80. Welcome Home

**Leonard**

Seeing the sadness and confusion in her expression, Elaine couldn't help but feel responsible for her duress. "Oh Sweetie, it's not as if we wanted to leave you there. It's that we thought you were dead."

The mention of death was enough for her eyes to grow as big as bulbs. Serene gulped. "What do you mean by dead? I was home the entire time..."

"We received reports that you were attacked by rogues while running away. After a body has been taken away by them it's almost impossible to get it back." Elaine looked down. "We searched the house too but could not find you anywhere."

"Bu-but that's impossible! If I left I would know, except I didn't leave my room all day."

"We checked everything my dear, you weren't there."

The young girl contemplated what she said, then glanced towards Henry. Much to her fear his expression didn't betray any signs that this was a lie.

How could that be? She remembered everything about that day no matter how much she wanted to forget it. During the accident she was instructed to stay in the house and never exit.

"Then we happened to find out that you were indeed alive after Andrew Lyon collected some of your DNA, but by that time you were a teen. And Leonard, my precious son scared you away."

They both turned to Leo. Leo's head shot up after hearing his name. "Wait what?"

His mom rolled her eyes. "Leonard, we knew who that girl was from the moment we smelt her blood. Do you recall the, 'girlfriend'," she bent her forefinger and middle finger, mimicking quotation marks. "The only reason we didn't call you out then and there was because we were waiting on Drew's verification."

"No, seriously, you were the girl I was with that I mistook for Kimberley?"

Serene bit her bottom lip.

"That's not the point, son." She released a breath of air she didn't know she was holding and watched the interaction between her old boss and her only heir. But regardless of how silly that attempt was at fooling us, now our darling Serene is where she needed to be."

Elaine shot her a hopeful smile and Serene smiled back. Through the corners of her eyes she observed the boy sitting beside her. He stared at his lap with eyes full of guilt. Henry drilled holes into him with his dark hooded eyes as if he knew Leo had messed up somehow. But Leo's father had no idea just how bad Leo's mistake was. She wasn't too familiar with the man, but who knows what he might do if he found out.

"But I'm here now, and that's what matters," Serene said. Elaine and Henry nodded in agreement and she felt relieved. "Although," Elaine's voice caused her to look away nervously. "We couldn't take you since Jenifer had legal custody, something we can do nothing about unless we could prove you were in danger, but even then, you would have just been sent to your other relatives." A growl resonated so loudly in the room, all but the queen leaned back in fear. The queen continued. "So we could only wait until you came of legal age so you could come to us yourself."

She picked up herself and traveled around the table until she was seated to Serene's left. When Elaine held her hands, Serene's heart jumped into her throat. "We're happy to have you here with us, my dear, and for you to come to us of your own free will and tell us who you are means much more than you'll ever know. Welcome home, my precious god-daughter."

Serene hugged Elaine tighter than she intended, but she wanted this woman to know that she appreciated everything she was saying to her before she continued.

What she didn't count on was Elaine not letting her go. She could smell the calming effects of her sweet perfume. Then, she felt Elaine's hand rubbing up and down her back. It reminded her that she's not the only person to regain something from this. While she did find people she could trust, they also found someone they thought they would never see again. So she allowed the queen to hold her as long as she needed to. Leonard, who was watching the exchange, smiled.

The redhead eventually released the young woman from her hold. "Thanks for the hug, sweetie. Now what was that other thing you wanted to talk about?" Elaine asked.

Brown locks were thrown around as Serene shook her head. "We can discuss it another day. Tell me, how did you know it was me, anyway? I mean, Leo couldn't even tell when he bit me."

Said man shot up in his seat. His mother's mouth dropped open. Henry growled, his fangs showing as he stood up. Serene realized she had made a horrible mistake. But they would have figured it out anyway, she just wasn't expecting it to be through her.

"You did what?!" Both the king and queen yelled at the same time.

**Mariam**

Andrew made a promise and by midday he fulfilled it.

Mariam was sitting inside the cafe next to its giant, glass window. The sun hovered overhead, dodging in-between and behind white clouds. On a lovely day like this, she would have made an attempt to occupy one of the chairs outside. But even though she consumed her essence whenever she had the chance, she was still much easier to burn under sunlight than other vampires. And yet, that didn't stop her from going there today.

When Andrew called her to meet, it wasn't what she expected. They did see each other every once in a while but it was rare for him to call her to meet up privately. For this occasion, she had taken the step to style her hair into large curls. Her silver locks fell over her shoulders and to the stomach of her casual, sea green v-neck dress. Her slim waist and push-up bra were sure to drag his attention to where she needed it to be.