by Tinnean
He gave the bags a pained glance but took them after releasing my brothers’ hands.
Just then, the twins’ father called, “David! Jonathan! We have to leave, boys.”
We turned back and walked to the house.
THE HOUSE was quiet.
David and Jonathan and their dad had left, Mr. Taylor murmuring apologetically that by the time he got home, it would be past the twins’ bedtime, and their mother would be very unhappy.
Luke had to work the late shift, in spite of having lost his brother, and he took Ekaterina’s phone number with him when he climbed into his car. Raymond pretended he didn’t see my look, but apparently he didn’t mind. Was he playing matchmaker?
Raymond didn’t stay. He grinned and turned down Dad’s grudging invitation to enter the house. “Adam is here. I must see Ekaterina home.”
How had he known she wouldn’t have a car available? William and Henry had volunteered to drive my sisters home. Sarah and Bethany seemed pleased about that.
Mrs. Wilder offered to stay the night with Dad. She was a nice woman. No matter how Matthew had turned out, Dad needed someone to help him mourn his firstborn child’s passing.
She and Dad walked into the kitchen, and Harker trailed after them.
Now I was alone except for Mina. I sprawled on the couch, and she rested on my stomach. It had been a long, sad day, and I was glad it was almost over.
I thought back over the past eight months. So much had happened. I knew why de Vivar wanted me, but would I ever know why Matthew had been willing to give me to him?
I became aware it was no longer just me and Mina. Adam stood in the doorway to the living room.
“Good evening, Adam.”
“Good evening.” He was as gorgeous as ever, but I could tell something was bothering him.
“Off, Min.” She walked to the end of the couch and made herself comfortable, and I swung my legs off and motioned for Adam to join me. He settled himself in a corner of the couch, and after I made myself comfortable in the vee of his thighs, he drew me back to lie against his chest.
He stroked my hair and nuzzled my ear, his breath cool against my birthmark. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be with you, Ty.”
So that was it.
“You’re always with me, Adam. Don’t you know that?” I angled my head around and smiled into his eyes. “You’re here.” I touched my temple. “And here.” I touched my heart.
I leaned back against him, pulled his arms around me, and sighed happily.
“And here.”
They Come By Night Cast of Characters
Ben Small (b. 1963)
Magdalena Crist (b. 1965)
Matthew (1985)
Luke (l987)
Sarah (1988)
Bethany (1990)
Tyrell (1996)
Smalls: name was changed from Lupescu
Joe – father
Ben – oldest
Dave – middle brother
Phil (Phillip) – youngest brother (sabor)
Crists: name was changed from Dragomir when they fled Romania
Noah – father
Simon-Peter
Caleb – son Jared
Ethan
Gabriel
Abraham – daughter Hannah, son Daniel—taken by de Vivar
Jonah – wife Elisheba, daughter Naomi
Samuel
Magdalena – second marriage to Glenn Taylor produced twins David and Jonathan (b. 2006)
Vampyrs:
Adam Dasani – nephew/equerry to the rege
Alexandru Mondragon – rege
Terese Mondragon Dasani (married Flavio Dasani), twin sons Stephan, Adam
Vidalia – Phillip Small’s vampyr, mother of his twins, Aurel and Ioan Mic (Small)
Rául Navarro y Casárez – one of the last victims of the Inquisition – Adam turned him to keep him from dying
Raymond Girard – the rege’s chief enforcer
Valeriu – Adam’s son
Juan de Vivar – met Terese Mondragon at Carlos I’s court. Not only was he a vampyr, but he'd been born a Grande de España; he was el Duque de Málaga. As such, he felt he should be able to do as he chose.
De Vivar’s vampyrs:
Miguel
Benito
José
Antonia – whore (created rather than turned through the exchange of blood and semen instead of blood and blood)
Esteban
Diego
Corazón (mother figure)
Graciana (actress/nun)
Sor Belicia (name means “Dedicated to God” – walked into the sun rather than remain with de Vivar)
Rhiannon (Jane Jones)
Áedán Mac Lochlainn – Irish vampyr working undercover for the rege
American vampyr:
Lindsey Diamond
Day Watchers
Ekaterina
William
Henry
Thomas
Romi
Milosh
Dodona
Vadoma
Shandor
About the Author
TINNEAN has been writing since the third grade, where she was inspired to try her hand at epic poetry. Fortunately, that epic poem didn’t survive the passage of time; however, her love of writing not only survived but thrived, and in high school she became a member of the magazine staff, where she contributed a number of stories.
It was with the advent of the family’s second computer—the first intimidated everyone—that her writing took off, enhanced in part by fanfiction, but mostly by the wonder that is copy and paste.
While involved in fandom, she was nominated for both Rerun and Light My Fire Awards. Now she concentrates on her original characters, and a recent novel received honorable mention in the 2013 Rainbow Awards.
A New Yorker at heart, she resides in SW Florida with her husband and two computers.
Ernest Hemingway’s words reflect Tinnean’s devotion to her craft: “Once writing has become your major vice and greatest pleasure, only death can stop it.”
She can be contacted at [email protected], and can be found on Live Journal: http://tinnean.livejournal.com/, Twitter: @tinneantoo, and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tinnean.
If you’d like to sample her earlier works, they can be found at http://www.angelfire.com/fl5/tinnssinns/Welcome1.html.