Chapter 10

Disclaimer and AN: I don't own Underworld and no copyright infringement is intended.

I apologize if the spacing in this chapter is screwed up, my laptop has been down so I've been writing this story using my iPad and my word processing app on the iPad is different than the one on my laptop, but now I have my laptop back so I don't have to write on the iPad anymore. Please overlook any issues with the spacing, I've gotten so used to writing on an iPad, that I'm having to readjust to the laptop.

Eve squinted at the sunlight streaming through her curtains as she sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She glanced at the clock on her nightstand and saw that it was almost noon. She never slept this late, but she, her parents and David had stayed up til almost four in the morning talking. She still couldn't believe her dad was finally home, it all seemed like a dream. She stood up, pulling her nightgown over her head and tossed it into the clothes hamper next to her closet. Taking her fuzzy peach robe from the hook on the back of her door, she put it on and went into the bathroom to take a shower. It was weird having her own bathroom after living in a tiny apartment for months and her room here made her old room seem like a closet, speaking of closets, the one she had here was huge, the whole castle was and she found it a little overwhelming. She had both of her parents now though, plus David, and Lena seemed nice so she knew she'd be okay.

After her shower, she put on a pair of purple sweatpants, a long sleeved black shirt with a silver heart on the front and a pair of black and purple sneakers and after putting her hair up in a ponytail, headed downstairs to find her parents.

"Mom, Dad, anybody here?"

She looked around the empty foyer, feeling a little nervous as she didn't see her parents or David anywhere, maybe they were still asleep.

"Good morning Eve, how are you, dear?"

Eve turned in surprise upon hearing an unexpected and somewhat unfamiliar voice and smiled as Lena entered from another room.

"Good morning Lena, I'm fine, have you seen my parents or David anywhere, are they up yet?"

Lena nodded.

"David is in the training room,he works out every morning, lifting weights and practicing with his whips, I haven't heard your parents come down yet though, they may still be asleep. I was just in the library reading."

Eve smiled.

"You have a library?"

"Yes, would you like to see it? Your mother told me how much you like to read. We have an indoor swimming pool, the training room, the library, you're welcome to go anywhere, anytime you want to. This is your home now and I want you to be comfortable here. Later, we can go out to the stables and I'll show you the horses, but first, a tour of the castle, we can't have you getting lost."

Selene opened her eyes yawning and smiled as she saw Michael asleep beside her, he was laying on his back, one arm under his head. Leaning down, she began placing soft kisses all over his bare chest and abdomen, chuckling he opened one eye and looked at her.

"Mmm, morning beautiful, you're certainly a nice thing to wake up to, come here."

She laughed as he pulled her to him, pressing his lips to hers in a kiss that quickly turned passionate. Selene lost herself in it, closing her eyes. It was only when she felt his hand inching toward her breast that she came back to her senses, pulling away relunctantly.

"Love, as much as I'm enjoying this, we need to get up, it's already noon and Eve is probably wondering where we are, we never sleep this late."

He nodded.

"Uh, babe, please don't take this the wrong way, but what the heck happened to your hair?"

She smirked, touching it self consciously.

"I wondered when you'd mention it, it happened when I went to the Sacred world trying to find you, when I came back, I had white tips, do you not like it?"

"It's not that I don't like it, it's just I'm so used to seeing you with solid black hair that it took me by surprise, that's all. You could shave your head completely bald and you'd still be gorgeous. You said you went to the Sacred world to find me and that's why your hair changed, how exactly did you do that? I'm not quite sure I understand."

He listened in disbelief as she described the water ritual Lena had performed to help her find out what had happened to him after she'd freed him from the cryofreeze.

"Oh wow, that's incredible, you saw Eve's childhood too?"

He tried to hide it, but Selene thought she detected the slightest hint of jealousy and resentment in his voice that she had gotten to see a part of their daughter's life he would never know about.

She sighed.

"Yes, Michael, our daughter did not have a happy childhood to put it mildly, she was treated horribly, I'm afraid. Anyway, shortly after I rescued you from Marius' den, the vampire council called Lena and I into their chambers and appointed us elders, along with David, of course. He is an elder by birth, whereas Lena and I were appointed."

He stared at her in shock.

"You're an elder? You run this coven?"

"Yes, I'm an elder, which also makes Eve a princess technically, but it's really not that big of a deal, it's just a title, and yes, David, Lena and I run the coven together. We did away with the old ways of one elder rules while the other two are in vaults, it was too outdated and caused too much confusion, it was time to do things differently and let go of the old ways."

She smiled and kissed him on the lips before heading toward the shower.

"I'll be out in a few minutes, you should probably go check on Eve before she comes looking for us."

"Okay, love, I'll make sure she eats too."

He dressed and quickly headed downstairs just as David, Eve and Lena came in from outside laughing.

"Hey," he demanded playfully, crossing his arms. "What's so funny, huh?"

"Daddy," Eve ran across the room and into her father's arms, hugging him tightly.

He hugged her back, kissing the top of her head.

"Hey, Sweetheart, how are you?"

She smiled.

"I'm good, Lena showed me around the castle, then we went outside and saw the horses, she said she'll teach me to ride if you and Mom say it's okay."

She looked around.

"Where is Mom, anyway? Don't tell me she's still asleep, I know we stayed up late last night but it's past noon, she has to be awake by now."

Michael laughed, ruffling Eve's hair.

"She'll be down in a little while, she's taking a shower. We have something we want to talk to you about."

Eve frowned.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No, pumpkin, nothing like that, we just want to talk to you about school, that's all."

He sat on the couch, picking up a book titled "Anime Art" that was sitting beside him and flipping through it as Eve looked over his shoulder.

"Is this yours?"

She nodded.

"Yeah, I found it in the library, the pictures are cool, it reminds me of Final Fantasy characters."

Michael smiled.

"I didn't know you liked anime."

She shrugged.

"I don't really know too much about it, honestly.I found some on TV once and started watching it, it seemed interesting until these giant monsters started eating people and there was a lot of blood and cursing, that's when Mom made me change the channel, she said that show was too violent. The only one she didn't seem to mind was Pokemon, but after a couple episodes, I couldn't really get into it, it seemed like a little kid's show. Spongebob is pretty good, but most of the cartoons I've seen are either really stupid and make no sense at all or they're just disgusting. I found one on Nickelodean once that was just these two boys making fart jokes, talking about boogers and puking on each other, I don't wanna watch that."

He made a face.

"I don't blame you, sweetie, I wouldn't wanna watch stuff like that either. I used to watch anime, I know a little bit about it, there are several that I think would be fine for you to watch. I think you'd like Sailor Moon and I'm sure we could find others your mom would approve of, let me talk to her, okay?"

"Talk to me about what?"

"Nothing important babe, I'll tell you later, Eve and I were just talking about what TV shows she likes, that's all."

Selene smiled as she hugged her daughter.

"Hello love, how are you?"

Eve smiled back, returning her mother's hug.

"I'm fine, I was starting to think you were never gonna get up, I have something I wanna ask you, but I'm afraid you'll be mad."

Selene sat in a chair facing Eve.

"I won't get mad, I promise, what is it?"

"When Lena was giving me a tour of the castle, I found this in the library, it's a book about anime."

Selene took the book from Eve and began looking through it.

"I'm not exactly sure what anime is, but this book has some very pretty drawings in it."

Michael spoke up.

"Anime is basically Japanese cartoons, Eve said she wants to watch it, but she didn't think you approved because she found one with some bad language and extreme violence in it and you made her turn it off."

"If you're talking about that weird cartoon where giants were eating people and chopping off body parts with blood flying everywhere, yes, I made her turn it off. She's way too young to watch something so gruesome, not to mention all the bad language that was in it, do you really want her watching stuff like that, Michael?"

"No, of course not, but we can discuss that later, let's tell her about school."

Eve looked at her parents, her forehead wrinkling in confusion.

"I would love to go to school, but how?"

She turned to face her mother, an angry tone creeping into her voice.

"You promised you'd never lie to me, Mom, when we first moved into the apartment after we escaped Antigen, I told you I wanted to go to school, be a normal kid for once in my life, but you said it was too dangerous, that we could get discovered and sent back to Antigen. What's different now, why is it suddenly okay for me to go to school now, but not before? Tell me that."

Michael crossed his arms, giving his daughter a stern look.

"First of all young lady, you don't talk to your mother like that, that tone has grounded written all over it, so unless you wanna start losing things like your TV and your video games, I'd cool it with the attitude."

Eve looked down, her cheeks turning bright red and tears stinging her eyes, her parents had never scolded her before.

"Sorry," She mumbled meekly, a tear rolling down her cheek. She wiped it away, looking up as her mother started speaking.

"You won't go to public school, you'll be homeschooled right here in the castle by the woman who was Lena's teacher when she was a child, her name is Miss Calvert and she lives here in the castle too. As a matter of fact, here they come now."

They all stood as the two women approached, the stranger bowing to Selene.

"Your Grace."

Eve wondered why this stranger was bowing before her mother, she knew from all the fairytales Lida had read to her as a young child that it was a sign of respect to bow before royalty but her mother wasn't a queen...was she?

Lena turned to her.

"Eve, I'd like you to meet Miss Calvert, she's going to be your teacher, she was mine when I was a child."

Eve studied the woman standing in front of her curiously. She was tall with shoulder length red hair pulled back in a braid. She was dressed in a long sleeved green dress and black boots . Even though she looked about thirty, vampires didn't age, so Eve knew she was actually much much older, especially if she'd been Lena's teacher, she smiled.

"It's nice to meet you Eve, would you like to see our classroom?"

She nodded, smiling excitedly.

"Oh yes, but I've never been to school before, how will you know what to teach me?"

Miss Calvert chuckled.

"I'll give you a placement test to see how much you know and we'll go from there, how old are you, Sweetie?'

"Twelve, I'll be thirteen in a couple months."

Miss Calvert nodded.

"I may start you out in sixth grade and then move you up to seventh once you're caught up, depending how you do on the test, how's that sound?"

"Good."

"Okay, let's go then."

Eve followed her teacher to a different part of the castle, Michael waited until they were out of sight then sat on the couch beside Selene.

"Eve and I had a talk while you were taking a shower this morning. She told me that she really likes cartoons but that most of the ones on TV are either made for kids much younger than her or else they're really stupid and gross and full of jokes about boogers and farting. I can't blame her for not wanting to watch crap like that, six year olds and teenage boys laugh at fart jokes. Eve is almost a teenager, we can't treat her like a little kid, as much as it sucks, we missed her childhood, she's a young lady now, we should treat her like one. I know we started to discuss the anime stuff earlier, but then Lena and the teacher showed up and we got sidetracked. I know you think it's too violent and gory and some of it is, very much so. I used to watch it quite a bit in college and I've seen some that was basically animated porn. If I ever caught her watching that, she would be grounded until her high school graduation, but it's not all like that. Sailor Moon is one I think she'd like, it has talking cats and girls in sailor dresses save the world from monsters. I never watched it but my girlfriend at the time did, we can also look online and find some others for her. They all have ratings and I think as long as she doesn't watch anything over say PG or PG-13, she'll be fine, we can watch some of it with her if you want."

Selene smiled, moving to sit on his lap.

"Okay, you're right, Eve is growing up and shouldn't be treated like she's five years old, she can watch the anime shows as long as they don't get too graphic."

He smiled.

"Thank you love, I'm sure she'll be happy to hear that."

Michael leaned forward and kissed her, running his fingers through her hair. Moaning softly, Selene leaned into him deepening the kiss, her eyes drifting shut in contentment.

"Ahem."

They jumped apart, startled by the sudden noise and turned quickly to find Eve and Miss Calvert staring at them.