Chapter 112) Meet The Parents

“For When It Comes To My Son
I will Fight with The Fangs of Wolf
And The Claws Of A Dragon,
And No One,
Or Nothing Will Stop Me From Protecting Him.”

Del Sol Valley
Cameron Mansion

Sitting across the table from each other, each couple together, Everett and Maeve, Scarlett and Blaine, it felt more like opposite fronts in a war than a friendly meeting, the overall atmosphere was uncomfortable and forcefully polite at best.

“So .. ahem … Scarlett … Blaine said you studied politics? At Britchester University, like him. You were even in his graduation class.” Maeve visibly tried to be as composed as she could be, but wasn’t fooling anyone in the room. Her poker face was lacking in this case.

“Yes. I majored in Political Science and I am actively involved in politics for a living. Working on a big project at the moment, which is still kind of hush hush.” Scarlett politely replied.

“Ah. And your father is … Caleb … Vatore? Of Forgotten Hollow?” Maeve inquired.

“Yes.” Scarlett confirmed.

“And you are … also … ahem … like him? Like Caleb I mean. Not like Riordan, you know, half human?” Maeve asked.

“I am 100% vampire, yes. We are all human, just a sort of transformative mutation that makes us immortal and different in some ways. Riordan is my cousin, he had a mortal father, but is still 100% vampire, just like me. There are no hybrids, Mrs. Cameron, you either are or you are not. There is no in-between.”

“Ah. That’s … uh … interesting. Isn’t it, Rett?” Maeve addressed her husband, her eyes telling the full story, showing deep concern with the situation at hand and a request for her husband to spring into action.

“Yup, totally interesting. Should we draw the curtains a little more, Scarlett?” he offered smiling friendly.

“Oh, no, I am fine, thank you, Mr. Cameron.” Scarlett smiled, careful not to expose her fangs.

“I have to ask, so what exactly are we looking at here? I mean, how serious is this … this ….. thing between you two?” Maeve inquired, looking at Scarlett.

“MOM! Stop with the inquisition! I told you, Scarlett is my girlfriend. How detailed do you need it?!” Blaine grumbled.

“As serious as any relationship, I suppose, Mrs. Cameron.” Scarlett replied calmly.

“Ah, let’s do away with the formalities. We’re all adults and we’re casual around here. I am Everett, you can call me Rett and this is …” Everett tried to break the ice, but Maeve quickly cut him off.

“Mrs. Cameron will do just fine for me. I am okay with that.” she hissed, shooting Rett an angry glance.

“Mom! What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Blaine exclaimed, earning a warning glance by his father.

“Blaine, can I see you under four eyes for a second?!” Maeve now asked sharply, it wasn’t a question at all, but a demand, she was already getting up and heading towards the hallway, not even waiting for him to follow.

“Yeah, sure. Not like I really have much of a choice. Excuse me, Scarlett, I’ll be right back. I am sure this won’t take long.” Blaine sighed as he got up too.

He followed his mother into the hallway, where she roughly pulled him into their home studio by his wrist, then shut the door behind them.

“What the heck, mom?! Sound-proof room so you can strangle me without anyone hearing me scream?!”

“Don’t tempt me! What were you thinking, bringing someone like that into our home?! Are you insane?! What do you want with a girl like that?! You can have any girl you want, they are lining up everywhere for you, the world is at your feet for the taking – and you bring THAT home!” Maeve laid into him.

“Chill, mom! I love her, that’s what I want with her! It’s the real deal, real love! The big L.” Blaine retorted defensively.

“Love. Ha! What do you know about real love, Blaine-y? You are still so young and green, we sheltered you so much, maybe too much, you have no idea what love really is! Love between a man and a woman, I mean. The kind you have to really fight for, to gain it, then to keep it. You had so much love from family growing up, still do, and we all know you explored the physical aspects of ‘love’ quite extensively since you were old enough to know that your wiener can be used for things other than going to the bathroom! But what love is not, is her! It is not THAT there in our dining room! You are already way too invested for my comfort! That stubborn head of yours just wants her because she is different, the old forbidden fruit thing. Who knows if she can even feel something like love as we understand it!”

“Of course she knows what love is! She grew up just as sheltered as I have! Her parents love her, just like you love me. I have seen it! The same embarrassing patterns. And she is a person, mom, just like us, not a plant!” Blaine replied defensively.

“Ah yeah? Like us, huh?! Then why can’t she eat anything, only drink? Like a plant hits the nail on the head! Exactly like a plant. Plants drink, but don’t eat. She can’t vote, can’t marry, I don’t even want to imagine how she ended up in uni and at that job she claims she has. Riordan told us many times how that just can’t happen without serious illegal doings. Do you really want to get wrapped up in illegal stuff again, Blaine?! Either way, I’d say she is a helluva lot more like a plant or something than she is like one of us! Just a LOT more dangerous! Do you realize she could kill all of us without effort?! Do you have ANY concept how dangerous those vampires are?!”

“Oh my god mom! I could kill all of us without effort, just need a gun or a knife and BAM. But I would never, neither would she! She makes me happy, mom. Don’t you want me to be happy?!”

“I want nothing more than to see you happy, baby boy, which is why I cannot just stand by and let you run into the abyss! Dad and I stood back when you were doing your thing with all the girls. Not my cup of tea, but you are young, handsome, I get it. We even said nothing when you and Bristol ended. But this is insane! You are playing with fire, a big wildfire, one that takes nothing to get out of control, Blaine! And once it does, there is nothing anyone can do about it.”

After Maeve’s rant a brief knock on the door, then Everett joined them.

“Figured you’d be in here. Scarlett wanted to call her parents to …”

“Rett, not now! I don’t care what she wants. Help me explain to our son why he cannot possibly date someone like her! Help me make him understand it’s too dangerous and that he has to break it off RIGHT NOW!”

“Happy to, if you don’t mind explaining the problem here to me first? What’s the big deal? She seems like a nice girl, polite, well-mannered, well-spoken, pretty, smart, …”

“Thank you, DAD! You hearing this mom?! This is a ‘you’ problem. Scarlett is great! Nobody but you makes a big deal out of this! Not even dad and he always sides with you. That alone should tell you EVERYTHING you need to know!” Blaine demonstratively agreed with his father’s observations.

“The big deal?! The BIG DEAL?! Are you both friggin’ kidding me now?! The big deal is that she is undead, a vampire! She won’t ever die. Dangerous as all get out! THAT is what you bring into our home? THAT’s what you choose to throw your life away with. You had a nice girl, and you let her get away. Instead you bring in a vampire and ask me what the big deal is?!”

“Maeve, babe, chill.” Everett tried.

“I AM NOT GOING TO CHILL! There is a vampire in my house! IN. OUR. HOME! Doesn’t anyone here realize how dangerous those are?! Were it not for Riordan we wouldn’t even know those really exist! They shouldn’t, but there certainly and undeniably is one roosting in the sanctity of our home now! No, I am NOT going to chill! Neither should either of you!” Maeve ranted.

“Mom, for fuck’s sake, we all hung out with Riordan a million times! I used to play over at Kai’s house, ever since we were toddlers or something, Riordan is a vamp, never bothered you when he watched me then! Double standard much? How is that any different to Scarlett now?!”

“Ri is hardly comparable to that Caleb crowd. Caleb is a very different pair of shoes than Riordan! Riordan seems normal, you would never guess unless he tells you. Caleb and his family, they don’t have to say ONE word and you can tell instantly that they are not like the rest of us! And don’t get me started on that sister of Caleb Vatore’s, that awful Lilith! I met her one single time and that still gives me the chills!”

“Okay, but Scarlett is different! I swear. I have known her for ages. She’s like Ri.”

“Is she though?! How could she be?! She is Caleb’s offspring! Both parents are vamps, she said so herself. Ri at least had a mortal father. And think, baby, think! What if that girl were to get pregnant?! Do you want a kid like that, Blaine, one that’s neither here nor there?! Remember all the hardships Ri had to go through, never feeling like he belonged into either world. Oh my god, it just dawned on me! Scarlett, of course! That was the name Bristol said you called out when you were intimate with her, which drove you both to have that huge fight after which you both overdosed! OVERDOSED! You almost died, Blaine, because of that Scarlett! We almost lost you that day! Had your dad and I not been the helicopter parents you accused us of being, had we not grabbed the Sinclairs and gone looking for you kids and found you just in the nick of time … you both would be … I can’t even say it! I still see your father holding your limp body, trying to resuscitate you, he got your heart to beat again until the ambulance came. I told you, Everett, that girl is dangerous. She almost killed our son once! Are we really gonna just sit by and watch her do it some other way? You have to help me convince him!”

“Mom! That wasn’t Scarlett’s fault! That was my own dumbass decision! I was the one who took the drugs, I was the one who stuck the needle in my arm, I was the one who drank the booze. That was all me! Scarlett didn’t even know about any of that! She tried to keep us apart, she knew everyone would react weird, and it broke my heart that she kept telling me ‘no’, over and over, when I could see that she loves me too. She sacrificed then, for me, to protect me, from all this. I always thought she was paranoid, now I see, she was right on the money! And yeah, I have loved her and wanted her all along, since I was 15. Now she finally agreed to be with me and it’s you – of all people – blocking my happiness! Unbelievable! You should be thrilled for me, instead we are doing THIS!”

“Love?! LOVE!? You have no idea what love is, Blaine, if you think that ice-cold, dead, bloodless creature could love you the way you deserve to be loved! What if you have a fight with her and she bites you?! Or just accidentally kills you because you know how strong they all are. Oh my god, what if she turned you! We couldn’t even go to the authorities with that, they’d think we’re insane!”

“She would never bite me … unsolicited. And she would never turn me. They have strict rules about that, which her father and Riordan enforce! You trust Ri, you said it yourself. That’s what they do all day long, enforce the strict rules. Great-aunt Anastasia had known Riordan all her life, they lived together for almost all of hers, they had kids together. Riordan helped raise my best friend, his grandson, and he has never bitten or turned anyone! I spent half my childhood over at their house and you never thought twice about letting me go over there!”

“That’s different, Kai is his own flesh and blood and you are Kai’s best friend. But that Caleb bunch is a different story! You are not related to that Scarlett or her creepy family, so they may just make you their main course if they deem fit and how are your dad and I supposed to save you from that?!”

“I don’t need or want saving! I am done with this shit. You have been fucking rude to my guest, and I am going to try and fix that now!”

Blaine stormed out, slamming the door shut so hard it made Maeve jump.

“Why did you not say a single thing, Rett!? I could have REALLY used your help!” Maeve’s words where more a sad, limp whisper of defeat.

“What do you want me to say, baby!? He is 23 years old. It’s out of our hands. He can date whomever he wants, Maeve, and we can’t forbid it! You know if we push Blaine too much, he purposely does the opposite of what we ask. He is all roweled up now and won’t hear a word you say or I say. You know in order to get through to him have to grab him when he is ready to listen, then we can calmly talk sense into him, not try to forbid something. That has never worked with him. He has always been a complicated kid. All you accomplished is to push him further towards her now.”

“All I accomplished?! All I accomplished is that maybe, just maybe, he will open his eyes to this mess he created! You know how he is! He always fights you on everything he has his mind made up about, but once he calms down he will sit down, let it all sink in, think about it and eventually come to his senses. I cannot just stand by and watch him run into his own demise, eyes wide open! I can’t, Rett! I am his mother, he is my son, our son, our ONLY son! I cannot believe you just stood there! I am worried to death about him!”

Tears of desperation began to flow and Everett quickly pulled her into his embrace.

At the same time upstairs Blaine found only his empty room, after looking for Scarlett everywhere, now he saw a note on his desk. A bad feeling rose within him as he approached, then recognized her handwriting.

With an angry yelp of inner pain he crumpled the note up and fired it into a corner of his room, then ran downstairs, to find his mother and father in the lobby.

Mad with anger he yelled out his inner conflict.

“You did it! Congratulations mother! You fucking did it! She left! Because of YOU! I HATE YOU! HATE YOU!”

In that moment Everett tried to grab their completely out of control son, but received only a hard punch he didn’t expect, sending him to the floor accompanied by Maeve’s shrill scream echoing eerily back from the walls.

Stiffened for shock, Blaine realized what he had done, saw redness seeping through his father’s hands, which he had pressed against his face as he was laying on the floor, before he went limp, his arms sliding to his sides, blood spilling out next to him, he saw his mother crying, dropping to the ground, tending to unconscious Everett, trying to wake him up, calling his name in between sobs.

Blaine panicked, turned and ran out the door, the engine of his father’s prized and favorite exotic car howled up as if in the same pain Blaine was in, before he launched the immense horsepower of the vehicle out the gate and down the street.

TO BE CONTINUED