Forbidden

Perfect

Luca

Almost unanimously they decided to eat before looking at the file. The lone naysayer was Van, but a gentle touch and whispered plea from Luca was enough to change her mind. He watched her eat for a few minutes before taking the first bite of his lasagna to be certain she wasn't just moving food around her plate to placate him, but he should have known better. Van was a lot of things but finicky eater wasn't one of them. By the time she reached for seconds, color was returning to her complexion, and he gave into his rumbling stomach's demands that he eat his own food.

No one spoke much beyond the words required to request napkins or salt. A few strangers wandered through on their way to the kitchen, but sensing the tension around the table, they took their food elsewhere. Luce and Scott were wide eyed when they walked in the room, and she stared blatantly at Xandra and Van. Between her open nature and funky style, there wasn't much Luca could find to dislike about the girl so he gave a friendly warning shake of his head when she opened her mouth to speak. Mouthing thanks, Scott guided her out of the room before her curious nature could overpower her common sense.

The marinara sauce in the lasagna was the perfect blend of tangy tomato, garlic, and a hint of something sweet. Most likely a family recipe, but it could have come from a can for all the attention he paid to it as he ate. Like Luce, he couldn't stop watching the mother and daughter in front of him, but it wasn't nosiness that drove his open observation. The picture before him didn't add up to the one Van's memories had painted. There was no affection or warmth between them, which made no sense when Van only had to speak of her mother for him to feel the bond between them. Was it all a fairytale she'd created in her mind to cope with her loss?

Xandra's expression answered that question. Lips twisted in anguish. Eyes dull with pain. A hand that twitched as if preparing to reach out to touch Van at any moment. The woman was torn between respecting her daughter's need to be angry and taking what she wanted, which was Van in her embrace.

Swallowing a bite, he considered how he would feel if he lost one of his parents only to find out they were alive and able to reach him the entire time. It was easy to tell himself it would never happen, but Van had possessed that complete faith in her mother, only to feel utterly betrayed. To make matters worse, the lies between them stretched back beyond her birth.

That, Luca realized, was the truth he couldn't wrap his mind around. Van was Protean. The knowledge changed nothing and everything. All the barriers he'd built in his head and heart, flimsy as they were, fell the moment Xandra told him what she was because it would never matter that Van was half Helsing. A single drop of supernatural DNA was enough to taint her in the eyes of Holy Asylum of Light- in the eyes of her father, and that meant she belonged to Luca's world.

And maybe she could belong to him.

"Luca, are you done?" Van asked, pointing her fork at his plate.

A red smear was all that remained on the white porcelain, and unaware, he ran his fork through it in slow circles. The fork fell to the plate with a clink.

"All done."

"Good. We can see what's on the file."

"Let me get Walker down for bed," Xandra said, jumping up and grabbing the boy who was licking ranch off garlic bread.

"Wait, Mom," Walker whined.

"Your bread is soggy you've dipped it in the ranch so many times. Either eat the bread or don't, but you don't need to sit there and eat ranch."

Van snickered, earning a scowl from her brother. It only made her snicker turn to laughter, and before anyone could react, the soggy bread soared through the air, landing in front of Van with a splat.