frantic, it was tough to not feel like they weren't all falling apart. Devon felt the need to be the strong, not complicated kid, but it was starting to make him feel isolated. And Vlad cornering him last night had reminded him he wasn't as good at hiding his emotions as he had thought he was. But he knew Bram and Vlad were worried sick and Win was--well, Win--and Alex was anxious and Agni was new and Scarlet was gone. And Devon's problems were minor. He hadn't been tortured and turned into a kid weapon or grown up with vampire family expectations or a father who tried to murder his new family or have the whole world out to get him. His problems could wait until May wasn't dying and Win was better and Agni slept and Alex wasn't worried about his boyfriend.

He pushed the smile back onto his face as Agni started talking again, but it turned real at Agni's insistence that he also had Devon's back. But there was one thing that he thought he needed to clear up. "Families don't do favors. We just watch out for each other. No one is keeping score."
 
--------

"Jeez, watch your language, Win. That's like, the third time you've cussed out Baby Peach," Alex scolded.

"Baby Peach deserves it," Winona replied tersely, her eyes narrowed at the screen as she swerved to avoid a banana peel Bowser had just dropped. "'Sides you aren't my boss," she pointed out.

"Vlad straight-up said, 'Alex is in charge until we get back,' so, I kinda am," Alex shot back. He was glad Winona was getting so much more comfortable with all of them, but she could be so annoying sometimes.

"In charge of the house," Winona said confidently. "Not of me."

The wind howled outside and a crack of lightning split the sky, as if to agree with her. It had started storming pretty recently- Thunder and snow, which was a little weird, especially considering the time of year, but not wholly out of the ordinary. Alex just hoped Vlad and Bram had made it to their appointment on time.

"In charge of kicking your ass," Alex retaliated, using a speedboost to pull ahead of Win's avatar- Shy Guy- and win the race. Mario began his victory lap and Alex tossed the controller down.

"Watch your language," Winona grumbled, but at least she had beat Baby Peach.

"Anyone else want to play?," Alex asked as he stood up off the couch.

There was another particularly loud clap of thunder, the kind that felt like it shook the whole townhouse. Alex might have jumped a little. The lights flickered and even seemed like they might go out, but after a moment they came back on and stayed strong.

"Whelp, I think delivery is out," he told the group hanging out in the basement. They'd bandied about a few ideas for dinner, but it didn't seem reasonable to make a delivery driver come out in this weather when they had perfectly good food here at the townhouse. "So- I can reheat that chilli that Bram made the other day and make some corn muffins to go with it," he said. "Or we've got those frozen pizzas- I can throw those in the oven and make a salad. Anyone have a strong preference?"
 
Agni sat nervously on the edge of his seat, watching the television with great interest. He knew what video games were, of course. He had a few on his phone that he enjoyed from time to time, even. But this was his first time experiencing Mario Kart, which May had warned him could get very violent very quickly. Nobody had actually been injured so far, but he could agree that everybody did appear to be getting worked up.

He had yet to play himself, and eyed the controller warily as Alex stood up. He kind of wanted to try a game, but he was very certain that Winona would beat him, and he really did not want to give her the satisfaction. Luckily, May quickly dropped into the spot Alex had vacated on the couch with a loud whoop.

"Hell yeah. Devon, Win, you and me. It's rainbow road time," he announced with a rather unnerving amount of glee. Agni half-watched him choose his character, though the advance of the storm outside distracted him. Storms were different on the mainland compared to back home - even when he had worked for the tiger, they had been on the coastline, and a heavy thunderstorm had the potential to do great damage if one was unprepared. Here, surrounded by land on all sides, the risks were fewer. The air didn't quiver with tension the way it always did when a particularly harsh storm hit the coast, but there was an uneasiness to the ambience of the neighbourhood that prickled the back of his neck anyways.

"Oooh, Alex you have to make corn muffins," May exclaimed, raising his hand like he was in class. He loved when Alex made good old southern comfort food - it was so different from the fare back home, which tended towards vegetable dishes and seafood. Agni frowned slightly, more because he was expected to than anything else, as he gazed out the window at the falling sleet.

"You should eat vegetables," he said absentmindedly, a frown on his face. The tension in the emotional ambience outside skyrocketed, and he squinted at the houses lining the street across from them. Almost all of them had abruptly gone dark.

Strange. The townhouse still had power, so the power grid couldn't have gone out, could it?

The temperature outside was unseasonably cold - he glanced at May's two hoodies and fluffy blanket as a measure, deciding it was definitely colder than it was yesterday - so hopefully the power would be restored to the rest of the block soon.



Originally, Angela had been planning on meeting Bram and Vlad at one of her favourite restaurants. Good food and a nice atmosphere often helped to soften heavy blows, so she always tried to treat clients to a nice meal before giving them bad news. With the weather, though, she had decided to change the venue to her condo at the last minute.

There was just enough notice to put a tuna casserole in the oven, and she was just taking it out when the doorbell rang.

Right.

"Just a moment," she called out, placing the casserole dish on a trivet. The dining table was set, and she'd found a half-decent tablecloth in the linen closet, but it wasn't quite as nice as she'd have liked. She hoped the less-than-perfect dinner arrangements wouldn't make this worse.

She had something of an impression from Bram when they'd met a week or so ago, and knew that he was very attached to the homunculus in his care. His partner was a mystery, but that level of affection could sometimes get in the way of people looking at things objectively. Clicking her tongue, she decided to just get it over with, grabbing the bottle of wine from the fridge to set out on the table right before answering the door.

"Gentlemen, hello," she said with a smile. "Please, come in. I hope you didn't mind coming here last minute. Au Coq D'or closed early because of the storm, so you'll have to make do with some home cooking instead. Is red wine ok? I'm unsure of a vampire's culinary limitations, so please let me know if you'd prefer anything else."
 
Devon was not the best at Mario Cart. He felt like he should probably be good at it, but he really wasn't. He had played Super Smash Bros with Bram and Vlad a few times, and he wasn't too bad at that--though, that could be because Bram and Vlad usually went after each either, leaving them both vulnerable to attack from Devon.

He sighed as he finished nearly last, Luigi making a whooping noise as he made it across the finish line. He knew people made fun of Luigi, but Devon had always liked him.

Devon almost joined in on the conversation about whether or not Alex was in charge of Win, but ultimately decided he didn't have the emotional bandwidth.

He sighed, settling back on the bean bag as May pulled up the rainbow road. This was his least favorite track and he was pretty sure Win pushed him off just to annoy him.

"Yes, cornbread," he agreed, even though he wasn't hungry. He had woken up that morning with aching teeth and the most insane thirst. He had stumbled into the bathroom to get water, but when that hadn't satisfied, Vlad had found him panting in front of the closed doors of the refrigerator. He had very gently made Devon a cup of blood and had calmly sipped his own while Devon tried not to slurp it down. Devon had gone back to bed and neither Vlad nor Bram had said a word about it. He couldn't decide if that made it better or worse.

He felt something weird as the lights flickered. It was almost like a pop and shift, and then a steady thrum that he had always known intensified. It felt safe and comforting. Like the smell of Vlad's coffee or the taste of Bram's cooking. It was Bram cooking, Vlad reading aloud, Alex making grocery lists, Winona making everyone a pencil cup gift, Scarlet knuckling his head, Agni cleaning their shared bathroom. It was like walking into one's home and discovering it had a smell.

The feeling eased, but he could still sense it if he paid attention. Devon mentally prodded it, but realized he was losing horribly. Returning his attention to the game, he sped Luigi up.





Vlad hadn't said a word. Not even to fuss at him for his driving. Bram was no longer as uncomfortable with Vlad's silences as he had been, and often chattered through them. But centuries with his friend had taught him the differences in the silences. This was not a companionable silence.

To test his theory, Bram drove right at a pothole. When Vlad said nothing, just continued to look out the window, Bram knew which silence this was. He swerved around the pothole easily, tossing Vlad no more than usual.

"What?" Bram demanded in a flat tone.

Vlad's eyes slid to him.

"That silence means you're either plotting my demise or spiraling." Bram glanced at him. "And you haven't plotted my demise in at least a year. What's going on in your head?"

"Just thinking."

"And I'm just a hunter." Bram glanced at him again. "This is the first time you've worn anything other than the one pair of sweats you own and the hoodie I gave you for Christmas in nearly a week. You only had blood last night because Devon needed some."

Vlad pressed his lips together.

"Is the depression back?" Bram and Vlad had recently taken a Mental Health First Aid class because Vlad had thought it was a good idea and Bram had learned he was not only allowed but encouraged to be blunt.

Vlad considered the question carefully. It didn't really come and go, but he knew what Bram was asking. "I don't think so."

Bram nodded. Vlad had also been sounding more modern in his speech, which generally meant he wasn't analyzing each word for impact and meaning. It could mean he was being more honest but also that he didn't have the mental space to be careful with what he said.

"So it's May, then." Bram let out a sigh. It was good to say it out loud. It felt more manageable outside his head. They'd been so quiet so as not to keep worrying the kids or stressing May.

"Of course."

Bram easily dodged a slowing car by jerking them into the other lane. "We're going to figure this out."

"Figure this out?" Vlad echoed, though a lot more sarcastically than Bram had said it. "Not only have I found nothing, but I am actively making the situation
worse."

"You are not making it worse."

"Yes, I am," Vlad snapped. "Because I can't keep my magic away from him all the time and keep the house safe. So I had to make a heartless decision to protect the many while killing the one."

Bram swore in Dutch. "You are not--"

"If you know you are actively hurting someone, yes, you are killing that person. I might as well be poisoning his water."

Bram hit the brakes when the person in front of him forgot how to drive. "Everything is not your fault!" he said, a little louder than he had intended.

"Yes, it is," Vlad hissed, glaring out the window. "I should have known better, but in my hubris I thought I could figure it out. I thought I could help. But he just ended up getting hurt by my failure."

"If you want to play the blame game, my father is the one who set this whole thing off."

"That had nothing to do with you."

"Yeah, it's just as stupid as you saying you're making May worse," Bram snapped.

"Fine. We're terrible parents; what the hell did we think we were doing."

"You're catastrophisizing."

Vlad folded his arms across his chest. "I'm not reading you any more psychiatry books."

"Yeah, well, I need you consider that this may be the darkness and not you talking." Bram glanced at Vlad, who pulled his knees up as the realization settled on him.

They were both silent for a moment before Vlad quietly said, "Your father is not your fault." When Bram didn't answer, he lifted his head from his knees. "And you are a way better dad than he is. I'm sorry about what I said. That was... cruel."

Bram nodded, accepting the apology. "You're doing your best, Vlad."

Vlad rested his head on his knees again. "Well, my best is still not good enough."

Bram never knew what to say to that. He felt like he was standing on the edge of a cliff, his fingers stretched for his friend. His grip tightened on the wheel. "I need you to promise me something," he said very quietly.

He didn't take his eyes off the road, but he felt Vlad's complete attention slide to him.

"If we lose May, don't give in." Vlad stopped breathing, so Bram let out a shuddering breath for both of them. "Please, Vlad. I can't keep the family together by myself."

"Should I..." Vlad released his legs and flexed his fingers. "Should I look into medication?"

Bram sighed. He knew that Vlad had never wanted to touch any medicine that affected his brain, but he was terrified of trying to care for a grieving family alone. "I don't know. Maybe."

"I'll reach out to Emiline," Vlad said, staring at his hands. "I should probably start soon. It takes six weeks to get adjusted to most and there are not a lot that definitely work on vampires but... I may get worse as we try them."

Bram reached over and ruffled Vlad's hair. He knew that even considering SSRIs was demonstration of how much Vlad cared for him. "I'll be with you every step of the way."

Vlad slumped over against him across the middle console, wearing his seat belt incorrectly.

"I love you, you know that?" Bram asked. It had taken him an embarrassingly long time to figure out that Vlad needed to hear it every now and then. Bram had never questioned it as Vlad actions had clearly shown him. But Vlad apparently needed a little more bluntness.

"I love you, too. I'm sorry I... haven't been there for you recently."

Bram nodded as he pulled into the swanky parking lot. "Oh, speaking of love," he said, which made Vlad sit up and wipe his eyes. "I may have led Dr. Sigurdson to believe we're together-together because I was too tired to explain."

Vlad sighed. "Whatever. I'm also too tired to explain."

"Fair," Bram said, shooting into a parking space between two Priuses. Putting his truck into park, Bram said, "Ok. She may have some things that can really help us. So we'll go in there, get the helpful things, and save May." He caught the fond-but-exasperated look Vlad gave him. "Hey, you're plan for the worst, I'm hope for the best."

"Do I look terrible?" Vlad asked.

Bram glanced at his face. He looked exhausted. "Not like you've been crying."

"That is acceptable."

Bram showed Vlad where to sign in, and they giggled about not being fancy enough for this place on the elevator ride up. By the time Dr. Sigurdson opened the door, Vlad had turned into a stiff proud vampire who didn't cry over their kid and didn't giggle in elevators.

"Dr. Sigurdson, this is Vlad," Bram introduced as they slipped their shoes off.

"Doctor," Vlad said politely, inclining his head.

Bram caught the slightly panicked look in Vlad's eye when she offered alcohol. Bram had tried to tell him he didn't need to accept something just because she offered it--it was not an affront to her hospitality.

"Vlad doesn't drink much alcohol," Bram supplied, though he couldn't help thinking of Vlad drinking jenever with him a week ago.

"Water would be fine, thank you," Vlad said, figuring he could gracefully decline thanks to Bram's explanation. He smiled politely, unsure how many vampires she had interacted with. "You have a lovely home."

Bram sighed. They needed to go over to more people's houses so Vlad didn't feel like he had to follow vampire protocol. However, he did add, "Whatever you're cooking smells amazing."
 
"You are an active agent of chaos," Alex told May as he saw what course his boyfriend had chosen, but dropped a kiss on his head regardless.

"Chilli and corn muffins it is, then," he said as he left towards the kitchen, since that seemed to carry the vote.

"Corn muffins," Winona told Agni. She didn't seem to shaken by the storm, or the lights almost having gone out. "Corn is a vegetable."

She didn't go upstairs to go help Alex with the food prep- He'd let her know when it was time to set the table. For now she needed to conquer Rainbow Road.

"Oh for fuck's sake," she muttered as she went careening off the edge after trying to steer herself into Luigi. That was what she got for trying to mess with her brother she supposed.

"Wait," she said suddenly, and Shy Guy stalled out. "There's someone at the door."

Sure enough, the doorbell went off half a second later. And she heard Alex's footsteps go to open it. What an idiot, she thought.

She threw her controller down and was up the stairs and onto the main floor like a cat, silent and quick. She reached into her pocket and retrieved her butterfly knife, opening it quickly as she crept towards the front hall. She heard Alex talking before she rounded the corner, and he didn't sound alarmed, but he was a poor judge of threats-

Oh.

It was two old ladies. Not that two old ladies couldn't be a threat, of course, but these two were ones that Winona recognized. It was the next door neighbors, Esther and... Hannah? Harriet? Winona wasn't sure.

"Hello dear! We were just telling your brother that the power's gone out at our place and the heat with it- You seem to be the only ones who still have lights," the one who was either Hannah or Harriet said. "Are your parents home?"

"He's not my brother," Winona said bluntly, because it was the first thing that occurred to her to say. She didn't want to admit that Vlad and Bram weren't around, even if they weren't technically her parents. She still held the opened knife behind her back.

She looked at Alex with pointed eyes- He was 'in charge' he'd said, but he seemed to have no more idea of what to do than she did.

"Um," Alex dallied. "Vlad and Bram are out for the evening," he finally said. "But of course you are welcome to join us for dinner while you wait for the power to come back," he continued, and Winona looked at him askance. The hell was he talking about?
 
May grinned at being called an agent of chaos.

"You like it, though!" He called after Alex as he went to the kitchen. He decided to focus instead on beating his two pseudo-siblings, although it didn't really work since he was very bad at mario kart. He careened off the road several times, then spun out after hitting his own banana peel.

Agni scrunched up his nose in distaste, because that was not what he meant.

"It doesn't count as a vegetable if it's in muffins," he argued, but it was a bit half-hearted. In truth he was more concerned with whoever was at the door.

He didn't want to look like he was following Winona, but he was curious. He sneaked up the stairs, peering around the door frame.

Neighbours. Right. It had been less than a month since he moved in, so Agni hadn't really had a chance to meet the neighbours yet. He'd seen them around, more or less, but--

Before he had a chance to process, Alex was inviting them in for dinner. He slunk back into the shadows, unsure of exactly what he was supposed to do in the case of company. Should he wait somewhere that wasn't obvious? The Tiger liked him to wait in the back rooms and be silent when they were meeting guests. He had been instructed to make a good impression on local supernatural groups for networking purposes, but these women were both human. Logically they wouldn't have any real political sway.

This would be easier if the elders were around to give instructions. Alex, as responsible as he was, did not seem to particularly enjoy directing people.


May glanced at Devon, a small frown on his face.

"Should we pause?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. It was kind of tempting to beat Winona when she wasn't there, but that also wasn't particularly fair. And since Agni had also disappeared upstairs, maybe something was happening. After a moment of deliberation, he paused the game and set the controller aside so he could go be nosy.

He made his way around Agni, his face lighting up on a grin when he saw they had visitors.

"Mrs. and Mrs. Jones-Nicholls!" May exclaimed happily. Somehow Agni was completely unsurprised he knew all the neighbours. "Man, I didn't know the storm was that bad."

Agni frowned, but taking May's distraction, he retreated into the kitchen - only for his frown to grow when another knock came from the back door. His eyebrows drew together as he peered out the window, then slowly opened the door.

There was a small child in the backyard.

He blinked, then closed the door and opened it again, as if that might make the six year old in pajamas and an unbuttoned raincoat disappear. She did not. He opened his mouth and then closed it again as the child grinned up at him.

"Er. Hello?" he said, nerves clear in his voice, but the child turned to the doorway in the next unit, clasping her hands around her mouth to make her voice carry.

"Mommy, they've got lights next door!" she called out. There was a hint of anxiety in the air, and a loud whine as the door opened.

The woman who emerged was around 30, dressed in sweatpants and a hoodie along with her winter boots. Her dark curls were barely visible under her hood, and there was a very small, crying baby tucked up under her chin with a bottle of milk in her spare hand.

"Genivieve Atkinson!" she called out, whisper-shouting as she tried to shush the baby in her arms. "You get back here right now!"

The six year old, Genevieve, grinned widely at Agni to show off a gap in her front teeth.

"We got no power, and mommy needs to use the microwave for Nicky's bottle," she said, as though that answered everything. Agni opened and closed his mouth like a fish some more, as the woman from next door stomped through the muddy back yard to get her child.

"Genny, I told you not to go outside!" she hissed, looking up at Agni with a hint of confusion. "Oh. Sorry, I thought you were one of the two men who lived here."

'Or one of their kids,' went unsaid, and judging by the look on the woman's face, she was trying to figure out if Agni had always been there or if the brood had grown when she wasn't looking.

"Yes, well. The elders are out for the evening," Agni said slowly, finally snapping out of his stupor. He wasn't sure what the protocol was. He didn't want to invite someone in if it was wrong, but the woman did look frazzled. Alex had invited the two old women in at the front door, so... "If you need to use the microwave, you're more than welcome."

He opened the door wider, and the woman hesitated for a moment before the storm and rain made the decision for her.

"That would be great," she said, her shoulders drooping as she herded her child inside. "I'm so sorry, the power went out right at feeding time, and Genny took off to look for help without waiting for an answer."

She sent the little girl an unamused look.

"Which is not acceptable. We don't leave the house on our own, you know that," she scolded, but Genny looked unpreturbed.

"'s fine in an emergency," she argued back, looking around the kitchen with awe.

Agni shifted awkwardly from foot to foot, practically breathing a sigh of relief when May came in from the front hall.

"Hey Agni, what's-- Oh, hey Adelaide," he said cheerfully, and the woman with the baby visibly relaxed.

"Hi there, May. Are your dads in? Our power went out, and I really need to warm up Nicky's dinner."



"Oh, no problem," Angela said, waving away any concerns as she placed the bottle back in the kitchen, coming back with a water pitcher. "Please, feel free to hang your coats in the closet. And thank you! It's my mother's recipe. Long family history."

That was an utter lie, but Angela rarely cooked, and tuna casserole was hard to mess up.

"It's nice to meet you, Vlad. Please, call me Angela." She smiled, though it was a little strained. He and Bram both looked tired. She wished she had something more positive to tell them.

Once Vlad and Bram were seated, she poured three glasses of water and then took her own seat as well. Normally she waited for dessert to begin the serious talk, but...

"Normally I don't like to go behind my patients' back to discuss their condition," she said slowly, swirling her water glass around like it was the wine from the kitchen. "But when cults are involved, the situation becomes... complicated. I figured it would be best to talk to you two alone, to figure out what page we're all on, and make sure we all have the same information. Does that make sense? I'll be blunt and upfront - I don't have an immediate solution to May's problem. But I have some conjectures and some theories. So, first off, what do you two know about Domina Island and their religion?"
 
"Isn't corn technically a fruit?" Devon said just to be annoying. "Or like... a starch?"

He scowled as Winona careened towards him but then snickered when she fell off. But in his evil glee, he went shooting off the stupid rainbow road. "Dammit," he grumbled as Luigi flickered and then re-spawned.

He felt the house shift at the doorbell, but it didn't seem to be alarmed about all two people outside so he figured Alex was fine. Winona, however, disagreed and Luigi went gleefully shooting past Shy Guy. Devon let out a sigh when May questioned their taking advantage of the situation. "I guess," he grumbled, setting the controller on the beanbag and standing.

Upstairs they found the Jones-Nichollses, and Devon smiled awkwardly at them. He glanced at Alex. What were they supposed to do? Probably offer them something? Vlad was always offering drinks and Bram seemed to want to feed people. Tea! That's what they needed.

He crept back into the kitchen only to discover Agni staring at a small child in abject terror. Smiling at Agni, Devon crouched to get closer to Genevieve's eye-level. "Wow, you went out in that storm by yourself? You weren't scared of the thunder?"

Devon smiled at Ms. Adelaide while he set the kettle on and started pulling out mismatched mugs. "Yes, please use our microwave."

He thought that was the end of it, but there was another knock on the front door. Alex seemed to be entertaining the Jones-Nichollese and Ms. Adelaide had commandeered their microwave, so Devon figure he could check the door and make sure his twin didn't knife anyone. He passed the living room where a fire had definitely ignited itself in the fireplace to warm the two older women. At least the flames were a normal color with Vlad gone.

Devon opened the door and found a very soggy teenaged girl on their front porch. She grinned at him. "Hi, Devon. You guys don't happen to have internet, do you? My mom was kinda on an important Zoom call and we don't even have cellular."

Devon blinked. Olive. He was pretty sure that was her name. They had geometry together and she was definitely better at it than he was. He pulled out his phone and checked. "Yeah, looks like we do," he said, now completely confused.

Olive turned around and waved at the SUV parked in front of their house. A woman and a man hopped out and ran to the door, nearly bowling Devon over in the process. The townhouse grumbled around him as they both tossed dripping coats at him. But Devon was pretty sure Vlad and Bram would help neighbors even if they were being rude.

The woman set herself up at the dining room table and put on headphones. She was wearing business attire, which Devon thought was weird this late in the evening. The man was dressed in a sweater and slacks and pulled out a newspaper.

"Sorry," Olive sighed. "Asking you all and your dads for help is killing them. They kinda think you're weird--not that I do! I think you're cool."

Devon was pretty sure people didn't usually think of their family as "cool". "We are weird," he said as he hung up the coats. "But we've never thought that was bad."

Olive beamed at him.

"Uh, remind me of your family name?"

"Daniels."

Devon paused by the living room and said, "Mrs. and Mrs. Jones-Nicholls, I have tea if you would like some."

He paused, shooting Alex a panicked look. They now had eight people crammed into their tiny home who had no idea that over half of them were part or full vampires, one was a pseudodeity from another dimension, and one was a magic rock boy.

On his way back to the kitchen--though the townhouse had an open floor plan for the dining and living rooms and Mr. and Mrs. Daniels had probably heard him ask--he repeated the question. Mr. Daniels eyed him thoughtfully before answering in the affirmative, but Mrs. Daniels just gave him a dirty look over her laptop screen.

"Win," Devon called, hoping giving her a task would ensure she didn't knife anyone. "Can you get the cookies you and Bram made and put them on a plate for everyone?"

Her hands clasped behind her back, Olive trailed Devon into the kitchen. Seeing Agni, she raised her eyebrows. "Oh! Are you new? I thought you had only three siblings."

"Well, there's six of us. We also have an older sister who lives in New Orleans," Devon said, just barely cracking the refrigerator to get the cream. He also decided to hide the bags of blood behind Winona's array of juice options. "This is Agni. Agni, this is Olive."

"Devon and I have math and biology together," Olive said, and Devon winced, realizing he had forgotten about biology. She was also way better at him than that--though, Vlad had taken the time to explain mitosis in a way that made WAY more sense than the book.

Devon turned to Ms. Adelaide and her two kids. "I'm making tea. Can I get you some? We have pretty much every tea you could want. Also, there's a fire in the living room if you would like to get warm."





"Oh, no way!" Bram said. "I have a few recipes that come from a long family history, as well. Most of mine are Dutch, what about yours?"

Vlad glanced at him, fairly sure that Bram's long life did not count as a "long family history" but he wasn't about to call him out on it in front of Dr. Sigurdson. "Likewise, Angela. Thank you for inviting us."

They sat, and Vlad relaxed slightly at the sight of the water. The casserole would be tricky, but he hoped they could do what they always did and Bram would just casually eat from his plate. He could probably do a little bit, but Bram was right. He hadn't had any blood in two weeks except the little he had consumed to help Devon not feel so weird about it. Eating too many carbohydrates would probably make him sick on an empty stomach.

Devon's hunger was another thing to worry about. As having children with humans had been illegal until only recently--until Claudios had accidentally done it, anyway--not many records existed. Vlad didn't know if he was supposed to expect vampire puberty or not. Was Devon going to start manifesting his father's magic now? The thought made Vlad a little sick. And was his magic also hurting Devon? Oh stars, what if it was? He was just actively hurting everyone.

Under the table, Bram squeezed Vlad's knee, bringing him back to the present and reminding him he did actually need oxygen. Trying not to sound like he was gasping, Vlad inhaled.

When Angela began to speak, they both leaned forward. When she told them she didn't have any answers, Bram felt the air go out of the room. He had known this was possibility, of course, but he had been clinging to the hope that Angela knew what to do because what else were they supposed to do? Vlad was right, they had exhausted nearly everything else. May was their kid regardless of what anyone said. They were supposed to protect him. They couldn't lose him.

A cool hand in his under the table reminded him to breathe. Bram exhaled, glancing at his companion. Vlad was still stiff, his features completely neutral. Bram knew his own thoughts and emotions were all across his face.

"Yes, we have been there," Vlad answered, his tone completely devoid of emotion like he was discussing the weather. Bram knew it was all a facade, but it still sent a rush of frustration through him. This was their kid they were talking about.

"And we knew a little about the religion," Vlad added, which Bram also knew was Vlad being falsely modest.

"We haven't gone to them because they'd probably be content to let May die," Bram said, earning a frown from Vlad. Bram didn't care. This wasn't poker, this was May's life. Might as well get all the cards on the table.
 
"Oh, you can just call us Esther and Helen, dear," Helen told May warmly, and Esther tsked her.

"Now, now, don't discourage the young ones from being polite," she chided with a wink at May to indicate she was joking. "Oh hello, there," she said, waving down the hallway at Genny and Adelaide before heading into the living room.

"Oh! You've even got a fire going," Helen exclaimed. "I could have sworn it wasn't there just a moment ago-"

"I just lit it-," Winona said as the same time as Alex said, "It's electric-"

They looked at each other for a moment. "Uh. Winona just turned it on," Alex said. "Is what she meant."

"Well, it's very realistic," Esther said, settling into the loveseat. "We don't want to be a bother to you-"

"It's no bother," Alex said quickly. "But if you could just - uh- sit here for a moment," he said with his hand raised in a 'just a minute' gesture. "I think we have some other arrivals- So."

Then there was another knock at the door, dear lord, where were all these people coming from-

Winona stared awkwardly at the older women, aware that she should probably say something.

"So you said Alex isn't your brother, right?," Helen said, leaning forward. "How exactly are you all related? Or aren't you at all?"

"Helen," Esther hissed, elbowing her wife sharply in the side.

"We're.... Sort of related," Winona answered uncomfortably. She'd done this to herself with her own love of accuracy, and now she wasn't sure what the most appropriate answer was.

Luckily Alex stuck his head back in at that moment to save her. "We're like... Cousins sort of? But it's fine to call us siblings," he assured the Jones-Nicholls. "Winona's just been learning about family trees and stuff recently, so our... unconventional family structure is a bit confusing to define."

Winona glared at him, not appreciating being made to look stupid.

"Alex has his own parents," she said defensively. "And May has another dad, too." And she and Devon did, too, so it was confusing and it wasn't her fault.

"Oh! Is your mother that nicely dressed Mexican lady that stops by sometimes?," Helen asked and Esther elbowed her again, and Alex winced. Close enough on several counts, he supposed.

"My aunt, actually," Alex replied.

"Tea would be lovely, thank you dear," Esther told Devon, unaware of the panicked look Alex was returning to Devon. Devon's instruction to Winona helped jumpstart Alex's brain a bit though- They had two goals, he decided. 1) Prevent Winona and Agni from doing something completely inappropriate for the situation. 2) Be gracious hosts.

"Yes! If you could get the cookies out that would be great, Win," Alex said. "And maybe put out fresh handtowels in the bathrooms?" In ASL he signed 'Knives- Away', hoping she would take the opportunity away from their guests to make sure the townhouse was... Guest appropriate.

"Ummm. Sure," Winona agreed, pocketing her butterfly knife and heading into the kitchen. She eyed Olive and the Daniels parents suspiciously, but nodded in familiarity at Adelaide and her kids.

She looked up at Olive as she arranged the variety of cookies on a plate. Maybe two plates would be better, she guessed.

"Geometry, right?," she asked about the math class they had together. "Do you like it? Going to school?"

Everyone in the townhouse assured her that she would like it once she started, but she suspected they had a biased view.
 
Agni felt a little overwhelmed. There were so many people in the house. This was not a house that was designed to hold this many people.

Genny waved excitedly at Devon, then Alex, and then the two older ladies in the living room.

"I'm very brave, Mr. Devon," she said wisely, as if the idea that she would be afraid of thunder was silly. She leaned in closer, so she could whisper conspiratorially, cupping her hands around her mouth. "Mommy and Nicky are scared of storms. I'm the bravest one in the whole house."

Agni frowned, because that didn't sound completely right.

"Storms generally aren't very dangerous this far inland," he mused. "Power outages and freezing rain can cause problems, but there's no risk of hurricanes. I suppose washouts and mudslides--"

"Tea would be lovely," Adelaide interrupted, giving Agni a look like he had said something strange. He felt like a deer in the headlights as Genny stared up at him with wide eyes.

"There's gonna be mudslides?!"

"There won't be any mudslides. Genny why don't you say hi to auntie Helen and auntie Esther?" Adelaide suggested before Agni could say anything else strange. He felt his cheeks heating in embarrassment, but luckily Genny was quickly distracted.

"Did you say there was cookies?" she asked brightly, all talk of mudslides forgotten.

"You can have one, so long as there's enough for everyone," she instructed. Genny gave her mother a salute before running into the living room to see the two older women.

"Hi Auntie Helen and Auntie Esther!" She said brightly. "Our power ran out! I came over all by myself so mommy could heat up Nicky's bottle!"

May laughed, a little glad for the distraction.

"We're kind of a found family," he admitted. "Agni - that's my friend in the kitchen - and I both live really far away. I came to the US for work a little over a year ago, and I really like it here, so I extended my visa. I met Bram and Vlad through work, and they gave me a place to stay."

He wondered exactly how much he should give away, but he didn't want to be evasive, and besides, he kind of wanted their neighbours to stop thinking their family was weird and suspicious.

"Bram and Vlad are like empty nesters. Their oldest daughter just moved out a while ago-" Technically this was true, even though Scarlet hadn't even been there when May met them "--And I think they were kind of lonely. We all have our own circumstances, but helping us out seems to have made them happy. I don't have any bio siblings, so living with a big family is pretty fun."

Hopefully that was vague enough while detailed enough to explain things.

"You can just pick out new family?" Genny asked after getting her hugs, wandering over to the couch to sit beside May. May glanced into the kitchen where Adelaide was watching, but she didn't seem concerned, so he nodded as he lifted the girl into his lap.

"Yep. Sometimes people luck out and have a really good family when they're born. Some people aren't as lucky, so they've gotta find their family as they go. And sometimes you have a really good family to start with, like me, and you still find more people to love as you grow up. I've got Bram, Vlad, Alex, and everyone in this house, but I've also got my dad and my grandparents back home, and my friend Henri, and a whole bunch of aunties and uncles."


Agni watched as May handled the small child like an expert, and he slowly released the breath he had been holding.

"You shouldn't tell little kids about things like mudslides," Adelaide scolded, but there wasn't a lot of heat in her voice. She was more concerned with feeding the fussy baby in her arms, making cooing sounds as she sat at the table with him.

He fussed with the kettle, since making tea was an excuse to do something with his hands, and then began to sort through the teas. Caffeine wasn't good this late at night, so he methodically removed the black teas and began to choose the most popular herbals. Some of the tins were more full than others, and he made a mental note of each one to add to the shopping list later.

He was so absorbed he nearly jumped when Olive spoke. He spun around like a spooked animal, then quickly cleared his throat.

"Yes, I'm... new," he admitted. The tiger had given him a cover story for this, so he knew roughly how to introduce himself to strangers. It was just like when he had met the girls at the brothel for the first time. "My... mother is an acquaintance of the elders here. She wanted me to experience life in the United States, so I'm staying here temporarily."

He scrunched up his nose, unsure how he felt about a stranger using his given name. Names were special, to be used by trusted people only. He'd finally gotten comfortable with everyone in the townhouse using his name, though he hadn't quite worked up to using theirs yet. Would it be weird if he didn't use this girl's name? But then, Olive was an unusual name anyways.

At least they had touched on one of his favourite subjects, and he immediately brightened up.

"Geometry is wonderful," he said, immediately abandoning the tea to run and get his ipad. He snatched it out of the basement, bringing it upstairs and opening up his emails to find the document that he was looking for. He grabbed his glasses as well, adjusting them as he returned to the room.

"It's especially fascinating in architecture. I... Admittedly haven't been to school, but part of my duties back home is to look over infrastructure and architectural plans - would you believe how expensive city planning is? Anyways, Henrietta sent me some of the architect schematics for the bridge plan up in the mountains. We've always had trouble building anything but a rope bridge, since the ravine is so deep and the budget is so limited, but this man - he's brilliant - came up with a design building the structural supports into the cliff-face and--"

He set his ipad on the table, absolutely beaming as he zoomed in on various plans and schematics. Adelaide glanced up from Nicky, looking at Devon and raising an eyebrow as if to say 'where did you find this kid?'

"Sounds pretty complicated," she said, and Agni immediately froze. His face flushed as he realized how worked up he was getting, and he quickly tucked the ipad under his arm nervously.

"Right. It's, er, not really relevant. And I'm not a professional, anyways. Sorry. I just, erm, got a bit excited - I don't think you build bridges in high school."

Was he messing this up? He kind of had the feeling he was messing this up.



Angela froze, because she hadn't been expecting that reaction.

"Well, a mix of this and that," she said airily, because most of her family recipes involved putting a can of mushroom soup in with a chicken breast and sprinkling potato chips on top. She watched Vlad and Bram actively deflate, and her heart ached for them.

"That isn't to say that things are completely hopeless," she reassured them. "I do, in fact, have an idea that might help, but..."

She massaged her temple with two fingers, wondering the best way to bring this up.

"I do agree that it's best not to tell the guardians. They have nothing to gain from May's prolonged life, and it would probably upset their entire religious base. I'm just wondering... Hm, where to start. How about I just talk for a bit, and then we can get to the heart of the issue."

She scrunched up her face, trying to decide how to say this. It was always difficult.

"The guardians of Domina are IDEs. Inter-dimensional entities. I'm sure you already know this. Now, in terms of IDEs, there are different classifications based on which dimensional frequency a being hails from. This is all a very new and very experimental field of study, of course, so there's a lot we don't know, but so far occult scientists have theorized four different dimensional frequencies with sentient life, including ours. Two of those are irrelevant right now, but frequency D is where the guardians of Domina Island hail from.

The thing is - and I'm not sure May is aware of this - Dimensional Frequency D does not start and end at Domina island. There are sentient beings living all over the world on that plane of existence, just like how humans live all over the world on ours. They don't exactly conform to our understanding of what a 'species' is, but we - I mean, the Interdimensional Sentient Entity Research Association, IDSERA - have generally classified creatures on that plane as IDE-Ds.

IDE-Ds are typically solitary beings. They don't usually form communities, with the exception of Domina Island, because of competition for food. Typically, an IDE-D feeds on energy and emotional feedback coming from Dimensional Frequency E, which is our frequency. An IDE-D will possess an anchor object that ties them to this world, and that anchor will soak up ambient emotions and energy. Sometimes the anchor has an effect of increasing certain emotions in nearby humans and animals, sometimes it doesn't. They're often mistaken for cursed objects, it's a very long and fascinating history, but it's not really relevant."

She paused for a moment, reaching for her wine glass. She took a sip, then swirled the remaining wine around, staring at it.

"Domina Island is unique because the IDE-Ds, which are typically solitary, have not only formed a community, but have direct contact with humans of Dimensional Frequency E. They formed a religion which encourages feelings of devotion from their followers, which provides them with sustenance. As a result, they control the narrative carefully to ensure that their food source isn't disturbed. It's a symbiotic relationship of sorts, I suppose. But it means that people from Domina have a very skewed view of IDEs."

She hesitated for a moment, then finally let out a sigh.

"I understand that was a lot of babbling, but what I'm trying to say is that May has been lied to his entire life about the origin and nature of the creatures he worships, and that will almost certainly affect any treatment plans. Right now, the issues with his body are primarily coming from the fact that he's being used as an anchor for the IDE-D known as the serpent. There's a sort of dissonance between his body and the magic flowing through it - he's like a radio trying to play a television show."

This was the part she was worried about, but it was best to be as blunt as possible.

"Theoretically, if you can break the anchor connection, I may be able to use alchemy to fix his body. The damage is quite extensive, and I can't make any guarantees, since this is an unprecedented situation. But as long as the connection is in place, any treatments will be pointless - the damage will reassert itself faster than I can make repairs."

She drained the last of her wine and set the glass down on the table.

"The connection needs to be broken from the other side, and I doubt that a Domina Guardian would give up their meal ticket easily. Not to mention, it's probably that May would object. He's been told for years and years that his life has no inherent worth. You would need to go against everything he knows to communicate with the Serpent in the hopes of breaking the connection. On the slim chance that this does work, I want you two to be prepared - this isn't just a matter of fixing physical damage. I say this in the kindest way, but you should look for a cult recovery therapist, and probably a psychiatrist. I can reach out to a few colleagues and get some recommendations, but it will be expensive and will take a long time. There's a lot of 'if's, and I don't want to get your hopes up. But I wanted to at least explain the whole situation, so you know what your options are. Just know that May might fight you on this."
 
Devon nodded wisely at Genny. "I thought you might be. You do seem very brave."

And then Agni was telling her about mudslides and Devon couldn't help but wonder if maybe he should tell Agni about tornadoes. But Genny went scampering off, and Devon chuckled. He couldn't help but wonder what it was like growing up at that age with an attentive parent. He glanced at Adelaide before starting measuring out hot water for the tea.

He delivered some tea to Mr. Daniels who was absolutely pretending not to listen to May's explanation of the Drakonii--Leeuwen household. He delivered the rest of the tea to Ester and Helen before returning to the kitchen.

"Good job with the tea," he told Agni.

Olive figured the intense girl asking her if she liked school was Devon's twin sister. "You must be Winona," she guessed.

Devon was giving her a wide-eyed look, and Olive guessed he was surprised she had remembered. She really only remembered because one of the boys in their biology class had made a rude comment about her and Devon had punched him. The kid had gone crashing across the room and his friends had all jumped Devon. Devon hadn't thrown another punch--just curled up in a ball--and she still wasn't sure why. The comments had only gotten worse when two men showed up outside the principal's office.

She shrugged at Win's question. "I mean, yeah, I like it. It can be boring or stressful. But you get to see your friends and learn cool things sometimes."

"Yeah, well, you're smart," Devon muttered.

Olive glanced at him and shrugged a little. "So are you."

Devon disagreed, even though Vlad had said the same thing in his "you are as intelligent as you want to be" speech. He put some tea into a tumbler for Ms. Adelaide so she didn't have to worry about it spilling and set it in front of her.

Olive blinked as the knew brother suddenly bolted and then returned, talking about geometry. She leaned over, looking at what he was talking about with curiosity. She couldn't make head or tails of the schematics, but it was still interesting.

"Agni, you don't have to apologize for getting excited about something you're interested in," Devon said, nearly quoting Bram word-for-word. But also, why had he not been asking Agni for help? When Devon had failed his first test, his teacher had emailed Vlad, but Vlad's Achilles' heal turned out to be geometry. Bram had asked why Vlad was cussing out a geometry book when he could do calculus of all things and weren't vampires supposed to be good at math? And Vlad had thrown a pencil at him that only missed because of the curse. Devon had thought about asking Alex, but, for some reason he knew wasn't rational, he was convinced Alex would think he was stupid. But Agni would probably just get excited.

Taking her cue from Devon, Olive nodded. "Yeah, the bridge sounds cool."

"I didn't know you liked geometry," Devon said as casually as he could. "Think you could... uh... help me with my homework sometime?"

Olive glanced at Devon, who was decidedly not looking at her. It clearly bothered him for some reason, so she decided to pretend like she hadn't heard and turned back to Winona. "So you don't go to our school. Do you got to a different school? Or are you... homeschooled?"






As soon as Angela mentioned there was a scrap of hope, Bram perked up. Vlad was more skeptical, but if he had perked up, Bram would think either he had just gotten a text that it was a false alarm and May was perfectly fine, actuality or that he had been kidnapped and a shapeshifter was sitting in his chair.

Bram listened, occasionally glancing at Vlad to confirm this was information that they were familiar with. Vlad had a whole notebook dedicated to "IDEs", so knowing all this stuff was Vlad's department. They had read up a lot before going to try to convince all the aforementioned IDEs not to murder May, but Bram had retained the idea that he could probably punch them and that was it. Personally, he was still sort of hoping he could solve this by punching some or all of them.

Vlad nodded, but pulled out his ever-present journal and started taking notes, completely ignoring his food. Bram took that as his cue to eat it for him.

"So let me see if I've got this straight," Bram said, peeking at Vlad's notes. He was writing in cursive Nosferatan, so that wasn't super easy for Bram to read even on a good day, but Vlad still shifted his arm so Bram could see.

"So these other dimensional things feed on emotions and energy and stuff--which we knew?" He was pretty sure he knew Agni ate emotions and energy, because it had had Vlad muttering about whether his magic would mix well with Agni's. When Vlad nodded, Bram continued, "Right, because they're space vampires."

Vlad let out a huff, which Bram ignored. He was just glad Vlad was aware enough to be annoyed rather than the black hole he'd been for the past week.

"But they usually are loners--except for the ones on Dominica, who basically formed a cult. Wait, how is this symbiotic?"

"Symbiotic relationships technically include parasitic ones."

Bram waved his hand. "Just because you're helping Devon with biology doesn't mean you get to be a smartass."

"Everyone knows that."

"Anyway," Bram said before he had to point out just because Vlad knew something that did not make it common knowledge. "You're saying if we can convince Larry to release May, you can help?"

Nodding, Vlad tapped his journal with his pen. Bram squinted at it and then rubbed his forehead. Recognizing that as a sign the letters weren't behaving, Vlad explained, "May has to let go of the belief system he has grown up with in order to do so."

"Shit," Bram summarized.

"Any numbers of colleagues you could put us into contact with would be much appreciated," Vlad said.

"You don't happen to know any vampire psychologists, do you?" Bram said, his tone too casual for Vlad's liking. Vlad muttered something about Hannibal Lector under his breath that Bram didn't quite catch but assumed summarized how much Vlad trusted a vampire with a psychology degree.

"So we have to fight these space vampires and our own kid," Bram sighed.

"Not fight," Vlad corrected with a scowl.

"Fighting I can do," Bram said.

Vlad rubbed the bridge of his nose. "He is only saying that to get a rise out of me, he is not serious," he told Angela, even though he knew Bram was probably 83% serious. "Do you or this Interdimensional Sentient Entity Research Association have any suggestions about how to go about convincing one of the Guardians to sever their connection to their object?"

"What if we offered him a teacup?" Bram asked.

Vlad blinked and glanced at his companion. He knew what Bram was getting at and said, "Yes, but is the Serpent not bound away?"

Bram shrugged. "He still has a hold on May, right? He's the TV, May's the radio?"

Vlad turned back to Angela. "Would it be possible to give the Serpent a different tether in exchange? World destructive intentions aside, I mean. There is very little information I have been able to obtain pertaining to the Serpent's sealing."
 
"There's enough for everyone," Winona assured Adelaide. "She could probably have more than- Oh," Winona said, seemingly realizing that maybe the limit imposed on Genny's cookie intake was not actually about whether there was enough for everyone else. "Never mind," she decided. She left a plate of cookies in the kitchen, then dropped one on the dining room table. The look she gave the Daniels parents was not exactly unfriendly, but certainly a bit wary. There was a tiny dagger sitting under a pile of mail that Bram liked to use as a letter opener, and she grabbed it as she went by, slipping it easily up her sleeve. Then she brought a final plate of cookies into the living room, where Esther and Helen were cooing over Genny.

"Oh my!," Helen exclaimed, "Aren't you brave?"

"Yes, families are often changing, so that we can share our love with more people," Esther told the little girl sagely. "My girls grew up without a brother, but when I married Helen they suddenly got one! And he and his wife are going to have a baby soon, so we will have another new family member!"

Helen rolled her eyes, though it was a fond gesture. "You've already told them all about the baby," she chided. "And shown off the ultrasound pictures to anyone who will sit still long enough."

Winona stopped into the first floor bathroom and changed the hand towels to clean ones, as instructed. She eyed the knife that was sticking out of the spare roll of toilet paper, trying to decide where to hide it. She wasn't wearing an oversized sweater for once, so she didn't think she could easily hide it on her person and smuggle it upstairs. After a moment of indecision, she put it and the small dagger in one of the cabinet drawers that held bandaids and extra soap and decided that was going to be good enough. It wasn't like people went around digging through other people's bathroom drawers, right?

Back in the kitchen, she stared at Olive in silence for a few moments while she tried to figure out how to answer.

"....Yes. The second one," she said. "I didn't.... Go to school as a kid," she explained. That was probably fine to say, right? "But I'm mostly caught up now! Alex teaches me math and some of the sciences and Vlad teaches me reading and the other stuff. I'm a very fast learner, I will probably start school after we move," she bragged.

Technically, Winona was still behind where her grade-level should be on both reading and math- But, so were lots of kids who would be in her grade. Vlad had told her she could start if she really wanted to, but that she would have to change schools fairly soon and it might be better just to wait. (Bram had teased that Vlad just didn't want her to go off to her first day of kindergarten and leave them alone all day.)

Which was silly. It had been months since she'd been at kindergarten level.
 
(hey yo it's me)

'You don't have to apologize for getting excited'. Agni wasn't sure he agreed. There were appropriate times and places to get emotional, and most of the time that wasn't when there were guests around. But Olive and Devon both seemed suitably impressed by his rambling, and he found himself preening a little anyways.

Up until Devon asked for help with his homework, that is. Agni's eyes went wide and he gaped like a fish, opening his mouth and closing it before he nodded furiously.

"I, er, yes! I mean, I've never taught anyone before? I don't know if I'd be any good at it," he amended quickly. He didn't want to get Devon's hopes up and then turn out to be a terrible teacher. But then, what did they teach in high school geometry anyways? Agni's knowledge base was a bit of a mess, so would he even be any help?

He chewed on his lower lip, fidgeting a bit with his ipad.

"I enjoy math. I like solving problems with set answers," he admitted after a moment. "Geometry is my favourite, but I enjoy algebra as well. I used to do book keeping for the..."

He frowned, glancing at Adelaide. Was it appropriate to talk about the brothel when there were strangers around? Vlad tended to get a little red-faced and flustered when he spoke casually about where he used to work.

"Er, my previous workplace," he amended.

Originally the Tiger had just wanted to give him something extra to do to keep him busy, but he had taken to the numbers like a fish to water. Her professional accountant still double checked his work, of course, but it was still a point of pride that he made very few mistakes.

When the topic turned to school, he tuned out a little bit. He h ad never been, and while he would love to learn in a more formal setting, going to high school with peers his own age held little appeal. He made enough strange comments and etiquette mistakes around the house - he couldn't imagine being around hundreds of other teenagers and having no idea how to act.



Genny grinned, clearly proud when she was called brave yet again.

"I'm super brave. I'm not scared of storms, and I don't even need the hall light on anymore when I sleep, just a night light," she said proudly. Her mom always told her that bragging was impolite, but she was in the kitchen, so it was fine for now. Sleeping without the hall light on was a big deal.

"Definitely super brave," May agreed with a smile.

Esther's explanation made a lot of sense, and May nodded along enthusiastically.

"Yep! Families can always change, it's just important that you love each other," he agreed, and then his eyes lit up. "And babies are super exciting! Congratulations!"



Angela snorted out a laugh, and quickly covered her mouth with her handkerchief.

"Space vampires isn't the term I'd use, but I suppose it works," she said, trying very hard to appear professional and hide her amusement. "Some people call them psychic vampires, but I'm fairly certain that's just lumping them in with a different kind of creature..."

She trailed off for a moment, lost in thought, before she shrugged her shoulders.

"The symbiotic part is less pronounced nowadays. Originally, the guardians are said to have protected the islanders from storms and wild animals, and to have helped build roads and infrastructure that's still used today. Apparently they also helped innovate specific farming methods that take advantage of the island's local ecosystem, but nobody can confirm if that one was truly the guardians or just human ingenuity. They do apparently have a deity in charge of providing a good harvest - something about energy distribution between living things - but at this point it's all heresay."

She grimaced, her cheeks flushing a little bit.

"Honestly, the few times I've been to the island, my academic curiosity was not well received. A lot of my knowledge is based on second hand accounts, and what little I've gotten from Mr. Zelenka - The Tiger."

That brought a slight scowl to her face, and she set her fork down with a sigh.

"Honestly, I don't know what their motive is in all of this. We met a few times, and they occasionally seek my counsel on alchemical topics, but I've never been able to read them very well. I was shocked when they hired me to look after May's body."

If there was one thing Angela hated, it was not knowing things. Not being able to parse the Tiger's intentions rankled her, but she didn't see any way around it. For the time being, it remained a sore spot that she was seemingly just dancing in the creature's hands.

She listened to Bram and Vlad puzzle things out verbally, and tried to hide her amusement at Bram's eagerness to fight.

"I would not suggest a physical altercation," she warned, just in case. "You could damage a vessel, but it's not really possible to harm them from this side. You'd need to attack the physical body, and our bodies don't do well in their dimension."

She pursed her lips, considering.

"Again, I don't have a lot of information either. The serpent is a bit of a taboo subject. It's possible it would take a different vessel, but as you said, it is sealed anyways. Besides, vessels are a deeply personal thing, as far as I'm aware. An object needs to be infused with an IDE-D's life force for at least a few years before it can be effectively used to interact with the world. Although May does have an overflowing abundance of the serpent's magic, so theoretically he could maybe kick-start the infusion process? I don't know how long it would take, or if he'd be willing to do so. I can talk to my colleagues and see what they have to say, but honestly... The serpent is a big unknown, even to the people living on Domina. It's more of a symbol than anything. I don't even think most of the current guardians were around when the serpent was sealed."
 
"Well, you wouldn't have to teach so much as help," Devon said, hoping that would maybe calm Agni's worry. "More like you could show me how to do some of the problems I don't get."

Devon couldn't help but be amused that Agni liked the set answers. He did seem like to sort of person who things to be cut and dry. Vlad had spent a good bit of time muttering about different learning styles, and Devon had discovered he was pretty good with auditory, but also needed to move around while he studied. Vlad's completely serious look when he had told Devon to walk around and talk while he studied had turned smug when it worked. When pressed, Vlad had explained Devon learned similarly to Bram. Bram had been starting dinner, and had commented that giving Vlad any kind of verbal instructions was entirely pointless. Vlad had shot back that that had more to do with the curse, but Bram's smile had told Devon that wasn't entirely true.

He guessed that Agni was probably better with visual learning, too, since he had gone to get his iPad to explain.

"I would appreciate any help you could give," Devon told Agni.

"Sometimes I wish I were home schooled," Olive sighed. "But, honestly, my parents would not be good at it like your dad is. I also don't have any siblings to help, either."

Olive had never met Alex but she was pretty sure he was the anxious older boy chatting with the Jones-Nicholls-es in the living room. May was the brightly-colored boy, she was certain. He had shown up to pick up Devon a few times.

But something Winona had said snagged on Olive's attention. "Wait. You're moving? I didn't know you were moving! When? To where?"




Vlad scowled at "psychic vampires" and Bram had to dig his elbow into Vlad's ribs just to be annoying.

Vlad cocked his head with interest in the mini-history lesson, but Bram frowned. He wasn't really sure how knowing that the Guardians weren't always as useless as their current iteration would help save May. But Angela soon moved on so he didn't have to ponder it.

"Did you get a read on the Tiger?" Bram asked Vlad.

Vlad's shoulders went up and then down. "The Tiger seems more interested in the world outside their island than they care to admit. I also think they are soft on Agni, but I could be reading what I want to see into the situation."

Bram shrugged. He trusted Vlad's insight. "Could we... talk to them? Would they be willing to talk to us?"

Vlad tilted his head. He had thought of it, but had ultimately decided getting any of the Guardians involved would be a last resort. "Perhaps."

Bram nodded and then turned back to Angela when she advised against just punching the problem. He winked. "You don't know me. I might be able to."

Vlad, who unfortunately did know Bram, rubbed the bridge of his nose. "We are not going to fight them."

Bram was about to argue when something Angela said caught his attention. "Does it need to be like... special to the Serpent or like... could it be special to May?"

He turned a huge grin on Vlad, who groaned.

"Because May has all these--"

"No."

"--action figures and it would be so funny if the Serpent chose like Cthulhu or something."

Vlad could think of several of May's figurines that would be far funnier than some eldrich monster, but this was a very serious conversation. This was not like the conversation in which Bram had had him help figure out which object in the house would make good vessels for each member of the family. Bram had insisted his would be a knife while Vlad had very firmly said it would be his favorite spatula.

Vlad shook his head in the attempt to get his brain back on task. Seeing the movement, Bram ruffled his hair.

"We would appreciate you reaching out to your colleagues. Do you have any other suggestions--regardless of how wild or unhelpful they may seem, we are all ears."

"And a little bit of stomach," Bram added as his finished off the cassarole on Vlad's plate. "That was delicious, thank you."
 
Winona went a little pale, glancing at Devon for help before deciding he was not the authority on this matter- Or at least not one she could communicate with in private.

"Alex!"

"Yes, congrats on the grandchild," Alex was saying when his name was shouted from the kitchen. "Umm. Just a moment."

He rushed to the kitchen in a panic but Winona only signed at him quickly- Something that didn't really make sense.

"Um, no, it's not a-" He frowned at her before switching to sign himself.

It's not a secret that we're moving. Why would it be a secret?

Winona gave him a very flat look. Because of our entire lives?, she signed.

"Well, that's... Hmmm," Alex allowed. He supposed he couldn't be that mad at Winona for giving him a minor heart attack. They had told her that some secrets were very important to keep- From Claudios, from the Council, from the Guardians, from the entire human populace....

Moving isn't a secret though.

We have too many secrets, Winona signed.

Debatable, Alex replied with a shrug.

"Yes, we are moving," Winona answered. "Sometime.... Soon-ish? Depends on when the new place can be completed. To the mountains."

She looked at Alex as if for confirmation, and he gave her a thumbs up.

"Winona and Devon ha- are staying with Vlad and Bram for the next couple years at least," Alex told Olive. "And the rest of us will probably be.... In and out? It sort of depends, but either way Vlad and Bram figured a bigger place would probably be best- We're getting a little crowded, so!"

Winona frowned and nudged Alex.

Have you told them about-

Not right now, Winona, Alex signed back with a terse smile. "You're Olive, right? Do your parents need anything in there? I can't really tell," he admitted.

 
Helping was definitely something Agni could do. Explaining how things worked was also something he could do, and something he took great enjoyment in. He tried to explain the math of bridges to Henrietta several times, but her eyes usually glazed over quickly. Explaining things to someone who had actually asked would be... fun, maybe.

The subject of the move was a little less interesting. He hadn't lived in the townhouse long enough to really get attached to it, so he couldn't really--

Wait.

Siblings?

Sure, the elders called them their collective kids, but Agni didn't realize that meant they were related. He had always sort of assumed that he was more of an exchange student, or a foreign diplomat or something. It was very strange to realize that he was actually being included in this little family, and his mouth gaped for a long moment before snapping shut. He couldn't ask in front of strangers. That was inappropriate. Although judging by the way Winona and Alex were blatantly handspeaking in front of their guests, maybe not too inappropriate.

He kind of wanted to elbow her for being rude, but he didn't want to get stabbed. He settled for giving her what May called his 'lemon eating' face instead.

"I don't believe a property has been purchased yet, so it will probably be... half a year or so before it's completed?" he guessed. If they were starting from scratch with a new build on treed land, it would probably take longer than a few months.

He was a little excited for it, though. Watching construction sites was always fascinating.


Angela couldn't hide her small smirk when Bram brought up Cthulu.

"While that would be amusing, I believe it's a matter of physical proximity as much as it is significance. If it's something he's had close to him for, say, a decade, it will probably have a great deal of ambient magic already surrounding it. After that, it's more or less a matter of harnessing it. If you really want to look into that avenue, I could contact an acquaintance of mine. They're a, er, fellow IDE-D, though unaffiliated with Domina itself. I can't guarantee that they'd answer any of your questions, though."

Quill would probably be annoyed at the bother more than anything, and Angela dreaded the rude email she was likely to receive in response. But it was at least worth a shot.

Seeing that dinner was over with, she stood from the table.

"Right. Well, I'm glad to help, as always. I just ask that you keep me updated on the situation. For academic reasons, of course. Not that I plan on publishing any of my papers publicly, but we do have a small research group. Actually, I'll send you an invite to the facebook chat if you want."
 
Olive was... concerned wasn't the right word. She was fairly sure she had said something wrong, if Winona shouting for Alex was any indication. Winona and Alex then had a furious signing conversation. She glanced uncomfortably at Devon, who was watching the signed conversation with a slight frown of concentration.

Catching the look, Devon shrugged. "We haven't told many people about the move so Win was just worried she'd said something wrong."

Olive nodded and gave Winona a smile. "The mountains, huh? Are your dads building?"

Devon nodded. "It's kinda a big deal for them, actually. They've not really, um, had a place they stayed in for long."

The house shifted around his feet as if in agreement.

Olive nodded. She remembered when they moved in a few years ago. The rumors around the neighborhood had flown. Her grandmother was convinced Vlad was some sort of witch. Olive didn't know about that, but she did get the feeling that they all had secrets of some kind.

She glanced at Devon when there was more signing and found him frowning. He glanced at Alex but flicked his eyes away and smoothed his features before anyone else noticed.

Thunder cracked overhead making her jump. "Oh, um," Olive said in response to Alex. That made the family a bit weirder than she had thought and she was having trouble figuring them out. "Are you going to college, then? Is May?"

Olive leaned back to look at her parents through the kitchen doorway. Her mother was still on her call and her father was pretending not to eavesdrop on the conversation in the living room. "No, I think they're fine." After a pause, she added, "Sorry about them. They're just um... They don't like other people that much."

That wasn't exactly true, Olive knew, but she didn't want to say that, though they didn't agree with her grandmother, her parents did think there was something wrong with the weird family in the townhome. It was more than just them thinking they were weird, but she had already accidentally blurted that to Devon and wasn't about to make it worse.

Devon frowned at the outside, wondering why they alone had lights and internet. The house sighed softly around him, and he looked up. It felt like something warm had touched the air around him. Like when his mom used to comfort him after a nightmare. It soothed the tension in his shoulders.

"Oh, hey, I think Bram and Vlad are home."






Bram nodded. "Sure, if you could reach out to your acquaintance, that would be great."

Both Bram and Vlad rose to their feet when their host did. Vlad's eyebrow arched at the mention of publishing papers before dropping into a cool snobbish look.

Fortunately, Bram interrupted what would have been a snooty comment about assuming she had gotten the proper consent forms from May. "Yes, we'll keep you in the loop," he said, shooting Vlad a look.

Vlad pressed his lips together in displeasure.

"And we'd love to be in the Facebook group," Bram added, mostly because he knew Vlad would thank him later even if he was giving him the side-eye right then.

"Thank you again, Angela," Vlad said. "We appreciate the time you took to speak to us this evening."

"Yes, thanks so much. And thanks for dinner," Bram added.

They both kept their hopeful expressions on until they reached the elevator. Bram cracked as the door closed and the lift began descending.

"What are we going to do?"

Vlad opened his mouth to say something dark and sarcastic but closed it when he noticed the stricken look on Bram's face. He knew Bram had put a lot of hope into this meeting.

Vlad was not the optimistic one. He was the pessimistic one. Hope was Bram's department. But Vlad was also supposed to be the one who knew what to do. He didn't. He hadn't come up with anything. He wished there was something he could tell Bram he could just punch or stab to solve the problem.

The silence stretched, and Bram finally broke. He couldn't be the one to crumble. He had to be the strong one. When they had lost Amya, he had had to keep Vlad alive. He had to be the optimistic one whenever something went wrong with the kids. He had had to pretend like everything was fine and his own father trying to murder his family hadn't bothered him until Vlad had consumed jenever with him. He had to keep Vlad alive and the family together, but he just couldn't.

The elevator stopped, and Vlad was pulling him into a hug. Bram had grown up with too many emotions for a stoic slayer and therefore had felt very weird when the unflappable vampire who hated his guts and never cried had looked him in the eye and told him it was normal for humans to cry. That was before he realized Vlad just shut down instead of crying. It took them both a long time to be more open about their emotions with one another. Even these days it took a bit of prodding when one of them was determined to be the strong one. But Bram had always been a sucker for physical contact.

So he clung to his best friend probably a little tighter than necessary and ugly cried into his raincoat.

"I can't do this," Bram whispered once his sobs had turned into shuddering breaths.

"You're not alone," Vlad promised, and Bram hugged him a little tighter.

"You promise?"

"I honestly wonder if the curse will let me die without you."

Bram snorted. Vlad had all these weird almost-superstitions about the curse. Most of them surrounded what would happen if one of them died. "Sometimes I feel like you're determined to test that theory of yours."

Vlad huffed, but Bram had him trapped in a bear hug. "I already promised."

"You're going to take care of yourself? Like remembering to feed and sleep and do your affirmations?"

"I'm not doing affirmations."

"You are enough, say it."

"You are enough."

"Smartass." Bram paused, realizing the door to the elevator probably should have opened a long time ago. "Did you short-circuit the elevator?"

Vlad shifted, resting his hand against the wall. The elevator resumed its downward motion. "No."

Bram rolled his eyes and released Vlad so he could wipe his face with the sleeve of his jacket. "How bad is my face?" At Vlad's wince, he sighed. "Well, we can just tell the doorman we were going to have a threesome--"

"Why does it always have to be about sex for you?" Vlad demanded as the doors opened. The older man waiting for the elevator gave Vlad a look as they stepped out.

"Because you get all flustered," Bram said with a grin. "You're cute when you're flustered."

Vlad started and aborted several retorts to that, and Bram's grin widened. Vlad was past getting flustered about Bram's constant innuendos, but calling him cute never failed.

Vlad settled on, "I am not cute."

They argued about that as they stepped out into the rain, got into the truck, and pulled out. Eventually Vlad's insistence that he was a very dangerous vampire trailed off as he stared out the window.

Bram glanced at him, trying to gauge his silence.

But it was pensive, as Vlad said, "Angela is going to contact her 'acquaintance'--watch out, that light is out."

Bram slowed and stopped, using proper drive etiquette for once. Once it was his turn, he pulled carefully through the intersection and then sped up.

"She'll contact that other interdenominational creature and we will potentially convince the Serpent to take on a new vessel--oh."

"I see it," Bram said, slowing for another dark stoplight. "Looks like this whole side of town is down. Our power never goes out like this."

Vlad slid his eyes to his companion. "That would be the magic, Abraham. Did you not notice my Castle does not lose electricity even when the photovoltaic cells malfunction?"

Bram had noticed but not really thought that much about it. As they approached the neighborhood, it became apparent that the surrounding houses were all down except for the one near the end of the cul-de-sac. There was also an SUV outside parked near Vlad's little Civic. They could see more shapes than usual moving around in the lit windows.

"Are they holding a rave?" Bram asked as they pulled into the little driveway. "Are we going to find Alex tied up in the basement?"

"They would not do that."

"Probably be good for them if they did. Kids need to act out."

"Neither you nor I acted out."

"And look how we turned out."

"Touché."

As Vlad's feet touched the ground, he paused. "Oh."

"What?" Bram asked.

Vlad closed his eyes, listening. "There's someone else interacting with the magic, but it's not Scarlet."

"Then who? We don't have any other..." Bram trailed off. "Your mom's magic doesn't care about blood. You take after her."

"Yes? So?"

"It's one of our kids, you idiot. I bet you it's Devon. He's the one going through vampire puberty."

Vlad stared over the hood of the truck at Bram as the realization began to dawn on him. "No, he's a Von Batts."

Bram grinned. "Your magic doesn't care."

"Our magic." Vlad pushed a hand through his hair. "Claudios is going to kill me."

"This is hilarious."

"This is not hilarious! Claudios is going to have kittens, Abraham! Kittens!"

"Then we'll just adopt them, too."

Ignoring Bram's objectively funny joke, Vlad fretted, "But what about Devon? How is he going to feel about this? He's not manifesting his family power!"

Bram came around the truck and rested his hands on Vlad's shoulders. "He is. We're his family, regardless of blood."

"He wants so much for Claudios to be proud of him."

Bram nodded. "But sometimes nothing you do will make that a reality." Vlad winced, but Bram smiled sadly. "So you learn to look to the people who love you as you are for that validation."

Vlad was now quite wet and staring up at his hopeful friend. He let out a sigh and nodded. "Figure out about May. Figure out about Devon. Ok. We can do this."

Throwing his arm around Vlad's shoulders, Bram dragged him to their porch and through the front door. "What is going on?!" he called in a mock-serious tone as he pulled off his coat. "Are you having a rave in here?"
 
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