September of 1838 brought with it more strange behavior from Garnet. She had seemed quite sweet and innocent and in need of help when Claire had first met her and offered her a better place in the world than the one she was destined to endure otherwise. However, the way she had started interacting with the others in Claire’s life so shortly after being brought into it did give Claire more than a bit of apprehension about the girl.

After Aidan’s first night back and the conversation Garnet and Sebastian had the next morning, she did actually apologize for making Sebastian worry. Despite that apology though, Garnet still was spending nearly every evening at House Toreador with Aidan and leaving Sebastian seething each night as he waited in vain for her to return to the tavern any time before dawn; which she never seemed to.

Due to Garnet’s presence in the Toreador haven each night, and the easily overheard activities between she and Aidan; Nicolas also started spending an abundance of time at the main house again. Most nights he would lock himself away in Sean’s practically abandoned studio, making some attempt at turning his feelings into art, just as Sean had done previous to his new role in the Kindred world. Other nights when Claire was not busy at the tavern, he and she would make an effort to reestablish the closeness between them now that the bond made it easier for her to trust him; despite the lingering guilt she had over the fact of that bond being present again at all.

Things only got stranger still once the Denbouroughs arrived back in Sean’s town. They of course would also be staying at the Toreador house as their home while they visited. This living situation allowed them to rekindle their friendship with Aidan on a nightly basis as well; and that relationship had to include Garnet now that she and Aidan had become so close. It didn’t take long for Garnet to come upon the knowledge of exactly how close Aidan and the couple were. And this in turn led to her discovery of how close Claire and Sean had been with all three of them during the Beringers’ last stay in England as well. And upon that discovery, and much to the surprise of all three of their British guests, Garnet easily slid into the role of lover to not only Aidan, but also Daniel and Anastasia.

It was nearly October when Sebastian finally got quite frustrated and impatient with waiting another night for Garnet to not return home until dawn. And once she did return each morning, it was only to discover that most of the time she was too exhausted to even attempt any intimacy with Sebastian again; despite how close the two had actually been before the visitors from England had arrived. On this night he chose to distract himself from his anger by speaking with Claire as she tallied up the day’s profits. So he knocked lightly on Claire’s office door shortly after she had closed the place for the night.

“You’re still up?” Claire greeted him with a sympathetic smile as he hesitantly stepped into the room.

“I’m up every night; waiting on her” he added more quietly.

Claire sighed as she looked down sadly, “I wish I knew what to tell you, Sebastian.”

“Your other friends are sharing a house with Aidan too, aren’t they?” he asked as he took a sad seat, having only met the Denbouroughs when they first arrived in town, but clearly remembering the draw that he had to all three of the Brits, despite his dislike of Aidan. They had come to the tavern that night to greet Claire, but Aidan and Garnet had been with them, and they didn’t stay long before all four of them disappeared together and hadn’t been back to the tavern since.

“Yes it’s one of our guest houses” Claire admitted.

“One of” Sebastian scoffed, “and I guess they’re just as wealthy as you and Sean?”

“Daniel works for the king of Britain; and Aidan has ties to the royal family as well” Claire stated, not exactly lying as she didn’t say that it happened to be a royal family that had ruled two hundred years earlier.

“I doubt that it’s just their money that has Garnet so enamored though; after all, you have money too” Sebastian sighed.

“Like I said, I wish I knew what to tell you. Her becoming so close to them so quickly has me a bit surprised as well” Claire confessed as she mirrored his sigh.

Sebastian was quiet for a long moment, casting a glance at the door behind them despite it being after the tavern had closed for the night. He then narrowed his eyes as he looked back at Claire, “they’re like you, aren’t they?”

“Like me?” Claire replied quietly as she returned her gaze to the drawer of money atop her desk.

“You know exactly what I mean, Claire” Sebastian told her with as much strength as he could push into his tone in light of that very magnetism that he had felt the moment he had first met Claire, or any of the friends who had so thoroughly taken Garnet’s attention from him.

Claire sighed with defeat, “yes, but remember you still can’t let others know about any of us” she reminded.

“Who would I tell anyway?” he scoffed. He then added, “and do you think that’s why she’s with them every night?”

“Why?” Claire repeated as she looked back up at his dark, questioning eyes.

“Do you think they did something to her to make her only want to be near them; never mind what I thought she and I had” he added more quietly, his eyes now being the ones cast downwards.

Claire sighed sadly again as she couldn’t help feeling for the boy. After all, she knew how afraid he’d already been to get close to any girl; not to mention all the other things he had endured in such a short life. Never mind the fact that she too couldn’t help feeling a little abandoned by not just one, but three former lovers. It was not that she was that eager to even crawl back into bed with them; as it had already taken her a long time to adjust to that closeness with Sean and even longer with Nicolas. But she still felt the loss of their friendship after it had already been so rare that she even saw them at all.

Remembering his question through her own thoughts, Claire replied, “I suppose it’s always a possibility, but it wouldn’t make much sense. I mean, most of us don’t even have to do anything to gain a mortal’s affections. And most of us don’t actively pursue those affections either” she attempted to assure, though she was not sure how much assurance her words would even provide.

“So my kind just can’t help wanting your kind?” Sebastian stated sadly.

“We have a kind of magnetism, which I’m sure you’ve probably noticed. It’s not anything we consciously project; our clan just has that as one of the traits that come with being what we are” she attempted to explain further.

“So, basically, as long as your kind are around, then…” he just shook his head sadly, as he moved to stand once more.

She tried not to worry unduly at his statement, considering how much others of his blood already hated her kind, instead she made herself add, “If it’s any consolation; most of us don’t tend to stay all that attentive to relationships with mortals for long. Not that that’s a good thing either, but in Garnet’s case it may be” Claire attempted with a sad shrug.

Not looking back at her, he just let out another shaky breath, “so I just have to wait ‘til your friends get tired of her; then after they push her away, maybe then she’ll remember what I thought she and I had?” he shook his head again, “yeah, that sounds great” he added with a bitter insincerity before leaving the room again, causing Claire to feel like she had somehow lost yet another friend; which now brought the count up to four in barely two months’ time.

It was a mild night in late October, less than half an hour until dawn when Garnet was once again leaving the Toreador house before daybreak. When she approached the main gate of the estate, she was a bit surprised to find Claire and Nicolas at the door of the main house. The most surprising part of that encounter though was that when she came upon them, the two were passionately kissing each other goodnight; and that fact immediately piqued Garnet’s interest, for some reason.

Upon noting the young woman’s approach, the two broke off their kiss and Claire awkwardly smiled up at Nicolas wishing him goodnight before hurrying back inside her own home. Nicolas sighed as he nodded to Garnet and moved past her in the direction of the Toreador home she had left only a moment earlier.

“I didn’t know you were so close to Claire” Garnet called to him as he moved past her.

Nicolas let out another sigh as he stopped but did not turn back to her, “she helped me when I needed it” he offered as his only explanation.

“She does that a lot doesn’t she?” Garnet replied as she took a step closer to him as he tensed slightly; though that reaction was nothing new for him when in the presence of anyone he was not as closely acquainted with as he was with Claire.

“Was there something you needed to say to me?” Nicolas asked her with a bit of bluntness as he finally turned back to her, only then letting himself look at her for more than the brief moment that he usually only saw her in passing when they crossed each other’s paths at this time most nights. As close as she now stood to him, he was a bit caught by how much she looked like Claire, aside from the slight height she had on Claire, and those nearly silver eyes in place of Claire’s emerald colored ones.

“I just can’t help wondering why you’ve been so scarce. Aidan and the others said that you are actually supposed to live at the house with them too. But you always seem to leave right after I get there and return just as I’m leaving” Garnet asked, somehow struck by how he could seem so shy and guarded while at the same time projecting the kind of magnetism her current trio of lovers, as well as Claire, all seemed to display.

“I figure it was crowded enough there most nights” Nicolas offered in that same monotone he usually adopted when making himself speak to anyone other than Claire.

Garnet just allowed a slight chuckle, “and what is that accent?” she stated as she moved to pull a long brown lock from where it had fallen free and come to rest upon his shirt.

“French” Nicolas stated with a bit more tension at that slight touch.

“Well, it’s a beautiful accent. Which I guess is only fitting for a man who’s just as beautiful” she told him with a bit of sultriness as she somehow felt compelled to grace him with all her womanly wiles.

Nicolas narrowed his eyes down at her as he looked more intently at her, into her, “you want me now too?”

Garnet laughed awkwardly as she looked down for only a moment before finding a response, “seems like everyone around here is awfully good at drawing out hidden desires. Though most are a little more subtle about them” she added with a wry smile.

“You touch me and call me beautiful; not very hidden” he told her with the same bluntness that could be due to either the difference in language, his bond to Claire, or his strange and terrifying childhood; though it was most likely a combination of all three.

“Touché” Garnet returned with a smile, “see, I know some French” she added with another small grin. She then touched his chest again, “would you like to know what other French things I learned during my slightly unconventional childhood?” she nearly purred the question despite that tension that he displayed at the feel of her warm hand against the material of his shirt, heating his own cool skin underneath.

“Unconventional?” Nicolas was drawn to that particular part of her statement, despite his own nervousness at her continued interest in him.

Garnet simply nodded and allowed another smile as she seemed to finally find something that caught his attention more than just her flirtations had, “I was raised in a brothel. I saw things most little girls don’t see.”

Nicolas watched her closely again, scanning her to see how much of what she said was actually true. Finding no real deception in her last statement, he finally gave in to offering his own response, “I was raised in an asylum; me and my sister saw things that children don’t usually see either.”

Garnet swallowed a bit at that particular information, but held onto her smile as she continued, “so why were you raised in an asylum?” she asked with a bit of fear which she attempted to keep out of her voice.

“Why were you raised in a brothel?” he turned the question on her in that same flat tone.

“My mother was a whore” she admitted, “your turn.”

Nicolas scoffed lightly but answered nonetheless, “my mother was a nurse; my father was a doctor. They died though. So my sister and I were left there on our own after that.”

“Well, my mother only died recently; but I’d say that you and I still have probably both seen some crazy things” she offered as she moved closer, “maybe we could try to help each other get over them though, couldn’t we?”

By the time Samhain rolled around, Claire still had not spent much time with any of the members of House Toreador. Since their arrival, the members of the British branch of her and Sean’s extended family had grown accustomed to spending their time doing other things. And now Nicolas was spending his evenings there at the Toreador haven as well. Though Claire wasn’t exactly sure how she felt about that considering that even the bond wasn’t drawing him to her each night. Then there was the fact that she always began to worry when Nicolas was not in her company; especially after his claim that she was the one thing that had kept him from giving into all that darkness in his head.

On top of this, Sebastian still held a bit of animosity toward her for no other reason than bringing her overly alluring friends into Garnet’s life; therefore ripping the young woman away from his side. Instead of turning to Claire for any kind of moral support or reassurance, he had now begun turning to a much more mortal option in their star performer, Davina. Claire tried to be happy that he had found some sort of replacement for Garnet, but she still had those worries about him becoming close to any living woman. Then, of course there was her increasing feeling of isolation in reaction to the fact that so many of her friends and lovers had seemed to lose almost all interest in any sort of relationship with her at all, intimate or not.

That night she chose to let Sebastian and a few of her servants work the closing shift at the tavern. She found herself not particularly in the mood to see Sebastian’s cool looks and spend another evening hoping that maybe one of her friends-slash-lovers would remember her existence. The only intimate she hadn’t lost to Garnet yet was Sean. Given, he was the most important to her of all of her acquaintances, but he was still Prince and he still only had an hour or so each night to devote to her even before Garnet’s arrival.

As Claire curled against the pillows in her empty bed that night, she couldn’t help having a distinct feeling of déjà vu as she remembered a time long ago; back when she was just a mortal teenage girl. That was the last time in her 270 long years of life that she had ever felt quite as alone as she did in recent nights. And that was a feeling that couldn’t help causing an equally lonely red tear to slip down her cheek.