Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

He looked over the scene, the human bodies had been ravaged, barely recognizable as human anymore. They better resembled filleted fish than humans. The attacker had decimated their living bodies, and then demolished their corpses. The massive scratches from the wolf’s claws, and then the bite marks. He could feel his throat beginning to burn, the surrounding blood causing his thirst to ache, he needed plasma, and soon. That, or he had to vacate the scene, the sooner the better.

He shook his head, and swallowed the saliva in his mouth, hoping to coat his throat a little. The act of doing so was fruitless, he knew that for certain. He had been what he currently is for longer than most people were alive. He’d also seen his share of werewolf attacks. He had heard the woman's screams, the man's yelling, and caught the scent of werewolf. He had then raced towards the screams to see if he could help, but had arrived too late to save them. What had followed was brutal fight of fangs, teeth and claws. Fur flew into the air, followed by more blood. The wolf had tossed him through a wall, he had gotten back up and threw the werewolf through the sliding glass door, the wolf had then ran off.

Now, he was just looking to see if he could find anything that would tell him who they were. Searching through suitcases, the wooden cabin was silent, until it wasn’t. After a few minutes of searching and moving furniture around, he heard it. It started off as a whimper, then grew to a full force cry. A young child, maybe a month or two old if he recalled correctly. He followed the crying into a locked bathroom, and found the child laying on his back on a playmat. The tiny face contorted into a frown, tears streaming from his eyes, thankfully there wasn’t a single scratch on him. His diaper was full, and from the way his fists clenched, he could guess the child was hungry.

He went to the infant, kneeling down and gently shushed the baby as he picked him up. He gently bounced him in his arms while he looked around and found the make shift nursery they’d set up in their cabin. He entered it and set about changing the child’s diaper. Once the child was clean and dry he picked him up and looked around the room, the child still fussing from his hunger. He looked for anything to indicate what the child’s name was or if there was a grandparent, an aunt, an uncle—anyone who could care for him.
He then realized the futility of it. The wolf had caught the infant’s scent. He had scared him off for now, but if the child was the werewolf’s intended target, he’d come back for him. He picked up a green receiving blanket with the name ‘Beckett’ embroidered into the fabric.

A smile spread across his lips as he looked to the infant in his arms and gently cooed, “let’s get you some food, Beckett.”

He went down into the kitchen, hoping the mother either expressed, or used formula. He looked in the fridge and audibly sighed in relief finding a bottle. He ran it under warm water at the sink to take the chill off the milk before offering the bottle to Beckett. The infant took the bottle and began suckling rapidly. He gently pulled the bottle back a bit, cautioning the infant to slow down, and gave the bottle back to the child. This time the baby’s suckling was at a more steadied pace than before. Once the child had finished the bottle, he sat with him and gently burped the child.

“There we go,” he soothed as he repositioned the child to his shoulder, throwing the blanket over him and began gathering up a few things he’d need for the next couple of days to care for the baby.

He knew full well that the wolf would likely not stop, and if that was the case he had to be prepared to defend the child at all costs. He’d never thought of raising a child since he turned, but he supposed he could try. His own thirst was tormenting him now, it was unbearably uncomfortable. He desperately wanted a plasma pack, or some kind of aquatic creature he could bleed dry.

There was a lake nearby, he found a baby carrier that would free up his arms so he could fish. Perfect! Beckett had some food and he was going to have a chance to calm his thirst soon enough. He looked to the child who was now trying to fight against sleep. He smiled as he softly smoothed the child’s hair and hummed for the baby. He watched as the infant fell asleep then headed towards the lake with the baby supplies in tow.

He set them down and quickly caught a fish. He was quick to cut off the fish’s head, and then began devouring the plasma from the fish. He only drank enough to calm his thirst, but not to satisfy his thirst completely. He had plasma packs at home that would satisfy him, he knew that for certain.

He looked to the baby, finding that none of the fish blood had gotten on him. The vampire smiled as he gently kissed the top of the baby’s head, no longer fearing the predator within himself.

“My name is Caleb Vatore—but you’ll grow up calling me Dad. I am not your birth father, but I promise you, you’ll be loved as if you were my born son,” he told the sleeping infant.

He then picked up the diaper bag. He then took off towards Forgotten Hollow, he’d try to time it so that Lilith was out hunting when he got there. He knew one thing, she wouldn’t be safe for a human infant to be around. He loved her, but his sister had fully embraced vampirism.

Caleb arrived at the massive three-bedroom house and heaved a heavy sigh. He knew he’d be doing right by Beckett to leave, but he’d have to let go of the lavish furniture that they’d collected over the years. He would miss it, but if given enough time he could regain several items in his preferred style. He’d have to see what he could afford. He picked up an ancient heirloom, a pocket watch. It was worth at least twenty simoleons, he’d be able to at least get a small place for this.

However one of his fears was confirmed as he entered the front door and came face to face with the black haired, brown eyed woman.

“Lilith, you’re still home,” he expressed his surprise.

“I do live here as well, Caleb,” she reminded him. She looked to the infant and hissed, pressing herself against the inside wall of the house.

“I know. I was hoping to come home, get a few of my things and leave with him before you returned,” he remorsefully stated.

“Leave with him? Are you truly thinking of taking on a human child? He’s not one of us,” she snarled.

“You’re right, and Greggorius was after him,” Caleb confirmed.

At this Lilith stopped herself from talking even more. She hesitated before racing up stairs and coming back down with a piece of jewelry from her own collection, offering it to him. He’d already gathered the clothes he planned to take with him, and not much else.

“That should get you a few thousand at least,” she informed him.

“Lilith—this is—”

“I know. Take it,” she insisted. He hesitated before accepting the ring from her. He thanked her before heading off into the night, the child was still sleeping, his ear against Caleb’s chest.

He found a shop where he would sell the ring and pocket watch, receiving a sizable amount for them. He then went to a library and got onto one of the computers, he searched around until he found a listing for a food critic. He was thankful his vampirism hadn’t withered his stomach, like Lilith’s had done to hers.

He enjoyed food far too much to never taste it again. The flavours, the smells, the textures, it did nothing to sate his thirst, but he did enjoy eating regular food and passing for human as often as possible. He found the resume he’d saved a few months ago on his email and used it to apply for the job. He then began looking in that area for a place of residence. He knew he couldn’t do anything huge, but he could do something small to start and upgrade as he went. He found a small one-bedroom apartment. He didn’t sleep very much, the one who’d be using the bedroom would be Beckett.

He applied for the apartment, kissed the top of Beckett’s head, and left the library, he knew a place where he could stay for the night with the child. A friend in this neighbourhood, a chef and his wife, had a house with a semi-complete nursery for their currently unborn child offered to put them up for the week. He hoped he could hide his condition from them the entire time they were there.

It wouldn’t be easy, but he’d do his best to pass for human, for Beckett’s sake.

Chapter Text

~Eight years later~

Caleb sat next to Beckett on the school bus as the others began singing songs during the journey. Beckett, however, was engaged in a game of tic-tac-toe with his Dad. There was another parent on the bus with them who gave an unusual scent to Caleb, a non-binary adult named Morgyn Ember, with their daughter Avery.

As the bus came to a stop, Beckett’s teacher, Mrs. Coombs stood up and addressed the students. The elderly woman reminded the children to stay close to always check in with their parent volunteers when heading off to do something even if they’re feeling ill and want to go to the washroom. Never go anywhere alone, always in pairs or small groups.

Also in their group was a girl with long dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes. Caleb noticed that anytime they spoke with each other, Beckett would smile a little. He didn’t say anything but realized in his own mind that his son had his first crush. He couldn’t say anything about it, he’d always had a soft spot for blondes as well.

He stood up, gathering their supplies as the students exited the bus. Morgyn had volunteered for a few things in the past, so Caleb had no problem following their lead.

Beckett had grown into a handsome young boy, as far as Caleb was concerned. He had dark brown hair, green-grey hazel eyes, and had freckles across the bridge of his nose. He’d asked to get his ears pierced, which Caleb had no issues with, but apparently some of Beckett’s classmates did.

A bit later, Caleb heard some boys whispering about his own ear piercing. A small smile spread across his face as he asked, “Do you know anything about Rome?”

“No,” one of the boys answered.

Caleb smiled a little as he revealed, “in Ancient Rome, a man wore earrings as a sign of wealth and high social status. I work as a food critic, sure—but I’m a bit of a hobby historian… and despite being a father now, I was once a child like you, and a teenager as you soon will be. You’ll find out as a teenager, sometimes you hear ‘no’ as more of a challenge than an answer. Just make sure you know when no is always an answer and never a challenge.”
Beckett looked to his Dad before asking, “When is that, Dad?”

Caleb smiled and ruffled his son’s hair, “when you’re around girls. If a girl ever tells you ‘no’, you stop what you’re doing. That’s how you show that you respect her, and she should do the same for you. Do you get me, Sport?”

Beckett smiled and nodded. The boy watched as his Dad got a few things together and began setting up the tent. Briefly Caleb thought to himself this place looked familiar.

He was distracted however when he heard an adult voice speaking, “I’m Morgyn Ember, I think I heard one of the children call you Mr. Vatore?”

The title made the vampire smirk a little as he corrected them, “Caleb. Some of the other parents are old school. They want their kids to address adults by their last name, and honestly that bugs me. I’d rather the kids see me as a friend, incase they ever need a trusted adult outside of their home for whatever reason.”

“Ah, I’ll let Avery know,” Morgyn agreed before crouching down and asking in a hushed tone, “this may seem strange but—I’ve never pitched a tent before.”

“If you’ll watch my group for a bit, I’ll help yours get set up as soon as we are,” Caleb offered.

“Gladly,” Morgyn agreed.

They stood up from their crouched position and headed back to their group. Caleb watched them for a moment, smiling to himself a little.

Beckett noticed this and asked, “Dad, do you have a crush on Avery’s parent?”

Caleb felt a swell of pride at how easily Beckett used gender neutral terms, but chuckled at the idea of a crush while asking, “how would that happen? I just met them.”

Beckett raised an eyebrow at him before reminding him, “Didn’t you once tell me you can find someone pretty the first time you meet them?”

The ancient man mentally kicked himself as he hurriedly hushed the boy and corrected himself, “yes. I did say that. But just because you’re attracted to someone doesn’t mean you have a crush on them. You can find someone’s looks attractive, but their personality unattractive.”

He was quiet for a moment before admitting, “they are good looking—but that’s neither here nor there. I’m here to help supervise you and your classmates, as are they. As such, I’m putting the attraction out of my mind and focusing on keeping everyone safe and healthy during the trip.”

Beckett blinked repeatedly before asking, “just like that?”

Caleb nodded in agreement before adding, “it takes a while to grow the mental discipline to achieve it, but it is possible.”

Beckett hummed in acknowledgement as he and Caleb finished setting up the tent. Caleb then gently patted Beckett’s shoulder, before checking on the other boys in his group, after a few more minutes all of the boys had their tents set up and Caleb noticed Morgyn coming over with their group, which was all girls. Immediately Caleb realized the implication, and how uncomfortable Morgyn must’ve been to fill out the parent volunteer form for the trip. With Morgyn in his group’s area, he went over to the designated sleeping area for the girls and got their tents set up.

As he worked one of the other Dads approached, kneeling down while he asked, “someone didn’t know how to pitch a tent?”

Caleb looked up, seeing a man who appeared to be of Italian heritage, olive skin, brown-green hazel eyes, and beard as well as a thin moustache. The man smiled as he began helping with the tents while introducing himself, “I’m Don.”

“Caleb. You’re the police officer, huh? Dante’s Dad,” the vampire replied.

Don nodded, “and you’re a food critic—who forms friendships with minors.”

Caleb chuckled a bit before divulging, “yeah, I do. I find kids talk more when something’s wrong if they see you more as a friend and less of an authority figure. Got a girl out of a bad situation last year because of it.”

“So you’re doing it so they feel safe telling you when something’s wrong,” Don clarified.

“I could never harm a child, nor a woman—unless she was hurting a child,” Caleb confirmed.

Don gave a small smile and nodded in agreement, “well—at least not physically. Pretty sure I’ve broken a few hearts along the way.”

Caleb smiled while offering, “haven’t we all?”

Don was about to answer when they heard a bunch of kids screaming. Both men abandoned the tents and ran off towards the commotion, a gust of wind carried a scent to Caleb’s nose that he had never forgotten.

‘He’s here! He found Beckett,’ the vampire thought. He didn’t think of the consequences of revealing his true nature, he allowed his fangs to grow and gave up on the façade of being human, running at his true speed, surprising Don but only for a moment.
Morgyn had gathered the children behind themselves and was facing down the massive grey werewolf, his red eyes seemingly glowing.

The kids were all huddling behind Morgyn, causing them to press against each other. One of the kids fell off to the side. The werewolf glanced at her and made a mad dash towards her.

Beckett grasped the girl’s arm, about to pull her back in with the group, but when he saw the werewolf coming straight for him, he chose instead to place himself in front of her.

The werewolf slashed at Beckett’s stomach, as fire engulfed the wolf's back and Caleb appeared, tackling the werewolf away from the children.

Once both were back on their feet, the werewolf growled lowly while Caleb hissed in response.

Don arrived shortly after, and quickly removed his shirt to use it as a compress for Beckett’s wound.

Morgyn then stood between the children, Don, and the other two paranormals.

The werewolf swiped at Caleb, he grasped the werewolf’s hand and flipped him over onto his back. The werewolf charged towards him again then stopped suddenly, curled up on the ground and fell asleep.

“You’re a vampire,” Morgyn stated, keeping their eyes on Caleb.

Caleb looked to Morgyn, his fangs receding as he countered, “And you’re a mage.”

“Former Sage of Untamed Magic,” Morgyn offered.

“I’m a master vampire,” Caleb confirmed as he knelt by Beckett, and looked over the wound, seeing that it had stopped bleeding. It wasn’t very deep, thankfully.

Don looked to Caleb and observed, “you weren’t surprised by the wolf.”

“It’s a long story,” the vampire stated. As he helped Beckett up to his feet. The girl who had been behind him was unharmed. She was younger, about the same age as Dante Lothario, Don’s son.

The auburn-haired girl was trembling, Don looked to her with open arms, the girl ran into Don’s arms. He instantly wrapped his arms around her, cuddling her tightly while soothing her, “it’s alright now, Jenny bunny.”
Dante joined them but sat next to Don and Jenny. Soon after the blue eyed girl with dirty blonde hair joined Don, Jenny and Dante.

Don looked over to Caleb and Morgyn, who had moved away from the others and were talking, he looked to the girl with dirty blonde hair and requested, "keep an eye on them for me, Jessie?"

She wordlessly nodded in response as she hugged both Dante and Jenny. Don stood up and made his way over to the other two adults in the area.

“That wasn’t your first fight with that werewolf, you knew what he’d do,” Morgyn revealed to Caleb.

The vampire nodded his head, glanced over to Beckett, then back to Morgyn, while stating, “I know most vampires see humans as prey. I don’t. I never have. I’ve always found other ways to satisfy my thirst. I heard his mom screaming, his father yelling, I went to see if I could help. His birth father was dead when I got there, his mother was barely clinging on. I couldn’t even try to help her until I fought that werewolf off… by then she was gone. I found him alone, locked in the bathroom. I took him, I’ve been raising him since. No next of kin, I checked. So I got a job, became a foster parent and a year later I adopted him. I always stay close, so he can stay safe.”

“You’ve been protecting him on your own? That can’t be easy,” Morgyn sympathized.

“I don’t need to sleep much,” Caleb divulged.

“Still, how about you add a few other adults to the list that’ll step up for him?”

It wasn’t Morgyn that had said those words. The two occults turned to see Don standing and offering to help out.

He shrugged a bit as he suggested, “I know I’m not a mage or a vampire--- but I have a gun and I’m a good shot.”

“Very well—but you’re the last one the werewolf goes through if another attack occurs,” Morgyn cautioned.

Caleb looked to them a look of bewilderment about him. Morgyn calmly stated, “As I said before, I was once the Sage of Untamed Magic—and the youngest in magical history to obtain the title. I swore I wouldn’t use magic to harm humans—but there’s nothing saying I can’t use it to protect one.”

Chapter Text

~Six years later~

The trailer wasn’t quite ideal but it was quieter than their first home in the apartment building, plus here he could relax a little bit more without people finding out his secret. Beckett stumbled into the eat-in kitchen, holding his head. He had grown into a tall young man with short dark brown hair, green-grey hazel eyes, and freckles that covered the bridge of his nose. In recent years he’d gotten Caleb’s permission to pierce his right eyebrow. He was well toned, but despite the appearance of being in peak physical health, Caleb knew differently just by his scent. He’d been smelling it for a while now, and the scent was getting stronger. He was certain that now if he took his son into a doctor, a test would reveal something.

Caleb’s eyes were instantly on the teenaged boy he sat down next to him, placing his hand on his forehead before commenting, “You don’t feel warm—but you definitely don’t look well.”

“Whatever—I’ll tough it out,” Beckett half mumbled, but Caleb catching a whiff of Beckett’s breath, shook his head ‘no’, “I’m taking the day off work, and you’re getting called in sick. We’re going to see a doctor today.”

“Dad—don’t make a big deal of this,” Beckett pleaded.

“You’re very sick, Beckett. You need a doctor and you’ll get one,” Caleb insisted as he called the school, informing them that Beckett would be absent and he’d have a doctor’s note for them tomorrow.

He then called into work explaining that his son was sick and he was taking him into the urgent care clinic.

“Dad, c’mon. You’re overreacting,” the teenager groaned.

“Humor me,” Caleb insisted as he pulled his son up from his seat at the kitchen table.

Suddenly Beckett’s eyes widened, and pushed away from his Dad, running for the washroom, no sooner was his son in the washroom than Caleb heard the unmistakable sounds of retching, and vomiting. That coupled with the sickly-sweet scent he got from Beckett whenever he was nearby, solidified his suspicion, his son was diabetic, his blood sugar was too high, and he was in grave danger.

This wasn’t a danger he could physically fight off, it could only be treated with insulin, lifestyle changes, and careful monitoring. After a few minutes Beckett emerged from the washroom. He looked to Caleb and admitted, “Okay, yeah. I need a doctor.”
Caleb nodded and went to his son noting that he was walking as if he were inebriated, yet he knew there was no alcohol in the boy’s system. He wrapped an arm around his son’s waist, while his son’s arm wrapped over his father’s shoulders as the two walked together out of their trailer home.

“It’ll be alright,” Caleb assured Beckett as they made their way down the steps and to the taxi that was waiting for them. Caleb informed the driver they were going to Oasis Springs Medical hospital, and they were off.

Beckett threw up twice more in the taxi, Caleb had come prepared with a couple of plastic bags. He wiped his mouth with napkins that his Dad had brought with them, mumbling an apology.

“Hospital should be the best place for you,” the taxi driver replied.

Caleb patted his son’s back while assuring him, “you’re not well. You’ve got nothing to apologize for, Kett.”

The teenager nodded his head in response, his eyes closing, while Caleb shook him awake. Beckett’s head lulled around on the headrest of his seat in the car.

“Stay awake, Sport. We’re almost there,” Caleb encouraged.

“Wake me when we’re there,” Beckett grumbled, before his eyes closed again.

Caleb shook his head ‘no’, shaking his son awake again, “no. No, no. wake up. You’re getting too big to carry. Come on Beckett.”

Beckett’s eyes opened for a moment before closing again.

‘No, no, no,’ Caleb thought to himself as he pulled out his cell phone and made a call, silently praying that the other person would pick up.

He felt his heart skip a beat when the woman answered the phone and requested, “Jordan, it’s Caleb. I’m bringing Beckett to the hospital by cab, can you meet us outside with a gurney? “

There was a pause, and Caleb shot a panicked look Beckett’s way while correcting Jordan, “No, not a wheelchair, a gurney. He just went out cold, and his heart’s slowing down.”

He then shifted so he was on the floor of the cab, and shifted Beckett so he was laying across the backseat. He heard his son’s heart stop beating. He immediately blew two breaths into Beckett’s mouth, making sure the air reached his lungs. He then straightened himself up, placed his hands over Beckett’s chest, and compressed his heart while keeping the tempo of the song ‘staying alive’ in his mind. Caleb kept the compressions in sync with the song’s tempo. He kept up with the compressions until the cab pulled up to the side of the hospital, where Dr. Jordan Reilly raced over to the cab with other medical personnel bringing the gurney over.

As soon as Caleb saw her, he stopped the compressions and quickly lifted Beckett into his arms. Jordan opened the cab door, and Caleb easily exited with Beckett, laying his son on the gurney.

“Fourteen-year-old male, VSA,” Jordan began.

“He was vomiting, and he’s been drinking a lot of water lately,” Caleb added.

“Get a rapid blood glucose,” Jordan ordered as they raced into the hospital with Beckett.

Caleb turned back to the cab driver, paid for the fare, and gathered the items from the back of the cab, including the bags of vomit before closing the cab door and running into the hospital after Beckett.

He gave the bags to a nurse who took them to the lab for testing incase the contents offered any clues to Beckett’s condition. Caleb was certain he knew what it was, for days his son had an unusual scent radiating off him, like cake icing, and it had been growing stronger.

He sat in the waiting room, his hands rubbing the back of his neck. It was an instinctual habit left over from when he had been a child. Anytime he was stressed or anxious, he’d rub the back of his neck. Sometimes he’d only use one hand, sometimes both, as was the case right now.

After a few moments, however, he became aware of someone watching him. He glanced over and saw Officer Don Lothario walking towards him. He was obviously working, but had noticed Caleb was distressed.

Don sat next to him and asked, “is it Beckett?”

Caleb wordlessly nodded then remorsefully answered in a hushed whisper, “he’s been off for a bit. The thing with my—condition—I can tell when something’s happening for most can—before tests can detect anything. So, I’m not always sure when to bring him to a doctor.”

“Well, he’s here now,” Don offered.

He stood up and said, “I’m gonna grab a sandwich at the cafeteria, you want anything?”

“Uh coffee, if you would?”

Don nodded as he headed off towards the cafeteria. Caleb sat in the waiting room for a what felt like an eternity until Don rejoined him with a take out tray, in which resided two coffees and a sandwich.

He handed one coffee to Caleb, who readily accepted the hot beverage he then offered half of his BLT to Caleb, which he declined.

Don looked to him and asked, “You already ate?”

“Yeah. I’m usually wake around six, make breakfast then and eat before Beckett’s even up,” Caleb lied. In truth, his breakfast was a plasma packet or some plasma fruit juice.

The pale man stood up when Dr. Reilly emerged from Beckett’s room and walked over to him. She had a grim expression on her face as she confirmed his suspicion, “His blood sugar is dangerously elevated. We’re still waiting on tests to confirm but I believe we’re looking at type one diabetes.”

“Alright, so diet change, exercising, and insulin to manage it,” Caleb replied.

“Yes, he regained consciousness when we gave him a rather large dose of insulin, it brought his sugar down—but we’ll have to check a few more things before we can discharge him. You can go sit with him now,” Jordan cautioned.

Caleb nodded his head as he agreed, “alright. Thank you.”

He looked back to Don, as if inviting the cop to join him. Don stood and followed him into the room.

Beckett was sitting up in the gurney and looked over when Caleb and Don came in.

Don nodded to the teenager while asking, “Hey Kid, how ya holdin’ up?”

“Head hurts, and I’m hungry—otherwise I’m good,” Beckett answered.

He looked to Caleb and asked, “didn’t even get breakfast this morning.”

“Lox bagels too,” the vampire added, causing a groan from the teenager.

“Really? Salmon for breakfast,” Don asked.

“His favourite breakfast,” Caleb explained.

“This is gonna suck. I won’t be able to drink when I’m of age. Won’t be able to have milkshakes, go out for ice cream with my friends, or even eat pizza,” Beckett rambled.

“Yes, you can, you just need to know how to adjust your insulin accordingly,” Caleb assured him.

Chapter Text

Caleb flipped the spinach, mushroom and cheese omelets in the frying pan, he watched from the corner of his eye as Beckett took his glucose reading, then calculated the amount of insulin he’d need. Caleb watched his son while he plated the omelets, setting one down in front of Beckett, and another in front of himself.

“Why do you eat this stuff?”

Caleb’s brow furrowed in confusion while he sought insight to the question, “what do you mean?”

Beckett looked to his Dad as he clarified, “I mean you can sustain yourself on plasma, why eat food?”

Caleb smiled as he explained, “I enjoy the smells, flavors and textures. It’s quite different from—my source of sustenance.”

“So, you eat human food for enjoyment,” Beckett surmised.

Caleb nodded his head in agreement while verbally confirming, “Yes, and socializing. Over the years I’ve developed a broad but refined pallet.”

“How many years is that exactly? I know you’re older than you seem,” the teenager asked.

Caleb’s smile faltered as he revealed, “admittedly, without the vampirism we wouldn’t have met—I’d be bones in a casket, in all likelihood if not dust.”

Beckett’s eyes widened a bit before deciding to stop the conversation. He began eating his omelet, and Caleb joined him. The teenager realized that his guardian had delayed eating, one of the few things he knew brought pleasure to the vampire, so he wouldn’t be eating alone. At that, he realized another likely reason why Caleb chose to eat human food with him, companionship.

He hesitated for a moment before bringing up his fist and holding it in place midair. Caleb caught sight of this, grinned and fist bumped his son with a slight chuckle. The gesture caused the teen to match his Dad’s grin.

“You still talk to Lou?”

Caleb nodded his head slightly while verbally confirming, “sometimes, yeah. You hoping for a camping trip?”

“I know you prefer if I’m with Lou or Kristopher,” Beckett admitted.

Caleb nodded in understanding, but wanted to make sure there wasn’t something else happening, “just want a camping trip or is something going on you don’t feel you can talk to me about?”

Beckett rolled his hazel eyes as he pleaded, “c’mon, Dad. Are we really gonna go over that? I mean I came to you about—every weird thing my body’s been doing the last few years.”

Caleb chuckled and nodded his head as he agreed, “alright, fair enough. Just wanted you to know if there’s a girl or anything like that—you can talk to me about that too.”

“I know. I mean there kinda is but—I don’t know. I think I just want to feel more like a normal teen for a day,” his son assured him.

“Alright. I’ll reach out to Lou and see what we can arrange,” Caleb promised.

Beckett smiled brightly as he finished his breakfast and moved to grab his backpack. Caleb was quick to grab his arm while telling him, “whoa, slow down, Sport. How have your readings been?”

“They’re fine,” Beckett replied and added, “I feel fine, Dad.”

“I don’t doubt it, but your body adapted to living with high blood sugar for a while there. Let’s take a look at those glucose readings before you go, okay? I’ll write you a note for being late,” he reasoned.

Beckett nodded in agreement, wordlessly sitting down again and waited while Caleb went over the Dexcom readings on his phone. After a few minutes he smiled, and nodded as he conceded, “Alright, let’s get you to school.”

The teen quirked his eyebrow at his father while asking, “how? I missed the bus.”

“True—but you’ve got a ride that’ll be outside in about three minutes,” Caleb answered as he quickly wrote a note, handing it to Beckett to give the school office when he got in.

“I’ll call ahead and let them know you’ll be late as well, just so they don’t think you forged it,” he volunteered. Beckett smiled a bit as he ran out of the trailer.

Caleb smiled before glancing at his work from home assignment for the day. He had to eat at a restaurant or food stand and review three dishes from them. Fairly easy to achieve and he had a few places in mind to try out on the company’s tab.
Before he got started on that however he looked through his contacts and called someone he hadn’t spoken to on the phone for years. The other man’s voice greeted him on the phone, “Cay—it’s been a while.”

Caleb smiled a little at the use of the old nickname he only allowed a very select few to use with him. He hoped his voice would remain steady while he replied, “Yeah, it has. How’ve you been, Lou?”

He could hear his ex-boyfriend putting his feet up on a table of some kind, getting himself comfortable while responding, “Well enough. You and Kitt?”

“I’m well, thank you. Beckett’s doing better now. We had a bit of a scare a few weeks ago. He’s been diagnosed with type one diabetes,” the vampire answered.

“Oh damn. He’s managing it well though?”

Caleb nodded, before wanting to slap himself. They were talking on the phone, of course the werewolf couldn’t see him! He quickly added a verbal reply, “Yeah, it took a bit of time figuring out how to balance carbs and calculate his insulin and still sort of figuring out physical activity with all of that.”

“Wow, that’s a lot. But I’m glad he’s doing better. Big question is why are you calling? We haven’t spoken since—umm—”

“I’d rather not discuss that time in our lives if you don’t mind,” Caleb requested.

“Yeah uh—for what it’s worth though I am sorry, Fangs,” Lou stated.

“I appreciate that, Fido—but to answer your question—Beckett was hoping to go camping this weekend. I’d rather he be with someone who’s familiar with him and his—unusual predicament,” the vampire answered.

He could hear the surprise in Lou's voice when he asked, “You’d still trust me with your kid?”

“You helped raise him when he was a toddler and young child —for a time we – we used to coparent him, unofficially,” Caleb pointed out.

“True enough. Yeah, I’m free and I’m down for a camping trip. It’d be cool to chill with the lil dude. I’m betting he’s not so little now,” Lou agreed, grinning at the last sentence.

“Definitely not little anymore. He won’t be asking for ‘upsies’,” Cay joked, the two of them sharing a light chuckle at the memories of the little boy they’d both once called their son.

There was silence for a while before Lou asked, “Hey, Cay—if I hadn’t messed up, do you think we could’ve—”

“No good dwelling on that, Louis. What’s done is done, but I’d like you to still be a guardian if not a parental figure to Beckett—if anything ever happens to me—”

“Knock that off,” Lou scolded. He sat up, his feet now back on the floor. He combed his fingers through his hair before confessing, “I still care. I know what I did it probably felt like I didn’t—but – I do. I’m not asking for another shot. I had it and lost it; that’s on me—but I’d sooner give my life than watch yours end. Before you I wouldn’t have thought I’d feel that way about a vampire.”

“I don’t want to see any harm come to you either nor did I ever think I’d say that about a werewolf,” Caleb offered.

“So—back to friends?”

“I’d like that,” Caleb admitted as he gathered his things to head out for his work from home assignment, he was still talking to Lou.

Chapter Text

The school week seemed to zoom by for Beckett, he had missed a fair bit of school but thankfully Avery Ember, Dante Lothario and Jessica Zest had it upon themselves to make copies of their notes for him. Jessie had even reached out to a few friends she had in his other classes to accumulate notes from them so he’d have those as well.

Avery had gathered his homework from his teachers and brought it to him at the hospital so he could keep up his assignments, so thankfully though he’d missed the actual lessons he wasn’t that far behind.
He just had to catch up on a few mid unit tests and the like. What was more embarrassing for him was how relaxed his gym teacher had been with him. Dante was quick to assure him that the gym teacher would go back to how he normally treats him after a bit.

Lou had gotten their new address from Caleb and was waiting for Beckett when he got home on Friday night. Beckett looked to the face that had barely aged a day since he last saw him.

“You’re really here, Lou,” the teenager exclaimed, throwing his arms around the grown man’s neck.

Lou smiled as he returned the teenager’s hug, patting his back a little while he greeted, “Missed you too, Sport.”

“Can we all talk for a bit? Catch up, I mean,” Beckett asked.

Caleb smiled as he got a few mugs down for the three of them to have coffee together, while Lou chuckled and said, “For sure. Umm so I’m gonna get a big change out in the open, uh, I’m married.”

Beckett blinked a bit, before looking to his Dad. Caleb smiled while congratulating Lou and encouraging, “Tell us about them.”

“Her name’s Raina she’s a freelance graphic artist, and I’m doing freelance programming, that’s how we started talking. We both picked up a gig for the same client and collaborated to design a video game together, talks turned into dates, dates turned into marriage,” Lou rambled about his wife.

Beckett looked to Lou and asked, “She’s fine with the whole wolf thing?”

Lou nodded his head enthusiastically while adding, “she’s a spell caster. Vampires, werewolves, nothing phases her. Umm we have an eight-month-old, Xavier, he’s—he’s a handful—and takes after me. Already howls when he cries.”

“Oh wow,” Caleb commented, blinking a few times. He set the mugs of steaming hot coffee down for himself, Beckett and Lou.

Lou nodded a little as he sipped his coffee making a slight face.

“I know it’s not your favourite drink,” Caleb sympathized.

“No. I mean it’s good but—I do love me some Power Sip Midnight,” Lou agreed.

Beckett chuckled a little as he sipped the coffee, grimacing a little before moving his mug away from him on the table. Kit shook his head ‘no’, “It’s not the same without sugar.”

Lou’s eyes softened as he observed the boy he’d help raise for six years and offered, “That’s a tough adjustment, huh?”

“Yeah, with somethings, others aren’t so bad, like baking cookies with sweetener instead of sugar, that’s okay— or peanut butter made from just peanuts and nothing else. Sucks about Jam though, although mashing up some fruit and using that as a spread isn’t so horrible but you kinda miss it,” Beckett explained.

“I think I get it. Course I’m sort of thinking of when I first transformed and—the next time I got angry I—well—I don’t remember much. I remember coming out of that rage and meeting Rory. Apparently, she’d seen me rampaging, and tackled me away from humans—mostly because she didn’t know me or if I could spread the curse. She was trying to make sure the normies stayed—normies. She then decided she’d take on the brunt of my anger until the rage eased off—took us brawling it out for three hours and she gave as well as she took,” Lou shared.

Beckett blinked a little before laughing softly, “sorry. I’m not laughing at you, it’s just—I’m worried about sugar content, but you had to deal with transforming if someone ticked you off enough.”

Lou smiled and laughed a little as he nodded his head while agreeing, “Yeah. Around most people I didn’t care too much—except for Celene.”

“Ex-girlfriend,” Caleb offered to Beckett.

“And we remained amicable. She’s a bar tender near where my pack’s hang out is. We see each other a fair bit and keep up on what’s what. She’s got a little girl now, cute little toddler, Luna,” Lou volunteered.

Beckett avoided looking at Lou after that until the werewolf added one other thing, “the other normie that I didn’t want to scare or hurt was you. I don’t care too much about other normies but if they matter to you, I’ll stick my neck out for them.”

At this, the teenager smiled again, and Lou relaxed a little. Several years had passed since he’d last interacted with the boy—but he could still read him well enough to know when something was off, and have an idea about what it would be.

Caleb had known that would be the case. When he was little, Beckett would fuss if his sandwich was cut wrong, or the crust was still on the bread. Lou took extra care to trim the crust off of the bread, and ensure he cut the sandwich diagonally, not horizontally.

Somehow toddler Beckett had gotten it in his head that drinks tasted better from the green sippy cup. So Lou took care to wash the green sippy cup as soon as Beckett was done with a drink, so it’d be ready for use the next time he was thirsty.

He read Jimmy Sprocket in various voices that entertained the little boy when they read for fun during the day, but would use a calm, even tone when reading the boy to sleep, it usually took two or three books and his favourite bedtime stories were Charlotte’s Pig and Toy Tales.

Things between them may not have worked out, but Caleb was glad that Lou was a part of Beckett’s life for the rest of their lives. He knew if he could trust anyone to prioritize keeping his son safe from Greg, it would be Lou. He was pretty sure he’d even seen Lou at the school camping trip all those years ago, in the forest line.

He’d expected to have to fight the werewolf again after his forced sleep technique had worn off on the werewolf, but instead another werewolf’s howl in the distance, had called Greg away from the camp site.

Caleb hesitated for a moment before asking Lou, “You know we had another more recent encounter with that old werewolf.”

“He was vicious. He scratched me,” Beckett stated, lifting his shirt a little to show the scratch on his abdomen.

Lou leaned in closer to get a better glance at the cut, it was deep, not deep enough to hit organs, but definitely deep enough to have caused some serious bleeding.

He glared at Caleb for a moment before Beckett assured him, “It wasn’t Dad’s fault. It was a school trip and he’d gone to another parent’s site to help with somethings—he came running back as soon as he caught the wolf’s scent—but one of the other kids had fallen. I went to help them back in to the huddle behind another parent and the wolf was right there. So the only thing I could think of doing was hide the kid behind me, and I got scratched but as soon as the Wolf’s claw made contact the parent hat was with us used an immolation spell on him.”

Lou raised his eyebrows at that and sought clarification, “They were a spell caster?”

Caleb nodded his head while confirming, “Yes, maybe Raina’s heard of them, Morgyn Ember?”

“Yeah, we know Morgyn, and their daughter Avery. Morgyn and Raina are cousins,” Lou revealed.

“Small world,” Becket commented. Lou nodded as he finished his coffee and looked to Beckett, “well—ready to hit the road, Sport?”

“Yeah,” Kitt agreed as he stood up. Caleb hugged his son, reminding him to check his glucose if he felt weird but most of all have fun.

“Stay out of trouble,” Beckett called over his shoulder as he left.

Caleb sat in the empty trailer and picked up his phone, calling a number on it and put the phone up to his ear, smiling broadly when he heard the other person pick up and greeted them, “Hey sexy. I got the place to myself for the night.”

Chapter Text

Lou drove for a few hours before pulling over at a place called ‘Hogan’s Deep Fried Diner’. He pulled into a spot and parked the car. He then looked to Caleb and asked, “you got your learner’s permit?”

Beckett blinked a few times before replying, “Yeah.”

“Cool. After we eat, you’re driving,” Lou announced as he unfastened his seat belt. Beckett blinked a few more times before following Lou’s lead. He climbed out of the truck and closed the door, with Lou then manually locking it.

“You know the key fob does that without the key,” Beckett hinted.

Lou smirked a little before revealing, “There’s still a few things about me you don’t know.”

“Oh? Like?”

“Well for starters, I know how thieves think,” Lou confessed.

Kitt’s eyes widened as he realized the hidden meaning behind what the man who’d co-parented him from infancy until the age of seven had just told him.

“You? When? I never knew,” Becket sputtered, trying to organize his thoughts but finding that it came out more like a word salad than anything else.

“Tell ya more later,” Lou promised as they headed into the diner.

The two entered and sat down at a booth, a waiter came over handing them each a menu. Lou accepted them, thanking the waiter who appeared to be a kid around seventeen-years-old.

Lou handed one of the menus to Beckett, who thanked him, and looked over the menu, trying to mentally calculate how many carbs were in each menu item so he could make sure his insulin didn’t run out before their return trip. Unbeknownst to him, Lou was doing the same thing.

“Hey, they have chili,” Lou suggested.

Beckett nodded as he admitted, “I was looking at that. It’s pretty much pure protein, very few carbs.”

An elderly man sitting at the booth across from them overheard and rolled his eyes before snapping, “For goodness sake, son! Get a damned burger and fries if you want to. Be a kid while you can.”

Lou quirked an eyebrow at the comment before interrupting, “Excuse yourself? I know you weren’t just talking to my son, a stranger, like you know anything about him.”

“I know too many young people these days are worried about numbers on a scale, and it’s a shame. There’s time enough to worry about that when you’re older,” the man reiterated.

Lou scoffed, shaking his head while he suggested, “What if my son was gluten intolerant and wanting to avoid carbs was a means of avoiding gluten? What if he were diabetic and counting carbs was a way to help control his blood sugar? What if he was just allergic to wheat. Would you know by hearing his voice?”

The elderly man remained silent, the questions forcing him to realize what he’d actually stepped into.

“The next time you want to shoot your mouth off to someone you don’t know, think twice and keep it shut,” Lou scolded.

Beckett bit his lower lip, suddenly no longer feeling hungry but looking at his blood sugar readings, knew he had to eat something.

Lou grasped Kitt’s hand, giving it a small reassuring squeeze as he reminded him, “don’t let strangers get under your skin. You want chili, we’ll get chili.”

Beckett blinked, looking at Lou as he reminded him, “You hate spicy food.”

“I’ll endure it for my first kid,” Lou stated with a smirk.

Beckett smiled a bit while adding, “I’ll get a diet soda with the chili.”

“Alright,” Lou agreed, noticing the waiter had come back, he relayed their orders to the waiter, asking for a glass of milk with his chili.

“Besides this way you can give me your corn bread,” Lou joked.

Beckett chuckled a little before telling Lou, “When umm.. when I was the hospital Avery was bringing me my homework every day, so I didn’t fall behind. And my other friends, Jessie and Dante they were taking notes and getting some of their friends who were in my other classes to copy their notes for me, so I had those too.”

“That was nice of them,” the werewolf offered as he took a sip of his water.

Beckett nodded a little while agreeing, “Yeah—umm… every time Jessie came in I almost expected the doctor to run in and check on me.”

Lou set his glass down, swallowing the water in his mouth before nodding, “Ahh, okay. So, you’ve got a thing for her. She pretty?”

“Beautiful—and creative, she wants to get into fashion design. We’re always joking with each other in the group and—umm—sits near me a lot or stands near me a lot. I don’t know,” Kitt rambled.

“One sure way to know: ask,” Lou suggested.

Beckett rolled his eyes a bit while almost whining, “Come on. Seriously? That’s all you got?”

Lou laughed a little before revealing, “You know about my ex-girlfriend, Celene. Well, I’d just moved to Moonwood Mill, and I didn’t know anyone. Had a few bucks, so I went to the local bar and uhm there’s this pretty blonde pouring drinks and serving food. I tell her my order and ask when she gets off work. She told me, and I asked, ‘So why don’t we do something after?’ And she asks, ‘Like give the new guy a tour?’ and I said, ‘If that’s what you want to call our first date’.”

Beckett shook his head, running his hands over his face as he confessed, “I am not that smooth.”

“It comes with practice, Sport. You’ll get there. Kinda helps if you’re not getting lost in her brown eyes,” Lou assured him as he took another drink of his water.

“Her eyes are blue. You almost sound like you’d put Don Lothario to shame,” Kitt muttered.

Lou almost spat out his water out. He quickly covered his mouth with his free hand, and using the hand that was holding his glass, pointed his index finger at the teenager. He shook his head, as he stated, “don’t compare me to him. I’m a lot of things but that guy’s one hell of a stray dog. I heard he was once living with an older girlfriend and her newly legal twin daughters—and he was playing musical beds with the three of them. Again, I'm a lot of things, but even I'm not dog enough to sleep with twin sisters and their mother at the same time.”

“These days he’s married to Johnny, Jessie’s Dad,” Beckett informed him.

“A closet case,” Lou remarked. He frowned and gave a slight nod of his head while agreeing, “that would explain it. Kind of surprised that Johnny has a kid though. Did he adopt?”

Beckett shook his head ‘no’ while explaining, “No, umm he was married to a woman umm—Renee, I think her name was. I don’t really remember, she passed away when Jessie’s brother was a toddler. Jess is the middle child of her biological siblings. Birth order goes Ronnie, Jessie, and then Jenny. Dante is the same age as Jenny. I think Jess said something about childbirth complications. I don’t know, I’m not sure she knows.”

“Find out. Sometimes things like that can be hereditary—it’s better to know in advance and prepare if that’s the case,” Lou advised.

Beckett nodded as the waiter came back with their orders, and placed the bowls of chili in front of them. Lou thanked the waiter, and Beckett took a spoon full of chili, almost instantly feeling his appetite come back.

“Hmm, it’s not bad,” Lou remarked.

Beckett nodded, “slight kick, but not as much as when Dad makes it.”

“Especially when he was angry with me. That chili was punishing,” the older man joked, recalling how his ex would add jalapeño and habanero peppers to the chili anytime they had an argument. Lou would have to make himself a hamburger or risk hugging the toilet all night.

"You know he only did that to your chili, right? He'd cook the peppers separate and add them to your bowl," Beckett revealed.

Lou shrugged his shoulders a little, he'd long figured that was the case-- and considering that Caleb only did that one time after he found out that Lou had slept with a woman and forgotten a condom, it certainly did explain a lot.

"Papa Lou-- why'd you and Dad break up?"

Lou hesitated for a second before revealing, "short version: I was stupid. Long version-- your Dad and I are both bi. So we had a standing agreement that if we hooked up with a woman it wasn't cheating providing that protection was used. I got stupid, she got knocked up- showed up with the babies-- triplets-- and I haven't spoken to her since. Fought her in court to have my name removed from their birth certificates too."

"So it wasn't Raina," Beckett surmised. Lou shook his head from side to side, explaining that he met Raina a year later.

"Who was it then?"

"Someone I thought was a friend, her name's Rory," Lou revealed.

Chapter Text

After Lou went over the basics of his truck with Beckett, the teen put the truck into reverse and pulled out onto the street, following Lou’s directions he drove until they got near a highway. Then Beckett pulled over so he and Lou could switch.

“So, tell me some more about this Jessie,” Lou requested.

Beckett chuckled a little, a slight blush appearing on his cheeks while he thought for a moment before revealing, “she’s a cheerleader—and honestly I think I’m out of my league.”

“Let her decide if that’s true,” the werewolf advised.

“C’mon man, what else? What’s her favourite colour? Type of food?”

“Pink—and she loves eggplant parmesan and some kind of fish soup her stepdad makes um.. starts with a C, I think,” Beckett answered.

Lou thought for a moment before he thought he had the answer, “Oh—umm... I know what you’re talking about. Uh, Cioppino!”

“That’s the one,” Beckett confirmed.

He wet his lips before hinting, “so—something’s been bugging me since the diner but if you don’t want to talk about it then –”

“I’ll let you know if I don’t,” Lou interrupted Kitt, while reassuring him that he could ask.

“Why’d you get your name removed from the triplet’s birth certificate?”

Lou let out a heavy sigh before stating, “it’s best you learn this now rather than later, when it could get you in trouble.”

He pulled the truck over, put his four-way flashers on and put the car into park. He then shifted in his seat so he was looking at Beckett and revealed, “female werewolves—just like other dogs—have a heat cycle they can go through in their wolf form. It typically only happens once a year—and during that time most female werewolves know that us males can smell it and it drives our inner wolf insane with baser instincts. So they stay away from us until their heat ends. If they’re already mated then they need to decide if they want to have children with their mate before their heat begins. Rory—invited me over during her heat. I smelt it immediately and went to leave but she locked me in. I resisted. I locked myself in a room, alone. I tried to alleviate the urge on my own—nothing was helping. I hadn’t gotten condoms in a while—she wasn’t going to let me out if I didn’t. After six hours of isolating myself—and realizing she wouldn’t let me leave without getting what she wanted I—I gave in.”

“She raped you,” Kitt realized.

“Basically, yeah,” Lou confirmed, he shook his head as he added, “I didn’t go home that night. I told your Dad I was staying at the pack hangout, got too loaded with the guys and I was gonna sleep it off. Truth is, I had a hallucinogenic mushroom I was planning to eat, instead I consumed that before I gave into Rory—and that was the basis for why I’m no longer on the birth certificate for the triplets. She thought she’d pup trap me and break up my family… well she may have succeeded in breaking your Dad and I up, but she didn’t trap me.”

“Why’d Dad break up with you if—”

“I didn’t tell him everything. I should’ve. That parts on me. I just couldn’t process what had happened that quickly,” Lou answered.

He shook his head, “It wasn’t until Raina pushed me to see a therapist that I really connected the dots.”

“I’m sorry Papa,” Beckett offered.

Lou shook his head while stating, “You didn’t do anything, and none of it had anything to do with you. Rory—really doesn’t like vampires. I used to share her view on them too—until I met your Dad. One of the very few vampires I’ve met who don’t hypnotize people so he can take however much plasma he wants. He actually asks for permission if he drinks from a person and if they pull away he doesn’t try to overpower them and take more—but that’s even then it’s exceptionally rare.”

“All the more reason you should’ve told him the full truth,” Beckett pointed out.

Lou nodded his head up and down as he confirmed, “I know. Like I told your Dad, I had my shot and lost it with him. That’s on me. It’s kind of on Rory too, but—I made the choice to go over there—and I made the choice to omit information from your Dad. I didn’t expect Rory to do what she did—but—what’s done is done.”

Beckett nodded a bit before holding his arms out to Lou. The adult chuckled as he unfastened his seat belt and pulled his stepson into a hug. As he held him close Lou whispered, “I’m sorry you got caught up in all of this mess.”

“Life’s messy,” Beckett offered.

His little boy was not so little anymore, Lou pulled away from his son and concluded, “the reason I said it was best you find out now—you’re at the age where you’ll get invited to parties. Some of those parties might have drugs or alcohol—just know that if someone’s too blitzed to string a sentence together, they can’t consent to anything. Man or woman, it doesn’t matter. Doesn’t matter how worked up someone is either, there’s other ways to relieve that tension. There’s no excuse for it. It’s just violence and dominance.”

Beckett nodded in understanding as he promised, “I got it. I’ll keep watch for that if I’m at a party – or anywhere really.”

“I’m sure you will,” Lou praised as he turned the four way flashers off, put the car into drive and pulled back onto the road.

They drove in silence for a bit longer before Beckett asked, “So—what are Raina and Xavier like?”

Lou smiled again as he began detailing how his wife had a pale complexion, pale blonde hair, and light amber brown eyes, with the most adorable freckles across her nose. She always wears a purple crystal necklace, and her fashion style is somewhere between preppy and boho. He then spoke of Xavier, how he had his father’s looks, but his mother’s love of affection. The little boy howled, quite literally if you put him down for more than a minute. He slept best when in the arms of someone he trusted and he loved waking up in the morning. Raina was more of a morning person than he was but still needed at least a cup of coffee to get going. She liked yoga and soccer, both of which Lou loved doing with her and they planned to introduce Xavier to soccer as soon as possible.

Lou shook his head as he mused, “and then there’s me. I’ve always been a night wolf. So there I am, infant in one arm, a mug of coffee in my free hand, trying to stay awake and keep the baby entertained while Raina makes breakfast and then I got to sleep after breakfast for a few hours.”

“I didn’t know wolves were nocturnal, I thought it was cats,” Kitt jested.

Lou shook his head at the bad werewolf pun, but he had to give the kid credit, he was brightening his mood again. But Beckett was also right about something else, even if it was long after the fact, Caleb did deserve to know the whole truth.

Chapter Text

After Lou and Beckett set up the tent and their sleeping bags. The two headed down towards the river to go fishing, the spot that Lou had picked was a place called Granite Falls. Even though there were very few animal attacks in the area, Lou was very aware that this was where Caleb had found Beckett nearly fifteen years ago and knew the exact cabin.

He’d rented a two-bedroom cabin in case of rainfall, personally he didn’t care if he got wet. Although if Beckett caught a cold, it could send his diabetes into a tailspin. Getting the cabin was solely to make sure that he could keep Beckett dry and safe. If they could camp outside in the tent, they would but if they needed the shelter of the cabin, it was there.

He planned to cook what they caught, but had brought along some steaks, eggs, and chicken drumsticks just in case they weren’t too lucky with fishing. He hadn’t had a lot of time to learn about diabetes, but what he’d found was that those who were diabetic needed well rounded meals with an emphasis on protein and leafy green vegetables to keep their blood sugar in check.

Lou found out that Caleb had in fact taken Beckett fishing a few times. They talked a bit about their likes and dislikes, with Beckett finding out that Lou’s favourite colours were black and pink, he enjoyed listening to alternative, S-pop and holiday music, he appreciated art, but didn’t like painting, his favourite food was steak, cooked blue.

Then it was Beckett’s turn, he liked cooking but didn’t like baking, he also enjoyed robotics, woodworking, fishing and gardening. He liked any kind of rock music or hip hop, and he revealed his favourite colour was green. He did still like chili, but if he was honest his favourite food was any style of salmon.

After they’d fished for about two hours the two headed to the campfire with their freshly caught salmon. Scaled, gutted and cooked the salmon along with some green beans and potatoes that Lou had brought with him. They cleaned their dishes inside the cabin; they noticed that rain had begun pouring down outside. The two then spent some time playing card games before turning on the radio and rocking out to some alternative music. Eventually their talks drifted to Kitt’s future while the teen sipped on some sugar-free herbal iced tea that Caleb had made and packed for him. Lou was drinking a Dr. Pepper while they chatted.

“I don’t know—military or mechanical engineering. Either one, but the army wouldn’t like that I’m diabetic. I guess I’ll have to do mechanical engineering,” Beckett lamented.

Lou nodded his head a little.

“What about you?”

“Me? You know I’m a freelance software engineer,” Lou pointed out.

“Yeah but—I mean before. You mentioned something about your past earlier,” Kitt hinted.

“Ah. That,” Lou acknowledged. He set his soft drink down and gave a heavy sigh before going silent for a moment.

Beckett had learned this meant that Lou was currently wracking his brain, trying to figure out how much to tell him or how to word what he was going to say.

“Alright so—first big shocker: I have a twin brother, Lee,” Lou began.

He shook his head as he stated, “Lee and I are identical. Down to the moles on our face, and pretty much everything except now I have scars from being attacked by Greg—anyway— I have something called kleptomania. Have you heard of that?”

Beckett looked up at the ceiling for a moment while he thought before responding, “Yeah, it’s like a compulsion to steal things, right?”

“Right. I get hit with it sometimes, even now—and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been but when I was younger it was worse—mostly because I was unhappy I guess. Lee and I may have looked alike but our similarities started and ended at the surface. Lee wouldn’t steal a single thing and I’d swipe anything that wasn’t nailed down—even stole a piano once—how I did that is a secret I’ll never tell anyone,” Lou elaborated. He smiled towards the end like he’d told a funny joke.

He then continued on, “I always tell people I ended up in Moonwood Mill because I got into some trouble—truth is—it was Lee that got into hot water. Since we look the exact same, which I swear he did deliberately, I had to lay low, hide out. I always thought it funny, I’m a klepto, but I don’t want what I steal I just—feel like I need to—like my skeleton’s crawling out of my skin until I swipe something. Then I feel better for a while. But Lee is a materialistic son of a llama. He’s gotta have the latest computer, the latest games, the latest fashions, the latest and greatest everything. I couldn’t care less.”

He shook his head as he confessed, “I know how thieves think because before I moved to Moonwood Mill—I was a thief. I was working as a freelancer back then, but I was a definite thief. Anytime my fingers got itchy—I’d steal something. A future cube, a couple paintings, some nonsense things like children’s toys—which yes, I donated those. Please don’t look at me like that, and then there was the piano. Lee’s thing was dealing drugs. He started in high school and anytime he caught trouble he’d accuse me saying I was pretending to be him. Dude didn’t have an honest bone in his body. I’m a thief, but I send back or donate what I steal I don’t—I don’t sell it I don’t—I don’t keep it or use it. From what I heard—Lee sold some bad stuff to some gang leader’s kid brother—and he didn’t survive it. I heard about that and I knew his first move would be to blame me—so I left home and I never looked back. I figured people wouldn’t look for me in the middle of the wilderness , looks like I was right.”

“Geez—Lee’s a real piece of work,” Beckett commented.

Lou gave a wary smirk as he replied, “Yeah.”

He took another sip of his pop and asked Beckett, “I’m wondering though—what do you think of Avery?”

Beckett raised an eyebrow at Lou before admitting, “our parents think we don’t know they’re seeing each other—but in truth we do. Kinda obvious when they’d disappear somewhere else while we’re playing chess or video games.”

“Avery plays? Huh—wouldn’t have thought that,” Lou remarked.

“She likes racing games or party frenzy, not much else,” Beckett elaborated.

Lou nodded a little while Beckett concluded, “I guess—you could say I see her like a sister? I mean maybe. I don’t know. I’m protective of her but it’s a different kind of protective than how I feel about Jess, but like—if a guy messed with Avery, hurt her, made her cry—I’m hard pressed to not mess his face up, but I’d control myself because I know she doesn’t like violence. So, I’d just be there while she cries sometimes she doesn’t like being held or touched when she’s upset so I’ll just be around holding space for her. A guy hits on her, I don’t get jealous, but I notice, and kind of keep them in my peripheral vision. If she turns him down and he doesn’t back off, I’ll get in between them until he gets the message.”

“Yeah, you think of her like a sister,” Lou confirmed.

“Guessing you and Lee weren’t close growing up?”

Lou shook his head from side to side, then added, “No—but it’s funny. He had this girlfriend since high school—Paige. She and I were tight, not in a romantic or sexual way but in a sibling type way. One regret I do have about landing in Moonwood Mill is I haven’t spoken to her in—” he paused, scoffed a little before concluding, “sixteen years. Damn.”

He looked to Beckett while suggesting, “getting a bit late, huh?”

“Yeah, I’m gonna crash,” the teenager agreed.

Lou nodded and smirked a bit before asking, “should I come up in a bit and read Toy Tales to you?”

Beckett chuckled, and shook his head from side to side before bidding Lou good night and heading up stairs. Lou promised he'd check in on Beckett before he turned in for the night.

Back at the trailer in Oasis Springs, Caleb smiled as he felt Morgyn’s arms embracing him from behind. Caleb gently leaned into the embrace for a moment before turning around to embrace the stunning green-eyed blond. He gently kissed Morgyn’s forehead before placing a kiss on their lips, which Morgyn eagerly returned. Caleb smiled into the kiss, gently cupping Morgyn's face. The last he felt like this with anyone, was his late wife, before he was turned.

Chapter Text

Caleb woke up the next morning, laid his head against his pillow, a warm smile gracing his lips as he observed the sleeping figure next to him. He always thought they were gorgeous, but when Morgyn slept it was like their natural attractiveness amplified ten-fold. If Caleb was to be honest with himself, he missed waking up next to a partner each morning. Although he and Morgyn had been friends for six years, they’d only begun seeing each other romantically four months ago.

People always talk about how easy it was to hookup, but hooking up had never been his thing. He preferred the romance that came with having a significant other. Sure, sex was okay with a hook up, it was fun with a trusted friend, but it was fantastic when there was genuine romantic affection between himself and the other person. The other two options he’d indulge in if it had been really long time, his longest stretch being sixty years, but if he just felt the urge to get off and didn’t have a romantic partner he preferred to use his own hand.

Caleb knew that there were some in the world who saw others as a means to an end, and he could never understand that mentality. The physical act of sharing your body with someone was deeply intimate to him, as intimate as revealing his vampiric past—even the horrendous parts. Lou knew those stories, and now so did Morgyn, neither of them ran from him which only further endeared them to his heart.

He smiled a bit brighter when he saw the first signs of Morgyn beginning to wake up. The mage rubbed the sleep from their green eyes and blinked themself awake, instantly meeting Caleb’s steel grey eyes.

Cay chuckled a little as he greeted his love, “good morning, babe.”

“Good morning handsome,” Morgyn replied, sharing a quick, chaste kiss with the vampire. Caleb brushed his thumb against Morgyn’s cheek while asking, “omelets? Or maybe you want eggs benedict?”

Morgyn thought for a moment before suggesting, “maybe eggs benedict and some fruit—but later.”

Caleb looked to Morgyn and blinked a little before asking, “Oh? Hungry for something else?”

“You,” Morgyn confirmed before claiming Caleb’s mouth with their own. Caleb wrapped his arms around Morgyn as the mage climbed on top of him. He wasn’t about to complain about waking up to this. The vampire gently pressed his groin against the Mage’s, to indicate that he was up for some morning action, in more ways than one.

In Granite Falls, Lou was in the kitchen, debating on how to cook breakfast. He knew that when Beckett was a kid, he liked blueberry pancakes with scrambled eggs and cheese. He also knew that scrambled eggs was kind of the staple for Beckett. The werewolf glanced over as the teenager descended the stairs, still in his pajama bottoms, shirtless, and rubbing his face as he grumbled about missing coffee.

The comment made Lou smile as he suggested, “Why don’t you take a cold shower to help wake yourself up.”

Beckett shook a finger at Lou as if indicating that was a brilliant idea that he should’ve thought of on his own.

“Hey Kitt, how do you like your steak?”

“Rare—and I like my eggs medium poached,” Beckett called back.

“You always ate scrambled when you were little,” Lou debated.

“Because you always made scrambled. I thought that was the only way you knew to cook eggs,” Beckett replied before closing the bathroom door.

Lou stood in the kitchen; shell shocked for a moment before laughing and running his fingers through his hair. He had been very young, barely twenty-years-old when he took on the responsibility of being a parental figure to Beckett. He’d done the best he could at the time, but his culinary skills had improved since then.

Beckett wanted poached eggs and rare steak, that’s what he’d get. He set about seasoning the steaks to let the spices marinate into the meat a little before frying them up. He knew he could never compare Caleb’s cooking, but he hoped he could at least whip up a decent homecooked breakfast for Beckett.

He quickly googled how to make poached eggs on his phone before setting about the task, as soon as the water began to boil he cracked the eggs into the water, making sure they got swirled into the vortex he’d created. Next he put Beckett’s steak into the flying pan, letting it cook for two minutes before putting his steak in the pan. Since he changed, Lou preferred his steaks blue.

Lou flipped the steaks, plated the poached eggs on the plate, and then added the steaks to their respective plates. Afterwards he heard Beckett coming down stairs, and texting as he walked.

“Breakfast is ready,” Lou announced.

Beckett nodded a bit as he acknowledged, “Cool. Jess texted me that she and Avery had a sleepover at her place. Or her Dads were told by Morgyn to say it was a sleepover, they were actually supposed to keep an eye on Avery.”

“Not surprising,” Lou commented as he sat down at his plate.

Beckett looked to the adult across the table from him. Lou was cutting into his steak while he revealed, “Morgyn is the former sage of Untamed Magic—and Raina is the former Sage of Sages. They’re both powerful mages but—that does garner them a few enemies. Rae’s well versed in every school of magic and a few uncommonly used spells, she can handle herself and Xavier just fine if someone shows up. Morgyn can handle themself just fine, but Avery’s still learning. While Don and Johnny might be average Joe’s, Don does have a gun and a badge.”

He placed the large piece of beef into his mouth and began chewing it. While Beckett took some egg first.

The teen swallowed his bite of food, then looked to Lou while asking, “Why’d Morgyn leave Avery there then?”

Lou gave Beckett a smirk and a wink then a slight nod to the side with his head. Kitt thought for a moment before remarking, “Aw, c’mon! Morgyn made Avery stay over at the Zest house because they were having a sleepover with my Dad? Ugh I don’t feel as hungry now.”

The werewolf laughed a bit while pointing to Beckett’s plate, “eat. You’ll get sick if you don’t. Quite literally.”

“Yeah, I know,” Beckett groaned. He then thought for a second and realized that Lou and Raina had also been intimate with each other, more than once. It was the only way they could have Xavier.

He dropped his knife and fork, running his hands over his face instead.

Lou raised an eyebrow at the behaviour and asked, “so what’s up with you?”

“Just the conversation and being a teenager,” Kitt grumbled.

Lou chuckled, patting his son’s shoulder while he offered, “one day you’ll torture your own kids in the same way.”

“Just one question, you and dad never I mean when I was home, right?”

“No comment,” was Lou’s immediate answer.

Beckett groaned loudly before confessing, “Okay fine, I’m trying to figure out how someone would be able to --- hide something like that from their kids.”

“Volume control is one part of it, the other is you wait until they’re out of the house, or asleep. A couple of times you almost caught us mid-act because you had a nightmare. Usually that just meant that one of us would put on their house coat and get you back to bed,” Lou explained.

“I guess that would ruin the mood,” Beckett surmised.

“Sometimes. Other times, it just delays the mood,” Lou revealed. He nodded at Beckett while asking, “why are you worrying about this stuff anyways? You’re a ways off from having your own kids.”

“Just incase I ever need to overnight babysit my little brother when I’m married,” Kitt replied.

Chapter Text

Avery Aspen Ember was very much the splitting image of her parent. Her emerald-green eyes, wavy golden blonde hair and sharp facial features screamed that she was essentially a younger Morgyn who identified as her sex assigned at birth. She was currently packing up her things from her sleepover at the Zest’s house. Johnny, and Jessie were helping her make sure she had all her belongings, toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, night gown, previous days clothes, so on and so forth.

Jessica Lynn Zest had sandy blonde hair and bright ocean blue eyes, from what Avery had seen at the Zest’s house, Jessie had gotten her eyes from her mother, her older brother, Ronnie was a younger clone of Johnny. The day was overcast, an unusual occurrence in Oasis Springs and soon they heard the rumbling of thunder off in the distance.

Jennifer Marie Zest was currently in the eat-in kitchen where the five them; herself, Avery, Jessie, Ronnie and their stepbrother Dante had done their homework last night. She brushed stray strands of red hair behind her ear as she was sorted the books, making sure to separate hers and her siblings text books from Avery’s. When she looked up she saw a man wearing a formal business suit with a top hat, sideburns standing outside, but he looked menacing.

He looked up at her, his reddish brown eyes void of emotion. Jenny felt as if she were falling into a dark abyss, in complete free fall into a cold, icy ocean with no way to escape. Wait—were they brown eyes? No—no they weren’t. Those eyes, she realized, were not human at all. In fact, she’d seen them once before, six years ago.

She gasped the man was unmoving but seemed to begin to glow with a red aura, then the man’s eyes began to glow red. He snarled and groaned before collapsing onto all fours, and then in a flash of red light a massive wolf with grey spotted fur stood outside of the window. Jenny’s voice caught in her throat, she opened her mouth to scream but all that came out was a quiet squeak. Then she heard Dante’s voice as emerged from his room, “What’s wrong with you Jenny-bunny? You sound like a trapped mouse.”

He followed her gaze and with his eyes growing wide yelled out, “What the hell?!”

The wolf pounced through the window in front of it. Dante reacted instinctively, grabbing a chair and swung it at the Wolf’s head, the impact causing the Wolf to snarl in response while the chair crashed loudly against the tiled floor. Dante then grabbed Jenny’s hand and pulled her out of the Wolf’s trajectory, she landed on top of him, but he shifted himself, so he was acting as a barrier between the wolf and his sister.

The Wolf turned on the stepsiblings, raising his hand again only for ice to surround and freeze the wolf where he stood, both looked over to see Avery behind them, one hand raised in front of her, but it was clear that she had used some kind of ice spell to freeze the wolf in place.

Jenny stammered out, “Avery—wha—how—”

“Stand up and listen to me. You must get into the larger bathroom, all of you. Lock the door, move shelving in front of it, whatever you have to do. Just stay in there until you hear from me,” Avery instructed.

Johnny grasped Avery’s arm and instructed, “you’re hiding with us.”

“No. Someone has to stand against him if any of us are going to survive this. I’m a mage. A mage early in her training, but even still, I have a better chance of coming out of a fight with him unscathed than any of you,” Avery stated.

“I was entrusted with your safety,” Johnny objected.

“Your kids already lost one parent, don’t make them lose a second,” Avery asserted.

“If something happens to you, what do I tell Morgyn? I can’t be responsible for a parent having that type of pain,” the man countered.

“You tell Morgyn that I did exactly what they taught me to do,” Avery offered.

Johnny hesitated before running into the washroom behind the other four teenagers, his cell phone out. Avery assumed he was texting Don or Morgyn.

The ice began to melt and give away. Avery took her dueling stance in front of the beast, she couldn’t freeze him so soon again, she’d need to rely on less effective spells for the moment before she could try again, doing so before her magic energy had recovered would cause the spell to fail and ultimately for her to be injured by the werewolf. The amount of magic energy that chilling spell had cost her would make almost all of her spells currently useless, she had to find a way to buy time, but how?

She locked eyes with the creature while he broke free, one limb at a time until he shook the remaining ice and moisture from his fur. He looked to her, rage still boiling inside of him.

“The Lunar Howl, you used it, didn’t you? That’s what happened to you. You lost what remained of your humanity,” Avery concluded. The Wolf seemed to be startled by her words, blinking at her.

“Why? Who did you sacrifice it for?”

The red aura began increasing once again. Avery stood calm and firm in her stance, not wavering, not showing any fear, or malice towards the fearsome beast.

She eyed the creature before asking, “your wife? Did something happen to her? Try to calm yourself, we’ll talk. I have high connections in the magic realm, historians. I can help you.”

The wolf snarled before moving to attack her again, but was hit with another ice spell, then another spell struck the Wolf causing it to vanish from sight.

Behind the Wolf was Morgyn and a woman with white blonde hair, light brown eyes, and freckles across the bridge of her nose.

“Morgyn, Raina,” Avery greeted them, running to Morgyn, who readily accepted Avery into their arms, holding her closely. Avery’s breathing picked up slightly as she fought against the tears that threatened to come. Morgyn played the with girl’s hair to soothe her, keeping one hand firmly on her back, the same technique they’d used since Avery had been an infant and had trouble sleeping.

Raina walked over to the other two mages, gently placing a hand on Avery’s shoulder while praising, “Your bravery would put Sages to shame.”

She glanced at her cousin’s face before adding, “but I’m not surprised. Morgyn is the bravest person I know. Stands to reason their child would inherit the same courage.”

After Avery’s breathing steadied again, she glanced at Raina and asked, “what happened to him?”

“I sent him back to his territory in Moonwood Mill,” Raina answered. She caught the girl’s expression before promising, “I didn’t hurt him. Once he thaws he’ll have a chance to calm down.”

Avery’s eyes widened as she asked in a panic, “Who’s watching Xavier?”

“I swapped places with Caleb so Morgyn and I could come here and ensure the safety of all six of you,” Raina answered.

She smiled before adding, “human, werewolf, vampire, none of that really matters with infants. They all have the same needs: food, clean diaper, affection, and safety. Caleb may be a vampire, but he’s also one of the best Dads I’ve ever known—aside from Lou.”

“I think Greg might be—”

“A former Moon Caster. I’ve thought the same. I really should find time to do some research in the magic realm for a bit,” Morgyn stated.

“Well go then,” Raina encouraged.

She looked to Avery while adding, “Lou and I can supervise for a few days. We’d love to have her around—and it’d give me a chance to train her on a few uncommon spells.”

Morgyn thought for a moment before stating, “I’d prefer to confirm with Lou first.”

“Of course,” Raina agreed, already texting Lou on her phone.

Chapter Text

Xavier whimpered while Caleb walked with the infant boy in his arms, lightly bouncing from his knees as he set about heating up a bottle of milk for the child. He did indeed look a lot like Lou, the same light brown hair, the same nose, the same brown eyes, but his complexion was a little lighter than Lou’s.

“You ready for noms? I got your nom-noms,” Caleb cooed to the infant as he offered him the bottle. The boy latched on and began drinking the contents down.

“Yeah, an empty tummy never feels nice,” the vampire sympathized.

He leaned against the counter, staying still while the baby drank down his food, his hand on the bottle. Caleb smiled, recalling how Beckett had done the samething, and even smiled up at him while eating.

The thought crossed his mind about having a child with Morgyn. How would that work? Well if he were to consider dominant and recessive genetics, most likely their child would be brunette with green eyes. Then he wondered if it’d be a boy or a girl? Or maybe the child would be nonbinary. He’d never raised a biological girl before, nor had Morgyn raised a biological boy, so either one would be an adventure.

He hoped if he did have a child with Morgyn, they wouldn’t have his complexion. He thought Morgyn’s skin tone was perfect for either blonde or brunette.

He heard a sound behind him and smiled a bit more as he greeted the three newly arrived occupants of the room, “Hello Mages.”

Raina walked over to Caleb, coming around to see Xavier’s face while asking, “How’s my baby boy?”

“He’s good. We read Rex Treks. We practiced standing, he’s almost got it, and then Xavier was a little peckish so Uncle Caleb thought a light snack of mommy’s milk wouldn’t hurt. He might be getting ready for a growth spurt,” Caleb reported.

“Sounds like you boys were busy,” Raina commented.

“That’s the trick to babysitting these little ones. Gotta keep them busy so they don’t miss mommy and daddy too much—but keep them busy with something that holds their attention,” the vampire advised.

Xavier’s small hand reached up to Caleb’s lips. Caleb playfully pretended to nibble on the infant’s fingers, making the boy’s smile grow wider. Raina smiled at the interaction between her son and her husband’s ex.

“Thank you for watching him,” Raina said to Caleb.

The Vampire, seeing the boy had finished his bottle, shifted the child to his shoulder, patting his back lightly until he heard a small burp from the boy. “Anytime— preferably with a little more notice if there’s a next time,” he replied, handing Xavier over to Raina.

“Hello Mister, your mama missed you. Yes I did,” Raina cooed to the baby. He kicked his legs excitedly and gave a happy grunt. Raina shifted Xavier so his head was on her shoulder as she cuddled him close.

“My sweet baby boy,” She whispered to the infant. The boy smiled, nuzzling into his mother’s neck.

Caleb watched with a smile on his face before suggesting, “I should head back home. Beckett and Lou should be home soon.”

Morgyn nodded, grasping Caleb’s hand before casting a spell. As far as he could tell there was a bright flash, then they were both back in the kitchen of his trailer. Caleb sighed a little as admitted, “I have to pack up our lives and move again. Greg’s figured out which town Beckett’s in. He isn’t as safe now.”

“Move in with Avery and me,” Morgyn suggested.

The vampire blinked repeatedly before asking, “are you serious? We’ve only been dating for four months, babe.”

“I’m aware, I was there too,” Morgyn joked.

They shrugged before reminding Caleb, “I told you after the incident at the school camping trip that you didn’t have to protect him alone anymore, I meant it.”

“I wasn’t being fully truthful, I just—”

“Didn’t want to think about Lou, I get it,” Morgyn sympathized.

“I don’t think you do. Not fully. There’s something you should know. Something that Beckett doesn’t know,” Caleb began.

Morgyn sat down on the couch, Caleb joined them and took their hands into his own. He wet his lips before confessing, “we’re divorced. Lou and I eloped when Beckett was two. We were married for five years. It ended because he impregnated one of his packmates—she had triplets.”

Morgyn’s brow furrowed as they took in the information before sharing an observation, “But—that doesn’t make sense. The way that he and Raina handle Xavier it’s like that’s his first biological child.”

“I don’t understand it either. Beckett doesn’t know that Lou and I were married. He doesn’t even know why we broke up. I didn’t want to taint his view of Lou—but I also wasn’t going to be the one to suggest they hang out. I think Kitt had a few things to work through on his own because of Lou moving out,” Caleb assured his other half.

“So you’ve been married twice,” Morgyn surmised.

Caleb nodded as he recalled, “Yes. I married Annelise while I was still human—and then Lou is the more recent marriage.”

“Well, you are three-hundred-years old,” Morgyn teased.

“You’re okay then? I don’t want this to cause problems but I want you to know everything that I know before we take any more big steps in our relationship,” Caleb probed.

“Everyone has a history,” Morgyn replied with a shrug.

“Speaking of—how did you have Avery, if I can ask that is?”

Morgyn leaned in close to Caleb’s ear and whispered, “magic.”

Caleb’s smile grew a bit larger while he asked, “would you maybe considering having one with me someday?”

“They’re teenagers. You want to go back to the starting line? Caleb Noah Vatore,” Morgyn playfully scolded.

He chuckled before calming down a little and adding, “Yes. With you, I’d start from the very beginning with a new baby that’s not just mine, not just yours, ours. If we can.”

“I never wanted Avery to be an only child—but single parenting isn’t easy—even if it’s just a singleton,” Morgyn revealed.

“Can I take that as a ‘someday’, Morgyn Casey Ember?”

“You can,” the mage agreed.

“I’ll talk with Beckett about us moving in,” Caleb promised.

The two heard the low rumble of a truck engine pulling up near the trailer. Morgyn stood up and began busying themself in the kitchen with making an herbal tea, and they thought maybe they could grill up some chicken and a few sides for lunch. Caleb looked over as Beckett and Lou came back in. Beckett smiled when he saw Morgyn in the kitchen and greeted them, “Hey! It’s been a minute.”

“There’s a bean sprout. Look at you! I think you grew three inches from the last time I saw you,” Morgyn exclaimed.

Lou looked to Caleb, ran his fingers through his hair and asked, “can we talk outside for a minute?”

Caleb nodded his head in agreement as he followed Lou outside of the trailer, he was planning to tell Lou that he might be moving in with Morgyn, but Lou had something else he felt he needed to tell Caleb. Something he should’ve told him years ago.

Chapter Text

Beckett looked over when he heard the Trailer door open and Avery walked in. She was dressed in a pair of distressed skinny jeans, an open pink button down plaid shirt and a white tank top underneath it. She wore white flat shoes, her long wavy golden blonde was down and loose.

He nodded to her in greeting, she didn’t respond but went straight to the kitchen, opened the freezer, took out a pint of mint chip ice cream, grabbed a spoon, opened it up and began eating it right from the container. Beckett raised his eyebrows as he watched, then joked, “sleepover was that bad?”

“I just feel like getting chip faced,” Avery replied as she sat at the kitchen table, spooning more into her mouth.

“Two weeks early? You should see a doctor,” he suggested.

She stuck the spoon into the ice cream and glared at him through her eyelashes, “are you serious right now?”

Beckett tilted his head to the side while asking, “are you honestly surprised that I know your cycle? You scorn sugar any other time of the month, but every 26 days chow down on ice cream. Usually mint chip, your favourite, then you drink some hot cocoa, and down six chocolate cup cakes. About the same time, your skin gets oily, and you move like your spine’s been replaced with a metal rod, you find any excuse to press your back up against something that’ll apply pressure to your lower back. Why do you think I always get us fish and chips around that time? The Omega 3’s are supposed to help with cramps, and yes, I did look that up.”

Avery’s expression softened as she listened to him before scoffing and remarking, “you know it’d be weird if our parents are dating and we start? I always thought you had a thing for Jessica.”

He smirked before admitting, “I do. Is it so weird that a guy would want to help the girl he views as a sister? Not just with this either, I mean anything. If a guy’s being weird with you and you need an out, find me. I’ll be your guard dog.”

The teen girl shook her head at the description and grabbed another spoonful of ice cream, leaving the spoon in her mouth this time before closing up the container. As she moved to get up, Beckett grabbed the container from her and stood up, he went into the kitchen putting it back in the freezer then turned and looked to her, gave her another nod.

Avery removed the now empty spoon from her mouth and let out a heavy sigh while confessing, “I blew my cover.”

“Your cover? So, what’s that mean? You’re in a band? Are you a cop? A confidential informant? Stop me when I get it right,” he joked.

“No. I didn’t have a choice in it. I was born like this. I’m comfortable around Caleb and Morgyn cause they’re hiding it too. That they’re not like others. But—at school I’m not Avery the Mage Apprentice. I’m Avery the high-school student. Part of me likes that and another part hates it—because I’m always scared of people finding out I’m not like them. Today I didn’t have a choice. There was a werewolf, I had to,” she rambled.

She held her head in the palm of her hand before blurting out, “You don’t know what it’s like to be—”

“—the odd one out?”

His interruption made her stop speaking for a moment while she carefully considered the facts. Beckett was a human, adopted by a vampire, raised until he was seven years old by a vampire and werewolf. The werewolf left, and the vampire began dating a mage who had a mage daughter. He was the odd one out in his adopted family.

“Yeah I think I have some idea,” He hinted with a smirk.

“I’m sorry,” Avery apologized.

“Aw hell, don’t apologize,” Kitt replied, with a dismissive wave of his hand, he sat next to her and added, “you’re just neck deep in your own worries right now. I get it. But one oddball to another, some of them might need time to adjust to this new information, but the real ones will stick around in the end.”

Avery thought for a moment before gaining a faint smile and nodding.

“In the meantime, what ya up for? Shoot hoops, bowling, or you want to kick my butt at my sims racing?”

The girl shook her head from side to side as she admitted, “I’m not really feeling any of that right now.”

“Cool,” Beckett replied as he grabbed a book from wall unit, and sat back down next to her, opened the book and began reading. Avery blinked a little as she observed him, as she informed him, “You don’t have to be around me if you don’t want to.”

“My sister’s upset. Where else would I be?”

“Your sister? I didn’t know you felt that way,” Avery admitted.

Beckett shrugged his shoulders a little before admitting, “Yeah, well—our parents are dating—we’ve known each other for years, so yeah. At the very least, you’re a good friend.”

“Yeah, definitely friends,” Avery agreed with a smile. Kitt allowed his smile to spread across his lips.

He put the book aside and asked, “so what else?”

At this, Avery’s brow furrowed, she straightened up, and asked, “what do you mean?”

Beckett looked to Avery before hinting, “I mean I’m not into it but I know decent looking guys when I see them.”

Avery rolled her eyes as she remarked, “Oh here we go. ‘This guy’s cute’. ‘This guy’s nice’. ‘This guy’s funny’ ‘This guy has four heads’.”

“Four heads? Geez I feel bad for that guy. Sometimes it’s bad enough just having two,” Beckett joked.

“I wouldn’t know,” Avery stated.

“Obviously,” Kitt answered, lightly chuckling.

“No, there’s nobody like that,” Avery told him. Beckett nodded a little. He stayed quiet for a few minutes before egging her on, “Four heads—does that mean he has two brains or three?”

Avery lightly punched his upper arm, playfully. Beckett grinned as he gripped her nose between his fingers.

“Oh, c’mon! that’s not fair,” Avery exclaimed. Beckett laughed a little harder as he let go of her nose, shaking his head, while reminding her, “you started it.”

“True,” she conceded, taking out her foundation to fix the makeup that had smudged off on his fingers.

He laughed while blurting out, “I’m not that obsessive over my makeup.”

She stopped for a moment and asked, “You wear makeup?”

“I do—hides the redness from acne,” he admitted. He suddenly wished there was a hole he could crawl into until graduation—then move to the other side of the world and never see Avery again.

Surprisingly though she suggested, “you could just use tea tree oil. It reduces the redness… or a honey and cinnamon mask.”

He raised an eyebrow at her while asking, “how the hell does a honey and cinnamon mask even stay on you?”

“I could help you with one tonight if you want?”

Beckett raised his eyebrows at her before asking, “Where exactly do you think everyone’s sleeping? I mean our parents share a bed obviously, but I am not sharing a bed with you.”

“No joke. But no, I mean one of us has a sleeping bag in the living room, one of us has the bed—depending on who’s house we’re staying at,” Avery replied. Beckett nodded in agreement, that was definitely a sound choice.

Chapter Text

Morgyn entered the upper half of the library in the Realm of Magic and began looking through the book titles. They already had several pertaining to history, but wanted to gather as many as they possibly could before sitting down to read through them. They were nearly certain they’d find something here.

L. Faba had gotten Morgyn’s message and met them in the realm of magic to help with the research, Simeon Silverwater had been the last to arrive, but had a few other ideas of where to look in history to uncover Greg’s past, and maybe find some reason why the ancient wolf was stalking Beckett. It seemed Greg was worsening, now going after Beckett’s friends, and that was something none of them could abide by.

Simeon wasn’t much help in combat, being the former sage of practical magic, he did know some mischief spells however that would hopefully redirect Greg’s aggression away from humans if he did engage the werewolf.
L had been the sage of mischief magic, and as such was more prepared to engage Greg than Simeon, but less prepared than Morgyn. The current Sages, their replacements, were also looking into Greg, not only as a favour to their predecessors, but also because of their duty to humans as the current Sages.

L’s successor, a man named Damien Witherton, had already been scouring through history books when they arrived. He’d decided to take a different approach than the others this day. While others were looking into anything they could find about moon casters, and old bloodlines, Damien had decided to look into the lineage of their ancient bloodlines.

They’d already been working for three days trying to find something, anything about Greg within Moon casters or werewolves that they didn’t already know.

Morgyn sat next to Damien and began looking into Vampire and Werewolf lineages. He figured that the young Sage could be on to something, and he was going to see if both of them looked into similar things if something would turn up.

The first thing Morgyn found was the history of the Vatores, how Lilith had been turned by Vlad, and Caleb by a different vampire called ‘Miss Hell’. However, ‘Miss Hell’ had been turned by Vlad as well. So while Caleb and Lilith were siblings by blood, in vampire lineage they were seen as aunt and nephew.

Morgyn paused, shook their head, and rubbed their temple a little before continuing on.

“Greggorius Lunvik, the son of Mooncaster Pernilla Lunvik, is the oldest werewolf still in existence. It is thought that Greggorius used the Lunar Howl after the death of his wife, Avelina Lunvik. Before her death, Avelina bore twins, a son who died during birth and was cut from Avelina’s womb, and a daughter who survived,” Damien read aloud.

The other Sages had torn away from their respective books and were now listening intently as Damien continued, “Per Avelina’s dying wish, Greggorius was told that Avelina and the baby died in childbirth. The girl was raised by Avelina’s father in secret, away from Greggorius and Moonwood Mill. Avelina had claimed that Greggorius’ rage had begun to frighten her, and she couldn’t see him raising a child alone, nor could she truly see herself raising a child with him any longer.”

“So Greggorius had a daughter—but she’d be over three hundred years old,” Simeon pointed out.

“There’s a family tree on the following page. She had children. Several of them,” Damien added.

At this Morgyn rose from their seat and was now looking over Damien’s shoulder, looking at the family tree of Greggorius Lunvik, studying.

Back in Henford-on-Bagley, Avery was bouncing Xavier in her lap while making faces at the infant. The little boy smiled and let out a small laugh at the interaction.

Raina and Lou observed from their spot outside of the house, in the backyard, near the shed that Lou had set up in case his werewolf side got out of control, and he scared their children. Raina had just told him that she was pregnant again, and he was thrilled at the idea of having another baby.

Lou looked to Raina and asked, “So just making sure I remember right, your mother and Morgyn’s father are siblings?”

The pale blonde nodded her head in agreement while answering, “Yes. Uncle Aiden wasn’t too pleased with my mom’s decision to marry a werewolf—but it turned out alright. I’m one of the strongest mages in history, and I have a few wolf instincts. Why?”

“You have a very unique scent, you always have. Like the air just before summer rain storm, it’s beautiful—but also there’s another scent mixed in, very feint, almost like damp dog fur,” Lou revealed.

Raina scrunched her face up in confusion while demanding, “Are you saying I smell like wet dog or the air before a rainstorm?”

“Both,” Lou admitted.

“I don’t know if I should thank you or zap you,” Raina huffed.

“At least you don’t smell as strongly of wet dog as Rory does—or the rest of my pack, honestly. Sure there’s their human scent as well and that mixes with the wet dog scent but—”

The pale blonde woman had grown irritated and her pregnancy hormones were not doing anything to temper her frustration. She blurted out, “Is there a point to this topic or are you just rambling to ramble?”

“Beckett—has the same feint wet dog scent as you—mixed with his own natural scent of course, and your natural scent is like lavender cream if you were wondering—mixed with the other smells it’ s intoxicating,” her husband confessed.

“He’s a dormant wolf?”

Lou nodded a little as he acknowledged, “At least—I suspect he is. I haven’t told Caleb. I know a way that a formant wolf can become a full werewolf—but—it should be Beckett’s choice. Not mine, not Caleb’s, Beckett’s. Furthermore, if Beckett does choose to be a werewolf—it would mean that he and Caleb would become natural enemies.”

“He’d loose the most consistent person in his life,” Raina realized.

“If he can’t control his wolf, yes. A werewolf’s personality is as different as the personality from one sim to another— there’s no way to know what’ll happen if he transforms,” Lou concluded.

“You’re right, it does need to be his choice—but Lou, Caleb should know the truth about his own son,” Raina pointed out.

Lou nodded, sticking his hands in his jeans pockets while acknowledging, “I know it. I’ve just never been able to find the words. I just recently told him the truth about what happened with Rory. I don’t—when’s a good time to drop something like that?”

“There isn’t one,” his wife stated. She gently caressed Lou’s face before adding, “but that doesn’t excuse not telling him the truth.”

Lou nodded his head a little before revealing, “I’ll have to take a trip to their new home then.”

“Go. We’ll be fine,”

Lou placed his hand on Raina’s stomach, feeling the slightest hint of a baby bump. He smiled, his hazel brown eyes meeting her steel grey and gently placed a kiss on her lips.

“I’ll be back soon. Keep safe. I mean the kids, and you,” He pleaded.

“I will. You keep out of trouble,” Raina requested.

“No promises—but I promise I’ll come home,” Lou replied, jesting a little about his past. She rolled her eyes, lightly shoving his shoulder, playfully.

Chapter Text

Beckett and Caleb walked into the large house in Brindleton Bay. Avery was with them, and helped the guys get settled into their new home, helping to move and rearrange a few of the things in the house she’d grown up in with Morgyn.

It was going to be strange, sharing the house with two new people, but she knew and trusted both.

Beckett had chosen a room close to the upstairs bathroom. Avery laughed, saying that her room was on the other side of the bathroom.

Kitt had processed the knowledge but noted in his mind that if someone ever broke in, he’d make a dash over to Avery’s room to make sure they stayed away from her. Well, he knew she could handle herself if it were a supernatural attack. She could use her magic on them easily, but a regular person? A regular man? She’d have a disadvantage, and he may not be able to fully keep them away from her, but he’d do his best to.

Beckett put his clothes away and then began putting a few photos and knickknacks he had around the room. He soon finished and thought before heading over to Avery’s room, and knocking at the door. Her response was pretty quick, “Come in.”

Beckett opened the door and immediately felt like he’d been gut punched. She’d tried to hide it, but he could tell. She’d been crying.

He wordlessly sat down on the edge of her bed and asked, “What is it?”

“Nothing. Just working on an assignment,” Avery chirped.

An IM service pinged repeatedly, and flashed on the screen. Clearly something was wrong. “Uh-huh,” He replied, observing her.

She smiled while insisting, “I’m fine. Just a bit frustrated is all.”

“Sure,” Kitt answered before standing and walking over to the laptop, snatching it away from her.

He opened the IM and nearly gagged. Explicit photos sent to her from a guy, and scrolling up in the conversation she hadn’t said anything about seeing the guy’s junk. He saw Avery’s responses, ‘Oh gross!’ ‘Eww!’ ‘Knock it off! We have to work on this assignment!’

He quickly sent a message to the guy, then handed Avery’s laptop back to her. A second later, his phone rang from an unknown number.

He answered it and was immediately greeted by heavy breathing as well as some dude on the other end of the line groaning, when he moaned out, ‘oh baby,’ Beckett made his move, “You always send random dick pics to girls?”

“What the fuck? You’re a guy?”

“I got a mind to show that conversation to a cop I know,” Beckett pressed, “Distribution of child pornography, you’d be looking at 15 in a federal prison.”

“I thought you were Avery Ember. I thought she was into me,” the guy tried to defend himself.

“Dude! Whether a girl is into you or not is no excuse for shoving vulgar pictures in her face. Nobody asked to see your sausage. What you did was tantamount to cyber rape you pathetic amoeba,” Beckett snarled.

“Dude, I never did this before I swear,” the guy promised. Beckett wasn’t sure if he could trust him.

“I hear about one more incident and I won’t be as nice the second time around,” he warned before hanging up on the creep.

He looked to Avery and said, “keep that conversation. We’ll have to show the parents to make sure you get full credit for the assignment, and not him. The pictures should stop. If they don’t—or any other girls tell you he’s doing the same thing to them, let me know. We’ll go to Chief Lothario.”

Avery nodded her head in agreement, “thanks Beckett.”

“No sweat,” he acknowledged. He smirked at an idea then shook his head.

“What were you thinking?”

“I should’ve shown him mine, that could’ve backfired though, if he’s into dudes—plus like I said, distribution of child porn. I’d get some serious heat for it,” he shared.

Avery’s brow furrowed while she laughed a little, “Not to mention I’d have to store it in my phone to share if someone sends an unsolicited picture to me. No thank you.”

Kitt nodded his head, acknowledging how that could be awkward. The blonde came over and sat by him while asking, “So what I just witnessed—that was you being a brother, huh?”

“You saw a brief glimpse of my protective side. And—yeah, it’s one part of being a sibling. I might mess with you and your stuff sometimes—but I’m the only one allowed to,” he agreed.

He laid back a bit before telling her, “Oh, if you hear music blaring from my room, best to wait til the music’s off before knocking. One, I’m not gonna hear you knock, and two—” he trailed off, unsure of how to convey the message without giving too much away.

“Loud music, leave you alone, got it,” Avery assured him.

He laughed a little, half out of relief of not having to elaborate, and half out of how she’d worded her agreement.

He smiled when he felt Avery lay down next to him on her bed, he positioned his arm so his hand was resting behind his neck while he asked, “So – not trying to be rude, but—what’s your deal?”

“Still figuring that out. Don’t tell Morgyn I said that,” Avery replied.

“Not my story to tell,” he answered.

She laid back looking up at the ceiling before asking, “So basketball or soccer?”

“Football,” Beckett answered with a laugh.

“You like the guys in tight pants, huh?”

“Oh yeah, that’s exactly it,” he sarcastically retorted, grasping up above his head. He grabbed a decorative pillow and playfully knocked it into Avery’s face.

“So what then? Tackling other guys to the ground?”

Beckett rolled his eyes while admitting, “I don’t know it’s—kind of a feeling. When you play a school game—I imagine it’s how Gladiators felt in ancient Greece.”

“Hmm. You know that Ancient Greece was predominantly bi, right?”

Another playful smack with the pillow Beckett had grabbed, “If you won’t tell, why should I?”

“I’m not sure about myself,” Avery defended herself.

“Well, I am. Hate to break it to you, but your step-bro is straight as an arrow,” he announced.

Avery smiled, shifting onto her side before asking, “how did you know for sure?”

“Seeing dick does nothing for me,” he shared. He paused for a moment before looking to Avery and asking, “have you never looked at – adult videos?”

She shrugged her shoulders a little and said, “I’ve seen r rated scenes from movies but nothing more than that.”

“Huh. Well that could be one part of it. I can’t say for everyone, but for me watching some videos solidified a few things for me. I could share my user name and password if you want, I pay for it with a pre-paid visa gift card every couple months,” he offered.

“You pay, for that stuff?”

He shrugged a little before confessing, “Technically my Dad does. I don’t think he’d care if I share the sign in information with you.”

“So what you share an account to look at – x rated content?”

Beckett chuckled, a slight bit of pink dusting across his cheeks, “I mean—yeah? I obviously don’t know what it’s like for girls but for guys—if you don’t get off every couple of days your balls start to feel heavy—and it get a bit painful. So—yeah my Dad and I share an account because I’m technically under age but only for another couple of years.”

“Dare I ask how long you two have had this arrangement?”

“You can ask, but I choose not to tell,” Beckett stated. He sat up on the bed and stretched a little while clarifying, “I don’t mind sharing a few guy secrets with you. Especially if it keeps you safe from the predatory guys out there—but some stuff is strictly for guys to know. That’s almost like me asking, ‘do you prefer fingers or a toy?’ It’s none of my business. If we were dating, different story. But I think of you like a sister so I’d rather bleach my eyes and stab my ears than find out that answer. Pads versus tampons, I’m only gonna ask if you’re stuck and need me to pick up some supplies from the store.”

“Alright, I get the picture,” Avery admitted before adding, “Sorry I crossed a line.”

“It wasn’t as big as walking into my room with the music blaring,” He reminded her.

“I haven’t forgotten,” she promised. They were silent for a few minutes before Beckett stood up, he shoved his hands in his jeans pockets but asked, “so—that guy—does he think that you might—”

“I don’t know. He’s got this obsession with me. I’m not sure where it comes from,” Avery confessed.

Kitt nodded while he hummed to himself. His hazel eyes landed on her, a small smirk spreading across his lips as he asked, “point him out tomorrow?”

She raised an eyebrow at him, causing him to elaborate, “I just wanna have a man-to-man talk with the guy. I won’t throw hands. Promise on Jessica’s life, alright?”

“Alright,” she agreed.

He turned to leave her room before adding while messing with his phone, "Dad's making Salisbury steak for dinner. That okay with you?"

"Yep," Avery agreed, she looked at her phone when it buzzed. It was a message from Beckett linking a website and the log in information he said he'd share.

She indicated her phone before commenting, "Thanks."

He nodded, hesitating before he alluded, "You know-- Morgyn's nonbinary, and my Dad's been married to both a man and a woman-- not at the same time but-- point I'm getting it is they're not going to care if you're part of their community. I don't care either for that matter. You're you, and that's all you need to be."

She wordlessly nodded her head in acknowledgement, not trusting herself to speak at that moment. On that note, Beckett left her room, noticing that some fresh tears were starting down her face again, and he didn't want to overstep by sticking around. If she wanted someone to cry with, he'd be close by. At least this time, she was crying for a better reason than when he'd first gone to talk with her. He mentally slapped himself, realizing he'd forgotten to ask her if she had a copy of the book he had to read for English class. He shook his head, deciding to ask after dinner. If not, he'd go to the library tomorrow and check the book out.

Chapter Text

During dinner, Beckett received a text from Jessica Zest, and smiled a bit at the screen before looking up at Caleb, his hazel eyes pleading, “Dad—Jessie’s got tickets to a Hollywood Undead tribute band tonight, can I?”

Caleb looked at his phone, checking Beckett’s blood glucose levels and how much insulin he still had available in the pump. He looked back up at his son and nodded in agreement, “alright—but if you drink make sure you get enough electrolytes in your system as well, salts, water and a little bit of sugar. Also, if you’re going to do drugs stick to weed. Nothing stronger than that.”

Beckett nodded his head in agreement while acknowledging, “I know.”

Avery was silent for a moment before remarking, “You’re pretty permissive.”

“I’m authorative, not authoritarian,” Caleb corrected. He sat down as he reminded her, “it was a long time ago but I was a teenager once upon a time. I know that when I was told not to do something it made doing that very thing even more enticing—which was ultimately how I ended up becoming a vampire. Trying to have some fun with a fling before my child was born. An act I deeply regret, and not just because of what I became.”

Avery and Beckett both looked to him intently. The vampire looked to his hands he’d clasped and held on the table top while revealing, “the birth was complicated. Placenta previa, my wife was anemic, and the placenta tore from the uterine wall. Back in those days they didn’t know anywhere near as much as they know now. My son, Noah, was raised by my neighbour—my Annelise didn’t survive. We were young when we married by today’s standards, just eighteen years old, back then it was common place—but I was restless. I should’ve been there for her, and Noah. I still bear that regret. I was her husband, his father, I should’ve been with them.”

“Hindsight is twenty-twenty,” Morgyn offered as they entered the room, leaning down to kiss Caleb’s cheek. Their arms snaked around the vampire’s neck, gently squeezing him in a hug.

Caleb smiled, as he leaned into the hug, holding Morgyn’s hands in his own. He leaned back and returned the gesture by kissing Morgyn’s cheek. The mage looked to Avery and asked, “Are you planning to do anything or go anywhere tonight?”

“I don’t know,” Avery admitted.

Morgyn nodded a little before suggesting, “Well if you do decide to go somewhere, similar rules but also—I’d like you to go with someone I trust.”

“Let me guess, Camden Faba? Or maybe Daniel Charm? Stephanie Silversweater? I have my own friends,” Avery objected.

Caleb clung to the last part of what she said while asking, “do you not get along with them?”

“That’s an understatement,” Avery grumbled. She looked down at the table before confessing, “Steph just leaves me alone with the guys and they take turns trying to… touch me or kiss me. I keep pushing them off and it gets tense enough that my magic surges out of control a bit. I don’t like being around them. Even if Cam and Dan aren’t part of the group, Steph finds a way to tag them along. I don’t want to be around them. I know your friends with their parents Dad, but—I think they got a bit influenced by some not so great people at school or maybe in media, I don’t know.”

Beckett’s eyes narrowed, all three of those people she’d mentioned were mages, powerful mages at that, especially Daniel Charm.”

He bit his inner cheek as he brainstormed on how he could back her up if something happened while he was with her. He watched as Morgyn’s horrified expression softened a bit and they sat next to Caleb. They reached a cross the table towards Avery’s hand, but didn’t touch her.

She wordlessly took Morgyn’s hand in her own, and Morgyn gave their daughter’s hand a light squeeze, “thank you for telling me. Now I’m wondering one thing: how do you feel about Jason Collette?”

“He’s alright. He often threatens to turn the other three into animals if they don’t back off,” Avery admitted.

Morgyn nodded in understanding, “Alright, how about from now on if you want to go out somewhere and Beckett isn’t available, we see if Jason is? That way you’re going with a buddy, but it’s someone we both trust?”

“Alright,” Avery agreed.

Beckett hesitated before suggesting, “two other guys you can kinda stick close to if things get rough again are Ronnie Zest and Dante Lothario—neither of them go along with that behaviour.”

Avery nodded her head a little as she acknowledged, “Alright.”

Beckett finished his plate and headed towards the kitchen with his dishes, he stopped to pick up Avery’s and take them into the kitchen as well.

“I can—”

“I know, but I’m heading that way anyhow,” Beckett reasoned.

He glanced over his shoulder while adding, “Besides—if I rinse them off, you set up the dish washer?”

“I can go along with that,” Avery agreed.

“Cool—cause Jess did invite you too, so, let’s make quick work of the kitchen clean up and then get ready for the concert,” he suggested.

Avery nodded before giving him a small wink, she moved him away from the dishes before waving her hands in a rhythmic motion while muttering phrases under her breath as she did so, the dish soap levitated squeezing a liberal amount of itself onto the dishcloth, the sink filled with scalding hot water. Beckett felt his jaw drop as the dish cloth glided across each item in the sink, cleansing it of any dirt or debris.

He looked to Avery and announced, “Okay—I’ll learn to cook if you clean up after?”

“Deal,” the fledgling mage agreed.

“Avery Aspen Ember,” Morgyn called from the dining room, “were you using magic to clean the kitchen again?”

“Maybe,” Avery called back.

“Just be careful you don’t break anything or yourself,” Morgyn requested.

“I will,” she promised, she looked to Beckett then headed out towards Morgyn and asked, “Jess actually invited me to the concert too—is it okay?”

Morgyn nodded their head, “just stay close to Jessie and Beckett.”

Avery nodded a little as she headed upstairs to get ready for the concert. Beckett decided he’d let Avery shower first before he got ready. His hair took less time to dry anyways, and most of his make up and hair products were in his bedroom.

“Don’t leave Avery alone,” Caleb cautioned Beckett.

The teenage boy nodded as he asked, “Why though? I mean she can defend herself, can’t she?”

“Yes and no. Avery’s never been good at physical confrontation, she tends to default to magic especially if she’s afraid for her own safety. It’s well and good against another Mage, a Werewolf or Vampire—but using magic against humans breaks one of our most sacred laws,” Morgyn explained.

“Ahh,” Beckett acknowledged. He’d definitely keep a hawk’s eye on Avery during the concert then.