Moonlight Denial: Shades of Moonlight Book One

Woot, new chapter. Here's the link to my replies to the reviews I received: http://darkness80.livejournal.com/1110.html

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“So I have to know if you freaked out or not when you found out they were vampires,” Nicoli said as the scene around them settled into another point in time.

“Will you stop trying to jump ahead of the story?” Felix said irritably. “You will get your answers in the order it was intended.”

“Ugh, fine, let’s get this show on the road then.”

Nicoli looked around to see that they were in a room. It was mostly empty save for the normal bed, dressers, lamps and whatnot. He soon realized it was Felix’s room since the clothes hanging up in the open closet were too small for anyone else and Felix himself sat on the bed pouring over something in his lap.

Nicoli stepped closer to get a better look and saw that it was a thin, flimsy child’s book, much akin to the “See Jane Run” books.

“You can read already?” Nicoli asked.

“No, well, kinda. It’s been almost a month since I’ve been with the clan now and I’ve had quite a few lessons with Gavin. This book, however, is the only printed word I can get through without killing myself from stress. Gavin said I was progressing marvelously, though.”

“Makes sense,” Nicoli muttered as he crouched down in front of the reading Felix. As he studied Felix’s face he noticed something. Felix seemed…content. He was now properly filled out like a little boy should be, his clothes fitting him properly. There was no longer that air of anger about him and overall he just looked like a normal kid.

Nicoli’s studying was interrupted when there was a knock at the door. Felix jumped and swiftly closed the book and shoved it under one of his pillows.

“What?” he called.

The door opened and Ethan’s smiling face appeared when he entered.

“Normally you’re supposed to say, “Who is it?” when someone knocks on the door,” he said as he closed said door behind him.

“Eh, kinda pointless when I pretty much know who it is,” Felix said and just from that little exchange Nicoli saw that Felix was now much more comfortable with Ethan than before. “So what’s up?”

For a moment Ethan just stood there, staring at Felix. He then shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned most of his body weight on one foot.

“I have a very important question to ask you,” he said.

“Okay, question away.”

“Do you like it here?” Ethan asked.

Felix stared at him strangely before shrugging.

“Well, it’s a lot better than the dumpster I was hiding behind when you found me.”

“Felix, I’m being serious. Do you like it here? Are you happy?”

“Okay, you’re never serious. What is this about?”

Ethan wagged his finger at Felix.

“Ah ah, you answer my question first.”

Felix sighed and rolled his eyes. He then became thoughtful and averted his gaze as he spoke.

“Yeah, I like it here well enough. I mean, compared to what I had this is paradise. You guys are weird, but you’re better than the people I used to run with.”

“All right, now here comes the big question,” Ethan said as he plopped down beside Felix on the bed. Nicoli was surprised that Felix didn’t try to move away. He just sat there calmly staring up at Ethan. “If you could stay here, permanently I mean, would you want to?”

Felix’s eyes widened and he stared at Ethan in disbelief.

“Come on, Buddy, it’s not that hard of a question,” Ethan said, snapping his fingers in Felix’s face.

“Uh, permanently? Really?” Felix asked, coming out of his daze. “Um but-but what happened to this being temporary and trying to find a safe place for me to go?”

“I had known that Ethan had been looking into places that would take me in, both near and far away, but he never seemed to be satisfied with any of them, so the searching went on and on,” present Felix told Nicoli.

“Yeah, I know I said it was just going to be for a while, but I’ve been having a change of heart lately,” Ethan said.

“Why?”

Ethan sighed.

“You and always questioning everything,” he muttered, ruffling up Felix’s hair and getting his hand smacked for it. “It’s because I like having you here. You may not feel the same way, but I’ve grown attached to you and the house just won’t be the same if you leave. I know the others feel the same way.”

“They do?” Felix asked, his voice still carrying doubt.

“Yes, Faith just adores you to pieces and would be heartbroken if you left. Cora absolutely loves doting on you. I know you’re still not fond of Andre, but he really likes having you here, even if it’s just to pick on you. Aria thinks you’re just the loveliest boy in the world. Stephen loves your spitfire attitude. Then even though you and Evan got on the wrong foot, and he won’t actually admit this, he really likes having you here because you make Faith happy and I know Gavin is sweet on you for being such a great student for him. So you see? You’ve made quite the impression on everyone and it wouldn’t be fair if you just left us,” Ethan told him with an affectionate smile.

“What about Conrad?” Felix asked tentatively.

“Um, well, he likes that you haven’t been troublesome,” Ethan said sheepishly.

Felix shook his head, but Nicoli was taken aback when a smile upturned Felix’s lips. He hadn’t seen the child Felix smile once in all of the memories he had seen and he was shocked that the one he saw now was a true, sweet smile.

“And what about you?” Felix asked, looking up at Ethan. “Why do you want me to stay?”

“I already said it’s because I’ve grown attached to you, isn’t that enough?” Ethan asked. His answer was Felix shaking his head with a coy smile. “All right, come here, you. I’m hugging you and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Ethan got an arm around Felix just as the boy tried to spring from the bed. Felix struggled only a bit before he was pulled to Ethan’s side, but he stopped when Ethan’s other hand came to his neck, drawing his head to rest on Ethan’s shoulder.

“I want you to stay because I’m selfish,” Ethan said, resting his cheek against the top of Felix’s head. “I like having you here because I like having someone to take care of, besides Evan, of course, though most would think he’s taking care of me. I know you don’t depend on me, you’d do perfectly fine on your own, but it’s nice to know that I have someone that I can care for, no matter how stubborn they can be.” He sat up straighter, leaving his arm loose around Felix. “Plus, who else is going to call me out on my bullshit and keep me on my toes?”

Felix laughed lightly, again surprising Nicoli with the care free sound.

“But it’s up to what you want, Felix,” Ethan told him. “I would like for you to stay here, but if you don’t then I will continue to find you a safe place to go to. Whatever you want.”

Felix’s smile faded and he turned his face away, staring at a spot in the floor as he thought.

“The clan never ceased to astound me,” present Felix said, his expression just as thoughtful. “My whole life no one cared what I wanted. I was to do what I was told if I wanted to survive, no matter how I felt about it. My wants and my needs came last or not at all, but with the clan it was different. They always asked me what I wanted to do, what I wanted to eat, what I wanted to wear. It was as if my wants and needs rose to the top of the list. And now Ethan was doing something no one else had done. He was letting me be in control of my own life. He was letting me decide my fate based on what I wanted. It was one of the greatest gifts he ever gave me.”

Nicoli nodded his understanding just as the younger Felix came out of his daze and looked back up at Ethan.

“I want to stay.”

“Really?” Ethan asked in surprise. “I was expecting you to think on it longer.”

“What’s to think about?” Felix asked with a shrug of his shoulders. “I have a roof over my head. Clothes that actually fit me and I’ve eaten more here than I have in my entire life.” Felix then laughed and beamed up at Ethan. “Plus, Faith made me promise that we’d be friends forever, so if I left now she’d be really angry that I broke my promise.”

“You’re probably right,” Ethan agreed.

“Besides,” Felix continued. “I want to be the selfish one for once. I…I really am happy here and I don’t want to give that up.”

Ethan smiled and appeared to be touched by Felix’s words.

“That’s really sweet, Kid. Get ready, here comes another hug.”

“Not another one!” Felix protested as he tried to escape, but Ethan’s arms wound around him and he was crushed in a bear hug.

“So now you’re permanently with the clan?” Nicoli asked, feeling happy for Felix and the miraculous change he had gone through in such a short time.

“Wait for it,” Felix said with a devious smile.

Nicoli gave him a strange look before watching Ethan release the younger Felix.

“Okay, let’s go,” Ethan said as he stood up.

“Go where?”

“To go talk to Dad to see if he’ll let you stay.”

Felix and Nicoli’s mouths simultaneously fell open.

“You didn’t ask him?!”

“He didn’t ask him!?”

They said together and the ghostly Felix burst into laughter at the hilarity of it.

“Nope, he didn’t,” Felix said.

“He’s really good at that, isn’t he?” Nicoli asked.

“Yes, far too good.”

“How could you not ask him before asking me if I wanted to stay?” the past Felix asked, getting to his feet.

“Well, what would be the point of asking him then having you say no?” Ethan asked.

“What was the point of asking me and getting my hopes up and then he says no?” Felix retorted. “Did you just want to see me crushed?”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Ethan said, a smile still playing on his lips. “He’s not going to say no. I know the guy and he may not be too keen on the idea at first, but he’ll be fine with it. Trust me.”

Felix’s eyes narrowed.

“You keep saying that, but you’re not giving me reason to trust you.”

Ethan sighed and rolled his eyes.

“All right, fine, don’t trust me, but we have to go talk to him either way. So, come on, hop on up.”

Felix glared at him before getting up and striding passed him to the door.

“You’re a major prick, but I still want to stay here, so I’ll go.” He opened the door and turned to Ethan to give him one last dirty look. “I’ll just have Faith beat you up later.” Then he was out the door.

Ethan just laughed as he and the two watchers followed him out. A few minutes of walking and they arrived at Conrad’s study and, after receiving permission, entered.

“What can I do for you two?” Conrad asked from his desk as Ethan and Felix approached. The clan leader was writing something on paper, but slipped it into a book when the two were before him.

“Dad, I have something I’d like to ask you,” Ethan said, and Nicoli was amazed by how confident Ethan sounded. Only Ethan could have such bravado when dealing with the steely leader.

“Something about him, I’m assuming,” Conrad said, tilting his head in Felix’s direction.

“That’s right.”

“What is it then? Don’t drag it out.”

“Okay, I won’t. I’m requesting permission to have Felix stay here with us. Permanently.”

Nicoli didn’t know what Conrad had been expecting from his fledgling, but he was pretty certain it wasn’t that. Not by the way his eyes widened and he became eerily still.

“Father?” Ethan asked after the silence stretched on. Felix obviously didn’t like the quiet either by the way he began to fidget.

“Permanently?” Conrad finally said. “Ethan, you do realize the only reason I let this child stay with us is because you said it would be purely temporary. It has been too long for my taste as it is.”

“Oh, come on. What’s the harm of letting him become one of the family? Everyone already loves him and he likes it here. Like you said it’s already been a while, so it would be easy to make the transition to officially letting him live here.”

“I think you are forgetting a few steps in how this works, my son,” Conrad said as he stood from his chair. He rounded the desk and came to stand before Ethan. “Does he know?” he asked.

“Not yet. I was going to tell him once I got your consent,” Ethan replied, and Nicoli noticed the odd look Felix was giving both of them.

“And what if he reacts badly to it?” Conrad asked.

“He won’t, I assure you.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because, I may not know him entirely, but I know him well enough to know how he’ll take it,” Ethan said, his confident smile never faltering.

Conrad regarded Ethan silently as Felix kept looking between them in utter perplexity.

“Do you plan to someday…bring him entirely into the family?” Conrad asked.

Ethan became thoughtful, but then just shrugged.

“No idea. I certainly wouldn’t mind. It would have to be up to him, though. If he wanted to, I would do it, but only when he’s older, of course.”

Conrad shook his head with a sigh and gripped the bridge of his nose.

“You are far too young to be feeling the pull already.”

“Well, like I said, we’d still have many years before I would even contemplate it, so I’d be less young by that time,” Ethan said with a big, good-natured grin.

Conrad, “hmphed,” before settling his eyes on Felix. He took the small step closer he needed before resting his hand on Felix’s head. The action caused Felix to flinch ever so slightly, but he didn’t shy away and looked up at the clan leader with as much courage as he could muster.

Conrad used his thumb to brush Felix’s bangs away from his face in order to look into his eyes. It wasn’t a gaze of harsh scrutiny, though, like Nicoli was used to. It was simply just a stare of idle wonderment.

“What say you, Child?” Conrad said. “Are you willing to stay here, become part of the family, and take us as we are, our dark secrets and all?” he asked.

Felix clearly didn’t understand what all of that meant, but he nodded.

“I do. To stay here with all of you would make me very happy. No matter what secrets you guys are carrying.”

Conrad continued to study Felix as he processed the words. Then he did something Nicoli wouldn’t have expected in a thousand years. He gently ran his fingers through Felix’s hair. He only did it once, simply letting the strands slip through his fingers, but it was a touch Nicoli never would have thought the clan leader would give.

“Very well then,” he said, his hand returning to his side. “I will allow the boy to stay, but,” he said, holding up his hand and fixing his fledgling with an icy stare to keep Ethan from whooping in victory. “You must tell him about us and do it tonight. If he takes it well and promises to keep our secret he can stay here with my blessing. However, if he does not, well, I’ll let you fill in the rest.”

Conrad turned from them and went back to his desk.

“Leave me now,” he said curtly, ushering them away with one hand as he took out his paper with the other.

Even with the brush off Ethan grinned from ear to ear.

“Thank you, Conrad, you won’t regret this,” he said before beginning to usher Felix out of the room.

Nicoli was drawn from the scene as the present Felix scoffed beside him.

“Ethan had no idea how wrong he was. Conrad feels nothing but regret for the decision he made that night. If he could turn back the clock I’m sure Conrad would have thrown me out of the house the moment Ethan had brought me in.”

Nicoli didn’t reply. He knew Felix was referring to the terrible thing that would happen in the future. The event that Felix was so certain was his fault. Nicoli tried to push the thought away as he followed Ethan and the younger Felix out of the room.

“Conrad gave in much easier than I was expecting,” he said, trying to change the subject, however minutely.

“Yes, well, he can hardly ever resist Ethan when he really wants something. He loves spoiling his children. That’s a side of him people hardly ever realize he has. In short, though, he said yes because not only did it make Ethan happy but because he didn’t see me as a threat. He didn’t think a human could hurt him or his family in anyway. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that those thoughts will change.”

The sadness in his eyes returned and Nicoli gritted his teeth, realizing they had come back to the topic he had tried to steer from.

“No, you don’t,” he said. “And because of whatever happens he sees me as a threat now?”

“Yes.”

“But I’d never do anything to the clan.”

“I know that and I’m pretty sure he knows that too, but the threat isn’t what you could do. The threat is you yourself.”

Nicoli tried to grasp the meaning of Felix’s words, but he just couldn’t understand.

“That makes absolutely no sense.”

“Oh, it will.”

Soon enough the group was back in Felix’s room and young Felix sat down on his bed.

“Okay, now what the hell was all that about?” he asked as soon as Ethan closed the door.

“That’s all you have to say?” Ethan asked. “You’re not going to give a hip-hip-hooray that you get to stay here?”

“Whoopdie-fuckin-do,” Felix said with a twirl of his finger in the air. “There, now tell me what your dad meant by all that stuff. That was really weirding me out with all of his talk of “Protect the dark family secrets. If he ever tells bad things will happen. Hissss,”” he said making Ethan and Nicoli laugh with his Conrad impression.

“He didn’t say it like that,” Ethan said.

“He might as well have. Now tell me what this secret is. Tell me, tell me,” Felix demanded, bouncing on the bed excitedly.

“All right, all right, keep your shorts on,” Ethan said, crouching down in front of Felix and looking at him. “But before I tell you what our secret is I have to have your word that you will never tell another living soul. If other people found out it could spell disaster for our family. We could be hunted down and killed for it.”

“I-Is your secret that bad?” Felix asked, now realizing the magnitude of what he was about to be told.

“It’s not so much bad. It’s just if other people knew they would be scared and people do stupid things when they’re scared. So I want you to understand how much I – how much all of us are going to be trusting you to keep our secret. So, Felix, do I have your word?”

As little Felix sat there staring at Ethan, the present Felix spoke.

“This was another milestone in my life,” he said. “Not only was the clan taking care of me, made me feel like my wants and needs were important and teaching me there was kindness in the world, now they were relying on me to keep their secret. Showing me that they had enough trust in me that they would share something so personal that they wouldn’t with just anyone. No one had ever done that before and it made my love deepen for them.”

“You have my word,” little Felix said, his face showing he meant it. “I swear I’ll never tell anyone your secret. I’ll die first.”

Ethan laughed.

“Good to hear. Do you want to pinky swear on it for good measure?” he asked, holding up his pinky.

Felix stared at it incredulously before smacking it away.

“What are we? Five?”

“Fair enough. Okay, so I’m pretty sure you’ve noticed that my family and I aren’t exactly what you’d call normal.”

“I’ll say. You guys are the weirdest bunch I’ve ever met,” Felix agreed.

“Right, well, there’s a reason for that. You see, we are a lot like regular people, at least we look that way, but in a lot of other ways we’re not and – ”

“You know what I’m hearing?” Felix interrupted him. “A lot of blah blah blah. Just cut all the bullshit and spit it out all ready.”

Ethan laughed and pat Felix’s knee.

“Straight and to the point. I like that. Okay, here it is then,” Ethan said. “Felix, we’re vampires.”

“Wow, that was blunt,” Nicoli said.

“Well, I did ask for it.”

Young Felix stared at Ethan for a long while. The confession having trouble registering in his mind. Finally he spoke.

“Vampires? You mean the whole, creature of the night thing? Pointy teeth, blood drinker vampires?”

“Yep.”

Felix’s eyes narrowed in suspicion and he crossed his arms.

“Prove it.”

“How would you like me to?” Ethan asked.

Felix thought for a moment.

“Show me your fangs.”

“Easy enough.” Ethan tilted his head back slightly and opened his mouth wide.

Felix watched intently and his eyes widened as Ethan’s canines began to lengthen until they were the pointed, lethal fangs Nicoli knew far too well.

“Holy shit,” he whispered. “Those are really fangs.”

“That they are.”

“Do you ever bite your tongue with those things?” Felix asked, and Nicoli was thrown that Felix would ask such a simple, child-like question. He was expecting more of a reaction than idle curiosity.

“When I first got them I did. My bottom lip was always bloody by the end of a night,” Ethan said with a fanged grin.

“Do something else vampirey,” Felix demanded and actually sounded excited.

“All right, watch closely,” Ethan said, then disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Felix jumped in surprise then looked all around the room.

“Ethan? Where’d you go?”

Nicoli looked too and every so often he got a glimpse of Ethan as he stopped, but then was gone again the next second. He flitted about the room a few times before reappearing where he had started. Crouched in front of Felix.

“Whoa, that was awesome,” Felix said. “So you’re really a vampire.”

“Yep.”

“All of you are?”

“All of us.”

“So you can all do stuff like that?”

“Yes.”

“And that’s why I never see you guys eat?”

“Uh-huh.”

“And why I hardly ever see any of you during the day?”

“Right again.”

“And why you guys always leave the house at weird times?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Then Felix did something Nicoli didn’t expect. His shoulders completely relaxed as he leaned back, he gave a great big smile and said,

“Cool.”

“Well…you took that way better than I did when I first found out,” Nicoli said, not believing Felix accepted it so easily.

“I wasn’t as big of a disbeliever as you. Of course, I never gave much thought to old legends of the monsters that roamed the night, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t believe in them. Plus, in the short time I had been with the clan they taught me to be open minded to everything around me and besides now I had an explanation for their weird behaviors. So, I had no reason not to believe them.”

“Glad to see you took that well,” Ethan said with a chuckle, probably not thinking Felix would be so easy to convince either.

“Why would I take it badly?” Felix asked. “You guys obviously aren’t going to be eating me or anything any time soon, or else you would have done that when I first got here.”

“Oh, how are you so sure?” Ethan asked. “Maybe I was just waiting to fatten you up a little so you’d be worth the meal.” He poked Felix’s stomach and leaned up, as if going for Felix’s neck.

Felix just rolled his eyes and put his hand on Ethan’s face and pushed him away.

“Yeah right. I’d still probably not be enough for you and I’d stab you in the face before you got anywhere near my neck.”

“Good to know,” Ethan said, sitting back on the floor. “So you’re going to be okay living with a house full of vampires?”

“Well, I already have been for this long, how would staying longer be any different? It’d still be better than going back to where I came from and now I feel even safer.”

“Oh really?”

“Yes, because if that scumbag finds me here and tries to come after me I have an army of vampires to protect me. He’s got nothing on that,” Felix said with a big grin. The smile was then replaced by a thoughtful look. “Hey, what did Conrad mean about maybe someday bringing me entirely into the family?”

“He was asking if I had plans to turn you into one of us somewhere down the line.”

“Me? Become a vampire?” Felix asked in astonishment. “Were you going to?”

Ethan shrugged.

“I had never actually thought about it before, but since you’re going to be staying with us now it seems like the only logical next step. It would be entirely up to you, though. If you wanted to, yes, we would turn you and you really would be part of the family, but if you didn’t we would respect your wishes and I’m sure most of us would still see you as part of the family.”

“Do I have to decide that now?” Felix asked with a look of uncertainty.

Ethan laughed and shook his head.

“No, no, no. If you wanted to be turned we would wait until you’re much older, so you have years to make up your mind.”

“Sweet,” Felix said before jumping up off the bed and running to the door.

“Now where are you off to?” Ethan asked, making Felix halt at the doorway.

“I’m gonna go tell Faith that I know what she is and that I’m here to stay,” he said before disappearing out the door.

“I’m sure she’ll get a kick out of it and now she gets to gloat about how she’s our older sister.”

Felix’s head poked back into the room.

“Wait, she’s older than you?” Ethan nodded. “By how much?”

“Five hundred and seventy-nine years.”

Felix’s mouth hung open with the funniest wide eyed expression. His mouth than transformed into a giant grin.

“Awesome!”

Nicoli laughed, finding the whole scenario hilarious. He never imagined Felix would be so accepting of the clan’s vampiric existence, especially after he thought of how he had taken the news when he learned the truth. Of course Felix hadn’t been running for his life from a crazy vampire hunter or fallen from a giant cliff.

The room began to fade around them and Nicoli was about to ask where they were going now, but Felix spoke first.

“I was the happiest I had ever been in that point in time. I loved the clan with all my heart and felt that they loved me too.” A frown formed on Felix’s face. “But I still had my own hang ups to deal with. While I wanted to trust my new family more than anything, there were still demons that haunted me and formed doubts in my mind. There was one person, though, that made me face my fears and helped me to finally heal from my past.”

As the surroundings began to take shape around them Nicoli wondered who the person could be. His thoughts immediately went to Ethan, but he figured it wouldn’t be as easy as that. He found that they were again in Felix’s room, but it was dark and Nicoli was just able to make out the sleeping form of young Felix in his bed, who began to toss and turn restlessly. He noticed that the room didn’t seem complete. It was as if it was fuzzy and out of focus and he realized it must have been because Felix was partially in the sleeping world as well as the waking one.

Abruptly the room snapped into focus as Felix shot up in bed with a gasp. He panted heavily, his eyes wide as he frantically looked about the room. His body relaxed somewhat when he recognized his surroundings. He leaned forward and covered his face with his hands. He then did something that Nicoli had never seen Felix do and thought he never would. Felix began to cry. His knees drew up and he released big sobs into them, his small body shaking and trembling as he did and it seemed as if he would never stop.

“Why are you crying?” Nicoli asked softly. He made sure not to sound snide or seem as if he was making fun of Felix. He was sure that the last thing Felix wanted was for Nicoli to see him so vulnerable.

“Because I could not escape my past,” Felix replied. “The monsters from my old life continued to attack me in the form of nightmares and no matter how happy I was with the clan, no matter how good and cherished they made me feel, when I would lay my head down and close my eyes the nightmares were there, waiting for me. I tried to keep my nightmares secret from the clan. I didn’t want them to know how much I suffered at night or how much the monsters made me doubt the kindness the clan gave me. I could only keep it secret for so long, though.”

Nicoli turned and young Felix’s head snapped up when the door opened. A head appeared, adorned with lovely, long blond hair and whose face held a concerned look.

“Felix, are you all right?” Cora asked with her sweet voice.

“I’m fine,” Felix said gruffly as he rubbed at his face to hide his tears. “Go away.”

Even in the darkness Nicoli saw Cora frown. She came into the room fully and closed the door behind her.

“It doesn’t sound like you’re fine,” she said as she went to the window and opened the curtains, letting the moonlight come in and light up the room somewhat. “I thought I heard you crying,” she said as she walked over to the bed, where Felix was curled up against his knees, tighter than before.

“Well, you’re wrong. I wasn’t.”

“Your eyes are red and puffy.”

“It’s because it’s late and I’m tired.”

“Then why is your face wet?”

“It’s not!” Felix snapped at her. He immediately looked ashamed for yelling at Cora and turned to lie on his side in a ball, facing away from her. “Just leave me alone. Please.”

“Felix, what is it? You know you can tell me,” she said, sitting on the bed. “This isn’t the first time I thought I heard crying coming from here.”

“You’re imagining things,” Felix muttered, refusing to look at her.

“I’m quite sure I’m not. Felix, I just want to help you. It would break my heart if I knew you were hurting and did nothing to ease your pain. I just want to see you happy and smiling. You deserve that and so much more.” Cora reached out and smoothed Felix’s bangs away from his face. That gentle touch set Felix off like a bomb.

“Liar!” The hand was viciously smacked away and Felix sat up, his face twisted into that of fury and rage. “You’re all liars! None of you care about me; none of you care if I’m happy or think I deserve anything. I’m nothing but some little pet that you guys are keeping to pamper and play with, but once you get bored of me you’re going to throw me away or trade me for something better. I hate you. I hate you!”

Felix made to escape over the other side of the bed, but Cora was quicker. She snatched Felix by the wrist and pulled him to her, and grabbed the other wrist when it was in reached. Felix flailed and struggled, even trying to kick her, but Cora refused to let go.

“Felix, look at me. Look at me!” she said louder when Felix continued to fight. The sharp edge in her voice made Felix still and stare at her with wide eyes. Once she had his attention her sweet, loving expression came back. “Felix, I want you to listen to me and listen to me carefully, okay?” she said. “None of us think of you like a pet. You are our sweet little boy that we love so very, very much. You hear me? We love you and you are irreplaceable to us. We would never throw you away or trade you for anything because nothing could be better than having you in our lives. We would be fools to let you go.” She released one of Felix’s wrists to comb her fingers through his hair.

“You are stuck with us. You are ours now and forever and we’re never letting you go because you made us love you so much. You can say you hate us all you want, but we’ll just love you that much more to make up for it.”

Felix stared at her for a long, long time. Nicoli couldn’t tell what he was thinking or feeling because his face was devoid of all emotion. Then like a rushing wave it all hit at once. Big, thick tears streamed down Felix’s face. He threw his arms around Cora’s neck and cried hard as she wrapped him up in her arms.

“W-Why did she give me away?” he sobbed. “Why wouldn’t she look at me? Why wouldn’t she love me!?”

Cora cooed to him and rocked him gently as she stroked his hair, letting him cry his heart out. When his sobs had died down she spoke to him gently.

“I don’t know, Felix. I don’t know. I think she just hated herself so much that she had absolutely no love in her to give to such a precious boy like you. She was the fool and an idiot. But don’t ever think for one second that it was because of something you did. You did nothing wrong. You deserve the world and she deserves nothing. Not your love, not anything. We are going to take care of you, Felix. We are going to give you everything that you should have had and more because we love you. We love you more than you could possibly imagine.”

Felix said nothing, but simply sobbed and sniffled against her, but the tension seemed to leave his body as he just let himself cry. After a while Cora moved to lay them both down, not once letting go of Felix in the process.

As they settled down Nicoli turned to say something to the Felix that stood beside him, but all words died in his throat. Present Felix was crying just like his counterpart. He stood still, his eyes never leaving the two on the bed as ghostly tears rolled down his face and evaporated as they dripped from his chin.

“I gave my mother everything that I had,” he said, his voice nothing but a whisper. “I gave her everything. I took care of her when she was too sick to take care of herself. I found ways to make money when her selling her body wasn’t enough just so we could have something to eat. I followed every order she gave me, gave her anything that was in my power to give to her because I thought that if I was her good little boy she would give me the one thing I wanted most. Her love. That’s all I ever wanted from her.”

The tears flowed heavier now.

“I had to fight every second of every day to try and get love from my own mother, but I never got it. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t make her love me. Then the clan came into my life. These creatures that most would call monsters and demons opened their arms to me and gave me all of their love so freely without me ever asking them to. This was the night I finally began to let go and heal. I buried my hateful mother in the past and didn’t look back, just like she wouldn’t look back for me. This was when I opened my heart completely to Ethan and the others and let them fill me with all the care and devotion that I gave back tenfold. I wanted to know love and this was the night that I knew, without a doubt, that I had finally found it.”

Nicoli listened silently as he watched Cora cuddle the young Felix, holding him to her as if he were her own child. As present Felix cried Nicoli felt content and pleased. To know all of the struggles Felix had gone through it was so rewarding to see him come full circle and find the family he deserved.

Even if that family was a clan of vampires.

=================================Ch. 64 End

Hope you liked. Also, check out my new short story I did to kind of take a breather from MD. I'm quite proud of it, so please give it a read ^-^

Reflected Glass: http://original.adult-fanfiction.org/story.php?no=600102086