Eternal Night

(III) Chapter 24: Family Dynamics

Ezekiel Masthena was seated in the dining room of the de Chacier home, a book in one hand and a glass of fresh dhampir in the other. Francesca's cousins – specifically Gigi and Marceau, along with their spouses – had situated themselves across from him on the other side of the table. Once the customary pleasantries had been exchanged, the group had taken to chatting quietly amongst themselves, leaving Zeke to his reading.

Unbeknownst to anyone, however, was the fact that the poor man had read the same line well over a dozen times now in the last few minutes alone. His keen, vampire senses, it would seem, had him instinctively tuning in to the sounds of the house – listening to any sound or movement of his siblings while also desperately attempting to ignore the sound of his father and Francesca upstairs.

He had been utterly amazed at how quiet their room had been during the day, having fallen asleep wondering if the walls of the estate were just unusually thick and soundproof. But into the late afternoon, he had realized that that wasn't exactly the case.

His father and Francesca had apparently disappeared somewhere, just around sunrise, and while the pair had returned later in the day – mercifully going straight to sleep after their arrival back at the house – he had awoken a while later to the sound of faint and barely suppressed moaning.

At first, he thought he had dreamt it, rolling over onto his side to drift back to sleep, perhaps to dream about his wife, Isabella, but then he had heard it again – a keening, female whine followed by Vladislaus whispering, "You've already lost, dragă – there's no point in holding yourself back any longer."

To the average ear, one would have had to strain to hear, let alone make out what was being spoken – but with heightened vampire senses.... Zeke couldn't recall the last time he had dressed so quickly, splashing his face with cold water before ducking out of the room and materializing to the other end of the hall.

Thankfully, the walls in this place were indeed thick enough to muffle much of the noise elsewhere, but knowing what was happening – truthfully, he felt torn. On the one hand, he was happy for his father, and for Francesca, grateful that they had made up, that they were happy, and so damn enamored with each other. And while he was no prude and considered sex and all its varieties and deviancies to be normal and healthy – well, to a point, anyway – it was still strange knowing that the man he loved and looked to as a father...

Well, there was no use in dwelling on it.

If he hadn't gotten used to the idea by now, there was little hope of that changing any time soon.

So once again, he tried to reread that same sentence all over again.

No such luck.

But then, as if by some divine intervention, Tempest and Louise entered the dining room together.

"Good evening!" he called out, snapping his book shut and placing it on the table.

Tempest was all girlish charm and smiles.

"Evening, Zeke! You manage to get any sleep?"

"I think the more appropriate question is if they got any sleep," Louise replied, chuckling softly through a slight grimace. "Still going at it from what I could hear."

"They ducked out shortly after dawn so I can't account for their activities during the day," he said, addressing the blonde. "I, on the other hand, slept well enough until about an hour ago," he added, struggling to suppress his grin, even as Tempest cackled.

"Is everything all right?" Joséphine asked, suddenly asked. The trio turned to look at her.

"Oh, yes – all is well," Louise insisted, taking the seat on her brother's left. "We were just commenting on how quiet things were during the day until a short while ago. It appears that everything between Father and Francesca is back to normal."