Blood Mountain (BWWM)

Memories

Warmth washed through Vela as she scooped Caedus into her arms. She crooned endearments into his soft skin and nuzzled his brow, making him squeal. He mimicked her actions and rubbed his face against hers with a toothy grin.

Hizen watched the two with a kernel of jealousy. It was foolish. It was silly, really, that he'd be jealous of his own child. But their affection was so...pure. Wholesome.

Completely unlike the relationship between the boy's parents.

A flare of acid burned his lungs and he exhaled a breath, fingers winding themselves in the sheets. Hizen knew he was solely to blame for her resentment toward him. He recognized that fact now.

It hadn't always been so. After almost two years of near constant human influence, he had changed. But that didn't mean he could change the past, no matter how much he wished it.

Vampires were gluttons by nature. Greed was their nature in most, if not all things. And what kept them from dominating all other species was this: they couldn't breed the numbers required to do it. They were a pitifully infertile species and lacked a healthy population of females. For every five males born, there was a single female counterpart. Hizen had seen three in his long life. His sister and two others. He'd had no maternal interaction. Vampires were not nurtured as children, and as adults, they couldn't identify the feeling if it smacked them in the face.

Hizen wasn't a perfect creature. Far from it. And he'd done what all his kind knew as instinct.

He claimed.

Without consent, reason, or explanation, he snatched up the woman who had so vividly caught his attention. She couldn't fight his mark, let alone his physical strength. Vela was at his mercy.

Hizen blinked at the knot in his chest and absentmindedly rubbed the thick muscle, clearing his throat. The toddler cocked his head at the sound and pinned his father with an inquisitive stare, tendrils of magic trying to crawl through the invisible link between them. He felt the tentative push in his mind and had to suppress the gut reaction to snarl.

Gods help him if he threatened Vela's child. She would murder him.

Lips firmly covering pointed teeth, Hizen nudged the seeking touch away from his mind and instead crooked a finger. "Bring him to me," he drawled. He was still so young and fragile, there was no way Hizen could wholly slam that door shut on him. The vampire wouldn't deny their telepathic connection forever...he just needed time. When he was older, he promised himself. There was no way a child could stand the horrors of Hizen's mind.

Vela clutched her baby closer in refusal until Cade gurgled and reached a stubby arm out toward his father. A betrayed glimmer flashed through her eyes and she relented with a short sigh, walking closer as she bounced him on her hip.

"You should put some clothes on..." Her voice tapered off while a pointed gaze jerked across his naked chest and lower. The bedsheets covered the crucial bits, and Hizen grunted as Cade was piled into his arms.

"I'm covered," he hummed under his breath and rearranged his son so that he sat on his stomach. "And he doesn't care."

To show how much he didn't care about his father's state of undress, Caedus pressed nubby fingers to his lips and tried to pry his mouth open. Hizen indulged, lips parting as fingers shoved into his mouth to pinch his fangs. Cade's own canines were small in comparison. They were innocuous and could pass as human. It was only when he fed that they became noticeably larger.

"Oh, Cade," Vela winced at the hand he had stuck in Hizen's mouth. "Don't do that. He's dirty."

Hizen rolled his eyes and gently gripped the boy's wrist, pulling away. "No dirtier than you, Vela."

She flushed at his pointed tone and snatched Caedus back into her arms, making him fuss in question. Vela soothed him with a kiss to his hair and tossed a fluffy towel over her free shoulder, muttering as she strode from the room. "We need more deer. Can you—"

"Yes," He answered immediately and shifted into a sitting position, blankets pooling in his lap. "How many?"

Vela ignored the taut pull of his abs and mumbled, "One is fine...thank you."

It was less grudging than it used to be, but not by much. "You don't need to thank me for that." He tipped his chin. "Anything else?"

"No." She didn't look back this time and held the curtain aside as she passed through, Caedus waving as they went.

The silence of the room was familiar. It was all he'd known until recently, and now it was something he dreaded. Silence reminded him of what he was. Of the mistakes he'd made, and continued to make.

Vela had demanded he set her free. And he had. But the tradeoff was Caedus. He couldn't live in the world of humans. Not with what he'd grow to be. So, she had a choice: leave the mountain by herself or stay in the coven for her son's sake.

Regardless of her feelings toward Hizen, the one wholly responsible for her situation, she refused to abandon her child. Not now, not ever. She would always fight for him. He was her reason to live.

***

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