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Home / Vampire Short Story / My Half-Vampire Son Painted Another Woman as Mom / Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

All Chapters of My Half-Vampire Son Painted Another Woman as Mom: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

16 Chapters

Chapter 1

Iris's POVI hid among the crowd, the world spinning around me.My husband and my son greeted the woman in the red dress with warm smiles, standing together at the center of the crowd like the picture-perfect family.Meanwhile, I stood with a surgical mask pulled low, invisible as a stranger.Lucien and Luke were still wearing the suits I'd ironed for them. I'd tied their ties that morning.Yet now, they were calling another woman "wife" and "Mom.""My mom is so good to me. She encourages my art and never pressures me. She takes me on trips and walks all the time. Most of the paintings in this exhibition are about my mom."My son flashed a bright, innocent grin, clinging to the woman's hand with complete trust.At home, he'd never once smiled at me like that. All I ever got was cold indifference and impatience.I'd thought it was because Luke was half-vampire, half-human---that the pressure of being different made him act that way toward me.Now I knew the truth. There was another moth

Chapter 2

Iris's POVI walked toward the gallery entrance, looking at Luke's paintings one by one.I'd set this space up myself, staying up through the night. Even though the frames had been empty when I hung them, I'd poured my heart into imagining how Luke would portray me, his mother. That hope had kept me going.The first painting was a meadow scene.A woman shielded the sunlight with a parasol, sitting on a picnic blanket, peeling an orange for a child. The boy was laughing, practically tumbling into her arms.I stopped.The woman's face wasn't mine.Instinctively, I reached up and pressed the surgical mask higher against my face. I blinked hard, holding back the tears.The second painting was a nighttime beach.Wind swept through the woman's long hair as she held Luke's hand at the water's edge.Luke gazed up at her with bright, adoring eyes, hugging her leg.I stared at the ocean in the painting, and alarm shot through me.Luke could't go to the beach.Half-blood children born of vampires

Chapter 3

Iris's POVI heard people murmuring behind me."Luke is so lucky. His mom comes to every exhibition."Another voice chimed in with a laugh."Yes. And the couple seems so in love. A talented kid, a perfect family."My body went rigid."His mom comes to every exhibition"---those words pierced my ears like needles.So this wasn't the first time.This woman had always been there, always appearing as his mother.The sounds of the crowd surged back---laughter, congratulations, praise.They surrounded me, yet none of it was meant for me.An exhibition themed "My Mother," starring my husband, the son I'd carried for ten months, and my son's "Mommy." I was just the human who'd delivered Luke, the nanny who handled discipline and restriction.The love and joy of motherhood had long been handed to someone else by Lucien.

Chapter 4

Iris's POVBy the time I got home, it was evening. The house was empty and eerily silent.I walked in slowly, scanning the living room, seeing this place I'd lived in for ten years through an outsider's eyes for the first time. I laughed bitterly at myself---ten years as a nanny and I'd never even realized it.Lucien didn't like having strangers around and refused to hire help, so I'd always been the one keeping everything spotless.But today, the woman beside him had been wearing a flashy red dress dripping with jewelry, her hands smooth and delicate---hands that had clearly never touched a mop.I'd maintained this home like a model showroom, day after day, year after year. Now I realized I'd been the only fool investing in it.I looked up at the second floor. At the end of the hallway, the study door stood closed.That was where Lucien handled his work---a room I'd barely entered in ten years. He always said it contained confidential company documents I shouldn't touch. I'd respected

Chapter 5

Iris's POVA wave of exhaustion crashed over me. I couldn't keep playing the uncomplaining mother inside this web of lies.My husband took off his coat, apparently waiting for me to take it and hang it up for him.When I just stood there with my arms crossed, Lucien glanced at Luke with a look of helplessness.Luke sighed, hung his head, and reluctantly walked over, stopping a couple of steps away."Mom, I'm sorry. We came home late."I suddenly remembered how this had happened so many times before. I'd never asked the boy to apologize---I'd only wanted Lucien to step up as a father instead of spoiling him endlessly. But Lucien always "misread" the situation.He used "don't upset your mother" as an excuse to scare Luke into controlling his diet and cutting back on blood. He used "your mother isn't satisfied" as leverage to push the boy harder with his studies and technique.And he was the one who always swooped in afterward as the understanding, open-minded father.Even though he rarel

Chapter 6

Iris's POVLuke froze, his eyes slowly lighting up. Then he bolted toward the refrigerator like a gust of wind.I didn't stop him. Didn't remind him to take it easy. I just stood there and watched the panic spreading across Lucien's face.Luke was still young. He didn't understand what was truly good for him---he could be easily won over and controlled by any adult willing to indulge him.Seeing that I had no intention of stepping in, Lucien visibly stiffened."Luke, wait." He finally spoke up.Luke had already yanked open the refrigerator door. Cold air and the metallic scent of blood spilled out. He reached for a bottle of animal blood.Lucien crossed the room in quick strides and caught his wrist."Not tonight," he said.Luke froze, his expression shifting instantly---the look of him about to throw a tantrum."Why?"But Lucien immediately glanced my way, eyes flickering with urgency and expectation. Still waiting for me to play the villain.I stayed where I was, offering Luke nothin

Chapter 7

Iris's POVLuke turned and bolted upstairs. His bedroom door slammed shut with a bang that shook the walls.The living room fell silent. Just me and Lucien.He stood there for a long moment, then slowly straightened and looked at me, his expression unreadable."You did that on purpose," he said.I picked up my glass, took a sip of water, and said nothing.He watched me, his brow furrowed. "You know he can't have too much blood right now.""Lucien, so do you," I said.He didn't respond.For the first time, the space between us had no careful accommodations from me, no gentle veneer of harmony.He paused, then looked away uncomfortably."You haven't been yourself lately," he said. "I know the exhibition upset you.""I know you're hurt that Luke didn't want you at the exhibition." He spoke quickly, as though rushing to reclaim the narrative. "I've told you so many times---he's still young, very sensitive right now, afraid you'll criticize his paintings. That's why he didn't want you there

Chapter 8

Iris's POVLucien went to his study to work. I lay alone on our bed, wide awake and restless.The letter hidden beneath the jewelry box reminded me of how things had been when we were still dating.Back then, Lucien had fallen for me at first sight. He'd pursued me with passion, dreaming up one way after another to make me smile.He said I was his one and only. That I was the one who made him want a home.He wrote me a love letter every single day---until Luke was born. Then the letters stopped.He became impossibly busy. As Luke grew, the boy was suddenly enrolled in one extracurricular after another. Most of the time I was home alone, managing the house, while Luke---emotionally volatile, as hybrids often were---came home only to take his frustrations out on me.I blamed myself. I must not have taken good enough care of him. I must have failed as a wife and mother.No matter how meticulously I cleaned the house or managed his diet, Luke kept getting fevers, his moods swinging wildly.

Chapter 9

Iris's POVThe next morning, I got up at my usual time, but for once, I didn't prepare breakfast for the two of them. Instead, I dressed properly and walked out the door.At our wedding, the scrutiny from those vampire guests hadn't been entirely hostile. Some had looked at me with genuine admiration.I'd designed every detail of our ceremony myself. The walls of the banquet hall were hung with my own paintings.Among the guests, a few silver-haired elders had studied my work for a long time.Those members of the Elder Council had smiled with refined courtesy and told me they admired my clean compositions and distinctive style. They asked if I'd be interested in undertaking a commission to repaint the Council's official portraits.The Elder Council was the supreme governing body of vampire society---and this was the highest-level commission a painter could receive.I'd been stunned. My mind was already racing with ideas for composition and lighting.But before I could respond, Lucien's

Chapter 10

Lucien's POVSomething had been off with Iris since last night.When I woke up this morning and saw her texts, I knew---she was throwing a tantrum.She'd sulk for a while, then come running back. Where else could she go? I'd supported her for years. After being a housewife for this long, she had no way of getting back into the workforce."Daddy..."Luke appeared in the doorway, rubbing his eyes, still clutching his pillow.He looked around the room out of habit, then frowned."Where's Mom? She didn't lay out my clothes."I leaned back against the headboard. "She left for a work trip. She won't be home for two weeks."Luke stood frozen. His expression locked up---unable to process it, unwilling to accept it.Then his voice shot up an octave."Two weeks?!"I frowned and got out of bed to get dressed, enduring the noise.Before, whenever I took Luke off Iris's hands, the boy had already burned through his tantrum. He was never this agitated---at most he'd wheedle for snacks. Far easier to

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