I sat in the bath while Ari washed the dried blood from my skin and hair. Soren stood in the doorway with his arms crossed, livid with anger. He had been like that ever since he'd found me at school, hiding in the bushes with Dennis and covered in blood, and I began to cry as he upbraided me again.

"What were you thinking, Fenn?" he asked. "Revealing yourself to not one, but two, strangers?"

"Dennis and Gray are not strangers," I argued tearily. "They are my friends."

"I don't know them," he retorted, "and you've known them, at most, a month. Ergo, they are strangers."

"You told Ari all about vampires after a day!" I protested.

I knew this, because I'd made them tell me the story of how they had met many times.

"That was a matter of life and death," Soren snapped.

"But this, too, was life and death!" I exclaimed. "Dennis would have been killed!"

Soren's expression hardened. "Then perhaps that was his fate."

"Soren!" Ari interjected, coming to my aid at last. "Honestly. What would you have done? And don't say you'd have let the boy die, because we both know it isn't true."

"I would not have been traipsing about with a bunch of teen-aged humans, pretending to be one of them, in the first place," he replied coldly. "And I would appreciate it if you would back me up on this, Ari. My concern isn't solely for Fenn. It's for all of us."

He turned on me once more.

"Do you understand that?" he asked. "In revealing yourself, you jeopardize all of us — me, Ari, our family and our friends: everyone and everything you care about. Not to mention your new 'friends' as well; just to possess such knowledge is a danger in itself."

"Soren, you're being dramatic again," Ari remonstrated gently. "And doesn't your own father have a habit of introducing himself as a vampire?"

Soren's mouth thinned. "Yes, but he's also willing and capable of 'correcting' his mistakes. He may act the gentleman, but he's perfectly vicious when he needs to be."

"No need to remind me," Ari said. "I've seen him wipe out an entire cult of necromancers with his bare hands, if you recall."

"Then talk sense to Fenn!" Soren hissed. "We are not careful for our own sakes alone. His actions have consequences."

"Please," I said, beginning to cry in earnest, which did not support my argument that I was a mature and capable vampire, able to handle my own affairs. "Oh, please let me at least say goodbye to them!"

Ari leaned closer, rubbing a hand across my bare shoulders. "Goodbye to whom, Fenn?"

"To my friends," I sobbed. "For surely I shall never go to school, or see any of them, ever again."

"Oh, no," Soren said, shaking his head. "You'll go to school. This is your responsibility now. You're going to keep an eye on those boys, and make sure that what you told them stays with them. And if it doesn't, you're going to clean up your own mess."

A funny feeling heated my chest, and it took me a moment to remember the name for it.

Annoyance.

I was quite annoyed, and it was Soren's fault. He did not understand at all, and he was being very unfair.

"You are not really my father," I said, raising my chin in defiance. "You cannot tell me what to do."

His cobalt eyes flicked a shade closer to midnight, and his voice hardened. "You are right on one count; wrong on another. I am not your father, but I am my father's son. I am Master of this domain, and as long as you reside in it, Fenn Daeghrefne, you will obey me. Is that clear?"

Tears of frustration stung my eyes as I sensed the power rolling off him in waves. Despite my greater age, I stood no chance against him in a battle of wills; my heart and mind may have healed, but his had never been broken.

"Soren, enough," Ari said sharply, and let a hint of his own power slip through his words.

His was different from Soren's — or any vampire's, for that matter — deeper, gentler, and on another order of magnitude altogether. If Soren's was like storm-clouds building in the sky, Ari's was an ocean: incomprehensibly vast, deep, and immovable. Soren yielded at once.

"You're not helping," Ari added, more softly, and cast his mate a pleading look.

"Fine. You handle it, then," Soren said, his mouth a line of displeasure. "And don't blame me when things go to shit."

He left, and Ari heaved a sigh before turning back to me with an apologetic smile.

"Don't mind him, Fenn. He loves you, as much as I do. He just...has a different way of showing it. You scared him, you know."

"Did I?" I sniffed, and wiped at my tears as Ari gently poured warm water over my head, washing the last of the shampoo from my hair.

"Of course. He found you, covered in blood, with an extremely excited human boy babbling about vampires, and then you passed out on the way home. I haven't seen him so scared since... Well, since the last time I scared him, probably."

"When was that?" I asked, curious despite myself.

"Mmm... Probably when I accidentally opened that death-summoning scroll. You know, the one that curses you to die within twenty-four hours after you've read it?"

"Oh, yes."

I did remember — it had been a very stressful twenty-four hours.

"Anyway," Ari sighed, "Soren's not 'angry,' so much as 'worried.' Being snappish and dramatic is just his way of expressing fear."

"Are you afraid?" I asked, blinking through the water that ran in my eyes.

Ari smiled, though his smile had a slight sadness to it. "No, Fenn — not really. I haven't been really afraid since I accepted what I am. Being an emanation of Hecate gives me... a different perspective on things, I guess. But I do care about you, very much, and I do worry. I want you to be safe, but more than that... I want you to be happy. Understand?"

I nodded, and sniffed again.

"Ari?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think I can still go with Dennis to the 'moving theatre,' tomorrow?"

Ari laughed, with no sadness, this time.

"I shall make sure of it. And if Soren objects, I shall drive you there myself," he said.

~ ❀ ~

Ari was as good as his word.

The following day, Soren drove me into town, and parked a few blocks from the theatre in a free lot.

"Many students already have their own driving licenses," I remarked, staring at the dashboard as he pressed the button that made the car go still.

"Oh? Well, perhaps when you stop calling it the 'moving theatre' we can discuss getting your 'driving license,'" Soren muttered.

I scowled.

I had taken Ari's words to heart, and I understood the weight of responsibility Soren bore. On the other hand, I suspected that if Dennis were here, he would describe him as acting like 'a dick.'

"Will you wait for me?" I asked. "Dennis said the... the movie... is about two hours long."

"I'll be around. I have some errands to run, but I'll be back here by..." He looked at his watch. "Five, at the latest."

It was only now half noon.

"Very well," I said, and opened my door to get out.

He reached over and set his hand on my arm.

"Fenn..."

"Yes?" I twisted to look at him.

"Be careful, please. Remember who and what you are — for your friend's sake, as much as your own. And... enjoy yourself, alright?"

He offered me a conflicted smile, and I returned it with my own.

"Yes... Soren."

He shook his head.

"Call me what you will," he said. "And if that is 'father,' I will be honored; although, technically, you are my senior, by vampiric lines, at least."

"Yes... father." I smiled.

His expression eased, and I saw, in that instant, what Ari might see in him — an earnest, if complicated man, with a streak of beauty through his soul.

"You know my number, right?" he asked. "If something comes up, have your... That is, have Dennis call me. I'll answer."

I nodded and got out, and then, with a wave, he reversed and drove away, leaving me alone.