InsaneJournal

The decision that would be made tonight weighed heavily on Lucas Ozera's heart. He was terrified, but he hid his true feelings well - at least, from everybody that wasn't his wife Moira or younger sister, Tasha.

Moira had assured him that this was right for them, for Christian. Once it was all over, death would never touch their family, again. That much, she was sure.

Months prior to that night, Lucas had lost two of his close friends. One of them died in a freak skiing accident, and the other in an attack from the very thing he would become before the next morning rose. It put the fear of death in him, and he couldn't stop thinking about his own demise.

"Are you ready, my love?" came Moira's voice as she entered the room. She could tell from her husband's demeanor that he was having second thoughts about their plan. Closing the distance between herself and Lucas, Moira took his face in her hands, pressing a reassuring kiss to his lips before pulling back to speak. "It will be time to go soon... It's a pity we have Guardian Locke with us, but it may work in our favor. Christian will be frightened by us, at first."

"I know, Moira. But he won't accept it, either. We've all been raised to expect a certain kind of behavior from Strigoi," he pointed out, his eyes shifting towards the door before focusing back on his wife.

Moira Ozera -- formerly Szelsky -- was a vision, with chestnut brown hair that curled loosely away from her youthful face, and darker blue eyes, like sapphire where his looked like they'd been intricately carved from ice. She was a charming and confident woman, and that's how he'd managed to fall in love with her, but she was also vain and manipulative.

"He will learn to adjust in time. He is still our son, and we will..." Moira paused, thinking on her words as her thumb smoothed over the corner of his lips. "We will be able to better protect him from harm, this way."

The Strigoi did not have the capability to show true love or compassion - but they did take an alarming amount of pride in what was theirs, and would protect it at any cost. Moira knew she and Lucas would still recognize Christian as their son - she was sure there was some way they could convince him to not be afraid of them - even as their skin changed from pale to chalky white and their irises were bastardized into a cruel shade of crimson.

She had explained the plan in detail to Lucas. Moira, Lucas, and Christian would leave Court the night of the Summer's End Ball. Everybody else would be too busy mingling with each other to focus too much on the early departure of their small branch of the family.

Tasha had controversial beliefs about Moroi politics - beliefs that directly conflicted with the plan. She was also too old to be impressionable - she wouldn't willfully Awaken herself. Moira insisted this little exodus remain a secret from Tasha for those reasons.

Lucas and Moira both knew how badly Christian wanted to stay at the Ball, they just hadn't thought to consider the fact he'd lie to both the guardians in order to get what he wanted. He was a clever young boy, and had already proved once that night just how hard he was to keep track of - apparently, too hard for two highly trained guardians. Once Vinh had recovered Christian from wherever he'd disappeared off to, Lucas couldn't help but smile at his son - Christian was a miniature version of himself.

Lucas was standing outside a black car, now, regarding his younger sister with a sad smile. "I hope when you look back on tonight, you'll remember how much I love you. How much we all love you." His choice of words was not the best, and perhaps gave away a little too much than he intended.

"It's just another party, Luke..." Tasha commented, smiling lightly in spite of his comment. She was used to him acting strangely by now, but that didn't leave her without bewilderment at his unusual demeanor. When he wasn't feeling off, he was like a fun-loving and affectionate teddy bear, almost. Lucas was considerably older than her - he'd married Moira when Tasha was just seven years old - but he'd always acted young for his age and that's how he'd managed to stay so close to her. She missed the old Lucas.

Nobody noticed how Christian slipped away yet again to hide away in a nearby bush of hydrangeas - he was watching carefully as his father hugged Tasha and everybody departed. Tasha took off towards the Palace to mingle with the other Royals, and the two cars took off, becoming visibly smaller as they drove off into the distance.

Lucas and Moira already believed their son to be riding with them, and Christian knew this. It was the perfect cover to tell Nolan, who was initially led to believe Christian would be riding with his parents in their car. Something about 'gross romantic talk', a few beguiling facial expressions, and the nine-year-old had conned his way into watching fireworks with his favorite aunt Natasha.

Meanwhile, as the car holding Moira and Lucas drifted further from Court and into the isolated roads of the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania, the plan was about to be set into action.

Except there was one major flaw.

Moira had noticed this, as had Lucas. But Moira was furious -- it was too late to go back, now. The show had to go on, and they would deal with that flaw in due time.

"Nolan, stop the car," she ordered. Her voice was saccharine-sweet but it wasn't impossible to detect the rage in her tone.

"Yes, Lady Ozera," Nolan replied. They were driving ahead of Ira, but Moira had wanted Christian in their car, with her and Lucas. This was another reason they'd not wanted Guardian Locke traveling with them. If he detected any trouble, he could have driven off with Christian back to Court and everything would be ruined.

"Where is Christian, Guardian Orr?" she asked as he finally pulled off to the side of the road. Moira knew precisely where Christian was, but she wanted to hear it from Nolan.

"In not quite the same terms, Lady Ozera, he told me he wanted to ride with Ira instead. To give you both your privacy..." he replied thickly. She could hear his heart skip a beat - he was nervous, and rightfully so. "I will talk to Ira. One moment, please."

SNAP!

Nolan Orr's neck made a sick crack as Lucas violently twisted Nolan's head between his hands. The human feeder riding with them opened her mouth to scream at the sudden display of violence, but Moira's hand clamped down tightly over the feeder's mouth before she began feeding off of the girl, her fangs sinking deeply into the young woman's jugular vein. It only took a moment for the endorphins to kick in and she stopped fighting against Moira, swooning before eventually passing out from the blood loss.

Lucas had already drained Nolan of his blood. The closer Nolan got to death, the paler Lucas's skin became. Once he'd crossed that fine line between life and death, his once-blue irises had been tainted with a deep scarlet and his skin was deathly white. Nolan was slumped forward in the driver's seat, his eyes wide and empty, neck bent at an awkward angle from where Lucas had broken it.

Picking up his phone, Lucas listened over the voicemails left by Natasha. "Oh my son..." he whispered with a smile. If it wasn't for his terrifying new façade, he might have looked genuinely thrilled or happy. "Such a clever boy, but so very troublesome."

Moira moved to join her husband's side, a hand moving to squeeze his shoulder. He turned his head to face her.

"We know where he is. The sun will be up soon, and we need to find shelter before that happens," he reminded her. "The guardians will find us out soon enough. My sister won't stay at the country house for long with Christian. Things will be too crazy, everybody will be talking and she will want to hide Christian away from it all."

The door to the car opened suddenly, but Guardian Locke was not prepared for what he saw. He wasn't prepared to die, either. As soon as he'd seen Lucas and Moira, or the "dead" faces that replaced theirs, his heart dropped to his stomach.

Ira knew Christian was back at Court, at this point. He, too, had received a voicemail from Tasha explaining his absence. He only managed to pull out his silver stake before Lucas lunged for him at incredible speed, knocking Ira on his back. Before he could collect air enough to breathe again, Lucas pulled him up by his collar and threw him into the side of the car Nolan was driving. Glass shattered, and Ira coughed in pain as he was pulled up by his neck.

Moira's hand wrapped tightly around Ira's neck, holding him down. Her nails were sharp and dug into his throat, and Ira was trying desperately to pry her off. His stake laid on the dirt road, far out of his reach.

"It's really a shame, Ira," Moira hissed, her grip growing tighter on his throat. He watched her in terror, fingers clawing at her arm. "You couldn't keep track of our son? What makes you think you're capable of protecting anybody when you've already displayed your utter incompetence twice this night?"

Ira whimpered, unable to breathe or even speak. He could only make incomprehensible grunting noises. Moira was impossibly strong, and he could feel himself slipping out of consciousness.

"I think the Moroi have it backwards," she smiled. "They keep you alive so you can further embarrass yourself. We're doing you and everybody around you a kindness."

That was the last thing he heard before he felt Lucas snap his neck. His body was thrown into a collection of bushes off the road. Lucas and Moira took his car and drove off in search of shelter from the sun, leaving three bodies to be found.