Something was off about the entire situation, Mark just wasn’t sure what. Everything seemed normal at least, from the setting sun in the distance to the grains of sand beneath his bare feet. There was a beach tent set up around twenty feet away, white and swaying with the breeze, and inside his sister Tammy was tapping furiously on an electronic device, completely ignoring everything else. It was so like her Mark smiled almost reflexively.

“Mark!” Joey called out, waving to him from the water. He kicked up some ocean, bounced forward as a wave knocked into him, and yelled, “Get in here!”

Grace wasn’t too far away, nothing but her feet in the water, the tide pushing and pulling against her ankles as she complained about the temperature of the water.

“You look deep in thought, darling,” his mother said, appearing behind him and putting her delicate hands on his shoulders. “This is a vacation.”

Mark’s father streaked past the two of them, strong legs pumping as he catapulted himself into the water.

“Dad!” Grace shrieked, immediately sprayed with water, the drops blotting against her pristine bathing suit. “Really!”

“Coming in the water?” his mother asked, squeezing his shoulder. She pressed a soft kiss to the side of his head and reminded, “Only a few more weeks until school starts back up. That’ll mean after school activities for you and Joey, and your father and I will be called away quite frequently. Grace as well. Plus, Tammy will be away full time at university. We won’t get to be like this again until Christmas break.”

Mark gave her a huge grin. Christmas time was his favorite time of the year. His mother would throw her infamous Christmas party, all his cousins and family would come to visit. On top of hundreds of people he saw only once a year, there’d be great food, typically a performance piece from Tammy and her harp or Grace on the piano, and it would end, like always, with his uncle and father getting into a pissing match. Their fights were more tradition now than the actual holiday.

“Miranda!” his father called from the water.

“Coming, dear!”

Mark was certain he was the last holdout, after Tammy who probably wouldn’t be budged from the beach tent for anything less than the end of the world. Even Grace was shimmying her way into the water, her engagement bracelet hanging from her wrist, catching the dying sun.

Mark couldn’t wait for the moon to be up and the sun fully gone. As a pureblood he could withstand the sun at least somewhat, but he was still young, and slight exposure was uncomfortable, while prolonged exposure was dangerous. In a few decades, when he was much older and a full adult, with gifts and abilities, the sun would be nothing to him. But for now it was a nuisance.

“Wait for me!” Mark called out, following after his mother.

He reached the ocean’s edge, the normally blue water almost black now, and paused. Feet from the water, he stopped, and no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t take another step forward.

“Mark!”

The air felt a little thin and Mark looked around. He was certain he’d heard his name, but it hadn’t come from any of the people in the water, or his sister back in the beach tent.

“Mom?” he called out.

“Come in, darling! The water’s still a bit warm from the sun!” She waved a hand at him, then turned to splash Mark’s father who’d given her leg somewhat of a frightful pull from under the water.

“Mark! Don’t!”

There it was again.

Mark looked to Joey, who was snorkeling with the last bit of light, his flipper covered feet flopping out of the ocean as he swayed with the tide.

It wasn’t Grace, either, who was busy tying her hair up, warning their father not to get it wet. She was going to see her match tomorrow, and Mark had seen her fret about everything from the shade of her hair to the clothing she planned to wear. It was an odd thing coming from his normally so confident sister, but Mark supposed anyone would get nervous spending time around the person they were supposed to get married to, especially if that person wasn’t their personal choice.

“Mark! Stop!”

“What!” he demanded, whirling around. The sun was getting even lower, and even with his enhanced sight, things were getting murky and dark.

“What are you waiting for?” his father called out. “Come on.”

Mark took a hesitant step foreword. The growing feeling that something was wrong was paralyzing.

Grace laughed out, “It’s really not that bad.”

So Mark took another step, and then three more, and his toes were wet.

His eye drifted to his parents, his father swimming circles around his mother, his mother pretending like she wasn’t still completely enamored with him like she was sixteen all over again. They were the real deal, in Mark’s eyes. So many years of marriage, still so in love with each other. And much to his and his brother’s dismay, there’d even been talk of another baby. Tammy was in college, Grace was set to be married when she had her degree in a year, and even the current baby of the family, Joey, was only a year away from high school.

It was cringe worthy to think of his parents having , but Mark understood why they might want another baby. Vampires usually met exceptional challenge with conceiving. Their birth raters were abysmally low. His parents had already beaten the odds and statistics by having four children in such a short span of time. They were almost obligated to keep trying, if only to make up for vampires who’d spent hundreds or years attempting to conceive and never once been successful.

Mark personally did not enjoy the idea of a new baby brother or sister seventeen or so years younger than him. But they did live exceptionally long lives, so it was maybe an idea to get used to. It wasn’t so unusual for vampire siblings to have as much as fifty to seventy-five years between them.

With the water up to his calves, Mark looked out at the horizon. He heard his name called again and again, and ignored it, pushing forward. The mixture of orange and pink, dying in the light, was so beautiful.

This was the last hurrah before school started. This was the last time to be with his family all together before they went in a million different directions. He had to appreciate this and he had to cherish it.

With water up to his thighs Mark pulled the drawstring on his swim trunks a little tighter, then plunged forward.

And abruptly woke, with water down his throat, a horrible burn to his skin, and frantic screaming all around him.

“Shhh,” someone hushed in his hear and Mark couldn’t help giving a whimper. The burn to his skin was now like fire and it hurt. “Just relax,” the voice hushed again and Mark let himself give in. His feet were swept off the ground and something dark was thrown over him as he was held by strong arms.

He couldn’t think. He couldn’t process what was going on. All he knew was that he’d just been at the beach, with his family, only that didn’t make any sense, because they hadn’t gone to the beach for months. And they were all dead now.

The person holding him, the one holding him so surely that Mark was certainly he wouldn’t fall, was running. To where, Mark didn’t know, but it was hard enough to concentrate on why he’d thought he was at the beach.

Had it been a dream? He’d been dreaming?

Alright, Mark could accept that. He’d been having some wild dreams as of late. But why was his skin on fire? And who was with him? Holding him?

A new, more familiar and pitched voice cut through, “What in the hell happened to him?”

Mark curled his hand up against the material covering him. It hurt to move at all, but he was desperate for something to cling to.

Low and even, like always, Mark recognized Zhou Mi right away as he said, “I found him at the far edge of the property, at the lake, more than half in the water. In fact, he was going under just as I arrived.”

“What the hell was he doing there?”

Henry. That was Henry.

“Zhou Mi,” Mark breathed out, and for just a split second, less than half of one, he felt Zhou Mi stall out a little bit in his speed. Then they were moving even faster than before.

“I think he was sleep walking,” Zhou Mi said.

A heavy door banged open and finally Mark was free from whatever Zhou Mi had thrown over him. The reveal told him two very important things.

Firstly, whatever had happened to him was bad enough to land him directly in the infirmary. It was bad enough to require some sort of medical attention, or else he probably would have been taken back to his dorm to rest. But instead he was looking at the fully stocked medical facility the school had to offer, and the vampire doctor who oversaw it.

And second, he’d spent a lot of time in the sun.

“We’re almost there,” Zhou Mi promised, Henry flying ahead, pushing open doors for them until they reached a private room in the infirmary. He moved just the slightest as Zhou Mi placed him down on the bed, and the agony of his skin was even worse than before, now aggravated by his clothing, the sheets on the bed, and even the mere air around them.

“He’s been exposed to direct sunlight?” the doctor asked, already pulling at Mark’s clothing, shredding through the material with surgical sheers.

Mark reached for Zhou Mi, clearly catching him off guard. “You found me?”

Henry slid in next to him, helping the doctor remove the shirt and pajama pants Mark had gone to sleep in.

“You were sleep walking,” Zhou Mi told him gently. “You likely wandered the property for a while and ended up at the lake. Mark, listen to me, you’re going to be okay. You’re burned, but the water from the lake actually helped. Now, just let us get you out of your wet clothes and treat your burns.”

That explained why he was soaking wet.

The doctor prodded his skin and Mark arched away, unable to help the shout of pain.

“Be careful,” Zhou Mi snapped, and it seemed to be the most angry Mark had ever seen him.

The doctor ignored him, musing aloud, “These burns are quite severe. The sun is very high right now. It’s nearly past noon.” And that explained why Zhou Mi and Henry were both dressed in heavy, dark clothing, protective shielding from the sun.

“I was dreaming about my family,” Mark said, directing his words to Zhou Mi who hadn’t looked away from him for a second. “I didn’t even know I was dreaming. It seemed so real.”

Zhou Mi’s hand came down firmly on the top of Mark’s head, avoiding what must have been a sunburned forehead. “You’re fine now. You’re safe. I want you to try to rest.”

A quick prick to his shoulder had Mark glaring daggers at the doctor, and the syringe in his hand. “What was that?”

It was Zhou Mi who answered, promising, “It’s just something to help you relax while he treats your injures. You’re going to take a short nap, and when you wake, you’ll feel much better. You have my word.

Mark peered at Zhou Mi with a wondrous expression, already feeling exhausted to the point of sleep. “You’re always there when I need you. You always know.”

“Sleep,” Zhou Mi urged.

Mark slept.

When he woke, almost thirteen hours later, he was covered in salve and bandages, and had a weepy Henry on his hands.

Voice rough from sleep, Mark asked, “How did you know I was out of my room?”

Henry seemed so guilty, hanging his head. “I snuck out to visit Amber. I mean, it’s really hard to get unsupervised time with her. And it’s not like I can just waltz into her dorm, and she certainly can’t come to ours. So we have to sneak out while people are sleeping and meet somewhere else. I was coming back when I noticed your door was wide open. I panicked, alerted Zhou Mi and the other students on patrol, and we got a search party for you going.”

“How bad are the burns?” Mark asked, looking down at his bandage wrapped arms. His legs, thankfully, had been saved by the pants he’d been wearing, but his arms still ached something horrible, even with the pain medication he had to be on, and his nose and cheeks didn’t feel much better. His bangs might have protected some of his forehead, but even it was achy as well. He probably looked a mess.

“They’ll heal,” Henry said with a relieved tone. “In a couple of weeks you’ll be back to normal, but in order to have the degree and amount of burns you do, you had to be out in the direct sunlight for at least an hour. Probably more than that. If Zhou Mi hadn’t found you …”

“He’s always in the right place at the right time, isn’t he?”

Mark was actually thankful he was alone in the infirmary room with only Henry. He was forever indebted to Zhou Mi, but the man was starting to feel like a shadow to Mark . It was scary how he was always there, always anticipating where Mark was, or what he needed.

“He’s a good man, Mark. A very good man.”

So why was there unease prickling at the back of Mark’s mind every time he thought about how often Zhou Mi was there whenever something went wrong? Was it just good timing on the part of Zhou Mi? Was Mark thinking about it too much? Or was something else going on?

Mark nodded. “I suppose he is.”

He had to spend the next twenty-four hours in the infirmary, field two calls from his uncle, deal with a blubbering headmaster, and absolutely convince Henry that he didn’t need to be handcuffed to his bed for safety before he was allowed to be discharged from the infirmary. Then he was relegated to his dorm room and not allowed to leave until the campus doctor cleared him, which he was advised would be for days more.

In light of his skin that was only looking worse as the days passed, Mark was more than willing to hide out for a while, but even he wondered how long it would be before cabin fever set in.

He had all sorts of visitors in that time, well wishers and people who were clamoring to make themselves of use to him. Sycophants, obviously, and what his uncle would refer to as bottom feeders. Henry and Zhou Mi ran them out for the most part and Henry was able to sleep as he healed.

But on the third day of his doctor imposed captivity, and with the walls quickly closing in, there was a knock at the door. A knock at the door ruled out Henry, who never bothered to knock at all, and both Amber and Zhou Mi who were in class. His family’s watch dogs were even more persistent as of late, which meant whoever was on the other side of the door, wasn’t a physical threat to him. So Mark’s curiosity won out and he answered it.

Prince Siwon was not who he was expecting.

After their initial first meeting, and Henry’s subsequent warning of the pureblood, Mark had done his best to steer clear completely. He didn’t share any classes with Siwon, and thankfully, the school seemed no place for open politics. Things would certainly be different when they were away at council meetings, but for now, Mark hadn’t thought politically handling Siwon was something he needed to do.

But here was Siwon, flanked by a bored looking female vampire who was examining her nails. Mark had seen enough vampire bodyguards to spot one a mile away. She might have looked harmless, but she was likely ferocious.

“Can I … help you?” Mark leaned a little on his door. He didn’t want to invite Siwon in, but neither did he want to offend the vampire. They weren’t allies, but he didn’t want them to be enemies.

A charismatic smile pulled at Siwon’s handsome face and the upturn of his lips to reveal his fangs had Henry feeling extremely uncomfortable.

“I heard about your … mishap,” Siwon said, dipping into a bow with a flourish.

Mark hastened to return the gesture. They were both princes, both the representatives of their bloodlines, and decorum was everything now. “I’m sure half of the state has heard of it by now.”

“So unfortunate,” Siwon mentioned, tipping his head, “for the head of a bloodline to be afflicted by such a … human condition.”

His palms were sweating and his heart was starting to race, something he knew Siwon could pick up on effortlessly. What kind of game was Siwon playing? Was this what he could expect from vampires for the rest of his life?

“I don’t normally sleepwalk,” Mark said, and even that admission felt like he was revealing a weakness. He’d had the condition when he was younger, the direct result of the trauma associated with his brother’s kidnapping attempt, but even then the sleep walking hadn’t lasted long. Months only, really. He’d overcome it with a bit of therapy and extra attention from his parents, and he hadn’t had a single incident since then.

“No?” Siwon asked with fake surprise.

“Stress related,” Mark replied, eyes narrowing. “A temporary thing, I assure you. I’m adjusting well, of course. Actually, I should think you’d be able to understand, at least a bit. You lost someone incredibly important to you at the same moment I lost my immediate family.”

There was a flicker of something real, for the first time, on Siwon’s face. It was wretched in its intensity and it almost made Mark regret his words. He’s struck something in Siwon, but more than that, he’d proven that Siwon wasn’t completely unaffected by his father’s passing. It had meant something to Siwon, even if Siwon hadn’t let it show previously. And Mark pushed, “Your father, correct?”

Siwon’s mouth pulled tight. “You are correct. He was slaughtered, along with your parents and Grace, and many more. He was slaughtered like a pig, throat cut and drowned in his own blood.”

Mark in a tight breath as the female vampire stiffened.

“Tea?” Mark offered, and he wasn’t sure why, but it felt right. Siwon really wasn’t a physical threat, Henry or Zhou Mi would be back in less than a half hour, and he ought to learn how to handle other vampires by himself. He couldn’t always lean on others, and Siwon was someone he’d have in his life for the next hundred years at least. “I can make us tea, if you want to come in.”

Siwon hesitated, indicating that he hadn’t really come by for a social visit, but a second after Mark opened the door wider, he turned to his companion and asked her to come back for him in fifteen minutes.

“I haven’t exactly been expecting company,” Mark said when the water was heating and Siwon was perched oddly on the edge of the sofa in the common room.

“It’s my error,” Siwon said, eyes traveling around the room, so obviously landing on the urn with ashes inside. “I know the proper channels to take, and I came unannounced.”

Mark set two cups down on a nearby tray and wondered the sight he made, in his pajamas, hair mused from hours of running his fingers through it while attempting to keep up on his studies and reading. He hardly looked the part of a prince, not like Siwon who exuded nobility.

“So … ah …” Mark finished putting the kettle on the tray and brought it over to Siwon who he served just like his mother had taught him to. “How bad are the rumors?”

“That you’re writhing in continuous pain, horribly disfigured and tormented by your own reflection.”

The even tone of Siwon’s words caught Mark off guard, then the elder vampire let loose a small smile and Mark laughed out loud. “I’ll hate to disappoint them tomorrow when I go to class not filled with self loathing.”

“No,” Siwon agreed, accepting the tea and meeting his eyes with a much more genuine smile this time. “You are merely a little red in the face, but still as handsome as before.”

The compliment was the most offsetting. Few people had called him handsome in his life. Though when he considered everything, he was always surrounded by protective family members. There was hardly a chance for compliments to be paid to him.

“Well,” Mark said, clearing his throat blowing on his tea, “you can pass on the message to the masses that I’m not taking after the fabled Hunchback. And maybe you could add in that the fourth family isn’t going down that easily.” He squared his shoulders confidently. “I’m young, I know. I get it. I don’t know what I’m doing and I’m going to make mistakes, but I’m going to do right by my family. I’m going to be the head of the fourth family that it deserves.”

“You are young,” Siwon agreed, mouth hidden behind his tea cup. “Far too young to be competent at your inherited position.”

Ah, and with the compliments out of the way, Mark sensed the insults coming.

“I’m scheduled to have my introduction soon,” Mark defended. “When that happens, in the eyes of all vampires, I’ll be an adult. And that means I’m competent enough. It’s not up for personal opinion, no matter how badly it wants to be given.”

Siwon chuckled wordlessly.

“I’m not exactly going into this blindly either,” Mark couldn’t help throwing in. “I have my cousin helping me, my uncle, and plenty of people with experience being leaders and worthy representatives. Like I said, and I will repeat myself if you need me to, I’m admittedly young. I don’t know a lot, and I have a long way to go. But no one should underestimate me. No one knows me. No one knows what I’m capable of. Underestimating me would be … disadvantageous.”

They drank their tea in silence for several more minutes, then Siwon asked, “What were you dreaming of when you went on your adventure?”

Mark arched an eyebrow. “Is that what you want to call it?”

Siwon shrugged. “It was quite that, from what I hear. You wandered all over campus and ended up in the lake. Call it what you will.”

Mark was fully under the impression that he didn’t have to tell Siwon anything. And why did he want to know in the first place? But the truth of the matter was that Mark didn’t want to be the kind of vampire who spoke in riddles and euphemism. He want to be known as true and honest and trustworthy. He wanted to be more than what his enemies would be.

Bluntly, Mark finished his own tea and said, “My family. I was sleepwalking in a dream about them. That’s not an unexpected answer, right?”

Just as shortly, Siwon said back, “I knew Grace.”

“Of course you would have,” Mark replied with a nod. Many heirs were known for congregating together several times a year. Some heirs were friends. Some were merely cordial. And others were desperate to be the with the ones they loved--with the ones they were forbidden from.

There were many things forbidden in vampire society, many things Mark found severe and unfair. But of them all was the code concerning heirs. Heirs were absolutely not allowed to be matched to each other, if only to prevent a power vacuum of any sort occurring. And that, no matter how unfair it was, made sense to Mark. Maybe that was part of the reason for matches at such a young age. Children didn’t love each other, not like older heirs did, and matches were easier to accept when there were years before the actual marriage.

“We were not friends.”

For the second time Mark laughed. “You and Grace didn’t get along?” He could read that much on Siwon’s face. “I’m actually not surprised. She was very headstrong. She was opinionated, too. She was prim and proper when she had to be, but she was so very certain in what she felt, what she did, and who she got along with. Plenty of people clashed with her.”

Siwon waved off a hand. “It had nothing to do with her personally. In fact, nothing was her fault at all. If anything, I should blame your parents.”

Mark reeled back a little. “What?”

For a minute it looked as if Siwon would tell him what he meant. But then he was once more brushing the subject to the side. “Never mind. None of it matters anymore. Everything is in chaos. Grace is dead, so are others. Our council is the weakest it has ever been, and the noble, previously strong fourth family is in the hands of a child.”

Mark was starting to regret offering tea. “But is that good a thing for you? Does that put your family in a good position?”

“That puts no one in a good position,” Siwon snorted out, setting his cup on its saucer. “If any one bloodline weakens, they all do. Weakened bloodlines create a weak and ineffective council. And without our council, our species falls. That is what concerns me, Prince Mark of the fourth family.”

Mind whirling, Mark was still trying to work out Siwon. Was Siwon implying that he was visiting Mark for some kind of betterment of all vampires? Please. Mark hardly believed that Siwon wasn’t playing a mind game of some kind.

Mark wasn’t willing to play any games.

“I didn’t expect to ever inherit this position,” he said quickly. “That’s where we differ the most. I was born third in my family. I was … an afterthought in the terms of heirs. Do you know what I expected? I expected that Grace would grow into the position she’d been born to inherit. And me? I’d go to college. I’d get to do whatever I wanted. So I didn’t grow up studying vampire history intensely. I wasn’t trained to be politically savvy. I don’t currently have the tools I need to be even a fourth of the heir that Grace was. And I’m not like you, who I suspect was like Grace in that you were born for what you’ve now achieved. But that’s where our differences end.”

“Oh?” Siwon prompted.

“Yes.” Mark gave a strong nod. “Because I think that you’re playing games with me. I think that you’re the head of your family and you have better things to do than hang around Hawthorne going to classes that you don’t really benefit anything from. I think you’re looking to see if I’m weak. I think you’re interested in how weak I’ve made the fourth family. And maybe you’ll report back to someone, or maybe you won’t. And it’s very possible that you’re the type of vampire I’ll have to deal with for the rest of my life now that I’m about to join the council as the head of my family. But inside? With all that bull aside, we’re both the same.”

Siwon settled back against the sofa fully and waited silently.

“We’re both determined to do right by the people who were murdered,” Mark said, guessing that Siwon’s father meant more to him than he’d ever say. “I think we both will uphold vampire tradition, place the honor of our families as a top priority, and neither of us will be willing to sacrifice the future of the people we care about because of anyone else’s actions. You think I’m weak, well, I think you’re weak too.”

Chest heaving, Mark clenched his fingers into fists, heartbeat peaking again as Siwon’s face was etched in mild irritation.

“You think I’m weak?”

“I do,” Mark shot at him. “There’s a chance you’ll prove me wrong. There’s a chance you’ll act nobility and in the best interest of everyone--not just your own family. And if that’s the case, then I’ll be gladly wrong. But I think you’re weak because you’re practically blind. You can only see what you’ve been taught to see. You can only do the things that you think you know how to do. You’re in a rut. You’re stuck in the mud. But me? I’m going to have to improvise, and learn on the go, and make do with what I have. I’ll be more intuitive than you, more creative, more durable, and definitely more open to solutions to problems that you can barely see the cause of. You think I’m weak because I wasn’t raised like you were. Ironically enough, in my opinion, that’s what makes you the weak one.”

The more he’d thought of his position, the more reassured he was in his opinion. He was at a major disadvantage, and he was going to have to work twice as hard as the other heirs and heads of families who’d been raised knowing what position they would ultimately inherit. But perseverance in the face of adversity could only make him stronger.

Mark continued in a softer voice, “But maybe you’re also hoping that I know instinctively how to make the right choices, and how to not place people in danger because of my inexperience or age. Maybe you’ve got hope for me, and you’re still at Hawthorne to feel that out, and make yourself feel better when you put some trust and faith in me. It’s a possibility I’ve been thinking about.”

Then there was silence once more.

Even more of it followed as Siwon stood and made his way to Mark’s door.

“I don’t want to play games with you,” Mark called after him. “How about you don’t play them with me?”

At the door, hand on the handle, Siwon turned back to Mark and remarked, “I think I like you better than I liked Grace. Then again, you haven’t stolen from me what she did.”

Mark frowned. “Okay.”

“And,” Siwon asked, pulling open the door to a surprised Henry, “I do think you’re weak. I think you’re too young, ill equipped to handle a fraction what is coming towards you at breakneck speed, and above all else, naïve in the worst sense of the word.”

“Hey!” Henry shouted, barreling past him into the room.

“But,” Siwon said with a grand smile on his face, “like you, so I hope I’m wrong about what I’m think. Goodbye, Mark. I’m certain we’ll see each other soon enough.”

When Siwon was clear of the doorway, Henry slammed it behind him and demanded, “What was Siwon doing here?”

Mark felt more than a little lost. “Having tea.”

Henry crossed his arms. “Very funny.”

Mark slouched back, trying not to aggravate his skin. “I don’t know, Henry. He came here to … check up on me, I guess. To see if I was as bad off as people around school are saying I am.”

Henry glared back at the door. “No doubt hoping to see you incapacitated in some way. Mark, he’s not to be trusted. Next time, don’t invite him in for tea.” Mark made to say something, but Henry cut back in, “I know you asked him in for tea politely, because you, my cousin, are too nice for your own good. Nothing good comes from people like Siwon. Nothing good comes from the crafty ones.”

“I don’t know,” Mark said, accepting a bag filled with schoolwork from Henry. “I think Siwon and I came to some kind of agreement just now. I don’t think he’s messing with me, at least. I hope. He said some pretty insulting things, but I also guess from his perspective, he isn’t wrong in thinking what he does about me.”

“You don’t deserve anything he had to say about you,” Henry insisted. “I’m sure he called you something like a bumbling idiot.”

Henry wasn’t exactly that far off.

“Isn’t that what all the other families are thinking about me?” Mark asked, leaning forward. “They don’t know anything about me, other than that I’m young, inexperienced, and probably susceptible to being manipulated. They don’t know me like you do Henry. They don’t know how serious I’m going to take this. They don’t know the lengths I’m willing to go to keep this family strong and proud. They don’t have a clue about the kind of head of family I’m going to be. But they will. They’ll know, because I’ll show them.”

Henry’s face fell blank, and then his eyes were scrunching up a bit, like he was near tears. “Mark.”

Mark panicked. “What? What did I say?”

Henry shook his head and smiled more gently. “You have no idea how extraordinary you are, Mark. You’re really something special.”

At the praise, Mark looked away from his beaming cousin. He pushed at his bangs and said with a sigh, “Siwon really wasn’t that terrible, you know. I think I detected just a bit of care and concern with my sleepwalking. For as incompetent as Siwon thinks I am, he doesn’t want me dead, I’m certain. Of course he’s also nosey, wanting to know what I was dreaming about.”

When Mark looked back to Henry he was paler than normal.

“What is it?” Mark asked, feeling a sense of dread suddenly. “Henry, what is it?”

“I …” Henry’s eyes widened as he said, “You know each vampire has a gift, right? A power of some sort. And it comes in after your introduction and is completely unpredictable.”

Mark nodded slowly. “Yours is the ability to compel people to sleep.” He still remembered the unnatural push to unconsciousness on the night his house has burned. It was one of the few things he remembered from the night. “Amber has amplified intuition. Grace could be unnaturally convincing.”

With a wince, Henry said, “And … damnit, I’d forgotten. Siwon can tamper with dreams.”

Air caught in Mark’s chest. “What?”

“Mark,” Henry said quickly, “you have to understand, these gifts are often just as fiercely protected as the secrets that vampires have. They’re often not made public knowledge for a reason. But sometimes they slip out, and I know for a fact that Siwon has not only the ability to push people into dreams, but manipulate them once they get there.”

There was a sudden chill in the room as Mark guessed, “You think my sleepwalking is something Siwon did? You think he’s responsible?” Siwon had … almost gotten him killed?

“I’m going to bring the council down on him so fast!” Henry shouted, getting to his feet. “He thinks he’s protected just because he’s the head of his family now, but he’s wrong. To have gone after you like this! I’ll--”

“Henry,” Mark said, then more forcefully, “Henry!”

His cousin looked absolutely livid. Part of Mark probably should have been thrilled by the protective nature of Henry, but part of it also felt stifling. Especially because Mark was quickly learning nothing was ever what it appeared to be.

“Siwon doesn’t want me dead,” Mark said confidently, hedging a good deal on what he was saying to Henry. “He knows that if anything happened to me, the fourth family would be an even bigger mess than it is right now. He knows that you’re almost always with me, and there’s no way he’s missed Zhou Mi becoming my own personal shadow as of late. If he really did this to me, if he got me sleepwalking, he’d have known that one or both of you would be there to keep me from frying in the sun completely.”

Henry thundered back, “But we didn’t! Not completely.” Henry’s head hung with shame. “We didn’t get to you, or even know something was wrong, until so much time had passed. Maybe Siwon assumed, but to take such a chance with you. It’s irreprehensible. It can’t be defended.”

“Siwon said something to me while he was here,” Mark told Henry.

“Mark.”

Mark said with an encouraging look, “That if one family is weak, they all are. We need each other to be strong essentially. Siwon needs the fourth family to be strong so that his own can remain that way. Henry, even our family’s adversaries need us strong, because their strength relies on the mutual beneficial relationship that all the families share. I think, if this was even Siwon at all, that this was his way of testing me. He stuck around all this time to make sure I’m strong enough--to make sure I wouldn’t make him or the people he cares most about, weak.”

“And he thinks you are?” Henry asked in disbelief.

Mark chuckled out, “No, I’m pretty sure he’s even more confident now that I’m the weakling he thought I was. You caught him saying as much when you arrived.”

“Then why do you look so happy?” Henry asked in a confused voice.

Mark stood and began to gather up the pieces of the tea set. He set a saucer and cup on the tray and told Henry, “Because honestly, I think he’s pulling for me. He’s a weird one, that’s for sure, but he wants to be wrong about me. He wants me to be stronger than I look, and I’m going to be.”

Henry didn’t look placated. “I still think I should go to the council. This should be brought before them. Mark, we can’t take chances with you, especially only to satisfy the curiosity and questions of some self serving like Siwon.”

“Don’t,” Mark said as he took the tray to the kitchen. He hoped it sounded like an order without making things awkward between them. “I think Siwon sort of likes me. At least more than he likes Grace, apparently.”

Henry followed after him. “Well, you’re not exactly responsible for getting his heart ripped out and stepped on. That was all Grace.” Henry paused then, expression dropping. “Sorry, Mark. I don’t mean to speak ill of the dead. Especially Grace. You know I loved her.”

“But what does that mean?” Mark asked. He’d thought for a second that Siwon loved Grace, but he’d been more than willing to say otherwise. “What went on with Grace and Siwon?”

Henry winced. “Not Grace and Siwon.”

“What--”

“Mark,” Henry warned. “Please. This isn’t … frankly, this isn’t any of your business. We shouldn’t talk about it. Obviously it doesn’t matter anymore. And it’s not important.” Henry tried to give him a supportive smile. “Look, I won’t go to the council about this. But keep your distance from Siwon from now on. Don’t have tea with him, okay? He may not seem like he’s out to get you, though contrary evidence supports me more than you, but he’s most certainly not your friend. Heads of families can’t afford to be friends, Mark. You can never forget that. You can have respect for Siwon, no matter how much of an he is, but you can’t be his friend.”

Mark rolled his eyes. “I don’t believe that for a second.” It wasn’t as if he planned to marry Siwon, no matter how attractive he was. “And nothing you say will make me feel otherwise. Sorry, Henry.”

Henry collapsed dramatically at Mark’s small kitchen table and laid his head in his hands. “You’re so much work, Mark. You weren’t this much work when you were just my cute little cousin.”

“I wasn’t the head of this family then,” Mark returned easily. He wasn’t even close to the person he’d been a mere few months ago. Neither would he ever be that person again. He couldn’t afford to be anything less than what was needed, and despite the reservations others had about him, he’d prove himself to them.

With a sigh, Henry said, “I guess you’re all grown up now.”

Mark set the dishes in the sink and looked over at Henry feeling resolute. “I am,” he said with an intensity to his words. “And everyone is going to know it. Siwon isn’t going to be the last to test me. I expect all the other families will try to feel me out. But I’m going to surprise them, Henry. I’m going to be so much more than they think I am. And I am going to keep this family going. I don’t have any other choice.”