“If that’s meant to be a new threat, why are you even bothering, Awsha?” Lucian asked as they approached his street. “It’s obvious that I can’t give you what I don’t have. So why are you here speaking to me at all? Especially after I’ve done nothing but fail you for nearly fifty years, after all?”

“Glad to see you acknowledging your own failures, Lucian,” she chided as they turned onto the street his home and office were on. “But I’ve been thinking about that. And I think you just haven’t had the proper motivation.”

Lucian scoffed as he finally looked back at her after having stepped through his front gate. “You took my actual daughter away from me, and it still didn’t change the fact that I can’t force someone to love me! At least not someone immune to my charms, considering her own are just as powerful.

“And after my first meeting with Eliot, it’s not like she’d ever give me the chance to slip her my blood either, even after all these years. It’s futile, this plan of yours. It always has been. So I have no idea why you think threatening anyone else I care about is going to change a damn thing now, Awsha.”

“I don’t know, Lucian. I might still have something you want badly enough to find a way,” she told him with a cunning grin.

Lucian let out a derisive laugh, “I have more than a bit of trouble believing that, somehow,” he stated with a look of disbelief.

Awsha moved her eyes to the house behind him and adjusted her vision a moment before turning her attention back to her childe. “I see the other mage hasn’t actually grown tired of you yet? Seems you are capable of making at least some women fall for you, after all.”

“There’s quite a difference between Summer and Claire,” he returned, his continued annoyance with her obvious.

“Clearly. Even Sean seemed to notice that,” she smirked. “You must have some sort of charm left after all, to convince a woman to be with you after she’s had Sean. See, there is hope for you and Claire,” she teased further.

Lucian let out a heavy sigh in the face of her goading. The sound was also his attempt at hiding any hint he could have given to the fact that he actually did have Claire, for at least one night, long ago as it was.

“You still haven’t told me what it is you think I could ever possibly want from you, aside from the joy of watching you turn to a pile of ash someday,” he added smartly.

Awsha scoffed, “Chances are you’ll lose both of them before I ever pass from this world, darling. Humans are so very fragile. Even the magical ones,” she stated as she pointedly glanced at the house once again.

Pushing aside the fact that Claire had told him something similar upon finding that he had chosen to first care for Kirielle himself, ten years prior, he forced a reply, “I don’t know, that ‘bastard prince’ Claire seems so fond of appears to be pretty resilient for a human, and he’s over sixty now, I hear.”

“He does seem to be aging better than your current love. And she’s what, only half his actual age? See, you may have reasons of your own to replace Summer’s spot in your bed with Claire instead. I’m sure even Claire would appreciate that irony,” she chuckled wryly.

“And I’m still not hearing your theory on why you think I’d ever even try to continue your ridiculous plan again,” he moved the conversation back to the previous subject with annoyance.

“We were just getting to that. Eliot was his name, right? He’s sixty you say? Which would make him, what? Less than ten years older than your lovely Lenore was?” she feigned thoughtfulness.

“I’m still not hearing a point,” Lucian nearly growled the words in response to his daughter’s name passing her lips again.

“The point,” she began with a bit of her own annoyance finally peering through, “is that the reason Claire’s magical French fairy doesn’t age is because of vampire blood, is it not?”

“A point is usually information that the other person isn’t already aware of,” Lucian responded with a continued bitter sarcasm.

A slight glare from her, “And neither you nor Sean ever gave Summer your own blood? Odd choice.”

“It was her choice. Some of us still believe in giving our lovers a choice, instead of just killing them in our beds. I know it may sound like a foreign concept to you and all,” he shot back, referencing their own first meeting which had led to his current existence.

“Ironic, considering that’s exactly what Sean did to Claire all those centuries ago: killed her in their bed, and turned her. Just like I did with you. See, you and Claire already have so much in common,” she couldn’t help adding with another wry laugh.

Lucian refused to let her get to him though, “Yes, he turned the woman he had been in love with for over a decade, when she asked him to. Some of us just fucked the wrong stranger while drowning our sorrow in alcohol, and woke up dead. Seems there’s a bit of difference there after all.”

“Still so touchy after all these years,” she stated dismissively. “But as for my point, before you ask again, vampire blood is very good at prolonging the lives of these poor mortals. You should honestly be thankful that I gave my own to your sweet little daughter all those years ago. Your real daughter, I mean, not the replacement you have inside,” she had to get in one more dig there.

Lucian’s eyes narrowed, wishing he could even hope to read her, which was beyond futile when attempting to look inside the head of, or even see the emotions of one’s own sire. “You can’t possibly expect me to believe that you’ve kept her alive all this time,” he attempted to call her bluff.

“Whether you believe me or not, it won’t change the truth, Lucian. But do you really want to risk not believing me though?” she retorted with guile.

He glared coolly at her for a long moment, “Even if it were true, am I supposed to also believe that now, after nearly fifty years, you’d give her back to me?”

That was when Summer, now nearly thirty, stepped out of the house behind him. “Who’s this, Lucian? My wards have been going off for the last ten minutes. Seems she’s not on the guest list,” she stated as her eyes moved over Awsha suspiciously.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“If it isn’t the other one,” Awsha stated as she gave Summer an unimpressed once over.

“Pleased to meet you. I’m Summer,” she stated with obvious insincerity. Thankfully the wards protected her from the very presence that a vampire sired by the same one who had made Sean, would be sure to possess.

“She’s pretty, yes, but so is Claire. I’m not seeing what Sean found so so special about her at all, other than that godawful blinding aura of hers, and that’s just more of a nuisance, really,” Awsha spoke only to Lucian, her tone obviously condescending. “I’m not impressed.”

“Careful, Summer,” Lucian warned, “this vile beast is my sire,” he admitted, keeping his cold gaze on Awsha the entire time.

After nearly ten years together, Summer had at least gotten the basic information from Lucian about how he came to be what he was. And that of course included the basic information about Awsha, and how much hatred he held for his creator.

Summer glared back at her, the wards separating she and Lucian from Awsha, giving her a bit more confidence. With an effortless motion of her hand, one of the streetcars parked across the way came quickly skidding toward Awsha, stopping just short of bowling her over where she stood.

“Impressed yet?” Summer retorted coldly.

“You little...” Awsha glared back at Summer venomously. “I’m over two hundred years old, darling. I’ve got a few tricks of my own,” she spat back. “Like telling you,” her tone changed ever so slightly, “that you should gouge out those pretty little eyes of yours, right here, right now.”

Lucian paled slightly, as his inherent distrust of any of the magic Summer and Eliot possessed, had never completely left him. Though Summer only smiled back at Awsha.

“That won’t work through my wards, darling,” she told her pointedly, her grin widening. Lucian only relaxed slightly, despite his misgivings about the sort of magic Summer wielded.

Covering her initial shock at her command failing, Awsha quickly attempted to regain her bluster. “You won’t always have those wards to hide behind, little girl. And Lucian will assure you, I can wait a long time on revenge, indeed.”

“You should probably scamper back to whatever grave you crawled out of, before you have any more accidents tonight, Awsha,” Summer told her wryly, turning back toward the house, satisfied she had won that round. At least for now.

Glaring after Summer’s retreating form for only another moment, Awsha turned back to her childe. “As for your last question, before we were so rudely interrupted: If you could actually bring Claire to me so I could end her once and for all, you’d be amazed at how grateful I would be,” she promised, then sped away into the night in a flash of motion before finding herself on the receiving end of any more of those ‘accidents’ that night.

----------------------------------------

Despite her minor victory over Awsha upon their first meeting, Summer still chose not to leave the protection of the wards around Lucian's home until the sun was high in the sky. Even as she and Kirielle took the streetcar toward that day's destination, Summer was still unsure if she even should make this visit. Though her guilt over the way things played out in the past, as well as her worry over the future combined to eventually convince her.

It was only a moment after she and her charge stepped out of the streetcar and approached the wrought iron gate, that the front door of the home opened. As he stepped out of the Victorian Manor that had been his home for the last decade, Eliot looked out at her in surprise.

"That's a face I haven't seen in a very long time," he greeted her as he moved down the walkway.

Summer offered a hopeful smile as he approached where she stood just outside, Kirielle clasping her hand as the ten year old's pale blue eyes moved to inspect Eliot as he grew nearer.

"I hope it's still a welcome face?" Summer replied, biting her lip as she held the smile.

"Of course," he replied as he returned her smile as he opened the gate to her.

Summer awkwardly offered him a hug that showed her relief that at least he seemed to hold no ill will toward her, surprising as that was. Then she looked him over head to toe with and couldn't stop her next sentence, "And you still look like your twenty years old, still!" she repeated.

"Permanence spells do seem to be permanent," he replied as he looked down with another small smile. "But what has brought you here after all this time?"

Summer took a deep breath before she tried to decide how to even start to answer that. Instead, she opened with a question of her own, "Is Claire here?"

Eliot narrowed his eyes at the question, but used humor to supply his answer, as was a habit of his, "Even if she was, it's a little bright out for her to have come to the door."

Summer looked down as she bit her lip again, "But is she?"

"No, Summer. Why?" he had to ask, considering the last time they had spoken about Claire, there at that same gate, ten years prior, when Summer had still been Sean's mistress.

"So she and Sean did get back together, after all?" she couldn't stop herself asking.

"I'm not sure they've ever been 'not together,' truly," he stated quietly. His travels through Claire's memories had made him all too aware of how strong the bond between she and Sean was. "A three hundred year bond between sire and childe is not easily broken, let alone a marriage that's lasted that long as well. Despite any bumps in the road," he had to allow, considering his own still rather current place in Claire's heart.

"So are you not with her anymore either?" Summer continued, moving past his last statement.

"If you're with Lucian, shouldn't you already know who's with who in recent nights?" he had to ask a question of his own then.

Summer allowed a slight chuckle, "Lucian is hardly friendly with Sean. He never really has been, all things considered," she added more quietly.

"He's never been friendly with me either," Eliot smirked, "his dislike of us mages does make his relationship with you almost as unexpected as your relationship with Sean was, almost," he had to tease. Eliot allowed a small sigh before moving the conversation forward, "Did you really come here just to gossip about who's sharing a bed with who after ten years, or...?" he left it at that.

Summer sighed deeply, knowing that the actual reason for her visit would have to be made clear, but she was still hesitant. "I think I may have made an enemy. A pretty powerful, vindictive one," she made herself admit.

Eliot gave her another questioning look, "Terrible as that sounds, I'm still not sure what brought you here, though," he replied, still trying not to sound dismissive of the worry in her voice.

"Because she's an enemy who Claire, Sean, and Lucian are all already pretty familiar with," she confessed, which did cause Eliot to furrow his brow in thought. "So I guess I still feel guilty enough about all that happened with Sean, that I figured I should warn Claire. Or, you should. Not sure how much Claire would want to have a conversation with me, after all," she finished more quietly.

"She?" Eliot returned to the beginning of her sentence. "You could only mean Awsha," he stated as his own voice dropped, his extensive knowledge of Claire's past easily coming to the fore at the mention of that particular name.

"Yes, Awsha. And she's already proven that she's not above hurting little girls, like Kirielle," she stated in a whisper, her eyes looking down at the girl. "So you can see why I want as many powerful people as possible to be warned about her coming around again."

Then Eliot flinched as if a sudden pain had come over him. "What did you say?" he asked, the pain in his voice obvious.

"What part?" Summer asked worriedly. "Kirielle, go back to the nice man in the streetcar," she told the girl, not sure what was happening to Eliot right then, but it didn't seem good.

"Yes... that," Eliot flinched again as he moved his hand to his temple, and his eyes to the little girl moving back toward the streetcar now.

"Yes what?" Summer asked with further confusion and fear for whatever was happening to him right then.

"I... I need to go," he whispered, moving back behind the gate and out of sight of the driver or any other passersby, before suddenly vanishing again, no further explanation given.