The Pull

Chapter 25 Henry

The hardest visitor to see was my mother. Hannah was brought in by Angelica and she helped her sit in a chair, before discreetly leaving. My mother and I stared at each other. Neither of us seemed to know what to say.

I was conflicted. I had never thought I would get a chance to meet my mother and until I saw her I thought all I would want to do was run to her and hold her. But when I saw her all I could think about was the story I was told of her death, she had wanted to kill me and herself. I'm not stupid, I know my father could have made the lie up as a cover for his enslavement of her. After all, if everyone thought she was dead, no one would look for her.

I felt guilty. I had assumed once I saw her, I would instantly feel a son's love for his mother, but other than empathy for what she had gone through, I felt nothing. I hated myself for it, but I couldn't change it.

Hannah cleared her throat and she said, "I'm proud of who you have become Henry."

"You don't know who I am," I said, testily, as if she had anything to do with the way I turned out. I knew it was wrong of me, she had no choice, but it didn't stop me.

"I know who your Inamorata thinks you are," Hannah said. "She showed me." I saw my mother's chin tremble and she swallowed several times before she said, "I know what you did for her. I know you walked away." Tears started to fall from her eyes and suddenly my sight blurred and I cried again. "I know how hard that must have been. But, nothing she could have shown me would make me prouder."

I felt it then, the first hint of the love I craved. I went to her crouched before her and took her frail hands in mine. "Thank you," I said. "I didn't know how much I needed to hear you say that."

We talked then, well I talked and Mother asked me questions. It wasn't always easy, there were some moments of uncomfortable silence. But it was a beginning.

Before she left, Mother said, "I did try to kill myself," I stared at her horrified. I opened my mouth to speak but she raised a hand indicating I should let her finish. I clamped my jaw shut tight, my jaw clenching so hard I wondered if I would crack a tooth. "I tried many times to end my life until I fell pregnant with you in my very first heat." She shook her head and looked me in the eyes. "After that, I wanted to live. I loved you from the moment I felt you move in my belly and I never stopped."

"That, I know, I needed to hear," I said.

Fawn started stirring then, and panicked I went to her side. Hannah somehow made her way over to me and said, "I'll leave you two alone. Good bye, Henry." She lifted her hand to my cheek and I gave her a kiss on both of hers before I walked her to the door.

It had been six weeks since Alfred died. Fawn recovered quickly after those first few nights and our new life together started. There was a lot to work out, starting with our official coronation celebration.

On the morning of the ceremony I woke before Fawn, which was unusual these days, so I laid still so as not to disturb her. Sometimes when I wake up and I catch her scent, I feel like I'm still dreaming. The delicious fragrance of Fawn's blood haunted my dreams for so long, I often find it hard to believe that she is with me and not a spectre of my imagination.

She had her back to me this morning, and I admired the curve of her waist and hips and the long lines of her back. I listened to her slow, steady, Vampiric heartbeat and watched her chest expand with her breaths. She doesn't snore anymore and sometimes I miss hearing her soft rumbles.

I wanted to touch her, kiss her, make love to her, but more than all of that, I wanted her to sleep. She rarely slept these days, much less that a Vampire should. It was as if she thought her two days of nearly non-stop sleep inoculated her from the need to ever sleep again. She went five days without sleeping a week ago. I had chastised her, telling her she was doing too much. We argued, and she got stubborn. I chuckled softly as I remembered telling her, "If you don't go to sleep tonight, I will tie you to the bed and fuck you until you can't keep your bloody eyes open anymore." It was one few arguments I won and was disappointed when I did.