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“Love?” Lisa waited for the hum from her husband which indicated he was listening. “What about our boy? Our son?”
Vlad opened his eyes, the red dimmed to a dark wine-red in the limited light of their rented room. “He believes we are dead. Again.”
Lisa’s heart clenched. She shuffled closer to Vlad, glad when he pulled her into his embrace. The bed was soft, but it was his arms which brought comfort.
“He lived with that for over a year, or two, in my case.” There was a suspicious silence from Vlad’s end, and Lisa poked his chest. “What are you thinking, husband mine? Tell me.”
Vlad sighed, and his voice was as soft as hers had been. “And he lived with it not even a year in mine. Yet…”
“You saw him.” Lisa looked up to the furrowed brows and deep frown on her husband. She hated the look, but the subject felt too heavy to ignore any longer. “You saw Adrian after my death. Before yours. How was he?”
Vlad closed his eyes again, expression miserable. “Considering the circumstances, well. Except… at the end, I saw him up close. I was finally looking, really seeing our boy. He… I could not stand to put that expression on his face again, Lisa. It was as if he was dying alongside me. And I. I couldn’t offer him any comfort.”
Lisa squeezed her husband, planting a kiss on his hair as he ducked his face into her shoulder. She breathed then, waiting for him to control himself once more, until he evened out and kept time with her. In and out.
“Then, I don’t think he would have been feeling much better, see us the way we were,” she whispered. Her own eyes prickled with tears.
“No,” Vlad agreed.
“What should we do?”
Vlad didn’t answer. Couldn’t think of one, perhaps.
“Going back now… It would put so much strain on him. On those others we saw there, the ones who must have been helping him.”
“Ah yes,” her husband muttered. “The Belmont and Speaker.”
“What?” Lisa pulled back, blinking quickly to dry her eyes.
“They were the two who supported him when he came to face me. And again were at his side when we returned from hell.”
Since Vlad’s voice held no anger, no disdain, Lisa presumed they had fought well at Adrian’s side, protected each other. It was one of the few ways they might have earned Vlad’s respect in such a short time. Lisa bite at the inside of her cheek as she thought, only stopping when Vlad ran a thumb over the cheek. She smiled to reassure him.
“Adrian is not alone, then.”
“I suppose not.” Lisa giggled and rubbed away the frown forming between her beloved’s brows.
“Then, if he has their support, their care, perhaps… He might take news of our living well?”
Vlad stayed silent for a moment, moving his hand from her face to her neck as if taking comfort from her pulse, rubbing small circles there. Lisa knew it was a scary thing--to ask for their son’s love and understanding when recent memories of them had been so tainted with horrors--but…
“He deserves that.” Vlad spoke her thoughts aloud. “That’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it?”
“You know me so well.” Lisa placed a kiss on his lips. “Letters, to start with? If one of his partners is a Belmont, I cannot imagine him taking it well should Dracula suddenly appear from the dead on the doorsteps of the castle.”
Vlad made a contemplative sound, so Lisa smacked his chest. “Stop considering it.”
“It would be amusing.” But Vlad huffed at her light glare. “Very well. Only because you and Adrian would disapprove.”
“And perhaps we can send packages too?”
“That would likely be the best way to confirm our identities.”
Lisa leaned over and Vlad met her for another kiss, this one longer and deeper, Vlad curling around her as they tangled their legs together. Only once Lisa had to yawn did they part.
“Am I boring you love?” Vlad asked dryly.
“You know me. Once I get a taste of something as exciting as coming back from the dead, it’s hard to stay awake for anything else.”
Vlad chuckled and planted one last kiss on her forehead. “Sleep then. It has been a long couple of years.”
“It has.” Lisa sighed and allowed her eyes to slip closed. “But we are here now. And I am glad.”
“I agree.”
“Sleep well, my love.”
“Sleep well. Tomorrow we will write our letter.”