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“Do you have any distant cousins that we haven’t managed to uncover yet?” Eucilla asked.
Blinking, I shook my head. “Not that I know of.”
“Very well. We will continue to search. It may be that your parents – the real ones – left Fairy under strained circumstances but someone is bound to come forward. They always do when an untethered Bright emerges.”
“Untethered?” I asked.
“Neither Winter nor Summer,” Eucilla said with a wry smile. “It is the way of Fairy to swear into one or the other. I’m afraid you’re a commodity in the grand scheme of things.”
Sighing, I rubbed my temple. “I just want answers.”
Answers to questions I could barely give voice to: Why had I been kept alive? Why did my parents live apart from the rest of Fairy? If they had kept their ties, would they still be alive today?
Derrick touched my elbow, and his expression was kind, his promise firm. “I will get you those answers.”
“What about your mother?” I asked.
His eyes crinkled at the corners. “She’s safely on her way back to the hospital.”
Some of the tension in my shoulders released and I leaned onto the settee, exhaustion finally having its way. “You should spend some time with her, Derrick. It was a traumatic night.”
“Somehow I knew you’d say that.” Derrick chuckled, gathered my hand, and pressed a kiss to my knuckles. “After I’ve seen you safely home, I promise.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
The walkway to my Victorian was covered in leaves and the porch creaked under our combined weight as we climbed the steps. Even before I put the key into the lock there was a sense of abandonment all around and I knew Bess would not be there. Still, I called her name as we entered and peered into the study, the common room, and up the stairs.
My chandelier caught the light, painting the old wood in many tiny rainbows. Derrick closed the door behind us and strode forward, checking rooms while I waited by the stairs. We had agreed on this during the long trek home. He needed to check for danger first and even though my kneejerk reaction was to scoff at the idea of Bess leaving behind some kind of trap, the truth was that I didn’t really know her.
She had been a false companion. Her words and actions mere appeasement so that she did not have to move on to another target.
I frowned, remembering the notes in Eucilla’s folders.
They target families with old houses. Preferably with a basement so that they can keep a stock of dead for the vampire to feed on.
Shivering, I glanced toward the kitchen where the basement door stood behind the dining table. I really had made it too easy for them.
“Nothing on the first floor,” Derrick said as he made his way to the stairs. “I’ll check upstairs.”
I nodded and tried for a smile, but it felt wobbly on my face. He kissed my temple as he passed me, rubbed my arm in reassurance, and I relaxed a little more. Then he was bounding up the stairs, long legs taking them two at a time. I gazed after him.
It was entirely unfair that I felt unsafe in my own home.
In my family home.
I wondered if I would ever feel safe again.
For reasons we cannot determine, they refuse to murder children and will instead raise them until the child reaches adulthood and moves out. It is only once the child realizes they have not aged that action is taken. If it is a male, they kill him. If it is female, they simply move on.
More often than not, they already have another house in mind to take.
“Another family to ruin,” I whispered.
Something deep inside me ached. If Bess and Martin had moved on – and I suspected they had – then did that make me responsible for whatever horrors they committed next? Was there another child involved?
“We’re clear,” Derrick announced from the top of the stairs.
“Not so much as a note?” I asked.
