Chapter 10: A Mother's Shadow

The lighting shifted abruptly, pain lancing through Nos's head. He blinked, disoriented, catching Brenda's remorseful gaze and his mother Andrea's imposing form. At least she was fully dressed this time.

Moments ago, Cal's arms silenced Nos's doubts. Now, ripped away, their connection severed, he clenched his jaw. "Send me back. Now." His words were so commanding that Brenda instinctively stepped back.

Andrea's eyes flashed; a warning, a challenge. She moved so quickly that his vampire vision barely noted it until she grasped his chin tightly. "How dare you speak to me like your human father?" she hissed. "Don't ever take that tone with me!"

For once, Nos didn't flinch. The aftershock of losing Cal's warmth left his body tense, and the void of the separation darkened his emotions. "And you?" He met her gaze, chin lifted. "What gives you the right to separate me from my partner?"

Andrea stepped closer, her gaze predatory. "Nostriano Antonio Neroli, you bear my name, not Novak's. You may look like him, but you are my son. More mine than you ever were his. I fought for you once, and I won't lose you again, not when I see your strength."

Andrea's sudden claim on him made Nos's stomach twist with nausea. After all those years abandoned, why reach for him now, with such fierce possessiveness?

Luc and Sven had always been his true family, not his biological parents. Nos might look like Novak and picked up Andrea's mannerisms, but what truly mattered was his kindness, his need for connection, which came from the people who'd actually raised him. That realization that he had willingly buried for so long was finally front and center. Nos vowed then and there never to bury it again.

"You're wrong," he said. "I'm not yours to control, or his. I've started my life over in Helderlus, and I won't be coming back here much. Not anymore."

Andrea circled him. "Aren't you? Those eyes, that temper and hunger you try so hard to leash; it's in you, just as it's in me. Do you really think you can run from it? From me? From what we are?" Brenda hovered, torn between loyalty to Andrea and worry for Nos, uncertain whether to intervene, but Andrea's focus was absolute.

Nos's fists trembled as he spat, "I'm nothing like you." The words tore out raw and trembling, laced with uncertain defiance. Even as he spoke, dread pulsed inside, threatening to drag him under.

Andrea lowered her voice, intimate and icy. "Look at how terrified you are. Do you really think you can hide it behind those soft little morals you learned from Sven and Luc? You think you won't allow the taste of blood to overcome you?" She stepped closer, orange eyes boring into him. Brenda shifted nervously behind.

A shudder wracked Nos. Blood, hot and coppery, haunted his memory; the thrill, the wild spiral of losing himself, always lurking beneath. "I—I won't…" He stumbled, humiliation burning beneath his skin.

"You're certain you'll never lose control?" Andrea finished for him, mocking. "You think you won't hurt others, as I have? But you will." Her smile was a dagger. "You fear me only because I'm what you think you'll become."

Nos's chest seized. He fought for words, but all that escaped was a ragged, shattering breath. "I won't—" The sound of it was broken, every syllable torn between hope and terror.

"Won't what?" she pressed. "Hurt the ones you love? Abandon them? Feed until there's nothing else that matters? I tried to fight it, too. There's a reason I left you, Nostriano. I saw too much of myself in you, and I couldn't bear to watch you become me."

He shook his head, but Andrea pressed on. "Go on, prove me wrong. Tell me you're stronger. I dare you." Brenda's gold eyes darted between mother and son.

Shame, anger, and grief crashed together within Nos. He confessed, voice barely above a whisper, "I am afraid not just of you—of myself, of what I could do. I've always feared hurting everyone the way you did, ending up alone. Like you." He glanced at Brenda, seeking an anchor, but found only his own fear staring back at him.

Andrea's eyes narrowed, a flicker of something- hurt, maybe, or regret- before her expression hardened. "That's the price we pay as we carry such hunger; loneliness,  living with the fear we'll lose ourselves to it." For a moment, her voice softened, the vulnerability almost breaking through.

A brittle silence settled, the three of them suspended between accusation and hope.

Andrea's tone chilled again, but now there was something tremulous beneath the edge. "Despite what you may think, I worry you'll break as I did… that the Nerolis weren’t built for love." She stepped back, glancing at Brenda, and Nos noted a flash of guilt before she glanced away. "But maybe you'll be the one who doesn't."

Brenda placed her hand on Andrea's in silent support, pride in her eyes.

Nos straightened, wiping his sleeve across his face. "I don't want to be you. But I won't pretend I'm not afraid I could become you." He met Brenda's gaze, drawing strength.

Andrea's lips curled, half pride, half challenge. "Then fight it. Prove you can love someone enough to stay. Or you'll end up right here, like me, watching everyone move on." Her words were both a warning and a longing. The words hung between them, heavy as blood, the air thick with what had never been said.

Nos drew on the memory of his Dad, of his sadness whenever Nos brought up his fated match, and how he threw his all into his relationship with Zuma when they reunited. He thought of Sven, and how he cast everything aside to follow his fated match to an entirely different environment. Finally, he thought of Cal and his patience— how he’d felt when they were reunited in Helderlus and Nos held him in his arms.

Nos's voice was hoarse but steady. "I'll do better. I have to."

To his surprise, his mother's gaze softened a sliver; fragile but genuine. "We'll see."

"Forgive me," Brenda finally spoke aloud, taking a more confident step forward. "If I hadn't caved in to her request to check in on you—"

Nos gave her a shaky smile. "I'd appreciate it if you could send me back."

"Not yet!" Andrea commanded.

Andrea walked up and tied Nos's shirt. Her face showed the threat of a mafia leader, but her hands were methodical and gentle. When he was presentable, she stepped back to appraise him.

Nos was about to say something, but she held her hand up to stop him.

"Are you so certain that this cambion of yours shares the same level of commitment?" Andrea asked, her tone sharp.

A ripple of energy suddenly sparked up to their left.

That time, Nos not only felt it, but he saw the air flickering like heat waves until a portal opened up. To everyone's surprise, a familiar-looking male dragon with a bald head, a trimmed white beard, and golden eyes greeted them. It wasn’t until Brenda said the words aloud that Nos finally realized the reason why Bo’s gold eyes made him uneasy despite his friendly personality.

"Brother Bo?" Brenda asked aloud.

"Sis? I didn't know you'd be there, too. How've you been, Bren?" Bo greeted cheerfully, only to be physically shoved aside as an irritated Caliber clambered right through the portal. "Wait, little guy!"

"Fuck waiting! Nos is right there!" Cal huffed as he shook his second leg free from the portal before rushing over to clutch Nos tightly in a hug. "Are you okay, Gorgeous?"

"Cal!" Nos gasped, not hesitating to hug him back.

Their markings vibrated in warm contentment so strongly that it felt like the first sip of warm coffee in the morning, finally kicking in. Nos pressed a kiss to Cal's forehead and, when Cal's tail began to sway, Nos had to bite his lower lip to keep from chuckling. All his prior tension melted away.

Brenda let out a loud huff, one hand on her hip as she motioned toward Nos and Cal. "Doesn't that settle it, Drea?" she challenged. Then her voice softened. "It's mutual, my Sunset."

"It's mutual," Andrea whispered so quietly that Nos was barely able to hear it. Then her voice strengthened, regaining its harshness. "Nostriano, I'll only say this once, so if you aren't listening, it's your loss."

Nos peered over Caliber’s shoulder at his mother's face, giving her his undivided attention.

"I was wrong," she said, and her face didn't hide her displeasure in saying as much aloud. But then, to everyone's shock, she turned and addressed Caliber directly. "Cambion, you have my apologies."

"It's Caliber," Cal responded before Nos himself could, turning to face the vampiress. "What should I call you?"

"Andrea," she responded without missing a beat, and Nos tried not to feel jealous at her ease with incubus customs. "Mother, if you dare. You?"

"Caliber or Son, if you dare."

A flicker of something that looked like admiration crossed Andrea’s face, and was gone just as quickly as it appeared. "Will you bring Nos to see me when I request it?"

Through their markings, Nos sensed Cal’s unspoken question and answered just as silently.

"If given enough notification ahead of time, I don't see why not," Cal replied.

A smirk tugged on Andrea's lips as she tilted her head slightly to regard the cambion. "I concur."

Brenda let out a puff of air in relief, though her gold eyes continued to stare at Andrea in sheer shock.

"Let's go home," Nos suggested, but Cal shook his head.

"Why don't we pay your friend a visit while we're here?" Cal said. "That preening blondie with the golden swoops."

"Blake?" Nos affirmed, smiling when Cal nodded. He then turned towards Brenda. "Would you mind sending us to my mother's mansion? Are you able to?"

"It's the least I can do," Brenda said as she opened the portal for them.

Cal threaded his hand through Nos's and led them to the portal. Nos glanced at his mother. Her face, unguarded, held regret as a single tear fell.

"We'll see each other again," Nos said, meeting Andrea's eyes. The uncertainty in her gaze mirrored his own, but he was no longer fearful. "And hopefully under better circumstances."

Then, the two young men walked through, leaving Bo to catch up with his sister and his mother to do whatever it was she did.

"So, this was your childhood home," Cal said as the portal closed behind them. "Don't worry, I can take us back home easily—just need a drop of your blood."

"With you beside me, I don't have any worries."

"You and your pretty words," Cal said, smiling sincerely. He then tugged something from the sash at his waist and showed it to him. "You were so geeky and cute as a kid. When I told Uncle and Dad what happened, Dad rushed for a photo album and handed me this while they told me to seek Bo."

Nos blushed as he recognized the moment in the snapshot. He was scrawny, wearing an oversized striped shirt, thick glasses that overtook half his face, and a look of dread in his brown eyes while flames rose from Sven's pan. When had Dad taken that picture?

"Ah-ah!" Cal tutted when Nos tried to hide the picture, snatching it back. "I was charged with bringing this back to Dad. But, I get it now. You really were telling the truth back then."

"I was," Nos insisted. "My number is zero, but I look forward to you being my first and last."

Cal's face glowed pink. "How are you never embarrassed when you say stuff like that?" He asked, his tail swaying. "I mean, I don't dislike it or anything, but I swear I'm always the one feeling second-hand embarrassment in your stead."

"It's how I feel," Nos said.

"Yeah, I know, and I feel the same," Cal admitted. "Our bond doesn't lie."

"If we're not in a rush to get back, would you like to see my room?"

"You sly, opportunistic dhamphir." Cal snickered, but gave a firm nod. "Yes, of course I do. Let's go."