(A/N): We're back with Lisbet, Leo, Jerremyah, Greygorry, Jo, and Danniel.

Trigger Warnings: Allusions/references to child abuse (discussion of Cipicia kicking Leo out).

Lisbet

"I was still growing them in when my mother threw me out."

I had known- and lamented- that Leo had been painfully young when Cipicia had thrown him out, but I hadn't quite realised that he was so young that he had still been losing baby teeth. Had barely started losing baby teeth, for that matter. And on top of that, we now knew he hadn't immediately entered Nicholai's care, which meant he had been in some undisclosed location, for some undisclosed amount of time- with undisclosed company, quite possibly- and only half grown in fangs. My chest ached at the thought so I pressed it flush to Jerremyah's back in an attempt to soothe the sensation; I wanted to coo at Leo to reassure him, but feared my 'sweetheart' would inevitably come out as 'kit', instead.

"Oh," Grey said far too mildly, as though it was put on- though whether that was for Leo's benefit or his own, I couldn't tell. "That's- a bit unfortunate, isn't it?" The question was rhetorical, but Leo shrugged anyway. "Did you- Were you aware of the fact that you were growing fangs in, at that point? I mean, after your mother kicked you out, after you found out what you were, how long did it take you to put two and two together and realise that there were fangs in your mouth?"

Leo tilted his head to the side, taking a long few seconds to think about this. "Hard to say," He said, but I had the feeling he wasn't trying to delay or avoid, only to warn that the information might be a bit vague. What else was new? "I probably knew before I knew if you know what I mean." He brushed his face against the underside of Jerremyah's jaw as though he was seeking to comfort them both. "I actually realised, fully, when-" He cut himself off, pulling a face that was completely incongruous with the way he was rubbing his face into Jerremyah's throat. "Well, it's not really important when. Or how, for that matter." Even Jerremyah seemed concerned by this blatant dodge, making a small noise in the back of his throat that was distinctly disapproving.

"Sweetheart," I said, and he ducked his head slightly, chin slotting nicely into the hollow behind Jerremyah's collar bone. "...if you want us to ignore that, you're going to have to ask us more directly- and I'm only giving you that opportunity right now because you've been through a lot already-" In life. "-today." He was quiet for a moment.

"Please... Please ignore."

For anyone else, in just about any other situation, I wouldn't have- but for Leo, right now, I did. It wasn't easy, but I did it, and to reward myself I leaned forward to press a kiss to his temple before doing the same to Jerremyah's on my way back past. "Alright, you're excused... for now." He gave me a look that told me he didn't believe I would hold to that conviction- the little scamp. Unfortunately, I worried he was right. "If those things aren't important, then what is?" He stayed quiet for a second, clearly trying to decide what to say; what he could say.

"I wasn't ready." Ready for what? "I wasn't ready to believe it- that I wasn't human." Oh. "My mother told me that I wasn't- The Healers told me that I was half vampire, but I didn't really... As I said, I hadn't come to terms with it." Still hasn't, given what he said earlier. "Even when I'd had the time to think about it, and sort of- well, on a base level- understood that I was... Anyway, I didn't really believe it until-" He cut himself off completely this time, angling his head in the direction of the house.

"Nicholai?" Grey asked, and Leo nodded solemnly. That was... both a lot, and very little, which seemed to be a bit of a theme for Leo. It was hard to parse what he was saying and even harder to parse what he meant, and to try to read between the lines to figure out what he wasn't saying.

"So... you didn't really believe that you were half vampire until you met Nicholai?"

Leo shrugged. "Kind of hard to deny it, when you meet the vampire that contributed that half." I suppose. "Still hard to adjust to what that means, beside the obvious, even with someone to guide you. Not that he was the best at that sort of thing, but... y'know." It really depended on the subject as to whether Nicholai would be a good guide on it. Being a vampire? Yes, a fine guide. Emotional connections, on the other hand... "Again, I didn't fully believe the whole 'fangs' thing until I drank blood for the first time. Well, halfway through the first time I drank blood, when they took it upon themselves to extend." He- huh?

"Half- Halfway through?" Grey asked, sounding slightly dazed, and Leo nodded without hesitation- as though he thought this was nothing out of the ordinary. "You- You didn't- Your fangs weren't-" Grey sputtered momentarily, which was rare for him. Knowing how Leo felt about these kinds of discussions, I stepped in before Grey could make a hash of things.

"I think what Grey is trying to say is," I said, earning myself Leo's attention. Oh, how to do this without making him feel abnormal...? "Typically, fangs are intended to extend in the presence of blood- especially when the plan is to drink said blood. The fact that yours didn't extend until halfway through means... Well, to be honest, I'm not sure what it means. Maybe that explains why your reaction that first time was so... unfavorable." I was referring to what he had told us about having thrown up the first time he drank blood, and not having been present for that conversation, Grey, Jo, and Danniel all frowned at this vagueness. "Did they come out appropriately, the second time?" His face screwed up slightly at this question.

"Better than before, but still not immediate." Hm... That was odd, and more than a little worrying.

Grey crept closer, arms folded over his chest- not as though he was trying to intimidate Leo, but as though he was uncomfortable with not knowing the answer to this, and was trying to comfort himself. "Had they... grown in? Your fangs, I mean. Had they grown in, completely, or were they still...?" Leo nodded quickly.

"Oh yeah, they were grown in by then; I'd lost at least two more teeth and grown those back in, before I was supposed to use my fangs. Don't worry, they were fully formed." Funnily enough, that wasn't what was most worrying to me, right now.

"Wait..." Danniel said quietly, brow deeply furrowed, and I shot him a look that unfortunately made him wince but would hopefully keep him quiet. As much as I wanted to encourage the Twins, I wasn't willing to risk losing this opportunity to weasel more information out of Leo before he remembered that he was 'supposed' to be keeping- well, everything- secret.

"That's good, sweetheart. And, um... what did Nicholai say? About your fangs, that is." He pursed his lips, clearly trying to remember, then leaned his temple against Jerremyah's jaw.

"You know dad," He said, frustratingly vaguely. "He didn't really say much about anything, when it didn't suit him." True... and a habit that ran in the family, apparently. "He did say he thought maybe the fact that I was so reluctant to accept that I was a vampire might have something to do with it." Hm... I frowned, then immediately intentionally softened my expression so Leo wouldn't absorb and react to it.

"So, like what Herc said about the change, your vampirism seems to take into account your desires? That's... convenient."

(A/N): So I originally had Lisbet say, 'with a broken leg and only half grown in fangs', but then when I was rereading through an untellable amount of months later, I remembered that Leo had kept his broken leg from them- which I only realised because they actually found out in a much more recent chapter, so I had to investigate whether they'd already known at this point or not. Thankfully I got it wrong here, and not there, where it would be a lot harder to fix.

Danniel's 'wait...' is him realising the timeline Leo just gave them doesn't sound like it matches up.

The reason Leo cut himself off when he said, 'my mother told me that I wasn't-' is equally because, one, the Healers are the ones that actually revealed the information in the first place, and two, he'd been about to say, 'my mother told me that I wasn't human', which he knows is not only untrue (since he is roughly quarter human), but would inevitably start a WHOLE conversation he doesn't want to have, especially right now. Leo knows, deep down, that he is technically still human, but he also can't really bring himself to classify himself as such, much like he can't bring himself to classify himself as a vampire, fully. He sees himself as vampiric, but not necessarily a vampire, if that makes sense. Hominal, but not human.

Yes, Leo is weird for a half-vampire. Yes, there's a reason for that. Yes, I know what that reason is. It may or may not be several reasons. I will explain them eventually... probably one at a time, infuriatingly slowly.

I haven't written any new chapters this week, but I did edit chapters 180-206 all on 19/4/25, including making vibe-altering changes to chapter 202 (which used to be 200), and is the only Cipicia POV chapter so far... and in first person, anyway. When I first started editing chapters (from 100 onward), chapter 200 was the one I was aiming for, since I knew it had some... discrepancies in it that I needed to fix at least before chapter 584 is published, since that is the second Cipicia POV chapter... albeit in third person, this time. That chapter is going be a bit unusual- but is probably the most normal/least story-transforming of the chapters in that new arc. Oh, did I mention, there are two new arcs coming? And quite a few, uh... unexpected twists. Or at least, I assume they're unexpected. I suppose that depends on how sneaky/good at foreshadowing I've been. They ARE meant to be surprises, but if you're not surprised- or you're so shocked you're upset by it- just know that these particular surprises have been planned for... several years now, but neither were originally part of 'the plan' (what little plan I had when I started this story). Another set of chapters to look out for are the ones in Sebastien's arc, as of 580, though any surprises in that arc tie in nicely to the Cipicia arc, which is on roughly the same 'story changing' level as Brooke telling Leo he's quarter veela. So, yeah. Hold on to your butts, shit's about to get wild. (wild, not Wilde)