“Well, then. Shall we go?” I asked.
“Yes. I’ll go make sure Margaret is coming along,” Adriel said.
“Oh, wait! Adriel!” Benji called. “That big room on the third floor is your library, right?”
“Yes,” Adriel said. “Why?”
“I was just wondering if I can look at some of the books,” Benji asked. “Since I don’t have anything else to do, I wanted to read up on pregnancy books, if you have any.”
“As a matter of fact, I do,” Adriel replied, sounding proud. “Actually, a few of them are brand new. I had them ordered for you, just in case.”
I smiled at my brother. As grouchy as he could be sometimes, his heart was in the right place, and I was glad to see him getting along so well with my mate.
“Thanks!” Benji said. “Well… See you later. Have fun?”
“We’ll try,” I said.
* * *
Margaret metus at the garage, wearing a deep scowl. I braced myself for whatever her problem was this time. She remained silent as we piled into the car with Adriel at the wheel, Margaret in the passenger seat, and Theo and I in the back.
“So, Pierce,” Margaret began, and I suppressed a groan. “I see you’ve been sending money to another human. Is one not good enough for you?”
Instantly I felt Theo and Adriel tense up.
I bristled. “I sent money to Benji’s younger brother because he needed help.”
“So now we go around giving every sad human handouts?” Margaret snapped.
A growl built in my throat. The enclosed car wasnota space I wanted to have this heated argument.
“You and I both know it was not even enough to put a dent in our riches, mother,” I said. “It was worth it to make Benji happy.”
Margaret considered this with narrowed eyes, then finally backed off. “Fine.”
She calmed down once I mentioned Benji,I thought.She really must want to protect him - and her grandchild.
But something still didn’t feel right. There was no warmth emanating from Margaret when she spoke about Benji. Did she still think he was inferior for just being a human? Or was there something else going on with her?
Still, she dropped the topic and we finished the ride in silence. When we arrived at our destination, we quietly filed outside and locked the car.
For us, feeding was never a happy occasion - just a solemn, necessary evil.
Long ago, Margaret had manipulated the fog over the humans at the nearest prison, allowing us to enter freely. I don’t know what the human staff thought about us - perhaps that we were higher-ups of some kind.
We only picked targets with unforgivable, heinous crimes, many of whom were slated for death regardless of our interference. Once the task was complete, the fog worked over the other humans’ minds, making them think the people died of natural causes.
None of us spoke as we went our separate ways to feed. I found my target. Power flowed through me as my vampiric venom awakened. My body dissolved, turning into mist and allowing me to move through the cell uninhibited.
The human didn’t have time to let out a yelp before I re-formed my body, becoming physical once more, and sinking my fangs into his neck. I quickly silenced him, and drained the blood from his body. The corpse sank to the floor.
When I left the cell, I didn’t look back.
I met up with my brothers back at the car, but our mother was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s Margaret?” I asked Theo, who was already in the back seat.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought she was with you.”
