For most of his two hundred plus years as Prince, Sean had been fairly adept at keeping the mortal authorities from interfering with Kindred society in the city. But amidst the years of the Prohibition, and now with the entire country about to teeter into a decade long Depression, that became increasingly more difficult.
It was just a week or two after offering Lyka a job at Raven’s Loft that the club was raided by the mortal authorities who were there to confiscate the illegally obtained alcohol that the club had managed to keep on tap despite the last decade of Prohibition. It was easy to procure material things when you had the kind of sway Claire’s kind had, after all.
It would have been rather easy for Claire and her blood bound staff to stop the members of the human law enforcement from shutting them down, whether through charm or force. But they all knew it was only a matter of time before there’d be another raid and they’d just have to repeat the same process all over again.
However, the officers made another discovery during the raid. It seemed that the old boarded off rooms upstairs, from back when Claire had briefly employed prostitutes, were not so abandoned after all. It turned out that there had been someone hiding out in those rooms for several days, much to the surprise of Claire and her staff.
“So, who is this squatter?” Claire asked the officer.
“You tell us,” the man bit back as he gestured for his subordinates to bring the trespasser downstairs for Claire to hopefully identify them.
That was when they came down the stairs, two of them roughly holding a sobbing Lyka as they did. “Lyka?” Claire asked in shock as they brought her to her.
“So, you do know her?” the lead officer asked smugly.
“Yes, she works here. But I didn’t know she was living here too,” Claire answered, more worried about Lyka than whatever the officer was saying at that moment.
“So, I guess we can add some trespassing to the list of charges.” He let out a derisive laugh. “What a good night... for us anyway,” he stated with a snide smile.
“No, I’m not going to press charges against her. And I’m the owner, so that would be up to me, would it not?”
“Lady, I think you should be more worried about your own charges right now than this pretty little urchin,” he returned smartly.
“First offense, I’m getting a fine, right?” Claire asked, tiresomely.
“You been running this place and still serving booze for years from what I hear. It’s going to be a big fine,” he assured her with the same smug attitude that seemed to come with the job more often than not,
“Do you want cash or a check?” Claire replied with a bit of her own smugness showing through.
“Rich bitch,” he mumbled as he gestured for them to let Lyka go and moved away to write up that fine of hers.
After receiving Claire’s payoff and offering her several colorful warnings about how she shouldn’t even think about serving alcohol in the club again, the officers finally left, with all the alcohol they could find on the premises. With a sigh, Claire turned to where Lyka was sitting in a nearby booth, tears still running down her reddened cheeks.
“You’ve been living in the abandoned rooms upstairs?” Claire asked the obvious question as she sat across from the distraught girl.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’ll understand if you fire me,” she coughed a bit through her tears.
“I doubt we’ll be doing much business here for a while anyway, but I’m more concerned about why, Lyka. Why were you staying here?”
“I just figured that maybe it’d be... safer,” she settled on with another sniffle.
“Safer from what?” Claire asked with concern.
“I’m sorry,” Lyka whispered again, not able to give that answer, not yet.
Claire sighed heavily, already having assumed a few things about Lyka’s past. And this new development only served to strengthen her fears about what it was that Lyka did indeed seem to be running and hiding from.
“Needless to say, we’ll be closing early tonight. How about you come home with me? Just for tonight, OK?” she told the girl as she gently touched her hand.
Lyka looked up with a grateful smile and a simple nod. “Thank you,” she whispered as she moved to follow Claire from the club with a wave of relief.
As Claire and Lyka made their way outside to where one of Claire’s staff had already brought a car around for them, they were stopped at the door by Lucian having just arrived.
“That was a lot of policemen,” he told Claire as he leaned down to give her a soft kiss on the cheek, touching her arm gently as he did. “I sense I missed quite the night, and it’s only nine pm,” he teased to hide his worry over whatever had garnered all that mortal attention that night.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Prohibition raid,” Claire gave him the simple answer.
“OK, sounds less fun,” he told her worriedly. “But you seem to have neatly avoided a jail cell, so I’ll take that as a win.”
“Money tends to make a lot of problems go away, even without any... other encouragement,” she settled on as she remembered that Lyka was indeed still standing next to them, easily able to hear their conversation.
“Can’t argue with that,” he agreed. “So am I to assume that the show won’t be going on tonight, then?”
“Yeah, think we’ll close down for at least a few weeks. Give the wonderful police officers something else to think about for a while. But hey, Kirielle’s still packing up her stuff. I’m sure she would appreciate the ride home,” Claire told him as she got on her toes to give him a rather sweet kiss before she moved to lead Lyka toward her waiting car again. “Goodnight, Lucian,” she smiled back at him before getting into the car and leaving him there to let out a deep sigh.
----------------------------------------
It turned out that ‘just for tonight’ did turn into a rather permanent arrangement, as it often did any time Claire took in any lost souls. Especially those as damaged as Lyka appeared to be upon their introduction.
But of course, having any unbound mortal living at the estate was still considered an undesirable risk, so Claire did sadly give in to creating that bond in the young ballerina as well. Claire attempted to assuage her guilt by telling herself that if the man who hurt Lyka ever found her again, at least Claire’s blood would give her a fighting chance that she hadn’t had before.
It was a rare evening, a few weeks after the raid shut down the club, when Sean found himself with that ever so elusive moment of free time. He had actually been finding those moments more and more since the temporary shut down, and Lyka’s addition to the household. It was no coincidence that both those factors had led to Claire spending most of her evenings at home once again.
Leaving his study for that momentary break from his duties, Sean entered the main hall and scanned the home. It didn’t take long before he found Claire’s aura through the wall of his old art studio. With a curious look, he moved toward the room that had been abandoned for so many nights since Sean’s new role had taken over his life so thoroughly.
Inside, Lyka was tutoring Claire in some of the more advanced ballet steps that were nearly second nature to the redhead. They both giggled as Claire slightly lost her balance and felt Lyka reach out to steady her.
“Maybe you’re just not dressed for this,” Lyka excused as her eyes moved over Claire’s floor length lace and velvet gown with the corset built in that would be surely too tight for any woman who actually needed to breathe.
“What? I took off my boots,” Claire argued, though with a gentle smile. Her eyes then moved to where Sean was leaning against the doorway with his own amused smile at the two women.
“I think there’s more to it than that,” Lyka teased. Everything about her demeanor had become much more open and relaxed since Claire had offered her a place there in the safest home in the city; regardless of the bond that living there required of her.
“Three weeks with the club being closed, and you’re already looking for a new career?” Sean teased as he moved into the room. He gave Lyka a small smile, to which she only looked down shyly. He then moved to place a soft kiss over Claire’s lips.
“Maybe,” Claire returned with a lack of seriousness as Sean released her arm that he had gently grasped during their kiss and then moved to assess a still unfinished painting he had started on decades ago, with the layers of dust to prove it.
Claire smiled as Sean brushed the first few layers of dust from the canvas, assessing it with that look he hadn’t had in his eyes for way too many years, since his artistic nature had been forced to take a backseat to his current life circumstances.
Once Sean reached for a long abandoned paint brush, Claire smiled again and returned her eyes to Lyka, nodding for their lesson to continue. Though neither of their artistic pursuits of the night lasted long as the telephone outside in the main hall interrupted loudly not much later.
“Did they really need to make those blasted things so loud?” Sean grumbled as he set the brush aside again and moved back toward the door of the studio.
Claire raised a brow at him moving to answer the ‘blasted thing’ that rang outside the door loudly once more. “He’s learning,” she told Lyka furtively, to which the other young woman only allowed another small chuckle.
He returned to the studio a moment later, “The call is for you my love,” he told her as he gestured toward the doorway he had just stepped back through.
“Who is it?” Claire asked curiously.
“Your boyfriend,” he told her with a wry smirk. Claire simply gave him a questioning look, while Lyka just looked slightly uncomfortable. “That would be Lucian,” he clarified smartly, though still wore a smile as he returned to his painting.
“He’s not my...” Claire then just shook her head, ignoring the smirk Sean still wore. She then moved back out of the studio to answer the call, already having some idea that it would likely be in regards to her having been staying at the estate for the last few weeks, instead of where she had previously spent most her nights over the last decade.
Lyka bit her lip awkwardly after Claire left the room to take the call. Sean couldn’t help glancing back at the young redhead as she took a tentative seat in the nearest chair, looking like she had no idea what to do with herself without having Claire at her side.
“You look confused dear,” Sean attempted to make conversation, despite the fact that she and he had barely spoken at all since she moved into the home. After all, he was quite intimidating, especially to mortals. And Claire was her entire world now; the bond made it so.
“Just still trying to get used to everything here. Understand it,” she said softly, her eyes still watching the doorway for Claire’s return.
“Anything in particular I could help you understand? I do have a rather extensive knowledge of the inner workings of our home and all,” he told her with a playful tone as he continued to add a few more brush strokes to the previously abandoned painting.
“Nothing in... particular,” Lyka stammered, her tone betraying her words.
Sean glanced over at her again, seeing much more than others, as he always did. With a slight sigh, he offered, “Yes, our marriage really is that ‘open,’ and no I really don’t mind her speaking with Lucian, or even being involved with him, really. As long as she’s cautious, of course.”
Lyka looked up with a bit of surprise at him effortlessly answering the majority of the questions in her head. “It’s really none of my business though,” she said apologetically, somehow feeling guilty that she was even questioning their relationship in her head, despite the fact of none of those questions having actually passed her lips.
Then Sean allowed another small smile as he peered more closely at her before offering yet another piece of information that Lyka was afraid to ask for out loud. “And yes, she does enjoy those sort of attentions from women, on occasion, too.” Sean gave Lyka another sincere smile, despite the blush now coloring her surprised, as well as relieved face.