(A/N): A continuation of the last chapter, more info on Adelaide and Henrietta, and Nicholai.

Leo

...Well, that was a surprising tidbit of information that Herc had decided to drop on us- well, on me, to be honest. I'm sure everyone else didn't really care- Shari might, but probably not for the same reasons.

"So, I'm assuming, based on that, that Henrietta is mortal like me... Is Adelaide the other one, or-?" Herc shook his head, effectively silencing me.

"Adelaide is Nicholai's oldest child- our oldest sibling, I guess." The oldest-? How old is oldest?

"How old-?" Herc seemed to do some mental math- counting, and then recounting. And then recounting again. In the end, he still looked kind of unsure.

"I think one hundred and eighty seven?" Holy... that honestly wasn't that much younger than our father himself was- had been- in the grand scheme of things.

"That- that can't have been long after he was- actually..." I turned to Shari, figuring if anyone knew the answer, it would be her, considering she had been closest to my father. "How old was my dad when he was turned?" I guessed that there was somewhere between five and ten years between Shari and my father- at least biologically- but if I had never felt the need to ask any of the older vampires about their chronological age, I definitely hadn't asked about the age they had been when they had been bitten- when they had been turned.

I assumed most of them probably hadn't been bitten before they were turned- but maybe I shouldn't have assumed that, considering I didn't know whether Jerremyah and Lisbet had met before she had been turned, or after. Or at what point Greygorry had entered either of their lives- he certainly seemed closer to Jerremyah, and Lisbet's pointed look in Jerremyah's direction after requesting that I not tell her whether Greygorry was the one coming, made that seem all the more likely to be true, at least in my eyes. Or maybe Jerremyah was just more open to physical affection than Lisbet was- but I didn't think that was necessarily true, given how tactile she had been with me, especially over the past couple of days.

"He was thirty two." I opened my mouth, but Shari cut me off before any words could actually make their way out of my mouth. "Jonothan was twenty nine when he was turned, five years earlier." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jerremyah turn to share a look with Lisbet, but I couldn't quite decipher what that was all about, so I elected to ignore it. That wasn't what I had been about to say, but I suppose it was useful information to know.

"So, if he was born in 1743, and turned at thirty two, then when Adelaide was born, he would have been a vampire for..." I took a second to do the mental math, but this time, Herc cut me off.

"Thirteen years." My face screwed up.

"That's quick. Is that quick? It feels quick to me." Greygorry shrugged, from across the room, subsequently wiggling Jerremyah around due to their connection.

"Most vampires- male vampires, at least- tend to stick rather strictly to witches, if they feel the need to-" He eyed Lisbet again, who looked at him like if he didn't watch his words, he would end up choking on them. "Be 'intimate' with mortals who can be..." He hesitated again, eyeing me, this time. Magical folk had spells and charms that could keep them from getting pregnant, or impregnating someone, I knew this- hell, after we had returned to Hogwarts after Brooke and I had first... been intimate, as Greygorry had called it, we had been... doing some near constant practical application of those spells, so to speak.

The point was, my father could use magic to stop himself from being able to impregnate someone, but he couldn't do that magic in front of someone unless they already knew about it's existence- which meant either every single one of my half-siblings mothers had been non magical, or... or neither parties had used a contraceptive charm, during their encounter. I didn't know what notion was worse- that my father had been able to prevent fathering children across the globe, and hadn't, or that both parties had been willing to take the risk that a baby would be the result of their pairing.

"If they can get pregnant, yeah I get it. So why did my dad clearly stray from this practice, if it's so well established?" Greygorry's eyes widened, and he gestured to Lisbet rather frantically.

"Oh no, I'm not fielding this one. That's all you, Sœur." Lisbet shot him a look that was half murderous, and half mortified. It was definitely a, 'why did you put this on me? I'll kill you for this!' kind of look. I found I rather enjoyed it.

"Leo..." I quirked an eyebrow at her, unable to stop myself from smirking a little, and she blushed slightly, which only made my grin grow.

"Yes, Lisbet?" She glared at me, and I was glad she had returned to her normal self, and didn't feel the need to tiptoe across eggshells around me anymore, since I had told her the story of how, exactly, I had come to be born in France.

"You're a... menace." I didn't bother to hide how proud I was of that fact, but it was fine, because Lisbet had said it fondly- almost indulgently. I noticed that Greygorry was glancing back and forth between the two of us, his eyebrows furrowed, like he was trying to work out a particular vexing algebra problem.

"Love you, too." Half the room jolted- Lisbet herself, Jerremyah, Jo and Shari- all of them reacted like I had zapped them with some sort of electric shock. Lisbet made sense- I had never told her that I had loved her, even in passing like this. Shari and Jo also made sense- after all, I had just recently confessed to both of them that I loved them, so I could understand that they were surprised to hear me say it, again. Jerremyah made less sense, but apparently things like this were par for the course with him, considering that since he had arrived, he had been acting strangely pretty much every time Lisbet and I interacted with each other.

"I- That's-" She looked like she was about to have a stroke just trying to navigate this situation, and Greygorry looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel with how intently he was watching us. Apparently, it was something he and Jerremyah shared, that fascination over Lisbet and I's relationship.

"Yes, it's very nice. You can continue explaining to me why my father decided to risk fathering a bunch of children, and then decided to refuse to actually father them, now." Lisbet looked part relieved that I changed the subject, and part disappointed that I had dismissed the situation so easily- but I wasn't going to have that conversation in front of everyone else, especially so soon after not only Shari, but Jo as well. I was all 'emotional conversation'-ed out.

"He- well- Your father-" She cut herself off with a sigh, taking a second to compose herself, and I let her take that time. "Nicholai, Greygorry and I have all always been... rather conspicuously, vampiric." It was true. In fact, the first time I had seen Lisbet, I had remarked to myself that she had looked to be the classic vampire, with extremely pale skin, black hair and dark eyes. My father and Greygorry weren't quite as severely vampiric, seeing as they both had light colored eyes- my father had grey eyes, and Greygorry had deep green eyes- but both of them were unlikely to be able to hide amongst the human race very easily.

Throughout the entire time that I had known him, even, my father had been on the receiving end of his fair share of dirty looks whenever we rarely ventured into public, and I could guess where Lisbet was going with this.

"And you think that being around muggles- being involved, with muggles- was less risky for him than it would be with magical folk, who know about the existence of vampires?" Lisbet looked surprised that I had hit the nail on the head, so succinctly.

"...Something like that." She glanced at Shari, and I followed her gaze, also turning my attention to the other woman.

"Shari? Lisbet seems to think you have something to add?" Lisbet half glared at me, and Shari glared at her, for throwing her under the Knight Bus.

"...Leo." Uh oh. I hated that tone. That, 'I have to tell you something, you're not going to want to hear' tone.

"Or we could not." I honestly didn't know whether I was offering for her benefit or for mine, but Shari just grimaced, and continued anyway.

"Nicholai was always... well." She glanced in Jerremyah's direction, and I knew by the way that she looked away when he glared at her, that she hadn't meant to do so. "He never wanted to be a vampire, he hated it- even if you put aside the fact that his family were- your family- were Hunters- he despised the idea of having to feed off of other living beings, and especially off of humans, and he hated the idea of hurting people- it's one of the reasons he never turned anyone." Ah. Now it made sense why she had glanced at Jerremyah. He had, after all, brought the Twins to my father to foster- and I wasn't so sure that it was the first time that had happened. "He... he preferred not to be around people who could recognise him for what he was, so when he had to be around people, he usually tried to pick muggles. It makes sense, then, that most of his..." She glanced at Lisbet, looking rather weary. "Rendezvous, were with muggles." Rendezvous was a new one, and I appreciated the French flair.

"So you're saying he slept with muggles because it was easier to pretend he wasn't a vampire?" Shari jerked like she had been slapped, and Lisbet looked like she was torn between wanting to scold me, and being oddly proud that I was being so incredibly candid with them, when usually I felt the need to keep everything close to my chest.

"I- well, um-" Jerremyah cut off her flustered chatter, spinning in Greygorry's grip to face the rest of us, moving his head to the side so he could straighten up to his full height without slamming the top of his head into the underside of the shorter mans' jaw. He had the entire backside of his body pressed flush to Greygorry's front, to the point where the sides of their faces were pressed together- Greygorry ducked down for a second, brushing his mouth and nose against Jerremyah's pulse point- clearly scenting him, again- and Jerremyah shifted slightly in his grip, before Greygorry returned his cheek to press against the taller man's.

"It was probably one of the reasons his self control was so good, constantly being in close contact with humans." Somehow, I was more shocked that Jerremyah was being chaste, than I would be if he had been vulgar- like I had honestly expected him to be. Maybe I shouldn't have expected that, considering that Lisbet had been the one calling for polite language, but it wasn't like Jerremyah had always done exactly what she had said- he liked to tease, and I would have thought this would be no different, but apparently not.

"Are you saying you would benefit from being in 'close contact' with humans?" I made sure to infuse more innuendo into Jerremyah's term than he had, and Lisbet was torn between looking embarrassed- probably that I was defying her intentions to 'protect my sensitive ears' by dirtying up the air myself- and what seemed to be... jealousy? Clearly, it wasn't just Lisbet's desire for Jerremyah that had stuck around during their separation, but any possessiveness she may have had.

Jerremyah glanced at Lisbet warily, and then his eyes slid sideways, to the point where he would be looking at Greygorry, if Greygorry had been standing beside him, instead of pressed up against him.

"I try not to be in 'close contact' with humans, unless I have a vampire to be in 'close contact' with at the same time." Lisbet slapped him on the shoulder- obviously, she thought he had gone too far, but Jerremyah shot her a look that clearly said, 'What? He started it!'

"Because you like threesomes, or because you're worried that you'll lose control and rip their throat out?" The trio of older vampires flinched, and Jerremyah gave me a look that clearly showed that he wanted to snap at me, but was holding himself back- whether that was for Lisbet's benefit, or because he was supposed to want my help to teach him how to control himself. Although, I didn't know what I was supposed to do to help him, considering that the person helping manage my fragile self control was one of the people closest to him- who had undoubtedly already tried to help him a thousand times throughout the years.

"Both." He growled, then seemed to realise what he had admitted to, and caught Lisbet's hand in midair as she went to slap his shoulder again. "Lisbet, your demon child is provoking me." I grinned at the fact that Jerremyah, of all people, was referring to me as a 'demon child'. My grin dropped, when a second later, Greygorry gasped, his eyes wide, darting back and forth between Lisbet, Jerremyah and I, his arms tightening around the other man seemingly unconsciously.

"Oh. You- You-" The first you was directed at me, and the second at Lisbet- who immediately jumped at him, slapping a hand over his mouth. I was not the only one who displayed shock at Lisbet's quick action, my eyebrows shooting up, as I watched her drill her gaze into Greygorry's.

"Quiet." If it was possible, my eyebrows shot up even further, and as I looked on, I saw Jerremyah grip Greygorry's hands- Greygorry's eyes darted downwards to the point of contact, then back up to Jerremyah's eyes, and whatever he saw there, made him calm down- or at least, non-verbally agree to stay quiet.

"We'll- we'll talk about it. Later." That didn't sound promising. Greygorry glanced at me, which I really didn't like, and then back to Jerremyah, before hesitantly, he nodded- and Lisbet slowly released her hand from over his mouth.

"Say, Leo." Uh oh. Oh no. I shouldn't have provoked Jerremyah, it was about to come back at me with force. "I think we've got everything sorted out here, with Grey. Don't you think someone should go back to watching over Elaine's family?" Greygorry's eyebrows furrowed, clearly confused as to why the clan felt the need to 'watch over' the family of one of my friends, but I was even more confused than he was- In fact, I perplexed- befuddled- bewildered.

"I- What?" I was too confused to say anything else, and Lisbet turned her gaze to me, and I saw that although her expression was tight, she was trying to give me a lighthearted smile- she was failing, but she was still trying to reassure me, even though I had no idea what was happening that made her feel like she needed to comfort me.

"You haven't taken a shift in a while, right? Can't have the rest of us doing all the work, after all." That sent a pulse of guilt through my chest- she was right, I hadn't been doing my fair share of the work, even though Elaine was my friend, and the issue with her family was subsequently more my problem than anyone elses. "Does anyone want to go with Leo? He has been the target of several plots against his life, after all." That last comment was so pointed, that the rest of the clan seemed to freeze for a second, paralyzed by the weight of Lisbet's clear request.

"Uh... I'm up for it." Danniel said, and when I looked at him, he shrugged. "I know I take a lot of shifts, but being sort of near humans is supposed to help me develop better control, right? I don't mind the time away, and the fact that it's improving my ability to be around humans is a good bonus." I stared at him for a second, then turned back to Lisbet, Jerremyah and Greygorry.

Lisbet, who was staring at me expectantly, but with an underlying current of desperation- like she needed me to leave in order to be able to deal with whatever was going on with Greygorry, and it was getting more dire every passing second. Jerremyah, who was still holding Greygorry's hands, stroking them to keep him calm and in place, and was watching Lisbet like he wanted to hold her much the same way. Greygorry, who looked desperate for answers, and if anything, concerned- not just for Lisbet and Jerremyah, but also... for me?

I was, quite possibly, the most confused I had ever been, and I hoped I ever would be.

"I... I guess I... Okay?" Lisbet gave a sharp nod, and moved forward to press a hand into my shoulder- the same hand that had been clamped over Greygorry's mouth, coincidentally.

"Just a couple of hours- You and Danniel get along alright, I'm sure you'll find something to talk about for that long." She glanced pointedly in his direction, and I was honestly relieved that I knew what she was talking about this time- the fact that I had told Audrey that Danniel was 'like a brother to me'. While I was there, I should also ask him why he tended to overexert himself- I guess it didn't matter that I was 'all emotional conversation-ed out', Lisbet was forcing me to have yet another one.

"Yeah." I glanced at Greygorry, who eyed me much the same way Jerremyah had been looking at me before I had left him and Lisbet to talk the day before- like he was fascinated by the mere concept of me. "I'm sure you'll find something to talk about, too."

(A/N): Greygorry, this chapter and the last chapter: 'Something's going on... Something big... It's on the tip of my tongue.'

Jerremyah: *Calls Leo 'Lisbet's demon child'*

Greygorry: 'Oh. My. GOD.'

Lisbet: *Panics*

Jerremyah: *Panics slightly less*

Leo: 'Um... are you guys... okay?'

Translation:

Sœur = Again, it means Sister, both meanings of the word.