Why Vampires Sleep With The Lights On

Epilogue: A Colby Family Crisis Meeting

I couldn't help but worry as I sat down next to Kian on one of the comfortable green sofas in the living room of The Brown House.

Boxing Day had arrived and we had decided to have a Colby family crisis meeting.

We used to have them whenever there was something that we needed to sort out as a family. Dylan being bullied, Dad moving jobs or when I had decided to come out as gay. The last time that I remembered us having a family meeting was probably not long after I had started college and my mum had found a joint in my coat pocket.

Huh, those were simpler times.

Dylan sat opposite us with our mum, her messy tangle of brown hair tied up and her face pale and worried as she looked around at the three of us.

This was so bloody awkward...

"I thought that we should all talk," Mum said, her voice calm despite her appearance "Because I need to get my head around everything that's happened. I need to understand why..."

Her voice broke then, and Dylan wrapped an arm around her, but I couldn't help but notice her flinch slightly at his touch. Thankfully, Dylan didn't seem to realise.

"It's okay, Mrs Colby," Kian said "I totally understand, this world is a lot to take in under the best of circumstances. With what happened, I think you're entitled to ask anything you want to."

"I'm going to start by saying sorry," I said "I kept everything from you, both of you because I thought that I could keep all of you safe if you didn't know the truth... I ruined everything."

I trusted Will Jackson and he tore my life and family apart... when we eventually catch up with that bastard I'm going to make sure that I repay the favour.

Kian put a comforting hand on my leg, him being able to read minds could sometimes be an issue, but this was not one of those times.

I was glad that he knew how I was feeling because right now I needed his support. He was the one thing keeping me grounded and sane, and able to keep us together as a family. That and the gold ring that he had surprised me with on Christmas Eve.

We had the rest of our lives to plan, but a big piece was missing.

Dad...

What Will had told Dylan about me was bad enough, but the fact that he had taken his youth and innocence and used it against him to force him to become a vampire was unforgivable. That, and making Dylan kill our dad in the process, I had never hated anyone more.

"It wasn't you're fault, Alec," Dylan said "I'm just as much to blame, but, Will manipulated us both."

He wasn't wrong, but it sure felt like a massive part of everything that had happened was my fucking fault...

Especially the part where Lucifer had been released using my blood.

I could still see him standing there, and I still remembered how he had made me feel. There was no way that I could forget that. No way in hell.

"Still, I was trying to protect you all, and I failed," I replied looking at mum "But, I promise that we will stop Lucifer. And... Will."

Just bringing up his name left a sick feeling in my stomach. Mum and dad had always made Will feel welcome whenever he stayed over at ours, and everything he had done was the worst kind of betrayal.

There was no way I could cope with the thought of doing nothing while he was still out there somewhere, with Lucifer, planning the end of the world. No, we had to stop him.

"I think that we need to talk about Halloween," Mum said eventually, looking at me and Kian "And Ryan West's party. The night that you two met, right?"

Oh, crap. She wanted to know how I had become a werewolf. To this day, that was something I still couldn't fully remember.

Bloody alcohol... if I hadn't been so drunk that night everything might have gone very differently for me;

Will might not have sent Jonathan to attack me, I wouldn't have been turned into a fucking monster, and dad might still be alive.

But, then I probably wouldn't have met Kian, and I couldn't see a future now without him.

"Well, I don't remember much of it, but there was a werewolf at the party and I was picked out to be attacked. Then I woke up in my room the next morning and met Kian who explained what had happened to me. There was a whole thing where I was on the run and accused of murder. Luckily we managed to clear that up."

I saw mum's eyebrows knit together as she took in the story. The silence that followed stretched out until I couldn't take it anymore.

"Say something, mum."

"What do you want me to say, Alec?" she asked "You went through all of these horrible things, but you didn't tell me about it."

If I had, would it have made any difference?

"I know, and I should have done," I said "But, it was something that I had to deal with alone."

"But, at least you weren't alone," she said, looking at Kian with a sad smile "Not really."

That was true, I had Kian there with me through all of the bad times, as well as the good. Victoria and Harry Jekyll too. I hadn't been alone.

Tears started to run down my cheeks and I felt Kian's hand squeeze my leg.

"But, I still should have told you something," I said.

"It sounds like you had much more important things to worry about," mum said softly "Does it hurt? When you change, does it hurt you?"

Oh, it hurts like a fucking bitch. Every cell in my body slowly changing and growing, dying and being reborn.

But, I wasn't going to tell my mum that right now. No bloody way.

"Yeah, it was bad at first," I admitted "But, you get used to it."

Honestly, I still had trouble getting myself in the right mindset each month whenever I had to transform. The pain was honestly not even the worst part of it. Seeing my fingernails drop off one by one, or my skin slowly disappear beneath a thick layer of fur was far worse.

"Like drinking blood," Dylan said "At first I wanted to throw it back up, but after a while, I came to like it."

"It helps if you add alcohol to it," Kian piped up with a smile "Maybe give it a couple of years first though," he added as he saw the look of annoyance on my mum's face.

Real smooth, Kian...

"I can't promise that I'm going to get used to all of this," mum said "It's probably going to take me some time, but... I love you, boys. All of you. We are going to be family, and we need to start planning this wedding of yours."

Shit. That hadn't even crossed my mind over the last couple of days. I hadn't expected Kian to bloody propose, and my thoughts had been elsewhere since.

Mum was right, of course, we were going to have to figure out how to get us married without The Council getting involved, or the world coming to an end. Hopefully, the world would be able to hold out long enough for us to figure all of this out.

But then, luck had never really been on our side.