Instead of going directly back to the estate that night, Sean sent Daniel ahead and decided there was somewhere else he needed to go. When he arrived at Raven’s Loft, Claire was sitting alone behind the bar waiting for her next customer, rare though they still were after the fifteen years the place had stood abandoned. She looked up with equal parts surprise and apprehension as she felt his presence moments before he actually stepped through the doors.

Sean faltered a moment as he stepped inside, not able to help the visions of the massacre coming back to him at the prospect of being there in that place for the first time since he had let those terrible visions into his head at all. He took another moment as he finally moved his eyes to her. Upon their gazes meeting, she immediately knew what he had discovered that night, just as she told him she would. Claire bit back a whimper as her eyes moved back to the floor once more.

With a heavy sigh, Sean made his feet carry him toward the bar as he took a seat and moved his eyes back to her sadly before speaking, “I honestly thought that… Since it’s been over forty years since we attacked his home; over twenty-five since Haven died…” another slight sigh, “I honestly thought that tonight I could finally prove the prophecy wrong; and that by doing so we could finally let ourselves live again. That’s what I thought I’d be doing tonight” he added in the same sad tone.

“What you hoped you’d be doing” Claire corrected weakly. Though she couldn’t even cry then, as she had already spent nearly a century and a half crying over that prophecy.

“So how angry are you at me right now?” Sean dared to ask her.

“Not angry. I don’t have the strength to be angry right now” she sighed softly, her eyes still down, “besides, you had a fifty percent chance that you’d be coming in here telling me that I could stop living in fear of that prophecy after all. Can’t really blame you for wanting to do that, even though that’s not exactly what happened.”

“I just don’t know what they’re waiting for. Why wait almost thirty years to kill him and then ignore us for nearly another thirty? How does that make any sense?” Sean asked, though he knew Claire was not one of the only two people who could actually give them that answer.

“All we know is that they’ll eventually be back; as soon as they get bored with whatever new hell their visiting on whomever or wherever. Eternity is a long time to bide your time and nurse old grievances when you can’t think of anything better to do, isn’t it?” Claire shrugged with a continued lack of any kind of emotion but defeat; and that tore at Sean as well.

“How can I fix this, Claire?” Sean asked with further sadness after another long moment of just watching that deepening hopelessness permeating every portion of her aura.

“Short of erasing my memory of the prophecy at all?” she scoffed, the sound breaking his heart, “and I’m sure that wouldn’t cause further problems, like some life or death secret being between us; not to mention that if I didn’t have every single night to think about when and how it’s gonna happen, how could I even hope to be prepared for it? Not that there probably is any way I can be prepared for it; but that’s beside the point” she finished with another sad sigh.

Sean was quiet another moment, having even more trouble biting back his own emotions than Claire at that point, “so I can’t fix it. So much for being an all-powerful immortal Prince” he scoffed, “so if I can’t fix this, then at least tell me what I can do to make it any better at all” he pleaded.

“That’s the exact question I’ve been asking myself for nearly 150 years, Sean” Claire returned with the same lack of hope to any of the words that she had managed to share at all that night.

Sean just shook his head with his own defeat as he mumbled, “I think I want to erase my own memory at this point.”

“Good luck with that” Claire returned in the same mumble.

Finally, Sean pushed himself up from his seat and moved around the bar to stand next to her. Though he didn’t reach out to try and comfort her yet, as he was still fairly unsure about how things did truly stand between them after so long. With another sigh, he spoke again “so, prophecy aside is there anything else that I can even hope to try to fix?”

“I think the prophecy’s pretty much the only problem that I’ve currently got running through my head” Claire returned sadly, still not looking up at him despite the few inches he now stood from her. She then added, “besides, don’t you have an advisor who’s supposed to be helping you fix problems now?”

“I think there are still a few things left that Daniel can’t fix for us” Sean told her softly as he bravely moved a hand to her shoulder, gentle though his touch was.

“You fixed the issue with Kristofer; that was pretty much the main one between us, wasn’t it?” Claire replied, eyes still down despite his gentle touch.

“I was hoping it was” Sean repeated, though that did cause her to look up at him warily, “no, I’m not reading you. Like I said, I just know you. I know the prophecy is of course upsetting, to put it mildly. But I seem to recall a time when I was the one person you did still come to when you were upset.”

“I’m sure you’ve had enough problems to worry about since you became Prince. I really doubt you need all of mine as well” Claire told him softly.

“I think we just figured out what the real problem is” Sean returned quietly.

“We did?” Claire asked as she looked up at him again.

“You’ve somehow convinced yourself that I can’t be here for you anymore now that I am who I am” Sean replied with an even deeper sadness then.

“There’s a reason why I’ve never heard about any other Prince in the history of… ever… having a soul mate. I’m pretty sure they’re mutually exclusive” Claire admitted as that single tear did finally manage to break through the composure she had been desperately clinging to for the whole of their conversation thus far.

Sean looked as though the air had been knocked out of him at the sound of her words. He took another long moment before he could find any response at all and then finally decided on “then maybe that’s why I’m the one who’s supposed to save everyone; I’m the exception to every other Prince who’s ever been.”

Claire looked up at him again then as she sniffled once more, “but according to that damn prophecy, I’ll be gone long before you’re supposed to save everyone.”

“We don’t know that” Sean argued as he gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

“Sean” Claire shook her head.

“No, hear me out; Claire” he began, “the prophecy says that snakes will come to devour love, trying to eat it all away.”

“Believe me I know the words, Sean” Claire continued looking at him sadly.

“But you’re forgetting the most important word in there” Sean denied firmly.

“Devouring and eating seem pretty important” Claire scoffed sadly.

“Trying” he stressed, “no other part of that whole fucking prophecy says anything about trying. The rest of it is pretty damn absolute, except for that one part that we think is about you; and if it is, then it’s the only part that’s not certain, isn’t it?”

Claire just shook her head once more, “I want to believe that you could be right, Sean, but…”

“But nothing. Just believe I’m right. That can be your hope now” he told her in a pleading tone as he moved to wrap his arms around her shoulders, though gently.

“But if it’s a false hope…”

“Any hope is worth holding onto, isn’t it?” Sean whispered as he continued to hold her in that gentle hug.

Claire was quiet for a long time, though she slowly did allow her arms to come up to encircle him as well, and felt the relief in him just at that small affection between them. She did have to voice one more worry though, “eating and devouring still sounds pretty damn unpleasant.”

Sean almost smiled at the way she almost sounded like a little girl then with the way her voice barely broke free, “I think we can handle unpleasantness by now, can’t we?”

“Sounds very unpleasant though” Claire repeated, though weakly.

“Come on now” he stated in a wry tone as he moved back from her only a bit, “eating and devouring isn’t always unpleasant” he couldn’t help the suggestion in his voice as he moved her long locks from her pale neck.

“I’m pretty sure it doesn’t mean that in this context though” she told him with a slightly scolding smile.

“Are we still talking about the prophecy?” Sean whispered as he moved to bravely brush his lips against her neck, gentle as the touch was.

“You know, a customer could walk through the door at any moment” Claire managed as he continued to deliver little kisses to her neck.

“And when has the threat of being seen being intimate with you ever worked with me?” he chided.

“Are we going to be intimate then?” Claire whispered as her hands gently curled into those long blonde locks for the first time in too long.

That was when Sean finally pulled his lips from her neck to look back at her with the slightest hesitation, “I suppose that’s really up to you.”

Claire attempted another sad smile, “I still have yet to really figure out how I even feel about what happened with Kristofer, because of Thomas” she looked down slightly to avoid seeing the sadness in Sean’s eyes then too, “but I know it has been so long since I really felt anything good at all, that I…” she sniffled again, “I want things to be better between us, Sean, I really do” she insisted shakily.

“I shouldn’t be pressuring you” Sean stated apologetically as he started to move back from her, only to have her catch his wrist and pull him close again.

“If just kissing my neck is pressure, you must think I’m really fragile” she told him with another attempt at a smile.

Sean tried not to smile then as he responded, “the most precious things always are.”

“I honestly don’t know if I’m quite ready to make love right this moment, at least not in this setting, considering” she began as she gestured to their surroundings, “but we could start with something that isn’t quite anything like what happened that night.”

Sean raised a brow, “I think I’m going to need more of a hint. I wasn’t there, after all” he added more quietly.

Claire just shook her head as she pulled him close to her again. She then cast one more furtive look toward the door to make sure no one could be heard approaching the tavern. She then braced herself a moment before leaning in to push his own hair from his neck and began returning those gentle kisses he had graced her with earlier.

“So this isn’t going to lead to making love?” Sean teased as he couldn’t help smiling at the feel of her lips on his skin, which he had missed terribly in recent years. Answering without words, Claire moved closer still and then gently sunk her fangs into his neck, as that intense pleasure hit them both at once.

When she had finally taken her fill of that powerful blood of his, the two then collapsed against one another, both needing more than a few moments to recover from the afterglow of that Kiss; especially after how long it had been since they had shared that sort of connection with one another at all.

Seeing that Sean was still at a loss for any verbal reaction when they finally recovered enough to move back slightly from one another, Claire spoke again, “I hope that was an adequate substitute for making love, for now anyway” she smiled.

Sean just let out a slight chuckle, “more than adequate, I’d say” he assured her with a grin.

Before they could spend any more time discussing the possibility of the intimacy being rekindled between them in coming nights, a customer did finally step through the door. The two then gave each other a wry smile as Sean moved out from behind the bar and Claire was the one who had to pull herself away from him to attend to her duties for once.

As 1833 drew to a close, that final week of the year brought with it Kristofer’s attempts at making his old meager and modest home, just east of Sean’s territory, into a more proper abode. The one bedroom house had fallen deep into disrepair in the fifteen years since Kaleb had originally dragged him from it. His first order of business was to repair the existing home, and then build on space for his practice as well as two additional bedrooms. He had hoped the money from the practice he ran in Sean’s territory would be substantial enough to do so. After all, he had spent those years there saving as much money as he could to hopefully pay Sean back. However, now Sean had demanded a different sort of payment; and that he tried to pay each day by not raising his children, now thirteen, among the Garou where their minds would be sure to be poisoned just as badly as his and Rose’s had been by growing up surrounded by that sort of indoctrination.

Although, now that the twins had turned thirteen that very month, Kristofer’s mind couldn’t help straying back to the Caern and the plan that Rose had had to take them back there if either ever went through the First Change. Of course, Rose was positive they’d have even more children by then, as she had probably also assumed she would have lived past the first month of their lives as well. Kristofer sighed heavily as he pushed away thoughts of Rose’s death once more. It was not as if he had ever even loved her, not really; most often he just tried to placate her at best. But the fact of how her death had come to pass still haunted him every day.

And even more haunting than that was the thought that one or both of his children could become the thing that she was; and that very change could happen at any moment as they were both entering puberty now. He sighed again as he tried to convince himself that maybe, just possibly he could deal with being the father of a Garou if that Garou hadn’t been raised with their usual view of kin as nothing more than breeding stock and their view of vampires as nothing more than monsters. At least those were the arguments he tried to use to get himself through the fear of that Change happening to either of his children.

That was when Kristofer’s thoughts were interrupted by his son exiting the tiny house, looking more than a bit shaken that morning. Occupied with the repairs he had been making, Kristofer didn’t look back to see his son’s state right away as he spoke, “are you done with breakfast? You two are supposed to be helping me with this. The sooner we get…” that was when Kristofer looked back to see his son Sebastian nearly shaking, “what’s wrong?” he asked worriedly.

With tears in his eyes, the young dark haired, dark eyed boy who was nearly a carbon copy of his father at that age, forced an answer, “something happened last night, dad.”