Lost Paradise (31 page)

The first hint was Lash sidling up to me.
“Sorry. I let it slip one of the twin’s is Dev’s.”

I glared bloody murder at him. “You
asshole.”

“Sar, they wouldda had to know
eventually—”

“Sar,” my mother called stridently. “Come
over here a minute.”

She knew, and if I didn’t get over there, she
would be dragging me over there by my ears in front of everyone.
She’d had a fair bit of wine, too, meaning her normal verbal
boundaries, already low, had probably shrunk to nothing.

I headed over, smiling fakely. Theo came over
quickly to meet me in front of my parents, sliding his hand into
mine, while managing an almost inaudible growl at Lash.

My mother got to her feet, and launched in
without preamble. “Is it true, Daughter dear?” she said with a
bared-teeth smile and hot eyes. “You are having twins with more
than one father?”

I opened my mouth to speak, but Theo was
faster. “Yes, ma’am. It’s true.”

“How could you do this?” my mom yelled
furiously.

The room went silent, all eyes on us.

We had to get her out of here before she said
any more. We needed Titus. I glanced around desperately for help,
meeting Terian’s eyes. He nodded, then disappeared.

“How could you let her do this?” my mom
yelled at Theo.

I squeezed his hand, to tell him not to say
anything.

Titus appeared behind my parents, grabbed one
in each burly arm. “Hayden,” he rumbled, and then they were
gone.

I grabbed Theo, Terian grabbed Devlin, and we
teleported to Hayden, arriving in the kitchen. Luckily, no one was
there. Devlin nodded, then gestured to Titus and Terian. They went
into the basement, leaving the five of us in the kitchen.

“Where the hell are we?” my stepfather
asked.

“My estate,” Devlin replied, grabbing a
bottle of wine from the counter. “Its name is Hayden.”

“Its name?” my mother asked, casting him an
odd look.

“I own two thousand acres, give or take a few
hundred,” Devlin said casually. “When I came here, there was only
land. But by the time the house was built, I thought it should have
a name.”

My mom, of course, was not impressed. “Why is
Sar having your baby? She is Theo’s wife. You are Danial’s brother.
Is there something I’m not seeing?”

“Have a glass of wine,” Devlin said, handing
her one. Then he handed one to each of us.

I swallowed half right off. “This is good,” I
said, savoring the taste.

Devlin froze, then looked over at me
hopefully. I looked away, damning myself for breaking the wall of
silence between us.

“It’s a Shiraz called Groom,” Dev answered.
“It’s my favorite.”

“I’ll ask one more time, Mr. Dalcon!” my
mother said at top volume. “Why is my daughter having your
child?”

“The simplest answer is because I told her
that I wanted her to,” Devlin said, locking eyes with my mother,
then my stepfather. “Your daughter is the only woman known who can
have a vampire’s child, ma’am. That makes life dangerous for
Sar—”

“What danger is she in?” my stepfather asked,
an edge to his words. “And from whom?”

“Surely you don’t think my brother and I are
the only vampires in the world?” Devlin said casually, making it
clear of the conclusion that was supposed to follow his words.

“Others want her,” my mother breathed. “They
know about Theoron.”

“Yes,” Devlin said. “Danial isn’t powerful
enough to protect your daughter from others of our kind. He doesn’t
have the experience, or the ruthlessness. I do.” Devlin had been
charming up until now. But he uttered those three sentences with
enough cruelty and malice in his voice to melt steel. Both of my
parents recoiled from him. My mother gave him a look that said she
believed it.

“What he said is true,” Theo added roughly.
“He saved Sar’s life at least three times now, risking his own in
the process. Your daughter wouldn’t be standing here with you
today, if not for him.”

My mother came and hugged me. A moment later,
my stepfather did the same. But when they separated from me, my
mother was all business again.

“So you made her have the baby with you in
exchange for protecting her?” my mother accused.

Here was the big question I’d been dreading.
How would Devlin answer it? Would he tell the truth? And if so,
which version?

Devlin took the last swallow of wine, and
rolled the empty glass in his hand, looking at it as if it held the
answers to my mother’s questions. “I gave her a choice,” he said
softly. “I told her I loved her. I told her I would protect her.
And I asked her in return to let my brother and myself into her
life again. To try to have a child with me. She agreed.”

“What kind of a choice was that?” my mother
said shrilly. “She either gave you what you wanted, or you let her
get used, passed around! This is the reason we saw her that night
with Danial—!”

“Stop it, Tina,” Theo growled.

Everyone turned to look at him.

“With all due respect, Tina, you are not
dealing with the world you know,” Theo continued carefully. “It was
Sar’s choice, and she made it. And if I had been her, been in her
shoes, with all that was going on at the time…” He trailed off,
looking at me with sadness.

He meant his leaving me, my dying, the
Gathering, all of it, in those last weeks of the old year.

“I would have made the same decision,” Theo
finished. “There wasn’t another one to make. Not if she wanted to
stay my wife, or ever see you or her children again.”

Devlin said nothing, his golden eyes fixed on
my parents.

“Please take us home,” my mother said, anger
and a little weariness creeping into her tone. “I think we’ve had
enough of the world Sar’s chosen to live in, at least for
tonight.”

“No,” Devlin said cruelly. “I want you to see
my house, now that you are here. Sar’s done a lot of painting here,
put in a lot of work. I want you to see the nursery, before you
go.”

“If it’s all the same, we’d really rather
not—” my stepfather said politely.

“It is not!” Devlin snarled, baring his
fangs, and throwing his empty glass hard against the far wall to
shatter in a spray of glass.

Theo grabbed me tight. My stepfather grabbed
my mother.

“You made a scene at my brother’s first
birthday party in over four hundred years,” Devlin growled, his
eyes glowing red. “He saw it. My nephew and niece saw it. Anyone
that means anything to him saw it.”

My mother let out an “Eek!”

“Everyone knows that Sar and I are Oathed,
and about the baby, so there is no lasting damage,” Devlin went on,
the red in his eyes diminishing. “But you didn’t know that. You
thought before you spoke, Tina. And I want you to think next time
very carefully before you say anything within my hearing.”

My mother was hugging my stepfather, the
latter glaring at Dev like a cornered badger looks at a grizzly
bear.

I had to do something before this escalated.
I let go of Theo’s hand, and went to my parents. “Come, please,” I
invited, touching both of them on their shoulders. “I would like
you to see Hayden before you go. It is beautiful, and you might not
get to visit often, because it’s dangerous.”

“Dangerous how?” my stepfather asked
flintily. “Theo said you’re protected.”

“Devlin and Danial are big shots in the
vampire world,” I said carefully. “They have a lot of enemies.
That’s why I never met you at either of their homes, or invited you
there on holidays. No one wants any of their enemies finding out
about you, or using you to get to them. We have enough problems
with that happening to me.”

My parents looked nervous, but at least they
weren’t as scared.

I steeled myself, then went to Devlin, and
took his hand, hearing his intake of breath when I touched him.
“Lead on,” I instructed.

Devlin beamed at me, then put my arm in his.
For the next half hour, he led us around Hayden. We didn’t go into
the bears’ quarters or the basement, but he showed them the
completely restored ballroom, which was breathtaking, a grand piano
now shining with luster on the stage beneath the double staircase.
I debated asking him to play for us, knowing music would help to
relax us all but decided against it, not knowing if Dev would
agree.

Dev also showed us the rooms I had painted
and the nursery. While they were still not furnished, the nursery
was complete and perfect, from the pastel walls to the many stuffed
toys and books all the way down to the little acorn wind chimes
above the crib.

“Do you like it?” Devlin asked, very
hesitantly putting his arms around me. “I went with Pooh, as we
don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl.”

“I like it very much,” I responded, flashing
him a quick smile.

Devlin gave me a gentle kiss on the cheek. I
shifted, uncomfortable, then tried to relax.

“You said Sar is Oathed to you,” my mom said
boldly. “What does that mean? She’s Theo’s wife.”

Devlin looked at her, his arms tightening
possessively around me. “It means that your daughter promised my
brother and I that we would be the only vampires she would ever be
with as lovers,” he said frankly. “Your daughter is part vampire
now, from having Danial’s son. She needs—”

“Sar needs them,” Theo said, cutting Devlin
off. “Sar needs their blood regularly to stay alive. And by giving
them this promise, all other vampires have to leave her alone. That
keeps her safe. That’s why she wears that gold necklace. That’s
what it means.”

My mother looked at me, grief in her eyes.
Behind that was anger that all this had happened to me, that
someone was responsible for allowing it to happen. She blamed
Danial for dragging me into his world and changing me, for wanting
the baby, for having a monster of a brother like Devlin. “May we go
home now?”

“As you wish.” Devlin led us back downstairs.
“Titus will take you.”

Titus emerged from the basement with Terian.
“You told them everything?”

“Not everything,” I said softly. Taking my
mother’s hand in mine. I teleported us to her house.

“You can do what they do?” my mother said,
horrified.

“I’m part demon, too,” I answered. “I got
some blood on me years ago, Mom. It was an accident.” I gave her a
winning smile. “But I’m still me.”

“You aren’t,” my mother said with disgust.
“The daughter I raised would never have fallen in with a man like
that Devlin. Bad enough to even know someone like that, Sar, but
you’re having his baby—”

“You have no idea what I have been through,”
I interrupted angrily. “Don’t blame Danial for this, not for any of
it. He has been the only one who stood by me since I met him, Mom.
The only one.”

“He hit you,” my mother spat. “Or did you
forget?”

“I deserved it, for what I did,” I
retorted.

She blanched. “If you can say something that
stupid, then I know you’ve changed—”

“Shut your mouth!” I yelled.

My mother stared at me, mouth open.

“I love Danial. I forgave him a long time ago
for what he did. You are the only one who remembers it, who won’t
let it die. How long are you going to make him pay for a mistake he
made years ago?”

My mother began to reply, but I talked over
her. “Theo tried his best, Mom, but he couldn’t protect me. Danial
couldn’t either. Devlin did, but he had to go through a lot of pain
and hassle to do it. He had to send men to their deaths.”

“You’re describing a war,” my mother said
harshly.

“It was going to be a war,” I said, letting
all of my memories flood my words with emotions. “Devlin made a
preemptive strike. He stopped it before it started. But the danger
isn’t gone. All Devlin has to say is that I’m no longer Oathed to
him and you would never see me again, because some other vampire
would lay claim to me, one who didn’t care I had a husband, or
children—”

“Stop,” my mom said, crying.

“No, Dev was right!” I yelled. “You can’t
just speak or act rashly, Mom. You have to be careful in what you
say and do. Everything has repercussions.” I took a deep breath and
let it out. “It took me a while to learn that. I found it a harsh
lesson. I’d rather you didn’t have to learn it the way I did. So I
think you should take some time and think about how involved you
want to be in my new life. Because this is my life now. I can’t go
back to the way I was. But you don’t have to join me.”

“Please, Sarelle,” my mom begged. “Please
don’t shut us out of your life, or your babies’ lives.”

“I won’t,” I relented, hugging her. “I’ll
call you tomorrow. I’ve got to get back to Danial’s party. And I
love you as much as ever, Mom. Don’t think I don’t, because we
fought.”

As my mom went to reply, she looked over my
shoulder and suddenly stopped.

I turned to look. Devlin stood there, along
with Titus and my stepfather.

My stepfather went to my mother. “Come
inside, dear.” They both went inside the house leaning on each
other.

Devlin and Titus came over to me. As soon as
Devlin got near enough, he grabbed my hand, then linked to Titus.
The driveway disappeared, replaced by Danial’s great room. Titus
nodded to me, then disappeared again.

“We checked on the party,” Devlin said.
“Theo’s there. Theoron’s still running around in his horns and
tail, and Danial’s chasing him. Everyone’s having a good time.”

“Good,” I said, relieved.

Devlin brought me closer. “You handled
yourself well, Love.”

As much as I longed to lose myself in his
arms, to kiss his inviting lips, I pushed back against him. “That’s
close enough.”

“Promise me you’ll stay and talk, and I’ll
let go,” Devlin replied. “You can understand I’m afraid you’ll
bolt.”

“I’m not going to run,” I said, sitting down
heavily. “I don’t feel like rejoining the party. I’d just be a
downer, in the mood I’m in.”