The Keeper: Awakening

  Chapter 16

  It’s a full half month before Vincent recovers from the Hela poison to a decent enough shape for him to consider himself useful. In his boredom, Vincent has drunk out what he deems “his” alcohol cabinet three times. Michael tires of making the runs to the store and Vincent is ornery about being locked up. I suppose we are all fish out of water, trying to readjust to our new surroundings and situation.

  According to Michael, nature’s balance is going completely out of control. Even though injured, Vincent flies Michael overseas several times. Surprisingly, Vincent is happy to stand in as “Vamp Air.” He volunteers even when it’s not necessary. It allows him to get out of the house and stretch his legs. At first, I take it personally. But then I realize what it must be like. I imagine being able to do whatever you want, whenever you want, for a thousand and a half years and then having that instantly being taken away from you. It would be humbling, and for a person like Vincent…well, he doesn’t do humble very well, not on the outside at least.

  I’m convinced that things were truly dangerous when I find myself alone with my thoughts. The loneliness of having to stay home isn’t easy on me, either. It does make me realize that if the guys are chancing to leave me alone, things out there must have to be completely messed up.

  One bright thing of note though: Vincent had taken my bait and during one of his trips he jumpstarts the investigation on “ancient vampires.” I know he will find Cain, but only when Cain himself wants to be found. That presents a lot of questions for me to ask myself…what are our long term goals, and how will we reach them?

  The guys have been so busy lately, or in Vincent’s case, drunk, there hasn’t been any time to discuss matters. I finally decide that the next time they return home we would have a talk; a long, serious talk about what to do. I’m only just affirming this to myself when I hear the front door open and close. I look out my bedroom door to see Vincent.

  He takes a look at me and bows his head before making his way to the kitchen.

  “Drinking again?” I ask in frustration. “Aren’t you tired of being a boozer? Seriously Vincent, haven’t you had enough? It may not hurt you, but it’s really not something I’m able to get used to.”

  “I’ve had one of those days, Izzy,” Vincent says softly as he stops in his tracks to address me. “Michael sent me back here to protect you. We both know that I enjoy our alone time. It’s just…a lot to take in at once, even for me. I found out that information you prodded me to look up. It turns out you were right. My spies, as you so lovingly refer to them, found out some really interesting things. Even before my creator, predating him by thousands of years, there were vampire attacks reported.”

  “Okay, so why do you seem so surprised?” I ask as I make my way down the stairs towards him. “Did you never think this was possible? It had to have crossed your mind.”

  “It had,” Vince answers as he gives up on the kitchen and moves to the sofa. “My creator mentioned older vampires before. It was common sense, after all; we had to come from somewhere. But if my creator ever knew the ancient vampires personally, he sure didn’t make it known to me or to any of his cohorts. I had never seen any other vampires outside of the circle of my creator. It was always just him and his friends, never once was a new, older, more ancient vampire introduced to me. That’s where my cynicism starts.”

  “And why’s that?”

  “My creator was a devout believer in Cain,” Vincent explains as he scratches his eyebrow. “I really bought into it at first, but it didn’t add up. The ancient vampires were around for at least a thousand years by the time I was turned into, well, me. Yet none of them actually saw Cain. And when I killed all of them…there was no Cain there. The ancient vampires, they worshipped Cain, idolized him. It was almost like a religion for them. But their precious Cain didn’t save them. He was nowhere to be found when a newly made vampire killed off his children one by one. That was the second time I questioned whether or not he existed.”

  “Okay, so we’re talking about Cain now?” I ask innocently. I was trying to act ignorant. I think I was succeeding. “What was the third time you questioned his existence?”

  “When I was all alone,” Vincent says sadly as stands up to look out the window. He’s trying to hide his sadness from me, but his voice is drenched in it. “I was the only vampire in the world. I searched for my kind over and over…and I was alone. Completely by myself, the last of my race. I was never told about the werewolves that I would eventually come to meet with their prejudices. But that’s another story; they had their reasons to hate my kind.”

  “You were confronted by werewolves?”

  “Yeah, like I said, eventually,” he answers with no emotion in his tone. “A very long while passed before I was confronted by them…an entire pack, at that. It was because of the Coronam. The creation of the council caused quite a disturbance in the balance. In the year 999, without my knowledge, a meeting was held by some very prominent vampires. I later found out I was never invited because they feared me. I was the oldest, the most powerful. If I decided against any kind of vote, it would be so. I could have forced them to do whatever I wanted. It was because of this, or at least I suppose, that the Coronam was later formed in late 1000. They felt that no single vampire could rule over their entire kind. With its birth, the Coronam immediately increased the numbers of vampires tenfold. And then, in 1010…they took Isabella from me. It was meant to send a message to all of the brand new vampires that were just turned. If they could poke me in the eye, the oldest living vampire, they could hurt anyone, anywhere. I would have taken my revenge…but Izzy…in her memory I mourned.”

  Vincent’s face becomes flooded in sadness at the thought. It seemed as if every time there was mention of Isabella it took Vincent back to a period which has long passed the world by.

  “So the werewolves confronted you because of the sudden boom to the vampire population?” I ask as I try to piece this thing together. I think frantically of how I can switch subjects to pull Vincent out from his sadness.

  “Exactly,” Vincent explains. “I suppose it made sense. They didn’t know about the founding of the Coronam. I explained my case. I told them everything. About Izzy, my ignorance to the formation of the council until it was too late, even about my creator. As I think about it, I suppose perhaps they could sense my sadness. They probably knew I wasn’t lying about Isabella…that it was the Coronam itself that had ordered her destruction. So they spared me and would later go on to try to seek the council out. That was a big mistake. They were annihilated I heard.”

  “All of them?” I ask with a small gasp. It seemed unreal that a group of werewolves could be killed after seeing Michael in action. “You still haven’t explained your third reason for your disbelief?”

  “That’s just a simple matter of mere practicality,” he explains as he places a hand to his face. Vincent is still turned away, looking out the window. I can only imagine he is wiping away his tears. I have to try to remember to keep Isabella out of our conversations. “I killed all of the vampires that existed. I searched the world after that, making sure that I did in fact kill all of them. After I confirmed it, it’s like I told you before Goldilocks…I was all alone. I know I didn’t create any progeny, with a keeper naturally, or otherwise. How did more vampires come to be? If I was the last one left, and I made no fledgling vampires, then common sense made the answer obvious. A person could just turn into a vampire by other means. The Cain theory was just that, a theory. It was a little bit of light in the world of a species that never sees the light. It was faith, nothing more, nothing less. The world was much darker, much more cruel back then. Murderers and rapists could enjoy their sins much more easily…it was hellish. I concluded that my creator must have heard of the Cain legend from others and held onto it to fight the bleakness of the world. After all, a vampire ‘god’ wouldn’t allow all these things to happen to his children. And so I made a rational opinion for myself. Vampires mus
t have come about by some other means I was convinced that vampirism was a form of human evolution, or perhaps a witch’s curse, something else other than having a ‘father’ to the race. It would certainly explain the sudden increase in vampires. More importantly, it would explain how a vampire could come into being without a creator vampire to sire it. I was truly convinced of all of this; it was a matter of simple fact for me. Until now at least.”

  “Has something changed your opinion?” I ask anxiously.

  “Obviously,” Vincent says as he turns around. His face shows his annoyance at the information he’s received. “The vampire attacks that were reported, let’s just say they’re consistent. There are no loopholes, not even a hint of the magnum mendacium. So that could only mean one thing.”

  “The magnum mendacium?” I ask as I try to remind myself. “That was the great lie, wasn’t it? The Coronam invented that, right? But they wouldn’t be around until 1000 A.D. That means…”

  Vincent smiles confidently as he takes a long, provocative stare of my body up and down.

  “How I do love my women with…” Vincent begins to say before he stops himself and looks me in the eye. “Brains…anyhoo, yeah, it didn’t add up. If the records of the attacks didn’t follow the strict code of the magnum mendacium, it would have had to have been one of the ancient vampires I killed. But that was impossible because I knew almost everything about those vampires. I was practically their slave, after all.”

  “But wait,” I say, reluctantly interrupting him. I didn’t want to, but this was important. “You told me about how you had to learn all of these new abilities as you got older, as they evolved by themselves. You discovered them on your own. You’ve made it pretty obvious that you and your creator weren’t really close. I mean, after all, you killed him. But now you’re saying you knew everything about the ancient vampires? And you were their slave? And Vincent, I hate to poke holes in your story, but from what you’ve told me, the great lie was created by the Coronam only to inform new vampires in the way they needed to act. Couldn’t a vampire just have willfully disobeyed those rules? I don’t think one or two vampires breaking the rules is enough to merit this type of distinction.”

  I play my ignorance off more and more convincingly by the minute. I’m truly ashamed of what I’m doing, but I have no choice. Vincent needs to think this through himself. He needs to come to know about Cain by himself.

  Vincent smiles at me before he replies to my ruse. “Yes well,” Vincent says before his smile disappears into a professor’s stern focus. “I merely left out that my creator didn’t teach me anything about what it meant to be a vampire, and he didn’t. Do you know why he turned me? He was bored and exhausted of doing things for himself. He saw me and considered me to be ‘beautiful enough’ to be a vampire, and a slave. But I didn’t submit to my fate, not really. On the surface, I was a willing and able servant. However, I never forgot how he destroyed my life. I never wanted this; he just never gave me a choice. So I learned, I paid attention and I remembered. And eventually, I knew enough to be able to exact my revenge and stop their rampage. You see Izzy, at first, the ancient vampires were fine with feeding on the human populace and compelling them to forget the entire encounter. Then, not long after I was reborn as a vampire, it grew boring. They started killing without consequence or remorse. They saw themselves as untouchable, and for the most part, they were. They were together and firm in their sense of purpose. They would never betray one another. The only thing that ever even caused a rift in them was my birth. My creator was alone in wanting to sire fledgling vampires; the rest wanted to be alone. They couldn’t risk the uprising, they argued, they were right. It turns out that all it took was one rebellious vampire to kill them all.”

  Vincent’s mouth stays open as he struggles to find the correct words to say. He holds up a finger and begins walking to the kitchen.

  “If we’re bringing out all of these skeletons, I definitely need a drink,” Vincent announces as I hear the opening of a cupboard coming from the kitchen. “So I killed them all, with relative ease. It was almost too easy. In regards to your other questions, the magnum mendacium might dictate vampire behavior, but it doesn’t stop there. Remember, the Coronam created it to deflect attention from possible vampires. The common misconceptions of what real vampires are like are all based on that; it was the veil that was pulled over the eyes of all humanity. In other words, there were no myths or falsehoods before that. The attacks of the ancient vampire I was able to track down? They tried everything, literally everything, to stop this ‘demon.’ They describe the attacks perfectly. They match the profile of a vampire in blood lust almost too perfectly. Yes, one vampire.”

  “Only one vampire?” I say in astonishment. “Where did your guys get all of this information? How could all of this never have come to light beforehand? Is this why you mentioned Cain?”

  “Yeah, one vampire,” he answers reluctantly. At this point, it seems Vincent is almost upset at admitting all of his findings. “It makes sense now. The information suddenly popped up. I had been scouring for this type of information for centuries, but it really just showed up now. Almost as if someone were leading me to this. From the descriptions of the attacks, it could only be a vampire, and it could only be one. They began in what is now Africa, the northern part of the continent. From there, it was only one track to follow…as much as I hate to say it, I think it’s Cain. I just wish there was proof.”

  “Oh, but there is, child,” a familiar deep voice says from my bedroom. I recognize the voice immediately. Vincent walks out of the kitchen and turns to take a look up the staircase. His face is contorted in curiosity and disbelief.

  “You…you’re not real,” Vincent stammers as he walks in front of me. “How the hell did you find this place?”

  “I can tell from your body language that you know who I am,” Cain says softly as he continues to speak from atop the stairs. “You have been searching me out. I am here to help you, if you wish.”

  I watch silently as I feel the tension coming from Vincent. I place my hand on his shoulder, trying to ease him. It doesn’t really work.

  “I can tell when a vampire is stronger than me,” Vincent says with a sense of urgency in his voice. “As we’re talking about Cain, I can only imagine you’re him. It would take a vampire of such power, after all, to hide from me for all these years. Are you him? Are you Cain? You would be able to understand why I wouldn’t believe you if you told me you were?”

  I still can’t see Cain, even at the top of my staircase and in full light. His body is covered in what I can only imagine is artificial darkness. Vincent however, seems to be able to see him clearly. He seems to be affected just by being in Cain’s presence. This worries me quite a bit; I’ve never seen Vincent on edge.

  “I must apologize to you, my son,” Cain replies, his monotone voice seeming earnestly remorseful. “I have put you through so much. At the time, I never knew what the outcome would be. I did create your maker and his friends. I was lonely and wished to have amongst me a true family. Others, just like me, that’s all I ever wanted. But your creator, he became greedy and ravenous, as did his friends. So I sent you unto them. It seemed too easy? Perhaps because I might have helped a little. Your deductions were accurate; I did create the ones you name as the Coronam. That was my second attempt at a family that was functional. I tried to guide them to the proper way, as you guided yourself to being one with the balance. But now, after another thousand years, our species is in peril again. And I must therefore trust in you again, as I did before. However, this time, my aid will be much less subtle. You have, until now, been unsuccessful in combating the Hela poison. You’re right that it will destroy our species, that’s why this help I render now is so…bold. Take this, drink of me, my son. You will become impervious to the Hela poison. You will gain new strength, just from one sip. All I ask is that you spread my legend, as much as possible without becoming overbearing. Peace must return to the vampire world; e
verything depends on you and the fear of me coming to destroy those who do not follow the code of subtlety.”

  “You would have me commit this, one of the most serious of taboos?” Vincent asks incredulously. “How could I drink a fellow vampire’s blood? Much less the father of our race? Besides, how can I believe you truly are Cain? If a vampire like you can hide his presence from me, others can as well.”

  “These are risks that you must be willing to take, my child,” Cain replies calmly. “Most certainly, there are many dangers associated with your current endeavor. Is this not just another ordeal you must brave?”

  “And what of the blood bond?” Vincent asks suspiciously, his blue eyes hidden by his expression. “You would play me for a fool? A simple pawn in your game?”

  “That is a risk, undoubtedly. If you drink from me however, you will know almost all of my memories,” Cain explains carefully. “My wisdom, my very soul, some of it will be imparted on you. This is priceless. Your powers will increase exponentially. If you truly value Izzy, then you will do as you’re advised.”

  Vincent looks back at me, his eyebrows raised in suspicion. His concern is evident. The very fact that Vincent looks so worried has me terrified. Until now, I’ve thought of Vincent as recklessly fearless. He turns back to Cain before addressing him.

  “Very well,” Vincent agrees. “I will do so. Let’s see if your motives are as pure as you seem to imply. Next time, I would ask you to respect my privacy and stay out of my head.”

  “Yes, of course,” Cain replies immediately. A small vial of a dark red, almost black liquid is thrown from the top of the stairs. Vincent catches it and notes the small amount of blood. “I apologize for reading your thoughts; it’s an old habit…very hard to break, as I’m sure you know and understand. I cannot give you much of my blood. It can only be you that has some access to my power, but in the end, I still must remain who I am.”

  “Indeed, it’s more than a mouthful at least,” Vincent says as he pushes the cork off the vial and drinks it immediately. “I hope you can be trusted Cain. Although I’m at a loss for ulterior motives, it’s obvious you have a hold of me. Why you wouldn’t force me to do as you wish…is a mystery. I can only pray that you do this for the sake of the balance. Everything depends on it—”

  Vincent’s words are cut short as he winces in agony before falling to the ground onto his knees. He clutches at his stomach as he begins to grunt in pain. He looks up suspiciously at Cain before falling into another fit of misery.

  “It will only be temporary,” Cain explains carefully. “I couldn’t let you know every side effect of drinking my blood; you might not have taken it of your own free will. And I do need you to act of your free will. You will gain immediate power, Vincenzo. And you will never know what it is to be in my servitude; my blood doesn’t bind you to me, not that paltry amount. I needed you to trust me and make the decision with that risk present.”

  I hear Cain step down the stairs but the shadowy mass doesn’t appear to move. I still can’t make him out at all.

  “This perhaps seems like torture now,” Cain continues with a large hint of sadness in his voice. “But you will be able to be reached by me whenever I so choose, a necessary side effect. Our operation must be covert, so I must be able to speak to you, even if surrounded by witches. Ms. Elizabeth, please nurse Vincenzo to health if need be. I will take my leave of you both; my blood will make many things clear for your cause. I will be watching you three; be very careful with your next actions. The fates of many reside on the shoulders of few.”

  Just like before, Cain disappears from sight without a trace. I have no time to reflect on any of this though. I have to care for Vincent, who is writhing in pain on the floor. I try my best to help him up but he is much too strong and heavy. As he struggles against the pain, he involuntarily tightens and thrashes about, even smashing the floor near him with his superhuman strength. I can do nothing for him but sit and watch as he suffers.

  “Michael! If you can hear me, we need you!” I cry out as loud as I can.

  “I was already on my way,” I hear as I look at my front door only to see Michael. He rushes near Vincent’s side and looks at me, dumbstruck. “What happened here? He fed on vampire blood? But…this is different…”

  I don’t know whether to explain everything to Michael or just leave him in the dark. It all depends on what Vincent wants to do, and that’s still up for grabs. For that matter, it didn’t seem for sure that Vincent would survive the change. Have I ruined, or perhaps worse, killed, Vincent? Did Cain manipulate me?

  Did my instincts fail me? Or was it just one of Cain’s many tricks?...

  “Liz, what the hell happened here?” Michael exclaims as he tries to restrain a convulsing Vincent. “He’s going to bite his own tongue off! Were we attacked? I can smell an unfamiliar scent of a vampire hanging in the air…but it’s not like anything I’ve ever known. What happened?”

  I look at Michael before looking at Vincent’s face. Michael is understandably upset and concerned. But Vincent; poor Vincent. My guilt feels like a malevolent beast waiting for me to slip and fall to the ground so that it may devour me. I’ve led Vincent to this by choosing to keep Cain’s identity a secret. Even worse, I know Vincent didn’t hesitate in drinking Cain’s blood only on my behalf. Vincent’s expressions and his defensive posturing in front of me while Cain was present told a story all by itself. I can offer Michael nothing at this point.

  “I can smell you, vampire,” Michael says with a growl, his canines growing in length. “Reveal yourself immediately! What do you know of this? Or did you come to finish the job?”

  Michael waits patiently as he defends Vincent’s thrashing body. I’m more than curious at Michael’s declaration, but I know that if he senses someone there, someone has to be there. I looked around me in case Cain is going to reappear. Maybe he never left. Perhaps he was just hanging around to see how everything would go with Vincent, to see if the small vial of blood would have any effect.

  “I won’t say it again!” Michael demands, his anger reaching its limit. “I know you’re not the same vampire my friend drank from here. You’re only endangering yourself.”

  “Please! Don’t hurt me!” I hear a voice call from my bedroom. It was a female voice. I didn’t recognize it at all. How much would happen here at my home on one evening?

  “Show yourself,” Michael says as his eyes narrow and stare at my bedroom doorway. “Do you know anything about this? If you know anything about me, you’ll know I don’t harm your kind without reason. Are you behind this? Do you know what happened to my friend?”

  “No, I just showed up,” the female says as I finally see her. She’s blonde and looks a lot like…me. I recognize her face from the pictures my father held as he would cry himself into another drink.

  “Mom?” I ask in disbelief as I run past Michael and up the stairs. “Is that you?”

  The female vampire nods her head slowly before her eyes well up with tears and she reaches to pull me in for a hug. I hug her tightly, afraid that if I let her loose, she‘ll disappear from my life again. This has to be a dream; a dream after all the nightmares I’ve suffered lately.

  “Lizzy,” mom says softly in my ear. “I don’t deserve being called that from you…look at you. Look at how you’ve grown.”

  I look back briefly at Michael to see how he is handling this and to check on Vincent. Michael is visibly distressed and poor Vincent is still rolling on the ground uncontrollably under Michael’s grip.

  “The timing of this visit is impeccable,” I hear Vincent say as he becomes stiff and stops moving. “And Michael, just so you know, you’re the worst medic I have ever seen. You broke my arm at least six times just holding me down, you dumb pup. Don’t you know that you’re supposed to remove the stuff around the guy having the seizure? So he doesn’t bump his head on anything?”

  “Vincenzo?” Michael says as he looks down at Vincent. “You’re all right?! You had me worried!
What on earth happened to you?!”

  “For starters, I can’t move,” Vincent explains calmly as he turns to look at my mother and me. “Also, would you mind too much putting me on something softer? Like a bed or that stupid couch?”

  “It’s a sofa,” I exclaim with tears in my eyes. The moment has me completely elated.

  “It’s whatever the hell I say it is,” Vincent replies sarcastically, agony still lingering in his voice. “If I say it’s a giant pigeon, it’s a giant pigeon. Right now, I’m saying it’s a couch, so it’s a couch. I can’t believe this crap, I just got to being able to fly again and now I’m right back in the doctor’s office. And my nurse is a great, big, clumsy wolf with thumbs. Hurry up, will ya Mikey?” Michael nods and picks Vincent up, placing him gently on the sofa. It’s my house, and it’s a sofa damn it.

  “So glad to see you could join us Mary,” Vincent says with a smile as he sees me guide my mother down the stairs. “What took ya?”

  “I had to wait,” my mother explains. “When you left, security was heightened. Klein didn’t care how injured you were, he still wanted the council safe.”

  “That rat bastard,” Vincent says as he moves his head with great effort to look at me. “Well, there you go Izzy. Surprise.”

  I turn to look at my mother. I am absolutely speechless. She’s crying quietly as she looks me up and down.

  “It’s…been a while,” my mother says as she swallows hard. “I haven’t stopped thinking about you one single day.”

  I’m blissful. There’s no other way to explain it. I have my mother back. And if Vincent is in good enough health to complain and whine, chances are, he would pull through fine. And Michael, well, Michael I haven’t seen hurt yet. Hopefully I never will. The only immediate problem that comes to my mind is Dad. In all this happiness, it’s really hard not having him around. I bet he’d have recognized my mother, even if Vincent had charmed him.

  “Mom, how did you make it to us?” I ask, still not believing this is real. “I thought…I thought Klein had you. How did you make it out?”

  My mother takes a moment to compose herself before speaking. Up until now she hasn’t released my hand, but she does now as she moves her hand to Vincent’s forehead.

  “Vincent was able to charm the guards around the Coronam complex,” my mother explains. “Klein made it a point to keep me uneducated in the powers vampires are capable of. But Vincent spoke to me while he pleaded his case with the council. He told me everything that was going on, about how he cared for you. Vincent spoke about Michael too, and that if necessary, the both of them would destroy the entire facility to free me. But that wasn’t needed. Vincent was able to teach me how to use a lot of my powers, charm the guards all over the facility, and still talk and fight the Coronam as they attacked him. Vincent, you truly saved my life. I can never thank you enough. I would have been here sooner if it wasn’t for Klein’s paranoia leading him to doubling the guards. The guards that came were never charmed by you, so I had to charm my own way, as much as I could…”

  “You did all of that?” I say as I look at Vincent. Michael is cradling Vincent’s head.

  Both Michael and Vincent smile as they look at my mother. My mother simply nods slowly. I look once again towards Vincent.

  “Thank you Vincent,” I say as I grab his hand and kiss it. “You gave me my mother back.”

  “Yeah, well, like I said. Surprise,” Vincent replies sarcastically. “I wish I could feel that, but the truth is I can’t feel a thing right now. That had to have been Cain. Look at me, I’m completely paralyzed here.”

  “I’m sorry, but what?” Michael asks as one of his eyebrows rise up. “Cain? As in the Cain? You drank Cain’s blood? How do you even know it was him?”

  “Oh, trust me, this guy was not a fake,” Vincent explains with a laugh. “This guy’s blood was like moonshine on steroids. Huge elephant steroids too. We’re talking the good stuff. I know why he had to have me drink his blood now too. It’s a great thing we’re good Catholics Michael, turns out the big guy is real. And I also know about his conversation with you, Izzy…”

  “What? Why does it seem like I’m the only one left out of the loop here?” Michael asks as he looks at Vincent with a puzzled expression.

  “Yeah, Izzy here spoke with Cain,” Vincent announces. I’m not sure if he’s mad yet. “So you spoke with the big daddy vampire and chose not to tell us at all, huh?”

  I feel nothing but shame and regret. I’d hoped my reunion with my mother would not be sullied by something like this, but I suppose it was unavoidable when you based your life on lies…I had it coming. Michael’s eyes however, are not judgmental. He only looks at me and Vincent without saying a word.

  “I understand why you did it,” Vincent says, allowing a small smile to form on his face. “But don’t do it again. It makes me feel…antsy. Even though, your deception was superb, so points for that. And Mikey, you couldn’t pick up his scent? Bad dog!”

  Vincent starts laughing with Michael as they partake in what can only be an inside joke. I turn to look at my mother, still not truly believing that it’s her. But she’s still here. I hope this will last a lifetime.

  “I’m sorry to have cursed you with this Lizzy,” my mother says softly. “If I had known…I never would have allowed any of this to happen. I swear I didn’t know.”

  “It’s all right Mom,” I say as I reach in to hug her. “We’re together again. You have your daughter back. I have my mother back. That’s all that matters.”

  “I don’t feel much like a mother,” she says to me, regret hanging deeply in her statement. “I should have come sooner. Klein did so many things…he said so much to me…but I see now. That was just an excuse to keep me locked away. Away from you. I won’t ever be parted from you again, darling.”

  “I wish Dad were here,” I say as I begin to cry again. “But I think I might have really messed things up this time, Mom. I didn’t know we would ever get you back, I never thought it possible for you to be alive.”

  “I know,” she says simply. “Vincent explained everything already. You did what you could. There was no way you could know…besides, who says that this family is dead? I see two strong young men here and one strong young woman. All we need is to ensure we keep your father single and your mother will snatch him back up!”

  She tries to joke with me, but on the inside I can tell she‘s hurting. And while we could try to rebuild the family, things can’t go back to the way they were. After all, my father has been compelled by Vincent already. I don’t know if that process is reversible or if it held any side effects. Not to mention, we’re in the middle of a war here. And while Mom sees several strong young people here with her in the living room, I only see one vampire, a werewolf and a keeper.

  The vampire’s weak and incapable of defending himself. The werewolf seems itching for a fight. And the keeper?

  Well, she doesn’t want to risk losing what little she has just regained.