Prank Night Fall Out

27. Blood Betrayals

Pairing: Klaus/April (M/f) hand, ping pong paddle

Salvatore Boarding House

After Football Practice

Stefan had visited his mother several times now. It was hard to see how close she was with her vampire children, but she acted overjoyed to be reunited with Stefan.

"My baby boy," Lily cooed. "Come, let your mother kiss you!"

"Mother," Stefan said roughly. "I wish you would make up with Damon. I know that he spoke to you harshly, but he's hurt. Can you understand that?"

Lily sat down in her chair, which was Damon's favorite leather armchair by the fire.

"Of course I do, I hurt, too, Stefan. I made mistakes. A lot of mistakes. I should have handled things differently, but there are things you both do not know," Lily said gravely.

"Tell me, please. I beg you," Stefan said. He felt self-conscious being here, in his own house. Stefan ran his fingers through his hair and straightened up. He had showered in the locker room after practice and changed, but his hair was still a little wet.

"Your hair, still curly," Lily mused, "I remember when you little how we could never tame that cowlick you had. It would drive old Polly crazy, and that girl, the Italian one...What was her name?"

"Celia, maybe? Father got her pregnant. She couldn't have been more than 15 or 16. Her descendants were still in town until a few years ago. After we died, Father legitimized his son to carry on. Or should I say after Father killed us?" Stefan said wryly.

Lily got up suddenly, spilling her tea. Beau, the silent vampire, who always sat in the corner watching, also stood.

Lily shooed him off, "It is okay, Beau. You can go. This is my son, too. He won't hurt me."

After Beau left, Lily came and took Stefan's hands on the couch, "I hated your father with every fiber of my being. I was just a girl, with no money, when he married me. I thought I could save my family with his funds, but shortly after we wed, they all died of yellow fever, I think. I wouldn't know because Giuseppe took me far away and I never saw them again. Stefan, once I realized what a monster he was, I was already pregnant. I could barely read." Lily let go of his hands and got up again.

"I thought your family was from old French money?" Stefan clarified. "Aristocratic?"

"We were, but our fortunes fell when my father died and my mother remarried badly. I know your Father was cruel, now that I have some distance, I realize he was probably mentally ill...but you never knew hunger or the cold. I did. I couldn't thrust that on you and Damon. I was saving money to leave him. He caught me. He would use my love for you boys to threaten me. Then, he started to take it out on Damon," Lily admitted bitterly. "Times were different, then. I thought if we can just hang on for a little while longer, we can leave, then he caught me again..."

"Would you really have done it? Left him? We would have forfeited our inheritance. That would have been walking away from a lot. I know you were fond of your silk dresses and jewels, too," Stefan said softly. "And your fine dishes, the servants, and that house...."

Lily turned sharply, "Son, that was an act. I had nothing except my wiles. I was learning as I went. Running that estate took up most of my time, but every second I had, I tried to think of a plan. I even got to the point of thinking to poison him. I went to the apothecary and told the woman there that we had rats in the cellar. That must have been code for 'I need to kill my husband.' As no one had a cellar in their house like that...She gave me a poison that I could slip in his drink undetected, but then I got sick. You two were still too young. Then, one day, he took me away and I never saw you again..."