"You can't keep me cooped up forever, Oliver!" A boy snapped.

Oliver turned, and looked helplessly at the boy, who was lounging out on the bed. "I can do as I damn well please, Gabriel."

"I know she changed him! I want to go see him!"

"I said no."

Sitting up, the boy, no older than eleven, glared at his master. "I'm not one of those humans that cower in your presence, Oliver. You don't own me!"

Oliver, who had been fidgeting with something in the closet, whipped around, and looked at him, his eyes sparking red. "Watch your tone. I created you, and I can easily end you," he growled, hinting at his pearly fangs.

The boy, Gabriel, straightened up. "She wouldn't let you. And you wouldn't disobey her," he says smugly.

"Take it up with her then!"

Gabriel sank back onto the bed, looking defeated. "You know she won't see me. She doesn't like to be reminded of her mistakes."

Oliver glanced over his shoulder, as his attention was now back to the closet, before shrugging. "Not a mistake per say, more of an unexpected turn of events, you see," he consoles as he heads over to the bed.

As soon as Oliver sat down, the boy was in his lap. "It's not my fault," he grumbled, looking up a bit blankly.

The vampire sighed. He had seen wars and the rise and fall of nations, but for the life of him, he could not figure out teenage mood swings.

"I still want to see him, I have the right, he's my brother," he grumbles, snuggling into Oliver as the man ran his hand through the boy's short, strawberry blonde hair.

"Only half brother, you know."

Gabriel shot him a pointed look. "Again, not my fault," he states flatly.

Oliver rolled his eyes, and pushed the tiny form off his lap. "Go to sleep, it's late."

They boy rolled his eyes. "What am I, two?"

Oliver was already at the closet, dressing. He turned, looking emotionlessly at Gabriel. "Frankly, Gabe, if you're going to act like a toddler, you're going to be treated like one."

"Whatever," he snorts, rolling over on the bed. "Where you headed?"

"None of your business, child. Go to bed. I'll be back."

"Mmmkay, Arnold."

Oliver cracked a rare smile, shook his head, and walked out of the room, down the hall, and down the back stairs. As usual, Oliver was well put together, although he looked just like some old hippie who owned a coffee shop most of the time, tonight he was dressed to impress.

Oliver walked towards Founder's Square, the main place for nightlife in Morganville, Texas. Tonight, he bypassed the shops and restaurants, and instead headed straight for City Hall. He breezed through the door, and up the stairs, heading past Mayor Morrell's office, to another, larger door. There was a man, or rather, vampire standing guard, but as Oliver moved closer, he simply stepped out of the way. Oliver raised his brows, because even he was usually questioned about his intentions. Walking in, he nods his head in greeting to Amelie, the ruler of Morganville, much to his distaste.

"Sit, I'm assuming this isn't a social call," her ice cool voice states, a hand motioning to the chair across from her.

Oliver sat, and within seconds a chessboard was placed on the desk between them.

"It appears you're making it one," Oliver points out.

"You know I think better when I play. Now, be done with the pleasantries," she snaps, making her first move.

Oliver quickly made his. "The boy wants to see Michael. I won't go against your direct orders, but I don't see the harm," he says, studying Amelie's next move before making his own.

Amelie was quiet for a moment, studying the moves in play, as she seemed to think. "The boy has outlived his usefulness, Oliver. I think it's time we end the experiment."

Oliver looked at her, and for once in life, he was shocked. "You don't mean-"

"I do. Obviously he's getting too much for you to handle."

Oliver abruptly stood; causing Amelie's bodyguards to move closer, ready to attack. Amelie waved them away.

"I will do nothing of the sort. He's not your's Amelie. He is mine."

"And Michael is mine. They will not meet. There is no need for Michael to know."

"To know what? You used his mother for an incubation tank, and that's why she's dying?"

Amelie stood, giving Oliver a glacier stare. "You may leave, Oliver."

"I can't be dismissed like a peasant."

"Fine, leave on your own terms, Oliver. But know, they are not too meet. And if I come to find out that they have- and I will- the boy will pay the consequences."

Oliver watched as Amelie left through one of her portals. Oliver took his sweet time getting home. He didn't need to sleep like Gabriel did. He walked up the stairs to his apartment, just in time to open up the Common Grounds. Walking into the bedroom, he was a bit surprised to find Gabe awake.

"What did she say?"

Oliver ignored him for a moment, and went over to the closet to go get dressed.

"Well?"

Pulling a tie-dyed shirt over his head, Oliver shook his head. "Just drop it, Gabriel. She said no."

"Why not?"

Oliver whipped around, sighing heavily. "I don't know. You shouldn't care. They never cared about you. Aren't you just happy I'm here?"

Oliver didn't get an answer as Gabriel stormed out of the bedroom, and down the hall of the small apartment, to the bathroom. Oliver just shook his head, and walked downstairs, greeting Katie, the girl he had hired to replace Eve, before he went into his back office. Katie wasn't Eve, but she could handle the morning rush well enough on her own.

Oliver spent his morning going over the books for the Common Grounds. He was still partial to everything being done by hand, on paper. Although, his attention eventually turns to a small, marbled notebook. Flipping through the well-worn pages, Oliver sighed. It was the account of the experiment- Gabriel's life. They hadn't expected him to live this long, Gabriel was partially the reason Oliver returned to Morganville. Oliver had raised Gabriel as his son, and rightfully he was.

It, he, was one of Myrinn's crackpot ideas to see if the vampire race could be saved. They couldn't create adult vampires, but Myrinn had been able to create a sort of half vampire. In the beginning, there were three. Gabriel was the only one to survive to his birth.

Oliver let the day pass. He knew better then to bother Gabriel when he was like this. Even though he looked eleven, the boy certainly acted his fifteen years. By the time he wandered back upstairs, it was after dark, and he hoped that Gabriel had calmed down a bit.

"Gabe, how about we go out to dinner, hrmm?" he calls, as he opened the door.

Walking in, he frowned, not finding Gabriel in front of his game console, where he usually was.

"Gabe!" he called, walking to the bedroom.

Not finding the boy there, he began to panic. Had Amelie gone behind his back? Oliver was in complete panic, and bolted down the stairs. It wasn't like Gabriel to disobey him like this. It just wasn't.