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

Alex hadn't really been sure what he'd been expecting of an 'alchemist'.... But not this? If he had to pin it down, he was imagining the alchemist would be using the cover of a more hole in the wall kind of shop that sold tarot cards and dried plants and healing crystals and things that weren't really magic- Unless used by someone with magic, of course. This just seemed more like the woman's home.

"Of course," Alex agreed, untying his shoes and putting them in the tray. "Yeah, don't worry about us, we'll just wait- Uh, out here."

He figured he and Bram would just hang out in the shop or the lobby or whatever while May and the alchemist went into a back room or something but he wasn't really sure her set-up. Maybe he shouldn't have come. It was one thing to go to your boyfriend's check up if you were just going to sit in the lobby and look over online class schedules, but it seemed much weirder when the check up was at a residence.

But the sign on the door listing her hours implied that May wasn't her only visitor, so she must practice alchemy professionally and not just personally. He was very curious what she listed on her taxes- Private practice therapy, maybe.




Winona's new sweater had a thick cable-knit, and she ran her fingers along the texture of the sleeve as she watched her father approach the house from her window. A bit early, which she supposed wasn't really surprising. He was certainly not going to be late.

She grabbed her book of 'Sudoku Puzzles: Grade 8' and went back downstairs.

"Hey," she nodded at Claudios, and sat down on the end of the couch furthest from him before he got up to hug her or something. She very much doubted he would- especially based on Devon's face- but all the same, best to avoid even the possibility.
 
The woman gave Bram a slightly awkward smile, clearly not certain that them escaping into her home to escape said awkward situation was much better. Either way, she couldn't have them standing in the doorway the whole time.

"Come in, come in," she said, ushering them over towards a fancy leather sectional in the living area. Once Bram and Alex were both politely seated, she turned to May and smiled. "Of course, you're allowed to have family come to your appointment, that's your right as a patient. I admit that your situation is a little unusual compared to my usual clients, but it's nothing we can't handle."

May smiled awkwardly as he sat in front of her, and she grabbed a clipboard with a series of notes from the coffee table. There were a number of small devices next to it that appeared to be for measuring... things, but May had no idea what they really were.

"I'm Doctor Sigurdson, to get introductions out of the way," she said as she looked through her notes and then to May in front of her. May raised his eyebrows, and wanted to ask the big question, but didn't want to be rude. She rolled her eyes. "Yes, I am an actual doctor, although I rarely practice traditional medicine anymore."

May let out a breath of relief that he didn't have to ask.

"That's cool. Most of the people who do this sort of thing are like. Not actually doctors. I don't think medical school really prepares you for, you know. Magic rock stuff."

She raised her eyebrows at him, the corner of her mouth quirking up.

"Sorry to get your hopes up, but I'm a psychiatrist, not a GP," she said as she grabbed some of the tools off the table and began to do things like look in May's eyes and down his throat. "But I am qualified, to put your... uncle at ease."

May had his mouth open so he couldn't refute that, but at least she hadn't guessed father. Maybe he and Bram looked so different that the idea hadn't occurred.

"Since you're family, we can go over the basics. I need to do a general exam and then a more intense physical in the back room. Have any of you noticed anything odd about Mr. Garrison lately? Like fatigue, unusual behaviour, weird magical output? It helps to get a general picture of the situation before I come to any conclusions. Mr. Zelenka gave some details, but not many.



Agni frowned, because that was even more confusing and arbitrary, but he didn't question it. Family was a nebulous concept, it seemed, and forever out of his reach.

Devon's look at the offer of a politics conversation had his brow furrowing. It would be very good things to know, and he should question about it. But politics of vampires was something he knew nothing about, and humans were already a culture shock. He would hate to get the two confused.

He did straighten up, however, with the shift of magic. He couldn't actually use it, and he didn't really understand it, but he could feel the shift. He had a general spatial awareness of the atmosphere surrounding his vessel, and things that couldn't actually be seen still affected it. It was a very strange feeling, though, and one that he was entirely unused to. He made a curious clicking noise in the back of his throat, clearly fascinated as he pushed out that awareness.

It was all very confusing. He could feel different energies and that they were clearly at odds, but the information wasn't anything he had a reference point for. Vlad's magic had been background noise until then, surrounding him but not really interacting with him, but now that he was aware of it it felt like he was surrounded by static on all sides. The invading force was not helping either, and it was a little overwhelming.

He sneezed and quickly drew his awareness back into himself, scrunching up his nose.

"Apologies," he mumbled, burying his nose into his sleeve and sneezing again. He wasn't going to do that again any time soon, especially when he was already tired and having a hard time concentrating.

He did stiffen up when Claudios actually came into the house. He was sure to perfectly copy the posture that Olivia had taught him, going over manners and mannerisms and all kinds of human etiquette. He didn't know if any of it was relevant, but it was better than nothing.

He sat perfectly straight-backed on the edge of the couch, hoping he didn't look as absurdly nervous as he felt, and waited until he was mentioned before he could introduce himself. He knew how to do that. He had been taught how to talk to the other representatives and those on the council of elders before.

Except Vlad introduced him instead, and his tongue tied up. That... was not according to the script he had practised. How did he introduce himself if somebody else did it for him? Did he agree? Did he stay silent?

He felt a little overwhelmed, but kept his posture and face as neutral as he could.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, head elder," he said, hoping that it was the right thing to say and not somehow offensive. Claudios gave off an air that was a little intimidating, but more importantly, old. Without meaning to he assumed the posture he would when greeting another Guardian in human form, one arm crossed over his chest as he bowed his head forward and tilted it to display his throat. He half expected the other to accept the display by squeezing his neck in an assertion of their roles, but after a split second he remembered that that was not how humans worked and he was probably acting very strangely. He quickly resumed his Normal Human Sitting posture and cleared his throat, his cheeks flushing a little.

This was a mistake. Henrietta covered all of these face to face meetings, for a reason. But she wasn't here, so he would be a good ambassador of his homeland in her place.

"My title is Little Dragon, and I am the acting head elder of the Council of Elders of Domina Island. I apologize for not reaching out to request permission before entering your territory, however my people have no current relationship with the vampire race and were uncertain of how to do so," he said, his tone formal and polite. Was that saying too much? He was supposed to not say anything that would make him or his kind look weak, but not be rude either.

Everybody else was extremely casual, though. He was getting the feeling that he was very out of place, and he tried very hard to relax himself to mimic the posture of the others in the room.

"I am here to establish good relationships between my people and those who exist on the mainland, as well as to learn about the culture of mortal species. I asked Elder to allow me to attend this meeting, so that I could introduce myself and state my intentions."

Good. This was all good so far.

"I was also made aware that one of my people caused property damage to your home in the past. In the hopes of maintaining good relations, I would like to offer financial compensation."
 
“Doctor,” Bram said with a nod. “I’m Bram. This is Alex.”

He did chuckle a little bit at Dr. Sigurdson’s choice of familial title, but didn’t say anything about it. He wasn’t sure who Mr. Zelenka was but figured he was a Dominica person. He wanted to ask if she still practiced psychiatry and how she had got into alchemy, but this was about May, so he decided not to distract her.

At her question, Bram hesitated. Did almost letting Armageddon loose count? Especially when Bram had easily solved the Serpent’s supposed world-eating desires with his waffles. Which sort of made them world-saving waffles, now that he thought about it. He should open his own breakfast place called “Bram’s World-Saving Waffles”. Had a nice ring to it. He could write “Cures Hangry so the World Doesn’t Burn” on all his menus.

But he mostly wasn’t sure if this woman was privy to that sort of information. He decided to let May bring it up if he wanted. But there was one thing he was concerned about.

“Uh... long story short, someone recently used blood magic to take over May’s mind. That was solved, but we want to make sure there’s no residual effects. And we just want to make sure he’s, y’know, healthy.”

Bram frowned slightly. He had assumed there would be an area to leave Alex so he could ask the alchemist some more serious questions. He wondered if there was some way he could signal her without Alex noticing that any serious news should be discussed without Alex present. Surely she would just figure that as was the adult here.

Bram paused, thinking. “Do you need to know anything about his living situation? Our family isn’t the most... traditional. I can give you some detail about the magic he interacts with at home if necessary.”


Claudios nodded to Winona as she joined the group. He looked over her as well. She seemed... different, but he wasn’t sure what it was. She sat as far from him as possible, which put her on the end of the couch closest to Vlad.

Who shifted the cross of his legs so that he was angled away from her.

Claudios stared in shock. Normally Vlad would subtly shift himself closer to her or Devon or whichever teen was closest to him.

He didn’t have much time to be confused as the new child was speaking to him. He was unbothered by the weird bow. Each species tended to have their own protocols for greeting someone. If odd customs bothered him, he would not have made it far as the Council Chair. He inclined his head in response.

But the introduction got... odd. Claudios blinked, trying to process all of that. This kid was the head elder? How old was he? Who the blazes was “Elder”? He glanced at Vlad, but the smaller vampire just seemed amused.

He decided the most pressing question was, “I’m sorry, what did you say your title is?”

Vlad chuckled. “That is an interesting coincidence, Claudios.”

Claudios had not had to translate English into Nosferatan for over a century, but he had done it just to check. And it turned out he was not crazy. They were the same.

Vlad smiled at Agni. “I do not remember if I mentioned, but you and I have similar titles. They carry different... jobs, but your title translates to Drakonii in my native language.”

“As to my home, don’t be concerned with that. We solved that some time ago.” Besides, he had no idea of the rules of this Domina and wasn’t about to accept anything from them.

Claudios sighed. He had just wanted to check up on his children and yell at Vladimir for being vague at the best of times. He was not prepared to handle the politics of interacting with another supernatural society. He made a mental note to get back at Vlad for this. “And you needn’t be concerned with invading territory. The Council governs only vampires. Besides,” he added, eyeing Vlad, “you appear to have joined the family of our own Little Dragon which grants you certain privileges.”

Vlad nodded, taking that as his cue. “We journeyed to Domina when some issues questioning May’s right to life arose.”

“What,” Claudios said, because had Leeuwen been explaining, he probably would have said, “Some bastards wanted to murder our kid so we went to kick their asses.”

“We made a deal with the Tiger, another member of the Domina Council of Elders. In exchange for her vote in our favor, we added Agni to our household.”

So diplomacy had won over violence and now they had a new kid.

“Somehow,” Claudios said with a sigh, “I am not the slightest bit surprised.” He slid his eyes to Agni. “Welcome.” Turning back to Vlad he frowned. “You couldn’t text me this, why?”

Vlad took a sip of his coffee. “The townhouse is too small. We are moving to a new Home.”

“What,” Claudios said in the same tone as before. He had heard the capital “H” in there. “You’re building a Home? Vladimir, the Council is not going to like this.”

Vlad sipped his coffee. “The Council has no say. It is my right.”

Claudios glared at him. “Your typical antics could jeopardize your guardianship.”

“Not with their father supporting my right to build a Home.”

And there it was. Claudios resisted the urge to pull his lips back and growl at Vlad. “You. Presume. Much.”

Vlad rested his coffee cup on his knee. “Claudios, they will be safer in a proper Home, you know this. It is in their best interest—“

“For you and your damned slayer partner to settle down? You have already smeared mud across you family name. This only solidifies it into stone.”

Vlad narrowed his eyes and tapped his fingers in his thigh. “This is not about that.”

“Oh isn’t it?” Were the other three not there, Claudios might have stood and strode over to the mantle so he could better point out that Vlad was being an idiot. “They already think you’re mixing blood. Might as well just make it official.”

Vlad pressed his lips together in annoyance.

Devon cleared his throat. “Maybe you can explain for the rest of us why the Council doesn’t want Vlad to build a house of all things? Personally, I’d like my own room.”

Shifting his gaze to his son, Claudios sighed. “You know the Council is skeptical of all Vlad’s intentions purely based on the fact that he is bound to a slayer. But Vlad seems hellbent on proving it’s worse than that and he has joined said slayer to his family. It’s bad enough he’s allowed their magic to mix. Building a Home in which all of your magic mixes just proves that. He has emulated his nomadic family until now, so no one much cared. But by building, he’s setting up a seat of power.”

“It also legitimizes my claim to my familial Council seat,” Vlad added, “which obviously makes many on the Council uncomfortable.” He slid his eyes back to Claudios. “But this is not about that, Claude.”

“Then move to a bigger house in the suburbs.”

“No. That would leave us vulnerable. This is the best way to protect my family. You know I am right.”

Claudios worked his jaw back and forth. Vlad was right, but the Council wouldn’t see it that way. And he didn’t doubt that Vlad was mainly thinking of his family, but he knew that being able to legally demand his seat was an added bonus. As soon as the twins were in college, Claudios knew he would be dealing with that. Or sooner if the Council threatened Vlad’s family or freedom.

An idea occurred to Claudios, and a small smile slid across his face. “Fine. You have my full support. If you renounce you claim to your familial seat.”

Vlad’s eyes narrowed only slightly, but out of the corner of his eye, Claudios saw a black flame flare to life in the fireplace.

He wouldn’t dare fight this in front of Winona and Devon. Because if he truly cared about them, he would give up his seat for them. Because they would not know how long Vlad had fought for that or all that it would mean if he lost it for good.

Claudios could feel Drakonii magic, with its weird mix of energies, writhing around him. Suddenly, it went slack.

Vlad lowered his eyes and leaned back in his chair, the picture of defeat. “So be it. If that is what it takes, I will renounce my seat.”

Claudios wanted to crow in triumph.

“And my title.”

“What,” Claudios snapped.

Vlad shook his head and rested his hands in his lap. “There is no reason to continue to hold my title. I might as well break from the Council altogether.”

He lifted his dark eyes to Claudios’ and Claudios clenched his jaw.

“I suppose you will have to rely on your operatives to solve your problems.” His tone was innocent and regretful, but his eyes glinted mockingly at Claudios.

Check and mate.

Claudios thought about acting like he could afford to lose Vlad’s uncanny ability to get to the bottom of the Council’s problems. But they never would have gotten out of Leeuwen Senior’s trap in England without him, and Vlad’s supporters brought that up every time. Maybe given more time, he could find a way out of this, but that was always the problem. He was good at planning, but Vlad was quick on his feet.

“Perhaps you could ask Maria—“

“No need to rub it in, Vladimir,” Claudios snapped. “I will support you. But speaking of Morales, I suggest you get her support.”

“I intend to,” Vlad assured him, and he looked displeased enough for Claudios to believe him.

“This will be hell for me, I hope you realize that.”

“But worth it for the safety of your children.”

Claudios grunted. “Yes, but I will regret it in... six or so years.”

Vlad smiled. That was about the right timeframe.

Claudios flicked his eyes to Winona and Devon. “And what do you two think of moving?”

“I’m excited,” Devon said. “Bram says we can design our own rooms. I want a climbing wall in mine.”

Turning his attention on Winona, he remembered the movement he had noticed before the conversation began. That was something he wanted to dig into. “And you?”
 
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"Uh- Yeah, that's the big one," Alex agreed with Bram's concern of the whole 'mind control via blood magic' situation. He hadn't mentioned... Larry, so Alex figured he shouldn't either.

He sat stiffly on the sectional- leather was always so squeaky- and pulled out one of his notebooks to look over class schedules and timetables.




Winona frowned at her sudoku, and pencilled in a 5 where she was pretty sure it went. She was getting better at logic- But the sort of things Vlad and Claudios were arguing about still confused her. Probably because it wasn't just nine variables with predetermined rules. There were too many things that were unknown to her. Like the fact that building his own home strengthened Vlad's case for his own council seat.

That was.... Interesting. He already had a castle and ancestral lands, but she supposed he didn't really 'live' there. Like Claudios said, he was largely nomadic. Maybe moving back there permanently would have the same effect on his claim as building a new place. Or maybe strengthen it even further, since it had been his father's home and the seat had been his father's. Or at least, his fathers' family's. She wasn't actually sure who had held it.

She didn't like the idea of Vlad having to give up his claim. Like building a new house, it was a permanent decision made to accommodate her and she didn't want anyone making long-term plans around her when she herself was only planning for the short term.

But Vlad was an adult, and if giving up his claim to his seat meant he could also stop being involved in the Council altogether, maybe that was what he wanted? She couldn't tell- He'd seemed angry about the idea at first, but he was very smug about his counter offer, so.

And Devon was involved too, and she was trying not to ruin his life anymore than she already had. So when Claudios asked how she felt about moving, she shrugged.

"Not as excited," she said honestly. He would know if she was lying, and she figured that if she gave a non-answer he would keep returning to it. "But I've moved before. So longs' I got my own space and a door that locks from the inside, I'll be okay."

"And he's right- We'd more protected," she agreed with Vlad. She didn't really understand the specifics of the hows and whys, but he thought he was right and Alex had agreed, so. "Pretty shitty of you to bargain with our safety," she told Claudios bluntly. "Oh, 'the Council isn't going to like it'," she parroted. "I thought being Chair meant you were in charge or something," she said observationally.

"Either its you who doesn't like us being safer- pretty stupid of you," she pointed out, because danger to her or Devon would ultimately end up being danger to Von Batts, in one way or another, "Or you don't really have much power at all," she challenged.
 
May turned to Alex and squeezed his knee. He was probably pretty uncomfortable - this wasn't his appointment, and he had kind of dragged him along for the ride.

Dr Sigurdson raised her eyebrows as Bram detailed blood magic of all things.

"That is... concerning," she said as she waved some kind of measuring device in front of May's face. "With any other homunculus, magic exposure in itself is concerning, but I know this is a unique situation."

May nodded nervously, and she sat back with a sigh.

"I have to do a more thorough exam in the back to be sure, but everything looks more or less normal so far. The level of residue buildup is... not good, but I wouldn't expect anything different. Would you like to discuss this in the back room?" she said, taking off her glasses to pinch the bridge of her nose. May shifted uncomfortably, not really sure how to take that. He also wasn't sure - he didn't want to hide anything from Alex, for certain.

"How bad is it?" he asked hesitantly, and she looked back at him with a pursed mouth. Her eyes trailed to Bram and Alex, before going back to May.

"All things considered? It could be worse. There's no obvious signs of shutdown, and I wouldn't worry about that for another year or so at least, but your magic conduits are started to get pretty badly eroded. Human bodies are generally incompatible with IDEs, so again, it's no worse than I was expecting. In fact, I'd say it's quite good. You're kind of like, the equivalent of a person stuck together with school glue and duct tape. The fact that your magic conduits are even still working, and that you've got full range of movement on top of that is honestly quite surprising," she explained, pulling out a pen-light to look in May's eyes again. "If you keep magical usage to a minimum, I suspect you could go about a year before symptoms start to appear."

May shifted awkwardly, folding his hands in his lap and squeezing them together. A year. That was so much shorter than he was expecting, and he could feel dread building up in his stomach as he did his best not to show it on his face.

"I-- That's-- Thank you," he said, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand. Sigurdson looked sympathetic, and she squeezed his shoulder before taking a step back.

"Would you like a minute before we do the more thorough examination?"






Agni was quite surprised that he and Vlad shared a title. His professional face slipped a bit as he turned to the smaller vampire, his eyes lighting up.

"Is that so? I was unaware." He said, clearly quite pleased. Vlad was smarter than him and older than him, and possibly stronger than him too. To share the title of 'little' with somebody like that made him want to preen a little, though he didn't dare do that in front of company.

The conversation moved on without him, and he slowly drew back into himself. This seemed to be personal business rather than anything else, and he was beginning to think he was intruding. He didn't know the proper protocols for dealing with biological fathers over adoptive fathers, but there seemed to be a lot of context here he was missing.

He was considering whether it would be safe for him to retreat, because he was still hoping to convince Vlad and Bram that they didn't need to move on his behalf, but then Winona opened her mouth.

He gawked at her, his eyes wide and his mouth open. It was a good thing he wasn't holding his teacup, because he was certain that if he was it would have fallen to the ground and shattered. He turned horrified eyes to Vlad and Claudios, then quickly jumped to his feet.

"Youngest daughter," he said, trying to sound calm and in control of the situation and not like he was totally freaking out, "We need more refreshments, clearly there isn't enough cream here. Would you come with me to the kitchen for a moment?"

He smiled at her and grabbed her upper arm, tugging her along with him until they were safely out of sight and he wheeled on her, looking absolutely scandalized.

"What are you doing?!" He hissed, making a sweeping gesture back to the living room. "Are you insane?! He could kill you! Why are you being so, so rude? On purpose?!"

The hysterical edge to his voice was starting to bleed through a bit, and he did his best to reign it back in. There was no point in getting too worked up, although he was certain that Winona's attitude had taken at least a year off his life.

The casualness with which everybody treated one another here had thrown him enough, but he figured that it was the same as how the girls from Nikola's shop were friendly with one another once the storefront closed. He didn't really understand the intricacies of human relationships, but he had rolled with it because it seemed to be expected. But that? Outright insulting an elder?!

There had to be consequences for that. Nobody with any modicum of power would allow such blatant disrespect to go unpunished.

"You have to apologize," he said firmly, still keeping his voice low.
 
Bram didn't like the sound of magical residue and for a moment wished Vlad was there to talk about magic stuff. Vlad had requested several books from an ancient supernatural library, but they hadn't arrived yet.

He really didn't like the sound of "shut-down".

"Wait, hold up," Bram said, because the doctor had said something he was not aware of. "Are you saying using magic is speeding up the... process?"

Damn, he should have sent Alex to the store. But there was nothing for it.

"What about... interacting with other magic? My uh... partner"--here, he made a face, but there was no time to explain Vlad was his completely platonic roommate whom he sort of was magically bound to and now they were raising kids together so she could just think they were together, it was fine, that wasn't what was important right now--"is a vampire and he sort of... leaks magic. That wouldn't make it worse, would it?"

Not that he knew how he'd tell Vlad that he was causing May to degrade faster if so.

"And we have other magical kids, as well," Bram added, guilt now eating at his stomach since it was his father who had been doing the blood magic.

But now the floodgates were open and he couldn't stop. "Sorry, maybe this is a stupid question, but what is an 'IDE'? What symptoms should we be watching for? Is there anything we can do--" Bram broke off because he wasn't sure he could say this without his voice cracking and May and Alex were there and damn he should have tried to pull the doctor aside.

"--to slow it down," Bram finished, his voice much quieter than he tended to use.




Claudios' mouth did not drop open at Winona, but it was a near thing. She was so ornery. Her orneriness was rivaling Vlad's, and Vlad had centuries of practice. He flicked his eyes to the other vampire, but Vlad's eyebrows were up in his hair and his lips were pressed firmly together as he examined his mug.

It seemed it was up to him to scold her, but the Little Dragon was up and dragging her off to the kitchen before he could. Claudios frowned after them.

"She has your petulance and your slayer's tact," he grumbled. "Have you not bothered to explain the intricacies of Council politics to her?"

Vlad took a sip of his coffee--he was going to need more at this rate--to hide his desire to snicker. "I do not think she much cares, Claudios."

Devon had started to shrink into himself, but at Vlad's calm smile, he felt a little emboldened. "I do," he said, his voice a little higher than he intended.

He glanced at his father before quickly turning back to Vlad. Vlad always welcomed questions. Bram said it was because he liked showing how much he knew, but he always said it fondly, so it must be more than that. "Well? What's the answer?"

Claudios' eyes narrowed, but Devon was watching Vlad and didn't notice.

Vlad set his coffee mug on a coaster and fixed his full attention on Devon. "The position of Chair is the most powerful, but that does not mean the holder is 'in charge' to use Winona's turn of phrase. It is a rather precarious position and largely depends on keeping one's allies happy. The fact that your father has held it for so long is a testament to his political prowess."

Claudios was not sure how he felt about Vlad complementing him. It was probably a veiled insult.

"However, holding his position is important for keeping you safe, and siding with me can upset that. Your father and I must strike a balance." Vlad slid his eyes to Von Batts. "Claudios?"

Claudios made a face. "I only bargain with your safety because I know Vladimir well enough to know you will never be in danger regardless."

Devon frowned at his father. "You're saying you do it because you rely on Vlad to play your game to keep us safe? So you're just playing on the fact that he cares about us? That is really shitty, Dad."

Vlad winked in a very Bram-like matter. "It is because he knows I am smarter than him and will figure something out."

Claudios rolled his eyes. "No, it isn't like that at all."

"Yes, it is," Devon grumbled. "Vlad and Bram sacrifice for us, but you're our actual father and you care more about your political position."

Claudios took a breath to tell Devon exactly the thought that just went through his mind, but Vlad cut him off.

"Claudios," he said, his tone scolding as if he could read the other vampire's mind.

With a frown, Claudios leaned back in his seat. "Perhaps it's time, Vladimir, for you to explain why you're angry with Winona since you care about her so much."

"What?" Vlad said, his voice too defensive. "I'm not angry at her."

Claudios smiled. Vlad only dropped the pretentious cadence he affected when his guard slipped. "Devon, perhaps you'd like to go join your sister in the kitchen."

Devon didn't really want to join Winona and Agni, but he also didn't want to be here for this. He wished he could do something to ease Vlad's stiff posture, but he knew an audience was the last thing Vlad wanted.

"I'll get you more coffee," he suggested, taking Vlad's empty mug with him.

He slipped into the kitchen and shot Winona a look. "Well, they're talking about you, are you happy?"
 
Alex was trying not to pay attention. He was trying to figure out what classes might satisfy a civics and government requirement that would also be closest in timing to the computer science class he was interested in because if he was going to be doing things on-campus, he wanted them to be lumped together instead of all spread out through the week. 'Political Destabilization of Central America in the 20th Century' sounded much more interesting to him than 'Philosophies of Justice, Liberty And Equality in Ancient Greece' but the first met on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the latter only on Mondays and Wednesdays, so-

He was really trying to not pay attention. But... Badly eroded magical conduits? What did she mean, it was surprising that he had a full range of motion? Was he not supposed to have that? And symptoms of what ?

Symptoms of 'Larry' taking over, he assumed, except May had explained with the well-metaphor- So long as he kept using up his magic as it collected inside him, the well wouldn't overflow and Larry would stay... Below ground, Alex supposed. Except she was saying to keep magic use to a minimum, which didn't make sense, and May had used a lot of magic just in the last month while at Vlad's ancestral home, had that been bad for him-

He glanced at Bram for reassurance, because Bram probably knew what was going on and wasn't worried about it... But he did seem worried. He seemed very worried, both about May and about whether Vlad and the rest of them were making May worse, and Alex's face fell.


-----


Winona's lip curled back in a snarl when Agni grabbed her arm, but she had be instructed to be nice to him and -regardless of her other intentions- she didn't want Claudios thinking she still bit and scratched like a feral cat. She did snatch her arm back as soon as they were alone though.

"I'm not a daughter," she hissed angrily at him. Objectively, she knew that wasn't true. But 'daughter' was a title that had another, unspoken person involved. It meant she was somebody's and she had no desire to belong to anyone other than herself.

Her annoyance with Agni abated a bit though as he voiced his worry, and she cocked her head to the side. "No," she told him. "They won't hurt me."

"I did test it," she assured him. "Vlad and Bram- You can be as rude to them as you want. They won't hit you," she said, a bit sympathetic to his confusion. It had confused her, too, but eventually she had enough evidence that she couldn't really deny it anymore. "They won't even take away your food or your blankets or anything," she said, though she remembered a moment later that he didn't really need such things.

"Claudios- He's in their house. He has to follow their rules," she said confidently. He wouldn't hurt her, because Vlad would not allow it. But even so... "I don't think he would anyways," she allowed. Admittedly, she had not really had opportunity to test it, but there had been situations in the past where he might have hit her, and hadn't. "Not really his style, I don't think. Doesn't like getting his hands dirty," she shrugged. He could do other things to try and hurt her, of course, but many of those things would ultimately hurt him as well.

"It's different everywhere," she conceded. "But generally- I think people don't hurt other people, just for disrespect? Like, the other person has to be dangerous first. Not just rude."

She felt very worldly and wise, to be sharing her observations of society with Agni. She decided not to be mad at him, as he had just been worried about her.

She looked a bit alarmed at Devon's appearance, and his words. Ugh. She was going to be annoyed at Devon for leaving them alone, but really it was Agni's fault for dragging her away and her own for allowing it, so.

"Wow, shocking," she said. It was sarcastic, and a little bit defeatist. "Don't interrupt again," she warned Agni.

She wanted to listen in, to hear what they would say if she wasn't there- But also she hated the idea of them talking about her without her, so.

She rushed back to her seat.

"He is mad at me," she told Claudios. "I was... Reckless. And people got hurt." She frowned. "And I didn't even kill Juriaan, so." She actually wasn't sure if Vlad was angry about that, but she was mad about it. "I failed," she said, with obvious anger at herself.
 
Dr Sigurdson pursed her lips, clearly not sure how to explain things in a way that was polite and also not cruel.

"Well..." She hesitated, for a second, then leaned forward to rest her chin in her hand.

"Normally, I would say that 'leaking magic' is not good. Homunculi are pretty varied, but usually they have to be specifically designed in order to interact with magic, which Mr. Garrison is not. However, he's also... unique. The situation was explained to me briefly, but essentially..."

May frowned as she tried to figure out how to explain things, and he clutched the edge of his sheet.

"I thought that using magic was good for me," he said, because that was how he had always interpreted it. She gave him an unreadable look for a moment before sighing.

"Well, it's all rather complicated. You aren't designed to interact with magic, but you have the equivalent of a magical reactor core strapped to you. Using the magic that is being forced into you has prevented your body from overloading immediately, but it isn't a sustainable solution. You have no proper training, and you're basically just throwing raw energy around. Even a natural human body would have a difficult time doing that for twenty years."

May looked somewhere between somewhat ill and very worried, but he tried to suppress it. He didn't want to worry Bram and Alex.

"So uh. So basically I've been uh. Wearing myself out to keep myself from exploding?" He asked, and she gave him a smile without any mirth in it.

"Essentially. It's a very rough solution, but I honestly don't know what you could have done differently."

She reached for her teacup on the table and took a sip before she set it down, looking a bit embarrassed.

"Right, sorry. IDEs, I believe on Domina Island they call them guardians? The one I spoke with, your tiger, he-- they are an IDE. Inter-dimensional Entity is the scientific term, although it's not really a field that has a lot of interest--" She sounded bitter, and she quickly cleared her throat to stop herself from going on a tangent. May, on the other hand, just looked more confused.

"Uh. I didn't know that there was a scientific term," he said, trying to wrap his head around this. "I thought they were kind of like. A unique thing."

The doctor paused, her hand right beside her teacup as she considered how to answer that. It was always troublesome dealing with islanders, though it wasn't actually their fault.

"Well, it's a personal interest, is all," she said with a shrug. "I visited the island a lot in my youth, but I haven't been there for years. It's not really important, though."

May thought it sounded important, but she didn't seem willing to explain any further.

"In any case, symptoms... Well, the average homunculus can live for around thirty years or so, maybe up to forty with regular maintenance and check ups, but your situation is, again, unique. The first physical symptoms are usually fatigue and soreness in the joints. You should come in for another check up if you notice anything like that happening."

May chewed on his lower lip, and she sighed.

"After that, it's up in the air. But eventually you'll have a lot of muscle weakness. At that point it will be good to look into a wheelchair, but that's quite far off yet."




Agni stared at Winona in a mix of shock and abject horror. He was so horrified he didn't even have time to question her on where she had come from, if she was nobody's daughter. Human reproduction was something he understood, but in the nebulous way that a layperson understood that chickens laid eggs and some of them hatched and some didn't.

She had tested this? She had pushed with disrespect enough to actually form a conclusion?!

"That--" he said, unsure of how exactly to voice the thoughts that were going through his head. "You can't just do that!"

Testing the patience of people who were stronger than you was stupid, incredibly stupid, and would only end up with her getting hurt eventually. The idea that she would do so over and over again and come to the conclusion that some people were safe was-- it was ridiculous, and completely incomprehensible.

Devon came in next and seemed to be annoyed with her as well, though he didn't seem to actually be fearful for her safety. Just annoyed.

He gaped open-mouthed as she went back into the living room, and he turned to her brother with confusion.

"She can't do that. Why-- is she always so--" He broke off, feeling a headache coming on as he pinched his brow. This was too much for him to deal with after just being introduced to human society.

"Please tell me the rest of you here aren't so-- unreasonable and infuriating," he said finally, because he didn't know if he could handle the shock to his heart if everyone acted like that.

He would have to be very clear to her later that you could not test the limits of your elder's patience. There was always a line, and if you were confident in the fact that you wouldn't be punished for disrespect, eventually you would cross it and pay for it dearly. He had thought that the Tiger would never hurt him, until he had gone too far and she broke two of his legs as a lesson for his rudeness. She had felt bad afterwards, a little bit, because she had just been trying to teach him a lesson, but he had learned then that you do not test people. That was stupidity.

But humans did have different rules, maybe. Still. That kind of attitude could not be tolerated, or it would lead to so many problems. He was older than her, if only by a year. It was the job of the elders to teach ornery young ones that they could not act however they wanted. He quickly turned around and grabbed his ipad, since his phone was down in the basement and he didn't want to go get it.

He opened the messenging app and located May's number, squinting down at the keyboard as he typed slowly with one hand.

"DO NOT BUY SUGRY SNAKS. YOUNGST DAUGHTER WAS V RUDE. SHE DOES NOT GET TREATS 4 2 WEEKS"
 
Bram nodded slowly. How the hell was he supposed to tell Vlad? But something else popped into his head. “What if we drew the energy out of him rather than him using it?”

That was a thing that Vlad could do, but Bram knew he would be horrified at the suggestion. But maybe it if would help May and May was cool with it...

“Or what if we had him trained?” Because surely they could find someone to train May.

He lifted his eyebrows. Oh. Mr. Zelenka was the Tiger. He pulled out his phone and began making notes. He didn’t open his notes app, however. He opened his messages to Vlad.

Nikola also goes by Mr. Zelenka.

After a second, the message informed him it had been delivered, which meant Vlad had his phone on for once. Bram resisted the urge to text: Call me NOW.

“Oh, yeah, I’ve heard of inter-dimensional entities,” Bram said, nodding. Every now and then, it paid to live with a nerd.

Dr Sigurdson used 2 go 2 Dom. & is interested n guardians, he texted as he guessed that was something Vlad would want to know.

Bram nodded, focusing firmly on texting Vlad as Dr. Sigurdson rattled off the symptoms.

Watch 4 symptoms: joint pain, fatigue, muscle weakness

New house needs wheelchair access

“Thank you, that’s helpful,” Bram said because what else could he say? How do we stop it? Can we fix it? Please, doctor, we can’t loose this kid.

For someone who generally wore his emotions in full view, Bram was surprisingly good at poker. He pulled up his poker face now because how the hell were they supposed to navigate this? How was he supposed to tell Vlad that living with them could be making it worse?

No, that was a stupid way to think. It would be fine. They would figure this out. They would find a way to make sure that both May and Agni lived for a very long time.

Bram squared his shoulders. “Are there any measures we could take to slow the process? We’re willing to try anything, so hit me with even your craziest ideas.”




Devon rolled his eyes. “If you wouldn’t be such an idiot they wouldn’t have to talk about you,” he snapped as she left.

“They never talk about me because I never do anything stupid,” he growled once she was gone, slamming a cabinet that had been left open.

Devon glanced over at Agni, apology in his eyes for slamming the cabinet in a fit of frustration. Agni seemed sort of jumpy.

“It’s...” Devon sighed. “It’s not her fault. She never lived with our mom, or foster parents, or our dad. This is her first family, and she doesn’t know how to handle it. She just expects everyone to be bad.”

Folding his arms, Devon leaned against the counter. “She’s not wrong though. Bram and Vlad might swat each other every now and then, but it’s in good fun and they aren’t going to hit her. Though, to be honest, sometimes I’d rather be hit than get Vlad’s look of disapproval.”

“Just kidding,” he added, worried that Agni might think Vlad could shoot lasers out of his eyes or something. “It’s just a look. But it makes you feel disappointed in yourself. And Bram’s disappointed sighs. It’s almost worse."

Devon shook his head. “Anyway, she might get fussed at, but they aren’t going to hurt her. The worst they’ve done so far is take away her guitar hero privileges for a week.”

“Though,” he added after a thoughtful moment, “if Vlad ever pinches the bridge of his nose as says, ‘because I said so and I have centuries more experience than you so trust that I am making a decision in your best interest’, back right on off. You’re starting to get on his nerves.”

Devon watched Agni furiously text someone and chuckled. “I hope you’re not texting Bram. All either of them are going to do is give Winona a lecture about not being rude to guests. And you want Bram to lecture you cause he is short and to the point. Vlad will go on and on.”





Vlad sat ramrod straight, his expression stiff and all his casual confidence gone. The only person who knew he was angry at Winona was Bram, and Bram didn’t count. Vlad was good at hiding his emotions and he wasn’t letting them dictate his actions.

That was a lie, the small voice that sounded irritatingly like Bram’s “reasonable” tone said. He had been very cold towards Winona ever since Transylvania.

Claudios watched him silently, slightly amused that he had managed to catch the other vampire so off guard. He could tell Vlad wasn’t particularly proud of his anger but also was struggling to let it go.

Which really only meant that Winona had put someone in danger, and Claudios would bet his fangs he knew whom.

Before Vlad could even begin to explain, Winona returned and did the talking for him.

"What," Claudios snapped. "Did you try to kill Jurriaan Leeuwen? Vladimir, please tell me you did not let her try to kill Leeuwen."

Vlad let out a harsh snort that sounded more like something Bram would make. He leaned back in his chair. "You make the faulty assumption that I can stop Winona from doing something she has determined to do."

"You are her guardian," Claudios snapped.

"She is sixteen and therefore old enough to understand her actions have consequences."

Claudios glanced between Winona and Vlad's stubborn and closed-off expression. This wasn't good. He had entrusted Winona to Vlad because he thought Vlad would know how to handle her. But she had crossed a line with him. As much as Claudios hated it, he knew he had to do something.

"No, you're just hurt," Claudios said. "Bram is well, I presume?"

"He's fine," Vlad said, not meeting Claudios' eyes.

"Then why are you still angry?" Claudios really thought this was Bram's job. He was supposed to be Vlad's therapist, not Claudios.

Vlad was acting much like the stubborn teenagers he was supposed to be raising.

Claudios tried a different angle. "What happened in Transylvania? Beyond the report that Jurriaan Leeuwen was in custody and everyone was safe, you were extremely vague." After several beats and Vlad still made no move to respond, Claudios prompted, "Need I remind you that you agreed to communicate fully with me?"

Vlad appeared to be sucking on his teeth, but after a moment, he said, "Firstly, Maria meddled."

"No one is surprised."

Vlad scoffed. "Well, perhaps you will not be surprised to learn that she taught Winona how to open up her mind to other people."

Claudios frowned at this but didn't comment.

"Which Winona took as permission to run off and attempt to assassinate Jurriaan Leeuwen. With me along for the ride."

Claudios knew that Vlad was not actually blaming Maria Morales for this--but he would bet that Vlad was still angry with her regardless and therefore might as well get all his anger on the table. He said nothing, sensing Vlad was on the verge of a rant.

"Which of course resulted in her capture because she is sixteen and Jurriaan is not an idiot. But consequences be damned, we tried it anyway." Here, Vlad's tone was exasperated and sarcastic, so Claudios surmised the "we" was really just Winona. "Long story short, Jurriaan used blood magic to bind her will, my magic, and May's mind. We defeated him when I activated his other mind spell, but he was only able to do that because Winona was outside my land."

Claudios nodded. It sounded like she had acted without having the slightest bit of knowledge of the intricacies of magic and such, but that would only exasperate Vlad. Considering Jurriaan had been defeated at this point in the story, he was concerned about what was to follow.

Vlad let out a sigh. "In order to make sure Jurriaan did not vanish before the Guild arrived, I put him in my crypt while Bram handled Larry."

Claudios wanted to know two things: Why on Earth had Vlad let Jurriaan Leeuwen inside his home and who the hell was Larry? But he did not interrupt lest he derail Vlad's rant.

"The castle would have contained him, but Winona took it upon herself to go down into the crypt and attempt once again to kill him." Vlad gestured in exasperation. "Putting everyone in danger, not least of whom was herself. She almost got herself killed."

Vlad pressed his lips firmly together and did not continue. After a minute of silence had passed, Claudios sighed.

"But Bram was there to save her," he guessed. "To the detriment of his own health."

"No," Vlad said, his voice cracking around the word. "He was saving me."

"Then you aren't angry at Winona, you're angry at yourself," Claudios pointed out.

"For that, yes," Vlad agreed, far easier than Claudios had anticipated.

"Then why are you still angry?" Claudios asked tiredly. He did not sign up for this.

For a minute, Vlad was quiet. Then he slid his eyes to Winona. Interlacing his fingers and resting them in his lap, Vlad fixed her with a stern frown. "You didn't learn anything from that. Killing Jurriaan was neither your decision nor your job. You aren't a weapon, you are a teenager. And you don't really believe it when you say that or you would do what you're told, so do not even correct me. You take all this on yourself but you refuse to see how your actions have consequences for other people. You do what's easiest for you and you don't think before you act. You think that because you've been through hell that you know everything. You don't. Your actions did get people hurt, and you have refused to learn from it. I don't care what you think of me, or how you treat me, or whether or not you respect me, because I will always love you, but I will not let you put other people in this family in danger. You are a part of this family whether you like it or not and whatever you do--leaving or staying--will affect everyone else, Winona. I will never stop loving you but you have lost my trust in your competence."
 
Forty years? And that was best case?

Alex had known of course, that May was mortal in a way that the other residents of the townhouse weren't. But magic users often had a life expectancy much longer than the average human, didn't they? And May was a strong magic user.... Or, maybe that wasn't the case. But even a human that couldn't use magic lived for seventy years or so-

This had to be a mistake, or a joke or something. But Bram was taking it very seriously.

"Yes," Alex agreed, seizing on Bram's idea. "There has to be something we can do- We know a lot of strong magic users, with very creative techniques, there's got to be something," he said.

He was pretty sure Vlad and Maria were some of the best magicians among vampires, and they knew lots of non-vampires with magic, and Gabe probably had connections, too, and obviously his parents did-

Maria had refused to interfere with the Guardians and their decisions, he remembered. But she had objected to meddling with their politics and their authority regarding the island and its citizens, surely this was different? He would convince her this was different.

She'd done something to him and to Annabelle, to restrict how they accessed their magic and shield them from its side effects, maybe something could be done to May?

Except Alex was pretty sure that May's magic was what kept him alive- It just... Was also killing him.

"Is... Is being around other magic users detrimental," Alex asked. Bram had pointed out that Vlad's magic was not the self-containing kind, and all the rest of them were likely contributing to the magical background energy too- Bram was the least magical person in the house, and it wasn't like he had gotten through as many birthdays as he had by anything as mundane as a good diet and an active lifestyle.



____




"He tried very hard to stop me," Winona pointed out, also objecting to the idea that Vlad 'let' her do anything.

Winona actually had several objections to the story Vlad told. Maria hadn't really taught her all that much- She had just explained her best estimate of what had been done to Winona, and Winona had tried to reverse engineer it to use to her own advantage. It wasn't like Maria was thrilled with her either.

And getting captured had been intentional, thank you very much, because she hadn't been learning anything from sitting in a tree and spying on him.

And everyone wouldn't have been in danger in the crypt if they hadn't all followed her down there, so.

She didn't raise any of these objections, though, because she was busy reminding herself of what she had told Agni in the kitchen: No one was going to hurt her.

She knew that, objectively. Neither of them was going to hit her, or lock her in a cage or- She knew she knew that.

She still flinched when Vlad turned to address her directly.

"I know," she said mulishly after a moment. She didn't have any trust in her competency anymore either.

she was worthless, she was stupid, she was a failure, and there was no use for Bram and Vlad to keep her around anymore except for their misplaced sentimentality about their dead werewolf and she would do something to shatter that, too, she always did and- And.... She didn't care, she reminded herself.

She would be fine, once no one cared about her.

She didn't need people to do the voices in the Oz books for her or cut her sandwiches diagonally or have competitions about how many marshmallows could fit in a mug of cocoa or sing along to radio in the morning when she was trying to sleep or any of that. It was just... Nice to have. But not necessary.

She would be fine.

She was fine.

She noticed she had been running her index finger along the soft side of the rolled fleece that made up the hem of her sleeve with increasing speed, and promptly folded her arms across her chest.

"I just said I failed, didn't I," she pointed out bitterly, a little frustrated that Vlad seemed to think she was all right with anything that had happened. "And I'm... Sorry, that people got hurt. And that he's still alive. But not that I tried."

She wasn't supposed to apologize just for the sake of apologizing, she knew. Only if she meant it.

"He was - He was going to - And I had to-"

Winona's face contorted as she struggled with the words, and she raised her hands as though she might be able to express herself better with sign.

But after a moment her hands dropped, and she made a chagrined noise. She didn't know how to articulate her fears, or the compulsion that drove her to act on them. For fifteen years, things had happened to her and she had done nothing but now she could do something and she just couldn't.... Not.

But she didn't really understand that herself, so the words to express the feelings didn't materialize on her tongue or in her hands.

"I learn," she mumbled in protest, not looking at either of their faces as she tried to regain her footing and defend herself. "Didn't try again," she pointed out. She had certainly considered it. "Obeyed in Domina. Mostly," she conceded.

She could have worn her hat more often and been politer to the people who wanted to execute May, but she had only suggested violence once or twice and had respected Bram and Vlad's decision to court the guardians for their votes, even though her instincts had advised very differently. But she hadn't acted on those instincts.
 
Dr. Sigurdson tried not to look too sympathetic when Alex and Bram both came at her for answers. She was never particularly good when it came to breaking bad news, and she really didn't have a good solution for them.

But at least Bram sort of seemed to understand the gravity of the situation.

"I'm not entirely sure. If you could siphon the excess off without stressing the body, then it could give him a few more years yet," she said, though she was hesitant to make any promises. "I understand that you want answers from me, but you also have to understand that this isn't a usual case. Mr. Garrison is the only one of his kind, and his situation is entirely unique. I can't really recommend solutions because there's no precedent for this. Frustrating as it is, I don't actually know if something will definitely help or not."

May was getting more and more fidgety as they talked, and he swallowed as he wrung his hands together in his lap.

"But-- You said if we kept magic to, like, a minimum that was ok, right?" he asked nervously. "We don't have to like. Stop entirely right?"

He was being uncharacteristically quiet and sheepish. He was starting to regret asking Alex and Bram along with him for this. If he had learned that magic was bad on his own, he could have just kept it a secret and continued to live as he always had. But that wasn't an option now, and it seemed like everything was about to change.

Sigurdson looked at least a little sorry about that, and she shrugged her shoulders.

"If you could get by without using it at all, it would be better for you," she said, and May bit down on his lip as he stared at his hands.

He had been able to use magic since before he could remember. When he was six years old he accidentally made his grandmother's entire garden grow beyond belief by planting a rock in there to help the soil. When he was twelve he had blown something up for the first time, setting off fireworks for his birthday with Henri (against his father's wishes). He had grown up with magic his entire life, and the idea of having it all taken away from him suddenly was...

He didn't know he could do that.

But bringing it up now would be a mistake, so he kept his mouth shut as Dr. Sigurdson looked through her variety of tools on the table in front of her.

"Honestly, your ideas are as good as mine, at this point. My specialty is primarily in brewing elixirs, so homunculi are already kind of new territory for me. But I can talk with a few colleagues of mine and get back to you. For now, I think just taking things slow is the best bet. Go day by day. I can try giving you the prescription I usually give for magical burnout, but damage done is damage done. It can scar over and get a little bit better, but we can't undo it entirely."



Agni did jump a little bit when the cupboard slammed, although he thought he managed to hide it quite well. He was doing pretty well with the whole 'looking like a normal person' thing, if he had to judge.

It was... a little reassuring to know that Winona also had no experience with family, but at the same time it was not reassuring at all. He was a complete outsider to human society, and even he knew that you couldn't just be rude to people for no reason. Was there ever a situation where that was appropriate? There couldn't be. It was entirely unthinkable.

"Even if she isn't used to it, you can't just be..." he scrunched up his nose. "If someone is older and stronger than you, you have to treat them with respect. It's just-- it's the way it is."

He had a feeling that he was more out of his depth here than he thought. He sighed as he stared down at the abandoned cup of tea from earlier in the morning, and took a few sips to calm himself down.

"I am... also not particularly used to family," he admitted, even though he figured he was doing pretty well so far. "Is it... It can't be normal to behave like that. Nobody would tolerate that constantly."

Except they did, apparently. He couldn't fathom why.

He was starting to feel very flawed, surrounded by people who understood these social minutiae far better than him. Perhaps he would have been better refusing the Tiger's directive and enduring whatever she decided was a fitting punishment. It probably wouldn't have been violent. Cleaning the bathrooms in the club for the rest of his life, maybe.

But that was his own problem, and he was not going to bother others with it. Especially not when Devon seemed to be looking out for him.

"Mortals are very good at that," he said, thinking about how Olivia could make him feel extremely stupid with just a simple click of her tongue. "It's fascinating how much you're able to communicate with looks alone."

He was certain that he would never do anything that would require being lectured. Or at least, he would do his absolute best to never do anything that required being lectured. The last thing he wanted to do was somehow disappoint his hosts, or prove himself to be unworthy of their hospitality.

The tips of his ears turned red when Devon asked who he was texting.

"I... don't actually have his number," he admitted, a little embarrassed. Things had been kind of crazy the night before, and he had forgotten to get numbers for everyone in the household. "I texted the serpent. They are going shopping, and she was incredibly rude. The appropriate response to that kind of behaviour is to take away snacks. That's what I learned from staying in the serpent's house growing up."

He nodded his head, extremely proud of himself. He was sure that was right, because he had witnessed Bill do it many times. He may not know much about human family, but he did know some things.
 
Bram let out a long huff. Logically, he knew that there was no reason to be frustrated that Dr. Sigurdson didn't have all the answers and wasn't able to give them something that would fix May right now. Heck, medical doctors were also terrible at that. He just wished there was a way to figure things out without risking harming May.

If Bram understood it, May had been created as a... vessel? For Larry. But it hadn't taken, and now he was May. He was sweeter than Southern iced tea and his fashion choices hurt Vlad's eyes--which was hilarious. Anyway, focus. Now he basically had a magical generator that he had to run so he didn't explode. But using magic wore him down like... a bad wire, maybe? So could they fix the wire?

Bram glanced over at May when he finally spoke. He did feel bad that he and Alex were essentially talking over the actual patient. He smiled in sympathy. He had seen how much May loved his magic. It would be like asking Bram not to stop things from killing innocent people.

"What exactly about the use of magic is damaging?" Bram asked. "Maybe we could fix that so using it wouldn't bother him."

Bram glanced at Alex. "Vlad can probably make sure the magic at home doesn't interact with May."




Devon chuckled at Agni's statement. "Yeah, well, that's not the way that always works around here. I mean, there's plenty of vampires older than Vlad, but he shows me more respect than he shows most of them. Though... I guess maybe they aren't stronger than he is. Sorry if this is confusing."

Shrugging, Devon slid his hands into his pockets. "I don't think I'm the best one to explain this, but Vlad once told me that respect has to be earned. And one way you earn respect is by treating other people with respect. But if they break the, uh, 'social contract' of being respectful, you don't have to be respectful. Like... Vlad is always very respectful of cashiers and servers and stuff. But if someone is rude to him, he gets really condescending. I don't know what he means by 'social contract', but it makes sense that if people don't treat you with respect, they aren't really respect-worthy, you know?"

Devon frowned as he tried to figure out a way to make it make sense. "And once Vlad said--and maybe this is just a vampire truism--that real strength is control of one's self. So if you are patient and don't retaliate when the other person is disrespectful, you're the stronger person. And Bram says, 'be the bigger person' sometimes when Win and I argue. I think he means the bigger person--the stronger person--is one who doesn't feel the need to prove they're better, you know? So tolerating it is a show a strength, I guess? I don't know if that makes any sense."

Devon felt a little weird. He didn't know how to explain the differences in the families he'd lived with. There had been his mom, who had been the softest woman he had ever met. Then there had been the foster families--the ones that had really tried and the ones that had thought he would be an angel and were shocked when he wasn't. Then juvie, then the awkward and lonely year he lived with his father. Now this. Which was loud and hectic and warm. This was home. The first home he'd felt since his mother had died.

"Well, it's really about how well you know someone," Devon said. "You understand a lot of May's facial expressions. Alex and Vlad can be hard to read, but I think that's because they're both a little stuffy. Watch their eyes. Bram is super easy to read except on the extremely rare cases when he doesn't want you to know something. Winona is just... weird. You'll get used to her. And Scarlet--oh. Well. Hers are weird, too, but most of the time she's just being extra to be entertaining, I think."

Devon chuckled. Agni was certainly growing on him. "I can give you Bram's. Though, he's not going to take away her snacks. Food is... a trigger, I guess, for her. So they don't take it away. They might make her do some extra cleaning or something, I don't know."

He thought about giving Agni his best tips for dealing with the punishments their guardians favored. Tip 1: Never choose the "write a paper on a topic of Vlad's choosing" option. Tip 2: Punishments that involve doing things with Bram are the best and should always be picked. Tip 3: All punishments are carefully thought out, so if your crime was one that warranted a week of work, the day-long option would be more effort but then the punishment was over. Tip 4: Always say you learned something regardless of whether you did or not.

But he thought perhaps Agni might not need those tips just yet. He might get there eventually. But it would probably be years and years and years.




Vlad's expression softened as Winona's face shifted. For a few seconds, he thought she might just bolt. Then he would have to follow her and knock on her door but get yelled at to go away or ignored. Then he'd have to wait until Bram got home and yelled up the stairs that he was making Winona's favorite food so someone should probably come and taste test to make sure he wasn't messing it up.

But she didn't bolt. And she didn't start yelling.

Instead--

"That's not--Winona."

Vlad made a little frustrated sound in the back of his throat that reminded Claudios of an affronted tropical bird. Sighing, Vlad ran a hand through his hair--a gesture Claudios rarely saw him use--making him look like an affronted tropical bird. He leaned forward slightly, uncrossing his legs and keeping his arms out to the side. He tilted his head, placing himself in a position Claudios had never seen him use as it left him open to knives to the heart and neck. Honestly, Claudios was not sure who this person was, but he was fairly certain this person had forgotten he was there. So he just stayed very still. Vlad seemed to know what he was doing.

Vlad did not know what he was doing. He found having this sort of conversations with Winona endlessly frustrating. She only heard what reinforced her poor conceptions of herself and people and family.

So maybe it was time for him to not do the talking. "Win, please explain something to me. Who told you it was your duty to kill Jurriaan Leeuwen? It was not Bram or myself. It was not Maria or Claudios. No authority figure. So you must have decided it. Why? Why was it important that it happen and why was it important that you do it?"

Claudios looked between Vlad and Winona, once against glad that Vlad doing this and not him because he had absolutely no idea what was going on.
 
Alex had shifted into note-taking mode, and was furiously scribbling down everything Dr Sigurdson said. He was trying to focus on getting what she said down on paper instead of worrying over its contents but.... May not using magic? It seemed unimaginable. Like May without a loud wardrobe, or his mother without red hair, or his dad without flecks of paint or clay beneath his fingers.

"Sorry, May," Alex said, realizing he and Bram had been asking a lot of questions. "We're talking a lot, aren't we? You should do your... Examination stuff."

He wasn't really sure what all that entailed- Probably something a bit beyond just hitting his knee to check his reflexes.





Winona groaned. Why was he asking questions? Could he just sort-of-accept her sort-of-apology and move on?

"Nobody told me," she said, even though she suspected he knew that and was just driving the point home that it had been her own choice, because he was annoying like that. "He needed to die! Still does," she muttered after a moment. "And I - I couldn't just-"

She made another, more frustrated groaning noise, throwing her head back against the couch.

"He was going to hurt Devon," she hissed. "And me." It was a continuation instead of an afterthought, but it was clear she thought the former prospect more concerning than the latter. "And I could do something," she said, still looking up at the ceiling with her head pressed into the couch's back. "Thought I could do something," she amended.

Except nothing she had done had been useful at all.

"But I was wrong, okay," she said, exhaling angrily through her nose as she returned to facing forward again. Her eyes stung a bit, which was wrong because she wasn't going to cry because she wasn't sad, why would she cry, there wasn't any reason to-

"I was wrong and I won't do it again," she said, clearly hoping the matter was now at rest.
 
Sigurdson made another face when Bram asked about what exactly was causing the trouble.

"It's less that magic is inherently bad for him. It can be stressful for anyone who isn't predisposed for it, but..." She stood up and headed into the kitchen, grabbing a sticky note from her fridge. "Tell you what. I'll give you my number. We can talk about this at length at another time-- I have a 1pm that will be coming in, and I'd like to clean up the back room before they get here."

It wasn't a lie, but it was also a very convenient excuse to not talk about this with May present. May blinked and worried at his lower lip, but he didn't object to that. He had a pretty good idea of how his body worked, and he wasn't very good at explaining things. It made sense for somebody who was an expert to do that.

"Yeah," he said, deflating a bit as he reached over and squeezed Alex's hand. "Let's do the exam, and then we can get groceries."

He wasn't quite as energetic as usual, but he figured he could be forgiven for the moment. After the exam he would feel better.

Sigurdson nodded as she passed the note to Bram. The name 'Angela Sigurdson' was written in looping script along with her phone number.

"I'm free most evenings after seven," she said. "Oh, but my sister is getting married this weekend, so maybe wait until Monday. But I'll be glad to answer any questions you have then."

She gestured for May to follow her into the back room, and he took a deep breath as he got off the couch.

"Here goes," he said, half to himself and half to Bram and Vlad. He had had these exams before, and they weren't exactly pleasant. A lot of poking and prodding and having weird instruments shoved in uncomfortable places. But it was a necessary evil, so he could deal with it.



This was extremely confusing, and Agni was not sure he would ever really understand it. Respect being dependant not on age and power but purely behaviour was strange. If somebody was stronger than you they had the right to treat you however they wanted. That was just how it was. That was why being polite and following rules was so important. If you didn't make people angry, they were a lot less likely to punish you. Sure, there were some exceptions, like the Raven who Agni was sure would always hate him just on principle, but it was pretty safe to just treat everyone with caution.

Devon did say one thing that he agreed with, though.

"Service workers deserve respect," he said sternly. "You have to always thank your cashiers. I know this. Also leave your servers large tips."

He had learned that one by talking to the girls in the dorm back on the coast. The lady who ran the butcher's in town had been very fond of him when he came to collect his weekly orders, telling him he was a very polite young man. He was incredibly proud of that.

He considered the idea of self control being strength, although he wasn't sure he really understood it. It was important to have good self control, but it wasn't really the same as physical strength. Perhaps not all strength was physical? But non-physical strength wasn't really much help in a fight. He scrunched up his nose as he considered it.

It did help him with his meetings, though. Henrietta did most of the leg work, but he had learned over the past two years or so how to decide which issues were worth pursuing and which ones weren't. He wasn't good at ingratiating himself with the other council members, but he was sure he'd get there eventually. Coming to that conclusion, he smiled and nodded, clearly proud of himself.

"Yes, I agree with that. Having control over oneself is very important. I am very good at that."

It wasn't bragging if he was telling the truth.

His face fell a bit at the mention of expressions, and he let out a long-suffering sigh.

"Expressions took a long time to get used to. Human faces are weird--" he frowned, because Devon had a human face so he was being pretty rude right now, after he had talked about how important it was to be polite. "I mean, they move differently from my face. It was difficult to learn how to do them. But I am quite good at it now. Most people think I'm an actual human."

He was incredibly proud again, puffing out his chest a bit. He had gotten much better at his disguise, and he was better than most of the other guardians at appearing like a normal person. It was the one way he had most of them beat.

On the other hand, it seemed he had been wrong. So taking away food was not allowed? Hm. But adding cleaning was. He had been hoping to talk to the elders about their cleaning practices and schedules, because it was important to know those things, but it seemed they weren't set in stone. Interesting.
 
Bram took the sticky note with a nod. That would be good. Vlad could join in. Either he'd listen in and tell Bram to ask her stuff or Bram would just put her on speaker phone. They knew for a fact that they could both fit--somewhat comfortably--in their shared closet if they needed to.There was also the master bathroom, but Bram always felt weird holding serious conversations in a bathroom. Regardless, they could talk without all the kids present.

"After 7pm, got it." Tucking the number into his pocket, he smiled at May. "Yeah, I haven't been getting texts from Win about what she wants, which is weird. I hope Von Batts is behaving. We should probably get out of the doctor's hair and back home ASAP."

He glanced over at Alex once May was gone. The last thing he wanted to do was give Alex a chance to panic. "How's picking your classes going? Got anything fun? What do they even have? Science? Math? English?"




Devon nodded wisely. "Bram says to always leave a big tip--especially if the table next to you is being rude. He also said if you tip your bartenders really well up front you'll be the favorite all night." Vlad had of course questioned why Devon needed this information, but Bram had considered it essential.

Devon smiled, deciding to let Agni have his little win at being good at self-control. "Yeah, you're better than me," he agreed. It was mostly true, but Vlad had also once told Devon that stoking an ego was often useful. Maybe it would help Agni loosen up a little.

Devon shrugged his shoulders. Faces were odd if you weren't used to them, he supposed. He did wonder what Agni's face looked like, though. He thought of the dragons back in Transylvania. They had expressions, but maybe that was just because they had interacted with vampires for so long they had learned to use expressions to communicate.

He did chuckle at Agni's obvious pride in his ability to pass as human. He couldn't stop the comment that rose up. "Yeah, a dorky human."

Devon grinned. "I'm teasing you. You know teasing, right?" He wasn't sure if they teased their gods back on Domina. May probably did. "It's what families do to each other. It's in fun--not to be mean. If you're doing it to be mean, it's not teasing, it's just mean."





Claudios glanced back over at Vlad. Winona had admitted she had done it out of her own volition and had apologized. So now there should be a punishment. That was how that worked.

But Vlad was steepling his fingers under his nose and pressing his eyes shut so firmly that Claudios thought he might be attempting to telepathically explain to Winona why, exactly, she was wrong.

Vlad took a deep breath and let it out. He recognized the finality in her tone, but he wasn't finished. He still had several points to make, but he wasn't sure how to make them. He wanted to wave his arms and say that Jurriaan Leeuwen had been subdued by her second attempt. But she didn't trust him to keep her and Devon safe. It stung, but it wasn't new information. There was something deeper that he thought was more important.

After a second to gather his thoughts, he slid his eyes back open. "I understand that you were trying to do what you thought was best, but what would have happened if he had killed you? What would have happened if the castle had not alerted Bram? You would have died. Then what?"

Claudios was lost. Then she would have been dead. That was it. She would have been dead and Claudios wouldn't have known how to process that and Vlad--oh. Vlad would never have forgiven himself. Alex would have been a wreck, May would have been an absolute mess, and Devon would have lost yet another family member. Having his own father murder his adopted kid would have destroyed Bram, but he would have tried to hold the rest of the family together, neglecting himself in the process.

So he was trying to get her to see the consequences? Claudios had a feeling there was something deeper Vlad was digging at, but he had no idea what it was.
 
Alex gave May what he hoped was an encouraging nod, and released a long sigh once the door had closed behind him and the doctor.

"Uh- Yeah. All that and more," Alex replied with a shrug. Either Bram had been a very poor headmaster to not even know what college level courses might entail beyond such basic subjects, or he was trying to get Alex to focus on something else besides what they had just learned about May. Possibly both- Alex suspected Vlad might have been responsible for the more academic perspectives needed at the boarding school.

"But- I'm probably not even going to this school," he admitted. His vague plan had been that he would attend classes on campus a few days a week and probably rent a place nearby, and drive back to the townhouse when possible. But Vlad and Bran were moving (to 'someplace with mountains') and fae construction companies probably finished projects much faster than average, so it didn't make much sense to base his plans on their current geography. He had the grades and test scores- and most importantly, the money- that he could take classes pretty much anywhere he wanted. Maybe he should just start with a few online gen eds for spring semester, and enroll on a more permanent basis in the fall.

Or maybe he should just take the whole spring semester off.

"He's dying, isn't he," Alex said, trying to keep his voice even. Dr Sigurdson hadn't said so explicitly, but he couldn't come up with a different conclusion from her statements. "Not like- How everyone mortal is always dying because they are aging, but like... Actively dying."

"You and Vlad knew. Or at least suspected," he guessed. It wasn't an accusatory statement- He could understand why they hadn't wanted to make public knowledge of it. "And- May knew, right? He had to have known."

Partially because it made sense with how May acted and spoke sometimes, but also because Alex very much did not want for May to have gotten this news completely unexpectedly, with him and Bram eavesdropping. The idea that he and Bram were there as intruders was much less palatable than as moral support.





"Um," Winona said, obviously confused by this line of questioning. Why would he have killed her? She was much more valuable alive than dead. Even when Jurriaan had expressed a desire to do so, he'd wanted to do it in a public fashion, so he probably would have alerted Bram and Vlad even if the castle didn't. "I would be dead, I guess?"

That would be fine. "I would cause lots less problems that way," she pointed out.

Unless maybe her body could be used as some sort of ingredient or conduit for magic that would hurt others.

She frowned. "But... You might have to get my body back," she said, frustrated with herself for not thinking of something so basic. "So he couldn't use it to hurt Devon? And... He would still have to die. So now somebody else would have to do it."

Which ruined the whole point of her doing it in the first place- So no one else would have to.
 
Agni nodded his head. He wasn't allowed in the bar because he was underaged, but leaving a big tip at the beginning of the night made sense, if you were going to be there for a while. Leaving bigger tips if other tables were rude was new, though. He'd have to add that to the notes app so that he could recall it later if they ever went out to eat or something. Not that he anticipated or looked forward to going to crowded restaurants, but it was the principle of it.

But Devon was agreeing with him that he had very good self control, and he puffed up a little bit. He couldn't help it. It was very nice to have his good points acknowledged.

"I was a very good mediator, back at my old job," he said proudly. The girls would often come to him when a decision needed making, because he was obsessive and did his research and looked into things most people could care less about. Sometimes he thought they might have just found his extreme attention to detail funny, but no matter. Attention to detail was a good thing.

Being called dorky made him scowl, although it was less from actual offence and more because he needed to grab his ipad again.

"Siri, what does dorky mean?" he asked, then nodded wisely as the computer listed off the dictionary definitions including 'socially inept' and 'awkward', though his scowl did deepen a bit when it mentioned 'unfashionable'.

"My fashion sense is impeccable," he complained. Sure, it wasn't exactly modern, nor practical, but he always looked regal and important and that was what mattered.

The corner of his mouth did quirk up a bit, because he didn't want Devon to think he was seriously angry either.

"Yes, I am familiar. I don't know everything about social relationships and customs, but I've learned some of the basics over the years," he said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "At least your teasing is nice. Henrietta still calls me a dumbass sometimes when she thinks I'm not listening. I think she doesn't realize I know what it means."

He grinned wryly, because he was waiting for the perfect moment to reveal to her that he understood all (most) of her insults and had just been ignoring them. He imagined her reaction would be similar to the time that he made a pop culture reference in response to her sarcasm about his lack of knowledge. She had been off of her game all day, and it had been delightful.
 
Bram nodded. He was about to ask what specifically--he had gone to college a very long time ago in the attempt to give Vlad something to do (Vlad had graduated, he had not)--but then Alex said it out loud.

Bram opened his mouth to instantly deny that May was going to do anything other than live for the next five hundred years. But Alex accused him and Vlad of knowing already. Bram pressed his lips together. He hated lying to family.

"Yeah," he said, his voice soft. "We think five years, maybe? But," he added emphatically. "We've never given up on anything in our lives. I mean, Vlad literally refused to die when I stuck a knife in his chest. We aren't done. Part of the reason we were moving--well. We had thought that a place with a lot of ambient magic--a mix of Vlad's and May's and the twins' and yours--would strengthen him. Now I have to tell Vlad that his magic is only hurting him."

Bram ran a hand through his hair then squared his shoulders. "But you and Vlad are smart. And Vlad will probably shelve his pride and go to your aunt to see if she has any suggestions, and--I dunno, I'll hype everyone, I guess. We're going to figure this out. I already put in a petition to the Guild to let Vlad back into their library. Well, okay, I wrote an apology letter and signed it with his name. But! They had a lot of rare texts, and Vlad's started digging around in other supernatural libraries, and who knows what's on the internet these days. May isn't going to die because we're not going to let him. Hell, we've even floated asking Larry to see if he has suggestions."

Bram tapped his knee thoughtfully. Alex needed a job. Bram found that if you gave people a way to help you got help and the other person was less stressed. "Something you could do is figure out all you can on the guardians. Maybe knowing about them will give us some ideas."





Devon liked not being the lost one. Alex was smart and May knew magic, so he often felt useless. But here he was, helping Agni navigate their weird little family.

Devon raised his eyebrows. "Your old job? You mean being on the guardian council?"

For a second, he worried he had taken his teasing too far. But then Agni asked Siri what "dorky" meant. Devon snorted. That was priceless. Too bad he hadn't had his phone out.

Devon laughed at Agni's joking indignation. Personally, Devon would call his fashion sense Extra, but in a totally different way than May's was. May was the prince of neon, but Agni was... the prince of pretentiousness if he were being honest.

He smiled. "Being called a dumbass isn't so bad. Sometimes Vlad calls Bram a dumbass. But I think there's a lot more affection in his voice than Henri uses," Devon added.

He grinned at Agni before remembering that he had small fangs now and grinning like that was considered rude. "You know, you're pretty fun when you're not being bossy."




Claudios frowned. That wasn't normal, right? Being so blasé about your own death wasn't normal. He glanced at Vlad. Vlad had his fingers curled tightly into his palms and his knuckles were turning white. His expression was tight. No, not normal.

Well Vlad better think of something because Claudios had no idea what to do with that.

Vlad had known this was dangerous territory, but he wasn't as prepared as he thought he was. That was it, wasn't it? Living was so hard. Death was easier. Or, not death really, but non-existence. He could still hear the echoes of how he didn't deserve to live after so many people had died because of him. He really should just give up. His existence was only harmful to the people he cared about. After all, hadn't he been nothing but trouble for Bram? He only brought pain into people's lives. Really, he should have just solved the problem earlier by giving himself over to Jurriaan so that he would leave his family alone. But he hadn't because he was selfish.

Vlad squeezed his eyes shut. He could feel the bottom dropping out from under him. He was not going to have an anxiety attack right here in front of Claudios and everyone. And Bram wasn't here to calm him down.

As long as you're alive, you can change things. That was his mantra. Bram was flattered that he had latched on to it as he claimed he didn't remember saying it. They had barely been friends at the time, but Vlad had felt so lost and hopeless. But it had kept him going. It still did. He could fix things as long as he was still alive.

But how was he supposed to fix this? He didn't know how to fix himself, much less help Winona. He understood her, of course. He knew emotions--one had to be good with emotions for manipulation to work, the darker side of his mind pointed out. But he wasn't good at expressing them or talking about them. This was Bram's area. Bram was way better at this than him.

But Bram wasn't here.

Vlad counted his breathing for a few seconds before opening his eyes and fixing them on Winona.

"Really? You would have caused fewer problems?" he asked so softly Claudios almost didn't hear him.

This was an underhanded line of reasoning in some ways, Vlad knew. But it was also a line of reasoning that kept him going on difficult days. It was a tool Bram used a lot--and Bram had even taken some psychology courses.

"Let's say you died."

Okay, this wasn't normal, either. Normal people did not sit around and talk about death. Claudios knew Vlad had--well, they called it melancholia back in the day. But this was extreme, surely.

"How would that affect everyone else?" Vlad was still digging his fingers into his palms but his gaze was fixed on Winona. "What about Alex? And May? What about Devon? And Bram? How do you think he would have reacted to his own father killing you?"

That was the thing that Jurriaan Leeuwen never had understood about Bram. Bram carried on because he had to. He was really good at hiding pain behind optimism. Jurriaan was good at seeing lies in everyone but his own son.

"And me?" Vlad's voice cracked around the question. "Why do you think Jurriaan Leeuwen was so determined to drag you to me?"
 
Five years was.... Not a lot. Not in terms of a lifetime. But in terms of time to figure out something else.... It wasn't bad. It wasn't great certainly, but Bram was right- Between all of them combined, they had a lot of knowledge and money and magic and connections.

He snorted slightly at Bram's admission to letter forgery. "Do I want to know why he got banned in the first place?" Arson, maybe.

"Yeah... Okay," Alex agreed. Interdimensional entities. He wondered how that was different from extradimensional entities. Maybe it wasn't- He was going to have to find out, he supposed. There were at least 13 of them and likely more based on what Dr Sigurdson had implied... So that was a start.

"When.... When we talk about May dying," Alex asked, because he couldn't ask 'when May dies', "Is that.... The body just totally fails? Or is his body going to be- Taken over by the other occupant?"





Winona stood up suddenly. She didn't like this and it was confusing and she didn't know how she was supposed to respond so-

But.

....Vlad wouldn't hurt her for leaving the room. Claudios wouldn't either. But he had power, so his opinion was important. If he felt Winona wasn't doing well with Bram and Vlad or that she didn't respect them, he might figure out a way to remove her.

Which would be fine. Obviously. She would be fine.

But Devon would probably have to leave too then, and Bram and Vlad would probably waste a favor with someone trying to reassert their control over the situation, and the whole thing would be a mess. A mess she could avoid by.... Sitting back down.

With her fists clenched tightly at her side, Winona slowly lowered herself back onto the couch. She tried to focus on what Vlad was asking instead of the overwhelming desire to flee.

"Umm- I don't know," she admitted. She obviously hadn't considered it- Why would she? It wasn't an outcome she had really considered closely, and even if she had, it didn't matter what happened after she died. There wasn't anything she could do about it then.

But maybe- It was like why she had sat back down? To avoid a consequence that would upset Devon, and the others. So... She should have been considering Devon and the others in Translyvania too, maybe, was what Vlad was trying to get at? He was clearly trying to get at something.

"I guess.... Everyone would be angry at me?," she guessed. But she hadn't died and people were still angry with her, so. And it didn't matter that they would be angry, because she would be dead so she wouldn't be around to care? And she thought she was supposed to be doing things because she wanted to and not to try and make other people happy, she was pretty sure she had been told that before-

She shouldn't accept blame for the actions of others, she was pretty sure she had been told that, too. So why should they be angry with her, if Jurriaan killed her? That would be his fault.

"You should be angry at him," she decided. "And maybe then something would be done about him," she snapped. She was clearly growing more and more agitated. She hated being like this, with all her thoughts swarming so fast she couldn't keep up with any of them long enough to land one. "And then the rest of you would be safe from him!"

"I don't know," she exploded at Vlad, nearly on the point of tears from trying to decipher what he wanted her to say. "Stop asking me questions you know I don't know the answers to!"
 
Agni shook his head, his brow pinching slightly.

“No, that’s my current job,” he said, sounding tired just thinking about it. “Although Henrietta does most of the actual work. When I lived on the coast of the mainland, I lived in the Tiger’s dorm for her employees. In return, I handled the cleaning and budgeting and the like. The girls there called me a ‘dorm mother’.”

He scowled, because he was not a mother of anything and the term had confused him. But the girls had called him that affectionately, and they at least were nice to him, if a little overbearing sometimes.

He did wonder if Henrietta liked him more than she let on, because though she insulted him often, she still worked with him and listened to his whims for the most part. She even told him good job occasionally, and he hated to admit that it made him unreasonably happy when she did so.

It also made him unreasonably happy to be called ‘fun’. His cheeks flushed a bit and he had to try very hard to look stoic and not smile proudly. His mouth was kind of wobbling a bit, though.

“I— admittedly I don’t hear that often. I usually get ‘responsible’ more than fun,” he said, though it was very clear that he liked the idea. “But I’m glad that you think so. You are also... fun.”

Was that a weird thing to say? He kind of felt like it was a weird thing to say, but it was important to pay back compliments with compliments so people didn’t think you just had a big head.

He glanced towards the doorway into the living room, his mouth twisting again. He couldn’t hear what exactly they were talking about, but Winona seemed distressed. Part of him said that she wouldn’t be if she had been polite earlier as was expected, but.

Maybe it was a little worrying. He never knew what to do when people cried, and it was quite distressing.
 
Bram shrugged. "He's been banned more than once, but the most recent one was because he pissed off the new librarian. Vlad took an issue with his organizing of some of the old texts and they got into a heated debate in which Vlad pointed out that he was there when the Dewy Decimal system was written."

Bram was fairly sure Vlad had quoted Aslan from The Chronicles of Narnia and had therefore called the librarian a witch. The librarian was a proud descendant of witch hunters. And Bram was pretty dang certain Vlad had been fully aware of that.

Bram frowned at Alex's question. "I honestly have no idea. I'm pretty sure Vlad thinks it's the first one. I think Larry needs May alive. I guess his body would fail and Larry needs May's... uh, soul, I guess, to be there. But! We're not letting that happen."




Devon frowned. Agni's old job was taking care of a dorm? Hm. That was interesting. He wondered if Bram and Vlad knew. Vlad would probably be happy to turn over some cleaning duties.

Devon grinned. He was pretty sure Agni was just being nice, but he did like being called fun, as well. "Thanks."

He saw the glance and the nervous expression, so he decided to distract him. Vlad was probably handling what was going on with Winona.

"So, uh, what are your duties with the Guardian Council of Elders?"





As Winona stood, Vlad closed his eyes and pressed the tips of his forefingers into the bridge of his nose. Defeat. He had pushed her too hard. What did he think he was doing? He didn't even know how to help himself, and no books on trauma covered half-vampires that had been used as a weapon.

But there was no sound of quickly retreating feet. Vlad opened his eyes. Immediately his eyebrows shot up at her return to the couch but lowered at her obvious agitation. He opened his mouth to tell her she could leave. Even if there was a guest, she could still leave. But she spoke, and he quickly closed his mouth.

"No, Winona, we would not be angry at you." He wouldn't be angry at her, at least. "I am angry at him," he added with a groan.

But Jurriaan Leeuwen was a monster. He was broken in a way that couldn't be fixed--Vlad had watch Bram try. Killing someone Vlad cared about was really just what he expected of Jurriaan Leeuwen.

But Winona?

Vlad winced as her voice rose. He knew it was confusing, and he wasn't being fair. But he had hoped after all this time she might have internalized the idea that they all cared about her. But he was just frustrating her.

"We love you," he blurted, though his voice was quieter than hers. "Bram, Alex, May, and Devon would have been destroyed if you had died. Because someone you love dying is the hardest thing. They tell you it gets easier but that's a lie. You may be dead but everyone else has to live without you. Dying is easy, living is harder."

Vlad's throat tightened, threatening to strangle him. His eyes stung, and he tried to tell himself crying in front of Claudios bleeding von Batts was a horrible idea. "And in that moment--" Vlad forced himself to swallow, told his voice to behave, and continued, "I thought--I thought it was happening again. I thought I was losing Bram, I was losing you--"

Now Vlad wanted to lurch to his feet and go hide in his and Bram's room where he could get all of this emotions out in secret. But he couldn't do that, he was the adult.

So he just covered his face with his hands and willed his breathing to slow and his eyes to cease their traitorous leaking. After a few seconds, he lowered his hands and wiped a sleeve across his eyes. He had no doubt his eyes were red and damp, but he looked at Winona anyway. She looked miserable, and he felt miserable.

If only Bram were here. He would hug both of them. Vlad thought perhaps he should hug Winona, but he was terrible at physical affection and was used to Bram initiating it. He had walked up to Bram on several occasions and announced he desired physical affection, but in those cases it had been clear it was something they both wanted. He wasn't sure Winona wanted to be touched. Bram would probably just hug her regardless. Bram had definitely hugged him when he didn't want to be hugged, but then the oxytocin had taken over and he had accepted the hug.

Vlad decided on a compromise. He announced, "Win, I'm going to hug you."

He unwound himself from the chair and moved to the couch. Wrapping his arms around Winona, he pulled her close. Carefully, he arranged himself so that his mouth was not near her neck so she wouldn't feel threatened. Tears pricked his eyes again, but it wasn't agony this time.

"I love you, and I want you to live a long and happy life. But you gave Jurriaan exactly what he wanted. You put yourself in a position that nearly got you killed. It was irresponsible. You may not value your life highly, but the rest of us do. We are upset at you for not being more careful with yourself. And maybe we are still at risk from Jurriaan Leeuwen, but I would rather face that with you than without you."
 
"The Dewey Decimal system is the obviously inferior cataloging system, but I suppose it is a topic of much consternation," Alex mused.

He considered Bram's answer. "Well- I suppose May would likely know for sure," he said- Hopeful that May knew more than they did, but also not overly eager to discuss any of this with May. "But that could be... An angle to consider. As a last resort, obviously."

It would definitely be a bad idea to bring Larry to the surface again just to ask him a few questions. But if he had his own interests in keeping May alive, he might be willing to make some suggestions as to how to do it.

But of course he would expect that to come with his eventual taking-over-of-May's-body-and-destroying-the-world. So.... Maybe not. His aunt had cautioned him not to trade one problem for another if you don't have any better ideas on how to solve the first than you did the second, and he definitely had zilch on how to solve the second.





That... Didn't really make sense? They were used to having her around, she supposed, but she was pretty sure she wasn't enjoyable to be around. 'Love' seemed a little extreme, all things considered.

But. Feelings were.... Suggestive? Subjective? The non-logical thing. Like how she had liked the grape-berry juice blend and Alex hadn't. He should have, because it was delicious, but he didn't and he wasn't wrong for feeling differently than she did. So if Vlad said he loved her then that wasn't wrong, even if it didn't make sense to her.

(It really didn't make sense to her.)

"Oh," she said, when he declared his intention to hug her. She felt.... Okay about that.

Apparently she felt much more okay about it than she had previously just estimated, because as soon his arms wrapped around hers, she collapsed into his chest and began to shake slightly with smalls sobs. She knew Claudios was still there, but- Vlad had hugged first. So it was probably okay.

Her hands twisted in what little fabric hung loose at his sides, as if she was simultaneously afraid to reciprocate the hug in full but worried he might leave without warning.

"Okay," she said finally, her voice muffled on account of her face being turned into the divot Vlad's shoulder. She was so... Tired. She was always scared, she was always angry, she was always confused, and it was all so overwhelming and she was starting not to like being any of those. "Okay," she repeated. "But- I don't think I know how to give you what you want," she warned.

Being more careful with herself was probably something she could work on. She would make a more concrete set of guidelines to follow about what dangers were acceptable and when.

She liked the people in the townhouse, much more than she would care to admit. She trusted Vlad and Bram to look out for her, probably more than anyone else she had ever met, even if they didn't realize it. But she didn't know if she could ever love them back in a way they would recognize.

She didn't know if she wanted 'a long and happy life'- It hadn't really been something she'd ever considered. Even now, the idea of her own future was a looming threat, and not an invitation.

Everyone always wanted so much from her and she didn't know how to do it and at least when she had been younger, success had been tangible and the steps to that success were obvious even if they weren't easy and she just- She wanted-

She wanted to know what the hell she wanted. But she had absolutely no idea where to start.

Winona sniffed loudly as she tried to get the leaking of her nose and eyes under control, but if anything, trying to stem it just made the flood thicker and she mostly just succeeded in further growing the damp spot on Vlad's otherwise pristine black vest.

"Sorry," she mumbled.
 
It didn't take too long for Dr Sigurdson and May to return from the back room, May pulling his sweater back on and groaning. The physical exams always required a lot of poking and prodding and samples, and it was embarrassing to go through. He already wanted to sleep for the rest of the day.

"I'll have the results from the in-depth tests within a week," Dr. Sigurdson was saying as she wrote things down in a little notebook. "I don't think they'll show anything immediately alarming, though, so just try to rest until then."

May nodded, shivering a bit as he looked to Alex and Bram. He was nervous, honestly, to know how they would take what had happened. He shifted from foot to foot, then looked back at the doctor behind him.

"Do we uh... Do we owe you?" he asked, and she snorted as she waved a hand.

"Mr. Zelenka has already paid me a fair amount," she said dryly. She didn't seem too thrilled to have received the Tiger's money, but she had to pay her condo fees somehow. This neighbourhood did not come cheap.

May was fine with not paying, because he was far from rich even with the savings account that he'd set up after Gabriel started employing him for magic jobs. And with the exam done, he was itching to go back home.

On their way out of the building he finally pulled out his phone, frowning as he squinted at the screen.

"Uh. Agni texted me to say Winona was rude and that she shouldn't get snacks," he said, one eyebrow rising. "I think we can just ignore that."



Agni hesitated for a second, then turned his attention back to Devon.

"It is... They were grandfather's duties, originally. He is the strongest guardian and has the final say on every decision taken by the local government. But he doesn't have the energy to come to the human realm anymore, so his representatives simply took that job on themselves. Henrietta has been helping me since she knows I am not... adept at politics. But essentially every inconvenience people have goes to her, and then to me. If a solution is proposed we can approve or deny it, or change it as necessary."

It sounded almost easy when he said it that way, as if the council itself wasn't teeming with corruption and people who would easily stab one another in the back to ensure their own status. The guardians themselves did not care to get involved anymore, so he was the only one who actually worked with his representative. The other eleven were old families who had been in power for centuries, and with roots that deep there would always be problems to go along with them.

He was also not his grandfather, and did not command the same respect. Henrietta had taken a hit in terms of power when he arrived, and they were constantly needing to fight to keep the island's infrastructure somewhat stable. Years of embezzlement and poor decisions had taken their toll, and it was all he could do to keep the island itself from bankrupting itself.

It was a good thing he didn't need to sleep often, because hours sleeping were hours he didn't spend working, and that was unacceptable.

But Devon had only asked for the basics, and he had no desire to unload his stresses on somebody who wasn't involved. He was here to learn things, and perhaps become more worldly. The Tiger hoped he could make some connections and also figure out a way to cement the island's future financially, but she also said this was a long-term project.

He could take it one day at a time and see how it went from there.

"It is mostly a lot of emailing, and occasionally numbers. But I do enjoy mathematics, so it works out quite easily."
 
"Obviously," Bram agreed with Alex on the Dewey Decimal system because that had been Vlad's stance as well.

"Maybe," Bram said. He honestly wasn't sure how much anyone knew about May. He seemed like an anomaly on all accounts. "But, yeah. We'll work on other stuff first."

As May returned, Bram brightened as if he and Alex had not been discussing May's possible demise. "A week, great. Sounds good."

Except that a week was a really long time. In the grand scheme of things it wasn't. Bram had thousands of weeks. But when it concerned May's health, it was freaking forever.

"Great," he said, glad to hear the Tiger had covered May's medical bill. Vlad wouldn't be pleased, but Vlad could stuff it. Anyway, they had more important things to worry about. He slid a hand in his pocket to make sure the sticky-note was still there."Thanks so much for everything, Doc."

Cheerily leading the way to the truck, Bram glanced over his shoulder. "No snacks, huh? Dang, what did she do? Sass Von Batts? Too bad Agni doesn't realize I give snacks to people who sass the chairman."

Talking about snacks was easier than talking about what Dr. Sigurdson had told them. Anyway, that would get worked out. Right now they had grocery shopping to worry about.

Bram backed his truck out at the speed of a diving peregrine falcon, narrowly missing the nearby Mercedes. "Alright, boys. Which grocery store are we going to?"



Devon raised his eyebrows. He could tell by Agni's momentary pause that "mostly emailing" was a dramatic over-simplification. But emails and numbers sounded like a nightmare.

Still. He figured Agni might feel a bit better if he knew that the rest of the townhouse's residents understood problematic councils.

"Well," he said with a smile and a huff. "If the Guardian Council and their representatives are anything like the Vampire Council, I sure you have a lot to do. I mean, for example, Bram and Vlad had a lot of hoops to jump through before the Council would let them take guardianship of us. It took the combined force of Vlad, my dad, Alex's aunt, and all their combined allies just to do it. The Council is just the worst. There's so much petty squabbling and grabbing for power. Are the representatives anything like that?"




Well, Winona did not immediately make a break for it, so that was good. Oh--

Vlad froze, not sure what to do when she leaned fully on him. And then-- She was crying. Oh no. Not good. Because now he was going to start crying again and Claudios was right over there. He held her tightly, but not so much that she couldn't escape if she suddenly grew uncomfortable. Squeezing his eyes shut tight, he rested his cheek against her head, glad his back was to Claudios. He hummed softly in his chest in the attempt to soothe her sobs. Bram would have teased him, but it worked wonders on babies and small werewolves, so it probably worked alright on half-vampire teenagers as well.

Vlad sighed when she said she didn't know how to give him what he wanted. Oh, Bram was so much better at this than him. He always seemed to know what to say. For someone who had thought sledding off the roof was a good idea, the slayer was more insightful than Vlad cared to admit. Part of it was that they had known each other for so long. But since that had been the only relationship he had needed for while, Vlad found it difficult to articulate his feelings.

He wanted to tell Winona that he just wanted her to live. He just wanted the people in his life to be okay. He was so tired of losing people. But he knew, deep down, if he were being honest, that wasn't all he wanted.

Vlad had tried to live without attachment. Right after his parents had been murdered, he swore he would never grow attached to anyone ever again. People betrayed you--either in deed or by dying when you needed them. He claimed they were a weakness, but really he was the one not strong enough to go through the agony of loss again.

But then Bram had cursed them. Against his better judgement, Vlad had grown fond of the big optimistic idiot. Bram wasn't afraid to love people, even when that person was his sworn enemy. Vlad had tried to convince him people were a distraction, a weakness. Bram had seen right through him. They had both craved acceptance.

Bram's father had seen through him, too. His words still haunted Vlad on nights when the darkness was silent but his mind was deafening. People around him died, and generally it was his fault. His parents' were his fault. He hadn't gotten to Will fast enough. He hadn't even been in the same state when the child he was sworn to protect had been murdered. He pretended to be as harsh and unfeeling as a cliff face, but he was so despirate for affection that he had turned to a slayer for it. And for what? He wasn't worthy of their love. And because of his choices, everyone he pretended not to love had targets painted on their backs. And what was there to love, anyway? Just a lost, desperate child whose only claim to usefulness were terrible plans that got everyone killed. What did he bring to any relationship? He was a selfish coward at heart. If he really loved the people around him, he would protect them by ending it all.

Vlad forced those thoughts away. That wasn't true. It was just Jurriaan's mind games.

Except that May had nearly died--might still die. Winona had nearly died. Bram had nearly died. Jurriaan could have gotten into his castle and killed the Lupus and Alex and Scarlet and Devon. And why? Because of Vlad, of course.

No, not true. It wasn't his fault, it was Jurriaan's. He was the monster here. That was the truth.

The truth was that he loved Winona, and love was about the other person. They weren't dealing with his mess right now. They were dealing with hers.

Vlad swallowed, his throat having sprouted a frog. "Winona, I just want you to be okay," he said, his voice just above a whisper. "I don't want anything else from you."

At her apology, Vlad just laughed. The harsh laugh of someone who had found humor in darkness. "Don't apologize. I'm not bothered."
 
In the back of the truck, Alex hesitated for a moment, before reaching his hand out across the seat and tangling May's fingers within his own. He'd kinda wanted to wrap May up in a hug as soon as he'd emerged from Dr. Sigurdson's back room, but it had seemed a tad too public.

"Maybe she shouldn't be rewarded for sassing," Alex pointed out mildly.

"Uh- Maybe the one on 10th, it's on the way," he suggested. They wouldn't have to go out of their way, and it was one they were familiar with. Alex figured that they could get in and out pretty quickly with what they needed, which seemed paramount because May looked like he was flagging. And also Alex was a bit worried about what might be happening at the townhouse.





Winona sniffed wetly, getting her tears somewhat under control. She turned her head- still partially squashed into Vlad- to look at the Council Chairman, sitting awkward and ignored in his seat. She was possibly glaring, or maybe just trying to look somewhat more respectable than her red eyes and nose were conducive to.

"...Thank you," she said stiffly. "For...."

'Helping' wasn't the right word, since he'd had to be threatened into it, but she wasn't coming up with anything better.

"Not not-helping us," she settled on. She sniffed again, and gave him an evaluative look. Whatever she found- or didn't-, she didn't say.

"You need to talk to Devon more," she demanded. "Or text. At least."

He couldn't claim he didn't know how, considering Vlad's numerous notifications.
 
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