Aiden glanced at Maggie’s bowed head as herfinger trailed over the opening of the bowl while she stared at thefish. He now understood why she’d handled last night as well as shehad; she’d endured more than he ever could have imagined in herlife. He rested his hand on her knee and braced himself for her topush it away, but she didn’t.
“It was a fun eighteenth birthday,” shecontinued. “I became eligible to vote, and my mother revealed shewished she’d succeeded in killing me.”
Aiden’s hand clenched on her leg. “Yourmother tried to kill you?”
Maggie thrust her shoulders back and turnedto face him. “Yes, but to be fair, my father wasn’t exactly thetype of man women are clamoring to have a baby with. The policechased my father off when they stumbled upon him raping her in analley. Severely beaten, my mother couldn’t speak about the traumashe’d endured. The police took her to the hospital where her rapewas confirmed, but they couldn’t get anything out of her aside fromscreams and mumblings of red eyes and vampires.”
Aiden’s head turned toward her but shot backto the road when he drifted into the other lane and a horn blaredat him.
“The state and doctors put her under a psycheval for thirty days while the police searched for a family theynever discovered. I have no idea if I have any grandparents, aunts,uncles, or cousins. I might, but the police couldn’t find anyone,and no one came forward to claim her. During the thirty days shewas under evaluation, they learned my mother was pregnant withlittle ole me.”
Brakes squealed and horns blared when Aidenjerked the wheel. He pulled the car to the side of the road and putit in park. He stared at the car in front of him as he tried toprocess what she’d revealed.
“What happened after that?” he inquired.
“They kept my mother’s story mostly out ofthe news because of her rape and consequent mental state, but I’veread the police, doctor, and social work reports about her. I alsogathered some information from her when I saw her. In the reports,I learned that upon hearing she was to be the bearer of vampirespawn, my dear old mom grabbed a scalpel and tried to cut me fromher belly. She would have succeeded too if it hadn’t been for thedoctors, nurses, orderlies, and guards who rushed in to stop her.Of course, this was after she already stabbed one of the otherdoctors and a nurse. The nurse didn’t survive.”
“Shit,” Aiden breathed.
“Yeah, pretty much. They deemed dear old Momincapable of standing trial, took me from her as soon as I wasborn, and locked her away. She still screams of vampires, devilspawn, and Hell. And I… well, I am the source of her madness. Ibelieved she was crazy, but the one thing I did figure out while wewere running last night is that she’snotcrazy. Youyourself said you were born.”
“You smelled the Savages,” he murmured. “Inoticed a couple of times you covered your nose or picked up agarbage scent, but I assumed it was because there was garbagenearby, but you scentedthem.”
“There was no garbage in the ambulance whenthey first attacked us, and I smelled the faintest hint of it then.I don’t think it’s anywhere near as strong as what you described,but yes, I think I can smell them.”
Aiden felt like someone had punched him inthe gut as he gazed at her. He recalled the way she’d reacted tohim in the ambulance, then in the bathroom, and realized she mightnot be feeling the mating instinct as fiercely as he was, but shefelt something for him.
“It would be possible for a vampire andhuman to conceive, or at least I think it would,” he said as hetried to puzzle it out. “We’re unable to contract or carrydiseases, but we do have many human functions, including producingsperm. However, most vampires are careful to keep our existencelisted firmly in the mythological, and spreading half-vampirechildren around could rock that boat, big time, so we take care notto breed with humans.”
“Judging from what I read about my mother’scondition that night, I don’t think she was meant to survive herattack. They reported a knife had slashed her throat, but I realizenow it wasn’t a knife. The doctors feared she would die from herblood loss.”
“Vampires who attack humans never intend forthem to survive.”
“So, my father is, or most likely was, aSavage.” For some reason, Maggie didn’t feel as sick as she’dthought she would over that realization. But then, she’d known shewas the product of rape for six years. This knowledge was no worsethan that.
“It sounds like it.”
“Why wouldn’t he go after her again to makesure she didn’t speak if you’re all so concerned about keeping yourexistence from humans?”
“It’s hard to say,” Aiden replied. “Maybe hethought she’d died, especially if she was kept out of the news.Maybe he wasn’t strong enough to go through all the police,doctors, and everyone else who was involved to change theirmemories and cover his tracks. I believe that’s the most likelyscenario if he didn’t kill the police, and her, at the scene. Itsounds like he was a vampire who had recently given in to hisSavage nature.”
“I wonder how long the asshole held outbefore he started killing,” Maggie snorted. “Do you think he’sstill alive?”
“If he got smarter about his attacks, hecould be. If he didn’t, then no, he didn’t survive very long. Anyvampire, Savage or not, would have taken him out to stop him fromleaving more witnesses behind, as he did with your mother.”
“Hmm,” Maggie murmured.
Aiden didn’t want to say his next words, buthe knew he had to offer it to her, especially if she became amember of his family and met his brother-in-law, Brian. “I knowsomeone who might be able to help you find your father if you’dlike to try?”
Maggie bit her lip as she pondered thisbefore shaking her head. “No. I got all I ever needed from thatasshole.”
“Okay,” Aiden said. “What about yourmother’s family?”
She considered it before shaking her head.“No, the past is best left to the past.”
“If you change your mind—”
“I won’t. What exactly is a vampire?” Maggieasked to switch the subject. “I mean, how is it possible you haveso many human traits and tendencies?”
