Bloodborn (sequel to 'Lucky 13')

Chapter 26: Catherine's personality

Third person's POV

"I hope Catherine's going to be alright today," Marianne said as she put the last item for breakfast on the table. She then sat down and looked at her family. "I haven't seen her so angry since she lost her mom..."

"Seeing Vernon must've been hard on her," Peter said to which Benjamin nodded. "I think it was very brave of her to make the choice she did."

"Agreed," Esmee then looked at her mom, reaching for and holding her mom's hand in hers. "Don't worry, Lily knows how to deal with Catherine."

"But what if - "

"No way!" The whole family looked towards the source of the noise, towards Catherine and Lily who were walking down the living room to the dining table. "Why would they do that?" Catherine added as she and Lily sat down.

Marianne looked from Catherine to her family and noticed them all look at this with the same expression as she was: they didn't expect any of this. "What's going on?" Marianne tried carefully.

Catherine and Lily looked at them. Catherine then looked at Esmee. "Look," She said as she showed Lily's phone, with those movie covers, to her. "What do you think?"

Esmee looked at it with the same expression as Catherine had done. "What is this?" She then looked at Catherine. "Our kind?"

"Yeah," Catherine then smiled. "But in movies and stories the humans made," She said to which Esmee seemed surprised. "They call them vampires, how crazy is that?"

"Wow..." Esmee and Catherine were looking at the covers together. "Oh and this one has blood red eyes too."

"I said that too," Catherine nodded. "But apparently that has got nothing to do with Bloodthirsty, it's fiction."

"Fiction," Esmee nodded. "Interesting."

"I know, right?" 

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Lily's POV

After breakfast, Esmee and Catherine went to work. When they left, they were still talking about vampires and movies in which those appear. Apparently, Esmee was going to join us for the movies we'll watch.

Peter and Ben were gone too. Peter was driving Catherine and Esmee to work while Ben was simply at the gate, guarding his post.

I was seated at the breakfast table and Marianne had just brought me a cup of hot chocolate milk and a cup of coffee for herself. "So," She went to sit down. "Vampires, huh?"

I nodded, taking a sip from my hot drink. "Catherine was having a hard time last night because of recent events," I said to which Marianne nodded. "And so I helped her."

"You're doing amazing." She said before taking a sip of her coffee.

I smiled. "I didn't know they didn't know about vampires," I shrugged. "I always assumed everyone knew about the movie industry."

"Let's not forget that we are humans, so we know," Marianne said, taking my hand in hers. "But Catherine and Esmee are in no way connected to our culture. I bet you didn't know that their kind has their own tv shows etc."

I nodded, agreeing with what Marianne was saying. It was true, and it made me feel uncultured in a way. Here I was, married to the Mother Superior and my daughter, the next in line. Yet, I knew nothing about their culture.

"What are you thinking about?" Marianne asked as she took another sip.

I looked at her. I sighed and put my cup down on the table. "How do I get Catherine to open up to me?"

Marianne showed me a small smile, one that showed she was still struggling with Catherine. "Just give her time, dear, that's all you can do."

I smiled a bit and nodded.

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I wasn't satisfied with the talk I had with Marianne. I wasn't sure if she knew more, perhaps she didn't want to tell me more? I couldn't blame her if that was the case, maybe I'm not supposed to know.

But I wanted to know. I needed to know.

I knocked on the front door, even though I had a key to the house. When the door opened, I showed a polite smile. "Hello Vernon, can I talk to you?"

He smiled at me and nodded, letting me enter. "Thanks for visiting me," He said as we sat down on the couch. "It's nice to have a visitor." He then looked away, seemingly getting sad.

"Does no one else visit?"

"Like who?" He sighed. "I wouldn't know who would visit me. All I have left in this world is my family, and they don't want to see me," He sighed once more. "I get it though, it's just sad. I'll die alone, in this big house," He then gulped. "Like 13 years ago." He whispered.

I gulped. I knew what he meant by that, and I didn't want to upset him even more. "You won't be alone," I said, reassuring him. "I'll come by, and I'll bring Emily too."

His face lit up immediately. "Really?"

I nodded.

"Thank you so much," He let out a content sigh. "You have no idea what that means to me."

"I know what it's like to lose your family." I looked down. The image of my parents, my aunt, my uncle and Avan came into my mind. It had been over 2 years since I last saw them. We'll stay in touch, were my mom's last words to me. Why didn't she?

Vernon placed his hand on mine. "You're part of our family now," He said, looking me straight in the eyes. "We'll always be there for you."

I smiled.

"So," He pulled his hand back. I've noticed he's careful around me, as if he was afraid I'd complain to Catherine. "What brings you here?"

"I need your help," I said, suddenly we both became serious. "With Catherine."

He nodded. "What happened?"

"She's hungry," I said to which he nodded. "She's fighting against it, but it's hard. And I hate to see her suffer."

He kept nodding.

"If only she would open up to me, I could help her," I sighed and looked down. "But she keeps everything inside herself. It's like she thinks she has to be tough."

Vernon sighed.

And I noticed. I looked up at him. "What?"

He looked away for a moment, shaking his head. "It's my fault," He then looked at me. "Lilian always wanted Catherine to be honest, noble and trustworthy. She wanted Catherine to be someone who people could count on."

I nodded slowly, unsure where he was going with this.

"But I protested," He sighed and looked down. "I wanted her to be like me and my bloodline."

"But Marianne said that you were different compared to your bloodline?"

He shook his head. "All of the previous Superiors fail as soon as there's a successor," He then looked at me. "They go crazy."

I gulped.

"I was very harsh towards Catherine when she was growing up, I was very strict. I had high demands for her," He gulped. "Because I wanted her to be able to fight against it."

"Against what?"

He then looked at me. "Against her successor."

I frowned. "I... I don't understand."

Vernon sighed before saying: "Every Superior goes crazy because their successor will be their downfall. Every Superior gets killed by or because of their successor."

My eyes widened as I held in my breath. "Are you saying that...?"

"Catherine shuts herself to you and everyone else because she can feel that her successor, and her downfall, is getting closer."