Chapter 465) When The Sun Sets

I can’t light no more of your darkness.
All my pictures seem to fade to black and white.
I’m growing tired and time stands still before me.
Frozen here, on the ladder of my life
It’s much too late, to save myself from falling.
I took a chance and changed the way of life.
But you misread my meaning when I met you
Closed the door, and left me blinded by the light.
Don’t let the sun go down on me.
Although I search myself, it’s always someone else I see

Sophie & Stryker Hayes

After a long drawn out court process, which turned into a media frenzy called ‘The People versus Alycia Brenner-Stiles’, with Stryker as an accessory plaintiff, for which he and Sophie had to make frequent – physically and emotionally taxing – trips to Del Sol Valley as that had been the scene of the crime and Liam, who was functioning as Stryker’s local legal counsel there, strongly suggested to portray a happy and solid homelife appearance for the public, which required seeing Stryker and Sophie holding hands and smiling on their way in and out of court, Stryker took a several month-long break from his music career to refocus on his personal life, which was far from happy or solid at this point. In part it was to take his 18 days in prison punishment for breaking the rules of his old, deferred sentence by drinking unsuitable amounts of alcohol, followed by 8 weeks of in-house closed rehab, during which Sophie only saw him 3 times. When he finally came home, after not having seen his four kids in nearly 3 months and not having been close to his wife, he found that things were tense between him and Sophie. She was withdrawn from him emotionally, shying away from physical affection, including sex, which got Stryker increasingly frustrated, eventually ending with both of them reluctantly in couple’s therapy as a final Hail Mary to save their meanwhile very rocky relationship.

No telling where this will go, but so far, therapy seems to have had an adverse effect and a happy ending to all this mess seems to move further and further out of reach.
Relationship Status: very complicated and tense, future uncertain
Current Residence: Hayes Estate, Windenburg Isle

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Noah Grainger

He already had been moping around for weeks, if not months, sore about Emilee serving him off cold as he felt she had, but the day he grabbed the mail at the San Myshuno apartment he shared with his twin brother Nolan to find a ‘Save The Date’ card for her wedding to Ezio sent him over the edge. He flipped out, shouting and throwing stuff, then the young musician with an excellent degree in performing arts from Britchester went straight to his grandfather Blaine to ask for help to make it big in the music industry. Noah was sick and tired of strumming around bars and lounges waiting to make it big on his own, as he and his twin brother, the painter, had originally vowed they would do this without any help. Now it just took too long for Noah to wait for something that may never even happen without a healthy dose of “vitamin C”. The twins were born into a large family almost entirely composed of high-level A-listers, so there was no shortage of connections to be had. Blaine being one of the top shelf names, not only as performer, but also as producer, realized the boy was desperate for a real change of pace, so he agreed to help him, and with hard work, long hours in the studio and Blaine’s musical Midas touch, Noah soon released his first single, which shot straight into the Top Ten making him an overnight sensation, a household name and unleashed a money rain on him.

With that money rain, plus some healthy financial help from his parents and grandparents, he bought a large luxury mansion in the Del Sol Valley hills and began living life in the fast lane, new female arm candy all the time, parties till everyone dropped.
He named his mansion ‘Arcane Hall’, another jab at the reason for his sudden urge for fortune and fame, arcane describing something mysterious only few understand, which was the ultimate reason Emilee broke things off with him and that they never got back together despite him trying patiently for over a year to change her mind, until she suddenly killed every last gleam of hope Noah still harbored when she pulled Ezio out of seemingly nowhere, rushing into a relationship with the wealthy Tartosian businessman as if trying to escape.
Noah and his twin brother Nolan’s parents, Caitlin and Heath watched their son’s quick success with pride, but also a healthy amount of parental concern. Caitlin – once a famous high-fashion runway model, Heath a prolific author – both had deliberately stepped out of the limelight when they first were expecting the twin boys, to grant their children a regular life, but of course Caitlin and Heath fully supported Noah’s decision to seek fortune and fame.
Relationship Status: single, secretly bitter, with serious trust issues and unresolved baggage
Current Residence: ‘Arcane Hall’, Del Sol Valley

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Liam Cameron & Vivien Vannucci-Cameron

As typical for the “Cameron Gypsies” they moved back to Del Sol Valley into Vivien’s “Villa ViVa”. Watching the new construction of her nephew Noah’s stunning Mansion just up the road from her, restless and demanding as she was, she decided their home needed a total makeover, as it was “so 2000” in her mind. Liam agreed, he had always been just as fashion-forward and a huge fan of sophisticated and modern aesthetics as his wife, both used to have work done to keep aging at bay before they got turned, now Liam was one of the few male vampires who would regularly have spray tans applied to keep up his old tan handsome looks, so architects were hired and soon, Liam and Vivien travelled the world extensively to get away from the construction zone that was now their home, until it would be livable. As a couple they were doing great, both still hot-headed, there was still a lot of bickering, but it never escalated anymore as it usued to in their younger days.

Relationship Status: solid, deeply in love, couldn’t be happier
Current Residence: Villa ViVa, Del Sol Valley

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Gavin & Bianca Cameron

As so many things in their lives which had happened by sheer coincidence, fate willed it that for a fun family outing Gavin and Bianca were exploring San Sequoia with their two kids one weekend, 14 year old Jake and 6 year old Maeverette, when they stumbled upon a mansion with a for sale sign out front that had Bianca and Maeverette instantly enamored to the point of them begging Gavin until he gave in and called the realtor’s number on that sign, who, once they realized who was calling them about one of their listings, came out for a showing right away. The prospect of selling one of their largest and priciest properties to Blaine Cameron’s son had the realtor’s eyeballs turn to dollar signs and they were more than accommodating. Walking through the mansion, and then seeing the incredible backyard Bianca and Maevey couldn’t get a hold of themselves anymore, even though the frontyard still needed a lot of landscaping. Fast forward some weeks, they were proud homeowners, moved out of the Cameron Mansion and into the newly christened new home ‘The Fairytale’. Maeverette pretended to be a princess living in her own castle, while her teen brother had been to his first junior prom, where he had his first kiss, so he had no eye for any of it, mostly functioned on starry-eyed autopilot.
Relationship Status: Solid, maturing, happy and finally living on their own.
Current Residence: ‘The Fairytale’, San Sequoia

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Blaine & Scarlett Cameron 

They had a hard time hiding the relief to see their youngest son plus family finally spread their wings, but once they were gone, the Cameron Mansion felt almost eerily empty. Suffering serious empty nester syndrome, it was no wonder that when watching the two mansions near them receiving their stunning makeovers, they decided to follow suit and did what their oldest child Vivien had done. Once construction had started, they started traveling, but instead of seeing the world’s sights, they were mostly visiting their many kids, biological as well as former fosters to stay with each of them for a few weeks at a time to wait out having their home at some stage of livable again. Once that happened, they both adored their modern, fancy but slightly downsized home. It still had all the creature comforts imaginable, a huge main bedroom suite with sauna and massage room, like before it had a fully equipped recording studio, but now also a movie theater room, lots of room to entertain, for any and all fitness and wellness needs, even two guest rooms, but it felt cozier to just the two of them, with their aging dog Georgina, while still allowing them to have their entire family over for events without it feeling crammed.
Scarlett had been working her way up in local politics for a while, finally, at long last putting her degree in Political Sciences to good use and was now a full member of the local governing body, making her own name in history as the first woman, but also first ever vampire in any noteworthy role in the DSV political circuit. She was also still the first woman to ever serve on any Vampire Coven Council of Elders and was working hard to pave the way for future female vampires to do the same in their regions. Blaine was still a career musician, still released music, toured and produced other artists.
Relationship Status: Solid, fully on the same page in their relationship, couldn’t be happier to finally be empty-nesters
Current Residence: The Cameron Mansion, Del Sol Valley

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Connor Cameron & Keira Hargrave

When a baby boom at the hospital Connor worked at as a senior doctor got him thinking hard about settling down, he and Keira started to seriously talk about setting a date for the wedding. They just couldn’t agree on a date, nor on which last name they would have, not on the location, whether they wanted a theme or not, not on the size of the event, so instead on a whim they agreed to stop all birth control and let nature decide how soon there would be a wedding, the rest of it all would fall into place eventually.
But the moment Keira skipped her period and felt nauseated a lot, she panicked. An at home test, followed by a visit at some walk-in clinic confirmed it was false alarm and probably stress-related, so she secretly went back on birth control, realizing she was nowhere near ready for babies or weddings, but didn’t want to argue with Connor about that.
Naturally, eventually Connor got suspicious, wanted them both to get tested, which ended in a fight during which Keira accidentally let it slip that she was back on birth control.
Connor took that hard, feeling his trust betrayed by her again, so he moved back into his old room at his parents’ Newcrest home, while Keira remained at the little home in San Sequoia.
Once it was clear Connor wasn’t coming back, nor willing to really talk about any of it, she accepted a dream job as an Art Appraiser with the San Sequoia Center of Modern and Classic Arts, meaning she would travel a lot for work. She had always been a free spirit, needing to roam, and part of her secretly hoped that absence would make her and Connor’s hearts grow fonder again, somehow making their issues disappear. No such luck, Connor stayed put, instead found a new place, becoming roommates with his cousin and fellow former Newcrestonian Nolan Grainger.
Connor and Keira eventually started talking again, except about the piece de resistance, which was a relationship Mexican standoff, and the romantic side was halted. Keira still wore the engagement ring, Connor never asked for it back, but it was everyone’s guess if the engagement was still on or not. Connor and Keira were probably not even really sure.
As of recently though, whenever she was visiting in Newcrest, while her bags often made it into her old bedroom at her parents’ nearby place, she started spending the occasional night at Connor’s home. Both vehemently denied it to mean anything intimate, insisting it was purely platonic and that she always stayed in the guest room of the ‘Bachelor Pad’, yet nobody really believed them. Connor’s roomie Nolan pleaded the 5th on it all, refusing to get involved in their relationship drama.
Relationship Status: taking a break, but not broken up (yet?)
Current Residences: separate
Keira-San Sequoia, Hargave Residence
Connor-Newcrest, ‘The Bachelor Pad’ (shown below) with Nolan Grainger

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Nolan Grainger

After Noah had moved to Del Sol Valley without much warning, his identical twin brother Nolan hated staying alone in the old apartment the brothers used to share, so he started looking for options. Moving back home with his parents was one, but as close as he was with them, he wasn’t exactly too keen on living with them again. During one visit back home in Newcrest, he ran into his cousin Connor, the young men got to talking and a plan was born.
Before long, both had bought a house in Newcrest together, a very masculine place, which was soon dubbed “The Bachelor Pad”.
Nolan himself used to pine after Danielle, his ex, or as he referred to her as ‘the one who got away’. Danielle was married with two small children now, yet Nolan still could not fully forget her. Every time he had started to date someone new, he quickly realized he was only comparing them to Danielle, so he quit trying to find a relationship and indulged in meaningless affairs and one-night stands instead. Living with Connor in a bachelor home, just down the street from his parents was the perfect happy place for him, even though his twin brother had a room for him at his Del Sol Valley mansion, constantly trying to get him to move in with him. Nolan didn’t mind visiting his twin but had absolutely no interest in becoming famous himself. He had always hated all the media attention his family got, and when visiting, he and his family would be exposed to as well. Even as an artist himself, every single piece he ever painted and sold had been done under the pseudonym ‘nogra’, a play on his first and last name, and if invited to vernissages he wore a Phantom of the Opera inspired mask, he never disclosed his identity, which everyone accepted as a form of artistic eccentrics.
Relationship Status: single and loving it, completely uninterested in settling for one girl, when he can have many
Current Residence: ‘The Bachelor Pad’ with Connor

TO BE CONTINUED ...