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Authors: Brenda Pandos
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burden any longer. How would I tell her without freaking her out?
“You knew she had passed before they’d found her in the field, didn’t you?” She placed her soft, withered hand on my arm. “You can trust me.”
I gulped, unsure where to start. “Have you ever felt bloodlust before, Grandma?”
She grimaced and squeezed my arm slightly. “Hmmm…unfortunately, yes I have.”
“Who feels those feelings?”
Darkness clouded her features as her eyes pierced through me. “There’s only one unearthly monster that is capable of having those hideous feelings.”
I took a deep breath and swallowed hard. “When Mom disappeared, I saw one of them. I saw what he did to her. I felt everything she felt. That’s how I knew she’d ….”
Grandma choked back her tears and pounded her fist into the arm of the chair. “I told her never to go out after dark. That they were out there. That they were attracted to us, like a moth to a flame. But she’d already made up her mind we were here to stop them. That we could use our gift to seek them out and somehow destroy them.”
The revelation startled me. How could Mom have possibly come to that conclusion?
I took another deep breath. “Did someone tell her that?”
Grandma wrinkled up her nose for a second, then shook her head. “Only after her gift presented itself in her early twenties did she finally get to see the creatures I’d warned her about. Then her obsession started and she went on a quest to figure out what they were and where they came from.”
I already knew. They came from Cain after the serpent made a deal for immortality. What I couldn’t get over was how Mom’s Seer desires kicked in so naturally right after her empathy powers presented itself. Why didn’t that happen to me? Was it because I was so young? Was it because for the most part vampires scared the crap out of me? Maybe the friendship between Nicholas and Mom wasn’t an accident after all, like when I’d walked into the fortune tellers shop. Was Nicholas sent somehow to be her protector first?
“There, now,” Grandma said, putting her arm over my shoulder, easing my confusion. “Today is a day we remember the goodness of your mother. And one day, we’ll see her again. Death is not the end.”
I studied Grandma’s eyes to make sure someone wasn’t messing with her mind, remembering something similar Scarlett had just said. She blinked back, her face shrouded in kindness. I scanned the shrubberies and trees just to be sure. Was she here, feeding my Grandma this baloney?
“You can’t be serious. This isn’t fair. My mother was murdered by a vampire because of our empathy. And now somehow this gift that attracts them has been passed onto me. This isn’t a gift; it’s a curse. It’s why she died. Don’t you think if we’d been given this ‘vampire attracter,’ we’d be given the tools to defend ourselves? It’s insanity. It’s not okay she died because she lingered too long outside at night. I need her. I’ve needed her every day of my life after he took her from me! And I witnessed it. It’s horrible and cruel!”
The blame came spilling out of my aching heart in a messy heap. This vampire homicidal Seer cycle had been going on generation after generation and it had to stop. To only be warned not to go outside wasn’t enough. Someone should have trained Mom in how to defend herself.
“Did Great-Grandma have this gift? What about her mother? And her mother? Why hasn’t anyone taught anyone anything and just left me floundering? Shouldn’t someone have told me to stay inside?” My chest heaved in controlled anger as I stopped myself just short of accusing her of Mom’s death.
Grandma grabbed my shoulders and forced me into a hug as I broke down.
“You’re right. It’s all my fault. I should have been more insistent, firmer. We London’s have this terrible streak of stubbornness. There’s a long line of early deaths of the women in our family. A sad but
“You knew she had passed before they’d found her in the field, didn’t you?” She placed her soft, withered hand on my arm. “You can trust me.”
I gulped, unsure where to start. “Have you ever felt bloodlust before, Grandma?”
She grimaced and squeezed my arm slightly. “Hmmm…unfortunately, yes I have.”
“Who feels those feelings?”
Darkness clouded her features as her eyes pierced through me. “There’s only one unearthly monster that is capable of having those hideous feelings.”
I took a deep breath and swallowed hard. “When Mom disappeared, I saw one of them. I saw what he did to her. I felt everything she felt. That’s how I knew she’d ….”
Grandma choked back her tears and pounded her fist into the arm of the chair. “I told her never to go out after dark. That they were out there. That they were attracted to us, like a moth to a flame. But she’d already made up her mind we were here to stop them. That we could use our gift to seek them out and somehow destroy them.”
The revelation startled me. How could Mom have possibly come to that conclusion?
I took another deep breath. “Did someone tell her that?”
Grandma wrinkled up her nose for a second, then shook her head. “Only after her gift presented itself in her early twenties did she finally get to see the creatures I’d warned her about. Then her obsession started and she went on a quest to figure out what they were and where they came from.”
I already knew. They came from Cain after the serpent made a deal for immortality. What I couldn’t get over was how Mom’s Seer desires kicked in so naturally right after her empathy powers presented itself. Why didn’t that happen to me? Was it because I was so young? Was it because for the most part vampires scared the crap out of me? Maybe the friendship between Nicholas and Mom wasn’t an accident after all, like when I’d walked into the fortune tellers shop. Was Nicholas sent somehow to be her protector first?
“There, now,” Grandma said, putting her arm over my shoulder, easing my confusion. “Today is a day we remember the goodness of your mother. And one day, we’ll see her again. Death is not the end.”
I studied Grandma’s eyes to make sure someone wasn’t messing with her mind, remembering something similar Scarlett had just said. She blinked back, her face shrouded in kindness. I scanned the shrubberies and trees just to be sure. Was she here, feeding my Grandma this baloney?
“You can’t be serious. This isn’t fair. My mother was murdered by a vampire because of our empathy. And now somehow this gift that attracts them has been passed onto me. This isn’t a gift; it’s a curse. It’s why she died. Don’t you think if we’d been given this ‘vampire attracter,’ we’d be given the tools to defend ourselves? It’s insanity. It’s not okay she died because she lingered too long outside at night. I need her. I’ve needed her every day of my life after he took her from me! And I witnessed it. It’s horrible and cruel!”
The blame came spilling out of my aching heart in a messy heap. This vampire homicidal Seer cycle had been going on generation after generation and it had to stop. To only be warned not to go outside wasn’t enough. Someone should have trained Mom in how to defend herself.
“Did Great-Grandma have this gift? What about her mother? And her mother? Why hasn’t anyone taught anyone anything and just left me floundering? Shouldn’t someone have told me to stay inside?” My chest heaved in controlled anger as I stopped myself just short of accusing her of Mom’s death.
Grandma grabbed my shoulders and forced me into a hug as I broke down.
“You’re right. It’s all my fault. I should have been more insistent, firmer. We London’s have this terrible streak of stubbornness. There’s a long line of early deaths of the women in our family. A sad but
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