My aunt jerked back. “Of course not. You know I take our potion to prevent vampires from doing that.”
Sam shook his head. “See? I didn’t.”
I was in an alternate universe. But since she brought up the topic, I had to ask, “Well, do we have vampires in our family?”
She bit her bottom lip and looked around the beautiful kitchen my mom always loved.
A chill skated down my spine the longer Aunt Tab didn’t speak.
Then she sighed. “Your father had planned to tell you.”
I almost slid off the barstool, my lungs burning for air. Maybe that was the reason my uncle Jack hated me or the family shunned my sisters and me for so long.
Sam was riveted to Aunt Tab as if fascinated. I bet he was. He and I had something in common.
Aunt Tab blinked. “There is no history of vampires in the Aberdeen family, but there is on your mom’s side of the family.”
I shot up like a jack-in-the-box. “No way. She would’ve told me.” My dad would’ve told me. I refused to believe that my parents kept this bombshell from me.
“Now, things are making sense.” Sam sounded relieved for some reason.
“I don’t know the specifics, except that it was such a long time ago,” Aunt Tab said.
I grabbed my head, hoping the dull throbbing didn’t get any worse.
Aunt Tab gave me a pitying look. “My understanding is your mom shared that piece of her family with your father on her deathbed.”
I shook my head furiously. “I find it unbelievable that my mom kept this shocking revelation from my dad.”
Sam cleared his throat. “Maybe she knew the ramifications of what could happen if the Aberdeens learned about her family. And maybe, Layla, she hated vampires as much as your father.”
I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs. I clutched my chest as my breathing increased. So that was the reason I was craving blood. That was the reason I acted the way I had after tasting Sam’s blood. I had the vampire gene.
Breathe, Layla. Breathe.
I eyed the green-eyed vampire, who was still affecting me in ways I didn’t care to accept. “Do you think that your blood was the spark that set me off because I’m descended from vampires?” I didn’t know if he could answer that, but I had to make sense of what was happening to me.
“It would explain a few things,” he said. “But you can’t turn.”
I let out a wild laugh. “Maybe not, but I don’t want to live the rest of my life wanting to lick blood off a knife or drink it from a bottle like you.” I whipped my gaze at my aunt. “That’s why my uncles hate my sisters and me. Right?”
Holy fuck above all fucks in the world. Rianne was going to flip out like a wild gymnast who had lost her mind. And Jordyn would probably laugh.
The puzzle pieces were coming together. “Does Jack know this?” I asked Aunt Tab. He had to have known. Yet, he told me several things the day before but failed to mention that critical piece of information. Then again, he’d been too hung up on me screwing a vampire.
“They don’t hate you girls,” she said. “But they haven’t come to terms with it. They felt your father should’ve known this about your mother when he married her.”
I had to agree with my uncles. “I need to find proof.” More for my sanity than anything. I’d been raised to hate bloodsuckers, to kill them with every fiber of my being. Now, I was one of them—or at least descended from the undead creatures.
Aunt Tab frowned. “How? Your mom doesn’t have any family.”
If she kept secrets from my dad, then maybe she did have a sibling or two or an aunt or someone who could corroborate this outrageous revelation.
“Aunt Tab, do you know anything about a vampire my dad was dating before he died? Uncle Jack says her name is Kendra.” Maybe she was my mom’s sibling or aunt. Maybe my father didn’t sleep with Kendra, but my uncle had gotten that impression.
Sam chuckled. “That is an interesting twist.”
I was tempted to tell him to leave, but I had Aunt Tab talking.
