#MonthOfDarkness Day 7: What Keeps You Here?

Prompt: What Keeps You Here? Featured Character: Fae World: Vampire: The Masquerade

For Day Seven of the Month of Darkness Challenge, Nella returns to the story of Fae, her French-Caribbean Toreador whose relationship with her sire, Lucien Devereux, has shaped nearly a century of her existence.

Before Lucien Embraced her, Fae spent nineteen years as his ghoul. He has been her protector, her lover, her sire, and the center of a Blood Bond that makes separating love from devotion, possession, and supernatural compulsion almost impossible.

But Damien, Fae’s own ghoul, sees their relationship from the outside.

After witnessing another one of Lucien’s rages, Damien holds Fae as she retreats to the safety of her studio. This time, he finally asks the question neither of them can ignore anymore:

What keeps you here?

For one brief moment, Fae allows herself to consider the answer. She considers the fear. The pain. The decades spent returning to Lucien no matter what happens between them.

She even considers what leaving might mean.

Then there’s a knock at the door.

And Lucien smiles at her.

Because sometimes knowing you’re trapped isn’t the same thing as being able to leave.

And sometimes the person hurting you is still the person you desperately want to run home to.