“I’m going to take Josiah to meet Grandpa,” Blake said when Elias had taken a break from his stories.
“Why?” Aaron asked.
“Because Josiah is his father’s great-great uncle, or something. I can’t remember exactly, but I know he’ll want to meet him. And Marlon.”
“He has been telling that story for as long as I can remember,” Aaron said. “Are you sure none of them will eat him?”
“They’ve all promised to be on their best behavior,” I said, and each of them nodded.
“I’m curious to meet this man,” Marlon said. “But not now. I want to wait until this evening. Aaron, could you speak to him and set up a meeting?”
“No, I need to explain it all to him first,” Blake said. “I’ll go now. He’ll be up and it’s better it comes from me.” We had a few hours before the sun would rise, but I would always worry when Blake was away from me.
“I’ll go with you,” I offered.
“No, you stay here. I’ll be back before you know it,” he said and bolted out the door.
“Is he going to run there?” Aaron asked before swallowing hard once he realized he was in a room with four vampires and I was the one he knew best.
Thirty-Five
Blake
It only took me a few minutes to arrive at the small house my parents owned. Grandpa lived in the back section of the house where he had his own small apartment and, thankfully, its own entrance. I knocked quietly and waited for him to make his way to the door.
“Hello?” he said as he cracked open the door. “Awful early for a visit don’t you think?”
“Sorry, but this couldn’t wait,” I said, as he opened the door enough to let me in.
“Come on in then. You know you’re always welcome, but I can’t remember the last time I saw you up this early. Something has changed.” He hugged me and I clamped my mouth shut when I was so close to his neck I could hear the blood rushing through his veins. His kind blue eyes met mine and the gentle smile he always wore reminded me of all the time spent listening to his stories.
“I’ll be up early from now on I suppose,” I said more to myself than him. “Something’s happened and I wanted you to find out from me and know the truth. I know how rumors get spread in this town.” Marlon’s story was the perfect example and now I knew the truth, I was still trying to figure out why the story had changed so much.
“You’re right to be concerned,” he said before settling back into his usual chair. “Now tell me what brings you here, are you okay?” He leaned forward in his chair and clasped his hands together while staring at me and waiting for me to answer. His hands were rough and scarred from years of working the same land Marlon had helped buy, but none of them knew that.
“A while back, Aaron and I decided to go out to the cemetery and see if the stories were true.”
“You didn’t,” he gasped and sat back in his chair before covering his eyes with his hand.
“We did, and the stories were true. There was a vampire buried there, but he—”
“Wasn’t dead,” he finished for me.
“How did you—”
“I didn’t, but I assumed. Not that I know a lot about vampires, but I didn’t think they were easy to kill,” he said. “What happened?”
I told him everything, how we’d dug up Marlon and how he wasn’t dead and how he fed on me. “Did he hurt you?” he asked.
“No, he would never hurt me,” I said as I second-guessed my decision to tell him.
“Why did he feed on you? I thought they would kill you if that happened,” he said. His voice was calm, but his eyes were filled with worry and fear for me.
“He had to, he hadn’t had any blood in all that time, and he was slowly withering away. My blood saved him—and then he saved me.”
“Oh, son,” he murmured.
“I love him, and he loves me. We never meant it to happen, but it did, it’s like we were meant to be together,” I explained. “You see, I’m like him now.” I barely got those words out and I was afraid to look at my grandfather to see his reaction.
