“No.”
“Okay, well, you can sit there.” I pointed to the couch. He walked over and plopped down. I chose to stand. I crossed my arms again and tried to figure out how to approach this conversation. “Why do you want Scout?”
“The High Priestess wants to see her.”
“And who are you to her?”
“Who?”
“Scout.” I gritted my teeth.
“She is my sister.”
I blinked. It was as if the world around me had dropped. She had a brother? “You sound so sure.”
“I am. She looks just like our mother and the high priestess as well.”
“Your mother, is she alive?”
He shook his head sadly. “Our parents died when Scout was very young.”
“How did she get here, if you’re from—” I hesitated.
“Mexico,” he snickered. “We are different ages. I was a teenager when she was born. My father brought her to America.”
“And your mother?” I demanded.
“Humans killed her. If you sit, I will tell you our story.”
I did as told, grabbing a chair from the dining room table. He definitely had my interest now.
“The High Priestess was taken by humans and imprisoned in nineteen sixty-three. She was sixteen.”
“For what?”
I vaguely remember Gianni talking about her, but I couldn’t think of any details. Jaime rolled his eyes and shook his head. “They had found our vampire coven. They did not know what we really were, only that humans had been killed. She took the blame, as she was still human, and others were not. But she knew eventually when she turned, they would discover the truth, and they’d come for all of us.”
He paused, and I nodded. He continued.
“Plans were eventually put in place. It was decided that my mother would take the High Priestess’ place in the prison.”
“But she was a vampire too.” I cocked my head, confused. Jaime’s eyes began to shine and then hardened.
“Sacrifices had to be made for the greater good. My mother would take her place so the High Priestess could move us and protect the coven.”
I scrunched my eyes, trying to do the math.
If she was sixteen in sixty-three, then she’d turn into a full vampire in seventy-four. Scout and I are only a day apart in age, so that would have made us… seven?
“Scout told me that she was found as a toddler.” I eyed the vampire with suspicion. Things weren’t adding up. He nodded.
“The child being born wasn’t part of the plan. When she was born, my mother did not want to trade places anymore. The High Priestess felt betrayed by her sister. She demanded the baby be killed.”
“She wanted Scout murdered?”
He nodded. “Our Priestess knows best. If my mother did not trade her, we would all have been killed.”
“So they ran?”
