“We feed at night in the streets. But I have not seen Karson make sexual advances while you have been dating, if that is your concern.”
“Why did Ethan date Sarah? Surely, he knew what she was like?”
Michael shook his head. “He did, but she seemed to have changed. She is an extraordinary actress. It started as a fling we all thought would be a flash in the pan, but somewhere along the way they fell in love. Ethan loved Bob and Marg like they were family. A loving family is something Ethan never had, and I think they were a big part of why he stayed as long as he did with Sarah.”
Ethan’s father had abused him; he still carried the brutality of scars across his back. I hugged my knees tighter.
“Sarah appeared to be the perfect girlfriend, at first. But it didn’t take long for the real Sarah to emerge. She was jealous and possessive. As you are well aware, Ethan is flirtatious by nature, and Sarah couldn’t handle it. She would fly into rages and wanted to control his every move.”
“Sounds a little bit like Karson,” I said dryly.
“They share a few similar traits,” Michael agreed rather than jumping to his defense. And I wondered if he was inside listening. “But unlike Karson, Sarah grew up with a loving family. She was spoiled rotten, used to getting her own way. Perhaps that was her downfall.”
“How old was Karson when his parents were killed?” I asked.
“Seven.”
“Seven? Who raised him?”
“A family friend. Her name was Eleanor. She was only seventeen, but she took him in. They ran from the witches together until they found Eleanor and she was slaughtered when he was twelve. He had to raise himself from then, running and dodging the hunters. He fought back when he turned fourteen.”
Horror at the cold, callous cruelty of it all settled in a deeply uncomfortable place within me.
“His reactions might seem a little extreme at times, but he has never failed us. We trust him with our lives.”
“If firstborns are so hard to kill, how did Sarah manage to kill Nathan?”
“Nathan wasn’t a firstborn. Bob and Marg had him before they became immortal. It is how they managed to get away with their lives when many others didn’t. No one suspected parents with a normal child. Sarah was kept hidden at home, and if anyone saw her they would say she was a niece visiting. With her flame-red hair, she looked nothing like either parent, so itwas plausible. Of course, when she went out and slaughtered the locals, they had to pack up and move on. She turned Nathan when he was twenty-five.”
“What are we going to do when she shows up?”
“We hope to reason with her. If not, there are prisons we can lock her in.”
“Where are the vampire prisons?” I murmured.
“They are kept deep underground beneath layers of rock. Vampires don’t die, but you could hardly say they are alive.”
If they can’t reason with her, and they had to lock her up—or worse—Bob and Marg would be devastated.
Chapter 64
Something Wrong
Iwoke to rain tapping on the window and a gnawing feeling that something was wrong. Nothing I could pinpoint, nothing that made sense. It was just a cold, swarming feeling in the pit of my stomach. Was the feeling one of my witch abilities?No, I decided, psychic ability so far in the worst moments of my life had evaded me. The squirming in my belly was probably hunger; I didn’t feel like eating dinner last night.
I turned my head to the side—it was nine a.m. A sleep-in for me. I was usually up well before dawn. I groaned as I rose sluggishly out of bed, showering and dressing before I headed down for breakfast.
The sound of sizzling hit my ears as I entered the kitchen. It wasn’t Mary cooking breakfast, but Ethan.
Ethan didn’t eat breakfast. He must have heard me get up and was cooking it for me. Striding across the room, I went to the cupboard and snatched out a coffee mug.
“Finally, sleeping beauty arises,” he said lightly, as if he wasn’t the world’s biggest asshole yesterday. He flipped a pan-sized pancake.
I felt his eyes on me as I slapped the coffee machine on.
“I cooked you breakfast as a peace offering.”
I didn’t answer.
