Reaper's Genetic Legacy Experiment [Complete]

[mpart]

Thank you! I love working with you. 

[Jade]

YES. Yes. yes.  I love them together. One of my favorite Sim couples that I've ever read about. Oh my goodness. My mind is still reeling from those last two chapters! Love it.

[LivvieLove]

Hello everyone, the following is the beginning of a beautiful partnership with mpart. I highly recommend reading about the The Labelles and her story that is coinciding with this one: Another Labelle Story.


(N)Utter Insanity

Jack,
On second thought, perhaps the extra plasma fruits won't be necessary. I think Majnun may actually be on to something.
Did you know we actually found a whole garden of just flame fruit bushes?
No, before you write anything, they were actually flame fruit bushes. I'm attaching a picture of one for proof.
Yes. Jack, I do remember that they're supposed to be extinct. Yes I was paying attention to that - but we really did find some! I keep imagining you stumbling into that grove and having a heart attack.
Jack, these fruit are incredible things. I think... I think Majnun was serious about that promise he made.
Also... I need your help with something until then. Oh watcher I feel like I'm in trouble.
I don't even know which way is up anymore.
I'm not entirely sure I care.

-Jupiter

P.S. Tell Liam he hasn't even seen the worst of the King of the Nutters, and to count his lucky stars for it.
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Jack's brow furrowed as he read his email on his phone; he immediately opened a response.

Jupiter,
Hopefully not legal trouble, no? What kind of trouble exactly? You're going to make an old man worry, you know.
Write me back ASAP.
Or you could call you know. Phones are wonderful things.
Take care,
Jack

Jack nodded, but the worry remained. Call a lawyer, he added to his mental list, just in case, then he added a note below that to make sure the lawyer was international.
He lived by his lists.
He fiddled with his keys as he opened the lock to the house - walking into a grumpy Liam sitting on the couch.
"You know, if you keep your face that way it'll stick." He joked.

"If I have to hear another peep out of those nutters I'm going to crack, Jack, I swear on it." Liam gritted his teeth.
A muffled but maniacal laughter carried up the stairs and Liam visibly cringed.
"I. Will. Kill. Them." He clenched his fist.
Jack chuckled, "they're not so bad. Jupiter told me to tell you," Jack fumbled with his phone, "'tell Liam he hasn't even seen the worst of the King of the Nutters, and to count his lucky stars for it.'" Jack read off. "Do I even need to ask what you two are referring to? Is that Majnun?"
Liam couldn't hide the growing grin from his face, "no idea, pops. No idea." He played dumb, but he couldn't prevent himself from snickering.
"I'm not that old, you know." Jack grumbled. "Do we have any more Plasma Fruit in the storage? I need to send some to Jupiter."
Liam, who had read a lot of the message over Jack's shoulder raised his eyebrows. "Jupiter said he might not need 'em right there."
Jack squinted at his phone, "better safe than sorry. Any left?"
"I don't know, the bloodsucker goes through 'em like they're candy." Liam smirked.
"Liam." Jack scolded.

"I mean it affectionately, I swear." Liam stood up and wandered over by the television. "We've got bigger things to worry about though Jack. I think those nutters are up to something." Liam whispered to him.
Jack closed his eyes in annoyance. "Liam... you know you shouldn't talk about them that way. They're our guests."
Liam rolled his eyes, visibly irritated. "Guests don't overstay their welcome." He paused. "Guests don't scream like maniacs at ungodly hours of the morning. Guests also don't set the house on fire and-"
"Yes, I get it. They're not normal guests, but they're still guests, Liam." Jack said levelly.
"Oh for the love of-" Liam rubbed his temples tenderly, "they're AWFUL, Jack."
"Pull yourself together Liam." Jack warned, "a temper like that will send you to an early grave."
Liam just shook his head, "you're impossible. They've been down there muttering all day about something and you're not even the least bit concerned."
"Not my business." Jack shrugged, as he furrowed his brow. "Maybe I should just call Jupiter." He mumbled.
"Not your business!? This is our house Jack! That very much constitutes 'our business.'" Liam threw his hands up.
Jack stood up and walked to Liam, "My business and concern extends to you and Jupiter. That's it." He shrugged. "The house, the material goods... they're all meaningless."
"I don't need a lesson in the importance of family, Jack." Liam griped.
Jack chuckled, "one day you might meet yourself someone special and maybe they'll get you to change your tune." He patted Liam on the shoulder, "I'm going to run to my lab to grab some more plasma fruits. Do you think you can feed Jupiter's plant? I can't remember the last time I fed it."
Liam snickered, "what? Are you getting senile now too?"
Jack gave Liam a stern look but smiled slightly, "so what if I am? Are you boys going to take care of me now that I'm old and senile?"
"I don't know, pops." Liam grinned, "I suppose I could. I mean, you're the closest thing to a father figure I've ever had - hey and you'll always have Jupiter. That Vampire blood - Jack it's incredible! He'll outlive us all."
"You know how he feels about that stuff." Jack shook his head, "he's never had it easy."
"It's a shame. He has a gift! He's throwing it away!" Liam pinched the bridge of his nose. "I would've given anything to have been born with just half of what he has."
Jack sighed, "don't judge someone until-"
"You've walked a mile in their shoes. I know, oh wise one." Liam teased. "Just go and get the bloodsucker his diet. I'll feed his plant and be locked away in the alchemy room trying not to kill anything that breathes too loudly."
"Good." Jack fiddled with his pocket, "keys, phone-"
"Pants. Your list is complete." Liam laughed.
Jack rolled his eyes. "I'll be back in about an hour, you know how to get a hold of me if you need anything. Try really, very hard not to kill anything, ok?"
Liam had turned and headed for the cellar, "I'm not making any promises."
Jack shook his head, rechecked his list, and left the house.

Kefka and Deliro were chattering away at each other until the sound of Liam entering caused them to grow entirely silent.
Liam gave them an amused look as he passed.

"Pyschos." He whispered under his breath after he closed the door to Jupiter's room. He tossed the Omniplant one of the plasma fruits and ground it into the dirt around the base of the plant. "As if my life couldn't get any weirder."
After that was taken care of he wandered across the hallway to the alchemy room: his sanctuary.
He bolted the door shut and enjoyed the quiet of the room for a minute before another bout of laughter caused him to grit his teeth and squeeze his eyes shut. "Don't kill anyone, Liam. Try really, very hard." He reminded himself as he faked a smile. "Watcher, please just strike me down now." He mumbled. It was going to be a horribly long hour.

The alchemy book came to life at Liam's touch, now this was something he was familiar with. He couldn't set fire to anything with a wand, he couldn't move with inhuman speed, he couldn't make plants grow with a single touch or summon the wrath of the Wild Hunt with a howl. Those just weren't in the cards for him, but potions? Those he knew better than anyone else. He could create the most flammable bombs; he could stop or speed up time with just a droplet. He could make carbon copies of plants - and people; and the Wild Hunt would turn to stone under the break of his flask. It never felt like enough though, as much as he wanted it to be.

Liam lost track of time as he paged through his book. The words were different every time he opened it. It was like his little secret that no one else knew about in the world. It's why his mother loved alchemy so much. He missed her every single day, and this was how he felt close to her.
His moment of solitude was interrupted by a crash and screaming.
"PUT. ME. DOWN. YOU LUNATICS!"
Liam's book slammed shut immediately and he jumped back, yanked out of his study.
He growled loudly. "Nope. I just can't even do this." He turned and ran out the door, fists clenched.

"WHAT IN THE WATCHER'S NAME IS-" his voice dropped as he ran around the table, "going on here?" He looked at the scene in shock. He walked into the circle they had formed and sucked in a hard breath. "Why... is there a WOMAN... in OUR house?!" He struggled to keep his voice level as he clenched his fists.

Deliro was giggling, "Sheo brought her! Sheo! Sheo brought the ripple-monger!" He clapped his hands.
Liam rubbed his hands over his face slowly. Everything in him wanted to scream and beat the nutters to a living pulp, but all he could manage was a solid, "I'm sorry... come again?"
Kefka was biting his thumb as he rocked back and forth. "Master said! Bring the girl! Bring the girl! He did! He did! He did!" His voice was sliding all over the place.
The girl rolled over to face the Keepers. "Let me go you stupid, idiotic, piece of no-good-"

"You talk too much." Sheogorath lamented to the girl as he tilted his head to the side. "How do I turn it off?"
Kefka and Deliro were chanting back and forth at each other about how pleased Majnun would be; Sheogorath was smiling eerily as he rocked back and forth to the chanting.
"What do you even want with me you stupid loonies?!"
Liam finally had enough. "HEY! CAN IT! ALL OF YOU! BEFORE I REMIND YOU WHAT FIRE IN A JAR TASTES LIKE!"

Deliro immediately started waving his arms around, "HE'S YELLING! YELLING! AHHH! HURTS! HURTS!"
"Oh you don't even know pain you-" Liam stopped and gathered himself, "just get out! All of you! Out!" Liam pointed to the door.
"I have to keep her here." Sheogorath said. "Master wants to meet the new family member."
"Your stupid master isn't here! He's with Jupiter and Eveline, far, FAR away from here!" Liam spoke as though he were scolding a puppy.
"He commanded me to get her." Sheogorath shuddered, his face twisting into a creepy smile. "Get her I did. She stays here." He shuddered again and laughed loudly.
"You freak! What's wrong with you?!" The woman kicked at Sheogorath's legs.
Sheogorath tilted his head the other direction. "You should probably call me dad now." He stated to the girl.
"WHAT?!" She screeched. "YOU'RE NOT MY-"
Liam put his hand over her mouth. "Please. Stop screaming. You're making my migraine worse." He said through gritted teeth into her ear. He looked up at Sheogorath, "I'll keep her here until Jack gets home, ok? Just... GET. OUT."
Sheogorath jolted at the last two words, his face keeping his eerie calm, before he turned and went for one of the portals without a word.
"ALL of you." Liam ordered. "Seriously! Don't you have better things to do besides being a pain in my butt?! Scram!"
The Keepers all scuttled towards the teleporters silently, and Liam felt a sharp pain in his hand.
"Ouch! You bit me!" He shook his hand.
The woman spat on the ground, "not like I really wanted to. You nutcase! LET ME GO. Why do I feel so weak!? Why can't I move?! You're going to tell me what's going on this instant! Then you're going to take me right home!" She squirmed against the magic holding her and groaned. "This is just perfect!" She muttered. "Did my parents send you?! I knew they were low, but I didn't think they were THIS low."
Liam yanked her up into a chair and sat her down. She gasped and still felt the magic pulling her down.

"Woah now, calm down there sweetheart." Liam rubbed his temples.
"Don't SWEETHEART me!" She spat. "WHAT is holding me down?!"
"I don't know! Magic?" Liam shrugged exasperatedly.
The girl scoffed, "magic? This isn't some stupid fairy-tale. Figures you're nuts too." She rolled her eyes.
"Woah, woah, woah!" Liam held his hands out in front of him. "Call me whatever you want sweetheart, but me?" He gestured to himself, "I'm not like them." He pointed to the teleporter room. "So don't you go around calling me a nutter like them, got it?" He sighed loudly.
"Nutter?" She let out an airy laugh. "That's a new one."
Liam smirked, "my own invention, thank you very much." He paused while he examined her, "listen, I have to make a phone call. Don't... uh... go anywhere?" He furrowed his eyebrows.
She glared at him. "Don't you think that if I could have left that I would?" She spat.
Liam shrugged, "I don't know, maybe you like being captured? If you managed to be captured by that moron, then I don't exactly have the greatest faith in your intelligence. Thankfully, you're cute, so it probably doesn't matter." Liam winked at her.
"I am going to punch your face in the second I can move enough to do so." She said through gritted teeth.
Liam rolled his eyes. "Have mercy, just stay put."
"What about Mercy?!" The girl asked quickly.
Liam looked around exasperatedly, "it's... an expression? You know... like 'oh Watcher' and 'kill me?' Any of those ring a bell sweetheart?"
The girl sucked in her lips, thinking.
"Just... stay put... there. Ok? I'll be... oh watcher, whatever." He rolled his eyes and yanked out his phone.

It rang once. Twice.
"Hellooo Liam." Jack sing-songed.
"Jack. We've got a problem." Liam started.
"Don't tell me you hit one of the Keepers again, did you?"
"No. Worse. I told you they were planning something stupid Jack, well this one really takes the cake."
There was a pause, "didn't we just have a conversation about 'our business' versus 'their business' Liam?"
"Ugh, Jack! You're not listening!" He paused for a moment, "fine, let's see if this wakes you up, we're now accessory to kidnapping."
"WHAT?!"
"Thank the watcher! Welcome back to the conversation, Jack!" Liam said sarcastically.
"What happened?! Who got kidnapped? What did you do?"
"ME?! What did I do?! Nothing! I did absolutely nothing! I fed that stupid plant and locked myself in my study and all the sudden the ring-nutter barges in dragging a girl behind him! That's literally all I know Jack."
"How did he get her here? Where's she from? How old is she?"
"I don't know. I don't know... and I don't know." Liam was getting irritated.
"Why don't you know these things! Does she look young? Ask her about her parents."
"I don't know... she looks to be... twenty something. Whatever. The ring-nutter says their master wants her here. That's all I know."
"Where is she now?"

"Sitting in a chair. I think Sheo put a spell on her or something; she can't move very much. Which is kind of a good thing, as it's saved my face already." Liam tried to throw in the bright side.
"Liam this is serious."
"Not according to you a minute ago, it's not." Liam snarked.
"Don't get sassy with me now." Jack scolded, then sighed. "I'm on my way home as fast as I can speed. Keep her calm and relaxed until I get there. I'll figure out what spell they used and help get her free. We need to make sure she's comfortable. Try figuring out why they think Majnun wants her. Whatever you do, don't let her leave."
"You've got to be kidding me." Liam sighed loudly. "You can't be serious about keeping her here. You do realize that we're going to go to jail right? That might not mean anything to you supernaturals... but to me that's a very, very bad prospect."
"I'm serious Liam. What if she's in danger and Majnun was collecting her to keep her safe? Did you think of that? Releasing her could cost her life. I'm not willing to take that chance."
"That's an awfully big leap you're making there, old man." Liam said flatly.
"Majnun might be a little crazy, but he's never been wrong before, and he's never done anything without reason."
Liam snorted, "Might be... little!?" He laughed dryly. "You do realize he once made me make him pancakes so he could smash them into the carpet for a solid twenty minutes before, right? Are we talking about the same guy?"
"Liam." Jack commanded. "Just do whatever it takes to make her happy and maybe get some answers. I'm on my way."
Liam sighed. "Fine. Fine." He paused, "but if she asks me to put on a dress and dance the remigold, I'm drawing the line. You hear?"
Jack chuckled, "whatever you say Liam. See you soon. Stay safe."
"Yeah, yeah, you too. Aim for the old ladies when you speed home. They're worth more points."
"Liam!"
"Bye!" He hung up the phone and nearly laughed. He slowly turned around to face the girl who still struggled against the magic keeping her in her chair.
Liam walked calmly over and pulled a chair so he could sit facing her.

"So you're keeping me here?" The girl surmised weakly, the fight mostly gone from her now.
Liam nodded, "you eavesdropped correctly." Liam raised an eyebrow at her. "Not my call. Sorry sweetheart." He shrugged.
"What do you guys even want with me?" She shook her head. "If my parents didn't send you, then who did?"
Liam sighed. "I'm not entirely sure what's safe to tell you and what's not." He paused. "Ah, who am I kidding, I hate those nutters." He smirked, "those lunatics? They're the Keepers."
"Keepers? Keepers of what?"
"No, that's their... title? Last name? I don't know. It's what they go by. They follow the God of Magic - the King of the Nutters - Majnun Keeper." Liam made a wide gesture.
The girl gave him a blank stare. "You have completely lost it, haven't you?"
"What?! No!" Liam glared and groaned.
"The Keepers aren't real." She stated. "They're just stories."
Liam shook his head, "oh boy do I wish. I really, truly wish they were. Do you know how many headaches I wouldn't have had if that were the case?!" Liam half-laughed, "the man who took you, his name is Sheogorath. He's the nutter ring-leader."
The girl fought off a chill that ran through her, "freak." She muttered.
"You think he's bad? You should meet his wife. She's a REAL peach." He paused, "the other two, Deliro and Kefka, both complete lunatics."
The girl didn't seem to be paying attention any longer; she trembled and whimpered.
"You ok there sweetheart?" Liam's face scrunched with concern.

"It's... too tight. It's getting harder... to breathe." She choked out.
"Ah, crap." Liam shot up from his seat. "Just hold tight, ok?" He ran into his alchemy room and dug through his chest of elixirs. "Where are you at... I know I put you in here..." He threw bottles across the room, some exploding and leaving burn marks on the wall but he didn't care. He finally found the blue glowing liquid and took off for the main area.
He kneeled in front of her chair and poured some of the liquid in his hands which he rubbed around like lotion. He hesitated for a second, "apologies in advance, but I've got to rub this on you." He awkwardly began to rub her shoulders and arms with the elixir.
She was gasping by this point, so he poured more onto his hand and ran it along her back below her shirt where her lungs were located.
She immediately sucked in air and coughed. "GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME." She breathed.
"You're welcome, sweetheart." He grumbled sarcastically, "glad I could save your life, pumpkin." He handed her the bottle and sighed. "Rub it in like lotion. It should help loosen the spell's grip."
The girl slowly worked it across her chest and stomach, breathing deeper as she did so. She sighed with relief.
"Now drink the rest." Liam had sat back down across from her.
"I beg your pardon?" She looked at him like he grew another arm. "I'm not drinking this." She wiggled the bottle around. "No way."
"You'll rub it on yourself, but ingesting? It's just too much!" Liam retorted with a raised eyebrow. "Listen darling, I made that potion myself. It's safe. What's that phrase that everyone always uses in the movies? If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead? Something like that. Do you want me to sip it first so you'll feel better, or can you just take my word and drink it?"
She glowered at him, but put the bottle to her lips and drank the rest of it.
"There now, that wasn't so bad, was it? You're pretty cute when you get mad."
She slapped him hard across the face.
Liam gripped his cheek. "I probably deserved that one." He sighed, "feel better now?"
She was still glaring at him, but she looked down, sadness creeping into her face. She slowly stood up and moved to face the wall of pictures. Liam let out a breath and followed behind her.

"Look, I'm really sorry about all of this. I don't know what those idiots are up to, but I promise Jack and I will figure something out and you'll be home in no time. Ok?" He was sincere, and he even omitted his usual pet names to show it.
She nodded. "I guess that's my only option."
"Until then, can we try to make the best of a really bad situation?" Liam moved forward to her and bowed low, like his mother taught him. "I'm Liam."

She looked at him, amused. "Do you do that often? Bow to others?" She smirked.
His face dropped to annoyed, "it's only a civil greeting, clearly you're not familiar though."
"Clearly." She mocked, still very amused. "How about a handshake instead?"
Liam chuckled, "if you insist."

"So do I get to know your name?" Liam asked inquisitively.
"Clarissa." She pondered something for a moment before reaffirming, "just Clarissa."
"Just Clarissa. Unusual, but I suppose you're an unusual girl." Liam winked.
She let out a dry laugh and smiled. "That is possibly the oldest joke in the book."
"It got you to smile. Old joke or no, it's still a good one."
"Whatever you say Liam..." She trailed off.
"Reaper. Liam Reaper." He filled in.
Her face fell.
"Something wrong?" He asked, noticing the change.
"Reaper? Like... the Reapers?"
"You've heard of us?" He gave her a charming half-smile.
"Now I know you're just pulling my leg. What is this, some kind of test to see if I'll break under all the craziness?" She crossed her arms indignantly.
"What?! My name is Liam Reaper! My family is the Reapers! Perhaps you don't know, but we're kind of a big deal apparently. Watcher knows why! The only thing we've ever done is being public nuisances and have people accuse us of being, and I quote 'scaaaaary witches!'" He wiggled his fingers at her. "I mean, most of us are... but for real, you'd think they'd have better things to do - like stop wars and what not, but noo." Liam had gone off on a tangent at this point.
"Witches. You're-"
The door to the cellar burst open and Jack came tumbling out, "stupid door, always gets stuck." Jack mumbled.

"Ah good she's up and about." Jack commented kindly. He walked over to where Liam and Clarissa stood. "Hopefully Liam has been helpful." Jack nodded to her. "My name is Jack Reaper, my dear. I'm glad to see you're all right. I heard that you were brought here through rather unscrupulous means." Jack bowed to her lowly. "For which I greatly apologize for our relatives behaviors."
"Wait, you guys are RELATED to those-"
"NO!" Liam held up his hand immediately. "No. We're not." He said suddenly.
"Well, yes, we are, by marriage. Technically." Jack spoke gently.
Liam groaned, "I still don't know what the heck Mary sees in one of the looney-toons." He rolled his eyes. "So please," he begged at Clarissa, "for my sake, we're not related in any sense of the word."
"Can't say I blame you, Liam." Clarissa half-joked.
Liam finally cleared his throat after Jack stared at him expectantly. "Jack, this is Clarissa, Just Clarissa," Liam made goofy eye-contact with her, "Just Clarissa, this is Jack Reaper, we'll call him my uncle."
"I suppose that would be easier than explaining the family ties." Jack smiled warmly.
Liam's face twisted in thought, "my grandfather was his... mothers...?" Liam trailed off, getting lost already.
"My grandfather's, you mean." Jack corrected.
"Right. My grandfather was his grandfather's nephew?"
"No, Emrin and Falor were cousins."
"Oh whatever. He's my uncle, ok?"
Clarissa had started laughing as she watched the two of them.
Liam piped up, "for what it's worth, how we're 'related,'" he put that part in quotes, "to the Keepers is even more convoluted than that."
Jack had stared off into space and slowly came back. "My grandfather was cousins to his great grandmother, on our mother's sides respectively." Jack finally finished.
"Do you feel better now that you've accomplished that?" Liam smirked.
"Oh be quiet you." Jack shook his head, "I hope he hasn't given you too much sass, Ms. Clarissa."
Clarissa shifted, "Ah, I guess he's alright. You don't have to be so formal with me either. Just Clarissa works."
"See, I told you, Just Clarissa." Liam grinned
Clarissa glared at him. "Are you done yet?"
Liam kept grinning, "I don't know, depends on how many opportunities you give me." He joked.
Clarissa rolled her eyes. "So, you're part of this 'magical' family too?" She asked skeptically.
Jack only kept smiling warmly. "Why, yes." He nodded. "The Reaper's history is well steeped in magical lore and intrigue. I didn't know you were aware."
Clarissa's face fell almost immediately. "So... he wasn't joking about that?"
"No, not at all. Why would he be?"
Clarissa shook her head, "this doesn't make any sense though. Why is all of this happening to me now?"
"Is everything ok Clarissa?" Jack looked at her concerned. "Do you want to sit down?"
"No!" Clarissa snapped. "I want answers! Where am I?! What am I doing here?! What do you want from me?! Are you all witches?!" It felt like a dam suddenly burst and all of her confusion came right back.
Jack gently reached over and patted her shoulder, "please slow down. I want to answer your questions, but I can only do so one at a time." He paused. "You're in Bridgeport, currently in my house which is home to the Reaper's operation headquarters-"
Liam smirked. "You make it sound so fancy. We're in a basement in a house in Bridgeport that just so happens to be used by the Mad God and his goonies. There. Made that one real simple for you, old man."
Jack took in a long breath, "watcher give me strength, you are really pushing me today, Liam." He sighed. "I'm not entirely sure 'what' you're doing here. I would like to wait until Majnun arrives and explains for himself. His children are very..."
"Insane?" Liam and Clarissa said the word together, and Liam gave her a sideways grin, she just shrugged.
"I was going to say very to themselves about their business, but I suppose that works too." Jack nodded. "Your other question - we don't want anything from you, but there's a high chance that if Majnun is interested in you that you could be in danger, so we would like to keep you with us for now until we, ourselves, receive some answers. We worry that if we release you that it could result in terrible danger for yourself. I'm sorry if this inconveniences you. We'll take care of everything you might be worried about, we just need a bit of time to get things sorted."
Clarissa was slowly nodding, taking this all in.
"As for your last question, I am a magic user, and magically inclined, however we are not all - Liam here is not."
Liam grimaced, like he had been slapped. "Was that really necessary to put that in?" He snapped.
Clarissa raised her eyebrows, "someone's a little touchy about not being a witch?"
"Why don't you back off!" Liam spat. "What would you even know about magic anyways?!"
Jack timidly chimed in, "from what I can tell, you're a magic user too, Clarissa."
Clarissa seemed confused, "I am? I mean I think I am, but what does that even mean?"
That set Liam off, "of freaking course she is!" He shook his head.

Clarissa sneered at him, "it's not my fault you got the crap end of the genetics stick! Why are you taking this out on me?! Go yell at your mother or whoever should've given you magic to begin with!"
Liam's face got hard, "you're one to talk, you can't even seem to figure out what you are. Then again, you were dumb enough to get taken by one of the stupidest nutters on the planet, so I guess it's not THAT surprising!"
"Let's try and calm down now..." Jack tried to interject.

Clarissa just shook her head and turned away from him, signalling that she was done with the conversation.
She swallowed hard and sucked in a breath while walking to the other side of the room.

Jack gave Liam a look as Liam slowly calmed himself.
"Was that really necessary, Liam?" Jack asked patiently. "The poor girl's been put through the ringer enough as it is, and this is how you handle a tough situation? You really need to work on your temper."
Liam shifted uncomfortably. He opened his mouth but Jack held up a finger.
"Listen, I know that your family and your heritage is a sensitive subject for you. I'm sorry I brought it up, but I wanted to be honest with her. I want her to know she can trust us. You should learn to tackle your demons in a different way Liam, because not everyone will be aware of your plight like I will." Jack spoke gently.

Liam took in a breath. "What do you suggest I do then? I keep digging myself into a deeper hole with this one."
Jack chuckled, "I'll say, she's fiery. She's a good match for you."
Liam's eyes widened, "woah there, old man. You don't know what you're talking about." Liam shook his head.
Jack laughed again, "you know Liam, since you keep calling me old man, you should at least acknowledge that old would also imply wise, in this case." He paused, "honestly, I think you should start with an apology and explain your outburst. Maybe she'll be understanding."
"Or maybe she'll slap me again." Liam shrugged. "I suppose if that's the worst that could happen..."
"She slapped you?" Jack raised his eyebrow and a grin spread on his face. "Good for her." He teased.
Liam rolled his eyes, "yeah, yeah. Laugh all you want. When she slaps you next, I'll be there with the camcorder." Liam sucked in a breath before turning and walking slowly over to where Clarissa stood.

He swallowed, "excuse me, Clarissa, could I speak with you?" He said weakly.
Clarissa rolled her eyes at the wall, "do I have a choice?"
Liam let out his breath. "Yes? I mean, you can always tell me to go, but I..."

Clarissa turned around to face him and shook her head. "What in the world makes you think you can talk to people like that and that it's ok?!"
Liam's head dropped. "You're right."
Clarissa seemed surprised that he backed down so quickly.
Liam rubbed the back of his head and shifted uncomfortably. "Listen, I'm really not..." He sighed. "Apologies aren't exactly my strong suit." He mumbled, "but you're absolutely right. I reacted horribly to you and I'm sorry." He bowed, it was the only thing he knew how to do in a situation like this. "Magic is a... sensitive subject for me. My mother..." He twisted his hands in front of him. "Wanted very badly to have a child of... magical capabilities and instead she got stuck with... with me." He shrugged.
Clarissa wasn't sure what to make of his confession, but she felt a twinge of pity. "I guess me making that comment about your mom didn't exactly help things either," she sucked in her lips, "right?"
Liam scratched his neck and shrugged. "It was still wrong of me to snap at you. I guess it just felt like you were trying to take a dig at me. It's no excuse. I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted." Clarissa nodded. "And... I'm sorry I snapped at you too."
"Mind if we start over?" Liam asked quietly.
"Just as long as you stop calling me 'Just Clarissa.'" She half-smiled.
Liam smiled back, "I think I can manage that."
"So what now?" Clarissa asked shrugging.
"I think Jack is working on it." Liam looked over to Jack who nodded at him while on the phone.
 

"Hello, Mary? It's Jack." Pause. "I'm great, thank you for asking, how are you?" Pause. "Yes, I have received an email from Jupiter, it sounds like they're getting into plenty of trouble." Pause. "Yes indeed, say I have a bit of a predicament on my hands. Would your husband be available for me to speak with?" Pause. "Thank you so much Mary." Pause. "Absolutely I can wait."
Liam looked at Clarissa with a grin, "looks like you get the meet the whole gang."

[mpart]

There is so much to love about this chapter! 

[LivvieLove]

Alrighty guys, so I wrote all of this and apparently it exceeds the forum's character limit! Holy crap. Alrighty. Google docs says it's under 35k, but the forum still thinks it's over 40, so I'll have to split this post into two, hopefully it's not too confusing! Here we go:

The Crash-Course: Part One

Alec grunted as he put his weight into the couch. "Remind me again why we're moving our own furniture when the Watcher is all-powerful?"
Mary shook her head as she watched her husband move the couch outside of the house. "She's still really weak, Alec; do I need to remind you why she's weak?"
"Right..." He pushed harder. "Whatever we can do to help."
Just get it all into one place dear. I'll take care of the rest.
"You said there's some big changes coming, what does that mean?" Mary asked out loud.
It's hard to explain right now. Let's just leave it at that I'm going to do my best to never let myself need to rest ever again. Every single time it's proven poorly. The watcher sighed.
"Something bad is going to happen?" Alec asked wearily.
No, just things have been happening that were out of my control. Mary, go get your phone.
Mary's eyebrows scrunched, "huh?" She pulled her phone out and it was ringing, then she smiled as she answered. "Hey Jack, what's up?"

Alec and Mary stood outside and blinked at how fast their house changed. "I almost forgot how impressive you were." Alec nodded, his face reflecting approval.
Thanks dear.
"You sure you're alright? You sound like you're exhausted." Mary tenatively asked.
Thanks for your concern dear, I'm fine. When will Jack and Liam arrive?
"Soon, apparently."
Alec sat on the curb and put his head in his hands, "I just can't believe they would sink so low."
Mary rubbed his shoulders. "I'm sure your father has a reason. He always does." Mary reassured.
Alec shook his head, a strange smile forming on his face. "You know, I never imagined you'd be the one advocating for him." He joked hollowly.
Mary shrugged, "he's not so bad. Your brothers are... interesting."
"Better than me, my father might argue." Alec said bitterly.
Mary smiled warmly at him, "no, no, dear. I married the best of them all."
Alec looked at his wife and kissed her hand. "I love you, Mary."
"I love you too."


The sun slowly rose to bake the sand that rustled under the early morning breeze. Jupiter clutched Eveline close to him as a silence stretched between them. He couldn't bear to let her go, but he could feel his jaw start to quiver as her scent consumed him to the sound of her heart racing.

He moved and pressed his forehead into her shoulder. This would break him, he was sure of it. He would live his life in a never-ending paradox. He would crave for her blood every moment of his life until it broke him, but he couldn't leave, nor could he ever hurt her. He swallowed, "I..." It came out weaker than he intended. He wasn't sure how he wanted to word the feelings he felt for her, the anxiety that grasped at him now that they stood in the quiet of the morning. His fingers clenched at the fabric on her shirt. "I shouldn't..." He whispered.
That triggered panic deep in Eveline's heart, "no, please." She pulled his head up so she could press her forehead to his. Her fingers traced along his face desperately trying to read him. "Please." It was barely a whisper off her lips. She remembered the night before and felt her lip quiver as she remembered how he had almost locked himself in that pyramid. "Don't say that. Don't go."
Jupiter pressed his finger to her lips. "I'm not going anywhere." He said firmly as he let out a breath. "I couldn't even if I tried." He shook his head and the hand that was against her lips moved into her hair. "We shouldn't do this, and if you don't want this then you need to tell me to go."
"I want this." She immediately responded, her hands resting on his face still she could feel him start to grin and it caused her heart to swell and her smile to grow too.
Jupiter felt relief and fear all at once. "I won't ever hurt you." The promise was more to himself than her, and he knew that.
Eveline smiled, "what does this mean for us, Jupiter?"
She had voiced the very thing Jupiter had mulled over all morning after he had woken up originally. "It means whatever you want it to mean." He responded quietly. Part of him feared he misunderstood what she meant when she said she wanted this. "I will defend you from anything. I'll follow you anywhere you want to go." He paused, and decided to be blatantly honest. "The truth is that I wasn't completely honest with you last week when you asked what I was getting in exchange for protecting you."
Eveline pulled back quietly, listening and unsure of what to make of what she heard. "What do you mean... you lied to me?" She asked, confused.
Jupiter felt his guts being twisted inside of him, "No, no. I just... your grandfather's favor to me was more set in stone then I lead on to believe." He shook his head, struggling to explain himself. "I would never lie to you blatantly. I just didn't think it was important at the time." He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, "I didn't think it was possible." He shrugged. "Your grandfather implied that he could cure me." Jupiter finally let the words fall out. "It's never been done before, not completely, and I didn't think he actually could... but now after feeling these fruits... I think he was serious and I think he might be right." Jupiter reached over and grasped Eveline's hands in his. "If I can be human... I guess I always hoped that..." Could he actually say it? Could he tell her how he longed for moments like this? That he fantasized about a future with her? Would she laugh at him? Would it make her uncomfortable? He looked down and took a long breath in, "...that maybe you might choose me. That maybe I could be with you." He looked at her hopefully, anxiety filling his eyes.
Eveline closed the distance between them and embraced him, she couldn't stop smiling.

"Jupiter, I want you to be with me." She felt sure for the first time and Jupiter started to nod but Eveline stopped him. "I want you to be with me regardless of if you're human or vampire. I take you as you are." She paused and repeated, "exactly as you are."
Jupiter's hand covered one of hers that rested on his cheek, he pulled it forward and kissed the palm of her hand. The words were there, but he knew he couldn't say it. He already ambushed her with so much that day that he couldn't imagine dropping the three words that sat at the base of his tongue. "Then I will be with you for as long as you want me to be." Forever, or longer; he didn't even care anymore.


"So she's my cousin." Liam's face scrunched in confusion, "or second cousin? I don't remember."
Clarissa chuckled, "you can't even keep your own family straight? Are you sure you guys are Reapers?" She teased.
Jack took the question seriously though, as he often does, "of course. It's simply a matter of lineage. It started with Agnes and Tragic who had 6 children. Aurora - one of elder twins - went on to have a little girl named Emrin. Emrin had two children - and this is the important part - named Atrox and Noten. Two sons." He nodded as he drove the car through the traffic of Bridgeport.
Liam was mocking him from the backseat, making faces at Clarissa who was trying not to laugh too loudly.
Jack continued "Atrox is Liam's grandfather, and Noten is Mary's father. So Liam's mother is cousins to Mary, who we are going to visit today. That would make her Liam's second cousin."
Liam smirked, "thanks for the lesson professor. Did you get all that Clarissa? We'll be testing you on it later, along with every monarch in the history of forever." He sassed. "Hey old man, you forgot to tell her how you're related to Mary and Alec." He joked.
"Well that's a different route down the family tree entirely," Jack started.
"NO! No, I didn't mean-!" Liam realized what he had done too late and groaned, leaning his head against the window.
"Now you've done it." Clarissa smirked at him.
"So my lineage goes back to another of Agnes and Tragic's children..."
Liam looked at Clarissa mischievously, "in my bag," he whispered and pointed to the bag on the floor by her feet, "there's a green bottle." He made a motion to tell her to grab it.
She shuffled through the bag and flashed the bottle in question to him.
Liam grinned and made a motion with his hands to unscrew the lid and motioned towards Jack, who she was sitting behind.
Her eyes went wide and she shook her head. They went back and forth with each other while Jack kept talking, Liam shaking his head yes, and Clarissa who finally shrugged and started to unscrew the lid. Liam turned to the window and tapped the back of his neck, showing her where to hit him with it. Clarissa rolled her eyes and looked at him sternly in a I-can't-believe-I'm-doing-this way.
Liam whispered, "one drop."
The car pulled to a red light and Clarissa carefully leaned over to drop a tiny droplet onto Jack's neck; she looked at Liam anxiously but he was egging her on by pumping his fist, abruptly stopping when Jack turned his head that direction, confused. It didn't last long though before Jack turned his head back forward, "we could go all the way back to a time way before you two were even thought of!" He continued on and suddenly one droplet that had been precariously on the edge of the flask fell onto Jack's neck. The light turned green and the car jolted forward, causing Clarissa to flail as she maintained herself.
"Everyone alright?" Jack asked suddenly, only his voice was different, it was two octaves higher than it should have been. He didn't seem to even notice the difference, but Liam struggled to not bust into laughter.
"Yup old man," his grin was so big he felt his face might break, "we're good. Please keep going." He grinned deviously.
Jack continued his story, though it sounded like he had sucked in helium. Clarissa was laughing under her breath and Liam was biting his lip to prevent himself from outright laughing.
"What's so funny?" Jack finally asked, looking at them inquisitively.
Liam licked his lips but couldn't stop grinning, "oh nothing, I just saw a squirrel, and it was just... it's hard to explain" He snickered.
Clarissa just nodded as laughter bubbled from her lips.
Jack raised his eyebrow, "a squirrel?"
The way his voice inflected on it caused them both to bust out laughing completely.
"What? Is there something wrong with my..." He trailed off suddenly, "LIAM!"
Liam gripped his sides, "What?! I didn't do anything! It was all her!" He pointed to Clarissa.
Clarissa's eyes went big, "me!? Don't you DARE throw me under the bus! You TOLD me to do it!"
Liam gave her a charming smile, "you didn't have to listen to me, sweetheart." He teased.
She reached over and smacked his arm.
"Woah now, someone's a little violent. Who raised you to be that way? Animals?!"
She scowled at him and crossed her arms. "You're such a jerk."
"Aw, don't be like that!" Liam adjusted himself so his back was against the door of the car, "I'm only messing around. You're cute when you get angry."
She rolled her eyes at him and looked out the window.
Liam inched closer to her, trying to look inconspicuous and Clarissa pretended she didn't notice.
He inched closer to her again, whistling slightly. His knees were touching her leg. He was as far as his seatbelt would let him scoot.
"You're not mad at me, are you?" He looked at her with a goofy smile. "I really hope not."
"You really know how to push my buttons." She muttered.
Liam raised an eyebrow at her.
"NOT LIKE THAT."
He smirked. "Sure thing, sweetheart." He winked at her. "Sure thing."

Clarissa shifted uneasily on the black sofa and everyone sat in a gentle silence for a moment.

The woman in a black dress sat holding hands with what looked like one of the insane men who took her, and he was bent over massaging his temple with his other hand. The woman broke the silence. "So you're Clarissa?" She asked kindly; she had been introduced as Mary Reaper, but Clarissa was still determining whether or not she was in a dream or a prank at this point, so she didn't take anything to heart just yet.
Clarissa nodded.
The man ran his fingers through his hair - he had been introduced as Alec Reaper. "What's your last name?"
Clarissa sucked in her lip, "I'd rather not say." She spoke quietly. Liam gave her an odd look next to her, but shrugged.
Mary hesitated, "we're not going to hurt you, Clarissa; I hope you know that. It's just-"
"My father is mentally not well." Alec finished. "He's powerful and mentally unwell. And sometimes he does really stupid things."
Mary gave Alec a look, "I don't think Majnun was behind this." She said quietly.
"Who else could it have been? Sheo isn't smart enough to think of this on his own." Alec shook his head. "Please, I just want to know why my brother's were after you. They seem to think you're related. It's just a matter of knowing your last name."
Clarissa shifted under the heat of the question left to her.
"Alec, give the girl a break."
"Kwa." Clarissa muttered quietly. "My last name is Kwa."
Alec nodded, "not a name I'm familiar with." His mind searched the resources in the back of his head. "I can't believe those fools." His voice was stern and angry.
"They were your brothers?" Clarissa asked quietly as she moved to the edge of the couch. She quietly assessed the room and thought of a potential exit strategy if she needed one. Liam watched her carefully, and he stretched and readjusted on the couch, which caused his hand to brush against her shoulder. She looked at him suddenly, as if she was caught in the act of doing something bad.
He only barely gave her a nod and a genuine smile, something that for some reason made her feel more at ease.
Alec had sighed, "unfortunately. We have different mothers, for what it's worth." He reasoned.
"You're just so..." Clarissa suddenly realized she didn't have a good word to finish her sentence with, and she smiled sheepishly.
Mary grinned, "sane?" She laughed. "Look at you honey, you've earned a sane reputation."
"You make it sound like that's a difficult feat compared to them, love." He joked. "You can be honest. They're whacko. I know."
Clarissa shrugged, "you said it, not me." She paused, "so you think... that they think... that I'm related to you?"
"To my father, specifically." Alec nodded.
"He was really cryptic with what he told Sheo at the meeting a week ago." Liam nodded.
Alec shook his head with annoyance.
Mary shifted and looked around, "so what now?"
This is where I step in, thank you.
Clarissa jumped and clutched Liam's arm suddenly. "What was that?!"
Jack smiled warmly at her, "this is a Watched house, Ms. Clarissa. The Watcher Olivia has followed this family through generations. She takes good care of all of us."
Clarissa looked around and saw that they were all serious.
Please don't worry dear, it will be just fine. Just take a breath.
Clarissa felt herself relaxing and could feel her cheeks burning red from everyone staring at her. She looked over at Liam who smirked at her and she immediately let go of his arm, but the smirk remained.
Majnun has business with you, and it's not my place to disclose the nature of that business, nor do I have enough strength to do anything about it at the moment, so I'd like to make the best of this situation. That's why you all will be moving in under my watch, temporarily, or permanently, I suppose if you'd like.
"So that's why you made me move all the furniture into the yard."
I have rooms for everyone here, including you Clarissa, though your room is a bit sparse as I don't know much about you. Forgive me for that.
"How... how long should I stay here?" Clarissa hesitated, wondering if the watcher ever planned on letting her leave.
Until Majnun is finished with whatever business he has with you, or for as long as you'd like, I suppose. I'm not very particular. Majnun is still away on business with two other residents of this house.
Clarissa nodded.
While you're here, I figured we could show you a bit of Reaper hospitality. Anyways, go on and explore the house everyone. On the right is Eveline's room, Majnun's room, and Jack's room. On the left is the master bedroom for Mary and Alec, a room for Clarissa, and finally Liam's room.

It's not ideal, nor is it really complete. This is really temporary, as I imagine we'll be moving soon.
"Moving? Where?" Mary asked suddenly.
Undecided yet. I just couldn't handle the small house any longer, so we've upgraded to a rather temporary house. It's not decorated very well, but it's highly functional.
"Uh, watcher? Why is there a stone slab in Eveline's room?" Alec asked wearily.
That's where Jupiter will be sleeping.
"That's funny, watcher, for a second I thought you were implying that a teenage boy with fangs and hormones was going to be sleeping in the same room as my baby girl." Alec said through gritted teeth.
Well, if you don't like the slab, I can remove it and he can sleep in the same bed as her, if you prefer.
Alec paled. "You're serious?"
Indeed, as serious as they are about their relationship.
"Wait, the bloodsucker got himself a girlfriend?!" Liam smirked.
Jack scowled, "Liam! What did I say about that!"
Alec had gone bug-eyed, "my baby girl..."
Clarissa looked confused, "who are we...?"
Liam looked over at her, "Jupiter is our resident night-stalker, he's like Jack's adopted son. Showed up one day at our place with him and he's never left. Eveline is Mary's daughter; they're both just kids."
Alec was still in shock, head in his hands as Mary tried soothing him.
"I thought he was a wonderful boy when I met him." Mary spoke calmly as she rubbed Alec's shoulders.
"YOU MET HIM?!" Alec shot up, and he started pacing back and forth.
Mary looked apologetic to everyone, "I'm sorry... I don't think he's taking it well that our daughter is growing up."
"No! Stop! She's NOT growing up! She's still just a baby! That boy is NOT taking MY baby!"
Mary kept smiling, though it was more strained.
"Is he ok?" Clarissa asked quietly.
Mary shrugged. "Don't worry, he has a strong incentive to calm down soon."
Liam smirked, "oh?"
"He'll be sleeping on the couch."
Jack just smiled, "I promise Jupiter is a good boy. He would never do anything to hurt anyone."
Mary's face stilled suddenly as she connected the dots, "wait..." She looked at Jack. "Is that the same boy...?"
Alec had stilled now and was listening to his wife.
Jack nodded quietly, "the very boy."
Mary covered her mouth with surprise. "I thought I recognized him..."
"What's going on?" Alec asked suspiciously.
"That night we came home from Shang Simla? That boy..." Mary closed her eyes and shook her head. "That's what turned him into a vampire, isn't it?"
Jack nodded sadly.
Alec put his hand on his head, "watcher, have mercy. That boy was Jupiter?"
Clarissa just watched the different faces, even Liam was solemn.
Liam gritted his teeth, "I have a flask of fire that I've got saved if I run into that blood-sucking, child predator."
Mary stood up quietly, "I need to make a phone call." She said quietly.
Alec looked at her inquisitively.
"Edward is so much better at these situations than I am." She explained.
Jack stood up as well, "I'm going to call Jupiter," he paused, "it should be getting to be nightfall there, and he hasn't emailed me back yet."
"Hey," Liam called his attention, "tell him not to stand out in the sun too long, lest he start to smoke and roast."
Jack smiled, "I'll tell him you miss him." 
Liam smiled, "I'm working on something for him."
"I know you are. You know, Ms. Clarissa, Liam is actually a big softie, he just never wants anyone to know about it." He winked at her.
Liam scowled.
"He once threatened to rip the wings off of Sheogorath's wife, Mania, for calling Jupiter a bloodsucker." Jack recalled smiling.
"Yeah well, that's my nickname for him, and no one else gets to use it." Liam shrugged. "Especially her."
Clarissa raised her eyebrows, "so you DO have a heart after all?" She teased.
"Yeup, sweetheart, I've got a heart of gold." Liam smirked.
Clarissa pursed her lips, "and an ego the size of the moon."
"Nothing wrong with confidence." He responded without missing a beat.
Clarissa rolled her eyes.

"So are you going to let me train you?" Liam stretched on the couch and gave her a side-eye.
"Say what?" She looked at him wide-eyed.
Liam was amused, "you got thrown into the back of a vehicle by a nutter, are you going to let me train you so that won't get taken again?" He smirked at her, "as much as I'm relishing your company, I don't imagine that every kidnapper will be as friendly and charming," he paused, "and handsome." He wiggled his eyebrows.
Clarissa snickered, "Sheogorath is pretty handsome in a certain light, no?" She couldn't help herself but grin when Liam's face fell into annoyance. "So Mr. Charming and Handsome, how are you going to train little ol' me?" She resisted the urge to remind him that he had no magic with which to train her with, figuring that would be a joke he wouldn't take as well as someone else might.
"Martial Arts." He stated simply.
Clarissa's eyes opened a bit wider, "oh."
There was a knock at the door and then it burst open. "Good morning sister and fami-" Edward looked around, confused, "-ly? And who is this beautiful woman?" His eyes locked on Clarissa.
Clarissa looked down, feeling her cheeks burn. Edward crossed over to her and she stood as he did. He held out his hand. "My name?" She struggled to recall it. "Uh... Clarissa." They shook hands and Clarissa was left to stare.

Liam glared at the wall with the TV on it.
"Clarissa, what a beautiful name for a beautiful girl." Edward gave her an award-winning smile. "I'm Edward, Mary's favorite brother."
Mary poked her head in after she heard her name, "yeah, and my only brother." She teased.
"Sister!" Edward called to her, "where's my favorite niece at?"
"Egypt, with Alec's father." Mary said to him.
"And her new boyfriend." Alec grumbled from behind Mary.
"Boyfriend?" Edward's face dropped, "no. Absolutely not."
"Not you too!" Mary sighed.
"Who is this 'boyfriend' anyways? Is he anyone I know? I swear I'll beat him until he can't remember his own mother's name if he thinks he can hurt my favorite niece." Edward rolled his shoulders back.
Alec snorted, "he's a vampire too, Edward."
Edward shook his head, "doesn't matter. He could be the son of watcher herself and I'd still pound him into dirt if he did something that upset my niece."
Clarissa giggled, and Liam rolled his eyes at her.
"Hey princess, if you're done flirting, are you ready to train?" Liam stood up and motioned for the back door.
Clarissa's face flushed completely, "hey! I wasn't..."
Edward swung around with a cheeky grin and put an arm around her shoulder suddenly, "don't worry beautiful, he's just jealous." He teased, "You can flirt with me all you'd like," he winked, "but just be careful around the lil' lady of mine. She's got a mean right hook." He grinned.
"Are you talking about Johanna?" Mary raised her eyebrow at him. "How's she been lately, and my two nieces?"
"Ah, the old ball-and-chain." Edward released Clarissa from his hold and turned to face Mary. "She's gorgeous as ever, and our daughters are too. You know they're kids now? Time goes by too fast. I know one thing though is that they're not getting any boyfriends and bringing them home ever. You must've gotten lazy Alec."
Alec grimaced, "you just wait, buddy. It only gets worse as they get older and prettier, like their moms." Alec added in that last bit with a grin to Mary.
Liam made a motion for the door and Clarissa nodded, both of them heading outside.

[LivvieLove]

The Crash-Course: Part Two

"Alright, so, it's freezing. How are you going to train me out here?" Clarissa gave Liam a look.
"That's part of it. No pain no gain sweetheart." He smirked.
"You can't be serious."
"Just try hitting the dummy, alright?"

"Is that the best you've got?" Liam taunted, "I've seen rain hit harder than you."

Hours went by and Clarissa's training was progressing very quickly under Liam's study. They both changed into proper attire and started placing bets on who would chicken out and go for shoes first.

Liam reclined against the wall and watched her finally make progress with the training dummy.
"Well, at least you're not weakly hitting the dummy any longer."
"I know! Look at how high I can jump now! I can't even feel my feet any more. What about you?"
Liam raised his eyebrows, "my feet are just dandy, thanks for asking."
"Spar with me!"
Liam snickered, "I wouldn't want to beat you up, sweetheart."
"What, don't want to get beaten by a girl?"
Liam shook his head, "I'd gladly be beaten by a girl if it meant that girl wouldn't run the risk of being kidnapped again."
Clarissa seemed surprised at him, "how noble of you." She noted.
He bowed to her, "if the lady wants a spar, then she'll get one. Just make sure you listen to me when I correct your form." He said seriously.
"Yes, oh wise one." Clarissa shot back sarcastically as she bowed back to him. They took their stance.

Liam moved much faster than she expected him to, she had trouble keeping up with his relentless attacks. "Focus on your stance. Be immovable." He ordered.
Clarissa struggled, but she straightened her stance and made for an attack that was immediately blocked.
"You're leaving your stomach open, keep focused!" He snapped.
Clarissa was getting angry.

Liam could feel his hat nearly being kicked off. "Good!" He called.
They went back and forth for a long time, until Clarissa finally landed her second hit. "I won?" She looked at him wide-eyed. "I really won!" She jumped up before remembering she had to finish form and she bowed to him. "Are you sure you're a master at this?" She looked at him with her eyebrow cocked.
Liam smiled at her, tipping his head. "You have good form, Clarissa, but you still leave yourself open too often."
Clarissa's face fell. "You mean you let me win?!" She pouted.
Liam watched her for a minute before he shook his head, "I wouldn't say that." He lied gracefully. "You did very well. I was just being more defensive than offensive. You won fair and square." He checked that off as something he would take to his grave.
Her smile returned, "so I DID beat you! You're such a sore loser!" She teased.
It was worth it to see her smile. He caught himself thinking about it and shook his head. "Let's take a break. Mary wants to see you anyways, she's been making motions at me through the window the entire time we've been out here. I think she wants to train you as well." He swallowed, "in a way that I'm not... capable of." He bowed his head to her. "Work on your meditation, ok?"
"Wait! Won't you watch me?" Clarissa asked hopefully.
Liam shrugged, "not really my thing, sweetheart. Sorry." He said quietly as he walked inside.
She almost didn't have the heart to remind him that him walking inside means she just won their bet too.

Clarissa walked inside and Mary was sitting at the dining table. Mary motioned for her to sit. "Come over, from what I've heard, we've got a lot to talk about."

Clarissa hesitated before going to sit down. "Listen... I'm not really sure about all this... magic and stuff."
"Not sure?" Mary looked her up and down. "You've got magic in your blood. Like it or not, this 'magic and stuff' is going to be with you for the rest of your life. You should embrace it now or the fear of it will consume you forever."
Clarissa sat on her words. "Why do you want to help me?" She finally asked. "I still don't understand why everyone here has been so... kind and helpful."
Mary's face softened. "You know, when I look at you, I see my little girl." She paused. "It's got nothing to do with how you look, or act, but let me tell you something: over a week ago, my Eveline went to the prom and was drugged and nearly kidnapped. Watcher knows what else they would've done to her... thank whatever powers may be, Jupiter was there and he fended off the vampires long enough for the Watcher to step in." Mary shook her head. "I'll never get that night out of my brain, Clarissa. Here you are..." Mary made a gesture to her. "Here because someone took you and I..." She sighed and collected herself. "Eveline has evaded me for a long time on the rest of her training. So you will not talk me out of training you."
Clarissa felt touched that Mary cared so much. "Thank you..." She said quietly.
"Alright, so, before we begin, maybe you should tell me what you know about magic?"
"Uh, that it can be used to cast spells?"
Mary waited to see if she was going to continue, when she realized that was it she nodded, "alright then, the basics it is."

"So the difference will be in the pool for you, with a wand the pool will not be visible but you should still feel it around you and focus it." Mary continued, "are you still with me?"
Clarissa nodded, "I think so."
"Let's try putting this into practice. That might help it sink in."

Clarissa held the wand in her hand and something clicked in her. She could feel the magic around her as it shifted - in the air, in the ground, just everywhere. "Woah." She noted quietly.
"Try your spell." Mary urged.
Clarissa looked at her and almost debated asking what she was even supposed to do now, so she just tried waving it around. A glowing trail was left and her eyes went wide. "Mary... Mary! Is that supposed to happen?!"
Mary grinned, "normally it's bigger, actually."
Clarissa's eyes went wide. "Now what?"
"Focus it."
Sparks sputtered out of it.
"You'll get better. Keep practicing."

Clarissa was in awe of the power she could command.
"Conjure an apple, like I showed you." Mary nodded.
Clarissa paused and nodded, making the motions in her hands.

"Easy!" Clarissa smiled.
"Now put it on the floor. We're going to turn it into something else."
Clarissa suddenly sucked in her lips, "less easy."
"You can do it. Just focus. Focus is key to everything. You can bend the world to your will if you focus hard enough."
Clarissa nodded. "Ok. Focus." She mumbled to herself. She closed her eyes and started her pool. She squeezed her eyes shut tight and sent the spell forward.
To her surprise, it actually worked.

"Very good. Now you're ready." Mary smiled knowingly.
"Ready for what, exactly?"

"Stand ready."
"I'm not so sure about this..."
"Remember what I taught you about wards." Mary warned.
"I'm having second thoughts..."
"Begin."
Mary shot a line of fire at her. Clarissa jumped back and was surprised that her wards had sprung to life.

"Great!" Mary called at her. Clarissa grinned wildly.
"I did it!" She called.
"Keep it up!" Mary scolded as her next blast nailed Clarissa back.
Mary did most of the firing as Clarissa desperately tried to fend off the attacks.
"Try and hit me!" Mary ordered her.
Clarissa nodded, but inside she was cracking, how could she possibly keep up?
Mary blocked her initial hit, and then shot back one that left her singed. She struggled to find her breath. She felt the air around her shift, someone else had entered the room. She wanted to look around at this new sense that she picked up now that she had gained and understanding of her magic, but she was too busy blocking the never-ending fire that rained down on her.

Something in her turned though, it was a whisper at first, one she could barely hear, but it soon became louder and louder until it was all she could hear. "I'm unstoppable." She whispered.

It was a direct hit. A weak spell, but at least it was a hit. Power surged in her, and out of the corner of her eye she could see she wasn't the only one cheering.

She grinned at the thought of Liam watching, and it egged her on to do better. Magic bounced back and forth around the room until Clarissa finally had to call it. She was getting dangerously close to running out of her magic reserves. Her smile was unwavering though: she had held off one of the best magic users in the known world and fiction on very little training. If only her parents could see her now.
Mary nodded to her, "very good. You're probably exhausted - you should get some rest. You did great tonight, Clarissa." Mary praised.
"Did you hear that Li-" She turned and looked around, but he was gone. "Where did you go?"

"Have a good night," Mary waved, a knowing smile on her face.
"Night!" Clarissa waved back to her. She wandered to the hallway nearest Liam's door and was surprised when she heard an explosion. She slowly tip-toed closer to the door and heard Liam muttering something. Her brows scrunched together in confusion. She hesitated, thought about knocking, but instead slowly turned the knob and opened the door silently.
Liam was bent over the Alchemy station, intently measuring each ingredient before carefully adding and stirring.
Clarissa bit her lip to suppress a smile as she thought about sneaking up on him. She took a very careful step forward, trying not to alert him.
"If you're trying to be sneaky, you're going to have to try harder." Liam said flatly without looking up from his book.
Clarissa crossed her arms. "Well I wasn't trying to be sneaky anyways." She shrugged.
"Uh huh." Liam smirked as he read through his book.

"What are you doing, anyways?" Clarissa tried to peek over at his work, but only saw gibberish on the page.
"Building a snowman, what does it look like?" He smirked.
Clarissa rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue. "Will you show me how it works?"
"How what works? Alchemy? It's hard to explain until you experience it. It's like a secret that no one else gets to be a part of, just you... and the book." He gestured. "My mom taught me everything she knew and then some. I've been messing with potions since I could grasp them. It's pretty boring compared to magic and all..." He paused and sighed, "but if you're really interested, I can give you a crash-course." He tried to smile at her, but she could tell it stung.
"Do you ever want to talk about it?"
Liam chuckled, "I mean, there's not much to talk about when it comes to Alchemy. You either get it, or you don't. Most people don't, so talking about it is arbitrary."
Clarissa leaned against the wall. "I meant your mom, and magic." She said quietly, not looking at him.
"No, why would you think I would need to?" Liam asked with coldness in his voice.
She shrugged, "because you're funny, and interesting and yes, charming until either of those topics come up. Then you just kind of... shut everyone down. You don't have to do that you know. Some people are worth opening up to."
"Who do you suggest I open up to then?" Liam focused on stirring his ingredients. He was obviously irritated.
Clarissa stood up from leaning against the wall. "I don't know." She shook her head, "me?"
Liam turned and looked at her then, and suddenly she felt exposed.
"Or Jack... or Mary? Everyone here is so friendly; I don't see why you struggle to talk with them. If my family were half as accepting as yours..." She shook her head. "You're lucky, ok? You should take advantage of that."
Liam looked back at his book and said nothing.
Clarissa shook her head. "Whatever." She shrugged and waved at him, turning to leave the room. "You know where to find me if you need me. Goodnight Liam."
The door closed and Liam sighed and slumped against his workstation.

Clarissa meandered into her room and collapsed on the bed, "oh it's so good to lie down on something soft." She grumbled. She rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling quietly. She was wide awake, and yet totally exhausted at the same time. How strange it felt for her.
After a few minutes the door to her room came open. Clarissa turned her head slightly, "you have no idea how comfortable this bed is right now." She grinned at Liam.
Liam didn't say anything. He just walked over and slumped down next to her bed. "My mom is in a mental institution." He idly scratched at his neck.

"She lost it shortly after I became a child." He fiddled with his hands. "I barely remember her before she lost her mind. It started really slow, after she lost her third child."
Clarissa's eyes were wide, "Liam... I had no idea..."
Liam bit his lip, "every time I visit her she asks where her other kids are and I just don't know what to tell her."
"What happened to them?" She asked quietly.
"They never existed." Liam shook his head. "Never got the chance to. She miscarried." He shook his head. "My dad wouldn't leave his wife and other kids, not like my mom wanted him to... they had a really weird relationship. He lived with us, but was married and... I don't know." Liam shook his head. "He moved out when my mom started to experiment on him to try to help her pregnancies stick better. At the time I hated him for leaving us, but I get it now. It was her first step into not being all the way there anymore." Liam could feel the burn in his eyes. "When she was really struggling with reality she would get really mean sometimes. I knew it wasn't her, but not really. I was still a kid. When your mom looks at you and tells you that she failed in life and you're the proof of it... it stings. She cracked under the pressure of wanting to have a child to carry the magical lineage, and I'll never shake that I feel like it's my fault."
"Liam..."
"I just wanted to be good enough. I threw everything I knew into alchemy because I wanted to show her that I could be good enough too. That I didn't need magic to do it. When she was herself, she was great. She told me I was perfect as I was, but occasionally she would get into a funk and it would take days for her to come out. Those days started to get longer each time until one day... she just never came back."
Silence fell over them, and Clarissa rolled onto her stomach while she sat on everything.

"You know, magic was kept really hushed in my family." Clarissa broke the silence. "It was scary and different and something that afflicted other people." She paused. "I may be new to this whole magic and powers bit, but you should know that you're really awesome, and that you're that way without magic and most people who have magic aren't even half as awesome as you are."
Liam's face burst into a grin, "did you really just call me awesome?" He laughed, feeling freer.
"Well, I mean, there's not really much else you can say to someone who's seen the crap this world can dole out and survived - and became the best alchemist on top of everything else."
Liam could feel his shoulders shake as he laughed, "I guess I am pretty awesome, aren't I?" He grinned at her.
"Yeah, and you can let that compliment go to your head, but just that one, because if you let anything else go to your head you're not going to be able to fit through that door." She motioned to her bedroom door, "and you'll be stuck in here with a big head." She teased.
"Whatever you say sweetheart." He looked at her and smiled, "and thanks."
Clarissa looked at him and smiled, "do you do that with everyone?" She raised her eyebrow.
"What's that? Confess all my deeply hidden emotions that haven't seen the sun in over a decade?"
"No." Clarissa playfully hit his arm, "call everyone 'sweetheart?'" She mimicked his tone.
He gave her a playful look, "just the pretty ones."
"You're a weirdo." She rolled back over onto her back and sighed.
"Then you're a weirdo for associating with me." He shot back.
Clarissa pursed her lip in thought. "A pretty weirdo though, right?"
"Who's got the big head now?" Liam teased, but he nodded.
"You do, clearly. Why else would you wear a hat all the time."
"Touche." He chuckled. "So what about you?" He asked seriously.
"Hm? I don't wear a hat, silly." She half-laughed.
"Not what I meant." Liam looked at her sideways from his spot on the floor. "Any deep, dark secrets that you lock away from the rest of the world?"
Clarissa closed her eyes. "I have strange dreams."
"That doesn't seem very deep or dark." Liam teased lightly.
Clarissa shook her head. "No... I don't know. It's really hard to explain... but I've seen things and it's so hard because it feels so... so real." She bit her cheeks. "I ran away from home and my parents are stalking me and... you don't actually want to hear about this, do you?" She opened her eyes and looked over, expecting him to be laughing, but his face was serious.
"Yeah, actually. I do." His green eyes pierced into her and suddenly the spotlight hit her.
"It's a long story." She shrugged.
"I've got time." He looked at her intently.
"Aren't you at all tired?" She persisted.
"Nope." His gaze never faltered. "Are you?"
She shifted, "no..."
"Would you rather not talk about it?"
"No one's ever really cared enough to ask before. I mean, I'm a lab rat at the science facility. A 'freak of nature' and they ask a lot of questions, but no one actually cares how I feel about things." She shrugged,
"I do."
Their gaze locked for a long time and Clarissa looked down, her hair falling into her face. "Well, get comfortable then. It's going to be a long night."


Eveline tossed and turned, the darkness and perpetual nightmare sucking her in again. Ivan was laughing and she was so alone.
"Jupiter?" She called out.
"How could you do this to me?" His voice shot back. "You locked me in this tomb."
"No! Please!" She reached out, but something was pulling her forward.
"Eveline, wake up!"
She jolted awake, breathing hard with tears running down her face. "Jupiter!" The darkness of the world terrified her, her hands flew around to grasp at something and collided with Jupiter's arm. She could feel him sitting next to her and she suddenly calmed and rested her head against the pillow. "Please don't go, please." She begged.
He hushed her, "it was just a bad dream Eveline. Everything is ok."
Her magic slowly filled in and she was back at the house in Egypt. She could feel Jupiter's form on the bed next to her and she reached forward to touch him, to touch his face again.

"You're staying, right?" Eveline whispered.
"I'm not going anywhere." He reaffirmed.
Eveline breathed in deeply. "I'm going to hold you to that."
"You have my word." He smiled.

What Jupiter couldn't see was how his word was going to be broken.


Apologies if formatting gets messed up. I've been writing for hours and when it didn't post originally it was really saddening. Hopefully the story kept it's integrity even after being split in half.

[Jade]

Ahh, Jupiter and Eveline continue to be cute together! I really enjoy seeing the other side of Liam's personality too, he seems like a good guy even if he is a bit cocky.

[Magpie2012]

NO! Jupiter can't leave Evie! Ever! What would we do without them together?!?

Fabulous as always daaarling ;-D

Sent from my BlackBerry 9720 using Tapatalk

[mpart]

NO! Jupiter can't leave Evie! Ever! What would we do without them together?!?

Fabulous as always daaarling ;-D

Sent from my BlackBerry 9720 using Tapatalk

I full heartily agree with this! Love the update!

[PeregrineTook]

Oh good.  I'm glad that loser Jupiter is finally going to leave.  No one likes him.  Kidding, of course!  I just didn't want to be one more voice saying exactly the same thing  :=)

[LivvieLove]

Ahh, Jupiter and Eveline continue to be cute together! I really enjoy seeing the other side of Liam's personality too, he seems like a good guy even if he is a bit cocky.

He's pretty sweet - I played his family for a long time to mess around with some new mods I had (miscarriage mods, particularly) and he had such an unfortunate childhood. I feel really badly for him, so I'm glad that he's getting some recognition. He's kind of a jerk at first, but he's my wonderful jerk and I'm rather fond of him. I love Jupiter and Eveline. Jupiter is super freaking handsome - he really looks good as a vampire. He and Eveline work so wonderfully together that I think that I'm going to have trouble playing in Bridgeport again and watching him date/marry other people. Actually I feel that way about most of my spouses my Sims have had.

NO! Jupiter can't leave Evie! Ever! What would we do without them together?!?

Fabulous as always daaarling ;-D

Sent from my BlackBerry 9720 using Tapatalk

I would die. Personally.
Oh wait. I'm writing the story. Welp, this is awkward. 
I guess you'll just have to keep reading.

I full heartily agree with this! Love the update!

I think you'll like this next one even better with two of our favorite people.

Oh good.  I'm glad that loser Jupiter is finally going to leave.  No one likes him.  Kidding, of course!  I just didn't want to be one more voice saying exactly the same thing  :=)

This comment very much made my day; that loser should go and get lost (after supplying me with some of his beautiful genes)  
I'll gladly take any comments that are given! I appreciate everyone who's still reading the Sims 3 forum and my long winded story!

Alright everyone! Heads up, another update is coming your way and just to get the ball rolling, I'm going to drop this here:

Town Poll! - Voting Closed! Thank you for voting!

Go ahead and drop in your votes on where we're headed next.

[LivvieLove]

Dinner and Dancing
Clarissa's eye's flickered open and she rolled over onto her back. The room was barely turning gray with morning light as she stretched her stiff neck. Why had she fallen asleep so oddly? Her eyes opened wider when she remembered the previous night. How long had they stayed up talking? She couldn't say. She had poured her heart out about her home life and her confusion - how often she was poked and prodded at work. It had been surprisingly wonderful to be able to talk about them with someone, and Liam had been understanding about it all. They had moved from the topic to her asking about his life with Alchemy, to then both of them prodding each other about previous romantic interests. They both poked fun at each other until they must have fallen asleep.
Clarissa leaned and peeked over the edge of the bed only to find Liam softly breathing as he slept on the floor. A devious thought flashed through her head as a wicked grin came across her face. She quietly reached for one of the pillows closest to her. She lifted it above where Liam lay and bit her lip to hold back a laugh. Then, quite suddenly, she slammed the pillow down on him with all of her might before throwing herself onto the bed and pretending to sleep.
Liam shot awake, reeling from the hit. "Wha-?!" He looked around and eyed Clarissa skeptically.
Clarissa bit her lip hard, but her body betrayed her and a light giggle escaped her lips.
Liam rolled his eyes and stretched, limbering up his arms. "Excuse me, miss?" He said in a sugary-sweet voice. "I believe you dropped this." He took the pillow and chucked it at her head with all the force he could muster.
Clarissa jolted up, and looked at Liam with shock and feigned anger. "How DARE you!" She crossed her arms and looked at the wall. "I would do NO such thing!" She shook her head and pouted before throwing the pillow back at him.
"Excuse me, princess." Liam shrugged, "I didn't mean to offend her royal majesty." He wiped the sleep from his eyes and fluffed the pillow.
"Well, I suppose I can forgive you," she flipped her hair, "you peasants know not what you do." She sighed as she grabbed the other pillow from behind her.
"I'm so lucky to have such a forgiving royal pain-in-my-"
Clarissa took her pillow and smacked him with it. This had started an all-out war. Clarissa had the upper hand, being above him on the bed while he was on the floor. Liam tried climbing up but he was rejected with a pillow to the face, "no! You stay down on the floor, you peasant!" She grinned.
Liam shook his head, grinning, "fine, but then you're coming down with me!" He grabbed the wrist that Clarissa had been using to hold herself up and yanked her down onto the floor on top of him with a grunt.
"Great job, Liam." Clarissa groaned while laughing. She struggled to pick her head up off of him, as their bodies had become entangled from the fall. She wiggled and finally freed her arm and used it as a prop against his chest to pull her head up.
The room fell silent immediately as their eyes locked; there was something different about the way he looked at her. It was soft, almost. All the teasing, sarcasm, and sadness was gone. In fact, she hadn't realized how sad he looked usually until that moment. Liam slowly moved his hand up until his fingertips brushed at her cheek, moving a strand of hair behind her ears. "Your hair reminds me of a night's sky." He whispered quietly as his the corner of his lip twitched into a soft smile.
Clarissa realized she had been holding her breath and she attempted to let it out, causing her to giggle nervously.
The teasing re-entered his eyes, "what?"
Clarissa broke eye-contact and nervously shifted, "huh? Nothing." She could feel him staring at her as heat filled her cheeks. She paused. "I like your eyes."
Liam smiled at her, "they're my grandfather's, or so everyone says."
Clarissa looked back into his eye's seriously, "it's more than that though." She tilted her head as she studied them, "it's the way you hold yourself. The way you look at people. The faces you make." She spoke gently.
His smile grew into a grin, "I make faces?"
She felt herself laughing lightly, "all the time." She shifted and moved her hand lower on his chest so she could balance herself again and the smile fell from Liam's face instantly, replaced with someone unreadable. "Sorry," she spoke hurriedly, "did I hurt you?"
Liam shook his head no. "I'm fine." His voice had dropped to a whisper. Clarissa felt like her face was on fire.
"I'm sorry. I'll..." She struggled to wiggle her other arm free before losing her balance entirely and causing her weight to land on him again. "Sorry!"
Liam started to wiggle his arms free to help her, but they were terribly entangled. He started laughing lightly.
"You had to go and pull me off the bed." Clarissa grumbled exasperatedly. Liam had found his footing and started to sit up, causing Clarissa to lose what ground she had found and fell against him once again. When she pulled herself up she found herself far too close to his face.
"Are you blushing?" He teased.
Her eyes went wide before narrowing in. "No!" She responded defensively.
He grinned at her. "Sure thing, princess. Here, let me help you." He paused as they slowly got to their feet. "So, what are you doing today?"
"Huh? I'm not sure."
"Want to go ice-skating?"
The request was odd, and Clarissa giggled, "ice skating?"
"Yeah. Why not? You trained all day yesterday, you deserve a little fun." He shrugged and looked at her hopefully.
Clarissa smiled, "Alright, but only if you teach me Alchemy afterwards."
Liam raised his eyebrows, "you're still interested? I thought you were just humoring me last night."
"I am." She idly ran her fingers through her hair. "I can tell it means a lot to you, and I want to understand it too."
He looked at her intensely for a long moment before there was a knock on the door.
"Clarissa?" Mary's voice was muffled through the door. "Sorry to wake you, but I just wanted to let you know we're going to be having a dinner party tonight, the whole family is coming. I was hoping you'd join us?"
Clarissa's brows furrowed, "I don't really have anything to wear, I'd hate to crash your party in these clothes."
"I've got that covered. Please say you'll stay! Everyone wants to meet you!" Mary called.
Clarissa felt such a strange acceptance from everyone here. Magic was always assumed to be something so terrible that consumed the people it took. She never imagined in her wildest dreams that it would take the form of this happy family. Then again, never in her wildest dreams was she actually one of the magic users of the world. "Thank you so much, you've been so kind to me. What time should I start getting ready?"
"The party's not until tonight, so don't worry about it, go out and enjoy your day." Mary paused, chuckling, "you too, Liam."
Liam grinned and tried not to look guilty.
"Thanks, Mary." He called back.
She burst into laughter outside the door, and they could faintly hear her as she walked away, "I knew it. You owe me ten bucks."
Both Clarissa and Liam immediately shared a look, "they don't think..." Clarissa said suddenly putting her hands out in front of her, "do they?!"
Liam grinned at her, "so what if they do?" He shrugged. "Would that be so terrible?"
Clarissa's face flushed again as she sputtered, "I... I... I don't want... I..." She was in someone's house after being kidnapped and now they thought she was sleeping with their distant relative. She closed her eyes slowly. Crap.
Liam kept laughing though, "my, my. I didn't realize I repulsed you so." He teased.
"What?! You don't! I just..." She put her hands over her face and groaned, realizing he was pulling her leg. "You're terrible."
He gave her a charming smile, "you love it."
The phrase sat strangely with her, leaving her feeling strangely excited. She bit her lip and rolled her eyes, "whatever."
Maybe she did.

Clarissa slipped and fell backwards for the fourth time. "Agh!" Her butt was growing sore from all the falls she took on the ice. Liam skated around her. "You ok there, sweetheart?"
Clarissa grumbled and mocked him under her tone, "are you ok, sweetheart?! Hmph." She slowly got back to her feet. "I think it's official. I'm not good at ice skating." She crossed her arms.
Liam came to stop next to her, "if it makes you feel any better, at least you look pretty while you're skating." He winked at her.
She rolled her eyes, "you can stop making fun of me now." She grumbled.

"I was being completely serious."
She wanted to stay upset that he kept her on the ice, but she couldn't help the smile that grew on her face.
"Ha! I got you to smile! Admit it, you're having a good time, you just want to give me a hard time about it." He teased.
She shrugged, "I can't help it if I'm good at that."
"That's it! I have it!" He skated backwards in front of her. "You can quit that silly lab job of yours!"
She scrunched her eyes, "what are you talking about?"
"You're already my personal nuisance. I don't see the point in you having two jobs." He winked at her.
"Har, har, har." She stuck her tongue out at him. "You think you're so hilarious. Don't you?"
He bowed to her, "I do try my best."
"Can we do something else? Like go to the festival or something?" Clarissa asked finally.
"I don't think it's even open yet."
"So?"
Liam raised his eyebrows. "What exactly would we do there?"
"We won't know until we go."

Clarissa nailed him with another snowball. "See. These I can do." She said, "I believe that's the game for me." She teased.
"Where did you learn to throw like that?!"
"Trade secret." Clarissa giggled. She ran across the grounds to him. "Hey, come over here!" She motioned.
"What now? Do you want to hit me with another snowball? I think you've already more than defeated me." He griped.
"No! I want to take our picture before we need to head back!"
"What? Why!" He whined.
"Just shut up and smile!" She pulled him close.

"So bossy."
"You love it." Clarissa shot back with a wily grin. She walked a few paces ahead.
"Indeed, it seems I do." Liam spoke quietly, Clarissa didn't hear him.
"We should get back if we're going to get ready in time for the party tonight." Clarissa looked back at him.
"We've got plenty of time!"
"We've got two hours, that's hardly enough time for makeup and hair and clothing." Clarissa rattled off the things she would have to do to get ready.
Liam shrugged, "I'm going to put on my suit and... yeah that's it."
"Lucky you." Clarissa smirked. "Some of us actually plan to attempt to look good tonight though." She teased.
"Ouch! You really know how to hit me where it hurts." He chuckled.
"Yeah, yeah. That's just payback for earlier on the ice."

"So I know these aren't your usual colors, but the watcher and I thought you'd look pretty in them." Mary rambled. "Here, let me just spray your hair once more... and... there! Take a look!" Mary had been assembling Clarissa's outfit in Majnun's room, as there were more mirrors there. "You look stunning!"

Clarissa looked at the reflection, "wow... I look amazing! I never used to be a dress kind of girl, but this is really growing on me." She picked up the fabric around her waist. "Thank you so much! Are you sure it's ok that I wear it?"
"Of course! Keep it, if you'd like. Liam's going to die when he sees you." Mary teased.
Clarissa flushed immediately. "Not likely... about that though." She paused and looked at Mary. "I just wanted to be clear that he only kept me company last night to talk with me. We didn't... do... anything." She shifted uncomfortably.
Mary looked at her for a moment before she burst out laughing. "Oh dear, please don't worry about it!"
"No! I just wanted to be clear that I wouldn't do that under your roof. You've done so much for me, I don't want things to be uncomfortable for either you or Alec."
Mary snickered, "Alec is going to be uncomfortable regardless so long as Jupiter's bed remains in Eveline's room. It's got nothing to do with you dear." She smiled, "besides, you two make an adorable couple."
Clarissa's face flushed, "no, no, no! We're not a couple! Just friends." She shook her head.
Mary raised her eyebrows, "oh really? I figured you had to be based off the way he looks at you."
"Huh?" Clarissa was interested now, "what do you mean?"
Mary chuckled, "he's always got this nasty scowl on his face all the time, like someone spit in his coffee... but when you're around, he actually seems pretty happy."
"I guess I just get under his skin." Clarissa shrugged.
"Well, whatever it is, keep doing it."

The first guests had already started to arrive in, and Clarissa remained in Majnun's room, feeling uneasy about the night to come. She knew almost no one out there. She didn't want to screw up the good relationships she had built with everyone here by blowing it tonight. She could hear people laughing; Mary greeting people at the door, the sounds of people coming and going. She wondered if the nutters would be here tonight? She found herself smiling as she thought on the word; Liam's own invention, as he called it.
Clarissa slowly went over to the door and crept into the hallway, she could hear Mary making an announcement.
"So the reason I called everyone here today was so that we could discuss the next part of our lives. We'll likely be moving here soon."
There was chatter amongst the guests. Clarissa walked over to the edge of the hallway and stood in the shadows of the doorway, not wanting to interrupt. Mary nodded and answered a few questions, "no, we're not entirely sure where we'll be moving. Eveline's birthday is in a few days and it will take place following after that immediately."
"Hey, keep us posted, sis!" Clarissa recognized Edward now. He stood out in the crowd like a sore thumb with his dreadlocks. "We're coming with!"
"Shouldn't you check with your wife first?" The pregnant woman next to him grumbled as she rested her hand on her stomach.
Edward gave a wide grin, "my beautiful wife is my priority first and foremost." He responded smoothly, and the woman smiled warmly back at him. Clarissa soon determined that was his wife, Johanna. He had two little girls pulling at his legs, they both had his eye color.
"Are we moving daddy? Where're we going?!" They both giggled and bounced against him.
"Settle down, girls." Johanna sighed, rubbing her neck.
"It's alright dear." Edward picked each them both up, each in one hand. "It appears I've caught two beautiful fish barehanded!"
The blond giggled, "we're not fish daddy!"
"You're not?! What do you mean? I caught you, didn't I? You catch fish, right?" He put them down and scratched his head.
The girls giggled with delight and went running off to play in another room. With the announcement out of the way, the guests dispersed around the house to mingle. Clarissa stepped nervously out into the light and looked around to see if Liam or Jack were out and about.
She looked around but stopped after she realized Liam was actually standing right in front of her with his back turned, speaking with Mary.

"Jack said that Jupiter has a potion he needs me to make on the phone. Something super urgent." Liam shrugged, "do you happen to have any ingredients I might be able to dig into? If not I'll have to-"
"Glad to see you're out!" Mary interrupted, waving over to Clarissa.
Liam turned around with his brow furrowed and his mouth fell open.
"Careful Liam, you'll catch flies like that." Mary teased.
He closed his mouth immediately, "I can't help it if a beautiful girl causes me to lose control of my jaw muscles." He shrugged nonchalantly.
Clarissa flushed, "thank you. You clean up very handsomely yourself." She made a nod to him.
Mary gave them both a knowing look before she went to go chat with another group of guests.
Liam crossed over to her and bowed, "would you possibly give me the honor of dancing with me?" He looked at her with an eyebrow cocked.
Clarissa pursed her lips and shifted on her feet, "hmm, I don't know..." She teased. "I suppose you'll do." She grinned and placed her hand in his.
Liam didn't make a smart retort, he simply pulled her into him and they started to dance.

"Will it be unusual to see two people dancing?" Clarissa suddenly thought outloud.
"Clearly you've never been to a Reaper party." Liam said into her ear, "it's not a party until one of the older people starts insisting you need to eat an extra plate, people start daring each other to go outside in inappropriate clothing and throw a football around, oh and from what my grandfather told me things are only getting started until the love charms come out."
"Love charms?"
"Spells. It makes everyone reeeeaaally friendly at first, and then reeeeaaally jealous later." Liam smirked.
Clarissa laughed, "they really do that?"
"Oh yeah. So you see, dancing is the least strange thing that could be occurring at a Reaper party."
Clarissa leaned against him, "does it still bother you? The magic stuff?" She asked gently. She didn't want to ruin his mood, but at the same point, she was curious.
"Actually, no." He paused, "I mean, I think deep down I'll always be a little bitter, but someone reminded me last night that I'm awesome, so I don't even mind." He grinned at her.
"I could have picked better words..." She shook her head, "I just meant that you're a really wonderful person, Liam. You don't need anything else."

Their eyes locked and Liam opened his mouth to say something. "Clarissa... I..." He struggled to say the words that came to mind.
"Yes?" She looked at him hopefully.
"I just...-"
The door opened suddenly.

"Happy groundhogs day everyone!"
The man was dressed worse than a clown, and his face had an eerie glimmer of crazy written all over it. The petite blonde next to him had eyes that were fogged over, causing Clarissa to feel a chill run through her. She could feel the magic pulsing off of the two of them - they literally radiated it. A boy stood quietly next to the petite blonde girl, his skin was paled and his eyes glowed eerily. He whispered something in the girl's ear, revealing fangs behind his lips.
Mary suddenly bolted across the room. "Eveline! My little girl!" She embraced the petite blonde.

"Mom! Uncle! Grandpa! Everyone! What are you all doing here?!" Suddenly she was being swarmed by the room.
Clarissa stood and watched with her head tilted, unsure of what she should be doing. Liam's hand still rested on her lower back, though he stepped closer to her and watched the scene. A smile broke out on his face, "I see my assassins have failed once again Jupiter!" Clarissa looked at Liam seriously, but he kept grinning at the boy, clearly from an inside joke.
The boy with the glowing eyes gave a grin that sent chills down Clarissa's back from the full sight of his fangs. "I hope you're not paying these people, they're doing a terrible job!"
Jack had hurried over and began his third degree. "Did you get my package I sent you Jupiter? I made sure I sent double the amount you asked for!" Jack looked him over, "you didn't stay out in the sun too long? You're not fully transformed yet but you should still be very careful!"
Jupiter smiled at him and nodded, "thank you so much for sending those. I hope I didn't trouble you."
"Nonsense!" Jack shook his head and he pulled him into a sudden hug that Clarissa could see he clearly did not expect, but that he slowly returned with equal affection. "I'm just glad to have you home. You said you have news?" Jack looked between him and the clown who had remained still. She had been so busy taking in everything else that Clarissa hadn't realized he had been staring right at her. She took a timid step backwards, fear creeping into her.
Liam sidestepped and leaned into her ear, "that's Majnun, the one who ordered your..." he hesitated, "arrival here."
Clarissa nodded slowly and clenched her fists nervously. She swallowed. "He's so... powerful."
Liam sensed her distress, "don't let the King of the Nutters freak you out. I won't let him do anything to you." He reassured.
She wasn't entirely sure what Liam could do, but the thought eased her. Majnun's eyes darted sharply to Liam suddenly in a movement that caused Clarissa to jolt and look at Liam.
Majnun waved his finger around and pointed for Liam's room. Liam nodded sharply, and Majnun reached over and touched Jupiter's shoulder and motioned him the same way. He and Jupiter started making their way over to the door.
Liam turned to face Clarissa, "that is my signal, looks like I'm going first." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.
"You're... leaving?" She didn't want to be left alone in the busy room, and suddenly she wondered if she had somehow gotten him in trouble for being around her. The thoughts spun around in her head crazily.
"I'll be right back, this likely has something to do with that potion they need, that's all." Liam looked at her intensely for a moment before he took her hand and kissed it. "Thank you for the dance." It wasn't what he wanted to say, but it would have to do.

With that he walked calmly into his bedroom and closed his door behind him, the room suddenly seemed to grow intensely quiet.
"Clarissa! Over here!" Mary called and waved her over.
She walked hesitantly over to Eveline and Mary. "Clarissa, this is my daughter - Eveline! Eveline, this is Clarissa."
"I heard my gramps put you through the ringer." Eveline gave her a wily grin.
"Eveline!" Mary scolded.
Clarissa shifted and shrugged, "I always travel first class in somebody's trunk."
They all laughed.

"So... my dearest daughter..." Mary started, giving her a look. "We now have a slab of rock in your bedroom and your father is having a heart attack over it. Care to explain?" She raised an eyebrow.
Eveline turned several shades of pink. "I thought the house had a different floorplan..." She trailed off.
"Did he kiss you yet?" Mary pushed.
"Mom!" Eveline covered her mouth.
"What? I'm curious! So sue me." Mary shrugged, "do we need to have a special talk later?"
Eveline shook her head furiously, "moooooom!" She groaned, "we just kissed once! It's nothing to write home about!"
"What was that?!" Alec had walked through the door, fresh out of work. "I know someone did not just talk about kissing my baby girl." Alec grumbled firmly.
Mary rolled her eyes, "welcome home dear."

Alec hugged Eveline tightly before he turned around and picked up a few of the umbrellas in the umbrella case, examining them thoroughly.
Mary shook her head, "dear... what are you doing?"
"Huh?" He settled on a sturdy one and leaned against it. "Just examining some weaponry-I mean umbrellas! Where is this charming young lad?" Alec was smiling, but his eyes had death written in them.
"DAD!" Eveline groaned.
"Put the umbrella down, Mr. Tough Guy." Mary snorted a laugh.
"Depends, what's in it for me?" Alec raised his eyebrows at her.
Mary winked at him, "if you behave, maybe later we can...-"
"EW!" Eveline put her hands up. "Enough! Why are my parents so weird?!" She lamented.
"You think that's weird?" Clarissa snickered, "you should meet my parents."
"You've got it bad too?" Eveline asked her.
"Oh yeah." Clarissa nodded. "At least your parents don't stalk your every move."
Eveline grimaced, "at least you don't have a crazy grandpa."
"Touche." Clarissa laughed.

Clarissa had been listening to Mary and Eveline catch up when she looked up and caught Liam's eyes on her from outside his door. Jupiter stood next to them and they seemed to be talking. Jupiter was leaning slightly in, whispering to him, while Liam nodded, not breaking eye-contact with her. He motioned her to come that way and she started to walk over carefully. Jupiter finished what he was saying and smiled; Liam turned to look at him, finally breaking their eye contact and patted Jupiter on the shoulder with a grin.
"Relax about it," Liam smiled warmly at Jupiter. "She's clearly head-over-heels for you; and why wouldn't she be?!" He was being surprisingly sincere with Jupiter. Clarissa seemed to be waiting for him to say something jokingly, but he didn't. "Trust yourself, Jupiter. You're stronger than you realize."
Jupiter nodded slowly and exhaled. "I don't know what I'll do if it doesn't work." He looked down sadly.
Liam looked at him, "it will work." He reassured. "If it doesn't, then remember what I told you."
Jupiter nodded again. "Thank you. You have no idea how much this means to me." His eyes looked around and locked in on Eveline.
Liam chuckled, "don't mention it." He paused, "seriously though, I'd hate for people to think I'd gone soft on you." He laughed, "hey, what am I supposed to call you now anyways? Bloodsucker might not be in the equation for much longer.”
Jupiter smirked, and started to walk towards Eveline, "I'm sure you'll think of something."
Before they knew it he was out of earshot, bowing to Eveline and offering her his hand. She took it and they started to dance.

"That's adorable." Clarissa commented idly. "What were you two talking about?"
Liam shrugged, "I'm not allowed to tell." He pursed his lips, "but I've been tasked with making the potion to cure him of vampirism."
Shock went through Clarissa. "You can cure that?!" It was supposed to be impossible.
"Apparently." Liam shook his head. "It's really complicated, and an insanely delicate process. I'm not sure I'll be able to..." Liam sighed. "I can't fail though. This is Jupiter's dream. I can't fail him on this."
She could feel the weight riding on him.
"If only my mother were better. She could do this without breaking a sweat." He looked at the floor.
Clarissa put her hand on his shoulder. "You can do it." She said quietly.
"I'm not so sure." He mumbled.
"I am."
They looked at each other for a long time before Liam looked away. "Majnun wants to see you."
Clarissa swallowed and felt her pulse speed up. "Now?"
Liam nodded and gestured for the door. "Whenever you're ready."
It was time to meet the mad, powerful god.


Please don't forget to vote on the Town Poll! - Voting Closed, thank you for voting!
Thank you for reading!

[LivvieLove]

Party Goers
It's difficult to show off the wonderful genetics of this family and tell a story, so here you are, as an aside.
Lakisha Reaper - daughter of Edward and Johanna, twin of Michelle.

She'll grow up to be Mary's twin with Noten's eyes. Gorgeous, of course. Though I'm entirely biased.


Michelle Reaper - daughter of Edward and Johanna, twin of Lakisha.

She has Johanna's face shape which is strangely unique. She's striking, though, and she's grown on me greatly.


Edward is looking suave as usual:


And Noten and Palmira didn't actually make it into the update simply because they were too busy playing football. In the Snow. While dressed inappropriately.



Alec is in the midst of a midlife crisis. You know what that means??
He get's a goatee. That's what that means.
Move houses? Nope. Flirt with someone? Nope. Buy a new car? Nope. Makeover? This one I can budge on. A little.

Give it a week, I'll probably shave it off unless I forget about it.

Jack looks good as a private-eye.


Oh! Oh! Everyone! Super adorable! I was dying when I saw this happen! Eveline had a wish to pillow fight with Jupiter and you know what happened?!
Two proper sims bow to each other before they pillow fight!!!!!
Aghhh! Why didn't I know this sooner!? I've used proper for EVERY GENERATION (save for Mary/Edward) and NEVER noticed?! I'm distressed!



I adore those two.

Also, throughout the last two chapters, Edward has been crashing at Mary's place. I don't think he can handle twins with a baby on the way. XD He can be seen eating food out of the fridge in the middle of a magic fight, walking around in his pyjamas (not that I mind... heh), and just hanging out.


"You're doing a great job sis! Keep it up! Woo."

Anyways, that's all I have time for this morning before work! Tally ho! Hope you enjoyed!

[PeregrineTook]

Another lovely update.  Hard to say which of the young couples I enjoy more, But you know I've got a soft spot for Evaline, so she would probably push my vote that direction  :=)  Speaking of, I've already voted for the new town!

[LivvieLove]

Another lovely update.  Hard to say which of the young couples I enjoy more, But you know I've got a soft spot for Evaline, so she would probably push my vote that direction  :=)  Speaking of, I've already voted for the new town!

Eveline and Jupiter will always have a special place in my heart - I haven't had real attachment to my Sims loves since Emrin/Glitch and Falor/Demi. Thank you for voting! Right now a town as taken the lead, but who knows? I'm going to leave the poll up for a few more days for those who haven't had a chance! I was surprised how many people voted the first day it went up, I expected it to take a bit of time.

So I think it's time for another update. I have all the screenshots, it's just a matter of finding the time to write it all. 

Majnun the Mad
Clarissa pressed her hand against the door and she could feel her legs start to tremble involuntarily, the tremor that was slowly creeping up her back. Something touched her back and she jumped and looked behind her, only to find Liam looking at her gently. "I meant what I said, you have nothing to fear from him. He's going to try to scare you, but remember he won't do anything. He's all bark and no bite."
Clarissa nodded her head and opened the door. Majnun was perched on Liam's bed, staring menacingly at the wall while he muttered under his breath. All of her muscles tightened and she walked rigidly into the room. Majnun's eyes snapped up at her. The way he moved was simply eerie, it made Clarissa feel even more on edge.

He smiled suddenly, but it was hollow and his eyes seemed hungry and desperate. "Pretty cockatoo." He cocked his head to the side. "What has the biiiiiirds dragged in?!" His voice flittered, light and airy.
Liam had stepped to her side, an arm hovering around her waist.
She opened her mouth and spoke hesitantly, "my name is Clar-"
"I know your name!" He snapped at her, his voice low and sharp like a dagger. Clarissa had jolted back, but Liam steadied her. Something inside of her steeled.
"If you know so much then why do you need me here in the first place?!" She snapped back, fists clenching.
Liam smirked at Majnun, glad to see Clarissa was back to her usual fiery self.
Majnun glowered at her, and suddenly he started laughing, low, throaty laughs.
It caused Clarissa to look around nervously, but she kept her ground.
"For a second I was worried you were too soft to be related to me." He gave her a wily grin.
This caused Clarissa to stumble, "wha-wha...what?"
Even Liam turned to look at her in confusion.
Clarissa shook her head, "no, you made a mistake. I'm not related to you. I promise you. You have the wrong person."
Majnun looked at her flatly. "Yes. We do have the wrong person, but yes." He paused, examining his nails quietly. "You are related to me."
Clarissa scrunched her eyes at him, she opened her mouth to say something but she was cut off.
"Your name is Clarissa Kwa." His speech was normal, entirely formal even. It was almost scarier than when his voice fluctuated all over the scale. "Your mother's name is Mercy Labelle. Her mother's name is Megan Labelle. Megan's mother's name?" He paused, staring at her intently with spark in his eyes. "Fate Keeper." His voice had slid up and down on the name. "My granddaughter. The person who Sheogorath - my son and her father - was supposed to collect."
Clarissa felt her knees go weak, and she started to fall backwards onto Liam. Liam took a step forward and fully supported her as she stood with her mouth open. "No... no... that can't be right. We don't have any... we shouldn't have any... My mother..." All the lies were unwinding in front of her. She shook her head and glared at him. "You're lying."
Majnun shifted and stood, and suddenly there was no distance between the two of them. He gripped her chin firmly and stared at her with intensity in his eyes that caused her to whimper. There was almost no space between them. "I'm powerful." It was a statement filled with venom. "I'm mad." Another pause, his eyes only growing more intense as he looked at her. "But I am not a liar, Clarissa." He spat her name.
Suddenly he was two feet away and adjusting his shirt, brushing invisible lint off of it. Clarissa was relying entirely upon Liam to keep her standing by this point. She instinctively rubbed the part of her jaw that he had grabbed before steadying herself on her feet.
"Back off, Majnun." Liam warned.
Majnun looked at him, and then at Clarissa and gave a hearty laugh. "I assure you, I mean no harm." He shrugged, laughter bubbling in his throat. "I just want to be clear with you, Clarissa." His voice was serious and steady again, "I am looking for my granddaughter. She stole something from me, you know. A book."
Clarissa froze. Images from a dream flashed before her eyes. He was telling the truth. She knew it. She could feel it. She saw it in her dreams. The woman. Fate? That had to have been her.
His voice suddenly slid high pitch. "Dag-nabbit! Waffle era loving cheese nuggets!" He squeezed his fists and gathered himself. "With everything going on, these past few weeks have been immensely trying for me, dear Clarissa. I'm going to ask you for a favor in exchange for a favor. Do we have a deal?" Majnun looked at her tiredly.
Clarissa looked over to Liam for a minute who shared a look with her; she looked back at Majnun. "What kind of favor?" Clarissa raised her eyebrow.
"Do you accept the deal?"
"Depends on the favor." Clarissa insisted.
Majnun smiled weakly at her. "Such fire. You remind me of Eveline, only taller." He paused. "And you look nothing like her." His voice lowered, "between the six of us I think there's something wrong with her sight..." He looked around, paranoid.
Clarissa nodded her head very slowly. "Oh-kay." She spoke slowly too.
Majnun laughed hysterically. "Information for information. Deal?"
"What kind of information can you give me?" Clarissa persisted.
Majnun sighed and scratched his ear idly. "You've got your hands full with this one, haven't you, Liam?" He said irritatedly.
Liam smirked. "You better believe it." He chuckled.
"Hey! I just want to know what I'm getting into." Clarissa tried defending herself.
"It's a good trait to have." Majnun noted and sighed. "I will allow you to ask me any two questions that you want answers to. Anything. I will answer honestly and openly."
Clarissa paused and thought on it briefly, the men in the room stared at her while she did. Finally, she looked up. "Deal."
Majnun nodded. "Get out, Liam." Majnun's voice was high pitched and soft.
"Oh no, I'm not-"
"I won't ask you again." Majnun's voice warned him, he flicked his finger and the door came open wide. "Wait outside."
Liam stood his ground, and Clarissa put her hand on his shoulder. "It's ok, Liam."
He looked at her suddenly, "are you sure?"
She nodded, "I'll be ok."
He hesitated before nodding. "I'll be waiting outside if you need me." He responded before giving Majnun one last stare and leaving.
The door slammed shut behind him. Liam propped himself against the wall and listened carefully to any unusual sounds that might come from the door. He would wait until Clarissa came out.

He would wait all night if he had to.


"You're getting good at this, you know." Jupiter smiled widely.
Eveline grinned, "I've stepped on your feet twice already."
"I know, that's significantly better than when we tried to dance the last night in Egypt."
Eveline shook her head, "why do you even dance with me if I'm so terrible at it?"
Jupiter's face scrunched, "I never ever said you were terrible at it." He responded quickly. "Where would you get that idea?"
"I just know I'm not good at these things." Eveline slowed, pulling back. "I'm not really good at many things at all."
Jupiter pulled her against him, "where is this coming from?" He asked her quietly.
"I don't really know what I'm doing. My birthday is in four days, yours is in three... I haven't figured anything out yet. I have no skills I can say I'm good at... I haven't even really gotten a grip on my magic." She sighed, resting her forehead against his shoulder.
Jupiter leaned his head against hers, "maybe you just haven't found your calling yet?" He hummed into her ear. "You have plenty of viable skills, but you just haven't found one that speaks to you." He pressed his face into her hair and took a long breath in. He trembled slightly, feeling the ice forming in his arms and throat. It was like playing with fire, but he couldn't stop. "Have you tried gardening?"
"I've done a lot of research on it when I was younger." She shrugged. "Military school wasn't exactly herbology 101."
"You went to Military school?" Jupiter didn't know this about her. Unusual, considering he had to research her decently before protecting her.
"I got kicked out of the elementary school here, so my mom shipped me to Isla Paradiso for schooling." She paused, realizing how it sounded. "Uh... well, not really like that, but that's essentially what happened." She frowned, "I had just wanted to make friends and some idiot girls pushed my buttons the wrong way. Ever have the whole schoolyard breathing down your neck calling you a freak?"
Jupiter cringed. Yes. He had. Before everyone knew his last name, he most certainly had.
"So my mom told me I could go to school elsewhere. Queen Carolina owed my grandpa a favor, so she housed me herself."
"Why am I not surprised he has connections everywhere." Jupiter mumbled a laugh.
"Oh!" Eveline smiled, "not that grandpa. My grandpa Noten. He died in the rebellion a long time before I was born." She tilted her head. "He's sitting right behind you."
Jupiter's eyebrows twitched in confusion. "I'm sorry, come again?"
Eveline laughed. "I suppose you aren't as familiar with Reaper history as most. And here I figured they'd have a history class on us by now." She grinned. "We can raise people from the dead." She shrugged, "or rather, my- ah crap." Her face twisted, "great... great...uhm." She spun in the direction of her grandpa who sat at the dining table, "Grandpa, how many greats is there from Agnes to you?"
Noten grinned as he tuned his guitar - the very same guitar he took with him to Isla Paradiso originally. "She was my great grandma. Your great-to-the-third-power grandmother."
"Right. That." She turned back to Jupiter. "She could raise people from the dead. It was a gift granted by the Watcher. It's not something we really do very often though because you shouldn't go around raising the dead all willy-nilly. It upset the balance of magic." Eveline remembered this lesson, at least, as it's one her grandfather Majnun confirmed with her.
Jupiter nodded, "makes as much sense as anything."
They continued dancing to the music until a thought that had crossed Eveline's mind many times before started festering again. "Jupiter?" She mumbled. "Can I ask you something?"
He smiled. "No." Pausing, "of course you can."
"Promise you won't get upset?"
This made his smile grow larger, "now I'm just plain curious. What is it?"
Eveline shifted and her head tipped down, "I... uh, nevermind." She shook her head. "It was silly."
"Don't leave me hanging, you know you can tell me anything. I won't judge you. Heck, I think I'm the last person who could ever judge you." He spun her around and pulled her back to him.
"Hypothetically..." Eveline started.
Jupiter nodded, "alright."
"How would you feel if I were..." She shifted her gaze away from him; even knowing that he was staring at her direction made her feel uneasy at the moment.
"...yes?" He stopped dancing and looked at her completely.
"Like you?" Her voice was very quiet.
Silence hung after her words. Jupiter almost wanted her to clarify, but he didn't need to. "Why?" He asked equally quiet.
She shrugged, "I guess I just thought that if something happens and you couldn't be human..." She bit her lip, wanting to vanish into the chattering of the room rather than risk rejection. "I don't know. I just want to be with you, and I know that you struggle when I'm human."
Jupiter was quiet. "You do know it's a permanent change, right?"
"Yes. No one in recorded history has ever been cured. Most vampires suffer a form of light poisoning from the sun called disambiguation; like sunburn, but worse. They live for hundreds of years, oftentimes rivaling that of the nymphs of the Glades. They typically take no leaderships, though many small clans have formed and dissolved over the years. I have... done my research on that too."
Jupiter nodded, taking in her words.
Eveline shifted uncomfortably, wishing desperately that she could see his face to gauge his reaction. "I've thought about it a lot, that's all." She shifted back and slightly away from him.
Jupiter shifted, examining the room before suddenly grabbing her hand and pulling her out the front door.

Clarissa felt numb. This was not how she imagined this going at all. She had bit off more than she could chew and it was swallowing her whole now. She pushed through the door and stumbled into the hallway. Her vision was narrow, she really just needed to breathe. She was pushing around the edges of the living room to the back door - to freedom. Something was pulling on her wrist but she didn't care to look at it. She pushed outside and gasped like she had been holding her breath. She walked through the ankle-deep snow and hunched over the fence. The world started to get clearer.
"Clarissa!"
She turned around, bracing herself against the patio fence. Liam looked at her with concern etched into his face - his eyes.
"I thought I was a fluke. My family wasn't magical. It was all a lie." The words came out breathy and her breath was labored. She looked down suddenly, trying to swallow. "Everything I know is likely a lie." She finally stepped off the fence and towards him.

"I'm not even entirely sure what to do at this point. Where to begin?" She shook her head. "At this point it seems that everyone in my life has lied to me for... I'm not even sure how long or why."
"I haven't." Liam's eyes bore into hers. "We'll figure this out, Clarissa. We can begin wherever you want. I'll turn this town upside-down if that's what it takes."
She knew he meant it. What could he do though? He was leaving for a new start somewhere in just a few days. Her mind was screaming at her but she didn't care to listen to it anymore. She didn't care that her legs carried her forward. She didn't care that everyone inside could likely see them.
She just didn't care anymore period. It was that simple.

She wasn't entirely sure what she expected. She pulled back immediately, her head swimming. "That was... foolish." She stepped back and looked down. "I'm so sorry."

Liam's eyes never left her. "The only thing foolish about that was not doing it sooner." He crossed the gap between them and pulled her forward, crushing her against him.

Neither of them paid any mind to anyone who might have been watching. They entangled themselves into each other like it was their last day on earth together. Suddenly everything else in the world was just a blur.

Mary, Alec and Edward each gave them a side-eye and smirked as they sped through the living room. It seems that out of everyone in the room, Liam and Clarissa were the last to know about their feelings for eachother.

At least they knew now.

"Jupiter! Where are we going?" They both walked into the yard, and Jupiter pulled her forward, ahead of him until he was standing directly behind her.
"Your grandfather ordered your aunt's blood to be taken by a vampire." His voice was distant. "Everyone was forced to sit there while she cried in agony." He sighed. "She cried the rest of the night, and had trouble standing, and you know what?"
Eveline said nothing.
"All I could smell was her blood and it nearly drove me insane." He paused. "Do you know how disgusting that is? How horrifying is is to know that no matter how hard you try that you're just a monster?" He shook his head and sucked in a breath. "It's like ice." He gritted his teeth, "but it spreads like fire. It consumes you and suddenly all you can hear is the pulses of everyone around you. Kind of like how I can hear yours right now."
Eveline tilted her head, but her face was emotionless.
"I don't want to hurt you. These past few nights I've been plagued by nightmares. Your blood all over - me holding your corpse and I just... I can't..." He swallowed back raw emotions. "Liam speculates the cure will only have a 75% chance of actually working, maybe less. I'll have to take it before my birthday, before this disease fully sets in."
Eveline's face softened, though he couldn't see it.
"Why would you want this?" He asked weakly.
"So I can be with you if it doesn't work. So you would never have to feel alone ever again." Eveline pulled her arms across her chest to keep them warm, the bite in the wind was starting to pull at her.
"I don't understand..." His voice was barely above a whisper. "You'd... you'd change yourself? For me?" He had stepped up behind her, her hair was just inches from his face.
"Without hesitation." Eveline assured. She closed her eyes and focused firmly on him, she wanted to get as much detail as she could. She wanted to remember his voice. Remember his face. Remember anything she could. She let one of her arms fall and brought it back to grab his hand into hers. "Being with you is worth it." Eveline took a breath in, "I hope you feel the same."
He spun her around and kissed her - it was only the second time he'd ever done so. The taste of her nearly set him off, but he resisted as best as he could.
Eveline felt the wetness on his face, his emotions that had overflown and she wiped his cheeks off. "Soon you'll be cured. Just watch." She smiled.
He let out a breathy laugh, "will you still want to be with me when I'm just plain old Jupiter?"
"Absolutely." Eveline grinned, "maybe I won't be the only one stepping on feet."
They both laughed.
"Can we go inside now? I like the cold and all that, but I'm not wearing a jacket."
"Oh, right." Jupiter smiled. "Does this mean you'll continue to dance with me?"
"If my dad doesn't kill you first, sure." Eveline teased.
Jupiter shifted, "he's been glaring at me all night."
"The watcher put your bed in my room apparently."
Jupiter and Eveline walked into the house, Alec glared at him while Mary attempted to smack his leg.

"Well, I may not actually get to use the cure after all. Your dad looks like he's going to murder me."
"Don't worry, I won't let him." Eveline smiled and trotted over to Alec, hugging his shoulders. Alec continued to glare at Jupiter before turning to smile at his daughter. "Hey, dad?" Eveline put on her sweetest voice. "You know I love you, right?"
"Of course, sweetheart."
"Then stop scaring away my boyfriend." She said sternly, it was the first time she had used to term, but she already was growing to like it more and more.
Alec's eyes went wide. "I'm sorry sweetheart, did you say something? It sounded like you called him your boyfriend, but we all know that no one is good enough for my little girl." 
Mary kicked Alec's shin, eliciting a shout of pain. "Go have a good time with Jupiter sweetie." She smiled warmly.
Eveline ran off, running right into Jupiter and nearly stepping on his feet while they attempted to dance.
Edward sighed, "keep up the good fight there, man." He held out his fist to Alec, who fist-bumped him.
Mary sighed, "what is WRONG with you two?!"
Alec looked at Mary with crazy eyes, "I was a boy his age once! Edward and I know EXACTLY the kind of thoughts that boy is having right now."
Edward just nodded strongly. "We've chased enough women to know exactly what he wants, sis."
It clicked and Mary started laughing uncontrollably.
"What?!" They both looked at her.
"You two womanizers are now facing your karma for your years of toying with other's feelings: daughters."
Alec leaned forward and put his head in his hands, "the fates are extra cruel."
"You think that's bad? I've got two." Edward groaned.
Johanna rubbed her belly, "and potentially a third on the way."
Mary leaned over and they high-fived each other.
Edward leaned over to Alec, "so I say we build a wall..."

Majnun quietly surveyed the room.

Have you heard any news from Charlotte?
He grumbled, "We've been in touch."
A few of the party-goers unfamiliar with him suddenly gave him a side-eye and put more distance between him and them.
It's funny, they think you're crazy, but in reality this is you being reasonable. The watcher laughed.
He grimaced, muttering under his breath.
So what's the news from her?
"She scattered the clan easily." He giggled insanely, "the details are unimportant. The issue we have is one got away."
Lucien Ricardo.
"I hear you're familiar with him. In fact, he's a relative now, isn't he? Why do you care for such riff-raff?"
The Watcher sighed heavily. Let's just say if his father had been taken care of a lot of terrible things wouldn't have happened to my family here.
"This is why most watchers don't get involved. You can't possibly stand to let a little chaos happen. Where's your sense of adventure?"
My goal is to make everyone safer. That was all I ever wanted.
"Then you got stuck with me!" Majnun laughed maniacally. "Destiny has a way of bringing us together, doesn't it?"
I guess I always knew I would run into you eventually, but I didn't think you'd be this foolish about it. The last time we met you were a very different entity it seems. You've lost your edge.
Majnun scowled, "says the woman who couldn't keep track of her family after just two generations."
Indeed, but I'm not going to be foolish anymore. I'm surprised you're as calm about the future of this as you have been.
He closed his eyes gently, "death comes for us all at one point or another." He paused, "I have someone waiting for me there anyways." He let out a long breath. "Sometimes when I look at Eveline, I see her." He smiled wistfully, his mind elsewhere.
Do you miss her?
"More than you will ever know."


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