One - Sydney

The fact that I'd been a mother for a whole year was hard to process. We'd celebrated Declan's first birthday at home in Maine last week, and without a single Alchemist sighting in the past year, we decided it was safe enough to make a weekend getaway to Palm Springs.

After landing at PSP, we picked up a rental car and made our way to Clarence Donahue's home. We chose a Honda Accord because of its safety ratings, which was important to us all with a baby on board. Adrian dozed in the passenger seat, and when I glanced at the backseat in the rearview, I saw that Declan and Eddie, too, were napping. Even the ever-vigilant get jetlagged sometimes. I cracked a smile at my three boys.

I pulled into Clarence's driveway around six in the human evening and woke the others. After some stretching, we made it to the front door and after just one knock were greeted by Dorothy, Clarence's housekeeper and feeder. She led us into the living room, where Clarence sat listening to a record - something surprisingly upbeat and from the seventies. He stood and stopped the record.

"Don't stop it on my account," Adrian said casually, crossing the room to embrace the older man. "Look at you, Clarence, you're looking tough enough to take on Castile." He gave a wink to Eddie who smiled and shook his head.

"Oh, Adrian, these records you sent me are quite wonderful. I like to sit here in the afternoons and just give one a spin. Such interesting music!"

"Have you been getting the photos?" I asked, stepping forward with Declan on my hip. Clarence kissed my cheek and looked down at Declan, eyes wide.

"Yes, Dorothy shows them to me every day, but nothing compares to seeing the little master in person!"

We stayed up with Clarence for a few hours, letting him hold Declan and regale us with the usual tales that we never knew were true or not. At one point, Clarence offered to have Dorothy make dinner. I knew that Adrian had gotten his fill of her cooking in the time that he had lived here, so I didn't argue when he called and ordered pizza for delivery. Even though it was still early in the day for him, Clarence even ate with us, calling it an early lunch and marveling at "the cleverness of the Italians" for having invented pizza in the first place. Eventually, we left Clarence to his daily affairs and retired to bed, with Eddie nobly taking Declan so that Adrian and I could sleep well.

"We ought to make more of an effort to see Clarence more," I told Adrian as we changed for bed. "We don't know how many years he has left."

"I thought of that, too," Adrian nodded. "Plus, I want to know if we're in the will."

"Adrian!"

He shrugged. "I'm completely serious. You might want to have a lawyer come help him out. If he dies, and they find out the whole estate goes to Lee with no other beneficiaries, his assets could get trapped up in endless paperwork. As someone who has had some rich relatives, it's something he's going to have to address. With our luck, he'll want to give it all to Dorothy anyhow."

It was hard to argue with his logic for once. Regardless of how accustomed we'd gotten to Clarence's monthly stipend, it would be a shame for his assets to become a victim of bureaucracy and not left to his intended recipients. I made a mental note to look into probate law and find a good attorney to help. Dorothy would need new employment, too, if something were to happen to the old man.

"You know, Sage," Adrian mused as I pulled the covers over us. "You once swore that you'd never stay the night in this place."

"Well, with no Lee or Keith around, it's definitely safer. I'd say all the dangerous people are gone."

"That we know of." Adrian leaned over me, then flicked the bedside lamp off.

Plunged into darkness, I felt the briefest moment of anxiety when something brushed against my neck.

"Oh, Adrian!"

He gave a fake maniacal laugh, and I let out a small yelp as he flipped me onto my back. With his superior night vision, his lips easily found mine, and I melted away with him into the darkness.

Two - Adrian

It was around eleven as we prepared to leave Clarence's. I was surprised that the old man had woken up just to say goodbye, but when I saw the kindness and the longing in his expression, I understood why. His eyes misted over and he got a faraway look. "I'm so glad to have a grandchild to take care of. With Lee gone, I thought there'd never be another child in my life."

Not many things catch me off guard anymore, but that did. The fact that Clarence had remembered his son Lee was dead was huge progress. Facts tended to elude Clarence, and there was a time where he'd sworn his son was just in school all the time. Maybe he still just thought that Lee was just somewhere far away and not a wannabe Strigoi who had been killed in Adrian's old apartment. Either way, with Clarence financing our new life almost to excess, we were more than happy to include him in Declan's life as much as possible. It was one of the few joys of the old man's life, and after the Palm Springs "family" had moved on, Sydney and I knew that he could use the company, however rare our visits might become.

Clarence fixed his gaze on me. "Where is your mother? Such a kind lady."

"She's at Court for the weekend," I explained as I embraced the older Moroi. "I'll tell her you said hello."

Eddie had made a fuss about our trip until my mother decided to go to Court for the weekend, meaning he didn't have to split his loyalties or protection for our family. We'd simply flown out about an hour after her (Eddie wouldn't let us board until she was safely on a flight).

"You all are welcome anytime," Clarence insisted. "Dorothy and I just love having visitors." We attempted another round of farewells, which ended with Clarence stuffing several hundred dollars in cash into my hand. "To take care of that lovely young lady," he insisted.

Sydney flushed and gave Clarence a kiss on the cheek. "We'll try to come back soon," she promised, and after a few more minutes, we were on the road. After about a minute, I whipped out my phone. "I have an idea for lunch, if you've willing to drive a bit."

Sydney looked to Eddie in the backseat. They both looked hesitant, as if they were trying to figure out my scheme. "Fine," my wife acquiesced. "But it better not be one of those places where they make sushi into donuts or pizza. I don't understand the desire to make fusion foods and Americanize everything."

"Understood, Lady Ivashkov." I dialed a number and waited for a moment. When the voice on the other end picked up, I put on a big smile, as though it might travel across the connection.

"Hey, long time no see," I started. "Still aching for that double date? We're in town right now. Wanna do lunch?"

I waited for a response but grew confused by the directions. "Wait, how can it be in Coachella? That was months ago."

Sydney shook her head in a way that I knew all too well. "Adrian, Coachella is also the name of the valley."

I frowned, feeling like I'd been lied to by music festivals and geography. I raised my own voice as the voice on the other end of the line started to laugh. "Just send me the address! Oh, and our double date has a few extras involved."

I grinned as the laughter turned into excited, almost unintelligible chatter. "You'll just have to wait and see. Be there in a half hour with the way Sydney drives."

Sydney rolled her eyes once I'd disconnected. "If that's who I think it is, we're going to have to get a human-friendly story straight before we get there."

I gestured to the backseat. "And we have to explain those two."

Eddie glared playfully back at me. "Whatever it is, I refuse to be related to Jet Steele."

When we arrived at the restaurant, I felt like we were the start of a bad joke. A Moroi, a dhampir, and a human walk into a bar… I amused myself with the thought as Eddie held the door of the restaurant open for Sydney and me with Declan. I heard a familiar voice mutter "No fucking way," and glanced up into Rowena's eyes. Her hair now was a magenta mess of waves that I liked better than the teal she'd sported when I last saw her. Cassie stood at her side, squeezing Rowena's arm for dear life.

"Hi," Sydney smiled. "I'm Sydney." She reached her hand out to Cassie, who promptly ignored it and swept her into a hug. Rowena followed suit, then pulled back in surprise when she looked down at Sydney's ring finger adorned with diamonds and rubies.

"You made an honest man out of Adrian? That's impressive."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Ro," I scoffed with mock offense. I handed Declan to Eddie and embraced each of the women in turn.

"This is my brother, Eddie," Sydney said, pushing him forward.

"Pleasure," Eddie said politely, and he nodded down to the baby. "Adrian, aren't you forgetting someone?"

I grinned, savoring the shock on Rowena and Cassie's faces. "Ladies, this is Declan."

I'm not sure that either one knew what to do with that limited bit of information. "Where… did he come from?" Rowena asked dumbfoundedly.

"Well, Ro, when a mommy and daddy love each other very much -"

"That's not - he's not -" She was still struggling to form a sentence.

I grinned. "All mine. And Sydney had something to do with it, I suppose."

Cassie rushed over and took Declan from Eddie's arms. "He's such a cutie! I don't know where that black hair came from, but those are Sydney's eyes for sure." She gave Declan a kiss on the cheek as Rowena turned to Sydney. "Ok, be honest. There's no way Adrian's the father."

Sydney fixed her eyes on me, a surprising expression of earnestness on her face. "He's Declan's dad. One-hundred percent."

We stayed at dinner longer than anticipated. Eddie was more than happy to keep watch over Declan as Sydney and I gave a human-friendly account of our whirlwind romance, how we'd escaped her ultra-conservative family and ran through Vegas in our wedding finery.

"Ugh, sorry about your folks," Rowena grimaced. "I had an aunt who tried to send me to conversion therapy. Luckily, not even my parents were that messed up."

Sydney's face looked haunted for a moment, and I was sure she was thinking of re-education. "I had to go to… a program like that. It's disgusting that anyone would do something like that to another person."

"But then I made a daring rescue and we set off into the sunset," I chipped in, hoping to add some levity.

Cassie was amazed by my new interest in cooking, which I'd been getting better at since we'd moved to Maine. She began sending me recipes over Pinterest, and by the end of the evening, she'd made an entire board just for me and her to exchange recipes.

At long last, we parted ways, and Rowena pulled me into a hug, a long one which surprised me. Cassie tended to be the more affectionate one in the pair, and something so prolonged in Rowena's embrace told me she had something on her mind.

"Hey," she whispered. "I'm really proud of you. I know you were in a bad place for awhile, but you're doing great now. I'm so, so happy for you guys."

I blinked back tears, not wanting to lose my snarky cool and open myself up to teasing by her. "Thanks, Ro. Let's not make it so long next time. You'll have to see our place in Maine."

"Sounds nice," she admitted, pulling back. I could tell that she, too, was misty-eyed but trying not to show it. She punched me on the arm. "Go on, and be good to Sydney, or I'll kick your ass."

"No need to worry," I told her. "She's more than capable of doing that herself. Brains, beauty, and brawn. I'm a lucky guy."

I had to pry Declan from Cassie's arms, who told me in no uncertain terms that I had better be feeding him natural and organic products. She relented only when Sydney assured her that she had done plenty of research already on the matter.

In the car, Sydney took one hand from the steering wheel and placed it over mine. "That was nice," she said simply, and I could feel the warmth from her brown eyes filling my heart.

"So," I asked casually. "Who's next on our tour?" I hadn't even bothered to discuss the schedule with Sydney before leaving. She would have made an all-encompassing itinerary, with built-in blocks of time for my flights of fancy and times when Declan might require a diaper change or an unplanned snack.

"We've actually got about three hours to kill, but don't let me forget to pick up coffee before we see her."

"Ah," I nodded, knowing there was only one person who'd need a special caffeine run. "And will her boyfriend be joining us?"

Three - Sydney

It turned out that Malachi Wolfe would, in fact, be joining us for dinner. Ms. Terwiliger - or Jackie, as I was trying desperately to remember to call her - had invited us to dinner with her and Wolfe, in addition to Maude and Inez, members of our coven, the Stelle. I thought maybe she had come up with covers for the other witches, but it became clear pretty quickly that Wolfe was in the know about magic and was taking it in stride.

"You know, I dated a witch once before back in Uzbekistan," he stated as if it were a perfectly normal thing to do. "But she was one of those ugly, freaky ones. And not nearly as enchanting as my Jackie."

I swear on my life that right then, Ms. Terwiliger giggled as Wolfe put his hand on hers, and I felt queasy at the sight of it all. I couldn't help but think that if the Alchemists had shown me pictures of Wolfe's attempts at seduction, I would have succumbed to the horrors of reeducation in record time.

"I can't believe this guy is real!" Eddie whispered to me, his voice almost bursting with excitement.

"I hope this place is alright," Ms. Terwiliger said. "The energy is very good, and Inez said she wouldn't come unless it was witch-friendly."

"It's great," I offered politely.

"It's as dark as Maude's dungeon," Inez grumbled. I heard Adrian snicker along with her then add, "I'm a vampire, and I can hardly see the menu!"

I shot my husband a sharp look and turned back to my mentor. "Ms. Ter - um, Jackie… what have you been up to lately? Find any interesting books or spells."

She flushed slightly, and a moment later I realized I'd made a grave miscalculation. "Honestly, Melbourne, I haven't been practicing much lately. Malachi and I have been too busy with the wedding planning."

My jaw physically dropped, and next to me, I saw Adrian spit out his water.

"What?" I shrieked, my voice pitched far higher than normal. Inez patted Adrian's back as he continued to cough.

"Oh, you should see what they've done so far, Sydney," Maude interjected. "It's quite lovely. It's going to be very intimate."

"You all will be there, I hope," Ms. Terwiliger added expectantly. "In fact, Sydney, it's going to be a very small ceremony. Just us, some of the Stelle, and Malachi's twin brother. I was hoping you would be my maid of honor."

My brain had never frozen up before, but it also had never been asked to contemplate being a maid of honor for my magic mentor while coming to terms with the fact that Wolfe had a twin brother I'd never heard about before.

"You have a twin!" Eddie blurted it out more as an exclamation than a question, as if this were something he completely expected.

"Sure do," Wolfe nodded. "Don't get to see him much. He's a gaffer on that Raptorbot franchise. Damn works of art, those movies are. Guess I shouldn't spoil the second one, though, since it's not out yet. Perks of having your brother in the business."

At this point, Eddie had been rendered entirely speechless. Raptorbot, as Ms. Terwiliger and I discovered, was of great importance to Eddie. He'd later admitted that it was more than just an action movie love affair and actually reminded him of his late friend Mason Ashford. I had seen the way he behaved around our friend Micah at Amberwood, who'd apparently looked a lot like Mason. It was clear from his face then that he would carry his best friend's memory with him for life. But looking at him now, you couldn't see any trace of that sorrow. For the first time since I'd known Eddie, he looked as though ten Strigoi could burst into the room and it wouldn't affect his grin.

Dinner progressed with no more earth-shattering revelations, though Wolfe did still have a few new stories to share about his adventures in South Africa. When our server came around to ask about dessert, it was a split decision. Ms. Terwiliger, Eddie, Maude, and I politely turned down the sweets, but the rest of our party insisted on trying the house crème brȗlée.

"It says world famous, Sydney," Adrian argued, using my first name to stress the severity of the situation. "A menu has never lied to me."

Wolfe scoffed from next to Jackie. "I'll be the judge of that."

"And my blood sugar is low," Inez complained. "Bring enough for the whole table!"

The server hurried away even as Ms. Terwiliger and me protested that we didn't really need seven orders of world famous crème brȗlée. Inez called us something under her breath that I was pretty sure was vulgar. When the desserts arrived, we all dug in, even despite our earlier reluctance. I was still getting used to being someone who enjoyed dessert and sugar from time to time, so I could only handle half before feeling overwhelmed by the sweetness. Eddie with his quick dhampir metabolism, showed no hesitation in finishing his and mine before anyone else could take down their dessert.

Only one person didn't think it made the cut. "I've had better," Inez grumbled as she shoved hers over to Adrian to finish.

Wolfe didn't agree, though. "Hell of a lot better than that one I had in Mexico."

I cocked my head. "Wolfe, are you sure that wasn't just flan?"

"No, no, this was a Mexican crème brȗlée. It had -" He froze, and for the first time, I realized that I'd caught him off guard. Not just off guard, but he was completely wrong and didn't have a story to back it up. "I'm more of a churro guy, anyhow. But there's nothing as sweet as my sugar puma here."

He kissed Ms. Terwiliger on the cheek and as she blushed, I felt my stomach wretch. I hoped I would never hear Malachi Wolfe say "sugar puma" again as long as I lived. Luckily, he at least didn't say it again for the rest of the night.

When it was time for us all to part ways, there was a surprising amount of hugging done. Inez reluctantly gave me a quick hug, and Wolfe clapped Adrian and Eddie on the back in a show of manly affection. Ms. Terwiliger held back until she and I were the last to embrace, and I heard her sigh heavily as her arms surrounded me.

"I miss you very much, Melbourne." I found it funny that nowadays, she knew my real name as well as my Amberwood surname but still kept with the old moniker.

"I miss you, too," I told her honestly, my voice almost cracking. "But, hey, we'll get to work on your wedding together, and we can video call more."

She nodded, squeezed me tight, then finally let go.

After a few more minutes of everyone fawning over Declan, the four of us were back on the road, this time with Eddie in the front seat and Adrian in the back with Declan.

"I can't believe he's a real person," Eddie chuckled. "And he's got an in with the Raptorbot people!"

I didn't have to ask him who he was talking about. For Eddie, there was no one in the world like Malachi Wolfe. For me, there was no one in the world like Jaclyn Terwiliger, who had seen potential in me that I didn't know existed, who'd burned herself out on magic over and over to keep me safe. She and the Stelle were family as much as Adrian or my mother, strands of light connecting me to them across miles and state lines.

"Let's get to that hotel," Adrian yawned. "I'm going to need my energy for tomorrow."

"And some aspirin," Eddie joked. Or maybe he wasn't joking. I thought about who we were supposed to see in the morning and shook my head. There wasn't enough aspirin in the world to prepare a person for Angeline Dawes.

Four - Adrian

In the morning, Sydney drove us out towards Los Angeles. We stopped for a quick breakfast (which just meant coffee for Sydney) somewhere along I-10 but otherwise made excellent time. Our flight was in the late afternoon, which meant we would only have a few hours with Trey at UCLA, where Angeline was also staying for the weekend instead of at the Amberwood dorms.

Since Trey was human and a former vampire hunter, their relationship was as taboo as ours, although, I thought, not quite so scandalous. The lovebirds were fortunate enough to be off the grid, whereas despite our Maine residence, Sydney and I were pretty infamous in both the Moroi and Alchemist communities. All in all, Sydney and I had settled into a sort of domestic bliss since her escape from reeducation, the subsequent wedding, and Declan's adoption. We were pretty certain that our taboo had more normalcy to it than most of our friends, and certainly more than Trey and Angeline, who could both be volatile and passionate both in and out of combat.

Which was why it was so surprising that when Trey answered his apartment door in a button down checkered shirt and chinos with no vampire-slaying sword in sight. "Hey guys," he said politely as if he weren't a muscular tattooed badass with a dhampir girlfriend. "Come on in."

We each hugged him in turn, after which he gave his full attention to Declan. "Yo, Melbourne, I don't remember fooling around, but this guy looks more like me than Adrian."

I put on an expression of mock surprise. "How dare you insult my wife's honor. I guess we'll have to settle it with a duel."

Trey put up his fists playfully and jabbed at my shoulder lightly. "Don't let the business casual fool you, man. I can still kick your ass."

"Oh, knock it off you two," Sydney smiled while rolling her eyes. "My so-called honor went out the window the minute I married a vampire."

"Hey, y'all." We all turned to look at the newcomer. Angeline leaned casually against the wall, her long auburn locks spilling over a UCLA sweatshirt. She looked remarkably… normal. Gone was the girl who'd worn thread-bare jeans and punched a motivational speaker. Angeline looked more disciplined, like a student, like a guardian.

Sydney pulled her into a hug first. When Angeline got to Eddie, she ruffled his hair. "Got some bad news for ya. I'm almost a better guardian than you."

"Is that so?" He dropped into a lower stance, looking like he might fight her right there in the living room. He thought better of it, though, and straightened up. "So, you're going to try and get your promise mark?"

"Jill put in a good word with the Queen, so I just have to finish high school and do some work with a guardian here in Los Angeles. It's like a… um…"

"An internship," Trey finished. "It's unconventional, but I guess Queen Vasilisa and the guardian big wigs realized that Angeline's an unconventional student."

Catching up with Trey and Angeline was a pleasant enough experience… at first. We decided to take them to brunch, since neither had anything to do until later in the day. The brunch spot was a trendy minimalist diner with outdoor seating, which I insisted on even though Sydney argued against it. She was always conscious of my health, but I slipped the host some of Clarence's cash to move a couple sitting under the shadiest table. Clarence had said to use the money "to take care of that lovely young lady," and technically, I was doing this for Sydney. We didn't get to go on beach trips or anything like that, so I looked for opportunities like this that let her soak up the radiant sun that made her blonde hair shine like molten gold.

Only when the server asked if there were any questions did Angeline's brash nature rear its head. "What in the hell is avocado toast? Do you just put it in a toaster and make it crispy?"

"Oh, that sounds good," Trey pondered, as if his girlfriend made outbursts like this all the time. The server looked uneasy, as if she weren't sure whether Angeline was joking or not. "It's… it's not toast made of avocados. It's actually avocado on top of toast, so…"

"That's dumb. I might do the eggs. Can I see your chicken first?"

Before the confused server could formulate a response, I jumped in. "Why don't we just do the family style breakfast. Sound good?"

The others nodded in agreement, except for my wife. "Coffee and water for everyone and let's substitute the bacon in the family style for turkey bacon, please."

The dhampirs looked as if Sydney had slapped them each with a slice of turkey bacon instead of just suggesting it. Eddie started to protest, but she cut him off. "It's healthier. No arguments."

"Thanks, Mom," Trey grumbled, and Angeline snickered beside him.

After we'd finished eating (which resulted in no leftovers once the dhampirs had seconds), we exchanged goodbyes to our friends. They hopped on a bus that went by Trey's apartment, and the three of us plus Declan drove to the airport.

We were flying back on a larger Boeing, so each row had three seats, meaning we sat together with Eddie taking the defensive positions in the aisle, me in the center, and Sydney by the window. I held Declan in my lap and watched as the love of my life stared out at the clouds wistfully.

"Did you have a good time?" I asked, despite not wanting to interrupt her thoughts.

She turned to me and smiled. "It's nice to see the people we love. And just to be… you know, reminded." She took my free hand in hers and kissed my cheek. "You got too much sun today."

She said it sympathetically, without any chastisement. "It was worth it," I said simply.

"I'll take care of you when we get home," she promised. "But right now, I think I want a nap."

I turned to Eddie. "Your shift, Castile," I teased as I set Declan in his arms. I turned back to Sydney and let her lean up against me. I wrapped my arm around her and kissed her hair.

"I love you, Adrian."

"I love you, too, Sage."