by Deborah Noel
Sam and Declan escorted Remmie back down to the holding cells. I was speechless and unable to move.
Chapter Forty-two
I pushed Remmie’s last words into the recesses of my brain and gathered all of the files, my laptop and went into my office. I put the files on top of the cabinet and sat down in front of my laptop to organize the notes. I created the database containing information on each of the vampires I knew, putting in every detail I had on them. I attached photo images of the marks left by their fangs, if I had them. So far I had Remmie, Bernard, the Dethstare family of six, Crevan, Rogi, Leonard, Tomos, Chloe, Emily and the beast I had seen with my own eyes. I included Oxmeade, though I wasn’t one hundred percent sure if he was a true vampire.
I made the same type of file for each of the victims who had been murdered by various vampires.
Declan was standing in the archway when I looked up. “You’ve been up all night. It’s 6 a.m., are you ready?”
Puzzled, I suddenly realized what he meant, “The envelope at my parents’ home. Right! I’m ready. Let’s go.”
Declan and I got set to go to my parents’ house, which was about two hours south. I checked on Bullet, who was resting comfortably and seemed to be in good spirits, though he didn’t bother to get up from under Sam’s feet. We said goodbye to everyone and jumped in the Jeep.
Two hours later, I was fishing around in the rock garden by front door of my first home looking for the fake stone with a key hidden inside. Declan walked around back once I found the key. I opened the door to my family’s house where I grew up and where Declan and I had lived while we were married until I left him many years ago. Declan had stayed in the house for a short time after I left, and then he moved in with Sam.
The place had been abandoned since. Once a week we paid the neighbor girl to come in and clean. The furniture was how it had been left. The pictures on the wall hung as they did when my mother had first put them there. Pictures of me and my sisters throughout our life were everywhere. Declan had added photos of our life together to the mix. And Mattie’s face in her younger years almost matched the number of mine hanging all around. I stopped in the living room and settled into the sofa for a minute. Scents of my mother, my father, and even Declan drifted up from the 30-year-old fabric. The only thing different in the room was Declan’s addition: a baby grand piano.
I could see images in my mind of my mother and father from years back in the kitchen preparing dinner together as they once had many, many years ago. They were laughing and giggling like two high school sweethearts. Mom was preparing all the veggies, while Dad was hand rubbing the steaks he was about to throw on the grill. He stopped to kiss her. She squealed in delight. I remembered those times more vividly now.
I could see in my own smile when I looked at Declan, my mother’s to my father. I knew how she felt back then. I knew the unconditional love my parents felt for each other. I knew it was what Mattie could see between her father and I. The type of love I yearned for while Declan and I were separated. The love that I could only find with him. I now had that every day and would forever. I smiled contentedly to myself.
Without warning, the back door squeaked open on its hinges. I rose and met Declan in the kitchen. We hugged, in the same place I remembered my father hugging my mother. He kissed my cheek. “I couldn’t see anyone hanging around, and nothing out of the ordinary is standing out in my mind,” he told me telepathically. “Did you get the envelope?”
“No,” I answered him back the same way.
Suddenly he raised his finger to his mouth. “Someone is coming.”
I froze.
“It’s your father,” he told me quietly.
Taken back, my eyebrows meet as I cocked my head to the side in surprise. My eyes widened.
“He has something to tell me.”
“How do you know?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I can feel it. He came here looking for me. Go get the letter under the mattress in Mattie’s room, wait there for me.”
“Are you sure?” His voice asked low in my head.
I blinked once.
“Very well,” he said, “you know where I’ll be.”
He kissed me again and disappeared, trusting me.
I went back to the living room and sat my father’s recliner and flipped on the TV. I sat back and waited. Minutes ticked away like hours. I waited, not hearing the low banter on the TV.
The key jingled in the front door’s knob. I hit the mute button on the remote to silence the TV. I straightened up in the chair. The door opened and my father walked in. His steps were slow, his shoulders slumped and his face void of emotions, though it was smeared with blood.
He turned and closed the door behind him. I was hidden from view behind the knee wall. He turned and headed down the hall towards the kitchen. He stopped and took in the pictures of his family hanging before him. When he got to his wedding picture, a lone tear fell from his eye.
“Go siorai, a chuisle, Mairead,” his tone broken. He traced my mother’s face with his fingertip. He left it hover upon her lips. He seemed frozen in a time long ago.
I could tell without reading my father’s mind and thoughts he was reliving his wedding day. I could see the memories outlined in his face.
My father dropped his arm down to his side. He turned and seemed startled when he realized I was in the house with him.
“What are you doing here?”
A chill ran through me when I met his eyes. “Looking for Mattie,” I admitted. “And what are you doing here? You haven’t been here in since you left all those years ago.”
At that moment, Declan turned the corner into the living room. Before I could blink, my father was across the room and had tackled Declan to the floor. Snarls and grunts filled the house. Thuds of fists hitting flesh and muscles seemed to echo off the walls.
My father’s deep voice screamed, “How could you let them take her?”
I watched in horror as my father bit Declan’s shoulder. I jumped out of the chair and onto my father’s back. With little effort he hurled me off of him and sent me flying into the wall. I blacked out for a second. When I opened my eyes, my father was on top of me. That’s when I noticed he had fangs. He lunged toward me. I threw my arm up to protect my neck and he sank his elongated teeth into the flesh of my arm. It felt like my arm was on fire. The sensation dissipated quickly.
A rage inside of me grew without warning and faster then I had ever imaged possible. I began shaking. With all I could muster, I threw my father off of me, as he had done to me. Surprised by this, my father flew backward. He stumbled, but regained his balance quickly.
“What is your fucking problem, old man? What are you talking about? We didn’t let anyone take Mattie.”
He hissed at me.
“And who are you talking about? Do you know who has Mattie?”
He took a step toward me. I was on my feet and ready to fight. Again he lunged at me. This time I was ready. A foot to his groin kept him from advancing any closer. He looked at me and spat, “Is that the best you have, child?”
I rammed my father, pinning him in the recliner behind him. We rocked back, but the chair remained upright. The lamp on the table beside, however, crashed to the floor, shattering. With precision and speed, I secured his hands in a pair of silver handcuffs, my silver amulet draped around his neck. “How’s that, Daddy? Good enough now?”
“So, you know?” he growled at me.
“Know what?”
“What you truly are?”
I rolled my eyes. Declan moaned. I turned my attention to my husband. I helped him onto the sofa. Blood was oozing from his shoulder. I ripped open his shirt and surveyed the damage. The flesh around the puncture marks looked burnt.
“I’m fine,” he moaned. He looked over me to my father. “Secure him better.”
My father twisted and turned but couldn’t pull himself out of the seat.
Telepathically I explained to Declan that the amul
et was silver and held a spell Brae had concocted to render a vampire weak.
“You bitch!” my father screamed.
I walked to him. “Now, care to explain what just happened here, what you mean by ‘they.’ And when in the hell did you turn into a vampire?”
He turned his nose up at me.
I bent down into his face and pushed the amulet deeper into his neck. “I’m done being nice! Start fucking talking, Father!”
A sizzle broke the silence.
Without moving he began to whisper, “I am no longer what you knew and haven’t been for a long time. They took my heart away from me. From you and your sisters. They took my sons as well…”
Confused, I just drew in a breath and held it. He didn’t continue. He was waiting for me to respond.
“What do you mean, ‘your sons’?” I whispered to him. “Who are you talking about? Who took Mom?”
Defeated he looked at me, his wild eyes softened, though the sparkling blue hue didn’t return his eyes were colorless. With a curl of his lips, his fangs retracted into his mouth. I could see the torment in his soul.
“I do believe it is time for you to learn the truth,” he began. He looked to the corner on my left.
“Declan, Cianna, please forgive me, I cannot always control my anger.”
“I don’t trust him,” Declan explained in my head, “I cannot see his thoughts.”
“I know, Declan. Let’s see what he has to say,” I said looking at my father, while I took a seat next to Declan.
“Thank you, Cianna. I would never intentionally hurt you. I spent a lifetime protecting you.” He looked to Declan. “I have blocked you from my brain. My thoughts are mine only. Cianna taught me how to do that.”
I was getting dizzy from the confusion. “I did what? When? Dad, please.”
“That’s why I’m here, my daughter, to answer all of your questions. I’m not sure where to start.”
“How about the beginning?” Declan was sarcastic in my mind.
“Very well, Declan, that is as good a place as any,” my father answered him.
We both stared at him.
“Cianna’s wall is weakened with her confusion, and I am in tune with her. Since your thoughts, Declan, are in her mind, I can hear them as if they were her own. You must learn how to repair that strength, Cianna, although it will take time to do so. It won’t be detected by many, but the elders will see it right away.”
I was stunned. My father’s eyes looked so much older to me, yet physically he hadn’t changed.
“The truth will be hard to swallow, my daughter. Please let me get it out first, before you freak out.”
He waited for my response. “Sure, Dad. I’ll listen without interruption.”
He nodded, “We learned your mother was a half breed after our wedding. It was also the day we found out she was expecting our first baby, your brother.”
Without lifting his hands, he put his finger up to keep me quiet.
“Her grandmother, Bethany, pulled us aside and told us of the family’s history. She explained that her husband, your great-grandfather, was beaten severely during a fight at a pub in Ireland. She begged the doctor at the hospital to save him. She told the doctor that she wouldn’t be able to take care of the four children she already had and the twins on the way if her husband were to pass away.
“The doctor told her of the only way to save his life, and the consequences to this option. She gave her blessing. The deed was done. The doctor was a vampire, one who was interested in saving lives, not destroying them. The consequence was that her husband would become a vampire too. Bethany didn’t care. She knew she needed her husband to live, to survive so their young family could too. The doctor did what he had to to ensure Henry’s survival. While the doctor cared for Henry and helped him adapt, he sent money and food to Bethany and the children. The twins were born a few months later. By that time, Henry was ready to return to his life. Everything seemed to work out well. The doctor remained close with your great-grandparents. Henry adjusted well to his new life. He hunted big game, never humans.
“Soon enough, Bethany realized she was pregnant again. The doctor was amazed. It wasn’t something anyone had anticipated would be possible. She had another set of twins. Your grandmother and her brother, Nate. The doctor kept close tabs on the babies. He ran many tests. It turned out that your grandmother had inherited more human genes than vampire tendencies, while Nate was more powerful, with vampire qualities. Since your great-grandparents were trying to keep their secret, they decided that it be best if Nate grew up under the doctor’s guidance.
“Not wanting to bring anymore half-breeds into the world with no knowledge of how their lives would turn out, your great-grandmother underwent a hysterectomy. The doctor took Nate to a remote town in Ireland. He grew up as a vampire, a non-hunter of humans, but always in danger of being discovered. Your great-grandparents raised Siobhan alongside the other six children. Her life seemed to go along without any issues. And then she met James.” My father stopped and looked at me.
“You know the family’s simple history from there, Cianna. Siobhan and James fell in love, married and worked the farm. Siobhan had problems with carrying babies to term. She lost four children, all males. Then they found out she was pregnant again. She was having twins this time: your mother and Uncle Thomas. Siobhan and James knew nothing of the family’s secret. Bethany kept the truth from them, until Thomas began growing in strength quickly. Bethany summoned her doctor, who did an examination on Thomas. In the exam room the doctor confirmed what Bethany had thought. They decided to tell Siobhan and James the truth.
“Your grandparents were stunned. Reluctantly Thomas was turned over to the doctor to go to live with his uncle and the doctor in secret. The loss of his first-born son proved to be overwhelming and James turned to alcohol. Cianna, you already know that was your grandfather’s ultimate demise. Siobhan was left to raise your mother alone. The doctor kept tabs on them and helped when they needed it.”
My father looked at us sitting in stunned silence listening to his tale. True to my word, I said nothing. Actually, I don’t know if I had anything coherent to say anyway. Declan stood up and began to pace. He kept his mind from us, knowing that both my father and I could hear him if he put his walls down.
I could see in my father’s tear-filled eyes that he was choosing his next words carefully.
“Siobhan noticed special powers your mother had developed. To protect her daughter’s secret heritage, she made up the story of Irish pixie and stuck with it as the explanation, as it was believable enough. When Mairead and I were married and became parents for the first time, we were blessed with a son. Soon we noticed something was different. Thomas developed at a quicker pace. Your grandmother insisted we see her doctor. We finally agreed and the doctor came.
“He examined my first-born son, then he and Siobhan talked privately. After a while, your mother and I were called into the room. We were told Thomas was gravely ill. I didn’t believe them, as Thomas was a healthy toddler. He was strong. He could do things that children twice his age could do. Somehow they convinced us that it was due to a disease that accelerated his life and he would die before he reached the age of five. We were told that it happened sometimes when pixie blood and human blood were mixed. We were told his only chance for survival was to go to a clinic on the other side of Ireland and try treatment. If Thomas survived, he would be returned to us.”
My father paused again. He looked from me to Declan and back again. As if pleading his case all over again, his voice got louder.
“What choice did I have? I thought it was the only way to save my son. I agreed to send Thomas away.”
The tension in the air that followed his tone faded. My father looked at me with gentle eyes, just as he had done when I was little.
“Then you came along. Well, you and your twin brother.”
My eyes widened. Declan’s jaw nearly hit the floor with mine.
“Liam, your brother, developed like Thomas. Your mother was pregnant with your sister, Kelsey, when your grandmom came with the doctor again. As with Thomas, Liam was said to have the same disease. We were told it looked like the genes were being passed down to our male children. You too, Cianna, were examined, but thank God you were given a clean bill of health. Liam was taken away to the clinic. Shortly after, Kelsey was born. Grace was born less than a year later. And Einri a year and a half after Grace.”
“Einri? So you are telling me I have three brothers?”
My father’s lips tightened to nearly non-existent. He could only nod his head as he fought to keep the tears from falling.
“What happened to my brothers, Dad?”
He hung his head in shame. “I cannot answer you that, my dear. They were all taken to this clinic and the doctor never showed his face again. Your grandmother told me the boys all died like he said they would.”
Declan asked, “Where is this clinic?”
My father could only shrug his shoulders.
We sat in silence for a moment. The gravity of this history lesson weighed heavy on my shoulders.
“So what does this mean, Dad?”
Without meeting my eyes my father answered, “That your true blood line is not pixie. You are half vampire. And your brothers were taken from me because of it. And most likely your daughter too.”
“But if Grandmom always swore to the Irish pixie heritage, how did you find out the truth?”
“I started drinking. Your grandmother Bethany saw me heading down the same road as James. She pleaded with me on many occasions to stop drinking. She told me to think of you girls and what the effect on you three would be. One day she appeared at our door with you, Declan, and your brother, Mallachy. She told me that your parents had died and you needed looking after. She said your parents had left you both to her to look after if anything happened to them. She told me that she took you two in, but thought that it would be good for you boys to have a male role model in your life. I agreed. I stopped drinking and put my life back together.