Tristen was fitting into her new home and had already developed a close relationship with her mother-in-law Kali. The two often spent several hours each afternoon together. Tristen seemed to love the attention.

Kali had noticed the young woman seemed to crave motherly affection and from what she gathered a mother figure had not been all that present in either Walosenko’s life. Tristen was even more reserved than her son, but Kali’s natural outgoing nature and easy going attitude made it easy enough for the two women to develop bond.

Kali was happy for her eldest and felt that the two were perfect for one another. They complimented each other very well each bringing out the best in one another. Tristen was able to bring out a lighter side in her son these days, and with the way he had been pushing everyone else away in recent months, Kali was glad someone could still pull him out of his shell.

“You still aren’t going to tell me are you?” Tristen asked playfully one morning. She knew he’d had more nightmares again and she knew that the baby seemed to keep Toren grounded.

Toren gave her a blank stare, “No.”

Tristen’s smile faded. Her husband had never turned down an opportunity to talk about the baby.

As she watched Toren begin to clean his half-eaten breakfast bowl she noticed he seemed a little shaky. She crossed the room in enough time to watch him grab his head. “Toren?” she asked with concern, “are you oaky? You aren’t going into overload again are you?”

Tristen hoped not as she watched Toren wave a dismissive hand. With the pregnancy she hadn’t had the energy to grow any snap dragons. And if he did collapse he might never wake up. Why did he have to be so stubborn? Why couldn’t he ask for help?

Toren straightened up and noticed the fear in his wife’s matching blue eyes. He gently stroked her shoulder. “I’ll be alright. I’m just sorting some things out right now.”

Tristen put an arm on his shoulder, “Toren, you don’t have to sort things out on your own.”

Her husband frowned, “I…I need to…I’ll be in the study.”

Kali stood in the living room and stared at the portraits she had repainted years ago now, funny how time flies. She could make out the sounds of her son moving up the stairs to the study. She knew he was dreaming about his father and this newest strain was weakening an already awkward relationship. She shook her head. Glyn and Toren were so much alike. Both were equally stubborn and both were reserved individuals who for the most part kept to themselves. It had been up to the women of the family to keep the main family connected.

Kali was well aware that she had been the one to suggest that Toren simply should be given some time to come to terms with whatever was going on, but the arguments between them were becoming more frequent.

She knew her husband was desperate to connect with their son, but Toren seemed to continue to struggle with allowing others into his life. A struggle which had originated in Kali. Glyn and Toren’s relationship had never been overly close to begin with and now the two seemed to have drifted even further apart. Something had to be done.

Toren sat in the study staring at the flames. He knew he wasn’t alone. He had people who loved him and wanted to help, but talking about his problems with anyone was always difficult for him. He’d been seeing this shit since he was seven years old and no matter how much he’d learned in the past few years it wasn’t enough to stop the dreams from coming true. If anything what he’d learned told him they were all going to come true…all of them..

Toren heard the door click open and looked up to see his mother entering the room. “Mind if I join you little bear?”

Toren had to smile at the nickname. He doubted that anyone knew just how close he was to his mother. He knew she was the daughter of two vampires and so she tended to know how his thoughts turned. She’d given him that nickname as a toddler, and it had stuck. Though she hardly ever used it.

As she slid into the seat next to him their eyes met. “She’s right you know.”

Toren nodded. Kali smiled gently, “I know what it’s like Toren. Being afraid of what you are. Feeling helpless and cut-off from the world. I was a vampire once not even all that long ago…doomed to die while those I loved left me behind.”

He’d heard this all before, but this time Kali did not stop there. “I was scared to death that I was falling in love with your father. It took me a while to realize what I was really afraid of. Do you know what that was Toren?” When her son did not answer Kali told him,” Death.”

Toren closed his eyes and gulped. He’d been dealing with a fear of death since he was seven years old. Despite being afraid of the answer he asked, “Are you still afraid of him?”

“Toren, look at me.” Toren opened his eyes and looked into his mother’s eyes. She had a small hint of a smile on her face.

“No. I’m not afraid of death. I stopped being afraid of death even before I married your father. Even while I was still a vampire. Do you know who taught me that no matter what happened I would always have the love I had for those I loved to keep me going even if they left me behind? Your father. He’s quite capable of understanding people like you Toren. He’s done it before and I know he can again. ”

Toren looked thoughtful for a moment. Sure he’d known his mother had been a vampire once, but until this moment it had always been an after-thought. And yes he knew his father had known his mother when she was still a vampire. But, he’d never really stopped to consider that his father might be able to teach him anything about being a vampire.

This conversation had his thoughts turning in yet another direction. How much did his mother really understand? He asked nervously," So, did you ever.like us?”

Kali had never discussed this with her children before now in such great detail, but at that moment she was kicking herself for not doing it sooner. She placed a hand over her chest, “You mean did I ever have a gift like you and your sister? No, I didn’t.”

She watched her son’s face fall in disappointment, “But I grew up with your grandfather and saw what he went through. I remember him waking up from nightmares and I remember him being too tired to play with me sometimes. I remember him locking himself in his room when he went through a violent phase.”

Toren sighed, “I can’t stop the dreams anymore than he could can I?”

Kali shook her head, “No, probably not. But maybe you shouldn’t worry so much about stopping them. I’m not saying don’t try to stop bad things from happening, just that you shouldn’t lose any more sleep over not being able to. Everyone dies Toren. But, if I died tomorrow that would be okay. I’ve made the most of the time I’ve had and really that’s all anyone can do.”

Mother and son spent another hour together in the study just talking quietly. The two finally stood up though and realized it was time to rejoin the rest of the family downstairs. The two shared a glance as no words had ever been needed between them.

Toren leaned in and wrapped his arms around Kali. He placed his head on her shoulder and looked toward the door. His mother was right he couldn’t stop his father from dying forever so why waste the time he did have left worrying about it?

He found his father at the base of the stairs. He’d been playing chess when he’d come down. “So what did you want to talk about son?”

Toren tapped his fingers nervously against his leg. This had seemed so much simpler a few moments ago. Finally he just blurted it out, “In my dreams lately I’ve been seeing the people I loved being taken away by death.”

Glyndwr tilted his head to one side, “I’m one of them I take it.”

Glyndwr didn’t hesitate. “Toren, I’m an old man. I’m going to die one day, but I’m getting the sense that there’s a reason why this is such a big deal.”

Toren tilted his head in surprise. “It’s just…I saw when…”

Glyndwr nodded, “You saw your grandfather and the others die and you were powerless to stop it. I’ve suspected you did and I can’t imagine what that was like to be seven and see that sort of thing. All I will say is this, what happened wasn’t your fault. Let’s enjoy what time we’ve got left huh? And hopefully it’s a long way off still, but if it’s not just know I love you.”

Toren smiled, “I love you too.”

That night Glyn exchanged a look with his wife. “What would we do without you girls?”

Kali smirked as she moved a piece, “You’d have managed.”

“I doubt it. I can’t believe my little girl is getting married in the morning.”

The time had indeed finally come for Silvana to tie the knot. She and Avri were married in a simple ceremony in front of the house Avri had purchased just before the wedding.

Toren slid onto the couch in the middle of the darkly lit room. Silvana was so glad to see him smiling again. It had been a long time since she’d seen her big brother so happy. “Not sure about the decorating sis.”

Silvana smiled, “Well, Avri’s not used to a woman’s touch. I’m sure I’ll get the place looking more homey soon enough.”

After all the guests had left the happy couple alone, things had fallen quiet. After cleaning up she’d finally found her way to their shared bedroom. She had thought she’d be excited about the prospect of suggesting they get started on their family, but for some reason she was nervous. She must have read far too many of those history books on mind readers.

Or maybe she should have listened to that first instinct. Silvana had suggested to Avri that they consummate the marriage only to be angrily thrown off. “Are you out of your mind?”

Silvana frowned, “I don’t understand? What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” Avri raged. He wasn’t that into kids to begin with and he certainly didn’t need them complicating matters. Was this woman completely stupid? “Silvana, for crying out loud Gal is still out there. And I’m going to have to devote most of my time to stopping that mad man. And all you can think about is bringing a kid into that kind of a situation!”

Silvana was close to tears, “I’m sorry, Avri. I guess I wasn’t thinking. You’re right we should probably wait until the war is over before we have children.” After all she didn’t want anything bad to happen to anyone that she loved. How could she be so stupid?

Across town, Tristen had gone into labor and was about to bring the first born of generation seven into the world. Glyndwr was the only one home and he found he was still not used to seeing women give birth.

But Glyn managed to get Tristen to the doctor’s in time. A few days later and Tristen and Toren welcomed their baby girl Rhiannon into her home. The little girl had inherited her father’s black hair and blue eyes. Although the eyes could have come from any number of relatives including her own mother.

Tristen loved how much her baby girl reminded her of Toren, but always in the back of her mind was the question just how much like her father is she really? She supposed they’d cross that bridge together when they got to it. For now she enjoyed every waking moment she could. She’d always dreamed of having a little girl.

News travelled quickly amongst their friends and even Ryker stopped by to offer his congratulations. “Congratulations on the kid. Do you think she’ll call me Uncie Kim?”

Tristen furrowed her eyebrows in distaste and shot Toren a glance. Her husband was smirking. They both appeared to be thinking, “I hope not.”

Across town two more of Generation five had reached their golden years. Alfhild an Christian McCarthy celebrated their birthday on the same day surrounded by family and friends. Later that night Christian pulled his wife close, “Are we ready for this Alfie?”

Alfhild laughed, “Now Christian, Ravi is a very nice boy and he’ll take good care of our baby girl.”

Despite his comments, Christian did think Ravi Walosenko was a good man. But he still felt a little bittersweet as he gave his eldest daughter away a few days later.

The entire family was of course present including a quite happily married couple.

And one that was not so happy.

As for the couple that was sharing their first kiss as husband and wife, they couldn’t be happier.

Ravi shared his first dance with Tala pulling her close so he could look into her eyes. He was looking forward to spending many long years with this woman at his side.

Avri was well aware of the expectations of being married. Sure, he was only married to Silvana because she gave him access to her brother and the mission that the council had assigned him to do, but at least she was pretty and had come from a well established family. He supposed he could have done worse. So he smiled and danced with his wife like a good little gypsy herald.

One child of generation six may have been blissfully unaware her marriage was a sham, but no one else in the family seemed to notice the problems either. Avri was playing his part extremely well.

Toren smiled brightly as he lightly spun his wife beneath his arm, “You’ve gotten the hang of dancing dear.”

Tristen giggled, “Well I had a very good teacher.”

Glyn nuzzled his wife’s shoulder, “What are you looking at over there?”

Kali watched her children with a smile, “The kids.”

Glyn kissed her lightly, “Plotting to get more grandkids?”

“Want to help?”

“You bet.”

It was true that Kali and Glyn both loved the idea of having grandkids. But the two had to try and pry Rhiannon away from two adoring parents. So it was a surprise when Kali found Rhiannon crying in her crib. She scooped her granddaughter into her arms and cooed, “Now where has your daddy gotten off to little one?”

The father in question had been summoned away from home by a very distressed Ryker. Si had nearly ran into her brother as he headed out of the house and once prying the information from her older brother she’d insisted on coming too.

“I wonder what all this is about?”

Toren shrugged. “Don’t know. But Ryker sounded pretty worked up about something.”

A few moments later Ryker Kim appeared still in his pajamas. “Toren, Si baby I’m so glad you two are here. I’ve totally screwed up.”

Toren put his hands in the air, “Easy Ryker. Just calm down and tell us what happened.”

“Well you two know that I took that girl in we found at the old man’s? I told you how I believe she’s a zombie, but of course I can’t get her to talk to see if I can figure out how Gal got his hands on a zombie. I’ve been trying, but she won’t talk at all, and now I’ve really messed things up.”

“I feel like I should have seen something like this coming. I mean considering how much she acts like a little kid, I should have known she’d get curious eventually.”

“She peeked into my coffin this morning and..”

“Well look vampires have nasty tempers and I couldn’t control myself. I lunged straight out of the coffin and right into her face. She screamed and ran into one of the bedrooms upstairs. Of course, she’s locked herself inside and she won’t let me in. Toren, I’m sorry. I should never have moved her into my house…I shouldn’t have suggested it. I..”

Toren grabbed Ryker by the shoulders “Ryker relax. It’s okay. I know you didn’t mean to scare her and it’s my fault too. I still say she’s safest staying with you, but we should have eased her into the situation better. She’d probably be too scared to talk to me, but I have an idea.”

“Si, you’re a girl.”

Silvana raised an eyebrow, “Yes so? Wait are you suggesting that I try to talk to her?”

Silvana was sure the woman was scared and she knew from reading Toren’s mind what he was planning. He did have a point. She’d been scared by two men at this point, and so she probably wouldn’t talk to Toren. But could she really get through to her? “I guess I could try.”

The three made their way into Ryker’s home. The vampire left Toren in his living room while he went to put some actual clothes on and to show Si where the bedroom was upstairs. Toren surveyed the room and found it was decorated similar to his Grandfather’s though this home was obviously much smaller.

A few minutes later Ryker joined Toren in the room choosing to sit on the sofa across the room. Both men waited in silence to see if Silvana would have any luck with the mysterious girl upstairs.

She sat at the table and stared across the room at the newcomer. She’d been worried that the man with the gray skin like hers would come and try to get in again, but he hadn’t. Instead a woman had come knocking on the door and she’d sounded so nice that Lyrika had let her inside.

This woman was very pretty and reminded Lyrika of her mommy. Or at least her green eyes did. She remembered her mommy had green eyes. She smiled shyly at the woman and whispered nervously, “Hi. You’ve got such pretty eyes. You’re a nice mommy like mine aren’t you?” She couldn’t help but wonder if maybe she’d get to go home soon.

Silvana had not expected the girl to talk to her let alone be compared to the girl’s mother. She laughed, “No, I’m not a mommy yet. I’d like to have a little girl of my own someday though. My name is Silvana. What’s yours?”

“Really? You’re not a mommy?” Lyrika was shocked. This lady looked like a mommy so to her it made no sense that she wasn’t. She answered the nice lady’s question, “I’m Lyrika Day.”

She confessed, “Can I go home soon? I don’t like living with the other gray man. He’s weird. He jumps on the couches at night and has sharp teeth.”

Silvana could barely hide a smile. “Ryker is actually very sweet. He’s one of my best friends and he’ll take good care of you until we can get you home. But we don’t know where you are from. Where does your mommy live?”

“Oh, “Lyrika bit her lip She whispered, “my mommy’s dead.” There was sadness in the woman’s eyes. “But daddy says we’ll be a family again soon and we’ll all live happily ever after.” She smiled when she thought of her daddy. She felt bad for running away through her door and getting stuck so far away. She missed him. He was probably so worried about her.

“I’m sorry to hear about your mommy.” She had felt her stomach flip when she’d heard Lyrika’s name. Something about it was ringing a bell. It had taken her a few minutes to realize why. She knew there had been Day’s in her family tree and she was starting to get a bad feeling about where this conversation was going to end up. She asked, “Lyrika, whose your daddy?”

“That’s easy Mrs. Silvana. My daddy is..”

Silvana sunk into the chair next to her brother. How was she going to tell them this? Sure what she’d just learned answered some questions, but the answer also gave way to new questions. Her silence was broken by a very tense Ryker, “So what did she say?”

Silvana took a deep breath,” Her name is Lyrika Day and Gal is her father.”