Chapter 1
“Oh come on, Mom!” Kiera pleaded. “I’ve done really well and Seph says I’m doing even better than expected in the supplement courses. You used to let me!”
“You used to be a lot younger.” I pointed out wearily. It had been a couple years since she had been out dancing, she was far too busy with college to worry about it. There was a decent college here in town and she hadn’t wanted to move to the dorms so we had gotten her a car. She spent most of her time on campus, in classes or at the library anyway. She was almost nineteen and nearly at the end of her second year of college. Two months and she would have the first of the two degrees we insisted she have before being allowed to turn into a Vampire.
With it this close, the local clan was already preparing. She would have everything she needed waiting when the time came. As soon as she had adjusted to the change there would be a massive party to welcome her. I didn’t like just how easily the Vampires had taken to this. Shouldn’t they be protesting? At least for my sake? Grant and I had almost constantly regretted our choice as she breezed through school, excelled in martial arts and now even her college courses were simple compared to the classes her tutors had given. She still met with a couple of them for alternate history and magic lessons. Her favorite was the magic and she was surprisingly good at it for a human. She had the Sight and could easily see the ethereal wings that drifted behind the Entaent – even I had to focus hard to see them. There were many other gifts no one had realized she had until they began to teach her something and her only response was ‘Doesn’t everybody do that anyway?’
On top of everything she was extremely persuasive when she tried to be. She was so close to an associates in the arts that she wanted to go out and have a night on the town with her Vampire friends. The problem was they wanted to go to the club. Grant and I went from time to time because it really was a great place to relax… but it simply wasn’t safe for a human. The only humans there were blood donors and a hungry Vampire might not recognize her in the flashing lights and crowded dance floor. We had taken her there a few times when she was young enough to stand out – everyone knew not to chew on the kid. Now she would fit right in with the rest of the humans… with the exception of a lack of scars and that would be hard to see with all the flashing lights.
She had grown into a beautiful woman as a stable life and regular, healthy meals had managed to inspire a shocking growth spurt. I almost had to look up to see her eyes. What had once been lifeless blonde hair had been grown out into long, curling waves. She usually had a streak or two of some wild color mixed in. She somehow managed to balance defiance and obedience, always knowing when each was necessary. She knew this time she needed our okay before going. If it had just been to the movies or the mall…
“So I can hang out with Vampires at fourteen but not nineteen? I can take care of myself now!” She protested angrily.
“Your youth protected you better than any fighting ability could in that place.” I shook my head and Grant remained motionless beside me. He rarely got involved in these arguments if he could avoid it. Simply standing in mute support unless he disagreed for some reason.
~We could go with.~ He suggested silently. That did nothing to help my mood – he was caving in.
~That’s not what she’s looking for.~ I disagreed. ~The last thing a girl her age needs is a parental chaperone. I remember that age all too well. She needs to go by herself and that just isn’t the place for her to do it. Why couldn’t she go to a human dance club?!~
~Because that would require a two hour drive.~ He said reasonably. This wasn’t the most exciting town in many respects. A handful of 24 hour coffee shops that played popular songs was the closest it got to a club aside from the one run underground, well away from the notice of the humans.
“I won’t let her out of my sight the entire time, Miranda.” Seph’s familiar voice said from the doorway. “Sorry… no one answered so I let myself in.”
There were times I regretted the open invitation that allowed Vampires to come and go freely from the house. It was just such a pain to invite each one separately when there were different ones coming and going most of the night for the last few years. “Seph, this just isn’t a good idea…”
“You don’t trust me to keep her safe?” He raised an eyebrow and I bit back the first comment that came to my mind. He was in the worst possible outfit to set me at ease. The Vampires had posed as goths and punks for the majority of the time since the late 80′s. Once Seph took over they introduced more variety. He had taken to a casual but dark look. He wore a half-unbuttoned white shirt under a long black jacket. Tight black jeans jingled with dangling chains that shone almost as bright as his pierced ears and eyebrow. As usual, Kiera’s eyes lit up. We had hoped she would get over that crush but there seemed to be no sign of that.
“Of course I trust you.” I said as patiently as I could. This was the closest we’d come to walking on dangerous ground in years. To show a lack of trust in the Vampires could possibly have some undesirable political backlash. “Just…”
“Have her back well before dawn.” Grant said, managing to finish my sentence with entirely different words than I had intended to use.
“Thanks, Dad!” Kiera gave him a quick hug and was out the door before I could protest. Seph grinned at him and nodded.
“Trust me. Nothing will happen to her. Anyone even thinks to touch her and he’ll be missing a limb or two before she can so much as blink.” The fact that he meant it was only slightly comforting. Chances were he would make it known right off that she was with him… and that didn’t entirely help. I watched Seph’s car glide down the driveway and out of sight.
“Oh come on, Miranda.” Grant chuckled, pulling me back to the couch. “It’s not the end of the world. She’ll be fine.”
“Change of heart, traitor?” I accused darkly as he grabbed the remote and began scanning channels.
“Yes and no.” He settled on one of the music stations and turned back to me, smiling. “Perhaps I just wanted a bit of time to be alone with my wife. I know he won’t let anything happen to her and she would just stomp around pouting if we refused. Might as well make the most of it, right?”
“I still don’t think it’s a good idea.” I sighed in frustration. “Seph’s been acting different lately and… really… did he have to put effort into impressing her? He knows…”
“Miranda, love… Sometimes you simply cannot understand men.” He chuckled, pulling me closer and quite effectively emptying my mind of protests with a kiss. “As much as I don’t like it, I recognize the way he looks at her when he doesn’t know someone is looking. He loves her more than he should and he knows it. The age difference is concerning but stepping in would only cause problems. Ultimately it isn’t for us to decide. Kiera is technically an adult and will be one of them in a couple years. After that it will be for them to decide.”
“I still wish she would change her mind.” I sighed, snuggling comfortably against him. “After seeing what happened to Luke…”
He nodded, though he didn’t understand completely. I had known Luke all my life, fell in love with him in high school and lived with him right up to the day I awakened as an Entaent… not long after that his change into a Vampire had drastically altered his personality. He had never been one for parties but all of a sudden he spent most nights out with his friends. He had always been loving and respectful but with them he was just another punk kid with no hesitation to do whatever they did regardless of morality. He had always been honest and true to me… but once he was with them he started to cheat on me. He blamed me and has yet to acknowledge that I never cheated on him. Not even when I was living with Grant. I didn’t so much as consider kissing him until the day I told Luke he could have his Vampire girlfriend and walked out on him.
What if Kiera changed, too? What if I lose my daughter? I felt an unhealed wound in my heart tear open all over again at the thought. I lost my son… I couldn’t lose her too. It would kill me to see her change into a complete stranger.
“Don’t think about that.” Grant whispered, kissing me again. I knew he was afraid I would go into another bout of catatonic despair if I thought about our son too much. It was the worst on his birthday. He would be five now. Five years I had lost. “Stop it.”
I buried my face against Grant’s neck, trying not to think about those first steps, first words. What did his laugh sound like? When the tears overflowed, Grant did nothing more than hold me, sharing silently in my pain. Our pain… we had both wanted a child so badly… We would only be able to have two in our lives and for immortals, that meant thinking very carefully before deciding when to do it. There was more than a three hundred year age difference between me and my brother. It was an even larger difference between Grant and his brother.
How long would we be able to wait? Would anyone ever find a way to make it possible for us to have more than two? I knew there were some trying to find a way. Many of the Entaent had filled the years of time by studying science and medicine. Some had invested in companies that made equipment so they were able to obtain very expensive machines with very little difficulty. One of them had even claimed to have found the cure for cancer and though no one had seen it, there was a heated debate over whether to make it available to the humans or not. Cancer was one of the few near incurable diseases holding back a still-growing population. As it was, Sidhe complained constantly about the shrinking forests as people expanded their cities.
The current argument was the exact definition of ‘protect’ and the variants of it. Our job is to protect all life on the planet though over the years the job has been split up between us and the Sidhe. We guard the humans and the cities, they cover the forests and wilderness. The difficulty lies in protecting while retaining the secrecy of what we are. Humans are notorious for killing – or at least trying to kill – anything that is not like them. Any human who ever saw a real gnome or troll would most likely reach for the nearest gun. They aren’t exactly pretty creatures.
“That’s better.” Grant smiled as my mind wandered to safer subjects. “Pick a movie. I get the feeling we’ll end up watching at least two before they get back.”
“If she’s not back by dawn…”
“I’ll kill him.” Grant agreed.
