A Dangerous Game: Family Ties

A Danger Game
By Misha

Disclaimer- Not mine.

Author’s Notes- This chapter is where I get into AU territory because given that Adam has only appeared in one chapter, I’m going to be building my own backstory for him, along with supporting characters. I’m pretty sure this is gonna end up pretty far from canon.

Rating- PG

Summary- Lilith breaks the news of her engagement to her mother and meets Adam’s inner circle.

Words- 2049

Chapter Three: Family Ties
(Story Timeline can be found here)

“Mama?” I spoke into my cell phone from the guest room Adam had directed me too. My room now, at least until the wedding. Another thing that had changed quickly, upon learning I’d be living in Adrian’s building for the last month, Adam commented that he’d prefer I move in with him and I’d agreed, because why delay the inevitable, though I wanted to talk to Lily when I had the chance.

But first I had to talk to my parents before they saw my engagement announced on the news.

“Lilith!” My mom greeted warmly, “how’s life in the big city?”

“A whirlwind,” I admitted and then took a deep breath. “Mama, I’m getting married.”

There was silence on the other end and I held my breath, waiting for the reaction. I didn’t have to wait long, there was a flurry of excited Spanish as my mother processed what I was telling her.

“You never even mentioned you were seeing anyone,” my mother chided, “you just kept saying ‘Mama, I’m too busy to date.”

“I wanted time to see where it would go,” I told her, wondering how she’d react to the next part, “you see, I’m marrying Senator Vega.”

This time my news was greeted with silence.

“Senator Vega?” My mother said finally, “but he’s so much older than you.” I fought the urge to laugh, since my mother could never know just how much older than me Adam really was. “But he is very handsome,” my mother mused, “and I know you’ve always approved of his politics and, he is obviously has good taste.” I laughed, “thank you, Mama.”

“Besides, a year is a good time to get to know each other,” my mother continued, “by the time the wedding comes and you’ve taken the classes and prepared, you’ll both be sure you’re making the right decision.”

I winced, knowing this was going to be the worst of it. “We’re getting married next month,” I told her, “here in New York.”

This time I didn’t have to wait for the reaction. Once again there was a flurry of Spanish, but this time it was loud and angry, my mother not letting me speak a word in my own defense.

“No Mama, I’m not pregnant!” I said indignantly, cutting her off, “we just don’t want to wait, Adam’s not getting any younger and we do want a family.”

That calmed my mother down, both my reassurance that wasn’t pregnant and the promise of grandchildren in the near future.

“If that is what you really want, then of course your father and I will support you,” my mother said with a long-suffering sigh, “even if we always dreamed of seeing you married at St. Matthews, the church where we baptized you.”

I fought the urge to sigh, wondering if my mother would ever lay-off the guilt trip. Probably not and why should she when she was so good at it? However this was out of my hands.

“Mama,” I told her patiently, “I know this isn’t what you planned, but it’s what I want.”

I hoped I sounded more convincing than I felt. I still wasn’t sure that this what I wanted, but I also didn’t see any other option. Marrying Adam meant he’d support Adrian in trying to help the Clanless, that he’d be an ally instead of a powerful enemy and that was important. Plus it would give me the chance to do something and wasn’t that what I’d said I wanted when I refused to be debriefed? And with Adam I’d have position to help in both the human and vampire worlds.

The conversation with my mother lasted a few more minutes, and a few more attempts at guilting me to change my mind, and I promised to call her the next with more wedding plans. I made the silent decision to let Adam handle my mother, in fact, I had a feeling that would be a battle worth watching and I wasn’t 100% sure which one would come out on top.

I hung up the phone and then surveyed the dresses that Adam had set aside for me, all of them stunning and all of them probably cost enough to pay my rent in my former apartment for a year.

“Which one should I choose?” I mused to myself, looking at them critically.

“The black is classic, the white is very symbolic, and the red is a show-stopper, so really it should be one of those three.” A strange, feminine voice said from the doorway.

I turned to see a beautiful woman standing there watching me carefully. She smiled and stepped forward. “I’m Isabella, Adam asked me to assist you.”

I paused, giving her a once over. She was around 30 and tall and impossibly pretty with long black hair and a skin tone similar to Adam’s. In fact, everything about her, reminded me of Adam. “You’re his sister.” I blurted out. Was that possible? Yet, looking at her, I knew it had to be.

Her eyebrows shot up, “you’re good, most people don’t pick up on that, at least not right away. No wonder Adam was so set on you.”

I raised my eyebrow at that, what did she mean by that? Also how had she and Adam both ended up as vampires? Still, I refrained from saying anything because this didn’t seem like the time.

“Which one would you choose?” I asked instead, separating the three dresses Isabella had mentioned mentioned from the pile.

“The red,” she said instantly, “I like to stand out. This is your chance to make an impression, why blend into a crowd or go for the expected look? In the white, you can play the part of the sweet bride-to-be, in the black you’ll be the appropriate Senator’s wife-to-be, but in the red, you’ll be a force to be reckoned with and that’s always my vote.”

Isabella didn’t wait for me to respond before she picked the red one up and handed it to me.

“With an argument like that, how can I refuse?” I replied, taking the dress before disappearing into the bathroom. I emerged a moment later. “What do you think?”

“Stunning.” Isabella declared, “Adam’s Chief-of-Staff will hate it, but he’s got a stick up his ass and hates everything.”

“Is he a vampire too?” I asked curiously.

Isabella shook her head, “No, thank goodness. Some people are just not meant to live forever. He’s in on the secret, of course, he’s one of those ones that can be tempted with the promise of power.”

“He sounds… Interesting…” I commented, gathering my hair to the side so that Isabella could zip me up.

“Far from it,” Isabella snorted, “he’s boring and pompous and fair warning, he already dislikes you. He thought he should be the one to pick Adam’s wife and his nose is out of joint that Adam chose you instead.”

“He didn’t think Adam should get to pick his own wife?” I asked, that had to be outside the job description.

Isabella shrugged, “well, I think he was going to let Adam choose from a list of candidates, his theory is it’s all politics. He doesn’t like when things mess up the plan and Adam’s announcement a month ago that he had found his own bride–”

“Wait,” I said, cutting her off, “a month ago?”

I had only met Adam a month before, had he really been planning this the day since we had met?

“You made a very good first impression, Lilith,” Isabella told me, seeming amused by my reaction, “in fact, I can’t remember the last time my brother was so taken with someone. But one thing you should know about Adam, he never does anything on impulse.”

Before I could respond, there was a knock on the door.

“That’ll be the styling team,” Isabella told me, moving to open the door. I just nodded, filing that information about Adam away as Isabella let the stylists into the room. After that, the conversation turned to mundane chitchat and before long, the stylists were finished.

“You will take everyone’s breath away tonight,” Isabella declared, “they won’t be able to take their eyes off of you.”

“Thank you,” I told her, smiling as I admired reflection, “besides if everyone’s going to be talking about me, anyway, I might as well give them something to talk about.”

Isabella grinned. “Exactly! I knew I liked you, now let’s go downstairs, we shouldn’t keep Adam waiting. He hates that.”

“Are you coming with us?” I asked her, as I took a deep breath before following her out the door.

“I am,” Isabella assured me, “I was supposed to accompany Adam, instead I’m going to give some moral support.”

“I appreciate it,” I told her, for some reason I felt oddly at ease with Isabella, similar to how I’d felt with Adrian and unlike pretty much every other vampire I’d met. Despite the fact that Isabella had to be more than 300 years old, there was something almost relatable about her. Even if she could kill me in an instant.

Adam was waiting for us at the foot of the stairs, along with two men I’d never seen before, one was about 50 with blonde hair and a sour expression, and the other one was of indeterminate age with dark skin and one of the most handsome faces I’d ever seen, handsome enough for me to assume he was a vampire and the other man was human.

As I descended the steps, Adam held out his hand and when I took it, he brought mine to his mouth. “You look simply stunning, Lilith,” he told me in a low voice.

I blushed, “thank you. Your sister picked out the dress.”

“I can tell,” The blonde man said in a cross voice, “it’s incredibly obvious, which means it has Isabella written all over it.” This had to be the chief-of-staff.

“Lilith, I’d like to introduce you to Paul Morris, my chief of staff,” Adam introduced.

I smiled politely and held out my hand, “it’s nice to meet you.”

Paul gave me a dour look as he shook my hand. “Likewise. I hope that Adam has briefed you on what will be expected of you?”

“Uh…” I began, giving Adam a look.

“Lilith and I have gone over the basics,” Adam answered, “and over the coming weeks, we can ease her into her role. I have every confidence that she will adapt quickly, after all, she seems to have a talent for that.”

The two men exchanged tense glances and then Paul nodded, backing down. “Of course.”

The other man stepped forward. “Welcome to the family, Lilith,” He greeted with a smile, bending to kiss my cheek.

Family?

My confusion must have shown because Isabella wrapped her arm around his waist. “Lilith, let me introduce you to my partner, Nathan.”

I smiled politely, “It’s nice to meet you.”

“We’re going to be late if we don’t leave now,” Paul interrupted brusquely before striding towards the door, Isabella and Nathan trailing him.

“Don’t worry about Paul, he’ll come around.” Adam assured me as we headed towards the exit. “He just doesn’t like change.”

“Isabella warned me,” I told him, “along with the fact that you apparently made the decision to marry me a month ago?”

A look of irritation crossed Adam’s face, but it was gone almost as quickly as it had appeared. “Isabella talks too much,” he commented, “but yes, I came away from our first meeting with a good impression and the idea that you might be who I was looking for and every subsequent meeting confirmed that impression. Did you think I just decided on a whim to marry you?”

I blushed, realizing now how foolish that sounded. After all this was a 300-year-old vampire, who was also a United States Senator, of course he hadn’t just randomly decided to marry his colleague’s assistant and propose to her the same day.

“We can discuss this later,” Adam promised, holding the door open for me, “but now, you need to make your grand debut.”

I nodded, hopping my apprehension didn’t show. Was I ready for this? Was I ready for everything that came with agreeing to marry Adam?
**