Just a reminder that Roquelaire is Talitha's Dad, the one that hired her to be a security guard. I keep looking up their pictures online to help me remember who's who ... sorry I've kept this on hold so long.

"Quel" nodded Hack as he slowly walked down the steps into the room.

"Prompt as usual Hack" responded Roquelaire.

"These meetings are beginning to become a weekly thing" Hack nonchalantly said.

"As they need to be" responded Roquelaire.

Before a second passed to question where the Alexander and Barty were, they had arrived at the top at the steps and walked down them at human pace to signal their arrival.

"I'm glad you two decided to show up on time today, this is no casual meeting" Roquelaire stated with an air of authority over the others.

"So ... as we have previously discussed, Vladimir seems to becoming more and more irritable and dare I say ... careless ... reckless with his powers. I spoke to Talitha just a few moments ago and let's just say ... his morals may have changed" said Roquelaire.

"Is that not a good thing? We all drink blood ... that's what you mean right" responded Hack, knowing that this time was eventually going to come for Vladimir.

"It might sort him out" added Alexander approvingly.

"I think it perhaps will, but I wanted to meet with you all today to update you on this development so that you can watch Vladimir even more carefully at our next meeting. I want your thoughts on whether he is less irritable, less careless, then we can perhaps push further and offer him a drink" said Roquelaire.

"I - Hold on Quel, we are doing this together, we share our thoughts - together - at our next meeting" responded Hack.

"Indeed" said Roquelaire, unapologetically.

"I suggest we lay off offering him a drink at the next council meeting, he's smart, he will suspect something. I also don't want a repeat of last time ..." responded Barty.

"Right, just observe" said Alexander.

"That was all I wanted to share" said Roquelaire.

"Talk about a short meeting, was this even worth our time, could you not have said this telepathically ..." said Alexander.

"This is a big development for Vladimir, I know we all suspected his morals were on the cusp of changing but it seems they finally are, and it may sort him out, making him easier for us to work with. I think that's a big deal, as the youth would say" responded Roquelaire.

They all nodded. It was a big step for Vlad, but with the years of experience they all had, it was no surprise, they knew this was coming and it was of no concern. They just needed Vlad stable, if this was the solution, perfect.

The silence continued for what felt like a minute, with a mixture of cringe from Roquelaire acting youthful at 200 something and no one having anything else to add.

"Well then, see you at tomorrow's meeting" said Alexander.

And with that, they all nodded and made their exit. There never was much small talk among the VHC members, they had a job to do and didn't really care about what they all did outside of work.

Talitha found Vlad in his Dad's old room, rather unimpressed. Despite the room being one of the largest and most desirable rooms in the whole school, Ingrid had left it as it was. Perhaps Ingrid did not want to spend her time being reminded of her Dad's stuff or perhaps she feared he would once return and require his room. Vlad expected it was probably mixture of both but it totally destroyed how excited he was in thinking his Dad's boringly gothic room would have been transformed into something his Dad would find comical.

"I'm going to my room" Vlad announced, his only acknowledgement to his girlfriends arrival. Before Talitha could respond, he had gone. She considered not following, but slightly afraid of leaving Vlad alone, she unhappily followed like a puppy.

Vlad masked his emotions pretty well but Talitha had spent enough time with him to read his expression. Vlad was standing just in the entrance of his room - his old room - his face completely blank and his body completely still. Aware of Talitha behind him, he stepped in to make room for her to see.

Vlad's old room was still clearly left for Vlad to stay in but it had been completely transformed. Like the rest of the house, the walls were painted grey with red accents. Vlad's posters and furniture had all been replaced with newer, darker furniture that perfectly matched the aesthetic of the house. Vlad was not impressed, he knew his room probably would have been changed and he suspected that Ingrid would have been using it for another purpose but still it stung. Then again, Vlad preferred it. It was grown up, it was vampiric yet modern and it was confident. Vlad was torn but knew he wouldn't share either side of his thoughts to his sister, she did not need her ego boosted about Vlad's old personality or his love for her hard work decorating.

Vlad's old personality ... Vlad, still standing near the entrance of the room reflected on how much he had changed since he left this room. Others didn't notice it, at least he didn't think they did ... but he had changed. He had become more powerful and more eager to use his power. This also came with the changes ... the reason why Talitha was angry with him.

"Tal, I know you're not comfortable with drinking blood, I am sorry that you saw that" Vlad supportively said, to break the silence between them.

Talitha's mouth visibly dropped, her hands clenched and she said as calmly as she could afford "I'm not comfortable ... Vlad ... WHAT"

"Yes" Vlad replied. He was tempted to look at the floor, but that would be stupid. He was not a school kid, his girlfriend was in no place to tell him off and he was confident enough to look her in the eye.

"Seriously, you're here all of 10 minutes and you've already broken your promise to me, you've broken your promise that you've made to yourself for the last decade, GROW UP"

"Really closed minded of you Tal, thought you'd be just a little more supportive, you haven't even bothered to find out the cause of it, you think I haven't given it more than 10 minutes thought ... jeez"

"I ... I'm sorry Vlad, help me to understand"

"I have a meeting to prepare for" and with that Vlad whooshed out of the room.

Tal had a few theories on where Vlad had gone but she was not going to follow him like a puppy anymore. Vlad had been stupid, he'd come around and she'd wait it out. They'd never had such a big disagreement before, not in her opinion ... but she knew they'd work through it ... Vlad was strong minded, he was just having a bad day ... surely. Tal pushed it aside, pulled out a bottle of soy blood from her bag and sat on the floor by the door.

Vlad in fact had nothing to prepare for, he had got to the point where most of the paperwork was done for him or he improvised on the evening. Not that he admitted this to anyone, everyone else suspected he was incredibly busy and hard-working. It meant he had valuable time to himself whenever he needed the excuse for it and today was a perfect example.

He whooshed to the old training room. It was grander than before, elegant and again decorated to match the rest of the house. There were a few more modern features including a computer in the corner and modern army equipment ... an interesting choice, he'd have to remember to ask Ingrid about that at an appropriate time.

Vlad sat himself on the floor and sighed. He felt much better than usual after drinking the bottle from earlier but his relationship was crumbling. He couldn't change and stay with Talitha. He loved Talitha but he loved Talitha from when she was an important part of his life and his journey. Vlad was evolving and Talitha didn't seem like she was going to evolve with him, as much as she preached tolerance, was she tolerant. Was 'old Vlad' tolerant? 'Were many vampires tolerant?' Vlad considered.

Vlad stayed sitting on the floor until he fell asleep, stuck in cyclical thoughts.