There was the rapid tapping of fingers on the computer keyboard as Mick sat there, typing up a report. Beth and Ophelia were sitting in the sofa, going through bridal magazines.
"If you were to get married, what kind of wedding would you want?" Beth asked her soon to be sister in law.
"A small one with little fuss. Although I suppose that with la famille, that's so never going to happen."
"But what theme though?"
"I have no idea, not THIS that's for sure. What is this? Faux historical Halloween skank?" Ophelia was jabbing her finger at the page of an all together too revealing dress in bright orange with black accents.
"Yeah I'm not going with that theme either that's for sure." Beth was frowning at the offending page as much as the other girl.
"Am I going to have to take away the magazines?" Mick asked from behind his computer, frowning at the young women in his sofa.
"No we're good, Ophelia hasn't thrown anything around …yet."
"I only threw that _one_ catalogue because you wanted to put me in pink. I don't do pink. Ever. I'm not a frigging Disney princess thank you very fucking much."
"It was Victorian inspired. I'd think you'd appreciate that." Beth teased.
"Mi-ick!" she whinged at her brother, looking for support.
"Beth honny, I think we need to find a theme first before you try to put your friends into freakshow bridesmaid dresses."
"You may have a point." Beth nodded.
"My body may reject the dress like a faulty organ if it's hideous, just so you know." Ophelia sounded matter of fact whilst pointed at another hideous dress. This one was a ruffled lime green disaster in satin.
"I was just teasing you really, I don't want you guys to look horrid, I want a stylish wedding. So any of these," she took a look at the lime horror "are definitely out."
"Can't I just be the photographer?" She looked at the bride to be hopefully.
"Actually" realisation dawned on Beth "you could! Because that would mean we don't have to go look for one of those!"
"Huzzah!"
"You still have to wear a dress though."
"I'm fine with dresses as long as they're not the wardrobe disaster of the century."
"You can't look like a pixie!" Beth sounded stern.
"When do I look like a pixie? I never look like a pixie."
"No you only look like one every single time I've seen you in a dress."
Rolling her eyes she turned to her brother, changing the subject away from wardrobe arguments "have you told grandfather about the wedding yet?"
"Will I have to invite him?"
"Mick I get what you're saying but not inviting him will be worse than inviting him."
"How?" He folded his arms and looked at her.
Instead of answering his sister inhaled deeply, smelling the air. Her brother did the same thing almost simultaneously. Beth looked at the direction of the front door, sniffing the air as well. It was a familiar cold voice that answered the question when their uninvited guest let himself in.
"For starters he'll make sure Jules and Ophelia are forced to return to France. And trust me, he will find a way."
"Uncle Lance!"
Lance smiled warmly as his niece ran up to him and hugged him tight, holding her tightly to him and kissing the top of her head affectionately.
"Why are you here Lance?"
"Hello to you too nephew. How are the wedding preparations going?"
"How do you even know we're getting married?" Mick narrowed his eyes to slits.
"Jules told me about it." Lance shrugged. "So how are the preparations going?"
"Slowly…" Beth muttered. She realised that it didn't matter how many times they shot other questions at the elder, answering would get him out faster. Or at least she hoped it would.
"Well maybe you need to relax for inspiration to hit you. Why don't you come over for a swim?"
"Isn't it still a bit cold for swimming?" Beth asked.
"The indoor section of the pool is finished."
"And you came all the way from Paris just to invite us for a swim at the party house?" Mick narrowed his eyes.
"Versailles actually, it's not the same place. And no, I'm here on family vacation. I just thought you would like to come over and join me and my wife."
"Your wife?" Beth went wide eyed, not even noticing a bridal magazine sliding off her lap 'till it hit the ground.
"Yes my wife. So will you join us tomorrow? Say four-ish? Come over any time starting that."
"I'll be there but later, I'll come together with Ben when he finishes work. He loves to swim." Ophelia cheerfully accepted the invitation.
"Well dogs do love water." Mick grinned.
"So, tomorrow." Lance brought him back on subject, but his eyes betrayed his amusement at the remark.
"I'll be there at four." Beth said, nodding bravely, surprising everyone in the room.
"I guess I'll be there too then." Mick said, apprehensively.
"Well that's settled, I will see you all tomorrow. Bonsoir et a demain." Lance grinned, taking his leave again.
"That was random." Ophelia grinned, picking up the fallen magazine. "I like this Japanese stuff."
Beth peeked over at the photo "no you just saw cherry blossoms and ignored the rest."
"I'm going to find my bathing suit. Hey how about a Hawaii themed wedding!"
"Too tacky!" Beth shouted after her. She looked at Mick and sighed. "It's doing my head in."
He left his desk, joining her on the sofa. "Well maybe you really do need some time and relax. I'm sure I can find some ways to remove stress."
"Oh really?" She grinned mischievously and looked him in the eye.
Grinning he stood up, lifting her in his strong arms in one swift move and kissing her deeply as he carried her up the stairs.
When he woke up it was in the afternoon. He was alone in his freezer, there was note stuck to the lid in Beth's handwriting, the text facing him. Rubbing his eyes he focussed to read it. "Hey there sleeping beauty, your swim trunks are in the blue bag down stairs, don't forget to take them, see you at the family's home. Love you, Beth. P.S. beware the sun, you know you're a delicate flower."
He groaned and got up, stretching.
Mick-voice over
I can't wait 'till I see Beth again, but I can really do without the company of "mad uncle Lance".
*fade at Mick wandering down the stairs and eyeing aforementioned blue bag wearily.*
*fade to the family home, Coraline's old party house, which was more often referred to as the pool house by Mick and his friends. As if renaming it would take away some of the horrors that had happened there, somehow erase at least some of the pain.
Mick was pulling up the driveway looking annoyed, getting out and swinging the blue bag over his shoulder, walking up to the backdoor entrance lost in thought.
He had never thought of his uncle Lance very highly. In fact he saw him as a dangerous sword wielding lunatic. A fanatic that would do his father's every bidding without ever even so much as questioning a command. He was convinced of that from the very second he first laid eyes on Lance on his own balcony, all those months ago.
When he found out that Lance had been the one that had always been kind to his sister, looked out for her and kept her safe and sane, he had to admit he warmed to the man ever so slightly. But he still didn't trust him one bit.
Mick voice-over
Lance inviting Beth and I over for a swim in the new indoor section of the pool, I would have declined if Ophelia hadn't been so keen and Beth hadn't agreed. Frankly I'm surprised he managed to convince Beth, she hates this place with good reason.
*flashback to a four year old Beth, held captive in the house in a little girl's room by Coraline.
Another flashback to Beth some months previously, rediscovering the room in shock and running out of the house with a stake made from a chair from that room.*
*return to the present at Mick walking into the house and to the pool. He knew where it was, Jules had shown him where it would be before they started construction two months prior. He wandered up to it like a man condemned to something particularly unpleasant.*
What he saw in the now finished pool made him stop and stare whilst his mind boggled rather epically. Lance was playing in the water quite happily with two human teenage boys, who both had the same kind of dark brown hair and eye as their father. He was laughing and seemed like a real person for a moment rather than a cold calculated killing machine.
Beth was sitting at a table with a beautiful brunette, he knew the woman was a vampire, he could smell the decay surrounding her, and if that wasn't enough of a give away then the glass of blood in front of her was. Beth was sipping an orange juice, the bottle on the table with them.
It was Lance that noticed him first "Nephew, get in the water, meet your cousins!"
"Where can I change?"
"I'll show you!" One the boys shouted with a thick French accent, hoisting himself out of the water and reaching out a hand. "I'm Sébastien. That's my brother Xavier. We're twins." He smiled, stating the obvious.
The other boy waved, before spattering some water at his father cheerfully.
"Nice to meet you, hey your English is excellent."
"Oh we've had lessons since we were like five." He seemed proud at the compliment nonetheless and cheerfully led Mick to a room that was separated into comfortably sized changing cubicles, not at all like the tiny ones in public pools. Mick let out a low whistle whilst looking around. "Nice."
"We had this done for guests. Is aunt Ophelia coming?" the boy asked.
"I think she'll be here any time, Ben works 'till six or seven and she said she'd come over together with him."
"Oh not too long anymore then." He grinned before leaving Mick to change.
Mick had only just changed into his swim shorts when he heard his sisters voice when the door to the room opened.
"Mick?"
He stuck out his head and watched her pull her clothes off, revealing a red two piece bathing suit with Hawaiian flower print.
Ben reached over to shake Mick's hand in greeting before disappearing into another cubicle with a black sports bag in hand.
"Your family thinks of everything." He shouted from inside his changing area.
"I know right! This is all Jules' fault, he kept on complaining about not being able to swim in winter without the neighbours asking questions. I'm not complaining, the old neighbour always eyes me funny when I wander past his house and he's in the yard."
"Those kids in there..." Mick wondered aloud.
"They're Lance and George's twins yes, they're fifteen now, nearly sixteen."
"I didn't know he had kids. And I didn't expect him to have human kids that young."
Ophelia sounded grave. "He had children before."
"Really? Are they vampires now?"
"No, they were murdered, together with Lance's first wife during the reign of terror."
Mick held a hand in front of his mouth in shock.
"So that's why he's so protective of the family."
"Well deducted captain obvious." Ophelia gave him a blank look. "I didn't tell you anything by the way."
"What's Lance's wife really called though?" Ben came out, wearing grey and black swim shorts.
Mick frowned noticing the scars on the werewolf's torso.
"What do you mean?" Ophelia asked her boyfriend.
"Well Lance is a shortened version of his name, so I'm guessing George is short for something too."
"What's Lance's full name?" Mick interrupted, eager to know.
"Lancelot." Ophelia said, rolling her eyes as Mick started sniggering.
She ignored her brother's moment of pubescent behaviour and turned her attention to her boyfriend. "She's really called George, she's the illegitimate daughter of George Sand and Jules Verne."
"Wait what?" Mick stared at his younger sister in disbelief.
"You heard me, George Sand was the pseudonym of French noble woman and writer Amandine Lucile Aurore Dudevant, who circled in the same circles as Jules Verne, the grand father of science fiction. And they had a daughter out of wedlock, who was really named George. Her parents were friends of the family, and when she was 18 she met Lance and it was love at first sight. You won't find anything in the history books about her though, everyone made sure of that."
"I think my brain just broke." Mick confessed.
"Only now, really?"
He glared at his sister, who ignored the look he was giving her and continued her little tale of family history.
"Jules was named after Jules Verne by the way, actually, Mr Verne was his godfather."
"So you basically dated part of your fandom?" Mick couldn't resist teasing his sister, who punched him in the shoulder in response. He rubbed the spot gingerly and glared at her again.
"I'm going for a swim." Ben said, ignoring the siblings, but grinning as he felt Ophelia slide an arm around his waist, a gesture he was happy to return.
The twins cheered when they saw everyone come out, and started to ask Ben to shape shift so they could see his wolf form even before they were properly introduced.
Mick wandered over to Beth, and was surprised to find her looking at French wedding magazines.
"Mick hey!" She kissed him in greeting. "This is George, Lance's wife."
"Enchanté." George said, reaching out to shake Mick's hand.
"Look at all these beautiful dresses!"
"Have you settled on a theme then?"
"No, I just can't choose. Especially not now George has given me all these gorgeous French magazines! Thank you again by the way George."
"Mais de rien, it was my pleasure." The woman replied with a thick French accent.
Beth smiled warmly at her new friend before continuing her tale of wedding woes to her fiancé. "First I was thinking about a fifties theme but you've already done that back in the actual fifties and I don't want to think about you know who on my wedding day."
"Beth don't think of me, it's your choice", he interjected.
"Why not a 1920ties theme with a modern twist." Lance appeared behind them, wearing a bath robe, his brown hair still dripping wet.
"Oh oui amour, je sais que tu veut dire!" George exclaimed.
"Here let me show you." Lance sat down, flopping through magazines, careful not to drip on them. "You'd have dresses like these, and the men could choose whether they want to wear period suits, something in between or modern suits."
"And you could have art deco, art nouveau decorations, you told me before you thought they were beautiful." George chimed in and reached for her glass, sipping daintily.
"That's… perfect!" Beth breathed, hugging Lance before she good and well realised what she had done. Letting go of him quickly she muttered an apology.
He simply chuckled and lifted George's hand to him to press a kiss on it.
"Bonsoir la famille!"
They looked up to see a cheerful Jules stand at the edge of the pool, hand in hand with Claire.
"Bastard is wearing Speedos!" Mick muttered darkly.
"He always does that." Lance shrugged, waving hello to his youngest brother.
"I didn't know Ben had scars." Beth noticed frowning "let alone so many of them."
"Those are silver scars…" Lance noticed "He must have a darker history than we knew."
"It's his story to tell, not ours to pry out of him." George pointed out.
They watched as Ben let Xavier sit in his neck whilst Jules hoisted Sébastien in his, launching in a water fight whilst Claire and Ophelia laughed at the side.
*fade to dinner, it was late at night, after the twins had retired to bed.*
Ben was leaning back in his chair, wearing jeans and a long sleeve with the sleeves pulled up past his elbows, enjoying his glass of wine.
Claire was loading more French fries on her plate, before passing the bowl to Beth.
The vampires were enjoying their glasses of blood, it was a relaxed family meal, as normal as it can get when the family is mostly composed of lunar wolves and vampires.
Lance was looking at his niece's knee "that healed up very well, you can't even see a scar."
"Good genes" she chuckled "I can tell you I sure am glad I can use my leg properly again."
Ben stroked his girlfriends healed up knee tenderly and smiled at her.
"Whilst we're on the subject of scars…" Jules looked at Ben curiously and yelped as both Claire and Beth simultaneously kicked him. "AW! What was that for goddammit?"
"Prying." Claire said, giving her boyfriend an annoyed look.
"They beat me to the kicking!" Ophelia sulked.
"Little brother, stick to your own business."
"No it's ok, I'm not ashamed of them." Ben said, taking another sip of wine.
"So how did you… I mean, I thought werewolves healed." Mick asked carefully, pulling up his legs out of caution.
"When I was 17, I got taken by hunters. I was tortured for days, when my family found me I as barely alive."
"When werewolves are that young their regenerative powers aren't that strong yet. We didn't think he'd make it." Claire whispered… "it took forever for him to heal, and even then the scars never went away. It was that bad."
Jules pulled her close as he saw her eyes fill with tears at the memories, kissing her forehead tenderly.
"But I did, and Greg slaughtered those hunters." Ben said. "End of story." He pulled Ophelia close to him, kissing the top of her head. "Guys seriously, stop looking like someone died, I didn't die, I'm fine now, that's what matters."
"Yeah but man, that's hardcore." Mick's voice was silent.
"Since when did you start speaking like some Hollywood cliché?" Lance asked his nephew dryly causing Mick to start laughing.
"You know Lance, you're not too bad once you lighten up." Mick said earnestly.
"I'm amongst those I can trust here, I can let my guard down." The elder said calmly.
"Why don't you stand up to your father?" Beth asked.
"Because I have a duty to my family and he is my father, because I have two mortal children, a wife, a little brother and a niece whom I love dearly and because I simply don't want to run the family."
He looked around the table with his mismatched eyes, to the blank and surprised faces and raised his glass "to family."