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“We pay them well,” Levka said. “Better than they could get at other households for the work they do. They get lots of time off, more than other places would give them. They do well.”
“I just mean they know what you are. I can’t unknow this stuff. I’m like them now is all I’m saying. But I don’t want to be them. I want to feel in control of my life, like I thought I had been before I knew all about vampires and hunters and that I was only…only a lame human. No disrespect to humans, really. But I want to have more of an impact with my life.”
“Sometimes it’s a pain to be a vampire,” Caitlin said. “When I feel undernourished and sluggish, weak, before I have to feed again. That I have to hide that I’m drinking blood. That I still can’t do everything that a vampire can do. It’s not like it’s an automatic cure all for life, though to be sure there are a lot of benefits.”
Fiona was glad Caitlin spoke up, being the most newly turned vampire. She would know what it felt like as compared to the others who had been turned during the Black Death or born to vampires.
Arman suddenly vanished from his seat and Fiona wondered what was up. Then Levka left in the same way, and she hoped there wasn’t trouble. “Arman, is everything okay?” She might not be able to travel like they could, but at least she could still telepathically communicate with the others.
“Yeah, Levka and I are coming. We have…some new guests.”
Could Fiona even chance hoping they were her parents? “Mom and Dad?”
“You’ll see.”
“Arman.” Fiona had had enough secrets in her life, she didn’t need any more, but because he didn’t say no, she assumed her parents had arrived. Her hands were clammy and she felt shivers trail down her spine all at once.
A pretty blond of about thirty with riveting green eyes walked into the dining room, who totally resembled Fiona in height, her large eyes, and her heart-shaped face. She was wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt that featured a wolf with vampire fangs. Fiona raised her brows.
“I was turned against my will,” the woman said to Justin.
Fiona assumed she had overheard the conversations about Justin wanting to be a vampire. Fiona heard the hurt in the woman’s voice, and she couldn’t imagine the terror she must have felt, or even the guilt she might have felt for turning her own beloved husband after that. To protect him, sure, but still, they’d been hunters.
“Are…are you my mother?” Fiona’s eyes filled with tears.
The woman turned and smiled sweetly at Fiona, her own eyes filled with tears.
Fiona immediately got up from her chair, hesitant to give her a hug in the event she was wrong or that if the woman was her mother, she wasn’t a huggable type or wasn’t ready to share any intimacy with Fiona.
“I am, Beatrice Fairhaven, and I love you, Fiona,” the woman said, pulling her into a hug. “It was the hardest thing for me to do—to give you up to a human family to save you. We knew Tobias would take you hostage and keep you until you turned eighteen and then turn you. All Nat and I could do was pay for things for you and Justin. We thought you were safe. That your human parents would keep you safe.”
“Where is my father?”
A blond-haired man walked into the dining room and smiled at Fiona. She recognized him from her dreams/visions. “You are…”
“Nathaniel Fairhaven, your father. We have longed to see you all your life, but now it’s time for us to stand united with the others here to fight the ones who?—”
“Turned my mother?” Fiona asked, giving her father a hug.
He warmly embraced her back. “Yes.” Then he glanced at Arman.
Everyone had risen from their seats and welcomed the couple, shaking Nat’s hand, embracing Bea.
“You’ve come just in time for Fiona’s birthday,” Arman said.
“And to protect her during the blood moon,” Bea said, taking hold of Fiona’s hand and squeezing it. “Have you thought of being turned, Fiona?”
“Everyone’s talked to me about it,” Fiona said.
“I want to be turned,” Justin said.
“It will change you forever, and you might not need to be, though to us, you are our adopted son, Justin,” Bea said. “We love you just as much as we love Fiona. You have been good for her all these years.”
Fiona was so glad her mother had said that about Justin.
“I’m ready. Really. If I can help my baby sister in this fight with the evil vampires, I’m ready for it,” Justin said, sounding as serious as could be.
“Do you realize if one of us bites you, that you are controlled by that person? Not that we would make you do what we want, but it’s just there is a condition to it,” Bea said.
