Page 62

“Hi,” I manage, suddenly not sure what to say. It doesn’t help that she looks like a sixty-something-year-old executive instead of the late-eighties nanna I was expecting. “Um, thanks for inviting me tonight.”

“You’re always welcome here,” my grandfather insists. “I’m Domenic. Your cousins call me Granddad, but I understand if you prefer⁠—”

“Granddad’s fine.” I’ve been waiting my whole life for this. “Thanks. Um… This is kind of awkward? But I’m really happy to be here.”

They both smile big, and Nan hooks her arm around mine. “Come and meet everyone else. I hope you don’t mind, but we promised your Stewart grandparents that we’d FaceTime them later. They would have come, but they’re in Fiji on holiday this week.”

The living room I’m ushered into is bursting with people and noise, and I’m introduced to a whirlwind of aunts, uncles, and cousins. Some of the names are vaguely familiar, probably from Cat talking about them. I wish I’d listened. Past me was so sure I didn’t care about having family that I screwed myself out of it.

It’s not until we’re sitting down for dinner that talk turns to vampires.

“Forgive me if you’d rather not talk about it,” Cat’s mother says, “but are you okay after last night’s incident?”

The table falls silent as all eyes turn to me. I’m sitting at the “adult” table while most of my cousins are next door at the trestle tables set up in the living room. Adrian is the only one near my age here, which I’m pretty sure was deliberate so I wouldn’t feel too out of place.

“I’m fine,” I assure her. “Just a few bruises.”

She nods, then glances at Granddad. “What are we doing about this?”

“I’ve lodged official complaints with the Association and the regent’s office—though of course, Tristan has already taken action. I also sent messages to the other branches of the family. The ones who’ve already responded have promised to step up if needed.” His eyes narrow. “Nobody attacks a Barale with impunity.”

I make a mental note to double-check what “impunity” means. “Sounds good, but I’m really okay. Tristan’s fucking pissed, and since Steven’s dead, I don’t think kicking up a fuss will get us anywhere.”

“Steven may be dead, but you can’t convince me those cretins at Vampremacy didn’t know what he was up to,” Nan declares, passing a bowl of roast potatoes down the table. “Tristan’s been too lenient with them. He needs to wipe them out, once and for all.”

“First he needs reasonable cause,” I point out, then wonder why I’m defending Tristan when I feel exactly the same way Nan does.

She snorts. “Reasonable cause can be found once they’re dead.”

Adrian elbows me before I can argue that legitimate justice systems don’t work that way. It’s entirely possible that Nan’s been converted to the “kill now, justify later” system of vampire justice.

“Anyway,” Uncle Chris, Adrian’s dad, cuts in, “well done to you, Adam. You didn’t even know vampires existed, and you still bagged the regent. You’re a credit to the family.”

“Uh, thanks? To be honest, I think it’s the family name that sold him on me. Plus, he was kind of desperate. I didn’t exactly make the best first impression.”

Cat’s mum, Aunt Louise, scoffs. “Oh, we know. Catrina ranted about it for ten minutes.”

“Did you really ask about Wi-Fi and tell him you’d wear pyjamas for morning feeds?” her husband asks.

I shrug. “Just setting expectations.”

Most of them break into laughter, but Nan nods approvingly. “Barales have standards.”

Once the tables have been cleared, my cousins descend like a pack of locusts and drag me out to the backyard. There are seven of them—eight if you count Cat, who’s obviously not here—all between the ages of sixteen and thirty. Adrian’s the oldest, and I’m surprised when I figure out that I’m next in age order, with Cat just a few months behind me. What would it have been like if I’d grown up as one of the leaders of this little pack?

As we sit around the firepit, two of the bunch sucking on vapes and the conversation ranging between teasing, bitching about work and school, and gossip about other people in the feeder world, the only word that comes to mind is fun.

It would have been fun.

“Sooooo, Adam,” someone—Megan? Maybe Megan—begins, “tell us something personal.”

“Huh?”

“We don’t know anything about you. Consider it your initiation into the cousins’ gang.”

I know she’s joking because she’s grinning. “Hey, it goes both ways. I don’t know anything about you all, either.” Except Adrian, but based on what he said last night, nobody here knows his big secret. “You go first.”

She rolls her eyes. “Fine. When I was in high school, I⁠—”