She laughed. “Like I’m going to tell you my secrets.” She rolled her eyes. “Puh…lease. You know I won’t tell you shit.”
Ire overtook my fear. “Where’s Granny?”
“I heard you had four babies. Is that true?” she asked, ignoring my question.
I schooled my features. “It seems your information is lacking.”Liar.
She studied me with calculating intent. “I don’t think so.”
My mother always knew when I was lying. I had a bad habit of pulling on my earlobe or twitching my shoulders. But I wasn’t doing either. My hands were tucked underneath my arms, and I was stiff as a board as I glared at her.
Studies showed that when they lied, the majority of people tended to look away. Jordyn usually did that very thing while fibbing. Rianne, on the other hand, would scratch the side of her nose. But when our parents had pointed out how they knew when we lied, the three of us began to be more conscious of our tells.
We definitely had someone on the inside feeding her information. Either that or the SEAL compound was bugged. Or maybe not. Aunt Tabitha and Uncle Jack knew I was having quadruplets, and if my grandmother had spoken to Aunt Tab or Uncle Jack, they could’ve told Rianne. I wouldn’t assume intentionally.
Regardless, before long the entire fucking world would know I had quadruplets. Then the crazies would come out of the woodwork, especially Harriet Aberdeen, vying to get their hands on my children’s DNA. Maybe that was the prophecy. Maybe the way my child could upset the balance of mankind was by his or her DNA being used.
Rianne’s psychotic laugh zapped my thoughts. “The fact that you look like a deer in the headlights confirms what I was told. I didn’t believe you had four vampire spawns. But it’s true. Isn’t it?”
I rolled my shoulders back, hoping I wasn’t showing any emotion. “What’s true is, I was thinking about something Mom told me the other day.”
She perked up. “Mom? Have you lost your mind?”
“Nope. I saw Mom when I died,” I said. “She’s quite disappointed in you.” The dying part was true, at least.
Rianne was riveted as she stared at me.
I inched closer to the glass barricade. “You see, sister, Mom told me how you’re going to die.” Whoa! The lie was coming out, and I was beginning to believe my words. “She gave me insight into our future. Yours in particular.” A wild laugh broke out in my head.Keep going, girl. You’re on a roll.Good news for me—Rianne was intrigued.
She narrowed her eyes. “I know what my future holds, and so do you. That little girl Abbey saw me killing you.”
I stopped the cold chill from racking my body. “Do you want to kill me? Your own flesh and blood?”
“As long as you’re with that vampire fucker, you deserve to die, and so do your spawns.”
I took another step toward the glass. “Then why haven’t you killed me yet? You’ve had plenty of chances, Rianne. And who are you kidding? You don’t want me dead. You want me to change like you and become sisters again. That was what you told me at the diner. Remember?”
She was on her feet in a flash, standing before me with her ugly clawed fingers wrapped around the steel bars. “What I want, Layla, is Sam Mason’s head as a trophy on my wall. What I want is for you to come toyoursenses. We hunt bloodsuckers. We’re not vampire lovers. They’ve murdered our family and innocent humans for centuries. Wake the fuck up,sister.”
I mashed my lips together, my eyes slits. “You’re the one who has blinders on. You think giving up your humanity is the answer to wiping out vampires? You’re the one who needs to wake the fuck up. Don’t you still want to join the military?” Too late for the human armed forces, but the supernaturals had their own military. Rebekah and her Special Forces unit came to mind. “You could kill criminal supernatural types, and don’t put Sam into that category. You know as well as I do, the Vampire Navy SEALs help protect humanity. Think about it, sis. You could fly jets and helicopters.” She’d always wanted to fly planes. “It’s not too late.” Though it actually might be, depending on how she fared from the serum.
She stared at me with an angry expression. “You think they’ll take me?” she asked in a bitter and sarcastic tone.
“Ben Jackson, the hybrid, is a SEAL,” I said.
She laughed. “Nice try, sis. Steven Mason and his asshole vamps wouldn’t even consider me for their military.”
I couldn’t argue that point, and I wouldn’t convince her of anything right now. But I had planted the seed. Maybe she would come around. “What will you do when Granny dies from her blood cancer?”
“Who said she would die?”
I raised an eyebrow. “Did she take the serum too? And where is she? Why isn’t she with you?”
She retracted her talons. “An enemy never shares her strategy, Layla. You, of all people, should know that.” She went over to a cot, which was the only piece of furniture in the room, and lay down as if dismissing me.
My mind worked overtime, piecing together a few things. “You found me through an informant, and you came here to inject Jordyn and me with the serum while the nation watched. Adam and Roman didn’t send you here. Granny did. For what? To take my child? Confirm I had four? Or is Granny dead, and you’re working for yourself?”
“Adam and Roman are assholes. Just like Carly. She got what was coming to her.”
