When Claire next made her way to Raven’s Loft to cover the last few hours before closing, Sebastian nodded awkwardly in greeting and headed for the stairs. Sighing softly, Claire called after him, “wait a moment, Sebastian. I have something for you.”

Sebastian halted his steps toward the stairs and looked back at her with equal parts surprise and apprehension, “My birthday’s not until December” he told her hesitantly, making an attempt at his own smile.

Claire just offered a faint smile as she moved toward him, reaching for a small pouch she had placed in the pocket of her long thin jacket before leaving. “Nevertheless, I thought I should give this to you” she told him as she handed him the pouch.

Sebastian warily took it and looked inside at the powdery substance, “what is it even?” he had to ask.

Claire braced herself as she looked around and noted their one customer who was seated at a corner table looking rather too intoxicated to be paying them much attention anyway. Though she still spoke quietly to him, “I’ve been informed that there may be a young lady you have an interest in” she began.

Sebastian interrupted her with a nervous scoff, “all I did was smile at her; I don’t know what Nicolas thought he saw, but…”

“He sees quite a bit” Claire informed, though she continued to smile, “I’m not saying you have to even use this; but if there is any young woman who you have an interest in, this will help keep anything bad from happening” she told him with a knowing look. She then dropped her voice further, “that’s what I used back when Sean and I first got married; back then” she added pointedly, “and it worked for over a decade to keep any children out of the equation” she finished, her voice dropping only slightly considering that child who did enter the equation when she had actually allowed herself that one moment to be with Sean without the substance she was now offering Sebastian. She then quickly moved to retrieve a piece of paper from her other pocket before handing that to him as well, “and if you do find a young lady who has need of this, then this is what it takes to make more.”

“I don’t know, Claire” Sebastian told her hesitantly as he kept his eyes glued to the pouch and paper instead of looking back up at her.

“I’m not saying you have to do anything; I just think you should have the option if you wanted to. And this will make that option a lot less scary for you” Claire told him as she gently kissed his cheek and offered him another small smile.

Sebastian took a deep breath in response to her words and her kiss, but nodded in understanding. He then nervously continued his walk up the stairs, her gifts in his only slightly shaking hands. Smiling after him, Claire let out another sigh before moving to her spot behind the bar once Sebastian had departed.

It was not too many minutes after Sebastian headed upstairs for the night that the tavern door opened again. Claire looked up from the glass she was wiping down to smile in greeting to the new arrival. Though her smile faltered slightly when she saw that it was Nicolas once again who had apparently left the estate shortly after sunset, just as she had.

Claire quickly forced her smile back to her lips as he moved toward the bar, “two nights in a row? Seems like you’re slowly getting used to being around more people.”

“Only here because you are” he told her softly as he gave her a sad smile. Claire sighed quietly as she cast him another smile before attempting to busy herself wiping down more glasses. Narrowing his eyes slightly at her, Nicolas’ smile also faltered somewhat. He then cast a glance at the one customer present before moving to the end of the bar nearest Claire and speaking quietly, “you used to seem happier to see me than you are now.”

Claire swallowed a bit at that observation. She was quickly beginning to get the impression that he was responding to much more than simply her weak attempt at a smile and her avoidance of eye contact, “it’s nothing you’ve done, Nicolas. I promise” she assured him with another attempt at a smile.

Casting another glance at the customer who looked like he was barely even holding onto consciousness at that point, Nicolas still spoke quietly, “you are afraid to be close to me now that I’m… different” he settled on.

Claire swallowed another lump in her throat as she tried to find a response, “it’s just harder now that I know that you can see a lot more than… than I can” she settled on.

Nicolas sighed again. He then gave one more look to their company, before he continued, “vous avez peur que je vais utiliser mes capacités sur vous?” he decided to ask her in a language he was sure would not make any sense to the other man in the room, even though Claire could understand it.

Claire looked down quickly again as he so easily discovered that her fear was indeed that he could have been stronger than her now; which of course couldn’t help making her worry that if he had wanted to, he could very well train himself to someday use those same abilities on her that his sire had. She attempted to find some response, “once you learn, you could” she began sadly, “and I never had to worry about that before with you. That’s what’s different now” she admitted quietly.

“I would not do that to you Claire” he then corrected himself, as it was obvious he was already using his abilities to read her, “not the way Thomas did. I would never do that to you” he promised.

“I want to believe that, but I have so much trouble trusting anyone who’s not… as close to me as you used to be” she edited herself once more.

Nicolas sighed in frustration at the fact that they could not say exactly what they meant when mortals were so near. He then continued in French once again, “vous voulez dire que vous avez peur de me faire confiance maintenant que je ne suis plus lié à vous?”

Claire sighed again as he asked her if the reason she couldn’t trust him anymore was because of the fact that he was no longer bound to her. “It’s not just you that I have trouble trusting. It’s anyone who doesn’t… feel the way you used to feel about me.”

“I do still feel that for you though” he insisted, “even without…” he shook his head as he once again remembered they were not alone, “le lien.”

“I want to trust you, I do… it’s just hard when I’m no longer the one who can see everything about how you really feel” Claire told him apologetically. Though before Nicolas could respond, there was a loud thump as the man at the table did give in to the abundance of alcohol in his system and his head fell to the table as he passed out. Claire simply sighed as her eyes moved to the drunkard, “I suppose I should…”

But before she could finish her sentence or tend to the unconscious man, Nicolas interrupted, “then let me be bound to you again” he told her in a desperate though quiet tone, just in case the man was more aware than he was letting on.

“I’m sorry, what?” Claire asked, thrown by his statement, as she moved her eyes quickly back to read the customer and make sure he was indeed oblivious to anything happening around him.

“If me not being bound is why we are no longer close then let me be bound again” Nicolas stated simply and sadly.

Claire was silenced for a long moment as she looked up at him with disbelief, “why would you ever… why would anyone ever… let alone… why would you want that? You could be so much stronger than me now.”

“And if that is the problem, and the bond is the solution; then I choose the solution” Nicolas assured her sincerely.

“But you would be knowingly giving up…” she just shook her head.

“I want to be with you, Claire. You are the only one I have ever trusted; and if that’s what it takes for you to trust me now that I am this. Then that is what I’ll do” he told her as she tried desperately to read his aura, as faintly as she could even see it now at all.

Before Claire could voice any more arguments against him so willingly offering his very will to her again, Nicolas had already moved around the bar behind her. She swallowed another lump in her throat as he moved in close behind her, his arms lightly encircling her waist, his lips gently caressing her neck. She allowed those kisses to go on another several seconds before making herself speak again, “any one of us would tell you that this is just ludicrous. None of us would ever willingly give in to that.”

“You and Sean do” he called her on her statement as his kisses intensified.

“But it’s mutual with me and Sean” she whispered, finding it harder and harder to argue with how sincerely he did seem to want this.

“The only time I was ever happy and ever felt like I might be ok was when I was with you, bound to you” he whispered, “I want to feel that way again, Claire” he murmured against her neck. He then cast one more wary glance at the still unconscious man before bravely sinking his fangs deeply into Claire’s neck, causing that pleasure to immediately overtake both of them as he finally tasted her blood on his lips again for the first time in nearly two decades.

When her fingers began gripping the bar more tightly in front of her, Nicolas forced himself to remove his fangs from her neck and step back slightly to allow them both time to recover from his Kiss. Bracing herself on the bar for a few more moments before finally regaining some composure, Claire shakily turned back to him, her hands still firmly holding onto the bar behind her.

“So I guess you have learned how to do that without… taking too much” she whispered.

“I was afraid. I usually only drink from glasses. But I knew I couldn’t let myself hurt the only woman I am not afraid to be with” he told her, still a bit flushed from that Kiss. He then allowed a small smile, “see? No bond yet, and I still don’t hurt you; can’t let myself” he assured.

By the end of the week Nicolas was officially the second Kindred of a more powerful generation than Claire who was now bound to her. She once again felt those pangs of guilt she always seemed to feel when forcing that bond on others. Given, she had never forced it on Sean or now Nicolas either. But she still couldn’t help her reservations about that bond being established with either man.

Before Sean was Prince, she had a lot less apprehension about their mutual bond; though now she couldn’t help wondering if his bond to her would cost him dearly someday if anyone were to discover it and use it against him. Then there was her bond with Nicolas, which he had actually asked for. Despite it being his idea, she still felt that same worry about forcing anything on a man who had already had so much forced on him in the past. She had vainly hoped that his embrace would make him realize that he could not be hurt again the way he had been in the past. However, the only thing the embrace did was break the bond he had to her, which was somehow the only thing that had been giving him the strength to endure his life back when it was only a mortal life; without it he was fighting to keep from slipping back into that darkness for what would now be eternity instead.

She sighed at her own dark thoughts as she wiped down the bar shortly after arriving and relieving Sebastian of his post. It was only a few moments later when the door opened to another customer. However, this customer was not your average sailor coming in from the harbor after a long trip. This customer was a young girl who appeared to be nineteen or twenty at the most and was so beautiful that Claire found herself caving into that clan weakness for beauty and just staring at the girl for several long moments, completely unaware of anything else other than that beauty.

The girl was slim with the same long raven-colored locks as Claire. She stood at only about 5’6” with blue eyes so light that they looked gray or even silver and accented beautiful pale skin. “Hello?” her soft voice broke into Claire’s consciousness after some unknown amount of minutes.

Claire shook her head as the girl’s voice finally broke through her entrancement and forced a smile, “sorry, caught me daydreaming I guess” Claire apologized, her eyes still moving over the girl as she tried to conceal her own desire for the beauty standing before her.

The girl just smiled awkwardly and looked around the room, “have you worked here long?” she asked Claire after another look around the room.

“Quite a while” Claire decided on the most truthful answer she could.

“I was told that my father may have worked here, long ago” the girl stated with an attempt at bravery despite her own nervousness.

“Your father?” Claire narrowed her eyes at that, knowing full well that the only employees she had ever had since taking over the place originally in 1813, twenty-five years earlier, were the showgirls and her own servants or Kindred acquaintances.

“I think it was before the place closed down in 1818?” she asked warily, ’so you may not know him either” she added sadly.

“Well, it’s been in my family since 1813” Claire replied in another half-truth. “What was your father’s name?” Claire asked as she scanned the girl’s aura and found her to be nothing more than a nervous mortal girl.

The young lady looked down with a deep breath and a sigh, “I never met him; but my mother told me to try and find him if anything happened to her” she began sadly, “she said that she knew he worked here in the employ of the wealthy owner; I guess that would be your family then?” she asked Claire with further nervousness.

Narrowing her eyes again at that statement, Claire took a moment to scan the girl once more before replying, “did she at least tell you his name though?” she asked warily, knowing that if this girl’s information was correct then that would narrow her father down to the group of male servants she and Sean had before the massacre that had taken the lives of another Kindred, Emilia, and one particular male servant of her own.

“It was Finn… Finn Jacobs” the girl offered hopefully as Claire’s eyes widened. “You did know him?” she asked as she saw that Claire did have a very clear reaction to the name.

Taking another long moment to try to compose herself, Claire found words, “yes I remember someone by that name who worked for… my family several years ago.”

“Worked?” she returned with worry, “as in he works somewhere else now?” she hoped aloud. Though Claire’s sad look down gave her that answer, “so I guess I won’t actually ever meet him?” she replied sadly.

Claire sighed sadly, “he actually was one of the people who died here and caused the place to be shut down for so many years” she answered the girl’s question with obvious regret at the reminder of not only the massacre but of the lover she herself had lost that night as well.

“So I am really an orphan now” the girl sniffled as she turned away to try and find a handkerchief in the small bag she carried with her.

Perhaps it was her beauty or her sadness that touched Claire’s heart, but she wanted to help this girl if she could find any way to do so at all. But before she could do that, she had to understand a few more things about how Finn even came to have a daughter who appeared to have been born right around the time that he had lost his life to Kristofer’s brother.

“Do you know how he and your mother even met?” Claire attempted.

“She was a whore” the girl sniffled, “but he was her favorite, so she knew that I was his” she swallowed as she wiped away another tear as she turned back to Claire’s concerned eyes, “she kept me safe from becoming what she was; she said she cared about him too much to let his daughter…” she sniffled again, “but now that he’s gone too…” she just shook her head and wiped at another tear.

“You don’t mean to say that that’s the only choice you think you have now, do you?” Claire asked with further worry.

“What else can I do?” she sniffled again, “I’m not lucky enough to come from a rich family… or any family at all now” she added softly.

“Finn was part of our family, even if he was technically an employee. That makes you part of it too” Claire told her softly.

“But you don’t even know me” she responded, trying to bite back that glimmer of hope that Claire’s words produced.

“I know I can’t let any woman, let alone Finn’s own child fall into a life like that if she doesn’t want it. Like I said, he was family too. And now’s that chance for me to get to know you after all. I’m Claire” she added with a smile as she held her hand out to the girl.

She smiled back with that hope becoming more apparent then, “I’m Garnet.”