Havenwood, NY

It was just approaching closing time when he and the single employee he kept at this hour had finished informing the few patrons left that they'd be closing in ten minutes. William was anxious to get the shop closed and cleaned so that he could head over to Eden and take the edge off that the bagged blood he obtained did not always do. Pulling the pocketwatch from his waistcoat pocket, he glanced at the time once again, a flash of annoyance shooting across his face because only a minute had passed since his return to the front, making it 9:50.

The vampire forced himself to suppress a sigh when the door hit the bell that hung over it, signaling the arrival of another customer. Yet, despite his ability to keep from sighing, William was unable to keep his irritation out of his voice.

"Good evening, madam," William could tell the patron was female from the sound of her footfalls, "Obscura will be closing in..." ( Read more... )

When he was roused that morning by his motherly neighbor, Mrs. Seward, who had taken it upon herself to be his housekeeper slash caregiver "because someone has to do it, Mr. Collins," it was not with the expectation of having tea later that day with the wife of one of Havenwood's wealthy merchants. In fact, Declan expected to have no visitors at all since he'd all but cut himself off from the community save for the few stubborn friends that visited him once a week or so. Mostly, however, it was due to being the middle of winter with heavy snow on the ground, making travel difficult. Because of such difficulties, Mrs. Seward was staying with him for the week while her husband was in Manhattan conducting business.

The morning was spent in routine as he assisted the older woman in tidying up the townhouse. Perhaps it was because Declan was now alone or perhaps it was because she did not have a set of her own, Mrs. Seward always insisted on using the silver for their meals. When he asked why one day, he could hear movement in what he figured out was a shrug and she gave a rather practical reply.

"Well… it just seems like a waste to let it just sit there to gather dust and tarnish." After that, Declan didn't have the heart to argue and it was usually his assignment to clean the set when Mrs. Seward said it needed cleaning. It was not a particularly large one that had been inherited by a previous wife at the time and somehow remained within his care. While the task could be tedious, Declan rather enjoyed it as it gave him the opportunity to reminisce over the fond memories they invoked. As he worked at the long bench table in the kitchen, the space and rest of the house became increasingly pungent with the smell of cooking stew. By mid-day, based on the sunlight he could feel on his back, he was ravenous.

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Anya had been holding a deep seated guilt ever since she had quietly threatened Ben after his crash landing in Zee's yard. While he'd been staying at her home, it had largely been while he was resting or she was working, and it wasn't until the day before that they had finally been able to sit and have the long overdue talk they needed. It had seemed to put them back on track, at least in her mind; she could see once again the bright eyed boy who had a painfully obvious crush on her daughter, and felt reassured he wouldn't betray them.

To build on their mutual good faith, she decided to stop by the store after she was done with her shift at the hospital. It was a recipe she recalled sharing with the Turner boys' mother a lifetime ago, one that had been reported back to her as quickly becoming Ben's favorite. She hoped it still was as she carefully walked the aisles, plucking ingredients from their displays and carefully arranging them in her basket. She saved the seafood for last, patiently waiting as the young man behind the counter handed her white paper wrapped packets of shrimp, clams, salmon, cod, and halibut.

Satisfied that she had everything she needed, save for a fresh loaf of bread, she thanked the young man and turned toward the bakery section, almost running into a man standing close to her.

"Oh, forgive me," she said quickly, before she froze, her brow furrowing as she looked up to see Ben standing there.

She opened her mouth to chastise him for being out of bed, until the realization struck her. It wasn't Ben. Her senses caught up to her; his scent was wrong, his hair was different... Her eyes went wide a the impossibility became the only option.

"Alex?" she asked, momentarily breathless. "It is you?"

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The past few days had been something of a blur for Anya. Between keeping her scheduled shifts at the hospital and keeping Ben alive and as pain-free as possible as he recovered from whatever ordeal had brought him to Zee's door, she hadn't been sleeping much. Luckily she'd pulled enough doubles and even triples in her time to be used to surviving on coffee and power naps for a few days.

She shuffled in, stifling a yawn as she drained the last of the coffee she'd made before leaving the house as she put her things away in her locker. Then she made a beeline for the coffee maker at the nurse's station. A few of the newer nurses were standing nearby, gossipping and twittering softly among themselves. Anya just rolled her eyes with a sigh and refilled her cup, before walking a couple of steps over to Nadine, one of the other veteran nurses.

"What is this time?" Anya asked, looking back at the younger nurses. "Pretty new patient? Or does Paul have a new boyfriend again?"

"Neither, but I'm sure Paul's hoping things go his way," Nadine chuckled, shaking her head before she nodded in the direction of a small clump of doctors several feet away. "Look who decided to come back."

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Despite the chaos at the mansion and preparing it for it's Memorial Day weekend opening of tours, Flynn had taken the time out of his busy schedule to make a trip to Crescent Hill Academy and talk to and check up on the students who had at least one fae parent. The last student he was currently speaking to had been a bit of a surprise when she was introduced to him 12 years ago for she was a full-blooded Sidhe. Flynn had learned that she was the many times Great-Granddaughter of Earl Colum and Countess Sadb, the latter who was a sibling of his mothers. The pair had been one of a few who had debated leniency in his jailing to a year versus the original sentence of hundreds (no doubt a suggestion made by Cavan to teach him a lesson). What the Earl and Countess hadn't counted on was Flynn's own stubbornness and pride that rivaled his father's. When he met young Mór, or Moreen as she was known to the mortals, he was relieved to find that his father still had allies that weren't in Cavan's pocket. Over the years, she had been an unknowing fountain of information until she had finally wised up to his subtle "inquiries of home" and now voluntarily acted as "middleman" to relay information from her parents to him when she returned to Faerie for school breaks. Written correspondence could not be trusted if was intercepted by Cavan's spies and given his brother's growing paranoia, Flynn had been especially careful since the turn of the century to word his letters to his sister carefully.

The older fae sighed after Mo had essentially confirmed all of Aisling's concerns, fears, and news. A sad smile graced his lips as he reached the short distance between them and lightly touched the tips of his fingers to her shoulder.

"Give my regards to your parents, yes?" A more happy smile grew on his face at the nod he received before he encouraged the girl to go have some fun on his account. In the moment he had alone, Flynn used it to reflect on things before he heard the tread of Toby interrupt the twitter of birds. They held a brief conversation on the matter of his brother as they strolled toward the main building of the academy when he saw the underlying reason for today's visit: Joshua Foley.

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Flynn woke to a dreary Monday morning at around seven. He had hoped that for his sister's arrival it would be a sunnier spring day rather than a rainy one, but alas, it was not to be so. He had informed his hotel staff in plenty of time that he would not be available, but if an emergency occurred, Flynn could be contacted, of course. The faerie dallied by having breakfast in his study and by reading the Herald, mostly to keep his mind from wandering to the arrival of Aisling and getting overly nervous.

Yet nervous he was as the faerie shoved aside his barely touched plate and spun his chair to face one of the windows that overlooked the back grounds. In the distance, he could see the stables and barracks and the barely discernable guards going about their assignments and routines. A smile curved his mouth when he saw the familiar mop of hair that identified Toby as the fae broke away from the group to head back toward the mansion. As he so often did, Flynn couldn't help but compare his relationship with Toby to his relationship with Cavan. The bond he had with Toby had been forged through blood, sweat, and tears, creating a level of loyalty to one another that was unmatched. There was almost nothing the two wouldn't do for the other. He and Cavan, however… Up until Cavan had twisted the knife in his back, Flynn had loved his brother and he thought with time, the animosity, the jealousy Cavan held against him would fade. He assumed—poorly—that Cavan would've had his back where it counted on the simple fact that they were brothers. Flynn realized far too late that his brothers ambitions far exceeded his love for the brother that stood in his way. A sigh was heaved at the loss, even after so many centuries.

Of course, with his mind on Cavan, thoughts of Aisling didn't stray far behind. Unlike his bond with Cavan, he and Aisling had been close. Before his exile, they spoke often with each other, confided dreams and secrets to one another, and Flynn had enjoyed teaching her how to use a sword and to play chess. His absence had to have been difficult for her and he only hoped that Malachi proved to be a much-needed balm. Her arrival to Rosewood Manor would be an equally needed change and he only wished that Malachi could be there with her so that he could get a better sense of the other faerie prince.

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