Min's Vampire (57 page)

“
Fine, but I really don’t
want to do anything with dead things.”

Gram shrugged. “Either you master your
power through use, or you ignore it and it reaches out and does
things on its own. And you won’t be able to control what it does,
or what it brings.”

Lucy felt a chill as she waited for
her grandmother to continue. She knew there was more.

“
And if you can’t control
what your power brings forth, then it might end up killing you. It
might even kill others.”

Yep,
Lucy gulped
. There was more. Must stop
asking questions!

“
Anyhow,” Gram said,
flipping through the book. “This volume has a lot to teach you. And
even though you find it repulsive, necromancy has helped this
family more than you know.

“
After your grandfather
passed, I was a single mother with a mortgage and a five-year-old
little girl to support. So I waited tables at a little diner by
day, and made extra money at night raising spirits and animating
corpses.”

“
Ewww! Now that’s
disgusting!”

“
It paid off this house and
kept my family fed without public assistance or having to marry a
man just for support. To me, that’s more than reason enough to have
done it.”

“
Do you still…”

“
No. My power has faded
quite a bit over the last decade or so. So it’s good that my child
is grown.”

“
But why would anyone want
to bring the dead back to life?”

“
Well,” she said
matter-of-factly, “there are as many reasons for it as there are
hearts to want it: to ask forgiveness, to say good bye, to find out
if the deceased was cheating, or where they hid the insurance
policy or the family fortune.”

“
Sounds horrible.” Lucy
shivered just thinking about it.

“
It is.” Gram reached out
and took her granddaughter’s hand. “And we animate the dead. We
don’t bring them back to life. No matter how life-like they may
seem, they are dead.”

“
So, the vampire
chick—Delia—she’s dead?”

“
Technically,” Gram said,
looking up to the kitchen’s stucco ceiling, contemplating. “Yes,
vampires are dead. They were living, but they die when they are
made vampire. Takes longer than you’d think, sometimes more than a
week. And then a magic, somewhat like what we use to animate the
dead, fills them with something very near life, but just as far
removed from life too. Even the pure-bloods.”

“
Pure-bloods?”

“
That’s a vampire or
werewolf that was born that way. There always has to be one or both
parents already affected.”

Lucy thought on that for a
moment.

“So that’s why I could tell her to let
me go.” It started to make a sense that really wasn’t. But it did
explain why she’d obeyed, and why each time Lucy had done it she’d
felt the life drain out of her. She still felt pretty exhausted,
and that was after a solid eight hours of sleep.

“
That’s what’s confusing,”
Lucy’s grandmother said. “I’ve never heard of a necromancer having
any power over a vampire before. It’s interesting.”

“
Interesting? Try
disturbing.” Lucy drained her coffee mug a bit. “But in the handy
sort of way.”

“
Indeed.” Her grandmother
regarded her with a stern gaze. “And that brings me to how and why
you’ve placed yourself in harm’s way?”

“
I didn’t do anything to
that vamp-chick,” Lucy said, incensed.

Gram raised her eyebrows dramatically.
“Didn’t you, dear? You’re voluntarily playing the role of her
lover’s fiancée.”

“
It was her idea… or so I’ve
heard.”

“
Yes, but even if she
weren’t a supernatural being, she would still have a hard time once
she started realizing what all that involved.”

Lucy had to admit, once Gabriel had
pulled Delia away from her and she’d heard the resulting angry
exchange—and had witnessed the naked (ha, ha) emotional connection
the two shared, she actually had kind of understood. And when a
vampire can smell the guy you just kissed on you, you can’t really
imagine you’d get away with it.

It all just felt so damn
confusing.

“
I didn’t mean to hurt her…”
Lucy looked to her grandmother beseechingly. “And I didn’t want to
lie to you.”

“
What’s done is done,” Gram
said, “but I do want to know why you’ve done all this?”

Tell the truth? Why
not?
Lucy didn’t have anything more to hide
from her grandmother.

“
I wanted my old life back.”
Just saying the words made a wave of relief fall over her. “I know
that’s just shallow and I should be grateful for, well… grateful
for everything… but…”

“
You don’t feel like
yourself anymore.”

Lucy looked to her grandmother,
surprised. Did she really understand?

“
You don’t recognize
yourself anymore, and without those things you used to take for
granted, you don’t feel the same inside.” Gram stood up from the
table and moved to pour herself another cup of coffee. “I get that.
I felt that way after your mother was born. I loved her more than
life itself, but having to give up so many things, and my freedom,
all to take care of this little baby… it was a shock to my
identity. And then Marshal died, and I had to give up even more of
myself just to survive.”

Lucy suddenly felt so stupid. She was
complaining about losing a car, a line of credit, and her wardrobe.
Her grandmother had lost most of her life to fate.

Another reason to be weary
of love.
Even now, just the word elicited a
little shock through her spine.

She could feel tears threatening to
spill from her eyes, but she blinked them back. “It wasn’t just the
way those things made me feel.” She felt so low, complaining to a
woman who’d sacrificed so much for her family—yet she was the only
person in the world right then who understood, or even cared to
understand how Lucy felt.

“
Ever since Daddy was
arrested, and we moved here… I’ve felt… no, I know that I’ve lost
the future I’d envisioned for myself.” She couldn’t help it as
bitter tears fell from her eyes, rolling down her cheeks. “It’s
stupid, and… and really selfish…”

Gram had taken her seat at the kitchen
table again, reached out and took hold of Lucy’s hand. “No, no
child. Mourning those things isn’t stupid or selfish. Those things
were as much a part of you as the color of your eyes. And losing
your future would devastate anyone.” Gram pulled a small pack of
tissues from her pocket and handed them to Lucy. “I’m just sorry
you didn’t come to me with this. We would’ve thought of someway.
And I don’t like you being involved in an enterprise of this
nature. Even without the vampires and werewolves—which you
should’ve avoided—trying to pull a con-job on others is always a
good way to get hurt.”

“
I know that… now. But at
the time it seemed the best way.”

“
The easiest way, you
mean.”

Oh god, she hates me… is
she going to tell me I have to stop? I can’t stop. I need
this…

“
But that’s neither here nor
there. What we need to do now is get you through the path you’ve
chosen.”

“
Really?” Lucy said with too
much hopefulness.

“
Well, if you think one
vampire having it out for you is bad, imagine having her family,
and the werewolves having it out for you too.”

Lucy gulped at the thought. She had no
idea what Delia’s family were like, but Lucy suddenly had a
sinister image of Gabriel’s very large family all wolfing-out and
surrounding her. The thought that had entered her mind right after
the kiss last night, that if they only knew she was playing them,
they’d all hate her. The fact that she’d fallen in love with them
immediately coupled with the thought of them turning all fangs and
claws, and coming after her for retribution, made her stomach flip
over.

“
The thought hadn’t occurred
to you until now, had it?”

Lucy shot her grandmother with an
irritated look. “You’re just so comforting right now.”

They both laughed, even though it
didn’t seem to relieve the sick feeling in Lucy’s
stomach.

“
So, as I was saying, first
thing we have to do is keep you moving down the path you’ve chosen…
without getting you killed.”

“
Again with the comforting
words.”

“
That means I’ll be
expecting him for dinner tonight. Shall we say at six?”

“
Expecting who?”

“
Why, your werewolf of
course.”

Lucy couldn’t believe the cheery
expression on her grandmother’s face. “You want me to bring my
fiancé—that mom knows nothing about—to dinner?” She lifted her
hands and then let them fall to the surface of the table with a
disgruntled thump. “Are you crazy?”

Gram looked even more bemused by her
granddaughter’s displeasure. “Crazy is such a misunderstood term. I
like to think that I march to the beat of my own drummer.” She
raised her eyebrows again. “And yes, that’s exactly what I want you
to do.”

Lucy shook her head in disbelief. “I
don’t even know if he can come… he’s always busy with—”

“
I didn’t ask you if he was
busy,” her grandmother said in a stern, flat tone. “I said you two
will be here for dinner, tonight, at six. Am—I—Clear?”

Lucy gulped. Her grandmother was
getting scary. “Yes ma’am.” Lucy was still confused about one
thing. “But what about mom and Seth?”

“
Your mother is working a
double tonight, and your brother is staying over at his… friend’s
house. So it will be just you, me, and your wolf.”

My wolf…
Lucy felt a warmth bloom in her chest.
Gabe being mine…

Lucy closed her eyes tight on the
idea. Just the thought of what would happen if psycho-vamp-girl got
wind that Lucy was really starting to feel something for Gabriel
made her queasy stomach churn even faster.

Chapter 14

IT HAD TAKEN GABRIEL almost all night
to calm Delia down. She was frantic, one moment seeming to believe
what he told her, the next she was seething with jealousy and the
desire to go kill Lucy.

That thought had affected him far more
than he’d been counting on. Sure, it was important to keep Lucy
alive and well. Not only instrumental to Delia and his pulling the
wool over his parent’s eyes, but she was actually a pretty good
person. Even with the gold digging and shallow attachment to high
end possessions, she had this quality about her.

At first he’d assumed it was just a
meeting of minds. He was completely goal oriented, and even though
Lucy’s goals only aligned with his through their little
arrangement, he had been truly impressed by her commitment and
determination.

And then there was the engagement
party and that damn kiss.

Not that it had gone badly. No, not a
bit. Their kiss had been more than just convincing… it had been
heart-stoppingly real. At least on Gabriel’s part.

He’d felt drawn to her the moment his
eyes had taken her in. The blood red dress, the way she moved
through the room and how she’d effortlessly charmed everyone…
including him.

Sitting back in his chair at Enoch
Industries, Gabriel felt guilt and shame mix with the lust he felt
for Lucy.

How could he want two women at the
same time? What kind of man was he? He wasn’t that kind of guy. No,
he certainly hadn’t been. Ever since the night he’d met Delia he’d
wanted and loved only her.

But then she had that crazy idea,
though it sounded plausible at first. Even though sooner or later
someone unsympathetic in the family would have found out and the
whole thing would’ve exploded in their faces. Looking back now,
maybe it was all just the very worst idea ever.

And now, even though he’d said all
those comforting things to Delia, he knew he’d lied. Even though he
felt the same about her, his newfound adoration for Lucy was
something too powerful to deny.

And he hadn’t been able to give Delia
what she’d most wanted. After they’d left the alley, Gabriel had
taken her back to her apartment. She’d tried to get him into bed
with her, yet he had convinced her that he needed to get back to
the party, to smooth the family’s ruffled feathers over him ducking
out on the party.

And truthfully, he had wanted to see
Lucy again. He wanted it so much that he couldn’t disguise it. He
only hoped that Delia wouldn’t pick up on it.

He needed time to think, to weigh what
he felt and what he knew, and to figure out what the hell he was
doing and going to do. He needed to figure out what he really felt
for both Delia and Lucy, and he needed to do it before he saw
either one of them again. He couldn’t keep doing this, hurting them
and keeping them in the dark. Not that Lucy was in the dark. She’d
been a little cold when he returned to the party, but that had only
lasted so long. By the time she’d left they were starting to look
at each other in that infuriatingly infatuated way
again.