I couldn't sleep.

I don't know why. All I could do was toss and turn. I was alone in my bed, aside from Ember sleeping beside me. I don't know why I suddenly didn't want to sleep alone. I got used to sleeping with Ryan in the bed, but I was happy I was finally able to be alone. I still wanted to go home, but I guess I'd have to deal with this. I didn't really have a choice. It was this or nothing.

Maybe I'd just go see what Ryan was doing. He was probably asleep, but I was wide awake.

I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm terrified of him, but at the same time, I just want to be with him. I didn't want him near me, but at the same time, I did. He kidnapped me, he raped me, and hurt me; but I wanted him. It was like some fucked up kind of Stockholm syndrome, all caused by the fact that he fucking bit me. He said it himself, that I was addicted to his bite, and that's probably why I want to be with him. 

I sighed and rolled out of bed, careful not to wake up Ember. I stood up, and headed over to the door, taking a deep breath. Did I really want to do this? I didn't know. I wanted to be alone, but I wanted to be with Ryan.

I was already up, so I may as well. I left my room, closing the door behind me. I walked down the hall, a few doors down, to Ryan's room. I knocked on the door, listening for any kind of response.

I carefully pushed the door open, trying to be as quiet as possible. I looked inside, realizing the room was empty. Ryan wasn't in there.

He must be in his office.

I could turn around and go back to bed, but I didn't really want to. Before I really knew it, I found myself walking downstairs and heading to his office.

I swallowed hard and knocked on the big double doors.

"It's open." I heard from inside.

I pushed the doors open and stepped inside. He was at his desk, reading over some papers, seeming very focused on them.

"...Hi." I mumbled.

He looked up at me, dropping his papers on the desk. "What's wrong?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I just can't sleep."

He nodded towards the couch on the side of the room. "You can stay in here if you want, but I'm working."

I sat down on the couch, watching him pick up a pen and sign the papers.

I watched him for a while, trying to figure out what he did for work. He didn't go out during the day, and usually slept most of it, so I wasn't sure what he did. He obviously didn't have to actually go to work. I couldn't think of any jobs that would work for a vampire. Maybe like a security guard or something that was done at night, but I wasn't sure. I was a bartender, but that didn't seem like a job good for a vampire. It would probably be too many people. A doctor probably wasn't a good idea either; there was a lot of blood involved. Or maybe a doctor was good. They wouldn't be noticed if they took blood or something. But Mike goes hunting for them, and if he was a doctor, he wouldn't have to hunt.

"What do you do?" I asked.

He glanced over at me, seeming to think for a moment. "I'm a...lawyer. Sort of."

"Oh. But you never go to court or anything."

"Who says I don't?" He asked. "I'm not the type of lawyer you're thinking of. I'm a lawyer for the creatures like me. We might share a planet with the humans, but we have a whole different world."

"What do you mean?"

"You we're raised by humans. I don't expect you to understand, your eyes aren't trained, but there's a world inside of a world out there. Everywhere you turn, there's monsters and different creatures. We have our own police, our own courts, our own religions, our own societies, that are all within the world you're used to. We need lawyers, just like humans do. Our cases just get a little bit more serious. And I'm the best one around. I win every one."

"Oh...I never knew." I mumbled.

A whole world inside of the one I've always lived in? It seems a little too fake. It seems like something out of a fairytale or a movie. It doesn't sound right.

"I'll show you some time."

I nodded.

He turned towards me and stood. "Now, why can't you sleep?"

He came and sat next to me, gently stroking my hair.

I shrugged, looking down at the floor. "I-I...I guess I got used to...to being with you. I can't sleep a-alone."

He was quiet for a long moment, before going back to his desk. He pulled out his laptop and started doing something.

He never responded to what I said. He just continued to type away.

I watched him for what felt like hours before he finally turned back to me. "Feel like going for ride?"

"Where?"

"That, my love, is for me to know, and you find out."

I nodded.

"Go get dressed."

———————

We've been in the car for almost an hour now. I wasn't sure where we were going or how much longer we had to go.

Ryan was wearing really dark sunglasses, and the windows in the car were almost black, but I could still see him squinting his eyes against the sunlight.

He wouldn't tell me where we were going. I'd asked multiple times, but he just told me that I'd see.

"Are we going to see another one of your friends?" I asked.

"We might. Depending on how this trip goes."

"How much further?"

"Fifteen minutes, maybe."

I nodded. I looked down, tracing the tattoos on my hand. I was bored. I never liked long car rides. Especially if I didn't know where we were going or why.

"Can you please tell me where we're going?"

"You'll see soon."

"Please? It's making me anxious. I don't...I don't like not knowing."

He sighed and glanced over at me. "I'm trying to find out what you are."

"She said I was-"

"I know what she said, but that seems wrong. It doesn't make sense." He told me. "I tracked down your birth mother and we going to go speak with her."

"Is that a good idea? She doesn't know who I am."

"You're right about that. She has no idea who you are, which is why you're going to go to her door first. Tell her that twenty five years ago, she gave up a child, and that's you, and that you want to speak with her. And then I'll come along."

I nodded.

I didn't see this going well. I have no idea how I'm going to handle this. I never wanted to meet my birth mother, but Ryan really wanted to know what I was.

I looked up as we slowed down and pulled into a driveway. It was a pretty big house, gray, with big windows and ivy climbing up most of the walls. There were various plants surrounding the house and door.

He parked the car and then looked over at me. "Her name is Esme Addington. Tell her the truth."

I nodded and slowly got out of the car. I took a deep breath and headed towards the door. I stood on the porch and looked around. I didn't see a door bell, so I knocked three times.

I looked back at Ryan, who was leaning up against his car door, watching me.

I heard the door creak open and a woman's voice come through, soft and melodic, but with a thick accent of some sort. "Who are you?"

"Oh, um, I'm looking for-for Esme Addington."

"Depends what you want."

"My name is Chris Cerulli. Um, Twenty five years ago, she...she had a child. That she gave up...I came to see my mother..."

I've never shook this badly in my life.

The door swung open and a beautiful woman stood there. She had bright blue eyes and jet black hair, cut just below her chin.

"I'm Esme." She spoke softly, her voice somehow calming.  "I knew you'd be coming sometime soon, copil. I've been waiting for you, Lucien. Please, come inside."

I glanced back at Ryan.

"The vampire isn't welcome. He cannot cross the threshold unless I allow it."

I put one foot inside, and within seconds, Ryan was behind me, grabbing onto my shoulders and pulling me back. I gasped, trying not to freak out.

I watched him barre his fangs, hissing at the woman. "Skinwalker."

She stared at me before bringing her gaze to Ryan. Her voice still had that calm lilt as she spoke. "Bloodsucker."

"Witch." Ryan hissed.

"Ryan, what's going on?"

"She's a fucking skinwalker. A filthy witch." He growled. "Don't let her fucking touch you."

"Lucien is my son. My copil. I've been waiting for him to return to me." She spoke.

"My name is Chris. Not Lucien."

"Chris is the name given to you by the humans who raised you. Lucien is the one given by your father." She told me, motioning for me to follow her. "That's why your boală sângeroasă brought you here. He wants to know of your father."

I don't know why, but I was following after her.

"Chris, if you go with her, I won't be able to help you. I can't get in the house." Ryan told me, his voice low. "She can hurt you."

I looked back at Ryan, but before I could say anything, she pulled me inside the house, closing the door behind me.

I didn't like where this was going. I didn't know what was going to happen.

"You're here because you're finally old enough." She spoke, walking in a circle around me, looking me up and down.

"I-I'm only here to find out what I am."

I could hear Ryan outside but I couldn't get out to him. "Don't eat or drink anything!"

"You, my child, are a...crime."

"What?"

A crime? What the hell did that mean?

"Come, sit."

I glanced between her and the door.

"If you leave, you'll never learn what you are." She told me. "I'll explain, but you have to sit. It's a long story."

I cautiously moved over to her and sat down across from her.

She waved her hand and all of a sudden, a tray appeared on the coffee table, full of food and tea kettle. "Help yourself."

"No, I'm okay, thank you." I said, keeping in mind Ryan's words.

"Twenty seven years ago, I fell in love, with a demon named Asmodeus. You were the outcome of that love. But because of what he was and what I am, you were considered an abomination, a crime, it was uh, interzis. Forbidden. If I'd have kept you, I would have been killed. The demons higher than him wanted to kill me and you, because he had a hybrid child. So I did what any mother would. I cast a spell, put any powers you might have behind a wall, so you'd never access them, and put you into a human orphanage." She explained, not breaking eye contact. "It was the only way I could ensure your life. I knew you'd come find me eventually. I've watched you your whole life. I watched that vampire kidnap you, I watched you go see that curvă, Maria. I saw everything."

I stared at her with wide eyes. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to react or respond. I didn't understand. I didn't know what she was. Ryan called her a witch and a skinwalker but I didn't know what that was. "What...What exactly are you?"

"Well, as your your monstru so kindly pointed out, I am what's known as a skinwalker. I'm a vrăjitoare, a witch. Your father was a demon. So you, my copil, are something in between."

"What language is that?" I asked. She kept using it in her sentences and I didn't know what it meant.

She laughed a little. "Oh, apologies, my dear. My English isn't that good anymore. It's Romanian."

I was so confused. None of this made sense.

"Your father will want to meet you."

I shook my head. "No. I don't want to. I'm leaving."

"You're not."

I stood up and went towards the door. As I reached it, it locked. I tried to unlock it but it was stuck. The lock wouldn't turn.

"Ryan?" I called, but got no response.

"Come back here, Lucien. Your father is here."

I heard another door in the house open, probably the back door, and a deep voice spoke. "There's a vampire outside."

"I know. Leave him."

"What do you want, Esme? I don't have time for this."

"I know, dragă, but Lucien is here. He came looking for his father."

"Lucien? I thought you weren't expecting him for a while longer?"

I continued to mess with the doorknob, trying to get it unlocked. It was like it was stuck. I couldn't get it to turn. I put every ounce of strength I had into it but it wouldn't work.

"I never said I knew exactly when he would come. Just that it would be when he was in his twenties."

He sighed. "Did you tell him anything?"

"Only what he needed to know. I had to set him straight. That vampire whore told him he was, uh, antihrist."

"Hm. Where is he?"

"Probably still trying to leave."

I heard footsteps moving closer to me. I didn't know why the door wouldn't open. I wanted to leave. I didn't want to be here anymore.

This went horribly wrong. This wasn't supposed to happen. I thought she was human. I didn't know this would happen. I just thought that maybe I'd speak with her and that would be that. I never in a million years, expected have her lock me in the house so my demon father could meet me. I never expected this. I didn't want to come here. I never wanted to meet my birth parents. I knew this was a bad idea the moment Ryan told me about it.

I turned around as I heard the footsteps enter the room, my back to the door, my breathing heavy.

Something told me I wasn't making it out of here.

—————————

here's another alcohol and sleeping pill fueled chapter. idk how i feel about it. let me know what y'all think i guess <3

and i decided to throw another language in again, you know, to add a little flavor. most of what's said is pretty much explained after.

~xxLux