The artificial darkness in Arran's room was broken, along with his sleep, by somebody turning on the lights. Arran's eyes adjusted enough to the light in time to vaguely see his mother each the top of the stairs and place a mug on the table next to his head.

"I am going to tidy the house, I just over slept," he promised, sitting up and reaching for the cup. Coffee definitely seemed like a good idea, the lack of sleep and the remaining alcohol in his system made him feel shaky. As he brought the cup closer to his face he could smell something much more satisfying than just coffee. "Is there blood in this?"

"I have a couple of belated gifts for you," said the slowly sharpening outline of Celyn, "including the world's best morning after cure. It's a double shot of espresso heated up with a third of a bag of blood."

Arran gave the drink an experimental sniff, bagged blood was normally a last resort for him. The compound used to stop it congealing in the plastic made it taste bitter and it came out with a sickening, syrupy consistency. However, warmed up and mixed with strong coffee it smelt appetising. He took a sip and then followed it with a big gulp.

"That's surprisingly palatable, thank you."

He stretched and leant back against the headboard. Now that his eyes had totally accustomed to the light and his head was a little clearer he could see that his mother had hung Cree's discarded nightgown over the foot of his bed. The sight of it made his stomach clench.

"Oh god," he blurted. "I told Cree to fuck off last night."

Celyn pursed her lips, that was probably not what she was expecting. In one movement she hopped up onto the half wall and sat cross legged on the corner, taking a drink from her mug. Arran wondered how long he would have to live before he was so sure of how his body worked that he could do something like that without thinking.

"Ok tell me what happened," she said. It was less of an offer and more of a command.

Arran explained his interaction with Cree to her. He was mildly embarrassed to have to talk about her trying to seduce him but Celyn had always been very frank about that kind of thing. She said that after a century and a half of sexual activity and raising five children through adolescence it was impossible for her to be bothered by talking about sex. Beyond the slight awkwardness, it was good to talk it all through out loud with his mother.

"Do you think I was too harsh? What she's going through is really horrible."

"No Arran, I really like Cree but she isn't inclined to put anyone else above her own needs. It's good that you're looking out for your own emotions for once instead."

"But I feel like I've left her all alone."

"That's not your problem right now."

Arran nodded, it was a relief to hear her say the words and while he still wasn't proud of what he'd done, he didn't feel quite as bad. They sat in silence for a while and drank their coffees, Celyn leant back and looked over her shoulder at the floor below, apparently unaware that she was balanced on a piece of glass a few inches thick.

When she had finished, she swung herself down and hovered by the end of his bed.

"Did you have a fun night, apart from the end?" She asked, with a slightly worried tone.

"Honestly the actual party with everyone from school was a really great night. I had a lot of fun with my friends and I talked to people I don't normally hang around with."

"Good. I'm really glad that you've made healthier relationships with people more local."

"Well yeah, but I think I kind of messed all that up at the end of the night."

Celyn sighed and sat down cross legged on the end of the bed. Arran hadn't planned on telling her about his kiss with Naomi but if he was being honest with himself, he wouldn't have mentioned it at all if he didn't really want to.

"I kissed my friend Naomi last night," he admitted, staring into the bottom of his mug.

"And..." she led on.

"And I shouldn't have." He finished lamely.

"Why?"

Many reasons sprang to Arran's mind. If she had feelings for him then he would have to reject her, despite his own desires, to protect her. But if she didn't then he had jeopardised their friendship by kissing her. Either way there was no easy way forward. He tried to explain all of this to his mother but she refused to take it at face value.

"Look, do you like this girl?"

"Yeah, but it's not like I can act upon that."

"Why on earth not?"

"Because I'm a vampire!"

"And what has that got to do with anything?"

This was infuriating, the problems were so obvious and Arran couldn't understand why she was being so facetious.

"At some point over the next few years I'm going to stop ageing and I'll never start again! The amount of time I can keep this charade up for gets shorter every day." He hadn't spent much time thinking about it but as the words came out that was exactly what he was worried about. No matter how much he was enjoying himself, it couldn't last. "I have nothing to offer her but eternity and that's worse than anything."

There was a pause in which Celyn bit her lower lip. She looked sad but Arran couldn't really tell why, he could make peace with being alone. Theoretically if he lived forever he was likely to fall in love with a vampire at some point.

"Why does everything have to last for eternity?" She asked softly. "You're only just 18, you're going off to University in a year, maybe the same one, maybe not. At the end of the day she's just a girl you've really known a month and kissed once at a party. And as for how long you can keep it up, you can go well into your thirties if you want to, people aren't on the lookout for vampires they won't really notice."

"But what happens then? Naomi and I both end up at Edinburgh and fall in love?"

"I honestly can't believe you're framing that as a bad thing."

"Well one day she'd notice that she's got wrinkles and I still look 21."

"I assume you'd tell her if your relationship did get serious."

"Tell her? I couldn't tell her!"

"Why not?"

"Because I'm a fucking vampire! It's not a good thing to be. It's dark, it's...it's dangerous."

"Arran aside from the odd fight you've never done anyone any harm in your life."

"Not me, but lots of vampires have."

Celyn looked like she was going to say something but stopped herself. Arran knew that he could never let himself develop feelings for a human. Even if he could come around to being open about his vampirism with a human partner and then somehow wound up being ok with turning them he'd have to go to the council and ask their permission. The thought of his love life and future happiness being decided by a bunch of disinterested witches made him feel physically sick.

"There has been a trend, and it hasn't always been like this," Celyn began slowly, "there's been a trend to paint all vampires as naturally cruel or destructive. And there's always been aspects of this, at least as long as I've been alive, but it's really come into its own alongside mass media. But I don't think that it's true at all and even if it were, no matter what you feel or what you've grown up seeing on the news, you are not responsible for your species. There is nothing wrong with you as a person and there's nothing inherently wrong with that specific part of you."

He let her words sink in, everything that she said made perfect sense when he thought about it but there was something deep within him that didn't want to hear it. Perhaps there was some merit to what she had said earlier about it not having to be forever though. They had less than a year left of high school and realistically that was half as long as his adult life to date, relatively speaking a year dating Naomi would be quite a long time. That's if she wanted him at all anyway.

"Well I don't see you dating any humans, what's your excuse?"

"When I was younger than you my parents basically sold me to the madman of Rose House who then in turn gifted me to Isaac and it doesn't bear mentioning how horrible either of those relationships were. Then the only man I have ever actually loved left me pregnant the moment his estranged wife wandered back on to the scene. So I have a terrible track history and besides that I'm horrendously busy. You have no such reason."

Maybe he was just finding justifications to not want to be happy, he'd gotten very used to miserable after his breakup. He should have come to Celyn sooner with how he felt but he was certain that he wouldn't have listened to her.

"You know that you're a really good mother, right?"

"I am excellent at everything that I do. Besides after five children you get pretty well versed in this stuff," she joked, before pulling something out of her pocket. It was the bracelet that Celeste had made him. "I have one last present for you, but I want you to put this on first. I did some testing and checked in with your sister, it's nothing strong but it's a charm that boosts optimism. It won't affect how you process anything, it will only help you see the positives in things."

He wouldn't normally touch anything with magic on it if he could possibly avoid it, but since it wasn't actually made by a witch he took it from his mother and put it on. He didn't feel any different, he expected some kind of jolt of energy to rush over him and make him feel happy. If anything like that did happen, he'd throw it away.

"What's the final present then?"

"Come with me."

He got out of bed still feeling grimy in the old clothes but curious to see what it was. He was expecting something not tangible, like the hangover cure recipe so was confused when she led him downstairs.

As they left through his private entrance Arran's hopes were high. Maybe she had bought him a car after all. They turned the corner to the garage, Arran having to force himself to keep at a normal pace but when he saw what was parked next to his mother's car he broke into a run.

"Holy shit," was all he could say.

The car was brand new and brilliant red, the exact make and model that he had joked about getting. It made Celyn's three-year-old BMW look outdated in comparison though they cost about the same new.

He couldn't quite believe it, he looked to his mother for confirmation and she tossed him a set of keys. The grin on his face refused to leave as he hugged Celyn tight in thanks.

"You're 18, you're the proud owner of a brand new Alfa Romeo, your sister has kindly cleaned the house for you and you've literally got charmed jewellery to help you look on the bright side. Do you think you could try to have a little fun?"

"Sure," he laughed, "I'll give it a go."