“Blair, are you saying you think we should pack up and go make friends for our own safety?”

“No. Well, yes, sort of. I’m weighing options honestly, here. Cooperating on our own means they won’t want to use full force. It is objectively the safest option, even if some of the specifics are… uncomfortable.”

"...I think we might disagree here on the full extent of the... discomfort," says James, one step below a growl.

“We’re on the same side, here,” sighs Blair. “This is a big deal. I want us to think it through carefully and honestly without getting swept up by protective emotions to thoughtlessly charge forward to do something stupid based on just how we feel.”

“There is no possible future where I would ever accept my daughter spending her formative years being manipulated by thousand year old mind controlling megalomaniacs,” says Yvette, flatly.

“Reasonable! That is probably extremely bad for a child’s development, just look at what happened with Jane.”

“… I do not actually know what happened with Jane.”

"...for what it's worth I think she might have just been that way since always, given that... I think she was turned before joining them." To Yvette: "Jane is one of the two fourteen-year-olds I mentioned. She and her twin are... very powerful witches. Her twin can completely shut down all of your senses, including the sense of where your limbs are or how to control them; if you touch his mist you are as good as knocked out. Jane herself can... project pain. Debilitating pain. Which, to a vampire...

"I have also heard that she enjoys doing it."

“And is allowed to run rampant with it and uses it liberally, like it’s her favorite toy,” says Blair. “Responsible for making her like that, maybe not, responsible for letting the eternal fourteen-year-old become the stuff of vampiric nightmares? Yes. Which is more in line with what I mean, here.”

Yvette hisses.

"I am not sure the three could control her if they wanted to, I think they might be stuck between enabling her and killing her."

“Yes, but we see which way they flip, there. It’s been millennia. You're telling me they couldn’t have found another option? Another witch to replace her, someone more palatable? Instead they kept her, and enabled her. And Auri is a unique, bitey little gremlin.”

"Yes, I... am not disagreeing with what this seems to mean, here."

“No. It’s. A very good point. Even if I hate it.”

“Thank you,” says Blair, just a little tartly. He feels like the over emotional parents have been treating him too much like he’s the bad guy here, when he is trying to help. “So. Probably best to stall regardless of which way we decide to flip. And if I’m not mistaken, I think her opinion is the deciding factor for all of us, here.”

"...yeah. So we just have to... lay low... until she grows up."

“Yeah. Which I think we could pull off, considering how fast she grows. So. I vote that, and decide further later, when she can weigh in. But it’s our lives we’re risking, there.”

“Obviously, yes, I would risk death so my daughter can have a childhood,” says Yvette.

“Figured. James, have you ever met Demetri?”

"I have tried to steer clear of the Volturi, all my knowledge here is secondhand. No, I have not, why?"

“Then I don’t think he can cheat with magic to find us!” says Blair, cheerfully. “I’m a tracker, obviously when left to my own devices, I wanted to compare how I measured up to the gold standard. I had some lovely chats with some folks and the way I hear it, he can track anyone he’s ever met anywhere in the world.”

“How sure are you of that?”

“Eh. It’s a theory, I wouldn’t bet my life on it. It’s probably at least partially motivated by pride. But I would bet my life on no one knowing to send him at all if they have no idea any of us exist or what our powers are. And if furthermore he doesn’t know anything about any of us, even the oldest and least risk averse member, that’s just icing on the cake.”

"I suppose not being a witch has had its advantages," James sighs. "—sorry about snapping earlier. It was not at you, it was—at the situation."

"Apology accepted and appreciated. High stress situation, I get it."