Caius, Claudia and Gabriel
After introducing her twin brother to Sara and Shade, Claudia led Caius into their room where Gabriel was sleeping.
"There he is. He's an intelligent boy and the calmness he displayed earlier sorta reminded me of you." She smiled fondly towards the sleeping boy, her bond to him already strong. The boy might not be her biological son but she vowed to raise him like he was.
"Imagine that. I hope your hotheadedness doesn't rub off on him." Caius smirked.
Claudia rolled her eyes.
"Honestly. Sometimes I wonder why I even want you around."Caius raised and eyebrow and pointed to himself.
"Babysitter. You know you need me. Especially when you and your vampire feel a little antsy." He sniffed the air and then nodded.
"Yeah, you'd probably need me to be around A LOT.""Cai!" Claudia exclaimed, looking thoroughly embarrassed.
"Mommy?" came a small voice on the bed. The little boy was sitting up, rubbing his eyes.
"Now, look what you did." She frowned at her twin as she hurried to the bed.
"My fault? You were the one being loud," Caius retorted.
Gabriel looked at Caius and then pointed at him, a smile on his lips.
"Daddy?"Caius laughed, Claudia rolled her eyes again.
"No, no, baby. That's Uncle Caius. He's mommy's twin brother. Your daddy is Alex. He went out for a while but he'll be back soon," she said in a soft voice.
Gabriel looked at Caius then at Claudia.
"Uncle Caius doesn't stink like daddy.""Stink like...? Oh." Caius laughed out loud as he walked over to the bed.
"I know what you mean kid. But, it's not really THAT bad. I mean, half of the time he smells like mommy.""CAIUS!"Caius laughed more.
Darric Shadowforge
Darric was still sleeping when Casey came back. When she called out to him, he instantly woke up. Smelling a vampire, he was immediately on his feet. The smell was familiar but he had no idea why Alex North would be in his apartment uninvited. He hastily put on his boxers and then walked out of the room.
As soon as he saw Casey's ripped and bloodied clothes, he growled. He reached out and pulled her to his side and then turned his suddenly feral eyes to the vampire. His body temperature shot up as he tried to rein in his growing temper. He smelled Alex's blood mixed with the scent of her blood on Casey. But the lack of injuries was clue to what had happened while he slept. Despite being able to more or less guess what had transpired, he still looked ready to pounce at any moment.
"By the state of Casey's clothing and the absence of any injuries, I can only assume that you are not responsible for this. But if you are, then you have some guts to show up in my place."