"Casper! Come down here!"
Sebastian stared at his foster father, the gleeful expression slowly melting from his face.
He watched as Casper's footsteps echoed from the upper floor, light, unhurried, and the deliberate pace of someone who had learned long ago that immortality meant never needing to rush.
"Father," Sebastian said, his voice carefully controlled, "what are you doing?"
Damian settled back into the couch, crossing one leg over the other with the casual elegance of someone who had perfected the art of appearing at ease. "Why ask when you've already seen it, Sebastian? If you're going to Tanesab, you're taking Casper with you."
Sebastian's dead heart, stubborn as it was, managed to sink. "That wasn't the condition. You said one condition. You didn't say—"
"I'm saying it now." Damian's eyes glinted with something that might have been amusement, might have been challenge.
"You want to leave before dawn? Fine. You want to chase after your lover who vanished into a place of no return? Go ahead. But you're not going alone."
Casper appeared at the top of the stairs, his dark hair tousled from sleep, or the pretense of it. None of them truly slept anymore, but old habits died hard. He looked between Damian and Sebastian, his brow furrowed.
"Damian?" Casper descended the stairs, his movements fluid, predatory despite his youth. He had been turned at twenty-three, still carrying the soft edges of late adolescence that immortality had frozen in place.
"What's going on?"
Damian gestured toward Sebastian. "Your brother is planning a little expedition to the north."
"North? Why?"
Casper asked, confusion still on his face as he watched Sebastian struggle to hide his frustrations.
"And you want me to go with him," Casper said flatly. It wasn't a question.
Damian nodded.
"Sebastian is determined to find Lucas. He's convinced the wolf's information is reliable. And while I trust his judgment…" Damian's gaze slid to Sebastian, sharp and knowing, "...I don't trust the road. Or what waits at the end of it."
Sebastian stepped forward, his hands clenched at his sides. "I don't need a babysitter. I've been surviving on my own for decades. I can handle—"
"Can you?" Damian's voice cut through his protest like a blade.
"Can you actually handle a witch who might show you things you're not ready to see? Can you handle what you might find when you finally corner Lucas?" He paused, letting the weight of his words settle. "Or will you lose yourself the moment that bond pulls too tight?"
"A witch? Up north? Sounds like a suicide," Casper murmured.
Sebastian opened his mouth to argue, but nothing came. Because some part of him, the part he kept buried beneath layers of determination and denial, knew Damian was right.
Casper descended the remaining stairs and walked to stand beside Sebastian. He was shorter by half a head, but his presence was no less commanding.
"Damian, I don't think Sebastian wants me there. He's always been the loner type."
"I don't need you," Sebastian muttered.
Casper raised an eyebrow. "See that? Why not ask Elliot instead?"
Damian rose from the couch, smoothing down the front of his shirt. "No, not him. We need him to guard the house as he promised to. He and Rachel had been going to too many honeymoons now that your mother had tasked him with a mission of protecting the house. So, Casper will go."
He paused, his voice dropping. "Casper, you will accompany your brother up north. You will watch his back; you will keep him from doing anything reckless."
Casper rolled his eyes and gave both of them an exasperated expression.
Casper's expression softened almost imperceptibly. He glanced at Sebastian, then back at Damian. "And if Lucas doesn't want to come home?"
The question hung in the air, cold and sharp.
Damian's jaw tightened. "Then you bring Sebastian home. By force if necessary."
Sebastian whirled on him. "What? No! You can't—"
"I can and I will." Damian's eyes flashed, a hint of the predator beneath the surface.
"You are my son, Sebastian. Both of you are. I have watched one child disappear into the world, and I refuse to watch another follow him into oblivion."
He stepped closer, his voice dropping to barely a whisper.
"You think I don't know what it's like to lose someone you love? You think I haven't spent centuries carrying the weight of the ones I couldn't save?"
The fire crackled.
The wind howled somewhere outside, rattling the windows.
Sebastian looked at his foster father, this ancient, weary creature who had taken him in when he had nothing, who had taught him how to navigate an immortal world with a mortal heart.
And he saw, for the first time, the fear behind the mask.
"Fine," Sebastian finally said, the word tasting like ash in his mouth. "Alright. Casper comes."
Casper let out a slow breath beside him, a sly smirk playing along his lips. "Well, this should be interesting."
Damian nodded, the tension in his shoulders easing just slightly.
"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to inform your mother that both of her sons will be leaving before dawn." He paused at the doorway, glancing back over his shoulder. "She'll want to pack more blood. And possibly a list of things she expects you to bring back."
"Things?" Casper asked. "What kind of things?"
Damian smiled, a rare, genuine expression that softened his ageless features. "A grandchild, apparently. She had been waiting for a century to get one." He sent a wink towards Sebastian, making Casper laugh out loud, before completely disappearing towards the direction of the kitchen, where their mother's humming had resumed.
The sound filled the room, warm and alive despite the coldness of their dead blood.
Sebastian turned to Casper, who was still grinning. "Shut up. This isn't funny."
Casper clapped him on the shoulder. "Come on, brother. We're going on an adventure. You should be happy. You've been writing about adventures for years. Now you get to live one."
Sebastian shook his head, but a reluctant smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "You're insufferable."
"And yet, here I am." Casper headed toward the stairs to pack. "Try not to leave without me. Father would actually kill me."
Sebastian watched him go, the smile fading as he turned back toward the window. The mountains loomed in the distance, dark and silent against the star-scattered sky.
Somewhere out there, Lucas was waiting and possibly hoping.
And now, Sebastian would have to face him, not just with his own demons, but with a brother who would report everything back to their father.
Perfect.
He pulled the map from his coat, staring at the circled name.
Tanesab.
Tomorrow, they would ride.
Tomorrow, the truth would finally catch up with him.