Page 12 of Dark Night of the Soul

This was about what I would become to keep them from touching her.

Walking away from the Brotherhood had carved its debt into bone and now it was coming due.

Grace strolled in, humming something under her breath carrying a tattered book that had seen better days. She gave me a good morning nod as she crossed the room to one of the bookshelves.

“Heard we had a visitor.” She said this like the visitor was nothing more than an old acquaintance coming to catch up.

Grace’s blonde hair fading into silver hung down her back in long waves. She and Piers had struck up an unlikely flirtation.

She replaced the book on the shelf, then grabbed another one. “You look like a man who found out the storm’s headed straight for his house.”

My eyes narrowed. “Did Anna send you?”

She laughed. “Honey, that girl doesn’t send anyone. You know that. But she does leave a wake when she passes through.”

I didn’t answer. Instead, I knocked back the drink, then reached for a refill. Old Edward Walker always carried the finest whiskey, and Anna was keeping up with tradition.

“Something happened, didn’t it?” she asked.

She was intuitive. I met her gaze then. Her eyes were kind, but there was steel under it. A single woman who had raised a girl like Anna Walker didn’t come by that lightly.

I imagined she was a handful when she was younger.

Hell, she was a handful as a grown woman.

“You don’t have to tell me,” she continued. “I’ve been around you two long enough to know something dangerous has come sniffing around the family.”

Family. Like I was part of it. Hers. Anna’s.

A pretty lie I’d let myself believe.

“I’m not—” I started.

“You are. Don’t pretend you’re not.”

Her Southern charm was endearing.

And infuriating.

Then she said, “You belong here as much as she does.”

My hand tightened on the glass I forgot I held. This wasn’t my home. I hadn’t had one in centuries. It was Anna’s. Grace’s. Natasha’s.

She started to leave, then halted. Turned back. “You know, Anna is strong. She always has been. Even when she was girl fighting to keep her abilities under control.” She emitted a soft laugh then, remembering. Then turned serious, “Whatever it is that’s coming, she’s stronger with you than without.”

Then she strolled out.

That was Grace. She’d drop her wisdom like a bomb and then disappear into a wisp of air.

Her footsteps faded down the long hallway, the soft cadence of her humming dissolving into the quiet of the manor. I remained rooted in place, glass in hand.

Family.

The word lingered. Unwelcome. Dangerous.

My family had been dead for over a millennium. The Brotherhood had become my family until it wasn’t.

A knock at the door. Then, “This came for you.”