The Vampiric Housewife

by Kristen Marquette

  He parked the car and got out. They followed him into an elevator and rode several flights up. When the doors opened, Ethan stepped out with Valerie behind him, but the kids lingered.

  “There are no windows,” he assured them, but they still stuck their heads out to investigate before cautiously following him. It was obvious they did not trust him. Maybe they didn’t even trust her, not after she risked their lives by threatening to expose them to the sun. She never would have let that happen. If they had begun to burn, she would have gotten them into the dumpster. They would have been safe there. She hoped they knew that she would never let anything bad happen to them for as long as she lived.

  Ethan pulled some keys from his pocket and unlocked the door. Inside was pitch black. He turned on the lights.

  “Is this where you live?” Amelia asked looking around the bare apartment. It was spacious with shiny hardwood floors, vaulted ceilings, and blank white walls. But it was empty. Not a couch or chair or TV. Just shutters over what would have been a stunning view of the city.

  “No. It’s a safe house.”

  “Where’s my dad? What happened to him?” John demanded. “We just left him.”

  “Your dad was keeping the other vampires busy so I could escape and take you to a safe place. He told me to keep you safe,” Ethan lied. He wasn’t quite sure why he had. It just seemed to be what they needed to hear.

  John only looked slightly appeased. “Maybe he got away. We have to look for him when the sun goes down.”

  “No,” Ethan said. “They captured him.”

  “Then we have to rescue him! We can’t let Dr. Venjamin get him! He’ll kill Dad!”

  “No,” he said. “It’s not safe. I have to get the four of you out of the city.”

  “We can’t just leave him!”

  “John, your dad wouldn’t want you to get hurt trying to rescue him,” Valerie said. “The whole point of leaving Sangre Valley was to keep you kids safe. That was all he wanted.”

  “He would come after us. He saved us. We have to save him.”

  “No,” Ethan repeated.

  “But your organization,” Amelia said, “they can help him, right?”

  He nodded. “But the priority is to secure the four of you.”

  “This is bullshit!” John turned to his mother. “How can you just leave him to die? He’s your husband! He loves you! He loves us! You really don’t care about him, do you? You want them to kill him because he lied to us, because he drinks human blood. So what? Maybe he didn’t have a choice, did you ever think of that? Maybe they would have killed him if he didn’t? But you’ll do anything to save yourself! Even if it means letting our dad die! Even if it means frying us in an alley!”

  “John, I never would have—“

  “I don’t believe you!”

  Tear glimmered in Valerie’s eyes. But she blinked them back. “I love you, John. And I love your father. But he wants you safe. I want you safe. We’ll find him.”

  “I don’t believe you,” he repeated, this time in a slow whisper that was full of malice.

  Valerie straightened her back. “You don’t have to. That doesn’t make it any less true.”

  Mother and son stared at each other for a moment until John finally looked away, tears of frustration and anger slipping down his cheeks.

  Ethan cleared his throat. “There are three bedrooms. I have the one farthest down the hall. There are mattresses in the others. You should get some rest. There is a bathroom on the right. We’ll be gone at sunset.” With that he walked down a narrow hallway and disappeared into his bedroom.

  “Come on,” Amelia said grabbing the suitcase and Harry. “John,” she said softly touching his back. He flinched away from her but followed her down the hall into one of the empty bedrooms.

  Alone, Valerie brushed away a couple of tears and closed her eyes. She could feel a sob trying to strangle her, but she fought it. If she broke down now, she didn’t know if she’d be able to pull it back together.

  With long, determined strides, she walked down the hall and knocked on Ethan’s door before opening it. He was sitting on a mattress on the floor, his jacket off, cell phone in his hand. He looked up at her and put the phone away. “You should try to sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be a long night.”

  She stepped into the room and shut the door behind her.

  “The sun doesn’t burn me. Why?”

  He stood up. “You’ll find that Venjamin misled you on a lot of things.”

  “Like coffins,” she said with a small smile looking at the mattress.

  “His own twisted sense of humor.”

  “But Charlie got burnt. We were traveling during the day. His lips and face turned to ash.”

  “Sunlight is deadly to made-vampires, but not to born-vampires.”

  “And my children?” she asked hopeful. Maybe her bluff hadn’t endangered them.

  “We don’t know. Venjamin has the monopoly on crossbreeds.”

  “I really don’t understand made-vampires versus born-vampires. Why are there different kinds? How do you make a vampire? Why would you?”

  “It’ll be better to let the experts explain it to you. But you will get your answers,” he assured her.

  She nodded. “Can you at least tell me some other things that Venjamin lied about? I feel like I’m this child walking around in a fog, naïve and ignorant of the world, filled with superstition. I feel . . . stupid and foolish.”

  “You’re not stupid or foolish. What do you want to know?”

  “Garlic. We were taught to stay away from it when we played outside.”

  “We’re allergic, but it’s only an irritant. Not deadly.”

  “Silver?”

  He nodded. “That can kill us, scar us, contain us.”

  “Okay. Wooden stakes?”

  He nodded again. “Silver, wood, and beheading, those are just about the only ways to kill a vampire. Sunlight if you’re a made-vampire. Crosses and holy water won’t bother you at all.”

  “Of course not. We went to church every Sunday.” She was confused.

  Ethan gave a grim smile. “Another amusement of Venjamin. This time a joke on the humans rather than the vampires.”

  “Why all the silly rules?”

  “There are human myths about us. We sleep in coffins. We have no reflection. We are creatures of the devil so crosses and holy water burn us. Venjamin must have gotten a kick out of playing with them in his little town. When we get to headquarters, you can borrow books on human vampire myths if you’d like. They’re entertaining.”

  “Charlie said my parents were human.”

  “Until Venjamin created Sangre Valley, most—if not all—living vampires came from humans.”

  “What?” Her heart stopped in her chest. Her mind was trying to make sense of what just came out of his mouth. “You mean my birth parents were also human? Am I part human then?” She was thinking of the people who raised her when she asked about her parents being human. But the parents who conceived her, gave birth to her, were humans as well? How was that possible?

  He should not be getting into this with her. “No, you’re not human. You’re not a crossbreed. I’m not the one to explain this to you. When we get to headquarters, there will be people there who can explain it all much better than me.”

  “Then tell me about my adoptive parents. Were they human?”

  “I don’t know for sure. Probably. We know that in the beginning of his experiment, Venjamin used humans to raise the living vampires. He didn’t trust made-vampires yet. Very few born-vampires make it to adulthood in the human world.”

  “Why?”

  “Again, I should—“

  “My adoptive parents’ death—“

  “Done so you would marry Charlie.”

  Her body went cold. “Done. What do you mean ‘done’?”

  He only stared at her. He wasn’t suppose to be the one to tell her all this. His only mission was to bring them to safety so the others
could explain it all. He didn’t want to be the one to hurt her like this.

  “Valerie, have you learned nothing about Venjamin? He orchestrated everything in Sangre Valley.”

  “He murdered my parents.” Yes, she should have known that. How could she not have seen it before? She never would have married Charlie Murray if her parents had lived, not if she still had their love, their support, their encouragement. Of course, how real was that love and support? Her parents were in on the experiment. They fed her human blood in a bottle, blood of their own species. Who in her life had not lied to her?

  “How? I was told a car accident. How did he do it?”

  “I don’t know for sure.”

  “But you probably know,” she said.

  “Venjamin is a practical man. He had a village of vampires to feed.”

  Valerie closed her eyes and tried not to be sick. “Charlie knew this.”

  “I don’t see how he could not have.”

  A couple tears escaped her eyes before she opened them. “Thank you for your honesty. I’ll let you get some rest.” She turned to leave.

  “Charlie didn’t tell me to keep you safe,” he blurted out. “But he would have. Just to be honest.”

  She kept her back to him. “Thank you.”

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Let the Fangs Come Out

  John would have preferred to be alone. He couldn’t even remember what alone felt like. Well, physical aloneness. The other type of aloneness—the kind that meant being away from Lisa and everything else familiar to him, having his father stolen from him, the kind that came from being surrounded by the people who were suppose to love you but didn’t understand a damn thing about you or what you were going through—he knew all too well. In the last week he had gotten to know that kind of loneliness real well. As much as he wanted to kill it, he would give just about anything to have a day to himself without his siblings or mother or some stranger just a foot away.

  But Amelia insisted that they put all three mattresses into one room so they could sleep together and feel safe. He didn’t know why she didn’t want to take advantage of having separate rooms. She was usually the antisocial one. But after what happened tonight, she was probably scared. And when Harry didn’t object to the idea or even protest, instead rushing to help her haul the two twin mattresses into the bedroom that housed a queen sized one, John wasn’t going to fight them.

  The room was almost wall to wall mattresses, no bed frames or box springs. Just some sheets, thin blankets that smelled as if they had been in storage for a season, and flat pillows. John immediately claimed a twin mattress. If he couldn’t have his own room, he would have his own bed. He half wished that he had his old coffin back. At first he liked the human beds, less constrictive, softer. But the coffin offered a certain security.

  Valerie had yet to join them as they settled into the mattresses.

  “I can’t believe her,” John snarled under his breath. There was only one bed left in the apartment. That was the only place she could be.

  “Stop it,” Amelia snapped. “Just stop it.”

  “There is only one place she could be right now and—“

  “Don’t even go there, John.”

  “Why not? She doesn’t want Dad to come back. She made that clear in the motel room when she said that shit about human blood. Venjamin just took care of the problem for her.”

  “Mom doesn’t want Dad dead or hurt. She already saved his life once.”

  “Then why else aren’t we going after him? Why are we letting some stranger tell us what do unless she just wanted to screw—“

  “Stop!” Amelia yelled. “Grow the hell up, John. Dad escaped from Venjamin once before. He got caught so we could get away. And you want to honor his sacrifice by throwing ourselves to Venjamin? Dad can take care of himself. He will take care of himself. He will escape and he will come and find us. And that stranger in there is the only chance of survival that we have! Dad knew that too.”

  “I guess Mom’s not the only one with a crush,” he snickered. “We know what kind of men you fall for. Look at Drew—“

  He felt a slap across his face that he had never seen coming. His face stung. Amelia had never hit him before—not really hit him. A punch or a jab in the chest in sibling rivalry but never in anger. He turned his head back to look at her, shocked. Harry had moved back and was watching with an enthralled smile on his face.

  Amelia’s face was bright red, her dark eyes glowering with anger, tears barely brimming. “You should be ashamed of yourself John Charles Murray.”

  Guilt made him sick to his stomach. He had only been thinking about Drew working for Venjamin. The thought that Drew tried to rape her and feed off her never occurred to him. He would never have insinuated such a thing.

  “Aims, I didn’t mean—“

  “You have no right to judge anyone! He was your friend for two years.”

  “I know. I’m sorry, Aims. I didn’t mean it the way it came out.”

  She took a deep breath but was still fuming. “Well, you should be ashamed for what you said about Mom too. She’s doesn’t want anything bad to happened to Dad. She’s just angry at him. Can’t you see this from her point of view? I know I can, and I can’t blame her for being angry at him.”

  “Don’t—“

  “He lied to her! Her whole adult life was a lie, a lie that he was part of. Do you even realize that Mom and Dad probably aren’t actually married? Do you realize that her husband, her friends, everyone was just pretending so they could spy on her, on us. What if you found out Lisa had been dating you just because someone was paying her too?”

  “She’d never—“

  “You’re probably right. Both her parents are born-vampires. But she could have been. Drew was. He was never your friend. He was spying on you for two years. How many of your friends have fathers from the Silent Coven? How many of them have been lied to and spied on by their fathers? How does that make you feel? Mom knew Dad for nearly twenty years. She loved him. Had children with him. And everyday he pretended—“

  “He wasn’t pretending! He loved us. He cared about us. He got us out, didn’t he? He saved our lives!”

  “John, we know nothing about him! He lied to us our entire lives about everything, what he did for a living, what he was, what humans were. Christ even what year it was! Who knows what Dr. Venjamin was doing to us at all those doctor appointments. How can we trust him? How could Mom ever trust him?”

  “None of that matters! We know everything important about him.”

  “Maybe we do,” she said quietly. She had seen what her father was really like. Locked in the trunk of a car, she listened to her father joke around with the guard he had obviously known for awhile, then she watched him rip out the throat of the human who had done him a favor. There was no need for that guard to die. He had already let them pass. For the first time she had seen who her father really was. She wanted him safe from Venjamin, but she didn’t know if she wanted him in her life.

  “Don’t be like her!”

  “Mom has never lied to us! You should remember that.”

  “Maybe you should remember that he’s our dad and nothing changes that.”

  She stared at her brother. He couldn’t understand. He was pissed and scared and for whatever reason had chosen to blame their mom. Amelia had never realized her brother was so dense. They were all hurting right now, but she’d be damned if she allowed him to take it out on the rest of them, especially Valerie.

  John may not trust Ethan, but Amelia did. Whoever he was, whoever he worked for, he had answers for them, he could teach them to be like other vampires while respecting their desire to renounce human blood. He was brusque and curt. Arrogant and pushy. But his every action had purpose, his every word had meaning. That meant that he could be trusted. Plus he had this masculine, confident mystique about him. It made you feel safe when you were near him. Maybe she did have a little crush. He was gorgeous, those deep blue eyes and
mysterious scars, his massive size. She had been sketching his face in her head. But her attraction to him had nothing to do with trusting him. She had already learned not to put much faith in those instincts.

  Valerie came into the bedroom. John immediately punched his pillow and lied with his back to the room. Harry crawled onto the other twin mattress, and Amelia made room for her mom. Her eyes were red as if she had been crying and she was paler than usual. Amelia wondered what she and Ethan had discussed. But she didn’t ask. Valerie lied down, put her arms around her daughter and silently began to weep.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  The Mystery Vampire

  Dr. Venjamin was on one side of the two-way mirror grinding his teeth while Charlie was on the other side chained to his chair. That useless walking corpse. He wanted to save his family. Didn’t he realize that his family didn’t belong to him, that they belonged to Venjamin? At first this whole fiasco was a headache but now it was seriously pissing him off. It may have lead to a breakthrough—the secret to immortality lying in the blood of a vampire—but to determine that he needed his damn subjects back! He hated that a loathed corpse had not only defied him, but now held all the cards.