Gareth realized she was weeping dry, tearless sobs over the guilt of consuming the newborn baby.
He squeezed her shoulder.
She looked at him, her eyes red from the lack of tears to moisten them.
“I tried to get rid of the bodies, to get rid of my shame and guilt. I tried to burn their bodies. Oscar was beginning to teach me how they got rid of vampire bodies. But they weren’t vampires, so they didn’t combust into ash. I heard they found their burned bodies a day or so later.
“So, every time I thought of biting Morgana from that day forward, I saw the dead baby I’d placed on his mother’s chest before I set fire to them. I justified it to myself I did it for Morgana. To protect her.” Vivienne’s face contorted.
Gareth’s stomach was heaving as he listened to Vivienne talk. If he could vomit, he would have. He rubbed his chin in disbelief. He knew Vivienne wasn’t the sweet, caring woman she led the humans in Oak Wood Hills to believe she was. He knew she was tough, a fighter, but this story was where the stories of evil vampires sprang. Drinking a newborn dry? He was too lost in his thoughts to realize Vivienne had kept talking.
“So yes, at first, I was jealous when Mariza bit Morgana. I had gone to such terrible lengths not to do the same thing. And there she was sucking hungrily away. But when I heard Morgana’s anguished cry calling out to me and saw her frightened little face, it was the first time I snapped out of my vampireness, and the mother within me came bursting out.
“I broke a chair, racing over to them before Oscar saw me. He was too focused on stopping Mariza. I wasn’t strong enough to fight a first-generation Primus, but seeing my daughter being hurt gave me the strength I needed to stab Mariza. I knew the chair leg wouldn’t kill her, but I gained a lot of satisfaction from the look on her face when she looked down at the chair leg sticking out of her chest.” Vivienne laughed bitterly. “Oscar wouldn’t talk to me for a month after that. He loves his children. Even Mariza.”
Gareth nodded. “Yeah, so I’ve heard.”
“For him to have to banish her, it nearly broke his heart. He went away for a while and buried himself in his Elder work. I didn’t know if I would ever see him again. I thought our marriage had ended. Then one day he brought Ohana home. I thought she was to be his new wife. But he told me if I were going to stake a vampire again, I should learn the right way to do it.
“Ohana began training me. Impressed with my eagerness to learn, she took me under her wing. When Morgana was old enough, she began learning with me. Mother and daughter fighting side by side.
“I haven’t seen my stepdaughter for nearly four hundred years until today. And all I wanted to do was snap the bitch’s neck.”
Gareth patted her shoulder. “You’re not the only one. I vice-gripped her windpipe when I saw her again.”
Vivienne looked up, a small smile on her face. “Did it feel as good as I think it would have?”
“Hell, yeah, even better. But I think she was turned on by it.”
Vivienne rolled her eyes. “Once a whoring succubus, always a whoring succubus.”
Chapter Ten
Back in the campaign office, Morgana didn’t need her vampire hearing to eavesdrop on their argument, the entire office had gone silent. The front of Oscar’s office had a large window she could see into if she shifted her chair in the right direction. She told herself it was to make sure their cover would be safe, but really, she was as bad as the rest of them.
“How could you not tell me?” Phyllis bellowed.
Oscar rubbed his temples. “My older children have been estranged from me for a very long time. I didn’t think they were even in my life or I was in theirs anymore.”
Morgana nodded in approval. It was a partial truth. Jonas and Hector were always flitting in and out, checking in only while free from their latest missions. Whereas, Mariza had been estranged for hundreds of years.
“Well, this is going to derail a lot of the hard work we’ve put into this campaign.” The more she yelled, the more her blood rushed to her face, turning a delicious shade of maroon.
Morgana groaned inward. The thought of blood was making her salivate—even if it was Phyllis’ blood. Her fangs were trying to break through her gums, and she was trying to stop them, which was quite painful. When was the last time she had drunk any blood? It couldn’t have been that long. But the more Phyllis’ anger grew, the more the blood-lust rushed through her veins.
She looked hungrily over to see Phyllis now jabbing her thick finger into Oscar’s chest. Oscar was looking at Phyllis’ face, his eyes becoming hooded, a malicious look of hunger on his face. He took a menacing step toward Phyllis, his mouth open. Phyllis stopped poking his chest, gazing adoringly at Oscar’s face. The scent of her arousal hit Morgana even out here. Christ, Phyllis was mistaking the look of hunger on Oscar’s face as desire.
Morgana pulled out her phone, sending a quick text to her mother.
Morgana: Call office quick. Pretend to be a campaign sponsor. Father is going into vampire mode.
She pressed send, lifting her eyes toward the office window. Her father stepped closer to Phyllis, his eyes scanning her neck.
***
At the Van Wildens, Gareth continued patting Vivienne’s back, her shoulders slumped forward as she cried. It was the freakiest shit to see a woman crying without tears.
“There, there, Mrs. V.”
Vivienne laughed. “You know you can call me Vivienne, Gareth.”
Gareth nodded. Yeah, he probably wouldn’t be calling her that anytime soon.
A beep sounded from Vivienne’s cell phone. She stood and walked over to the table.
“It’s Morgana. She wants me to call the campaign office. I guess we better call it a day then, boys.”
Both Gareth and Alastor nodded.
“Will you be all right to let yourselves out?”
“Aye, Mrs. V,” Alastor answered.
“Good, see you both later.” Vivienne exited the basement.
***
Morgana jumped when the shrill of the phone ringing broke through her trance.
“Good morning, Oscar Van Wilden’s campaign office,” she greeted in a polite tone.
“It’s me,” came her mother’s voice on the other end. “Get in there quick before he blows our cover.”
“One moment, please.” Morgana put her mother on hold. She walked as quickly as she could in her black patent leather heels and gray pencil skirt. She pounded on her father’s office door a little harder than she should have. Not waiting for an answer, she opened the door.
“Sorry to interrupt, but you have a phone call on line two, Phyllis.”
Phyllis turned to face her.
Oscar’s face straightened as he took a step back, clearing his throat and averting his eyes.
“You could have used the intercom,” Phyllis snapped. “Or sent it through to my voicemail.”
Morgana glared at Phyllis. “A campaign sponsor wants to pull out.”
Phyllis’ focus snapped to attention. Back in her hyper-focused campaign manager role, she stomped past Morgana toward her own office.
Morgana closed the door behind her, turning to face her father.
“Are you okay?” She kept her voice low.
Oscar rubbed his face, speaking barely above a whisper. “I couldn’t help it. She was so close to me. The blood was flowing more rapidly through her veins the angrier she got.”
“I know,” Morgana said dryly. “Even I was affected.”
Oscar looked at his daughter, a sigh escaping his lips. “And when their arousal is spiked, you know it makes the blood taste sweeter.”
“Father, it’s fine. We all get hungry from time to time.”
Oscar laughed bitterly. “As human-like as I try to be, the fact I’m a vampire remains first and foremost.” He rubbed his face again. “I’m simply feeling the stress of these past events lately.”
“Mariza?”
Oscar’s shoulders slumped. “No matter what
she’s done, she’s still my daughter. I’ve never hated her, even when I banished her for attacking you. It was more like a grounding for her than anything. But you hate her, and your mother hates her.” Oscar sighed. “And she’s Gareth’s creator who left him for dead, so even Alastor hates her. But is it wrong I want to see my oldest daughter and have a relationship with her?”
Morgana stepped over to her father, placing a hand on his shoulder. “No one is stopping you from seeing her.”
“But your mother won’t let her back into the house.”
“Well, don’t see her at the house. Go see Mariza at the hotel.”
Oscar looked at her. “I suppose you’re right.”
“You could always talk to Mother and tell her how you feel. She’s not completely heartless when it comes to Mariza. She might compromise on letting Mariza visit, especially since I’ve grown up and can defend myself from her.”
“You’re right.” Oscar smiled at her.
“Now, are you all right? Do you need to go home to feed?”
Oscar shook his head. “Not straight away. I’ll stop by the house at lunchtime and have a drink then.”
They could hear whispers and gossiping as the office came back to life.
“Whoa, did you see that? Van Wilden was going to make out with old toady,” they heard Ernie saying.
“Yeah, looks like she finally wore him down.” Scarlett laughed.
“Please… they’ve been working so closely it was bound to happen,” Ron added.
“Yeah, but in front of the daughter? No wonder she barged in there like that.”
“Looked like she was going to rip off Phyllis’ head.”
Morgana chuckled to herself. No, she was going in to rip her father off Phyllis if it had gone any further.
Oscar sighed. “I guess we’ll have to deal with this matter as well.”
“Yep, good luck with that.” She turned to leave.
“Traitor.” Oscar scowled, but there was a hint of amusement in his eyes.
“You know I actually care about this campaign.” Oscar’s eyes trailed over his office, focusing on the campaign posters plastered everywhere.
Morgana’s hand was on the door handle and turned her head to the side. “But we always knew it would be a long shot to win.”
“Yes, but I still enjoy it.” His tone was wistful. “I kind of wish it was real.”
“Maybe Mariza’s arrival is a blessing in disguise.”
Oscar huffed. “Maybe.”
“Maybe it’ll offer another cover story sometime in the future. But next time, take my siblings dropping by unannounced into consideration, especially Hector. Can you imagine the scandals he could cause?”
Oscar laughed out loud, his brown eyes twinkling. “Ah yes, good idea.” He turned to face her. “On second thought, I might have a drink now.”
Morgana drew in a sharp breath. She tentatively took a step back.
Oscar paled and shook his head. “Oh, no, Morgana, not from you. Never. I have never considered doing that. No. Let’s get coffee.” His hands made quotation marks around ‘coffee.’ “A red velvet latte.”
Morgana nodded. She breathed a sigh of relief. “Phew, you had me worried for a second.”
“I may not be human, but I’m not a complete monster.” Oscar pinned her with his stare. “I know what happened with Mariza was terrible, but please know the rest of your family doesn’t see you as a living blood bag.”
Morgana nodded. She had known that. Hector and Jonas had never treated her terribly, but it was still nice to hear it out loud. Even her human-turned mother had never considered drinking from her, which sort of made what Mariza did hurt so much more. “Thanks, Father.”
Oscar smiled at her, his brown eyes twinkling. “Good.”
Morgana brightened and spoke louder, “I’ll get your coffee right away for you.”
“Thanks, Morgana.”
With her hand on the door handle once more, she looked at her father. “You know, Phyllis will think you have the hots for her now.”
Oscar groaned, scrubbing at his face. “How am I going to get out of this situation now? Maybe I should get your mother to come by and engage her in one of those… what do the humans call it—”
“A catfight?”
“Yes, one of those.”
They both chuckled at the idea. Vivienne may come across as the nurturing, sweet, dutiful wife but before Morgana had texted, Vivienne was probably running Gareth and Alastor ragged with training drills.
Chapter Eleven
After Vivienne had left, Gareth rubbed his face. “Fuck me, that was awkward.”
“Aye. It definitely was,” said Alastor.
They both left the basement, reaching their home within minutes.
“I didn’t think when I began falling for Morgana I’d be getting all this crazy vampire family stuff as well.” Gareth paced the living room.
“Ye’ve got to remember, Mrs. V was a newbie. She couldn’t help herself,” Alastor said.
“Yeah, but the entire thing is fucked. I mean, my girlfriend’s sister is my creator, and now I found out her mother is a baby feeder.”
“Well, in her defense, she only fed off the one baby. And it damn near broke her.”
Gareth stopped pacing to look at his best friend.
“What am I going to do?” he groaned, glancing toward the ceiling.
“Have ye spoken to Morgana yet?”
“No.”
“We know she’s at the campaign office. Maybe ye could take her out to lunch.”
Gareth shook his head. “No, she’s not there now. She’s gone home.”
Alastor narrowed his eyes at his friend, “How do ye know that? I thought ye haven’t spoken to her?”
“Nah, I haven’t. I can sense she’s there.” He turned to face Alastor, his eyes widening. “I can sense her presence from here. How is that possible?”
“Like her feelings? Can ye read her mind?”
“No, nothing like that. You know when you can sense a vampire. Well, it’s like I can hone in on where she is right now.”
“When did this happen?”
“Well, I didn’t realize I was feeling it until now. But I think I have been feeling it since…” he looked sharply at Alastor, “… the night I killed Randalf and gave Morgana my blood.”
“Aye, but she also drank Oscar’s?”
“But I was the only one who drank hers.”
Alastor rubbed his chin. “Yer goin’ to have to talk to Morgana about this, mate.”
Gareth rubbed his face again. “Man, life was so much simpler before I found out about vampires.”
Alastor chuckled. “Even though ye are one?”
“Ignorance is bliss, my friend. Bliss. You know what we need?”
“What’s that?”
“A night like we had before we had girlfriends,” he said bitterly. “Where we could hang out together and drink blood all night.”
“Aye. Ava suggested we do the very same.”
“Then, my friend, we shall do so later tonight.” He clapped his hand on Alastor’s shoulder.
“Aye. Bro’s night.” Alastor chuckled and winked at him.
Gareth groaned. “Don’t call it that.” But he was glad to see his friend was in a lighter mood.
“Fine. But ye gotta fist bump me.” Alastor held his fist up.
Gareth stared at his friend. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Nay, don’t leave me hanging.”
“Fuck off.” He made a swipe for Alastor’s head. “Does Ava know you talk like that?”
“Aye, she digs me.”
Gareth rolled his eyes and walked away from him. “You’re becoming way too modernized.”
Alastor chuckled. “But all the cool humans are doing it.”
Gareth’s lips twitched. “Can’t wait for us to outgrow that human trend.”
Alastor chuckled. “Go talk to yer girlfriend, would ye? Sick of seeing yer mopey face around here.”
“Later then.”
“Aye.” Alastor jutted his chin. “Later.”
Chapter Twelve
After work, Morgana let herself into her parents’ house. It had been a long day at the campaign office watching her father closely to see if he would snap and lose control. The bloodacino she had brought back for him seemed to have helped, but she still kept her eyes on him to make sure.
Phyllis had been grumpy with her for ruining her big moment with Oscar. As if any daughter would want to watch her father cheat on her mother, regardless of the circumstances. Nevertheless, Phyllis had worked her hard, tossing every menial job she could at Morgana. Her human side was tired, and her vampire side was weak from not consuming enough blood. She also needed to check her closet to see if Mariza had found the hawthorn stakes.
All she wanted to do was soak in a nice, hot bath and eat. But the second-to-last person she wanted to deal with right now was approaching the house. She’d felt his presence in transit long before he had arrived. Sighing, she opened the door.
“Hello, Morgana,” Gareth greeted her. She expected his voice to send shivers down her spine and make her panties wet like it usually did. Instead, a sudden urge to ram the heel of the stiletto in her hand into him for being a dick flooded her thoughts. She suppressed the urge before chuckling to herself.
“What’s so funny?”
“Do you know there are knives called stilettos?”
“What has this got to do with… oh.” Gareth went quiet, the realization spreading over his face as she held them up. “You want to stab me with a shoe?”
“Can you blame me?” she said dryly.
“Why are you so angry at me? You’re the one who didn’t tell me you know my creator and you were sisters.”
Morgana remained silent, her grip tightening on the heel. She wasn’t going to tell him sometimes her human side made her emotions erratic. But she also wasn’t going to admit she was in the wrong, either. She was Morgana Van Wilden—she was never wrong.
The Van Wilden Chronicles Box Set Books 1-3 Page 27
