My throat felt tight, but I swallowed the knot back down and released a breath. “I’m going to try to get her to see reason, to stop this before any more lives are lost,” I told them.
“Eloise isn’t known for her diplomacy—or backing down,” Jessy responded.
“No, she’s not.”
“So what makes you think you have a chance of stopping her?”
“I’m blood,” I whispered. My skin burned at the remembrance of what that had meant. She lost any commitment from me on the floor of that torture room.
“So, what? You beg your grandma to stop this nonsense, and if she refuses to back down, then what?” Gordon asked.
A sad smile tilted up my lips. “Then I kill her.”
I jogged down the stairs,my red tea dress swishing against my calves. I’d gathered my hair into a loose knot at my nape and chose some family jewelry to mark the occasion. The house smelled of roast turkey and all the trimmings, making my stomach rumble.
The shifters had required a little more explanation around the animal slaughter. Dave advised me to avoid using the word zombie, which I complied with, as they were already freaked out enough. But I was at a loss as to why those killings had happened. What was the purpose? Was there even one? A reenactment of The Walking Dead didn’t happen every day, so maybe it was a test? Perhaps Sera was my grandmother dipping her toe in the zombie water.
I stuttered to a stop outside the parlor door and scowled. “Hey, no TV. It’s family time,” I snapped as I strode between Dave and Hudson to grab the remote.
Hudson snatched it and moved it out of my way. “Watch,” he quietly demanded.
“There is nothing on that TV that means more to me than spending the evening with the people I love, eating too much turkey, and entering a carb coma.”
A familiar female voice, firm but alluring, filled the room. I froze and stared in horror as my grandmother stood on a podium alongside the presidential candidate, who was a popular favorite to rule our country. “I can’t thank you enough for coming out today. I am delighted to announce that Eloise Roberts will be joining me on the trail as my VP.”
The news headlines swept across the bottom of the screen, reinforcing the fact my grandmother was set to become the next Vice President of the United States. How had she managed that? Weren’t there rules? Votes? Things… I shook my head. She had a god in her pocket, so the rules didn’t apply. He wasn’t bound by the same constraints as the rest of us.
“That’s concerning,” Dave muttered. Concerning?Concerning?
“No, this is my grandmother moving her final pieces onto the board. She’s now in the position to usher the world into a new era, one where she styles herself as the savior of humanity and the ruler of the factions. This is not concerning, Dave, this is a fucking disaster.”
Aunt Liz and Aunt Sophia ambled into the room, glanced at the TV, and continued on their journey to the dining room. “No TV on family dinner nights. You know the rules,” Liz said.
Wait for it. Wait…
She froze, the bowl of veggies in her hands trembling as she took two steps backward and absorbed the headline. “Fuck,” she muttered. “What are you doing, mother?”
Hudson turned off the TV and spun to face me. “This can wait for one night. We can eat and drink like a normal family who isn’t balancing the fate of the world. For one night, we can eat apple pie and joke about ordinary things like the fact Maggie washed the sheets with a red sock.”
She did? I had pink sheets? My lips twitched.
Hudson grabbed my hand and led me into the dining room. My aunts were all here—Liz, Dayna, Stella, Anita, and Sophia. My chosen family also surrounded the table—Maggie, Rebecca, Sebastian, and Aira, who was a last-minute addition. Harry floated next to Rebecca, seemingly taken with the vampire princess, compounded by the fact she could see andcommunicate with him. Even my damn cat had taken a perch in the window and was eyeballing the partially carved turkey.
“Should we say grace?” Aira asked.
I snorted, and Aunt Liz’s lips twitched. But you know what? Grace wasn’t about calling down the one God, it was about vocalizing things we were thankful for, and in this climate, we needed to hold tight to those.
“Why don’t we say one thing we are grateful for? I’ll go first,” I declared.
Hudson raised a brow at me. “Okay.”
“Thank you, universe,” I started, because that seemed like a catch-all that avoided pissing off any one deity in particular. “For the strength I have found in opening up to those I trust. Thank you for grounding me in their love and acceptance.”
Sophia sniffed.Don’t cry. That would start a cascade, and I’m too hungry for that.
Dave leaned forward and stabbed a slice of meat. “I am thankful for juicy meat.”
Umm, okay. Liz snorted. “And I am grateful that you took a vow to protect my niece.”
