“Xavier, Theo, and Zeke are in the office. Devon is sleeping. He’s one of us now.” Mabel takes my hands. Her skin is smooth and cool to the touch. “Are you okay with that?”
“I don’t know what other choice I have, right? Being a vampire doesn’t seem all too bad.”
“It has its perks, but I do miss the sun.” She smiles and leans in, smelling my hair. “I never knew the sun smelled so good when I was alive.”
“It’s like one of those things you don’t miss until it’s gone,” I reply. “How is he doing? I don’t really know the protocol on this. Is that even the right thing to ask?”
She giggles and takes my hand. We start walking into the parlor where she has another tea party set up. This time, there are several stuffed animals sitting around the table, and each one has a real cupcake.
“The transformation went fine. I shared my tea with him and then Xavier told him to rest. I think just so the others could talk.”
“Wait, if Xavier tells him to do something, he has to listen?”
Mabel nods and pours more tea—only, it’s blood. “Yep.” She takes a drink and dabs her mouth with a lacy napkin. “All makers can command their progeny.”
“That’s why Xavier has to be the one to turn everyone.”
“Mm-hm.” She nods and offers me an empty tea cup.
“I guess that’s one way for him to stay the head of the family.”
“It doesn’t work as well on Theo. I think because they’re roughly the same age, so over the years, he learned how to resist the compulsion.”
“Does it work like being held spellbound?”
“I don’t remember what being held spellbound is like,” she tells me and offers her tea to a purple octopus, leaving a tiny blood stain on the stuffed animal’s face. “I told you, it’s hot,” she whispers.
“I guess that’s good you don’t remember.”
“Being commanded doesn’t change the way you think. It’s more like being held back physically.”
“Interesting,” I say and pick up one of the cupcakes from a tiered tray in the middle of the table. Physically, I’m hungry and I know I need calories. A cupcake isn’t the healthiest option, but it’s better than nothing. “Are you really okay?” I press. “You were kidnapped.”
She shrugs. “I’m fine. All healed up!”
“You know that’s not what I mean.”
“Well, ain’t I a sap? I sure pulled a bonehead.”
“What happened?” I ask gently.
“I want to say it all happened so fast and make it seem like I couldn’t have seen it coming,” she starts. “But that wasn’t the case. I was shopping downtown and took some pictures with a couple of MayBells and then some guy came up and asked if I was Mabel Malus and I said yes, thinking he was a fan too. Then someone shot me with a tranquilizer dart, like the ones used on wild animals.” She shrugs again. “It took a moment for it to knock me out and in that time I probably should have run, but…I didn’t because I didn’t understand what was happening.”
“You can’t put any blame on yourself. No one knows how they’ll handle a scary situation until it happens.” I blink and see Devon lying on the ground in front of me. “Trust me, I know from experience.”
“Next thing I know, I’m half-awake in that fridge but too drugged to move. I didn’t even know vampires could be drugged.”
“I never thought about it either, though it makes sense you could but would recover fast, hence constantly pumping you full of sedatives.”
“I only got drunk a few times in my human years. Sometimes, I’d have a drink or two with the hunters when they returned. And a drink or two was all that it took to get my mind all willy-nilly. I remember bits and pieces of the conversation those hunters had.”
“Which hunters?” I ask.
“The ones who took me. Larissa. Your sister. And the two others.”
“She’s not my sister.”
“Not by blood,” she says. “I could smell the difference right away. But, you were raised with her and sometimes we canconfuse those close to us for family.” She tips her head. “There’s that phrase, family isn’t always blood, and I get it. Being related doesn’t mean you’ll be treated right or even with kindness.” Her brows push together and she bites her lip, looking down at her tea cup. “But blood is everything for us. I guess…I guess it’s both. It’s a chosen family made with blood.” She puts the cup on the table. “I wasn’t related to the Malus family, but now their blood runs through my veins. And my children’s veins. But being alive and sharing blood isn’t the same as being undead and sharing blood.”
