There was so much going on, it was almost easy to forget that he’d agreed to go and meet Shannon, to talk things over with his brother….or try to. Or maybe he just wanted to forget about all of the nastiness they’d been through, probably would fucking go through again as soon as they opened their mouths… But he’d given his word and so, as soon as the moon rose, he hauled himself up out of bed and into the shower. It was strange to adjust to getting ready at night, to tracking your time by darkness instead of the sunlight overhead. Cal dressed quickly, pulling on whatever clean clothes he could find, running a hand through his still damp-hair as he flipped off the bathroom light behind him. He paused long enough to sink into the chair in the corner of his room, pulling on his boots, grabbing his jacket to shrug on. It was cool outside, he was cold naturally…would he even need the extra barrier? Donning it was more a move of habit now that anything else, but he couldn’t stop fucking doing it for anything. “Hey,” he whispered, as quietly as he could, leaning down to brush Juniper’s hair from her face, pressing a kiss to her forehead, “I’m going to go and meet Shannon. I’ll be back before sunrise.” Hopefully well before it. He couldn’t even be sure she was awake, but he’d told her about the meeting earlier in the week so she wouldn’t have any reason to wake up alone and wonder where the hell he was.
He stopped off in the garage of the mansion next, sliding behind the wheel of his car – it was the first one he’d ever owned, a gift from Jaida so that he could get around town quickly enough to dodge the sun – and fired up the engine. Fucking hell, if he didn’t love the roar of a nice engine. A swift nod to the guard at the door and they let him out, his headlights illuminating the drive as he pulled away from the mansion and out into Amsterdam’s night. He knew the route to the park like the back of his hand, put the top down to enjoy the cool breeze, did anything to avoid thinking about what would be waiting for him at Wertheimpark. He hadn’t seen his brother since that night that had changed everything, since he’d confessed his twisted fucking plan and Cal had ended up sticking a needle in his arm one too many times. His life had been rebuilt since then, one that was completely free of his brother. There was a hole, it’d be a lie to say there wasn’t, but being without Shannon was so much easier than having him around, waiting for the fallout from his next quest for revenge. If he was going to purge this new life of his of all of the poisons that he could, Cal had to realize that his brother just might have to be one of them.
The car rolled to a smooth stop not far from the park and he stepped out, keys tucked into his pocket as he made the rest of the trip on foot. He could see Shannon just ahead, could even make out the pensive look on his brother’s face thanks to his newly enhanced and super fucking creepy vamp-vision. “You look fucking nostalgic,” he broke the silence, pausing a few feet away, hands still shoved deep in his pockets.