Wrath

I looked over Mom’s shoulder at Char.

“I told her everything,” the warlock said. “At least, what little we know.”

I couldn’t imagine what had been going through Mom’s head for the entire trip. I knew how I’d felt when Tristan had returned after seven years, but that was nothing in comparison, and she still didn’t know if this vampire had really been her husband. She’d had to wonder for the whole plane ride over, making it excruciatingly long even at warlock speed. Of course, for all I knew, maybe he’d meant nothing to her. Maybe it had been a marriage of convenience. She’d never bothered telling me about him, after all. On the other hand, she’d been shocked to see him on the screen. She hadn’t expected him to be alive in any kind of condition. So she certainly had to have questions galore, but Charlotte didn’t have many answers to offer. All we really knew was that he was one pissed off vampire.

“Take me to him,” Mom ordered Char. “Now.”

Tristan and I followed Mom and Charlotte down the stairs, and Vanessa followed us. She hadn’t wanted anything to do with reviving the vampire—as tough as she was, she had a weak stomach when it came to those kinds of things—but she’d promised to be there when Mom arrived. As the only other vampire in the house, she could be a big help if things went wrong. The rest of the team stayed in position at the top of the stairs, ready to act as well.

We all stopped in front of the door. The room remained muffled, so we heard nothing coming from inside. A check into the vamp’s mind told me he continued to throw a grade-A vampire fit. Charlotte grasped the doorknob, but paused and looked at Mom with her brows high.

“One more time—” she started.

“I know,” Mom nearly growled, her impatience obvious. “He’s dangerous. If he’s who he says he is, he’s always had a bit of a temper.”

“Well, now he’s got that temper as a vampire,” Char said. “Be prepared for anything.”

Mom gave her a single, sharp nod, and after another moment of hesitation, Charlotte twirled her free hand in the air while twisting the knob and throwing the door open. Winston was in the middle of another round of cursing, but fell silent when his gaze found Mom in the doorway.

“Sophia?” he nearly whispered. “Is it really you?”

Mom simply stood there, her mouth hanging open. We all stood back a few paces, carefully watching both of them, prepared to act if necessary, but they only stared at each other in silence. Eventually Mom’s hands moved up to cover her mouth. She took one step into the room and to the side. Another step farther in and to the other side. Winston remained perfectly still as she studied him, only his eyes moving as he drank in the sight of her.

His whole demeanor changed. Anger no longer pulsed off of him in hot waves. The profanities and threats cleared out of his mind, revealing something else. Wonder. Confusion. Disbelief.

“Sophia?” he said again, his voice lower than a whisper.

Mom let out a little noise like a hiccup. She took a step closer. “Oliver? My Oliver?”

The vampire’s face lit up in a grin, his eyes melting into a sparkling blue, dimples punctuating his lifted cheeks.

“Sophia,” he said, and this time it wasn’t a question.

“Oliver!” She crossed the last few steps to him in a blur and threw her arms around him. Her body shook in what I assumed to be sobs.

Oliver. That had been the name of her true love. Tears dared to prick my eyes. But wait . . .

I looked at Charlotte with wide, inquiring eyes. She only shrugged. I didn’t particularly want to piss the vampire off again, especially with Mom in the danger zone, but someone somewhere was missing something.

“Um . . . Mom?” I hesitated. “This isn’t—”

She turned her head away from his chest and toward me, with tears streaming down her cheeks and a smile on her face.

“It is, honey,” she said as she tightened her arms around the vampire. “This is Oliver Winston Chambers. He prefers Winston, but he’s always been my Oliver to me.”

“And he’s—”

She reached a hand up and pressed it against his face. The vamp who had been threatening to eat us all alive only a few minutes ago leaned into her hand, and if a vampire could have googly eyes, he did.

“He’s my soul mate.”

Memories of them together before he’d been turned and before she’d gone through the Ang’dora played in Winston-Oliver-whatever-his-name-was’ mind as though they were yesterday. To him, they practically felt that way. He was the real deal. And the way Mom pressed herself against him, I couldn’t deny it. Only true love could overcome the stench of his clothes so she could stand to be near him.

“Unchain him,” Mom ordered, and she looked up at him. “I can trust you.” She didn’t make it a question.

“We have much to discuss,” he said as he lowered his head. She stretched up on her toes to kiss his lips.

Wow. This is beyond weird. I hadn’t seen Mom with a man since I was in my teens, and she’d never been outwardly affectionate with any of them. Now, however, she looked as though she couldn’t help it.

“First thing is your conversion,” she said to him.

Thank goodness no one had removed the shackles yet. Winston-Oliver’s body stiffened, and his eyes hardened. But for only a brief moment.

“If that’s what it takes,” he said, his eyes softening as they continued to stare at Mom. “Anything for you, love.”

Nobody moved to release him from the chains until Mom insisted, and then gave a direct order. I held my breath when Charlotte and Tristan freed the vampire. His arms came down and looped around Mom’s waist. He lifted her so her face came level to his. So her throat was in reach. His eyes darted down to the pulse he could see and smell in her neck, and palpable tension returned to the room. My own heart raced as I worried about my mother.

“Oliver,” she whispered, and his gaze returned to her face. “I have never stopped loving you.”

“Nor I you,” he replied before bringing her in for a real kiss.

If this weren’t my mom and a Daemoni vampire who’d been down for a hundred years, I’d have probably been in tears. This was better than any romance book or movie ever. Definitely better than any I’d written, and my books had been called the best paranormal romances of all time. But it was my mom, and he was a Daemoni vamp. A thirsty one.

“Sophia,” Char said, thankfully being the first to speak up and interrupt them. “The conversion?”

Mom pulled away from the kiss and looked over her shoulder at us. “We need to talk first. Doing it now would be a form of coercion. He deserves to know everything beforehand.”

“Agreed,” Char said, “so how do you want to do this?”

“I want you to leave us alone,” Mom answered easily. “All of you out.”

Char, Tristan, and I exchanged a look. We weren’t budging.

“Out,” Mom repeated.

“Sophia—” Char and Tristan both began.

“That’s an order.”

“Mom,” I started.

“I will be fine. He won’t hurt me. Will you, Oliver?”

He cocked his head, but his nostrils flared, and he surely inhaled the Amadis scent all over us. “I’m confused, but I will never hurt you, Sophia. Never again.”

We still didn’t move, but eventually Mom forced us out. Tristan, Charlotte, and Vanessa took turns guarding the door, and I stayed at the top of the stairs, trying to listen to their minds. Mom yelled at me every time I entered hers. Then she mentally yelled at me some more when I wasn’t in her head, because she knew it meant I’d moved to Winston’s. Eventually I gave up the fight, pulled out of their minds, and waited.