On The Run With A Vampire

25. Lucien

CHAPTER 25

LUCIEN

This evening only seems to be getting more and more absurd. Mother and Blaine are standing in front of me. They’re outside Raven’s home. Mother and Blaine.

Mother.

Blaine.

Mother !

My brain is close to short-circuiting, but I’m cognizant enough to take a protective step in front of Raven. Mother immediately rolls her eyes.

“Pull yourself together, Lucien,” she says. “I’m not going to hurt the poor girl.”

“Oh,” says Raven from behind me. “Thank you?”

“You’re quite welcome, dear,” Mother says. “Now, I’ll only ask this once more. May we come in?”

“Of course,” Raven says, stepping out from behind me to gesture around her home. “Sorry about the mess.”

“I’ve seen worse,” Blaine says, easily stepping over the threshold with that cheerful gait he always has. “Luc’s room during the ’60s, for example, was nothing short of a biohazard even at the best of times.”

Raven giggles. Blaine’s grin widens. I resist the urge to shove my brother out of the nearest window. “Are you just here to embarrass me?”

“Yes,” says Blaine.

“Of course not,” says Mother. She takes a step closer to Raven and extends a hand. “Deirdre Battersby.”

After a beat of hesitation, Raven takes it and gives Mother a swift handshake. “Raven Hartley.”

Mother smiles softly. “I know who you are, dear. But I’m afraid we’ll have to put a pause on the more thorough introductions. I’d like to have a chat with my son if that’s quite alright?”

Raven stares at her and then seems to shake herself back to reality. “Oh. Yeah. I mean, yes. Of course, that’s fine.”

When Raven doesn’t move to immediately vacate the room, Mother blinks at her expectantly.

Heat rushes to Raven’s cheeks. “Right. I’ll just—” She points to the living room door.

“Splendid,” Mother says with a cheery smile, as if ordering someone about in their own home isn’t the very definition of rudeness. “We won’t be long. Blaine, dear? Why don’t you join our darling Raven and keep her company while Lucien and I have a little chat?”

Somehow, Blaine’s grin seems to widen. “Of course.” He sticks out his elbow and, to my astonishment, Raven takes it without hesitation. The two of them disappear into the kitchen together, leaving Mother and me alone.

“Well,” Mother says once the sound of their laughter—laughter? Already?—is muffled by the closing kitchen door. She perches on the edge of Raven’s overturned sofa and gives me a highly displeased look. “You’ve gotten yourself into quite the predicament, haven’t you, Lucien?”

I drop down next to her. “I can explain.”

“This is precisely what I wanted to avoid,” she says, seemingly not interested in my explanation at all. “We are not safe out here, Lucien. We can only trust and rely on each other.”

I let out a derisive snort. “You really think so?”

“I know so.”

“And if I were to tell you that this was all Warren’s doing?”

Mother’s eyes widen. “Excuse me?”

I spend the next ten minutes giving Mother a thorough rundown of the events that have occurred over the last few days. By the time I’ve finished, Mother looks stunned.

“I can’t believe it,” she says quietly. “And he’s?—”

“Dead. Yes.”

“My goodness. How terrible.” A pause and then, “This only proves my point, you know?”

“It does the exact opposite, Mother.”

“No,” she says. “Warren weaponized an existing threat to us—the humans. He knew that he could use them to get to you. To hurt you. And he nearly succeeded.”

“The only reason he didn’t succeed was because of a human. Raven saved my life.”

Mother purses her lips but doesn’t say anything.

I reach out and grasp her hand. “You’ve forgotten what life is for.”

“And what’s that?”

“Living.” I give her hand a squeeze. “Life is for living, Mother. And whatever we’ve spent the last century doing is most certainly not that. The world has changed. We don’t need to sequester in our little groups anymore. We can reach out to others like us for help.”

“There are no others like us,” Mother says stiffly.

“Maybe not exactly,” I concede. “But, Mother… the wolves, the witches, the demons, the ghosts, the selkies, the harpies. We all have much more in common than you think.” I think of Cordelia and The Hideout. “It doesn’t need to be like it was for you. This is a modern era.”

Mother snatches her hand away. For a moment, I think that I’ve lost her. That there’s not a hope in hell that she’ll agree with anything I’ve just said. But she simply reaches into her purse and pulls out a handkerchief.

“I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you or Blaine,” she says quietly, dabbing at her eyes with the handkerchief. “I just want to protect you. That’s all I’ve been trying to do. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do.”

“I understand that, Mother, I truly do. But the man you’ve spent the last fifty, sixty years living with? That wasn’t me. That was nothing but a miserable shell of a man, and I can’t go back to that.”

“And you think it’ll be better out here?” she sniffs.

I don’t even need to think about it. “Yes. I’ve never felt so alive as I have these last few days with Raven.”

Mother gives me a watery smile. “Ah, yes. Raven. You care for this girl? This human?”

Another instant answer. “I do. Deeply.”

“Do you love her?”

“If I don’t already, I don’t think it’ll be long before I do.”

Mother’s smile widens. “All I’ve ever wanted is for you and Blaine to be safe and happy. It seems I’ve put too much focus on the safe part of it all and I’ve neglected to think about your happiness. I’m sorry, Lucien.”

“You don’t have to apologise.”

“I do.” She puts her handkerchief back into her purse and reaches for my hand again. “I’ve always done what I thought was right for you, but it’s time for me to let you make your own choices. Just know that the estate will always be your home, Lucien, and the doors will always be open if you ever want to come back.”

Tears prick at the corner of my eyes as I pull Mother into my chest. “This isn’t goodbye, Mother. I’ll be back. You don’t have to worry about that.” Raven’s laughter floats in from the kitchen, and I can’t help but smile. “And, hopefully, I won’t be alone.”