A/N:
Released on February 23, 2019

Here it is, the final chapter.

I just have to say, I can't believe we've gotten this far. I knew we could, but it still makes me breathless thinking about how I've completely finished writing another book.

Anyway, enjoy! Look out for info on the next book in the series, coming soon!

Word Count: 3219

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Chapter 45: Everyone's Vulnerable

Kirksville, Missouri, was a larger area than I expected, having a population of over 17,000 people, quite a bit more than my town of Stonemere which had a population of around 10,000 people, but the amounts made them both identifiable as towns.

The neighborhood that Zane led us to was a very nice one, something you might see in movies as a picture perfect family place.

We walked up the driveway of a house that looked similar to the others, the front door looming before us.

I pulled my hair from its ponytail which was messed up during our run. Zane stared at the ground silently, lost in his thoughts.

He hadn't been home for years, not since Storm had him kidnapped and turned into his own personal soldier. And his parents didn't know why he disappeared.

"Zane, they deserve to know. Whatever you're feeling right now, whether it be uncertainty or fear, your parents will be happy to see you again. They must've been so worried." I convinced him.

He nodded, gaze leveling with the doorbell as his expression turned to determination. "You're right." He said, hitting the doorbell before he could change his mind.

It only took a minute for someone to come to the door, opening it to reveal a woman. She had long dark brown hair with sad but warm brown eyes. It was obvious that she'd been dealing with a lot lately.

"Zane?" She gasped upon seeing him, tears instantly filling her eyes.

I knew then that the woman had to be his mother, although they looked nothing alike. Then I recalled Zane telling me on our first date that he was adopted.

She threw herself into Zane's arms, clinging to him in much the same way that my mom did when Jake came home. But this woman's only son had been gone a lot longer than Jake was.

When she finally let go of Zane, she surprised us by turning her attention to me. "Thank you for bringing my son home."

"Oh- of course, Mrs. Byne." I replied, shifting on my feet uncertainly.

I wasn't sure if she heard me as she caressed her son's face, causing him to pull away after a moment in embarrassment.

"Mom, this is Alicia." He introduced me. "Alicia, this is my mother Julie."

"It's nice to meet you, my dear." Mrs. Byne greeted me with a friendly smile before her expression turned more serious.

"We must get you two inside!" She said urgently, moving out of the way and gesturing for us to hurry in. "I pray that no one saw you on the way in. No one spoke to you, right?"

"No, Mom." Zane answered, as confused as I was with the situation. "What's wrong?"

"Thank God your father isn't home." She commented with a shake of her head. "I'd love to catch up, but you need to leave immediately."

"What?" He asked, obviously shell shocked by his mother's words. "I thought you were happy to see me."

His voice sounded strained, on the verge of crying, and it made my heart break.

Tears began streaming down Mrs. Byne's face. "Oh, baby, I am happy. I'm ecstatic, but you can't stay. You know how your father is. You can't be home when he gets here and I'm not sure when he'll arrive."

Zane glanced away, anger lighting up in his eyes for a moment before turning back to his mother with a soft expression. "I do know how he is, but I didn't know that you did."

She scowled as she responded. "If you mean the whole vampire thing, then yes, I know now. I confronted him after you disappeared. And I swear on my grave that if I'd known before, I would've never let him turn you."

Her voice softened as she went on quietly. "My poor child, I'm so sorry."

"Don't be, it wasn't your fault." Zane insisted, eyes as sad as hers were.

She wandered the few steps into the living room, sitting down on the couch. "My strong baby boy... I would've taken you far away from all of this if I'd known what was really going on with him."

Zane sat beside his mother, putting a hand over hers comfortingly. "I'm fine, Mom. Better than fine, actually. Everything's back to normal. Or as normal as it can be."

His mom snapped out of it, pulling away quickly and shaking her head, eyes widening in panic. "If your father comes home and finds you here, nothing will be fine. He's angry that you left. He's told me many times what he'd do if you showed your face here."

"Mom, I need you to believe that I didn't leave on my own accord. I was caught off guard and taken to the guy who calls himself the vampire king." He explained, a desperate look on his face for his mother to believe him.

"Even when I thought that you had run off to escape your father, I never blamed you. He was too controlling and you needed to live your own life." His mom admitted, tearing up a bit again.

"That doesn't matter now. I need to make sure you're okay. How is he treating you?" Zane asked.

I felt uncomfortable standing there silently, watching such an intimate moment, but I wanted to support Zane.

"You don't need to worry about me, honey. I'm pretty sure that I'm the only one he loves and respects." His mother confided with an amused smile before becoming grave again. "You're the one who needs to fear. He thinks you've abandoned your family because you didn't want to work with him. He goes on about how you betrayed us, saying you weren't loyal to the family. But I never thought so. If you stay and he sees you, he'll make sure you can never leave again."

I couldn't take it any longer, I had to say something as anger rose within me. "Does he not care that this is his son?"

"Becoming a vampire changed him." She remarked regretfully. "And being in the type of business he's in did so too. He's a different man than he was before. He's a vengeful man with his eyes set on Zane. He's tried to find him many times."

Zane grasped onto her hand tightly. "Mom, do you have any idea what this big plan of his is and what it has to do with me? What kind of business is Dad into?"

"Oh, honey, I don't even know that. He keeps that part of his life to himself, saying it's only for his kind to know. I'm sorry I can't help more." Mrs. Byne told him apologetically. "But I need you to leave, for your own safety."

"Wait, Mom. I got a new cell phone." Zane announced, pulling a scrap piece of paper from his bag and grabbing a pen from the coffee table, jotting a number down.

"This is my number. Please- please just give me a call sometime to let me know you're okay." He pleaded.

"I'll try." His mother promised, seeming reluctant. "I'll have to be careful that your father doesn't find out, so it'll be difficult, but I'll try."

"And maybe I can learn how to reach out to you telepathically from a long distance." Zane offered, wanting to check in on his mother when he leaves.

He glanced at me as if to ask my permission to tell her about me, but I was already nodding my head.

He looked back to his mom. "Alicia is like me. She knows how to reach out from far away. She might be able to teach me."

His mom nodded her head, tears silently making their way down her cheeks again as she gazed at her son lovingly. "I'll miss you so much, Zane. But I need you to be safe."

"I will, Mom. I promise." He said, voice filled with emotion as he held back tears, trying to be strong for his mother.

She wiped the wetness from her cheeks and turned her attention to me, standing from her seat. "Please take care of my son, Alicia. Be good to each other."

Then she shocked me by pulling me in for a hug, embracing me in her arms as if I was her own. Then she did the same with Zane, raw pain filling the air and making my chest constrict as I wished that my boyfriend didn't have family problems.

When Mrs. Byne ushered us out the door, I grabbed Zane's hand to lead him out, knowing that it was hard for him to do so on his own.

We took off as quickly as possible, using super speed to escape the eyes of the neighbors who could've seen us and told Zane's father that he returned home.

Once we were a few miles away and to relative safety in the nearby state park, Zane stumbled to a stop, breathing hard and leaning against a tree.

I skidded to a sudden halt, backtracking to stand a few feet away from my boyfriend, unsure how to comfort him. After an indecisive moment, I went over and pulled him toward me, hoping that a hug was the right way to go.

Zane buried his face in my neck, more emotionally vulnerable than I'd ever seen him. I decided against mumbling senseless assurances to calm him, just staying silent and being there for him like he was for me on our way to his house.

When we removed ourselves from the embrace, he leaned against the nearest tree, looking tired and worried as he ran a hand through his blond hair.

"It seems like you had a lot going on before Storm took you." I blurted out of curiosity. "Was your dad trying to force you into some immoral business?"

"No, not really." Zane shook his head. "He had just turned me and was giving me a few days to adjust. I have no clue what his plans for me were."

"I'm sorry." I apologized for my insensitive question. "I just want to help."

"Don't worry about it. I've thought a lot about it all, but there's nothing I can do without more information." He admitted.

"Why didn't you mention that stuff before?" I wondered aloud, wanting to know if he trusted me.

"I didn't want to dwell on the past. I put that behind me. I don't want to get involved with whatever crazy plans my dad has. It's not my business anymore." He brushed it off, making it sound like he'd been doing that for a while.

"Okay, as long as that's what you want." I conceded, receiving a head nod in response. "Let's get going. Maybe we'll get back by dinner time."

~*~

Storm's POV

Once Storm found out about what went down at his science facility with his telepath, he decided to pay Malcolm Slay a little visit.

"You've disappointed me once again, boy." He hissed, glaring at the worthless vampire in front of him.

"I- I can fix this. Please, give me some time. I just need to regain my strength and show you what I can still do!" Malcolm pleaded desperately. "The doctors say there's a good possibility I'll still have a few powers, like the prophetic dreams! You'll be able to use them to hunt Alicia Marie."

Storm shook his head, fury filling him until he was seeing red. "You've failed me for the last time. I'm done with you."

With a vicious growl and a single leap, he knocked the former telepath to the ground, slamming his fist into the guy's chest and squeezing his heart, watching as Malcolm choked on his own blood.

Killing his victim's slowly and painfully was the only way Storm knew how to express his disappointment, so he waited a minute before ripping the organ from the guy's chest completely, ridding the world of the Dark Seer.

Storm stood up deliberately, ignoring the blood splattered on his hands and clothes. "I want a search party for Dr. Elcott immediately."

His right hand man stepped up with a clipboard. "Would you like him dead or alive, sir?"

"I want his suffering to last as long as possible." Storm mused, not exactly answering the question, as per usual. "Would you say he enjoyed his job?"

Dr. Elcott's assistant spoke up when being addressed. "Very much so."

Storm turned back to the man who was taking orders. "I want that hand so he can never be a doctor again. In fact, I'd like his right arm severed at the elbow. Put a tracker on him, let him run free for a few months in fear, then we'll catch him again. Is that clear?

"Yes, sir!" The guy answered, hurrying off to carry out orders.

~*~

Zane and I didn't make it to my house by the last meal of the day, which probably made my mother more upset. Before she could start in on me for sneaking out of the house, my dad called me into his study for a chat, telling my mom that he'd deal with it.

I followed him into his office, listening intently to the attic as I heard Zane hide up there. No way was I going to introduce my family to my boyfriend at such a crazy time. That would have to wait.

I sat down in the seat across from his desk, bracing myself for another lecture about leaving. But he only sighed and sat in his chair wearily. "I can't possibly know your reasoning for continuously disobeying me and leaving your family, but it seems your intentions are always good."

I was sure that I looked as flabbergasted as I felt, listening to my father praise me for something.

"That doesn't give you any free passes, of course, but I'm not going to admonish you this time." He clarified. "Your mother told me what you said, about going to better yourself, to figure out how to fix what's missing, and I have to admit that I was skeptical. But I let it go, knowing that you were doing what you wanted anyway, and hoping that you'd accomplish what you set out to do."

He looked at me with the all-knowing expression he wore a lot. "I'm sure you found what you were looking for, seeing as you've returned home."

"Yes, I did." I said cautiously, unsure if it was safe to assume that my thick-skinned father had given me a compliment.

"You know what I'm trying to say." My father said warily as he swiped a hand over his face, not a fan of speaking of his feelings.

"Yeah, I believe I do." I replied honestly, staring at my dad with a new perspective for the first time in years.

Despite being a bit uncertain of taking praise from him, his words made sense to me. He had a way with words when it came to feelings. What mattered was that he'd attempted to explain to me how he felt on the matter. And he wasn't disappointed in me again.

Who knew? Maybe he was warming up to me. There was only one way to tell through his cold exterior, and that was by being the best daughter I could be, correcting the wrongs I'd done in the past and moving into the future with my family by my side.

As much as they could be, without knowing the truth about what I was and what supernatural abilities I was hiding.

~*~

The conversation with my father had blown my mind, but it made me think about the changes in my life, starting with the guy hiding upstairs.

I managed to convince my mom that I wanted to sleep after the long day I had so I could escape to my room to speak with Zane.

"It's hard to believe that we actually accomplished what we set out to do." I wondered aloud in disbelief, sitting across from him on the bed, my back against the headboard.

"Yeah, but it's not over yet." He warned, not wanting us to get too comfortable just yet.

"I know we both still have family issues, but after all we've been through we can get through the weird and awkward stuff." I pointed out with a small smile.

"Well, that'll be the easy part." Zane ran a hand through his hair nervously. "I have to tell you, something's been up with my telepathy."

"What do you mean?" I asked in concern, sitting up quickly, anxious to know what was wrong.

He glanced away, knowing that I would be upset because he didn't mention it before. "It's been kind of wacky. I've been hearing people's thoughts when I wasn't trying to."

"Oh, well you just need to get used to it again." I reassured him, relaxing a bit myself.

"I hope so..." He muttered, moving on in a normal tone of voice. "But we still don't know what my dad is up to either."

"I thought you said you wanted to ignore that. You said whatever it is, it's not your business anymore." I reminded him.

"I know, but I figured I'd have to deal with it eventually. It was just on my mind." He confided, gaze still stuck on anything but me.

I took his hand to get him to look at me, and because I was craving some encouragement like he was. "Hey, we're finally going to live that normal life you wanted for us. Remember when you told me about it when we were staying at Ash's old house?"

"Yeah, I remember." Zane grinned, seeming quite happy for once. "I said I'll go to school with you, take you out on real dates, and no more running from Storm."

His lips fell back into a frown before I could join in on the joy. "I can see myself living that life, but how can you? The reason your life wasn't normal before you became a vampire was because you felt like your parents were hiding something. And you never found out how you and Lucy have telepathy, so you couldn't trust them. Therefore, they couldn't trust you."

"I know that. But like you said before, I just need to play nice and pretend like nothing was ever wrong." I argued lightly, hoping to bring up both of our spirits.

"And I know we can do that together. We can make this living normally thing work." I promised, vowing to myself that I'd make it happen.

Zane scooted over so he could wrap his arms around me and place a kiss on my head, the grin from before back on his face, lighting up his eyes as I stared at him expectantly. "I know we can make this work. You're the strongest person I know, Alicia. If anyone can do this, it's us."

I let his words sink in, allowing myself a brief reprieve from all of my worrying, despite the feeling that things wouldn't be as easy as I'd hoped.

We may have added a few things to our growing list of concerns, but at least we'd checked off most of the original ones. And hey, maybe my gut feeling was wrong and we had nothing to worry about.

A girl could dream.