Kalista: The Undead Dating Agency Book 2

by Janet Lee Smith

  “Wow! I didn’t even think of that. There’s a problem though. I only know my family history on my dad’s side. My mom left us when I was just a baby. Never told me dad why, she just left one day. She left a note so he wouldn’t worry or look for her, but it only said that she was fine, but it was best for me if she left. I don’t know how she felt me growing up with no mother was what was best for me. My dad never stopped loving her, and never remarried.”

  “This is going to sound weird, but I think we should start with your mother. How much do you know about her? I’m guessing you at least know her name, so why don’t we start there.” When I looked at her, I saw her eyes were misty. I felt bad for bringing this up for her, but I had a feeling this is where we should start. “Sure, I know her name. I even have pictures. My dad wanted to make sure I at least knew what she looked like. My mother’s name is Agatha.”

  She didn’t just say that her mother’s name was Agatha, did she? No, it can’t be. I’m not even sure how I was able to respond to her. “Angela, will you please go get the pictures of your mother?” Angela’s face paled when I asked her that. She could tell that I thought I knew who her mom was. “Sure. I’ll be right back.”

  I sat there waiting for Angela to return not knowing what to think. Part of me wanted to cry in joy and part of me wanted to strangle my sister for leaving her daughter. Yes, I said my sister. There was only one very powerful witch that I knew of named Agatha, and that was my older sister. Ollie was the only person in my family that I talked to since they disowned me when I was turned, but he kept in touch with the rest of our family.

  No one in my family had seen my sister in a few decades. She hated being a witch, so she ran from the family, thinking she could run away from being a witch. Life didn’t work that way, though. My parents searched for her for about ten years, then gave up. They never gave up hope that she would return one day.

  Angela returned and handed me a picture. I tried to keep my emotions in check, but as soon as I saw my sister I started to cry. “Janis, what’s going on? It’s obvious that you know my mother. How do you know her?” Okay, Janis, pull yourself together.

  “Well, I’m not sure how you’ll feel about this, and unfortunately I don’t know where your mother is, but yes, I do know her. Angela, I’m your aunt. Your mother is my older sister. We seem to have found the powerful witch that helped to make Madison such a force of nature.” Oh no, she’s crying. I have to do something. Maybe if I just pat her shoulder it will help. “Are you okay, Angela? I didn’t mean to upset you. What can I do to help?” I’m really not good at this. How do humans handle things like this? Thank the Goddess, she appears to be stopping.

  “It’s not you Janis. Or should I say aunt Janis?” She’s laughing. That’s good right? “I just can’t believe I’ll finally meet my mother and find out why she left us.” Uh-oh. Now what? How do I tell her I haven’t seen her mom in in over 400 years, and my family hasn’t seen her in over 200? Seriously, how do you humans do all of this emotional stuff? Even when we meet our one true mate we don’t go through all of this. Don’t get me wrong, we love them beyond measure, but there’s not all of this.

  “Sweetie, I’m sorry, but I haven’t seen your mom since I was turned, and the rest of my family hasn’t seen her in about 200 years. From what they told Ollie, she just couldn’t handle being a witch, so she just left one day. No one in my family has seen her since. She had always hated being a witch, and we think it just got worse as the years went by. We live for a very long time, hell we might as well be immortal, and some witches end up hating the life that witches lead.”

  I hope she doesn’t start crying again. I hate seeing her in pain like that, especially since I don’t know what to do to help her. It’s been so long since I saw my own mother that I got over it a long time ago. I occasionally missed her, but it just didn’t affect me much anymore. Humans are different than vamps and witches though, hell any supernatural. All supernaturals love our parents, of course, but a lot of us end up leaving our family home and moving on, going for years without seeing them.

  For us vamps, unless we can convince an Ancient to turn our family, we outlive them. Since my family are witches that didn’t happen to me, no, they just abandoned me because they couldn’t handle me being a vampire. I often thanked the Goddess for Ollie. I would have had no one when I was turned, except my sire, if Ollie hadn’t chosen to come with me when I was banished from the family homestead.

  “I’m so sorry, Angela. First, I tell you who your mom is, then I tell you I have no idea where she is. I’ll talk to Ollie and ask him if he has heard anything about her. My family will have nothing to do with me, but they still talk to Ollie. I’ll tell him to let my mom know that she has a granddaughter and a great-granddaughter. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure how they’ll take to Madison because she is now a vampire.”

  Uh-oh. She looks angry now. Can I possibly screw this up anymore? “You mean they may not accept Mia because she’s a vampire? Then I want nothing to do with them. Please do try and find out where my mom is, I would love to finally meet her. But as for the rest of them? I won’t take a chance on them hurting my daughter. I don’t care who they are.”

  Now this is the Angela I know. She’s no longer crying, that’s a good thing. I hope Madison takes the news well. I don’t think I can handle a crying teenager. Even if that crying teenager is my great niece.

  Kalista

  Where in Satan’s world is Janis? She went out right after dinner and didn’t tell Madison or I where she was going. I couldn’t wait to tell her that Mandy is setting me up on a date with William Sarducci! Madison couldn’t believe it when I told her. She told me if she didn’t like that little witch, Julie, so much, she would hope Beyonce was her true mate. I couldn’t argue with that. Hell, I wouldn’t mind if Beyonce was my true mate. That woman was gorgeous, no matter what your sexuality is, amirite?

  Madison had been out most of the day, spending time with some of her human friends. My bloodlust is almost under control, but I still couldn’t spend much time with humans. I talked to my friends on the phone, but it wasn’t the same. Janis said she thinks I’ll be able to spend time with my friends soon. I hope she’s right.

  In the meantime, I have Madison and Janis to hang around with. If only one of them would get home from wherever they were. Oh, there’s the door! One of them is finally home. “Hey, Maddie.” I laughed inside when I said that. I know she hates being called Maddie. I don’t call her that to be mean, I do it because Madison has quickly become the little sister that I never had. So, I love teasing her.

  Uh-oh she’s glaring at me. I think I’m in trouble. “Kali, if you call me Maddie one more time, I’m going to beat you to a pulp.” Okay, giggling at her comment might not have been the best idea. Wait, no, she’s trying to hide a smile. My little sister loves it when I tease her, even though she tries to play tough.

  “You know Maddie, it’s not nice to threaten your older sister like that. I’m older and wiser, I can come up with many ways to get even.” Wait, did she really just laugh at that? What a brat! “Well, how about I don’t threaten you anymore if you don’t call me Maddie anymore?” “Nope, sorry. I can’t guarantee that, sorry Madison.” I grabbed one of the pillows on the couch and threw it out her to show her who’s the boss. Alright, it proved nothing.

  She may be a badass vamp/witch hybrid, but I’m still her older sister, and that trumps her hybrid status. “What’d ya do while I was out, Kali? You had the whole apartment to yourself. Did ya sneak anyone in?” Did I say she’s a brat? I couldn’t have been this difficult when I was 16 years old. Nah, I was a perfect teenager. Don’t look at me like that. You want my mother’s phone number to call and ask her?

  “No, I didn’t sneak anyone in, why would I? I’m the adult here”, I couldn’t help but smirk when I said that. “Whatever, at least I get to go out by myself”, she said that as she threw the pillow back at me. “Seriously, you have to be that mean to me?” I wonder if I c
ould get out a few tears, maybe she’ll feel sorry if she thinks she hurt my feelings? Of course, she didn’t hurt my feelings, I know she was just giving me a hard time. But hey, it could work in my favor if she thinks she did!

  Damn it, I can’t fake any tears. “Awwww, don’t cry now, Kali.” I threw the pillow back at her so fast she didn’t have a chance to duck this time. I have a pretty good aim when I want to. Those years playing softball in high school paid off. “You’re right though, you can go out and I can’t. Which means that at the moment I have to live my life vicariously through you, so what’d ya do today?”

  “Nothing much. I went over to Julie’s and we hung out. We watched a couple of movies, and I helped her practice a couple of spells she’s been working on.” Hmmm…why would she need help practicing spells? “What do you mean, you helped her practice spells? Can’t witches just do spells automatically?”

  “All witches are born with magic, so they can do spells almost as soon as they’re born. As long as they live with other witches. I guess there have been witches who ended up adopted by humans who never even realized they were witches. So, their magic never manifests itself. But even when they grow up around other witches they have to practice the more complicated spells. Julie’s magic is really good for a witch our age, but there’s still some spells she has to practice.”

  “Oh wow, I never knew that. I just always assumed they could just automatically do any spell they wanted. I mean they’re not like us, we’re not born vamps, so we have to learn. You would think I would have learned long ago not to assume.” I really should have learned long ago not to assume anything.

  Before our sire turned me, I assumed the myth that all vampires are beautiful was true. Let me tell you, with some of the vamps I’ve met since I was turned, I learned that was nothing but a myth. Although most of the ones I’ve met are very beautiful, there are some that that were let’s say challenged in the looks department. How it works is being turned does make one better looking, but if someone is butt ugly when they’re humans, there was only so much being turned can do.

  “I’ve been waiting for one of you to get home. Guess what?” Madison had gone in the kitchen to get some blood before sitting down across from me at Janis’ desk. She was about to go on the laptop, but I needed to share my news about my date before I exploded. At least she didn’t totally blow me off.

  “What’s up? You look awfully happy today. Did your bloodlust finally stop? Can you finally be around humans again? Because I’m getting kind of bored having you around here all the time”, she said with a smirk on her face. “You know, Maddie, you’re really annoying at times. Can you just shush while I tell you my news?”

  “Okay, you have five minutes.” Did she just smirk at me? I’ll give her five minutes. I wonder if Janis can punish her? Maybe keep her in the house for a week. Maybe if she can’t see Julie, she’ll stop meaning mean. I see that look on your face. I know I’m being bratty, so just sit there and read, k? “Well, you know how I went on the matchmaker’s website?” Oh, look at her face. My little sister is interested now.

  “She called me and told me she thinks she knows who my true mate is. And boy, is he a rich hottie! Kind of all, but everything else makes up for it.” “Don’t leave me hanging, who is it?” I guess I have more than five minutes now. I wonder what she finds more interesting, the hottie part or the rich part? “You won’t believe this. She thinks my true mate is William Sarducci.”

  If the way she’s sitting there with her mouth hanging open is any indication, she’s impressed. “As in the creator of SnapFace?” Yeah, she’s impressed. But who wouldn’t be? “The one and only. Mandy is setting us up on a date.” “Damnnnnnn, that’s not even right. I’m better looking than you, how come I don’t have a true mate like that?”

  “Who said you’re better looking than me? And you’re 16 years old, you’re too young to meet your true mate. Plus, you have your little witch.” “That’s true. Julie is pretty cute isn’t she. Plus, she’s becoming a powerful witch. Okay, you can have William Sarducci, I’ll keep my little witch.” “I’m sure Julie will be happy to hear that”. Don’t look at me like that, I’m only teasing her. I know she really likes Julie, and they’re cute together. “You tell her I said that, and I’ll end you, sister of mine”.

  “You teenagers are so melodramatic. Of course, I wouldn’t tell her you said that, silly. Seriously, though, you two are adorable. Who knows, maybe she is your true mate and neither of you can tell because you’re both so young. I would love to see you two together forever.” Awww look at that smile on her face. “I have to admit, I wouldn’t mind that. She’s really gotten to me. I know I’m young and have plenty of time to find my true mate, but I do kind of hope it’s Julie.”

  I wouldn’t tell Madison this, but Janis had told me that she’s pretty sure that Julie is Madison’s true mate, but she doesn’t think they’ll realize it for at least two or three years. Evidently even though vamps don’t generally care about things like age, the magic that we have does recognize age in some ways, like when it comes to young vamps finding their true mates. The Ancients, who put all of the magic that animates us in place, set that up specifically to make sure young vamps have time to enjoy themselves before settling down.

  “But let’s talk about you and William Sarducci. When are you two going out? “I’m note sure. Mandy is going to contact him and ask him when he wants to take me out. I’m kind of nervous, I mean he isn’t just any guy, you know.” Hmmmm….Madison looks serious over there. That can’t be good. “I never thought of you as someone who would be nervous about some guy, even a guy like William Sarducci.” She has no idea how right she is.

  “I’ve never been nervous about a guy before. To be honest, I’m not sure why I am now. So, what if he’s gorgeous and rich? Those things aren’t what’s intimidating me, but I can’t figure out what it is.” Now she looks like she’s deep in thought. Maybe she can help me figure this out. Because it’s really annoying me. Men don’t intimidate me. “Maybe it’s because you think he may be your true mate? I would be nervous if I thought Julie was my true mate.”

  Well, I’m glad I didn’t tell her what Janis said! I wouldn’t want her to have all of these butterflies in her stomach. “That actually makes sense. If he’s my true mate, that is kind of scary. Especially at my age. Why did I do this, what was I thinking? I’m too young to find my true mate.”

  Yeah, I’m totally losing it. Maybe I should cancel the date before it’s even set up. “Breathe, Kali. Janis said that Mandy is the best at what she does. Instead of being nervous, why don’t you enjoy the ride?” Boy, for a 16-year-old, she’s pretty smart!

  Madison

  Janis went to talk to my mom after dinner but wouldn’t tell me why. I didn’t really think about it until I realized that she’d been gone a long time. Now I wanted to know what she wanted to talk to her about. I mean what could take so long? Kali and I had been talking for a while, so I didn’t really think about it. But Janis had told her she could go outside for awhile tonight, so she went to see some of her friends.

  Wait, there’s the door. I hope that’s Janis. “Hey, Madison, I have some bags, can you give me a hand?” I looked up and there was Janis, with a bunch of bags. But not bags from a store. What the hell does she have? “Sure Janis.” As she handed me a couple of the bags I realized that they were bags from my mom’s house. What the hell? “Why do you have stuff from my mom’s house, Janis?” Why does she look so nervous?

  “Have a seat, Madison. We need to have a talk. Your mom will also be here in a little bit. She had a couple of things to do before she left the house.” What’s going on here? Why would my mom need to come over? I know she’s not in danger of me attacking her anymore, but it’s already late. What had to be discussed tonight that couldn’t wait until tomorrow? I guess I better sit down if I want to find out.

  “Madison, you know how I’ve talked to you a little about how well you’re adjusting to being a vampire and how it�
��s unusual?” Wait, this has to do with how well I’m adjusting? Janis had never made it sound like a big deal, like it was a little odd, but not really a big deal. “Yeah, you said you weren’t sure why. Did you figure out why?”

  “What I didn’t tell you was I had an idea of why it was happening. But I had to talk to your mom first, to make sure I was right.” My mom? What the hell could my mom have to do with this? “Okay. But what could my mom have to do with this?” Janis sighed and looked excited and nervous at the same time. “Janis, you’re making me nervous.”

  “I seem to be doing that a lot tonight. I’m not trying to make you nervous, I swear. What I’m about to tell you is not a bad thing, so don’t worry.” That’s easy for her to say. How could I not be nervous the way she’s acting? “Okay, here goes. You’re my great niece.” Wait what did she just say? I’m her great niece? How is that even possible? She’s over 400 years old. How could I be her great niece? That would mean she’s my mom’s aunt. “I don’t understand.”

  “Well, I guess I should explain.” “You think?” I needed to pull myself together. “Madison, I understand your frustration. Just let me explain, k?” What else could I do? “Okay, go on.” “I know you never met your grandmother, your mom’s mom. Well, as it turns out your grandmother is my sister, Agatha. No on in my family has seen her in years, she ran away about 200 years ago. I don’t know why she left your mom, but I think it was because she hated being a witch and didn’t want to put it on your mother.”

  “You know that in addition to being a vampire, I come from a family of very powerful witches. In fact, one of the most powerful witch families in existence. Once you were turned, it kind of switched on your witch gene. This has turned you into a witch/vampire hybrid. There are only six of you in existence. I should be one, we never really figured out why, but my witchcraft went away when I was turned. While that’s what usually happens with witches, it’s not supposed to happen with witches from my line, our line. You are one of only six true immortals in the world.”