“I don’t understand any of this,” I whisper as I sink back into the couch.
“I know,” my mother says, her hand at my forehead, the touch comforting despite the turmoil of my emotions churning darkly inside me. “We’ve been trying to, for so long.”
“We’ll all have to figure it out together,” my father says, sitting on the coffee table across from me, his hand around my wrist, keeping the sedative effect flowing through me. “But please, you must believe us when we say we mean you no harm. We brought the blade because we sensed you were down here and didn’t know if you were alone.”
“You have to trust us, Lenore,” my mother says. “We’re the only ones who can protect you now.”
I don’t know how much of that is true.
My eyes begin to close, tiredness seeping into my bones, but regardless of how badly I want to sleep, I need to stay awake.
“Happy belated birthday,” my mother whispers to me.
I open my eyes and blink. “When was it?”
“Yesterday.”
The concept of days seems to have no meaning anymore. I guess that’s what happens when you can live forever.
If I even can.
I clear my throat. “I guess the worst is over then.”
They exchange a look over my head.
“What?” I ask.
My mother pushes loose strands of hair back from my face. “There have been stories of people who are both witch and vampire. As you can imagine, the instances are rare. Vampires have impregnated witches before, but the children don’t usually survive very long. But never has a witch done this to a vampire.”
“Why not?”
Another harried glance.
“To put it simply, vampires are seductive. Driven by both blood and sex. Witches aren’t like that. Despite the hate and natural revulsion between the species, vampires are good at getting what they want, and sometimes even the most powerful spells can’t ward them off.”
“A male witch being attracted to a vampire doesn’t happen,” my father adds.
“What if the female vampire compels him?” I ask, not appreciating this double standard, as if men are so noble.
“Maybe,” my mother says. “But why would Alice do that? Why not just leave Hakan then?”
“Pretty sure you can’t just leave a vampire for a witch,” I tell them.
“Then why carry a witch’s child? It makes no sense,” she says with a shake of her head.
“It’s something we’ve been trying to figure out,” my father says. “We’ve gotten nowhere. It’s not easy when you’ve been kept a secret from the only people who might know.”
“People like Atlas Poe?”
“Poe doesn’t know what he knows. He’s new to all of this. Unfortunately, that means he has something to prove.”
I lick my lips. “So then how do you both know Absolon?” I pause. “Does he even have a last name?”
“Vampire last names are always changing,” my mother says in a stiff voice. “But we’ve always known him as Absolon Stavig.”
“And he’s a monster,” my father interjects, a vein bulging in his forehead. To my relief, I feel no bloodlust on my behalf, just a father’s protectiveness. “I can’t even…I can’t let myself imagine what he put you through.” His voice goes quiet, eyes on fire. “What he made you do.”
“He didn’t make me do anything,” I tell him, feeling defensive even though I shouldn’t. The things I had done to me I wanted done to me. I think about Wolf between my legs, Absolon watching me, enraptured.
“That’s what he wants you to think,” my mother says. “They compel people.”
“He didn’t compel me,” I tell him, though I know that wasn’t true on a few occasions, like when I got into the ice bath. “It puzzled him that he couldn’t. I think it kept me alive, to be honest.”
“So he was trying to kill you.”
I shake my head, avoiding their eyes. “No. He wasn’t.”
I thought he was. But if he’s being truthful about never intending to sell me, then that changes things. Why didn’t he just tell me that instead of keeping me in fear?
Because fear is his upper hand.
“He would have fed off you, drunk your blood,” my father says.
I shake my head again. “No. He never did.”
“Oh, come on,” my mother says with a huff of irritation. “He’s a fucking vampire. That’s what they do.”
My mother rarely swears. It raises my brow. “I’m a fucking vampire too now. I don’t see myself drinking your blood. Maybe he’s just really good at controlling himself.”
“Why would he even want to control himself around you?” my father mutters gruffly. “The whole reason a vampire would take someone like you is to benefit from your magic.”
“Maybe that was part of the plan,” my mother says to him. “Saving her for later.”
I swallow. Could that have been true?
“I…I don’t really have any magic,” I say softly. “He knows it too.”
“You do,” my mother says. “You just created a damn earthquake. We can only pray it didn’t hurt anyone. Thank god this city is made for them.”