“I know this is all strange and confusing to you, but Bjørn, my brother, Dante, Hannes, and I had a mission—to get you out of there safely no matter the cost… We were all brought together because of you, Natasha. You are more important than you can even—” The Vampire girl stopped herself, her troubled gaze indicating she’d said way more than she should have. “Everything will be explained to you soon, but I’m not the person meant to do it.”
“Then, who is?”
Sighing, she shook her head, like she might regret it. “Isis.”
My heart burned with the implications, and I hated the doubts that awoke in me because Isis had always been there for me. “Is she part of your group too?”
“Here you go, beautiful girls,” the sweet woman interrupted, placing a large plate filled with cookies on the table, and handing each of us a tall glass with brown liquid and white cream on top.Was that melted chocolate? A strawberry dipped in chocolate sat on the cream with a straw.
“Thank you,” Vanessa replied, reaching for the strawberry, clearly thankful for the interruption.
“You know, I love your hair,” the sweet lady offered, reaching for one of my all-white strands in admiration. “Sometimes I wish I was young again to do all these fun trends.” She chuckled like it was a crazy thing. “I would paint my grey hair blue in a second!”
“Thank you.”
“It’s natural,” Vanessa explained, and the lady’s blue eyes widened in shock.
“Is it really?”
“It is.” My smile was not only genuine but disbelieving. For the first time, someone was admiring the very thing used to put me down all my life—my differences.
“Oh, I’m so jealous.”
Carefree chuckles left us all, and the lady patted my cheek with care a moment before returning to the counter.
“Debbie is the sweetest.”
“She is,” I agreed, my stomach churning while still expecting her answer. “Is Isis one of you?”
Taking a sip of the hot drink, Vanessa glanced at me, both remorseful and troubled.
“Only she can answer that for you, Natasha. She’s the only one with the right to tell you the truth you so desperately need.” Seeing the disappointment in my eyes, she sighed, reaching for my hand across the table. “All I can say is that soon everything will be revealed. And as strange or unexpected as all of this has been for you, please know that we will all protect you even if it is the last thing we do. We are here for you, until the end.”
The conviction and promise coloring her voice were undeniable, although there was still so much that I needed toknow. I slowly pulled my hand back. “I’m going to need more than that.”
“I understand…” With a heavy breath, she seemed to consider her options. “I can answer anything you ask, as long as it is about me,” she finally answered.
My mind immediately traveled to the memory of her surrounded by humans, dancing, and guiding them through each step as though she wasn’t a powerful supernatural creature with a taste for blood. As if she didn’t have the ability to overcome them all in a split second and end their lives.
“I have questions about you… but I’m afraid they will be insulting or hurt your feelings,” I admitted, seeing her expression change.
After thinking about it for a few seconds, she nodded. “I’ll make you a deal. You ask the question in the most respectful way you can muster, and I’ll answer truthfully. If I don’t answer, then you weren’t as respectful as you thought. Either way, I’ll consciously try not to get offended. I know there is a lot of misinformation in your mind, so I’ll be prepared. Fair?”
Nodding, I took a sip of the drink and my eyes widened at the explosion of flavor. What sweet magic was this?
“I know, delicious.” Vanessa chuckled.
Biting into one of the cookies, I glanced at her. “How can you, being what you are?—”
“Who I am,” she pointedly interjected, “I’m still a person.”
Right. “Sorry. How can you, beingwhoyou are, be surrounded by humans without being tempted to… um?—”
“Eat them?” Laughter escaped her when my eyes almost popped out of my head.
“Well, I was trying to be more careful than that, but yeah.”
“Your face was worth it…” She snorted. “Well, that is where the misinformation begins, I’m afraid. We, modern Vampires,don’t feed on humans.” She paused, knowingly giving way to my shocked gasp.
