“She won’t come,” my father replies quietly to my mother. “As long as Letti is out there, she won’t risk her position to help us.”
“Then we’ll do what needs to be done,” she responds, her voice hoarse as she blinks back tears.
“She’s ourdaughter, Lillian,” he beseeches, his voice raw with a pain that’s lasted decades. “You can’t possibly be asking me to choose between our children.”
“She made her choice, Robert,” she shouts, leaping to her feet. She releases my hand and starts pacing along the windows. “I won’t let our son die.”
He goes to my mother, holding her carefully by the shoulders. Immense grief is shared between them. “Is there no other way?”
“I don’t see one,” she answers, her face crumbling under the weight of her decision.
“Where do we even start?” he murmurs as he gently wipes the tears from my mother’s cheek. “And will we be able to do it when we do find her?”
She sniffs and holds his hand to her cheek. “I don’t know.”
“Do I get to know what the hell is going on since it’s my life we’re talking about?” I yell, feeling like I’m drowning because I can’t seem to get enough air into my lungs.
Donovan sees me struggling, sits down next to me, and shoves my head between my knees. “Deep breaths. Release them slowly.”
I do as he instructs while my parents quickly fill in the blanks.
“The queen’s physician is my mother, your grandmother,” my mother begins, striding over so she can rub my back. “There is no better doctor than her.”
“However, as long as… as long as…” My father trips over his words before he can say the worst part. “We are exiled because we refused to end Letti’s life after she chose to… make deals with demons. As long as she still walks the earth, any vampire who helps us faces the queen’s wrath.”
“And if she no longer walks the earth?” Donovan asks slowly, staring at the space between his large black boots.
My father sighs like he’s fighting the world to stay on his feet. “That’s what Lillian and I were discussing. As soon as we end our daughter’s life, we will be welcomed back into vampire society.”
“Does it have to be you who did it?” Donovan questions, his olive skin starting to look a little green.
“Why?” my father asks, his voice turning smooth and silken—a voice I’ve used many times right before I promised pain to whoever offended me.
On shaky legs, I stand in front of Donovan, putting my body between him and my parents. “It’s not his fault. He was saving my life.”
“You don’t have to protect me,” Donovan growls. I shove him back down when he tries to get around me.
Putting the pieces together, my mother gasps. “Letti was here? She attacked you? When? Where? How?”
“The night of Halloween,” Callie supplies, her face twisted into a sorrowful frown as she figures out what we’ve been keeping from her. “Demons attacked my home. Letti was one of them, wasn’t she? Were you ever going to tell me?”
“Until now, it was better left unsaid,” I reply, closing my eyes against the haunting memories of that night. Letti shoving me into the mud. The feel of her cold breath as she tried to tempt me to be like her. Being drenched in her blood as Donovan hacked her head from her body.
“She’s really gone,” my father whispers, equal parts devastated and relieved. I flinch when I hear a sharp sound of a fist breaking a glass window.
Opening my eyes, I see the cracks spreading around an oblong point of contact and my father shaking out his hand. Fortunately, it doesn’t appear like he made it through the double paned glass, only bruising his knuckles. My mother returns to his side and gingerly takes his injured hand between hers. Slowly, she has him flex each finger, checking to see if anything other than the window is broken.
“You’ll be okay,” she informs him, but their eyes communicate in a way that only people who have loved each other for nearly a century can. “We’ll be okay.”
Mildred clears her throat, and something tragic flits across her face before it’s replaced with the no-nonsense witch who is to be my savior. “You’ve learned a great deal in a short amount of time, and I can only imagine its toll.” She rises from her chair, her hands clasping her large, cream-colored purse that sat next to her feet. “You deserve time to process and grieve, so I believe it’s time for Callie and me to go. We will research what we can on the magics used until help arrives.”
“Yes, thank you for your understanding,” my mother says with a sniff and heads toward the hall that will eventually lead to the front door. “I will call my mother immediately and inform you of what she says.”
“And thank you for coming and helping our family,” my father adds with a weak smile.
“He is important to Callie, therefore he is important to me,” Mildred responds with sincerity. “I will use everything at my disposal to save his life.”
“We’re more than grateful,” he reiterates while motioning for her to follow my mother.
