Chapter Thirty-Five

Granny was good at keeping secrets. I’d thought my mother was dead (meaning dead-dead, not vampire undead) until last summer, so it wouldn’t shock me that my grandmother had hidden my siblings’ existence, too.

She was in the library, studying some ancient text intently, taking a break from playing hostess. When she saw my face, she closed the book without even putting a bookmark in it. Shocking for Granny. “What’s wrong?”

“Why didn’t you tell me I have siblings?”

Her face went white, then flushed red. “Because you don’t.”

“According to Rose and Thorn, I do,” I said. “And it’s them.” I’d always wanted a sibling. Someone to hang out with, someone who would know me at the cellular level. But even though we’d been spending some time together, my sisters were practically strangers.

Granny was shaking her head, either in disbelief or denial. “That’s not possible.”

Seeing her distraught, my anger left me. I sat down next to her. “They said they knew about me the whole time. They’re a year older than me.”

Her lips trembled. “I don’t understand how it’s possible,” she explained. “It wasn’t that long after she left you with me that Vanessa became a vampire. She never talked about your father and definitely never told me he had other children.”

“How do you know when she became a vampire?”

“I saw her,” Granny said. “About a year later. And she was definitely a vampire then. She even tried to kill me.”

“So she tried to kill you not once, but twice?” I asked. “God, I hate her.”

“No, you don’t,” she replied.

“I wish I did,” I said softly. “It would be easier that way.”

“I know.” She wrapped an arm around me, and we sat silently for a long time. Finally, Granny stirred. “What are they like? Your siblings?”

As if on cue, Rose and Thorn burst into the room. “Tansy, we’re not done talking to you.”

“Granny, meet my siblings,” I said, waving my hand at the twins.

Her mouth dropped open. “How? When? What?” Granny asked. We gave her a few minutes to get over the surprise, but I shifted in my seat, unable to get comfortable.

“Can you tell us anything about your father?” she asked the twins.

“Mason is a sorcerer,” Thorn said. “Head of the pack.”

“A sorcerer?” Granny didn’t sound pleased by that.

“Our father is a complicated man,” Rose said. That was tantamount to me calling him a total asshole. Great.

I studied them more closely. I didn’t see any resemblance, but maybe we had similar noses? Rose and Thorn must take after their mother.

I could tell that something about the description of my bio dad had caught Granny’s attention. “What’s his last name?”

The twins exchanged a glance. “Alicante,” Thorn said.

Granny gasped. “Your father is the serpent sorcerer? The one they call Serpent King?”

My parents were the Executioner and the Serpent King. It sounded like a match made in a horror movie.

“Yes,” Rose confirmed. “Our mother died when we were a year old.”

“I don’t stand a chance with parents like mine,” I said.

Thorn gave an exasperated sniff. “Just because our dad is a terrible person doesn’t make us terrible people.”

“You belong to the light, your parents belong to the darkness,” Granny Mariotti said.

“I’m still in trouble.” I ticked the reasons off on my fingers. “My mother is a vampire, an evil one, who abandoned me, hid the fact that I have twin sisters, tried to kill my boyfriend, and is now dating my boyfriend’s dad for some yet unknown but probably nefarious purpose. Oh, and someone is sending hellcats to try to kill me.”

The secrets were all too much for me. It was almost impossible to not feel sorry for myself, at least until Granny said, “I know it’s hard, but suck it up, sweetheart. This is the hand you were dealt.”

What could I say? I knew she was right, but I just wanted a little time to wallow in it.

Granny Mariotti was not going to let me wallow. “Now, are you going to sit there like a lump or are you going to get off your tush and handle business?”

My grandmother, the motivational speaker, ladies and gentlemen.

“I’m scared,” I admitted.

“I’ll tell you a secret,” Granny said.

“I’m not sure I can take another one.”

“Everyone is scared, Tansy,” she said. “It’s what you do with the fear that makes the difference.”

“I just want my life back,” I said quietly. “The life I had before Travis decided to take a bite out of me without my permission.”

I missed the smell of coconut oil, the way Skyler spent ten minutes searching for the perfect spot and then putting her towel down in the exact same spot she always did, the sight of Vaughn at the end of a good beach day, shrugging out of his wetsuit. I missed it all.

“If you want your life back?” Granny replied. “Then take it.”