A Shade of Vampire 32: A Day of Glory (2 page)

M
y chest was
on fire as I hurtled back to The Woodlands. Bastien. He had betrayed me. He had betrayed me in my most vulnerable state, just after I had expressed my love to him. Just after he had told me that he wanted me, too. I felt mortally wounded. My soul felt shattered. I didn’t know how I would ever recover from this… but revenge was a good way to start.

It had been such a great temptation to tear at that hussy’s throat the second I saw her naked form entwined in my betrothed’s arms. I hated that I sensed a connection with the human girl, a pull deep inside me, toward her, as though she were a Mortclaw herself. But my mind was too turbulent to pay it much attention. She could have been my sister, and I’d still want to slit her throat.

I had detected an energy around the couple, almost an aura, that made me believe they had already bonded, even though I had not been there to witness it.
Bonded.
That meant that Bastien was tarnished. That he could never truly be mine.

Somehow or other, I had managed to hold myself back from murdering her then. This was a job best shared with Bastien’s mother. I would fetch Sendira, and the two of us could mutilate her together. The experience would be far more satisfying for the both of us.

What was that man thinking, going against his mother’s wishes?

Did Sendira not already warn him that if he ever saw that human again, the girl would incur the wrath of the entire Mortclaw tribe?

He must’ve lost his mind to see her again. Well, he would pay dearly for this transgression… if it was the last thing I did.

On reaching The Woodlands, I used my senses to locate my tribe. My brain had been telling me to head immediately for our home—our mountain lair—but my senses led me in a different direction. I soon realized that I was heading toward the Blackhalls’ lair.

But arriving over the clearing in front of their mountain entrance, I stopped short.

My family. All of them. Paralyzed and lined up in a row. Before them stood a blonde woman and a young man.
Witches
.

I backed away, my heart pounding. I couldn’t be seen or they might trap me too.

I hurried around the mountain, out of sight, and touched down on a rock to contemplate what my next move should be.

My family was in need—including my mother and father. But what could I do to help, all alone? I was no match for them, when they had managed to overpower my entire tribe. Maybe, with Bastien’s help, I’d stand a better chance.

I wasn’t sure what else to do other than lift back in the air and hurtle in the opposite direction, once again toward the ocean.

It seems I will have to take this into my own hands after all…

W
hen I woke
up after the long rest Corrine insisted I take, I was still aching all over. My nose, especially. It had been mangled by the transformation and I suspected that I would have to wear a bandage over it for a while to come. Corrine said she could attempt to use her magic on it, but it was best to let it heal by itself.

I sat up, rubbing my eyes before inspecting the rest of my body. Corrine had wrapped up the tips of my fingers and toes with bandages, so that I didn’t have to get freaked out every time I looked down and saw my nails missing. She had assured me that they would grow back fine, they just needed time. The same went for my missing hair. Though I was holding out hope that the jinn might be able to make that grow back more quickly.

But whatever the case, the state of my body could hardly get me down right now. I was just so relieved to finally be back. Ever since I’d been bitten by the Bloodless, I’d spent each minute either living in fear that I would turn, or experiencing the terror of being trapped as a Bloodless. Even now, I found my mind returning to that fearful state because it was so engrained in my consciousness.

I breathed in deeply
. I’m fine now. I’m safe. And so is Lawrence.

I was brimming with excitement to see him again. We had been apart for so long it would feel like rediscovering one another.

I slid my legs off the bed and stood up—at least, I tried to stand up. I felt too weak, in spite of the bowl of broth Corrine had forced me to eat before I fell asleep.

Then I noticed that somebody had thoughtfully left a wheelchair at the end of my bed. Corrine probably left it in case I woke up and needed to use the bathroom by myself.

I lowered myself into the wheelchair and rolled myself to the bathroom. I stopped in front of the sink. Gripping hold of its edge, I pulled myself upward, keeping myself propped against it while I brushed my teeth and washed my face. At least my teeth had become normal again—for the most part. They seemed to be slightly sharper at the tips than I remembered them being, unless that was my imagination.

I sank back down into the chair, wheeled myself through the bedroom, and then into the hallway outside.

The sight of my father and Lawrence talking on a bench brought a smile to my face. They soon noticed me as I rolled toward them, their expressions mirroring mine.

“How are you feeling?” my father asked.

“Weak,” I said, realizing how husky my voice was. “And achy. But I’m okay. I’ll pull through.”

He bent down to hug me and kiss my cheek.

“Where is Mom?” I asked him.

“She’ll, uh, be here soon.”

My eyes turned to Lawrence.

My father took the hint and said, “I’ll give you two some time alone.”

He resumed his seat on the bench, even as Lawrence moved around me and began to push my wheelchair into my room.

He pushed me right to the bed before leaning down and helping me out of it, propping me on the edge of the mattress.

I couldn’t control the grin on my face as he sat down next to me.

“This is… surreal,” Lawrence said, voicing my thoughts exactly.

“Yeah,” I murmured. Now that I thought of it, I was pretty sure that this was the same room that Lawrence had been brought to initially, when he had first arrived in The Shade. “Spooky.”

“Things are a lot less spooky now than they were a few hours ago,” Lawrence muttered.

I let out a dry laugh, before we both fell into silence. Things turned unexpectedly awkward between us as we gazed into each other’s eyes.

Then we both spoke at once:

“Grace, I—”

“Lawrence—”

We stopped at the same time, laughing.

I drew in a breath. “Lawrence… Just kiss me, will you?”

He was more than happy to oblige.

His arms moved around me and he drew me to him, placing my legs over his lap so that our faces could reach each other comfortably. Our lips inches apart, he closed his eyes and leaned closer, catching my lips in his. Exhilaration rushed through me. This wasn’t our first kiss, but we were alone this time, and for that reason, it felt like the first time all over again. Sweet, tender, passionate. All-consuming. I laid my arms over his shoulders while his palms grazed the small of my back, pulling me closer still.

As we drew apart for a breath, he said, “You can stay sick for as long as you like, Grace. I owe you a few rides in that wheelchair.”

I chuckled. “Thanks. Though I really don’t intend to drag out my recovery if I can help it.”

Truth be told, I was feeling very insecure right now. I was hardly looking my best—Miss Baldy with no nails. And here was Lawrence, looking—I wasn’t going to mince my words—damn hot, as this new macho man he had become. It almost felt like I didn’t deserve him.

I quickly pushed aside those thoughts, however, as he seemed to sense my self-consciousness. Maybe it was the way I had flinched as his fingertips brushed the base of my scalp, where my hair should’ve been.

His warm brown eyes gazed deep into mine as his thumbs caressed my cheeks. “You will always be beautiful to me, Grace,” he said, his voice soft and husky. “Always.”

I supposed he hadn’t exactly looked his best when he first arrived in The Shade.

As he moved in to kiss me again, I couldn’t help but grip his chin, stalling him and asking with one brow raised, “Even when I was a Bloodless?”

A smirk peeled across his face. “Uh, that’s probably pushing it a bit…”

I snorted as I let go of his chin and allowed him to reclaim my lips.

We leaned backward on the bed, rolling onto our sides and facing each other as we continued to lose ourselves in each other.

We were interrupted by an abrupt knock at the door. It burst wide open a second later. I barely managed to sit up before Orlando stepped into the room.

His face had been filled with anticipation, excitement—no doubt he had just heard that I had woken up, and he’d come in to greet me—but now he froze in his tracks. His face fell as he gazed at me, still wrapped in Lawrence’s arms.

“Orlando,” I managed, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. “Hey, how are you?”

His eyes returned fleetingly to me from Lawrence before he replied vaguely, “I’m fine… Just came in to see how you were. No worries. I’ll check back another time.”

He turned swiftly to leave the room.

“Wait,” I called, attempting to stand but remembering my weakness.

Orlando paused by the door, glancing furtively at me.

“The antidote,” I said. “When are we going to try it on you?”

“In a bit,” he said. “Corrine’s going to take me into her spell room with Dr. Finnegan so the two of them can examine my blood before giving me a dose… there’s just enough ingredients left in those tubes for me, or so they said.”

“I want to know how it goes,” I told him.

Orlando smiled fleetingly. “I’m sure you’ll hear from me about it, or through the grapevine.” With that, he left the room.

As Lawrence pulled me back down next to him and kissed me again, I felt a horrible twinge of guilt.
Poor Orlando.
He had been so good to me… I didn’t know how to respond to the longing in his eyes. I didn’t feel for him what I felt for Lawrence. We didn’t share the same spark. I loved Orlando but in a different way. Unfortunately for him, it looked like he was going to find himself trapped in the biggest cliché of all time.
“I love you as my friend, Orlando,”
I imagined myself saying.
Ugh. Lame.
But it was the truth. I wasn’t sure what else to be with Orlando but honest.

I needed to catch up with him. I owed him a heart to heart—and more.

But for now, I continued enjoying my time with Lawrence, whom I could now safely call my boyfriend.

* * *

L
awrence
and I were left alone for about another half hour, before a second knock came at the door.

This time, it was my parents. They didn’t burst in as quickly as Orlando had, so Lawrence and I had more time to sit up and compose ourselves before they entered. To my surprise, my mother’s eyes were shining with tears.

“Mom? What’s wrong?” I asked her. Yet as she approached, I wasn’t sure if that was really the right question. Though she was crying, she did not look exactly sad. She just looked… breathlessly emotional.

She knelt down on the floor before me and held my hands. She kissed each of them before her turquoise eyes fixed on mine.

“You have a brother, Grace. A long-lost brother.”

A
s soon as
I had laid eyes on Field, one of the Hawk half-blood boys, something stirred within me. It was his eyes. Aquamarine eyes, so close a shade to my own.

But as soon as they had arrived, everything became a blur of excitement and urgency. We were sure that we had the final ingredient to cure Grace. We had immediately gone about preparing the antidote and feeding it to Grace—but all the while, I kept glancing at Field. When he had offered to give his blood, I could hardly control my emotions. I was so sure that this was some twist of providence—my unknown and long-lost child returned to save his sibling.

After Corrine ushered everybody out of Grace’s room so that she could sleep, all I wanted to do was verify for a fact whether my instincts were accurate. I hadn’t wanted to unsettle Field—so I didn’t start stalking him or even talking to him. I waited with Ben in the hallway outside Grace’s room until Corrine emerged.

“I need you to carry out a DNA test,” I had told her.

She seemed to already be thinking along the same lines as me. She didn’t even ask whose blood I wanted to test—she already knew it was Field.

Ben, Corrine and I headed to the Sanctuary. Corrine already had a sample of Grace’s blood from prior to Grace’s turning, when she’d been trying to figure out how to stop the impending transformation. Grace’s blood would make for a better sample than my vampire blood.

Corrine wanted her spell room to herself as she started work, so Ben and I waited outside.

It was a bizarre feeling to be sitting there, waiting for Corrine’s news. I could hardly express it. I wasn’t sure what my reaction would be if it came up positive. I shared a son with somebody I didn’t even know. It must have been just as strange and uncomfortable for Ben. I held his gaze, wondering what he was thinking. He placed a hand on my knee and squeezed it, even as he kissed my cheek. He looked deep into my eyes and held the side of my face.

“Whatever the result turns out to be,” he said gently, “don’t think that it will change anything… If Field is your son, then he will be mine, too.”

Tears welled in my eyes as I clutched Ben’s face and kissed him hard. “I love you, Ben,” I whispered.

He held me close, providing me comfort when I needed it most. Anchoring me when I felt adrift in uncertainty.

We were hardly breathing as Corrine finally emerged. It was hard to tell the result from her expression alone. She was doing a good job at pulling a poker face as she made her way toward us. The wait only made me more tense.

She ran her tongue over her lower lip before glancing from Ben to me. “Well,” she said, “would you really like to know the answer?”

Ugh
. “Yes!” Ben and I urged at once.

“Okay… Your instincts were correct. Field is your son.”

Although I had truthfully been expecting this answer all along, I still wasn’t quite prepared for the tsunami of emotions that came over me. I wasn’t sure what to feel: excitement, that Grace had a sibling she’d so often said she’d wished for; grief, on considering what a terrible, neglected life Field had lived in my absence; or fear, over how this was all going to work. And over everything, curiosity burned within me to know who his father was. Whether he was even still alive.

My emotions manifested in uncontrollable tears. I found myself shaking and sobbing in Ben’s arms, even as he held me firmly and kissed my temple.

“Hey, it’s okay, baby,” he whispered, rubbing my back. “It’s okay.”

Could I even be a mother to him? Would he even accept me? Would he accept Ben?

We were complete strangers to each other. I wondered if the bridge between us could ever be closed.

This was all so strange. Stranger than a dream.

Corrine gave Ben and me some privacy, and I continued to cry in his arms until I could cry no more. I drew in deep shuddering breaths as I tried to compose myself.
I should listen to what my husband said
.
It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.

“We can go and talk to him in your own time,” Ben said. “There’s no rush.”

I nodded, clearing my throat. Though I actually did not want to drag this out. I wanted to talk to Field, now. Drawing it out would only leave me to speculate longer about how it would all go. How it would all work out.

I clutched Ben’s hand and kissed the back of it before raising my eyes to his. “I’d like to talk to him now. And I think that, at least initially, I should see him alone.”

* * *

C
orrine escorted
us back to the hospital. We found the five boys on the ground floor, sitting around a table in the dining room. They were gulping down a meal. Who knew the last time they had eaten proper food. Maybe even never.

I stood with Ben discreetly in the doorway of the dining hall, waiting until they had finished before daring to venture in alone and make my way toward Field, while Ben headed up to Grace’s room. Field was just dumping his disposable plate into a trashcan and I caught him turning around, our turquoise eyes meeting. He stopped still as he stared back at me, his thick brows lowering. Now that I examined him, I was sure that we shared a similar lip shape, too.

My voice caught in my throat. “Field,” I managed. “Could I… have a word with you?”

He looked at me uncertainly, but nodded. I sat down at an empty table with him, the two of us in opposite seats. I hesitated.
How do I break this to him?
I guessed there was really only one way… “Field, I… I’m your mother.”

He looked like he’d been stunned. His lips parting, his breath hitched. “What?”

“You were born from my egg. You are my son.”

God, this felt so weird. I could only imagine how Grace would react once I told her.

“One of our witches did a test,” I went on, my voice becoming more unsteady.

“
Mother?
” he mouthed.

“I’m afraid I don’t know who your father is,” I said.
So don’t ask me that.
Although I was curious, there was a part of me that hoped I would never find out who his father was. It would take the strangeness of the situation to a whole new level.

Field’s face only grew more stunned as I went on to explain how he must have been conceived. How my eggs had been stolen, and I never knew about his existence. How I never would have known, had it not been for Lawrence finding and bringing him here.

I talked and talked, and by the end, when he was still silent, I couldn’t bear to sit here facing him any longer. I stood up and moved around to him, placing my hands on his shoulders. He rose and, even as he stood much taller than me, I drew him in for a hug.

He was stiff at first beneath my embrace, but then his arms loosened and wrapped around me. These boys weren’t used to affection. I doubted Field had ever been hugged. The only constant in their lives had been each other.

I couldn’t stop the tears leaking from my eyes again now, even though I wished that they wouldn’t.

As we drew apart, my hands running down his arms and clasping his hands, we looked each other over again.

“Mother,” he repeated, as though he still couldn’t believe it. Neither could I. It would take a while for this revelation to sink in for all of us.

As I turned, I realized the other four boys were watching us. Unfortunately, I had no idea who their parents were. I couldn’t spot any of my traits in them, so I could only assume it was just Field created from one of my eggs. I wasn’t sure that my nerves could have hacked two surprise sons, so it was just as well.

“I’d like to take you to your half-sister,” I told Field. “She doesn’t know about our connection yet. Would you mind that?”

“I’d like it.”

“Okay,” I breathed.

Still holding Field’s hand, I led him out of the room and to the elevators, where we ascended to Grace’s floor. As we emerged and I caught sight of Ben, a warm smile spread across his face.

I led Field to him and introduced Ben. “This is my husband,” I told him. I was tempted to add
, And the closest thing you have to a father,
but there would be time for that later.

Field was in too much of a daze to smile back at Ben.

“And Grace, whom your blood saved, is your sibling,” I continued. “Is Grace awake?” I asked Ben.

“Yes. She came out here just a short while ago. Lawrence is with her now.”

I turned to Field. “Let me go in and break the news to her. Then you can meet her a second, proper time.”

Ben and I left Field in the hallway and entered Grace’s room to find her and Lawrence sitting on the bed. As I hurried to my daughter and knelt before her, I told her everything about Corrine’s findings. Her expression mirrored Field’s uncannily.

“Oh, my God,” she said, her voice choking up. “Wh-Where is he?”

I took that as my cue to return to the corridor and bring Field in. He eyed Grace nervously, then slowly moved toward her. As Grace attempted to stand up, Lawrence assisted her, holding her waist and steadying her as she reached out to brush her hand against Field’s right arm.

Through her moistening eyes, a smile shone through.

“My brother,” she managed, before throwing her arms around him and holding him in a tight hug. Then I heard her whisper into his ear: “Thank you.”