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Mom heaved a great sigh as Ophelia and Adrian entered the kitchen. “Have you been watching Dracula again? It’s Ophelia’s turn with the DVD player and, besides, school starts up again tomorrow.” She opened a cupboard and collected plates for the table.
Ophelia stepped through the archway, holding Adrian’s hand.
“Oh, hi, Adrian.” Mom glanced like nothing was amiss. “You wouldn’t believe the day I’ve had, girls. Mrs. McDaniel’s pregnant again, you know, and this time it’s twins. I’m glad I got the ultrasound machine, but I’m gonna have a heck of a time convincing that family to move to Anchorage for a couple of months when it’s time for those babies to be born. I totally respect their backwoods lifestyle, and I love babies, but this is a high-risk pregnancy and...” She stopped when she turned around to set the plates down. “Why is everyone looking at me funny?”
“It’s my turn to set the table.” Ophelia took the plates from her mother.
Bianca’s shrillness went up another notch. “Martin’s a vampire!”
“An alien/human hybrid, actually.” Ophelia took down the glasses.
Mom blew out a breath and slumped her shoulders. “Guess Mrs. Cox was right. The gig’s up.”
“I beg your pardon?” Ophelia peered around, hand still on cupboard door.
Adrian pulled out her mother’s chair. “I’ll get you some Advil. You’re gonna need it.”
“Yeah, make coffee too.” Ophelia found the forks and set them down.
“I’m on it.” Adrian fetched the coffee can out of a cupboard and filled the pot with water.
“Wait, you know?” Bianca sat too, hard, lower lip drooping and trembling.
Mom scooted in her chair to the table. “I did fall in love with a Pureblood Elf, the freakin’ Ice Prince of the Borean Realm, no less. He was...dazzling.” She rubbed her forehead in one palm. “Foreplay with an elf can go on for weeks. I miss that.”
“Ew!” Bianca’s face went green. “Gross. Mom, geez.”
“Your father and grandmother thought they could handle local security,” their mother continued, undeterred. “That’s why we hid you girls here, it’s the same latitude as the Borean Realm between Iceland and Poland. But, then, he got sick and...he wasn’t supposed to die, elves aren’t supposed to be vulnerable to human diseases. Grandma couldn’t...get here.” She winced. “Oh, God, what am I going to do?”
“We’re freakin’ elf princesses?” Bianca deflated in her chair. “Well, that explains why we love Christmas so much.”
“Not that kind of elf.” With an audible groan, Mom collapsed her face on her folded arms on her dinner plate.
“Elf princesses.” Adrian chuckled.
“Vegetable stir-fry over rice.” Ophelia dropped the sizzling wok on the table in front of him. She pulled her hair back from her pointed ear. “Yep, elf princesses.”
“Elf-freakin’-princesses, ya pirate.” Bianca pulled hair away from her own ear.
“Oh, crap.” Adrian’s face passed through several shades of red before settling on ashen. “That explains the Oldbloods’ interest in this particular case.”
Ophelia ladled some vegetables onto her mother’s plate. “Adrian, show me your ears.”
“Why?”
Mom answered. “Animals adore you and do whatever you want. Some humans are good with animals, but they have to develop their talent over many years.”
Adrian pulled back his hair to reveal a very soft, barely noticeable bump. “It’s nothing, really, just...”
“I saw Perdy’s ears in a photograph. They’re more pointed than his.” Ophelia looked at her mother. “She had a different father than Adrian.”
Mom lips curled a bit. “Guess I wasn’t the only human female with a thing for elven nooky.” She sipped her tea and set down her cup. “Damn, they’re good.”
“Ooh, I’m gonna barf,” whined Bianca.
“Your grandmother would probably say the anguish of our family has been drawing those of her kind to the area for a while.” Mom propped elbows on table and laced fingers together. “I wonder what the Purebloods made of her Death Cry? None of them have showed up. Yet. They’re the ones who could really kick vampire booty.”
“The Elder said Grandma had few allies.” Ophelia tossed her sister a napkin.
“Because there are so few elves left in this world,” said Mom. “And most of them have been intermarrying with humans for hundreds of years, diminishing their abilities.”
But there are Benevolent Oldbloods. Brandon’s presence interrupted Ophelia’s thoughts. We will gladly protect you.
Brandon, have you been listening in? Ophelia craned her neck to peek out the window, lifting the curtain.
Yes.
Time to join this conversation in person. Ophelia went and opened the kitchen door to let him in.
Brandon walked in, tall and pale. His presence dominated the tiny kitchen.
Ophelia gestured toward the empty chair beside her mother. “Maybe you should sit down. You’re less intimidating in this small of a room when you sit down.”
“Okay.” Brandon pulled out the chair and folded himself into it.
“Brandon’s a vampire too,” said Adrian.
“An Oldblood.” Ophelia corrected him in a defensive tone.
“Oh, for pity’s sake, I know.” Mom gave them the admonishing ‘look’ and fussed with Brandon’s collar. “Did you find the moose blood I left out for you?”
“Yes, Mum, thank you.” Brandon rubbed Kiska’s head.
“But, did you know he’s also a shapeshifter?” Ophelia got up and walked around behind her mother. “Brandon, we’re a little short on time. Can you shift for my mom?”
“Okay.” Brandon stood, his head bumping the light fixture.
She leaned over her mother’s shoulder. “Try not to scream. The house—”
“Scream?” Mom cinched her brows together.
“Is being watched and we don’t want to tip off the Brynners. Go ahead, Brandon.”
Brandon closed his eyes and tucked his arms to his sides. His color darkened from pale to gray.
“Woah.” Mom jerked in her seat.
Brandon blackened and shrank into Raven on the chair. He nudged her shoulder with his big beak, blue eyes shining.
Mom and Bianca’s mouths hung open.
“Don’t ever tell anyone.” Ophelia patted their shoulders. “The other Oldbloods would destroy him. They hate shapeshifters.”
“You’re still talking like I don’t know anything.” Mom scowled. “Your grandfather originated from Germany. He let the Oldbloods destroy him, so your pregnant grandmother could escape. He was a phenomenal shapeshifter.”
Bianca’s face pained on hearing that. “You said Grandpa died in a car wreck.”
“There was a car involved.” Mom’s thoughts filled with a fiery explosion.
“Grandpa sacrificed himself to save Dad.” Ophelia felt her mother’s pain. And gratitude. “We wouldn’t exist if...”
“’Greater love hath no man than this...’” whispered Adrian, staring at his folded hands on the table.
Raven gave one throaty warble. He grew again, through shades of gray, and all the way back to his tall, pale self.
Brandon sat down, and the dog nosed up under his hand for an ear-rub.
Mom leaned forward and tucked Branden’s hair behind his ear. “Just as I thought.”
Another pointed ear.
Bianca jumped up, knocking over her coffee. “Brandon’s a freakin’ elf too?”
“I’d say no more than a sixteenth, since he can only do a raven.” Mom sipped her coffee. “Your grandmother will know for sure, but I suspect he’s family.”
“Family?” Ophelia held Branden’s unblinking gaze. “Explains a lot.”
“Huh?” Said Bianca.
“This is all fascinating,” said Adrian, rising to his feet. “But, we really gotta move this party out of Togo.”
“Or at least,” said Ophelia, standing beside him. “Avoid getting eaten before Grandma and Joseph gets here.”
“Joseph MacGregor?” Said Mom. “Your grandmother can’t stand him, says he’s grim and stiff as a board.”
“Maybe he is,” said Adrian. “But he’s all she’s got for back-up right now.”
“Joseph’s invented synthetic blood for vampiric consumption,” added Ophelia, knowing her mother would be impressed.
“I prefer moose,” said Branden.
Kiska licked his hand. He liked moose, too.
“Synthetic blood?” Mom released a tortured breath. “Grandma’s been trying to get here for a month. How will Joseph land his private jet on a snowed-in airport?”
“Private jet?” Said Bianca. “He’s rich?”
“We’ll take Mr. Langdon’s helicopter.” Adrian raised a forkful of vegetables to his mouth but didn’t eat. “We’ll hop over the mountain to Whittier, then on to Seward.”
“Joseph has friends everywhere,” said Branden. “He can hide us.”
“The kid’s right,” said Adrian. “We just need to get out of Togo.”
He called me a kid. Brandon settled his hands on his knees, rather uncomfortable in a chair too small for him.
But he said you were right. Ophelia winked at him.
Bianca glanced back and forth between them. “Will you two knock it off with the telepathic bull-crap?”
“We need to get out of here before dark.” Adrian took his plate to the counter and begin to fill the sink with water. He squirted dish soap in and watched the bubbles rise. He didn’t even notice the dishwasher. “The Brynners won’t risk witnesses in the daylight. Newbloods hate having to clean up after themselves.”
Ophelia carried her plate to the sink and prepared to do the rinsing. “Newbloods go out in the sun. Granted, we don’t get much of it here in the winter, but I’ve seen them.”
Adrian brought her hand to his lips. “I’m going to sneak our exit supplies into your SUV, Mom.”
“Can I call you ‘Mom’ too?” Brandon straightened in his chair. A fondness for peppermint floated around his words. The scent was the only true memory he had of the mother who gave birth to him.
“Of course, you can.” Ophelia accepted a newly washed dish from Adrian.
“Right.” Mom smoothed down his hair. “I always wanted sons too.”
Brandon’s trembling lips curled in a slightly embarrassed way.
Ophelia inhaled her mother’s peppermint scent as she passed by. Who knew a vampire could be a ‘mama’s boy?’