by Sotia Lazu
This was incredible. “My grandma has solved the sun-allergy issue and is a hacker?” Ha! Coolest granny ever!
Constantine chuckled.
My mother cupped my chin, and the tenderness in that small gesture filled some hollow part in my chest. “She saw your birth name come up. Your father and I were devastated, but she convinced us it only meant we’d get you back eventually. When she tried to get more information on your whereabouts, she found the system had crashed.”
“Yeah, the VSS was shut down soon after my turning,” I said. It had been one of the consequences of my turning, actually. The old council, who’d established it, was overthrown by those protesting my semi-public turning. The new council members—including the two serial killers with world-domination aspirations, whom Constantine and I had dealt with—had decided to ban all new turnings. Without new fledglings, there was no use for the Vampire Social Services, the sole purpose of which had been to help newbies get used to their new life. “That’s where I met Constantine. He was my sponsor.”
“We had no idea. Your grandma never found out where you were. I’ve been waiting to hear from you since.”
“Oh, Mom.” I turned and buried my face in the crook of her neck, drinking in her familiar scent that I’d always associated with safety. When I raised my head again, I had to blink back tears. “I wish you hadn’t killed Ádísa,” I told Constantine, “so I could rip her head off myself.”
He rubbed his temples, and I felt a pang of shame. Whatever else his maker had been, she’d been his near-constant companion for centuries, and he’d killed her for me. I owed him not to discount that sacrifice.
“So first grandma gets turned, and then I do. What are the odds?”
My mom let out a forced little laugh. “It’s not just you two. I’m the only lucky one, I guess.”
“Why do you say that?” Constantine asked before I could.
“My own grandma disappeared before I was born, but there were rumors she’d been slaughtered by a beast,” my mother said.
Huh. The women in my family seemed prone to brutal attacks. When Constantine had proven his loyalty to me, not her, Ádísa had asked what it was about women in my family. My gaze locked with Constantine’s. There had to be something there. But what?
Mom yawned, and I realized it was way too late for the humans among us. I sighed. Delving further into my family’s past would have to wait one more day. My life was shaken enough as it was. Maybe I could spend the downtime raging at Constantine for keeping all this from me. His promise had been necessary to keep my parents safe, but I was no threat to them. He should have told me. And I really needed to yell at someone.
“Look at the time,” I said. “We better get going. The hotel Constantine booked is close by, so we can be back here right after sunset. We’ll pick things up then.”
“Nonsense.” Dad stood and pushed his chair back. “You’re staying here.”
“Dad, there’s no room for us.”
“Actually, there’s a bedroom and extra pullout sofa in the basement,” Mom said. “And we’ve installed a small bathroom. It’s a little cramped, but you should manage for a few days.”
The choice seemed as out of my hands as my unlife apparently was. I gulped down the rest of my blood, trying not to taste it, stood, and left my mug in the sink. “Well then, I guess we’re staying. We just have to get some stuff from the car.”
“Alex and I can fetch that,” Constantine said.
“I’ll help the boys. You ladies go make the beds.” Dad kissed me on the forehead. “Goodnight, Princess. I’m so happy to have you back.” He was so adorable, I didn’t tell him the boys would probably need no help carrying the entire car.
“’Night, Dad. It’s good to be back.”
Mom wrapped one arm around my shoulders and led me down the hall. “You know,” she said, tugging on a strand of my hair, “red really is your color.”
It really was good to be back.
I’d been shocked and disconcerted—and was still more than a little pissed off at everything the people in my life had been keeping from me, but I was ultimately happy to be home.
Mom kept the subject light while we made the double bed. She told me Dad had made her a small vegetable garden in the back yard, and how she’d love to have a cherry tree, but the climate just wasn’t right. I let the sound of her voice caress my ears. It had been forever since we last chatted about little, everyday things. It was so comfortable and soothing.
“Are you taking the sofa, or are you and Alex sharing the bed?” she asked, when we moved to the pullout.
There went the easy chitchat. “We live together,” I blurted, smoothing an invisible crease on the bottom sheet. “All of us. Well, not that way. I mean, Alex and I live together that way, and there’s also Constantine and three young vampires. And my friend Sheena.”
“Is that all?” Mom was completely expressionless as she tucked in the corners.
“And Wesley. That’s all.”
She sat on the bed and pulled one corner of the light summer blanket on her lap. “Is it… Is it an actual relationship? Constantine has explained about vampires and polyamory.”
“What? Oh, God, no! No! It’s Constantine’s place, and Wesley is his butler.” I went on to explain the circumstances that lead to us all sharing a roof, and soon I was telling her about Alex’s insistence we meet each other’s parents.
“Oh, he introduced you to his mother? Things are serious, huh?”
I resisted the urge to say ‘deadly.’ “Pretty much, yeah. I don’t know if he and I have the same ideas about the future, but we’re as in love as can be.”
Mom smiled and let out a rushed breath in what could only be relief. “So you’re happy.”
I sidled up next to her, so I could feel her warmth. “I am, Mom. And I’m so happy to see you and Dad again.”
She placed a butterfly kiss on my temple, and I felt her smile.
Chuckles from the upper floor reached my ears. “The boys are back. You should go to bed.”
She nodded and squeezed me, before getting up. “See you tomorrow, Gerri.”
I didn’t correct her. She needed to know some things hadn’t changed, and if calling me by my old name helped, I’d play along.
****
“I swear to you, the only reason I didn’t tell you was my promise,” Constantine said when the humans of the house went to bed. “You have to believe me, but I understand if you don’t. I’ve betrayed your trust before.” His kicked-puppy look was as effective as Alex’s.
My anger deflated. There was no use yelling at someone who didn’t fight back, so I chose my next words carefully. “I get why you did it, but I still don’t like it. I’m asking you one last time—is there something else you’re keeping from me?”
“Yes.” He didn’t hesitate.
“Are you fucking serious?” Alex took a step toward Constantine, but I stopped him with a hand on his stomach.
“I want to know what it is,” I said.
Constantine nodded. “Give me twenty-four hours to check the validity of my information, and I’ll tell you.”
“Twenty-four hours,” I said. “And you never keep things from me again.” I wanted to add ‘or else,’ but had nothing to threaten him with. I had to trust he didn’t want to disappoint me again.
I had to trust a lot of things those days.
Constantine bid us goodnight, and said he’d call home and let everyone know we were all right.
Alex got frisky as soon as the bedroom door was closed behind him. I didn’t share his enthusiasm. Not with everything we’d found out.
Not with Constantine not sleeping right outside.
“My parents,” I whispered. “They’ll hear.”
“I’ll be quiet as a mouse.” There was that smirk again—the one I didn’t like. I’d never seen it on human Alex’s lips. Constantine assured me we didn’t lose our soul when we turned. I certainly felt the same person—if a little more street sma
rt—but that nasty curving of Alex’s lips made me wonder if that rule was universal.
Well, hello, paranoia. Constantine and my parents had hidden things from me, and now I was suspicious of everyone.
“I still feel weird,” I told Alex. “I haven’t set foot in this house in years, and I get laid the first time I visit?”
“That’s not what bothers you.” He undid my buttons so fast, I didn’t realize my shirt was open until he peeled it off me. “You just don’t want him to hear.”
I was too emotionally drained to get into a fight about his stupid jealousy. I framed his face with both palms and slanted my lips over his. “I don’t want anyone to hear. I don’t want an audience when we make love.”
He undid my jeans and shoved them down with his knee. “You didn’t mind an audience when you were in porn.”
“And we’re done here.” I pushed him back hard enough to make him stumble, and pulled my jeans back up. I told him about my past from the beginning, and he accepted it. I gave nobody the right to judge me for my choices, much less someone who claimed to love me. “You and Constantine can share the bed. I’m taking the sofa.” I was so furious, I’d have sent him packing right there and then, if I didn’t believe he was dealing with some sort of identity crisis.
Still, that excuse was wearing thin.
He got in my way, puppy eyes at full force. “I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean it. It was supposed to be nasty-sex-talk. I guess I went overboard.”
“You did.”
“Forgive me? You know I love you.”
“I know.” But I wondered what his definition of love was these days.
He pulled me against his chest, and kissed me gently on the lips. “We both know I’ve got the foot-in-mouth syndrome. Apparently dying doesn’t cure that.” He laughed, but I wasn’t amused.
“Listen, Alex, I’m tired. I need to rest, and I need to figure out how to deal with everything. I’m really not in the mood.”
He ran a hand down my spine and cupped my ass, oblivious to how genuinely angry I was. “I could try to get you in the mood.”
“No.”
“Sure?”
“Positive.”
“Damn.”
“Yup.”
“Can we at least cuddle? And maybe I could have some blood?”
I couldn’t say no to that. I burrowed in his arms and let him feed from my neck, until exhaustion got the better of me. “I need to be horizontal ASAP,” I mumbled.
Alex tenderly licked his mark, then lifted me and carried me to bed. He dug in our overnight bag for my t-shirt and pair of shorts that acted as pajamas, and helped me into them. “Sleep tight,” he said, spooning me from behind. “I’m here. Won’t let anyone hurt you.”
It sounded like an odd thing to say, since we were no longer on the run, but I was too tired to give it much thought.
Chapter Nine
Not used to keeping a human time schedule, I lay in bed for hours, staring at the wall, and wondering if anything in my unlife was what I’d believed it to be.
I’d suspected before that Ádísa had issues with my family, but my grandma and me sharing the same fate had to be significant.
I already knew my turning hadn’t been at random. A couple months ago, Constantine had confessed Ádísa had instrumented my turning and arranged for him to become my mentor. She ordered him to make me fall in love with him, and he was very successful in his mission.
Although he’d also fallen for me, and claimed he still loved me, she managed to seduce him while he and I were still together. I broke things off, and Constantine tried to get me back for years, before Ádísa’s promises of power made him return to her side. That was when he found out about her role in my turning.
In the end, he’d chosen me.
I remembered Ádísa threatening Constantine with a sharpened stake for having helped me.
“What is it with the women in your family, Cherry? No matter. Your allure worked against you this time. It got you right where I wanted you. It’s such a pity Constantine will share your fate, but maybe I’ll get to keep your new friend.”
She’d meant Alex, and I had no doubt she’d have gone for him too, if Constantine hadn’t rid the world of her vile presence.
Alex tossed and turned beside me. Nightmares again. I couldn’t blame him. Just weeks ago he’d been viciously attacked and left for dead. I thought I’d lost him, despite giving him my own blood.
Until Constantine had brought him back to me.
“I really did and do love you, Cherry. I’d do anything for you, including sit back and let you be happy with a human.” At the time, Constantine had been playing the long game; Alex’s life was finite, while my ex and I were immortal.
But Alex wasn’t human any more, and Constantine was still letting me be happy with him.
Thinking of it was more taxing than thinking of Ádísa, so I steered my thoughts back to her. Assuming the rumors about her having been a Valkyrie—or as old as one—held merit, Ádísa had already been ancient by the time my great grandmother had been attacked. Too old to have focused on a woman she met a hundred-odd years ago, and to have gone after her family.
Maybe I should look into our family tree. Go back further.
My vampire inner clock screamed that the sun was up, but I couldn’t wait until the evening. Waiting is the thing I do worse. I even iron better than I wait. I sneaked out of bed, wrapped a blanket over my shoulders, and flew upstairs. Dad was gone for the day, but Mom was up and about, and hurried to shut the drapes as soon as she saw me.
“Gerri, you shouldn’t be up! The potion hasn’t started working yet.”
“I couldn’t sleep. And please call me Cherry, Mom. I’m not the girl I used to be.” My voice broke, and her hand trembled as she adjusted the blanket so it covered my head too.
“Big bad vampire or not, you’ll always be my baby girl.”
I could spare a few moments to be just that, so I burrowed into her embrace and just stood there, listening to her heart beat. I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed this. It had to be one of the reasons the council forbade fledglings contact with family members. Seeing my mom, having her hold me, reminded me of all I’d lost. Because of Ádísa.
She was no longer around, so I was going to find Willoughby and turn him to dust for the life he’d taken away from me.
I don’t know how long Mom and I held each other, but when we let go, I felt an inner peace I hadn’t experienced in a while. “I need your help,” I said. “I need to figure out how far back Ádísa’s thing for our family goes. What caused it.”
“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” my mother said.
“All this, just because Grandpa didn’t choose her? If she was the one who attacked your grandmother, there had to be something before that. Do we have any old family photos? Notepads? Anything you can dig up? Maybe we could ask au—Ruby?” I couldn’t really call her Grandma.
“She’s in Europe for the next few months. She calls me every few days, but I can’t reach her in the meantime. There are some boxes in the attic I’ve never gone over, though. I think I remember her lugging them around every place we’ve been.”
“The attic it is, then.”
She shook her head. “No curtains up there. You better stay here, while I go get the boxes.”
I raised the edges of the blanket, forming batwings. “Nah, I’ll brave it.”
Mom smirked. “I haven’t dusted in a while. There could be cobwebs.”
Scary-ass vampire or not, I won’t approach a spider, if I can avoid it. “I’ll wait right here. You take your time.”
She laughed, and pinched my cheek. “I see immortality hasn’t changed some things.”
“Nope, spiders are still on the top of my phobias list.”
“Good thing you have a good man to squash them for you now.” Mom winked.
“Yeah, I’m lucky.” I smiled, but my eyes stung.
“Uh-oh. What’s wrong, honey? You see
med fine last night.”
Mom could always see right through me. Even over the phone, she could tell when something bothered me, which was why I’d only been calling her sparingly once I’d decided to get into adult movies. I hadn’t known what to say if she asked me about my career, just like I now didn’t know what to tell her about Alex and me. Only this time, I wasn’t afraid she’d disapprove of my choices. My fears and worries were just too vague to put into words.
“Nothing,” I said. “This whole Ádísa mystery is just stressing me out. Can you please get the boxes now?”
“Of course. I’ll be right back.” She kept stealing worried glances at me on her way up.
****
The boxes weren’t a couple. They were eight, and one of them was as tall as me.
Mom got hold of an old hooded robe, and we replaced my blanket with it for ease of movement, before I followed her back to the attic. The robe was thick, but made no difference to me temperature wise, since vampires emanate no body heat. I pulled the hood up, kept my head down, and followed my mother’s feet around the cluttered space, praying there’d be no spiders. Even with the two of us working together, it still took several trips up and down the stairs.
We began going through the boxes one by one, but their contents were in no order we could discern. In the end, I emptied them around us in messy piles. I could see the annoyance in my mom’s gaze. She said nothing, but I knew her inner neat freak was having a stroke.
“I promise to put everything back myself,” I said. “And I’ll vacuum.”
“Good.” She heaved a sigh. “Now let’s see what we have here.”
For three long hours, we waded through old, faded pictures and frayed documents. Of the ones with dates scrolled on them, the oldest seemed to have been written sometime in the 1440’s. The month and last digit in the year were nothing more than smudges on the fragile parchment, but I had no idea what was written on the legible parts of the note either. “I think it’s in Italian.”
