Back at the estate, Daniel was still speaking with Sean in the study, "so, what's the next problem on the agenda, my Prince?"

Sean just shook his head though he knew it was futile to try and convince Daniel that these problems were not quite as easily solvable as he wanted to convince himself they were, “I suppose the longest running problem is not knowing what actually happened to Haven; or more precisely, who was behind it.”

“A twenty-five year old mystery?” Daniel raised a brow, “so you had a suspect in mind back then, didn’t you?”

“Problem being that we don’t even know if that suspect is alive or dead. She may have been at Baron’s home the night your boat knocked it down” Sean informed.

“But Haven hadn’t seen hide nor hair of her since 1790?” Daniel reiterated.

“Us Kindred can afford to be patient if we need to” Sean sighed.

“Well, you could just summon her” Daniel stated thoughtfully.

“You can’t be serious” Sean scoffed.

“Well it would give you a definitive answer about whether or not she was alive or dead” Daniel pointed out.

“As bad as I want that answer; I don’t want it bad enough to ever have to lure her to my doorstep ever again” Sean stated plainly.

“Could try just having a mental chat with her. See if she answers” Daniel offered.

“And she could just ignore me; plus I want to know if she’s alive, but not if there’s any possibility that she actually has lost interest in me or my throne, only to have it rekindled by my reminding her of such” Sean put down that suggestion as well.

“And what of the ghouls who actually did kill Haven? Did they really kill themselves right after?” Daniel moved on, not dissuaded yet.

“That they did” Sean sighed again.

“Do you know where they were put to rest?”

Sean scoffed again, “know a Giovanni do you?” he asked in reference to the Italian based vampire clan who were renowned for their dabbling in all things related to necromancy; which was just one of the reasons they didn’t quite fit in with the slightly less morbid clans of the Camarilla.

“I suppose I could find one” Daniel smirked, “but that wasn’t what I was suggesting.”

“So, what were you suggesting?”

“Dig them up, touch their bones, find out who their masters were” Daniel stated simply, “morbid yes, but effective nonetheless.”

Sean was a bit caught by that suggestion, not quite able to immediately come up with an argument against it as easily as the others he had put forth. Though, there wasn’t much more time to discuss that plan in full as they were then interrupted by Claire barging into the office. More surprisingly than that though, she was leading Kristofer through the door behind her.

“Claire my beauty” Daniel greeted her with that ever present charm and calm as he stood upon her arrival and reached out to place a kiss over her hand. He then cast a slightly concerned look at her obviously distraught mood, then at the gentleman who was with her, looking just as upset. “And you brought a handsome friend” Daniel smiled as he reached for the other man’s hand, “pleased to meet you… uh?”

“That’s the kinfolk man who may or may not have still been living in my territory…” Sean answered with his own worry then as he stood.

“Oh, then less pleased to meet you” Daniel replied as he released Kristofer’s hand.

Claire just shook her head, obviously thrown off by Daniel’s presence there at all. Though right then, she had more pressing matters as she turned her eyes back to Sean, her voice desperate, “he has a child, Sean.”

“Ok getting even less pleased to meet you now” Daniel mumbled as he moved back another step to let his eyes travel over Kristofer with a less than content expression.

Though Daniel’s expression was nowhere near as troubled as the other three there in the room, “a child?” Sean swallowed, that being the only response he could bring to his lips just yet. Then his expression darkened as he looked at Kristofer as though seeing some other even more troubling fact then as well.

Not immediately noting that tiny change in Sean’s expression, Claire continued, “you have to undo it, Sean.”

Sean swallowed hard again as he brought his eyes from Kristofer back to Claire, “undo it?” he asked her with some strange combination of emotions that made any one of them rather difficult to pinpoint.

“I get the distinct impression that I missed a rather important part of this conversation” Daniel interjected, though quietly.

“The unforgivable wedge I mentioned” Sean sighed in answer to Daniel’s statement, to which Claire was then the one who narrowed her eyes in confusion.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Not waiting for Sean to waste time explaining anything further to Daniel right then, Claire pressed onward, “you have to undo it. You have to let his will be his own again” she stressed urgently.

Sean just shook his head regretfully again. He was also none too happy about the fact of this child, nay children, but nor was he pleased with her suggestion either, “you know what that would mean if I undid it, as you say.”

“I know what it would mean if you didn’t too. You have to fix this. You can’t let this happen” she told him desperately.

Sean sighed heavily again as Kristofer watched with a distressed plea in his eyes as well. Finally Sean posed another question, “we don’t even know yet that the children will even turn.”

“Children?” Claire choked on that particular word as she looked back to see Kristofer’s flinch, “you have more than one?”

“Twins” Kristofer confessed as his voice broke.

“Why is he living here again?” Daniel just had to interject.

Though Daniel had directed the question at Sean, Kristofer offered an answer, “I came back here because it was the only home I knew, aside from where I came from” he sighed softly, “and my plan was honestly to pay the two of you back for how you helped me” he added sadly, “that’s why I thought I would need to be close by… then all the rest happened” he finished with defeat.

“Helped him?” Daniel offered the question to anyone in the room at that point.

“Daniel, you’ve come into this story a little late” Sean interrupted with just a bit more sharpness than he had originally intended, but he couldn’t think about that right now, “I don’t give a shit if you ever pay me back, Kristofer. But I cannot have you and your children in my territory; I just can’t let that go on any longer. It’s already cost your wife’s life. You need to take those children and go far, far away. I don’t care where; you just can’t be here anymore. And your children sure as hell can’t be here” Sean stated firmly.

“I agree” Kristofer gave in, sadly though it was, “I admit, I wanted to be near Claire too. It wasn’t just the money. I especially wanted to be near her after…” he decided to leave that sentence unfinished as Daniel gave another questioning look, but kept silent that time. “But I can’t let my kids be near her… nor can I be near them myself until you do fix this. So please, if I promise to leave and never ever come back, and do everything in my power to keep my children far away from here too… will you please fix this?” he asked, nearly begging for the lives of his children and even his Kindred companions at that point.

“You know that even if I undo the kill command, I am still going to have to compel you to keep that promise” Sean stated softly.

“Whatever. I just need to know that everyone I care about,” he then couldn’t help turning his eyes to Claire, “everyone, will be safe from me and my children both.”

Sean sighed again as he moved around the desk and caught Kristofer’s eyes, “You're no longer bound to the last command I gave you; but you do need to take your children and leave this town by morning. And there’s one more thing you need to do,” Sean went on, trying to ignore the panic on Claire’s face yet again, “never raise your children to believe that every one of us are monsters. That is how you can pay us back,” he finished firmly, as Kristofer and Claire each swallowed a lump in their throats, Kristofer nodding in understanding as Sean finally stepped back from him.

There was another long awkward moment of silence as they listened to Kristofer leaving their home for the last time, casting one more look of longing back at Claire though as he did. When they finally heard the gate close behind him, Daniel just had to speak up again.

“Was that the ever so dire problem that you thought was impossible to fix?” he asked with a wry smile as Sean just shook his head back at him, almost allowing his own smile.

Though, before Sean could allow himself to smile, he had to look back at Claire just to see if anything he had done that night had helped repair the damage between them at all. “You still look a bit sad” Sean finally stated after another moment of her silently trying to compose herself as she stared at the floor.

“Thank you for what you did tonight, Sean” she stated softly.

“But?”

“But it still just seems so sad; everything that happened. It’s better now of course; but I wish none of those bad parts had had to happen at all” she sighed softly.

“I haven’t yet figured out how to turn back time. Sorry” he replied softly.

“Well let me know as soon as you do figure that one out” she sniffled slightly before turning and leaving the room with another faint sigh.

Once Claire left the room Daniel took another moment before he spoke again, “is this the sort of drama that happens here every night?”

“I’m not sure how I’m supposed to take that question” Sean returned with a furrowed brow as he reclaimed his seat.

Daniel just shook his head as he moved back to his own seat, “so did her and the man with the baby werewolves… did they actually…?”

“Can we please move on?” Sean shook his head again.

“But did they?” Daniel asked again.

“I really was hoping that I was done with this subject for the night” Sean replied with a bit of harshness to his tone.

“So they did? Was it before or after the werewolf babies?”

“Daniel!” Sean returned more loudly.

“Gosh I didn’t realize your love lives were such a closed book to me these days” Daniel returned, feigning hurt.

“You really wanna know?” Sean asked with his upset still obvious.

“Well I just can’t help questioning her judgment if she knowingly slept with a man who may have fathered puppies… very large, rabid, vampire-hating puppies” he added with concern.

“All she did before she knew he was kinfolk was kissed him. And I think that was only on one particular night anyway. When the other thing happened, she didn’t know about the children. She obviously just found that out tonight” Sean stated with another sigh.

“But she knew he was kinfolk when that other thing happened?’” he asked with a raised brow.

That was when Sean forced himself to answer, “it wasn’t her choice.”

“Pardon?” Daniel asked with a bit of a stammer, “you mean that prick raped her and she wanted you to help him?” Daniel exclaimed, looking as though he were about to go rip out Kristofer’s throat himself then.

“That’s not what happened exactly, either” Sean whispered.

“Color me confused then; explain, please” Daniel asked, his outrage only slightly cooling.

“She was compelled to go and have sex with Kristofer, just to see who would die; her or Kristofer’s wife” Sean forced himself to answer, “he didn’t force himself on her, but it wasn’t her choice to do that with him either. She just had no choice but to go do it; all the while thinking it was probably going to be the last few moments of her life at all” he added with a sad and heavy sigh, trying to bite back any further emotion at having to recount that story once again.

“What kind of sick, twisted…?” but when Daniel noted the way Sean quickly looked away, he knew, “that’s what my sire did to her?” he choked, though Sean’s face told him that answer the moment he asked the question.