Post by Seniade on May 10, 2016 14:16:57 GMT
The rumble of the bike beneath him as Ben took the last curve on the road with a little more speed than necessary, sending gravel spewing over grass when he made the sharp turn into the lane that led up to his mother’s house. It was really nearer to an A-frame style cabin with a two story refurbished barn behind it in the wooded area surrounding the entire property. His mother had specifically purchased this bit of land and found somewhere unobtrusive in the woods to cut out a winding dirt path back to the area where the house and barn were built.
With a slight grunt, he kicked the stand out and leaned the back to his left a little as he swung his leg off from over the bike, tugging the helmet off and setting it on the padded seat. The little eco friendly car Celeste drove was in the garage, the first thing she bought when her wild-life foundation supporters decided to give something back to the founder of the cause. Benjamin winced as he saw it, walking past the open garage door and twisting the knob of the back door to step into the kitchen from the garden. The foundation was why he was visiting home today, mostly, and Celeste did not appreciate it when her children did not show up to public events.
He ran his hand over the back of his neck before he slid his jacket off and draped it on the back of a chair, kicking the hiking boots off by the door as well and wriggling his toes as the chill of the tile floor seeped in through his socks. He could hear voices somewhere else in the house, probably Adam or Daniel since Colton was abroad studying European grey wolves in their natural environs, thinking that learning about them would be a benefit for the foundation’s most recent project.
The sound of a throat being cleared pulled his attention to the woman standing the doorway to the hall. Proud as ever, Ben’s mother stood with a perfect posture as she stepped in, giving her youngest a rare smile, the crow’s feet at her eyes wrinkling a little as the laugh lines around her mouth deepened. “This is an unexpected pleasure, Ben. You’re home for a visit? Or permanently?” She asked. Despite her age, her voice was still rich and musical, the sound every single one of her children had grown up hearing singing them to sleep or telling them stories of the day they would run through the woods on four legs.
Ben gave Celeste a pained smile and embraced her politely, being to kiss her cheek in a dutiful manner. “Just home for a visit, Mother. And I’ve some bad news, honestly. I won’t be able to attend the benefit dinner you’re hosting for the foundation next week.”
Celeste’s smile fell and she quirked an eyebrow as she studied her youngest’s face with disappointment. “Ben, you know how important this is... this is to celebrate the approval to reintroduce wolves to Britain since they were hunted to extinction centuries ago... this could give our kind another place to hide, to grow our numbers, to win against the minions of the Wyrm. Why on earth would you miss something so important, so vital to securing our future?”
The young man sided, running his hand down his face, rubbing over the unshaven stubble on his jaw before he took his mother’s hands in both of his own. “Mum, I know how important this is to you. I’ve been here every step of the way, doing everything I can do to help you. That’s why I took the bloody assignment to go live in that chaos of Birmingham proper, alright? And because I live there, and not here at home with the rest of you, I’ve taken a job at a club-sort of, establishment. And the night of your dinner, I have to work.”
Celeste yanked her hands away, frowning now at Ben, her eyes the same color as his but all the more piercing and deadly when she was of a mind. “A job? Where? This doesn’t have anything to do with those leeches or Hagley Hall again, does it?” Ben licked his lips and took a breath to explain before his mother threw her hands in the air and started pacing around the kitchen. “I swear, I should have sent Adam or Daniel to do this. Neither of them would have broken the Veil in front of a leech Primogen and-”
“Mum! This doesn’t have anything to do with Derin breaking into my flat, which by the way he was uninvited to do so and he baited me. I can’t always help it, something you passed down to all of us. Need I remind you of what you did when the Caern was lost? Those were our bedtime stories, Mother. Your nightmare.” Ben retorted, color flooding his face as he replied to his mother’s scathing remark that his brothers would have been better equipped to do his job.
He knew he crossed a line when Celeste’s eyes flashed and her nostrils flared as she inhaled sharply. “Oh, yes, I know you have little control, especially when some human is involved, a human girl. All of you lose your senses when humans are involved.” She replied crisply, her tone chill and smooth.
“I am not having this argument with you again; it’s not like that with Lana, she just seems to have the bad luck of attracting vampires’ attention. And she lives right above me, am I just supposed to ignore her if she needs help?” Not to mention the fact she’s mad at me for some reason, according to Emlyn.
Ben’s mind seemed to be distracting him as his mother shook her head at him. “That’s besides the point, Benjamin. I told you that you cannot be distracted with something this important and here you are shacking up with a human girl.”
“I am not shacking up with her! And what’s your problem with her anyway? You didn’t seem to mind your firstborn marrying one when they told you Samantha was pregnant.” He snapped off back at her, glowering at his mother now.
“Obviously, there is one exception to every rule, and Samantha is that one. Would you rather Sophie didn’t exist then? Simply because Adam mated with a human?” Celeste’s own glare was nothing to sniff as she took a step forward, poking Ben in the chest lightly.
“Of course not, Mother, I adore Sophie. Everyone who’s bloody met her does.” Ben replied quickly, looking shocked that Celeste would suggest such a thing.
Celeste let out a huff that ended in a partial snarl as she turned and started to stalk away. “When the leeches turn and you come home to nurse your wounds from when they bit you, I won’t say I told you so. I can smell one all over you, you’ve been speaking with them more than you have reported in, my son.”
Ben clamped his mouth shut as his mother left the kitchen and rested his hands on his hips, studying his feet. “She doesn’t exactly see eye to eye with me about everything either, you know.” A deeper voice emanated from the hall as Adam walked in, bulkier than Benjamin, leaning one powerfully muscled arm against the door frame. His hair wasn’t as dark as Ben’s but they all shared the same dominant blue eye color, and the half-smirk that crossed every Lucas boy’s face when he was amused.
“Don’t patronize me, Adam. You’re her pride and joy, I’m just the errant pup who she thinks should have never been off his leash.” Ben replied, squeezing his temples between a thumb and his fingertips, shaking his head.
Adam shook his head, looking over his shoulder and beckoning someone to come to the kitchen. “I think I have someone here who can cheer you up a little, Ben. Just bring her back in one piece.” With that, Adam left and a much shorter figure stood in the doorway, all smiles with one tooth missing on the bottom and messy, baby-fine brown hair.
Ben smiled despite himself and knelt down, opening his arms. “Hey Soph.” Sophie sprinted into his arms with a gentle thud and squeezed around his neck with her spindly little arms as if her life depended on it.
“I missed you Uncle Ben. Why did you go away?” Her little girlish voice replied in his ear as he stood, an arm around her waist supporting her, her little feet barely reaching his waist while her head rested on his shoulder.
“Ah, I’m sorry Sophie. I have jobs and things I have to do in the city proper, you know. Someone’s gotta take care of it while your dad takes care of the big stuff here with you and your mummy, and Grandma.” He explained softly, rubbing her back soothingly.
She leaned back and studied his face carefully, putting her little sticky hands on each of his cheeks and pushing the corners of his mouth up. “You’re sad. I don’t like it. Why are you sad?”
Ben sighed and sat Sophie down on one of the bar stools by the kitchen island, knowing she liked to twist and turn on the round seats, which she promptly started doing, wiggling a little while watching him. “Well, it’s like this. I thought I might have made a couple new friends in the city, but I think I upset one of them. She’s a very nice lady, but she can’t speak... I don’t know why, but she has to write everything down to communicate with me.”
Sophie bit down on her lower lip and stopped turning the seat around to give her uncle her full undivided attention, her eyes wide, a darker blue than her uncles’ or her father’s. “That would make it hard to make friends for her, wouldn’t it?”
He slid his hands in his pockets and frowned down at his feet before looking up at his niece with an expression of curiosity. “Yes, I expect it would, Sophie. Well, I’m not sure what I’ve done to upset her... and I don’t know how to make it right and get her to hang around long enough to... well communicate with me about it.”
“Did you bring her flowers?” Sophie asked, her smile crooked and sly at the same time, looking impish.
Ben returned her smile and tapped her on the nose shaking his head. “No, she’s not that kind of friend, Soph.”
Sophie scrunched up her little face and looked disappointed, studying her feet resting on the rungs of the bar stool for a moment. “Well, you should still take her some flowers. Pretty ones, not sneezy ones. And maybe a present.”
Ben chuckled, letting the feeling of unease in his chest loosen as he shook his head a little at Sophie’s simple solution. From the mouth of babes. He thought before giving Sophie another hug. “Alright then, little Soph. I’ll bring Lana some pretty flowers, not sneezy ones. And a present. What do you think I should get her?”
“Something pink. I can help pick it out!” She suddenly said enthusiastically, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and squeezing him. “Please?”
“Alright, alright. Go get your helmet and tell your mother we’ll be back in a few hours.” Ben agreed, setting Sophie down on the floor. “And don’t forget your shoes this time.”
With a slight grunt, he kicked the stand out and leaned the back to his left a little as he swung his leg off from over the bike, tugging the helmet off and setting it on the padded seat. The little eco friendly car Celeste drove was in the garage, the first thing she bought when her wild-life foundation supporters decided to give something back to the founder of the cause. Benjamin winced as he saw it, walking past the open garage door and twisting the knob of the back door to step into the kitchen from the garden. The foundation was why he was visiting home today, mostly, and Celeste did not appreciate it when her children did not show up to public events.
He ran his hand over the back of his neck before he slid his jacket off and draped it on the back of a chair, kicking the hiking boots off by the door as well and wriggling his toes as the chill of the tile floor seeped in through his socks. He could hear voices somewhere else in the house, probably Adam or Daniel since Colton was abroad studying European grey wolves in their natural environs, thinking that learning about them would be a benefit for the foundation’s most recent project.
The sound of a throat being cleared pulled his attention to the woman standing the doorway to the hall. Proud as ever, Ben’s mother stood with a perfect posture as she stepped in, giving her youngest a rare smile, the crow’s feet at her eyes wrinkling a little as the laugh lines around her mouth deepened. “This is an unexpected pleasure, Ben. You’re home for a visit? Or permanently?” She asked. Despite her age, her voice was still rich and musical, the sound every single one of her children had grown up hearing singing them to sleep or telling them stories of the day they would run through the woods on four legs.
Ben gave Celeste a pained smile and embraced her politely, being to kiss her cheek in a dutiful manner. “Just home for a visit, Mother. And I’ve some bad news, honestly. I won’t be able to attend the benefit dinner you’re hosting for the foundation next week.”
Celeste’s smile fell and she quirked an eyebrow as she studied her youngest’s face with disappointment. “Ben, you know how important this is... this is to celebrate the approval to reintroduce wolves to Britain since they were hunted to extinction centuries ago... this could give our kind another place to hide, to grow our numbers, to win against the minions of the Wyrm. Why on earth would you miss something so important, so vital to securing our future?”
The young man sided, running his hand down his face, rubbing over the unshaven stubble on his jaw before he took his mother’s hands in both of his own. “Mum, I know how important this is to you. I’ve been here every step of the way, doing everything I can do to help you. That’s why I took the bloody assignment to go live in that chaos of Birmingham proper, alright? And because I live there, and not here at home with the rest of you, I’ve taken a job at a club-sort of, establishment. And the night of your dinner, I have to work.”
Celeste yanked her hands away, frowning now at Ben, her eyes the same color as his but all the more piercing and deadly when she was of a mind. “A job? Where? This doesn’t have anything to do with those leeches or Hagley Hall again, does it?” Ben licked his lips and took a breath to explain before his mother threw her hands in the air and started pacing around the kitchen. “I swear, I should have sent Adam or Daniel to do this. Neither of them would have broken the Veil in front of a leech Primogen and-”
“Mum! This doesn’t have anything to do with Derin breaking into my flat, which by the way he was uninvited to do so and he baited me. I can’t always help it, something you passed down to all of us. Need I remind you of what you did when the Caern was lost? Those were our bedtime stories, Mother. Your nightmare.” Ben retorted, color flooding his face as he replied to his mother’s scathing remark that his brothers would have been better equipped to do his job.
He knew he crossed a line when Celeste’s eyes flashed and her nostrils flared as she inhaled sharply. “Oh, yes, I know you have little control, especially when some human is involved, a human girl. All of you lose your senses when humans are involved.” She replied crisply, her tone chill and smooth.
“I am not having this argument with you again; it’s not like that with Lana, she just seems to have the bad luck of attracting vampires’ attention. And she lives right above me, am I just supposed to ignore her if she needs help?” Not to mention the fact she’s mad at me for some reason, according to Emlyn.
Ben’s mind seemed to be distracting him as his mother shook her head at him. “That’s besides the point, Benjamin. I told you that you cannot be distracted with something this important and here you are shacking up with a human girl.”
“I am not shacking up with her! And what’s your problem with her anyway? You didn’t seem to mind your firstborn marrying one when they told you Samantha was pregnant.” He snapped off back at her, glowering at his mother now.
“Obviously, there is one exception to every rule, and Samantha is that one. Would you rather Sophie didn’t exist then? Simply because Adam mated with a human?” Celeste’s own glare was nothing to sniff as she took a step forward, poking Ben in the chest lightly.
“Of course not, Mother, I adore Sophie. Everyone who’s bloody met her does.” Ben replied quickly, looking shocked that Celeste would suggest such a thing.
Celeste let out a huff that ended in a partial snarl as she turned and started to stalk away. “When the leeches turn and you come home to nurse your wounds from when they bit you, I won’t say I told you so. I can smell one all over you, you’ve been speaking with them more than you have reported in, my son.”
Ben clamped his mouth shut as his mother left the kitchen and rested his hands on his hips, studying his feet. “She doesn’t exactly see eye to eye with me about everything either, you know.” A deeper voice emanated from the hall as Adam walked in, bulkier than Benjamin, leaning one powerfully muscled arm against the door frame. His hair wasn’t as dark as Ben’s but they all shared the same dominant blue eye color, and the half-smirk that crossed every Lucas boy’s face when he was amused.
“Don’t patronize me, Adam. You’re her pride and joy, I’m just the errant pup who she thinks should have never been off his leash.” Ben replied, squeezing his temples between a thumb and his fingertips, shaking his head.
Adam shook his head, looking over his shoulder and beckoning someone to come to the kitchen. “I think I have someone here who can cheer you up a little, Ben. Just bring her back in one piece.” With that, Adam left and a much shorter figure stood in the doorway, all smiles with one tooth missing on the bottom and messy, baby-fine brown hair.
Ben smiled despite himself and knelt down, opening his arms. “Hey Soph.” Sophie sprinted into his arms with a gentle thud and squeezed around his neck with her spindly little arms as if her life depended on it.
“I missed you Uncle Ben. Why did you go away?” Her little girlish voice replied in his ear as he stood, an arm around her waist supporting her, her little feet barely reaching his waist while her head rested on his shoulder.
“Ah, I’m sorry Sophie. I have jobs and things I have to do in the city proper, you know. Someone’s gotta take care of it while your dad takes care of the big stuff here with you and your mummy, and Grandma.” He explained softly, rubbing her back soothingly.
She leaned back and studied his face carefully, putting her little sticky hands on each of his cheeks and pushing the corners of his mouth up. “You’re sad. I don’t like it. Why are you sad?”
Ben sighed and sat Sophie down on one of the bar stools by the kitchen island, knowing she liked to twist and turn on the round seats, which she promptly started doing, wiggling a little while watching him. “Well, it’s like this. I thought I might have made a couple new friends in the city, but I think I upset one of them. She’s a very nice lady, but she can’t speak... I don’t know why, but she has to write everything down to communicate with me.”
Sophie bit down on her lower lip and stopped turning the seat around to give her uncle her full undivided attention, her eyes wide, a darker blue than her uncles’ or her father’s. “That would make it hard to make friends for her, wouldn’t it?”
He slid his hands in his pockets and frowned down at his feet before looking up at his niece with an expression of curiosity. “Yes, I expect it would, Sophie. Well, I’m not sure what I’ve done to upset her... and I don’t know how to make it right and get her to hang around long enough to... well communicate with me about it.”
“Did you bring her flowers?” Sophie asked, her smile crooked and sly at the same time, looking impish.
Ben returned her smile and tapped her on the nose shaking his head. “No, she’s not that kind of friend, Soph.”
Sophie scrunched up her little face and looked disappointed, studying her feet resting on the rungs of the bar stool for a moment. “Well, you should still take her some flowers. Pretty ones, not sneezy ones. And maybe a present.”
Ben chuckled, letting the feeling of unease in his chest loosen as he shook his head a little at Sophie’s simple solution. From the mouth of babes. He thought before giving Sophie another hug. “Alright then, little Soph. I’ll bring Lana some pretty flowers, not sneezy ones. And a present. What do you think I should get her?”
“Something pink. I can help pick it out!” She suddenly said enthusiastically, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and squeezing him. “Please?”
“Alright, alright. Go get your helmet and tell your mother we’ll be back in a few hours.” Ben agreed, setting Sophie down on the floor. “And don’t forget your shoes this time.”
