As expected, everyone left as soon as I went to pack. Going as far as even to take Barima's body. No matter, I will be shortly behind them. It only takes moments to appear inside grandfather's home, in his study. I am stealthy as I slink through the house to find him ordering around human servants to fix a room for Sera while she protests and tries to stop him. She's in a pair of jogging pants and a snug sweatshirt, a sliver of belly poking out. I lick my lips. I notice her room is beside his, and that he has scratched a square in the wall big enough for a door. No doubt conjoining the rooms.

          "This will be cut out and left open for now. The nursery will be in there. I'll send one of you out for clothing and necessities for both of them. Other guests can pick rooms down the hall. Leave at least one spare room between our three and theirs. Nobody across from them."

          "Grandfather!" I greet as I enter the room. Sera stiffens and moves behind him. "I see you are already accommodating for your new pets. Glad to see you enjoying yourself. One person's trash is another's treasure, as mortals would say." He raise my chin smugly.

           "Cheer up, boy! That means that soon someone will come along and cherish you." He shoves me playfully. "Of course you'll have a hard time finding such a jewel as this one. Perhaps Livienne would take you now?" He laughs and winks as I borderline lose my temper. He knows how to cut me to the bone. Seraphine giggles lightly. "Now if you'll have a seat and get out of my staff's way, I'll finish up here and we can talk. I know you want something." I lean into the wall as the crew works moving things around to his liking. He dismisses Seraphine to join the others after telling her to retrieve pastries from the kitchen.

           "What will you do with that child if it's not mine?"

            "It is yours. Everyone but you is intelligent enough to comprehend that." He looks up at me. "You have let Yeomorah too far into your head. Do you not think him smart enough to orchestrate her memories by triggering responses and activities around her. Seraphine has no control, no knowledge how to use her given strengths. She told me Yeomorah threw her into a bath of salts and holy water, that people chanted and laughed around her. It was some sort of spell. He has used this before. She is not the type of woman to be promiscuous, strange considering her species. She wouldn't be far enough along for others to note if it were his."

          "Then why didn't she tell me?"

          "She lived life as a human. Pregnancy among our kind and hybrids is vastly different. Why didn't you notice this?"

           "I don't know."

           "Well you know now, and still you disgrace your family by denying your child. If harm comes to this child, we are denying you. You'll have no ties to us. It'll be like you never existed." I shiver at this and I look him over to check how serious he is, but I can feel it.

           "I'm here now. I intend to stay as long as she's here."

           "Good. It'll be the most responsibility you've showed so far. Hard to believe this was the same man who begged and pleaded for help for this woman. In the end, only to wipe his ass with her the moment she bestowed upon him an heir."

           After leaving, I go into the entertainment room to see everyone gathered on the couch. Axar and Seraphine are in the center, a platter of pastries between them. I'm envious as I watch Sera smile and talk to her newly found family. I remember making her smile. I remember our conversations about Gods, monsters, seasons, and random nonsense that would amuse her till her eyes watered. I hadn't made her laugh in so long. She was miserable. Her mothers words echo. I decide to go to her and try to strike a conversation.

          "Seraphine." All heads snap up to me. "Grandfather needs to ask you a question about your room. He asked me to bring you to him." She looks to her brother who nods. The look they exchange says as much as their words could. It's his promise to find her should I take too long. She stands and we make our way towards the stairs.

         She tries to yelp as I cover her mouth and pull her into an empty office space. She pries at my hands and bites, but I don't remove it. I coo at her and try to calm her, warning her into silence with a finger to my lips.

         "I only want to talk. I'm not going to hurt you-either of you." I quickly correct. She obviously doesn't believe me as she reaches out to hold the door handle.

         "I can't trust you anymore. I never could..." Her eyes lock on mine and I can see her sincerity. Her fear. I can read her thoughts this close to me, and she thinks I am here to kill the baby or kidnap her. The later is a great idea.

       "I know. In your situation, it is wise not too. I hate you right now. You betrayed me, but I have to see your memories. I have to know if it's mine."

          "Why hate me? I never impregnated myself. Or killed myself. I never lied to you. I never led you on or used you. You may see my memories, you are the father. The only man I have ever been with, but the child is not yours. It is mine. Mine alone." She turns the knob to open the door. "You can see my memories, but you will see them in the presence of others. I'm taking no chances."

          "I would only take a second-"

          "No. You wish to feed. I know that dark desolate look on your face. I also know that you never loved me, I was only convenient. That sobbing and those pretty words before you killed me were only aesthetic to the ears. There ccx was not an ounce of truth in them, nor in your whole body." I follow her back to the entertainment room. "When you die, Noxodius, your tombstone will read "here lies the body of truth that was never told." Here snorts.

          "Too bad I will never die, lover."

          "You live by the sword, you die by the sword. You'll probably be the cause of your own demise."

           "Do we really have to do this infront of everyone? I swear to you. I only want to know Seraphine. Do you know how I grieved for you? What I was willing to do to have you back?"

          "No. No I don't. You act like you never grieved a day. Like I am your sworn enemy. When you see into my memories, pay close attention to your face when you seen me in the cell, watch the change in yourself." Everyone notices her entrance as looks between us, the tension obvious.

          "Do you guys mind to watch as he goes into my memories. I'll have to be asleep, I can't stand to be awake for it. This way if he messes with my mind, I'll know." Alexavier quickly agrees.

          I grab Sera's arm and lead her to sit in the floor on the push rug. I sit before her, locking eyes with her and after a few moments I have control. I lull her to a trance like state and place my head against hers, hand on her head. My fingers tangle in her green strands. I can't help but sigh. I've missed her, whether I admit it or not.

          Her memories are painful, even for me. I feel her confusion and her own betrayal as I snapped her neck. She didn't understand why I gave up on her so easily, why I never tried. In her mind she attacked Yeomorah to save my life. This information shakes me up. She was willing to save my life. She did thinking she had spared me. After thus is a stretch of black, nothing. Nothing until she comes to naked and walking the streets as a ghost. I watch her cry and flag cars trying to piece why nobody seen her. I watch her naked in the gas station floor trying to focus on holding a candy bar while falling apart. I watch her celebrate her small victory. It reminds me of how she has always turned her tragedies into blocks, and rebuilt. Only Sera could find joy and humor in the most uncertain times.

         Skipping ahead, I watch her interaction with Justin. I grit my teeth as he touches her, buys her that tacky angel necklace and drops her by the church. I go through the motions of the church with her. I witness how vigilant she was in her fight with Yeomorah and Lucien. Her traumatized eyes as she watches her mother's death unfold. Grief, anguish, guilt, paranoia, feelings of worthlessness all swirl in her mind.

           I feel her repulsion as she takes in Lucien. How disgusted she feels as he reminds her about the kiss, the bloody kiss. The blood. In her state of mania after nearly dying, of course she would lose herself over blood. I remember her guilt and regret after that kiss. I wiped that memory last time though. You tried to seduce me. I turned you down. She was feeding. She wasn't in her right mind, and feeding on his blood had the effects of taking ecstasy. She cries and beats herself up even after he leaves. I sit through Yeomorah's smig speech on how he set me up to kill her to make me suffer.

        I dive headlong into my arrival and the negotiating. I watch as her name escapes my lips as I take in her delicious aura. Delighted to know she was so close. When Yeomorah taunts me and reveals her pregnancy, I watch my face morph into something sinister. She was scared of me. She was already down on herself about being a good mom when the time came, and here I am calling her out of name and refusing to deal. She thought I was going to leave her there. She didn't understand why I thought she betrayed me, because she did not betray me. I pull back and exit her mind. I've had enough. I don't wish to feel what I've put her through anymore. I let her have control of herself after I will her awake.

          "Seraphine. I'm sorry..." I whisper, earnestly. I mean it. She doesn't respond. "I'm going to make this work. You'll come home with me I'll-"

          "I don't want this to work. I gave you chance after chance. You hurt me time and time again. Some things are unforgivable."

           "You are the forgiving type. The loving type. If not for me for our child."

           "Have mercy Noxodius! You killed me. You killed all those innocent people. You want this child dead. I'm not a saint! I can't forgive everything. I'm so tired, tired into my soul of this bipolar personality of yours. I've walked on eggshells since I've known you. I never know which Nox I will get."

            "You said you didn't want to suffer. I thought I would spare you pain, and bring you back. I couldn't though, because I had the wrong name. The end, what you seen was really me. I meant what I said."

            "Those bodies Nox. Those people. "
         
            "Were nobody. Nothing."

            "Where have I heard that before?"

             "Perhaps we could have this conversation in private?" She dabs at her eyes and I hold her hands and ease her up to a stand.

             "Please make this quick. I'm so tired."

             "I know. I promise I will." Adrenaline starts to pump as I lead her into a bare spot in the hall.

        I stop and listen for a moment to be certain we are alone. I sense nobody near. I pull her to me gently. She tries to push back as she's crushed to my chest. Before she can comprehend what has happened, I have taken her from grandfather's home, to mine. I keep her pinned to my chest with one arm as I grab anything of value I might need. We will not be back here for a long while. She thrashes and tries to pull lose but I hold her with force I've never used on her before. I wrestle her back against me and we are soon in the foyer of my other home.

         It is old, outdated, and most importantly secret. None of my family had been here, because I went half a century without speaking to them when I stayed here. The house is old, Victorian style, and entirely free of modern technologies. It has wood stoves for heating and cooking, oil lanterns for light. Not a single ounce of electricity.

          Sera twists her wrist unnaturally and jumps back with enough force to wrench her hand free as she runs about the giant room, trying to find an exit. Her eyes will adjust in moments, she has better vision than a human, but not quite as good as mine. I can tell. I let her fret for a moment before I catch her and ease her to the floor. She punches and nips at me in panic, and I simply dodge and avoid. Soon, after I have let my full weight onto her, mindful of her belly, she stops resisting. She was already tired. She's had no rest since she was united with her physical body, and other than human food she has not fed. She was already weakened.

          "Are-are you going to kill me again?" She whimpers.

          "No. The opposite. You won't forgive me, unless you are forced to. You loved me once, you are going to do it again. I will ruin your mind Sera. I will take everything, every memory and moment until you forget where you end  and I begin. You won't know your own existence outside of me. Or, you could forgive me of your own will. Do as I say, and we can go back to how we once were. You keep your freedom of mind this way, I'll take nothing. Either way, you are with me now. Nobody will find you here." She shuts her eyes tightly and turns her head. I kiss along her neck, allowing my tongue to dance along her jaw and collar bone.

        "They'll summon me."

        "Not before I have wiped your mind into a clean slate."

         "Stop!" She chokes out. I ignore her  and tug the bottom of her shirt. "STOOOOOP!" She tucks herself up to try to stop me. "Damn it. Please stop! Plea...I...I will do whatever. Just stop. I...forgive you."

         "Thank you. I thought you'd see things my way. Now, if you'll behave we can go back in a few days."

         "Days?"

         "Yes. I have to be sure you're sincere. If I took you back now you'd hide under grandfather's coat tail and avoid me. Then I'd have to take your mind in your sleep."

         "I won't. If I promise, can we go back?"

          "Let's make a deal, lover. Make love to me, feed me and we will return in several hours. Otherwise, we stay here a week."