A Mad Vampire Fell for Me

Move Back Home

"Dorian. Take your brother around. Introduce him. Help him make some friends."

Edmund had no intention of presenting Dorian to anyone in business. Dorian wasn't inheriting. It wasn't necessary. Meeting Julian's circle of idle heirs was sufficient.

Every guest in the room catalogued the distinction. Dorian's standing in the family was now public information. No one needed to bother courting him.

Kirk and the others noticed the differential treatment as well.

"Should we still go apologize?" Kirk asked.

"Yes," Ian said. "Not inheriting doesn't mean he has zero influence."

"I don't know. It's hard to read. The Vanes seem to want him kept well away from commerce." Hugo.

"If they're not giving him anything, why go to the trouble of the public announcement?"

"My father says President Vane has one defining trait. He's obsessed with appearances. This whole production is about showing off." Ian's eyes sharpened. "That makes sense now. President Vane has at least given Dorian something. An identity."

"The eldest young master of the Vane family."

Hugo caught up. He nodded. "Dorian was raised outside. A banquet like this is enough to dazzle an outsider. A title alone satisfies someone who had nothing. And with no access to the family business, no knowledge of the family's actual holdings…"

"So!" Kirk's fist hit his palm. "He never thinks to fight for anything. He becomes an eldest young master in name only. Easy to placate. Easy to control."

Ian and Hugo looked at Kirk with genuine appreciation. "You finally got there."

"First time you've kept pace."

"What's with the looks? I'm not that useless!" Kirk protested.

Julian took Dorian around to meet the children of various business families. Most were heirs with no real authority at home. Edmund's refusal to do the introductions himself broadcast clearly that Dorian would not be entering commerce. Which suited Julian perfectly. He didn't want Dorian meeting corporate decision-makers or major shareholders either.

Julian's good mood made his treatment of Dorian noticeably more sincere. For the rest of the evening, he didn't pull a single underhanded move to humiliate his brother.

Dorian was mildly surprised Julian had shut down operations so early. He'd expected Julian to expose more of his real face once they were alone together.

Threats, for instance.

Apart from not getting enough to eat, the banquet had been surprisingly tolerable. Dorian returned to the estate, changed out of his formal wear, and showered. Patrick, with unerring timing, brought up a bowl of hot noodles.

Dorian went to bed full.

The days after the banquet brought a shift. Edmund and Eleanor's manner changed visibly from what it had been. Edmund may have been angered beyond recovery. Dorian didn't get a single direct glance from him.

Eleanor's initial posture had been hostess to guest. Now it was hostess to a guest who had overstayed his welcome and would not leave.

They wanted Dorian to feel the consequences of defying them.

Every nation had its laws, every family its rules. Disobedience brought punishment. That was the natural order.

Dorian was not a controllable asset. Edmund and Eleanor had miscalculated. When it came to being frozen out, Dorian knew the ground intimately. He'd never expected much from them to begin with. Their coldness couldn't reach him where it mattered.

The two months of summer went fast. School was about to start. Dorian was packing for the dorms when Edmund summoned him to the study again.

"Dad. What is it?"

Edmund tapped his pen against the desk. "You're in the dorms?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Cancel it. You'll live at home." Edmund was terse.

"Is there a reason?" Dorian kept his voice even. Based on his understanding of the Vanes, they should want him out of their sight as much as possible.

Edmund's temper ignited. "You need a reason to live at home?! You'll live at home because I said so! What more reason do you want?!"

"The school is far from here."

"There's a driver. What's the problem? Julian lives at home. He takes the car to school every day. It's half an hour. If you have an early class, get up earlier. Solved."

Dorian met this with silence. The sight of that stubborn face pushed Edmund past reason. "Why must you fight every single thing? Why does every sentence have to be a battle? When your parents tell you to do something, you do it. Would I harm you?"

"So why?"

Dorian asked again. "Why do I have to cancel the dorm and live at home? Give me a reason. I'll do it."

Edmund took a breath. Don't get angry. It wasn't worth the strain. "Those people in your dormitory. I've looked into them. They're disreputable. Spend less time in their company. They'll be a bad influence on you."

"If you want friends, spend time with Julian. Mix with the young people from the banquet. Those are your circle now. Don't mix outside it."

"You are the eldest young master of the Vane family. Your conduct matters. The people around you matter. Choose your companions carefully. From families of appropriate standing."

"Is that reason enough?"

Dorian pressed his lips together. Unhappy. "They're not disreputable."

"Here we go! I am not arguing this with you! One sentence. You cancel the dorm. You move home!" Edmund's patience had burned to nothing. He was shouting now.

"If they're disreputable, then I must be too. Since I'm the one who chose to befriend them."

Dorian met Edmund's eyes directly. His brows carried their natural wildness, the corners of his eyes tilted up. When he stared like that, the aggression was unmistakable.

Edmund considered himself a magnanimous man. "You're different now. The moment you became the eldest young master, you and they stopped existing on the same plane."

"Cut ties with them. Shed that small-mindedness you brought with you. Your job now is to integrate into our world. Don't resist it."

Dorian smiled. Edmund couldn't read what was in it.

Dorian's face returned to blankness. "Understood."

Edmund exhaled. "Good. That's what I want to hear."

"I'll move out of the dorm. But the house is still too far from campus. I'd like to rent an apartment near the school."

Dorian's words caught Edmund's relief and lodged it in his throat. "What is wrong with you? You have a home. Why do you insist on living elsewhere? There is a driver!"

"I don't want to get up that early. I'll be out of the dorm. The problem you're worried about goes away."

"Then get used to getting up early!" Edmund had achieved his objective and had no desire to waste more syllables. "Get out. Don't disturb my work."

Dorian walked out of the study. His mood was black, and his face had sharpened with it. The servants saw him coming and didn't dare breathe too loud. They were afraid the sound of their own breathing might put them in the path of whatever was radiating off him.

Edmund didn't actually care whether Dorian lived at home. Where Dorian slept was irrelevant. This was about testing something. Controllability.

Eleanor had been right. Give Dorian a taste of comfort. Let him get used to the good life. Then he'd do whatever they asked.

Edmund's lip curled. This kind of person. His own son. Pathetic even to speak of.

The truth was, no one was comfortable with Dorian living at the estate. Especially Eleanor. She watched Julian constantly trying to curry favor with Dorian, only to be coldly rejected every time. It ached in her chest. Every encounter with Dorian, her face stayed hard.

Dorian behaved as if he hadn't registered Eleanor's displeasure at all. Normally, when parents froze you out this thoroughly, you'd at least try to get along with your sibling for their sake. Dorian did no such thing. He went on exactly as before.