Darkness surrounded Lucian's life, he knew death curled its icy grip around his past and haunted his future. Shadows watched him creeping their way slowly to him as he sat in the parlour, alone. The painting of his past stared down at him from its high perch over the mantle. Heat from the fire warmed the room but it did little to abate the shadows. Lucian knew they would always follow him. Reminding him of his past, his families past. It was wrong to stay in this house but he could not leave it. He felt tied to it, unable to move on. This was his family home, the maternal ancestral home. But the past reminded him to never forget, to always remember that his line was cursed. Cursed to walk these hallowed halls remembering those who had been slain, those who had been lost.

Lucian flicked another picture into the fire, watching as the image of one happy couple burned. Its edges curled in as the fire crushed the photo, slowly taking another image of her away from him. Long brown hair curled around her shoulders and over her chest as she happily hugged him in the photo. He had lost her because of his own fault. So wrapped up in the need to satisfy his urges that he forgot what she valued the most. Love, happiness, truthfulness, monogamy. She had believed his lies for so long but in one fateful night, she found the truth.

She was supposed to be in the werewolf realm with her father for some kind of business for their kingdom. Lucian had thought at the time it was an opportune moment, to have some fun while she was gone. He was drunk, he was high, he had fed from a woman that was part of his harem who was also high, making it worse. She didn't know about the harem, Lucian knew he was treading on thin ice having them around but somewhere in the depths of his mind, he knew he didn't really care. It was harsh and cruel and he didn't know why he was like that, but that's the way he was.

When she found him all hell broke loose. She ripped into the room and dragged one of the women off the bed by her hair in an effort to get to him. Her eyes were ablaze with fury as she pulled the next one out from under him, sending white powder everywhere. He remembered scrambling off the bed, thinking he was a dead man. The look in her eyes told him she wanted him dead. As he struggled to pull his pants on she told him that they were done, there were no more chances. She turned and fled the room, taking any form of reconciliation with her. Lucian knew he had well and truly broken her. Ariella hated him and he deserved her hate. He knew he deserved a whole lot more.

Lucian tossed the last remnants of his life with Ariella into the fire, it was the wedding invitation. Time had passed and the soft cream card had turned yellow, the beautiful script font had bled into the surrounding paper. She had moved on with someone else, she had found her mate and had a family now. The glass of whiskey in his other hand was upended, there was no more in the bottle. With anger and sadness, Lucian crushed the crystal in his hand. Pieces of the crystal dropped to the rug below, blood dripped with them. He opened his hand to see the fragments shimmer in the light of the fire, blood pouring out of the wounds. Pain was nothing any more, this was nothing. His uncut hand washed over the other, the shards fell to the ground, the blood dried up and the wounds healed. This was an ability of the first born child of the ruler of the realm, he was a psychical healer. Now his hand was normal again, there was no evidence except for the glittering bloody shards at his feet.

He sat back into the chair and looked up at the painting that haunted him and his family. It was once a loving picture of a man, a woman and their infant child. Now it was a haunting memory of how one act can destroy a family. How one person can take away so much with so little regard for anyone other than themselves. Now it served as a reminder to Lucian to trust no one. Not even his own family. The shadows drew closer as his thoughts became more morbid, more chilling. He had to get away, he had to forget. Lucian knew there was only one way to forget the horror of his past. No amount of alcohol or drugs could ever do the job right. There was only one thing that satisfied him now. He stood from his chair and determinedly walked into the corridor, grabbed his hooded jacket and readied himself to flee into the night. The inky darkness would hide him from the guards that patrolled the land and protected him. They were a pain, always getting in the way when he tried to feed.

'Your highness, readying for dinner at your parents, shall I notify the guards to accompany you?'

Lucian could feel the colour drop from his face as Theodore spoke, he had completely forgotten about dinner.

'Yes.' he turned with a feigned smile 'Off to dinner.'

Theodore nodded with a bow and turned to attend to his duty. Lucian sighed, his plans for a night on the town, feeding and maybe finding a special friend were now shot to pieces. Now he had to have dinner with his parents and his siblings.

**********************

Dinner was uncomfortable for all, Lucian sat at the table with his leg shaking under it, pushing the food around the plate. His siblings said nothing, his parents watched without a word. His mother, Alina, waited until her other children were done with their meals and dismissed them from the table. She rounded the table and firmly placed her hand on Lucian's shoulder after he had tried to escape with them.

'Dale, shut the doors behind you darling.'

'Yes mother.' he whispered.

Dale gave his older brother a sympathetic smile, knowing he was in for it, big time. Alina left his side as Dale shut the door, moving with elegance as she passed Alex at the head of the table. When she reached the door, she flicked the tiny lock with one slow movement. Lucian gulped as he watched the tiny catch slowly flick over. Alina moved slowly, running her hand over her husband's shoulders, stopping on the other side. His hand warmly grasped hers, a sign of unity in their mission.

'You dare come to this house high?'

'And drunk.' Alex added.

'I'm not.' Lucian hissed.

'Do not lie Lucian, we are not the fools you take us for. We will cut your allowance if necessary, we will make you return to our house, we will put you in a rehab program if you continue. Do we need to do these things Lucian?'

'No.' he snapped.

'You need to deal with your demons, if you do not they will drag you down and take you from us. You need to stop.'

Lucian stared at the table, his leg still shaking under the table.

'You need to move on with your life. Accept that you wronged her and so many others and move forward. If you need to seek her forgiveness, then do so. But you need to find peace Lucian.' his father implored 'Learn from our mistakes son, become a man that can be good to a woman.'

Alex looked up at his wife, she smiled softly at him. Theirs had been a very hard path, they knew they had not only wronged themselves with their infidelity, but they had wronged Lucian too. Now they could see why he was the way he was. For many years he had known of his parent's misbehaviour. His mother and her werewolf lover, Finn, they had been together for years. And his father and his many women, the list had been long. If they could have turned back time, they would have, for Lucian's sake most of all. It held no detriment to their lives, they had now found their own monogamous love and were completely faithful to each other. But their beginning had showed their son that there was fun to be had in having more than one lover.

'Fine.' he sighed.

'You will stop the drugs and the drinking?'

'Yes.' he groaned.

'And the countless women?'

'Yes!' he snapped again.

'Maybe some anger management as well.' Alina bit back.

She moved from her husband's side to her son, taking him firmly by the jaw so that he looked her directly in the eye.

'Do not come here and be so rude to your family. Do not come here with your vices.' she hissed lowly 'You are not so old that I cannot put you over my knee and smack the living hell out of you. Understand?'

'Yes mother.'

Her hand released its firm grip and gently ran over his jaw.

'You could offer someone so much Lucian, do not waste your life.'

Lucian had finally been freed from his lecture, unsure if he was actually going to keep his promises. Now he was stuck with one annoying brat pleading him to take her somewhere. Lucian's deep dark eyes bored down into hers, her brown curls nestled around her sweet, innocent looking face. She knew how to annoy him, not that it was hard. His temper was something that was his worst asset. Marinya looked up at her brother, a full head taller than her. He looked like their dead grandfather, a little like their parents too. His hair was deep brown, almost black in certain lights, tall with an athletic build. He had the eyes of the first born of the realm leader, a deep blue rings surrounded the watery blue irises. Their paternal grandmother always said Lucian was the spitting image of their dead maternal grandfather, the former king of their realm.

Marinya on the other hand was much like their mother. Long beautiful hair, thin frame and skin to die for. But for all their beauty, they were flawed. The Eliade side of the line, their mother's family was one that had dark skeletons. It was a past that they feared would come back, treachery was in their blood.

'Please Lucian.' she fluttered her pretty blue eyes at him. 'I don't want to go by myself.'

Lucian huffed at her, the youngest of his siblings was barely an adult yet still annoying. He had hoped that her turning eighteen would change her more annoying traits. This was supposed to be family dinner, not annoying sister night. As always he had been reluctant to come but refusal wasn't an option, his mother would have found him and dragged him by his ear. And after the lecture of the century from his parents, Lucian was in no mood for anyone's nonsense.

'Go with Estha, I've got better things to do that go to a stupid rock concert.'

'It's not rock.' she muttered under her breath annoyed at her wooden brother. 'And Estha can't go, she has some family shit on.'

'Marinya.' their father growled, having quietly slipped into the room upon hearing the conversation.

'Take her to the concert Lucian.'

He groaned as he flicked his hand through his hair, wanting to pull at it in frustration.

'You're acting as if it's going to be the death of you.' Marinya scoffed.

'Don't joke about that young lady.' Alex reprimanded her softly.

'Well?' she quickly changed the subject.

'Fine.' he hissed. 'I'm going home.'

'Friday night Lucian, be here at six, don't be late.'

'Yeah, yeah.' he flicked his hand dismissively.

Lucian stood by the door to mid-jump, forming his key with a big sigh. Where his zest for life had gone, he had no clue. All he wanted to do was crawl into a ball and forget about everything. Inner turmoil, debauchery, opulence and greed, this was his life. He was growing to hate it.

'Going home so soon darling?'

His gaze turned from the red flames flicking in his hand to the beauty beside him, his mother. Her long brown hair floated down her body, her eyes bright and blue and the fangs sat perfectly on her blood red lips. Even though she had threatened to put him over her knee and smack him as if he was a kid again, he still loved her. He could never be angry at her.

'Yes mother, Marinya has what she wants, I have been persuaded to take her to whatever the hell it is...' he frowned at the thought with a relenting sigh. 'So yeah.'

Alina gave her son a sympathetic smile as she gently rubbed his arm.

'How did you get past it?'

'The cheating?'

'Everything, not just dad's misbehaviour. How did you get past what Gavril did to your parents, what he did to you?'

'Anger and hate will eat at your soul. You will never be able to forget but you can forgive. He may not deserve it but you do. You need to forgive in order to move forward. Yes, he murdered my parents, yes he abducted me but I cannot live with anger. So I forgave him, not so much as to speak the words, but in my mind I have moved on.'

Lucian could see the sadness in her eyes, he was doubting that she had in fact moved on.

'As for your father, well what we had in the beginning worked for a while and when it didn't we changed how we were. What we have now is perfect. We have wronged you Lucian, you grew up thinking it was ok to have more than one woman in your life. You need to get out, stop hanging around the house with those women, find someone worthwhile.'

He nodded solemnly and kissed her on the cheek.

'I'll see you Friday when I come to pick up the brat.'

Lucian stepped into mid jump, the in between realms area for all dark beings, a safe haven for their own kind from the humans that had once roamed the earth freely. Now it was all about shopping and eateries, socialising with friends and travelling to the other two realms. Lucian closed the gate between his parent's place and mid jump, waiting for the door to reset. His mind contemplated going straight back to his own place but the darkness was closing in. Even in the brightly lit corridor of mid jump, Lucian felt the shadows drawing closer. His mind whispered to him that inner peace was so close, a few steps and he would find what he needed. He gripped at his forehead with anguish, trying to send the whispers away. The door clicked with the reset and Lucian looked around, seeing a few people watching. He quickly pressed the code for his gate and escaped the gossiping crowd.

****************************

Later that night Lucian sat in his lounge, watching the women that consisted of his harem enjoy themselves with the delights of the flesh, drinking and in vain trying to tempt Lucian to them. They failed. Lucian was losing his lust for them, finding it hollow. After six hundred odd years of meaningless sex and feeding from strange women, he found his life shallow and pointless. He had no zest, his days lingered from one to the next and he wondered if all vampires found eternal life like this. Surely not, his parents were happy and in love, he has seen other vampires happy. Was his mother right? Did his happiness lie in the arms of a life mate? If so, where was she?

His thoughts were yet again cast back to a time where he had found happiness in the arms of another, Ariella Mordecai. Lucian knew she wasn't his life mate, he knew the second he fed from her, her blood was of normal taste. Those that were made for another, a life mate was sweet, the sweetest tasting blood a vampire could find. And she wasn't. Lucian let out a low growl at the thought of him, the man that Ariella had married. He had what he knew Lucian would never have, parental approval. Lucian knew that Lucas did not approve of his daughter seeing him. It resonated loud and clear. It didn't matter that Lucian was the first born son of the ruler of the realm, it didn't matter that if his mother were to die, he would be king. Lucas openly tried to discourage their relationship. All because Lucas knew Lucian was a player. He knew what Lucian got up to in his spare time.

And there it was in front of him, in all their naked glory. The women that caused his pain and suffering. Angrily he got up and threw his glass of scotch against the wall and stormed out of the room, leaving a bevy of women gaping.