“Are you entertaining this?” Natalie asked incredulously, then shot me an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Sam, it’s just…”
“Vampires, I get it. It’s nuts.”
“Yeah.”
Ben chuckled. “But it oddly makes sense.”
Natalie jerked her head back. “How?”
Ben got up and made extravagant hand gestures. “Look around, Nat. This house has more history in it than any museum I’ve ever been in.”
“So.” She shrugged. “Family heirlooms.”
Ben snorted. “A necklace is an heirloom. This.” He motioned to some sculpture. “This is from the 1700s.” He rushed to a painting. “1650s.” He rushed across. “This is a third imperial Fabergé easter egg, worth over thirty-three million dollars, and the fact that it’s in this house contradicts what the books say. Lukas has things in this mansion that are cataloged to be in museums or have never been located.”
I glanced at all the many stunning things that adorned Lukas’s home. I’d never have known any of that, but this was what Ben did. He was a reader, a researcher.
“You believe me?”
Ben sighed, his eyes still scanning the room, then started laughing. “You’re right—it’s crazy. But I believe you.”
“Seriously?” Natalie didn’t sound angry, more like she couldn’t understand Ben’s acceptance.
“Is he dangerous?” Ben asked me.
“No.”
He nodded. “He has to be nearby, and if he’s a vampire, he’s been listening to all this. Lukas, come on out.”
Sure enough, less than five seconds later, Lukas entered the room but stayed by the entryway.
“What the?” Natalie breathed. “Were you, like, right outside the door?”
He shook his head. “Downstairs.”
“Down…right.” Natalie swallowed loudly.
Ben cackled. “This is cray-zee!” He clapped his hands together. “I have like a million questions.”
“And I will answer all of them, Ben, but right now Sam is in need of your guidance. You and Natalie are his family. You’re likely the two people who could help him here.” He smiled softly at me. “Faith is powerful; roots grown from love and loyalty in the place of blood are unbreakable. Sam loves the two of you, and if he accepts my offer, he will have to watch the two of you die someday.”
He looked at Ben now. “He will watch any children you have die, any children they have too.” Then he gave his attention to Natalie. “If you ever have children, the same goes for you. Where you will turn gray and age he will not. He will forever be frozen in time, just as he is right now. Earth will turn, time will move on, but neither of you will be there for it.”
Tears welled in my eyes. It was haunting how he’d explained all that. Almost as if he were trying to talk us out of this, but Lukas wasn’t one for games. He was giving them the hard truth so they could advise me the best way possible.
Natalie sniffed and a tear fell. She turned and gave me a wobbly smile. “But you will get to see me get old.”
“What?” I didn’t understand.
“Sam, I never told you this but Ben and I…”
“Nat.” Ben tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t be deterred.
“Ben and I,” she raised her voice. “It was never that we didn’t believe in you or think you were strong, but we always knew that in our golden years there would be two rocking chairs on the porch, blankets draped on our laps. That our children would never get to know you or if they did, they’d know so little. Ben and I would have never forgotten you, we would have shared every second of your life with them in the hopes you’d be immortalized that way.” She pushed her glasses up and glanced at Lukas. “He’s not just giving you forever, Sam. He’s giving you a complete bucket list. He’s giving you the chance your body refuses to.”
She pulled me to her and wrapped her arms around me. “I know you don’t want to watch Ben and me die, or our kids. I get it, but Ben and I never wanted to watch you die either. Difference is, we’d been preparing for it since we were kids. It never got easier, and we hated it.” She stepped back and pressed her hand to my cheek. “This was the age you were always going to stay, Sam.”
“Oh, Nat.” I grabbed her and held her like she was my lifeline. Soon Ben was there too.
