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Dante was beginning to wonder if this was a good idea.
When his mother had said she was coming back to America for Christmas, he’d been excited. It had been a while since he had last seen her, having to content himself with text messages and a very rare phone call or two, here and there. But now, she was going to spend a whole week here. Even better, his stepfather and stepbrother weren’t coming with her, too wrapped up in family affairs to be able to make it. This should’ve been great.
But then things got complicated. Carlotta Giovanni wasn’t content with just seeing him apparently.
“I want to meet your cute little friends you are always talking to me about, dear,” Carlotta had said over the phone.
Fuck. He and his big mouth. Willow was going to kill him. If she didn’t, then Chance would.
He tried to fix the situation. “Um, Mom, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Suddenly, a hurt voice entered his ear, “Oh dear, why is that?”
His heart was already twinging at that, but he continued on, saying, “Well, these two are pretty private and-”
“So you don’t think I am trustworthy?” Carlotta asked, her voice wobbling now.
Now Dante’s heart was hurting. Desperately now, he said, “Mom, you know that’s not what I mean.”
“Then what do you mean?”
Unable to take any more of this torture, Dante quickly said, “Look, I’ll talk to them, I promise.”
“Yay!” the voice on the other line practically sang, before saying, “You’ve always been a diplomatic boy, Dante. I know you can pull in results.”
Dante tried not to grimace, “I’ll certainly try, Mom.”
“I know you will, Dante, honey. Love you! Mwah!” Carlotta said, eagerness in her voice, like Dante had already told her he succeeded.
“Love you too, Mom,” Dante said, before hanging up with a frown, cursing his own weak nature. He really needed to learn to put his foot down.
Great. Now he had a mission. Mission objectives? Avoid getting his ass rightfully kicked by Chance and Willow.
So, once Dante worked up his nerve, he gathered Chance and Willow in the living room and explained the situation to them.
He’d honestly expected at least one punch upside the head for his admittance, but surprisingly, both Chance and Willow remained quiet during his explanation.
When he finished, he ended by giving them a look. A look that said, “Please don’t murder me and my weak will.”
The three of them stood in a silent standstill for a few moments, before finally, it was Chance who broke it. Smirking, he said, “Sure, mate. I’ll meet your mother.”
Dante blinked, “Really? You’re not mad?”
“Nah. Why would I be?” Chance asked, arching an eyebrow.
“Because I more or less revealed your existence to her?” Dante said, face heating up slightly, hoping he wasn’t reminding Chance to be mad.
Chance shrugged, “You said your mum isn’t very high in Giovanni society, right?”
“No, she isn’t,” Dante said slowly, wondering now where Chance was going with this. “Why?”
“Then I assume no one in your crazy ass family will care what she has to say about some random British vampire they don’t know.”
Dante opened his mouth to say something to that but Chance cut him off by saying, “And no offense Dante, but you’re not exactly the most intimidating fellow, and I highly doubt your mother of all characters is either.”
Dante felt tempted to point out that having such a laissez-faire attitude about any member of the Giovanni family, high-ranking or not, was not a smart move, but held off. This was Chance he was going to be arguing with here. He felt like getting into an argument with vampire semantics with him was just a recipe for disaster, and to be perfectly honest, it exhausted him just to think about. So to spare himself from all of that, he moved on.
He had bigger things to worry about. Namely one with blue hair.
Turning to Willow, he looked at her, and tentatively said her name, “Willow?”
She stood up and Dante was quickly considering bolting, but he held his ground. Whether out of fear or a sense of duty to his friend, he didn’t know, but he flinched slightly when she put a well-manicured hand on his shoulder.
Luckily, Chance the gun didn’t get pointed to his head next. Instead, she just slowly drawled, “While I certainly am not happy with you blabbing about my existence-” Suddenly there was a pain to his ear, as quick as a viper, she tugged hard on his earlobe with her other hand. He let out an involuntary cry, before she finally released, causing him to rub the sore spot with a pout.
“I admit, I have been curious about your family for a while now. Particularly your mother,” Willow said. “You said she’s one of the few agreeable family members you have now, right?”
Dante looked at her and nodded, “I like to think so, yeah.”
“Then I don’t see why I can’t meet her,” Willow said.
Dante blinked in surprise. “Really?”
“Really,” Willow reaffirmed, a smile gracing her lips.
So, mission successful. Both Chance and Willow agreed to meet his mother, and if he ignored the fact that his ear was going numb, he’d succeeded in telling them without getting his ass kicked around the Haven. He grinned despite himself. Not bad.
Little had he known what exactly he signed up for.
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“Oh, Dante! It’s so good to see you!” Carlotta said, pressing her cheek against his as she wrapped him in a big, tight hug.
Dante couldn’t help but flush a bit, feeling slightly embarrassed by the overt display of affection, especially when he could feel Chance and Willow’s gaze on him. But his mother had always been like this, even when he was young, and he couldn’t find it within himself to be annoyed with her, despite the fact she was treating him like a little kid.
Instead, he wrapped his arms around her in a hug and mumbled, “Hi, Mom. I missed you too.”
She smiled and released him with a peck on the cheek, before turning her attention to Chance and Willow. Dipping her head slightly, she said, “You two must be Dante’s friends. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. He talks about you quite a bit.”
“Does he now?” Willow said, dipping her glasses to look at him.
Before Dante could see if she was looking at him disapprovingly or not, Chance cut in, saying, “You talkin’ shit about us to your mother, Dante?” He ruffled the top of Dante’s head. Dante quickly swatted away his hand. He had worked hard to get his hair looking nice after all.
Chance was clearly teasing, but Carlotta shook her head and waved a hand, saying, “Oh no! I promise he only says nice things about you two!” Worry filled her doe-brown eyes. She clearly was afraid of offending them.
Dante was about to reassure her, when Chance beat him to it. Amusement glinting in his eyes, he said, “Ah, I’m just messin’ with him. I believe you. Name’s Chance by the way.” He extended a hand out, which she happily accepted with her well-manicured one.
“Oh, how rude of me!” Carlotta exclaimed, “I should’ve introduced myself first! I am Carlotta Giovanni.” Removing her hand from Chance’s, she turned her attention to Willow and said, “And you are?”
“Willow,” Willow answered smoothly, and Dante blinked, surprised she hadn’t given a fake alias. That was good news though. That was a sign she didn’t see Carlotta as a potential threat.
“You look lovely, dear!” Carlotta said with a pleasant smile on her painted lips.
“Thank you. I try,” Willow said with a smile of her own, clearly flattered.
Gesturing to the inside of her hotel room, Carlotta ushered, “Come in, come in! Don’t be shy. I apologize it’s not too Christmasey in here but alas I couldn’t bring any of my decorations with me. I would’ve given this place a nice tree and-”
Dante was sure Carlotta would’ve lamented about the fact she couldn’t give her hotel room its own Christmas flair for a little while longer, when Chance suddenly interjected, “Hey, if it’s okay, can we talk to Dante privately for a moment? We will be in after a second.”
Carlotta seemed to accept this with a nod and disappeared into the hotel room, leaving the door open a crack for them to enter when ready.
A few heartbeats passed, before Dante, who was now very confused, felt himself being whirled around by Chance to face him and Willow.
Before Dante could speak and ask what the hell they could possibly want, Chance said in a whisper, “Oi, Dante. You didn’t tell us your mum is fuckin’ hot.”
Dante blinked, even more confused now. Looking at the two of them, he dumbly said, “...what?”
“Your mom, Dante… she’s extremely attractive,” Willow reiterated slowly, as if he was an idiot.
Dante shook his head, “I hear what you guys are saying, but again, what?!”
Chance and Willow looked at him with pity, as if by saying that, he was officially a lost cause, which he found to be totally unfair. They were the ones who weren’t making sense here.
Chance even had the nerve to lean over to Willow and say, “I’d thought a Giovanni of all vampires would acknowledge when one of their own relatives is attractive but…”
Dante felt a flare of indignation at that. Sure, his mom was pretty. He could acknowledge that. She had a good fashion sense at least, and he supposed if he looked at her objectively, she had a pretty face that was framed by her long black hair. His mom had always put a lot of work into her appearance, even when they were human. But hot? He just couldn’t see it.
Part of him wondered if Willow and Chance were just messing with him, and if that was the case he wasn’t going to respond. So rolling his eyes, he said, “Whatever. If you two are done wasting my time, can we just go inside? You’re going to worry my mom.”
Thankfully, Chance and Willow seemed to let it go, as they followed him inside to Carlotta’s lavish hotel room, with Dante trying to forget that conversation ever happened.
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Two hours had passed, and things had been going pretty well in Dante’s opinion. Chance and Willow seemed to like his mother well-enough, given the conversations they had with her.
Both of his friends were on their best behaviors too. Willow wasn’t acting jumpy and overly paranoid at everything, and Chance wasn’t being as much of himself as he could be. They were being perfectly well-behaved. Things were going well.
Dante’s mother had given him one of his Christmas presents early. A superhero comic written in Italian. Dante was currently sitting on the couch of the rather lavish hotel room, trying his best to read it. Spending years in America had made his reading of Italian a little spotty, but he was determined to get through it.
As he was doing this, Chance and Willow were poking around the hotel room, idly listening as Carlotta chattered about this and that about when Dante was a young boy. Dante had heard the stories get retold so much, he was no longer embarrassed by any of them and was content to just let his mom tell his stories for him.
But suddenly, the flow got interrupted when Willow said, “Carlotta? Your story is very interesting. But I have something private I must discuss with you.”
Dante and Chance both looked up at that.
Carlotta gave her a curious look, but nodded, saying, “Of course, dear! Come with me!” She gestured toward a bedroom.
Willow nodded. “Thank you.” She padded into the bedroom and disappeared as Carlotta shut the door behind the two of them.
Dante was curious as to what exactly Willow needed to say to his mother of all people that required any sort of urgency or privacy, but he supposed he wouldn’t nose around. Something told him it was something he didn’t even want to know anyway. Probably some secret woman problem that someone like him wouldn’t understand. With that, he turned back to his comic book.
But Chance didn’t seem as satisfied. Without looking away from a piece of artwork that was hanging on the wall, Chance said, “Got to give Willow credit. She just goes for it.”
Dante looked up from his book and asked, “What do you mean?”
Chance looked at him again like he was a fucking idiot. He was at the very least blunt. “She’s going to try to have sex with your mum, Dante.”
Dante flinched, nearly dropping his comic book. Looking at Chance in disbelief, he demanded, “What the hell did you say?”
“She’s going to try to have sex with your mum, Dante,” Chance repeated. “Did you not see the hungry look in her eyes?”
Dante wracked his mind to try and remember how exactly Willow looked before she disappeared. He couldn’t remember her having her seductress look on but to be fair he didn’t get that good of a look-
No… no. Willow wouldn’t do that to him.
Would she?
Deciding to have faith in his friend, he said, “Fuck off, Chance. She’s not doing that.”
Chance didn’t seem too bothered by his hostility. In fact, he was more or less giving Dante a look of pity. “Okay, don’t believe me. But don’t say I didn’t try to tell you.”
Dante rolled his eyes and tried to return to his comic book. Key word being tried. But Chance’s words floated in his mind. He didn’t think Willow would… but then again, would she? He suddenly was paying attention to how long the two of them were in the room for.
Time passed, with each second feeling like an agonizing minute to Dante. Eventually though, after God knows how many minutes, Carlotta emerged from the room with Willow.
“You’re friends are so interesting, Dante!” Carlotta said sweetly, innocently, like nothing illicit had occurred. But was Dante mistaken or was there a flush to her cheeks that wasn’t there before? And was Willow avoiding his eyes? Or was all of this just his paranoia making his imagination run wild.
Freaking Chance.
Giving up trying to finish his comic book, he focused on keeping a close eye on his mom and Willow for the rest of the time, before finally, it was time for them to leave.
“It’s getting close to daylight,” Carlotta sighed, disappointment clear in her voice. Looking at them all, she said, “Are you sure you don’t want to stay for the day?”
It was Willow who shook her head. “I got business to attend to at home unfortunately, I hope you understand.”
“Besides, we don’t want to impose on you or anything,” Chance said, surprisingly polite.
Carlotta waved that away, “Oh it would be no real problem at all, dears. But if you got stuff to do at home, I suppose I should let you go.” She said the last part with a sigh. Dante couldn’t help but feel glad that his friends had made such a good impression on her.
Dante gave her a final hug, promised to see her tomorrow, and then exited with the rest of his friends out of the hotel.
They all piled into Chance’s car, when suddenly, Chance cursed, “Fuck! I forgot my wallet there!”
“Well run in and grab it,” Dante said.
Chance nodded and did exactly that, darting in.
Dante and Willow then sat in the car.
When a couple of minutes had passed, Dante didn’t think much of it. Chance probably lost his wallet pretty well if he forgot it. When ten minutes had passed, Dante was confused. It was a large hotel room, sure, but there were not that many hiding spots. Chance definitely had his wallet when he entered. So where the hell did he lose it? When ten minutes doubled into twenty, both Willow and Dante were getting impatient.
Dante called Chance’s number, but got no response. Frustration and impatience filled him. Where the hell was he?
Finally, at the thirty minute mark, right when Dante was considering marching in to find him, Chance left through the doors of the hotel building and ran to the car, waving his wallet successfully.
When he entered the car, Dante didn’t even have a chance to demand where he had been before Chance, quite breathlessly, said, “Sorry, it was in a really tricky spot.”
Dante narrowed his eyes, “Why do you sound like you just ran a mile?”
Chance looked at him for a moment before quickly explaining, “Well I was running all around, Dante.”
Dante slowly nodded and relented on him… but he didn’t like the knowing look Willow and Chance shared with each other.
What in the hell was that supposed to mean?
Before he could think about it too hard, Chance began driving away and saying, “We got to see your mum again sometime, Dante.”
“I agree,” Willow said with a smile, “She is quite an interesting woman.”
“Very interesting,” Chance added with a smile of his own.
Dante watched the two of them carefully. They didn’t…
No. He didn’t want to think about it. He wouldn’t think of it.
He reminded himself to keep his mother far away from his friends in the future.