I look at Julian. “You knew,” I whisper. “You knew the whole time and you lied to me. You said she was lying.”
Julian’s eyes cut to me. “The only thing you are to me is mine.”
“You knew what I was and you didn’t say anything!” I yell at him. He takes a step towards me and I hold out a hand to him to make him stop. “Stay right there.”
“Maris.”
“No!”
“See. I told you. Vampires belong to no one. Dirty demons,” Isla mutters. She comes closer but I wheel on her too and hold the gun up.
“Back the fuck up.”
Isla sighs. “We’re family, Maris. I would never hurt you.” She smiles at me and it’s gentle. So much so that it reminds me of my granny and I almost drop my gun. It wavers and she comes closer to put a hand on the barrel. “You are precious to me. The women in this family are so very special, Maris. I’m nothing without my family.”
The gentle tone of her voice is soothing. Hypnotizing. I feel calm when she talks to me. I want to go closer.
“Don’t let her take your will. She’s using her voice on you,” Julian warns me. “Sirens have the power of command and persuasion. She’s influencing you.”
Isla rolls her eyes and looks at him. “Don’t be silly, vampire. Sirens can’t influence other sirens. Maris is immune.” She looks back to me and smiles as she pushes the barrel to the side and reaches out to stroke my cheek. “The only thing I’m doing is bonding with my girl. She knows me. I’m in her blood.”
Isla’s touch on my skin makes me jump. She’s so cold. Like the frigid bay waters in January when the peaks turn to ice. I look at her and see that she’s so pale she’s nearly blue. The gown that she’s wearing is white, see through with the way it’s plastered to her body. It looks like one of the night dresses I used to play with in the attic. All of the dresses were heirlooms. Worn by a gone generation of Martinez women and held by Vesper House for safekeeping. The closer that I am to Isla, I see she’snot as beautiful as I thought. There’s a blue tinge around her lips and eyes and seaweed tangles in her long dark hair.
“You’re the woman I’ve seen in the bay.”
She smiles. Her teeth are sharp and jagged. They’re not human at all. “I am. I’ve been keeping an eye on you, granddaughter.” She looks at Julian and then back to me. “That was quite a show earlier, but then again, all the women in our line know how to give as good as they get.”
I suck in a breath. “What do you want?” Isla has been watching me this whole time. If she saw me with Julian on the docks then what else has she seen me do?
“Why, nothing at all. I want your safety. The world is a dangerous, dangerous place, Maris and there’s no place safer for you than home. That’s why I came back. To make sure that you never leave Vesper House again.”
Fifty-Two
MARIS
Ijerk away from Isla’s hand and raise my gun again. “What the fuck are you talking about?” I look around the room like the reason for her bizarre statement might be there but there’s nothing.
Isla crosses her arms and sighs. “I was hoping we wouldn’t have to go the long way around but I suppose there’s no fixing it.” She holds up a hand and snaps her fingers. “Oh, boyyyssss. Say hello to Maris, won’t you?”
At first, I don’t see anything. I turn and look around the room but still it’s just Julian, Isla, and I but then I see it. There on the back wall. Materializing out of the wall is a dark stain. It grows and spreads until I see that it’s not just a stain, it’s blood and it’s forming into the silhouette of a man. A second passes and the silhouette moves. It lifts its arms and turns its head to look at me with sightless eyes.
I gasp and level my gun at the blood man.
“Maris, there's more.” Julian points to the far wall and next to the fireplace I see two more blood silhouettes stain the wall.
“What is this?” I look at Isla. “What the fuck are those things?”
“They’re the guardians of Vesper House, darling.”
“Guardians?”
She nods and wiggles her fingers in a hello to one of them near her. In total, I see four blood shadows sliding from the walls and stretching across the floor at Isla’s feet. “Yes, guardians. Though they weren’t so useful when they were alive. They were just men then. You know how terribly useless men can be.” She gives me a knowing smirk and kneels down to run her fingers along the shadows with a hum. The shadows move and swirl in a frenzy, each of them forcing their way closer to her, fighting for the place next to her. When she lifts her fingers they’re stained crimson.
“These men I sacrificed here and entombed in the walls to watch over my bloodline. My hearth.” Isla looks up at me and touches the shadows at her feet again. “They’ve protected you all your life. This house has worked tirelessly to keep you safe. Even when that man came here. They guided your hand to do what you had to.”
I swallow hard. Things have always been different in this house. The noises, the thumps and sounds of feet when no one was there but we ignored it. Accepted it. We made jokes and lived our lives alongside it because it was easier than leaving.
Why didn’t we ever leave? Why didn’t we question it?
