The Purity of Blood: Volume I (67 page)

Suddenly the
front door flung open breaking the momentary uncomfortable silence.
 
Instinctively pulling myself closer to
Daniel, I looked up to see Thomas and Lily standing in the doorway.
 
No sooner had they made their way across the
threshold than Lucy appeared behind them.
 
She still sported that unattractive grimace on her face as she wrinkled
her nose, obviously displeased at having to endure my human odor once again.

Randall still
hadn’t turned towards us, and I watched as all three of their gazes uncomfortably
floated between Daniel, Randall and I, while they tried to figure out what they’d
just walked in on.
 

Then I heard an
unfamiliar female voice say “I’m gone ten years and look what you’ve let
happen!”

“Mother?” Daniel
muttered as Randall spun around.
 
A woman
with beautiful long chestnut hair and fiery green eyes walked in the door.
 
She looked about Randall’s age, forty or a
little older, and stared down and Daniel at and I for a long moment before her
eyes flashed over to meet Randall’s.

Mother?

“I thought I
told you to stay away from the children and leave them be.
 
Now look what’s happened!”
 
She pointed at us.

“Our son – and
our daughter?
 
This is sick even for you
Randall.”

“It’s good to
see you too, Lois,” he answered calmly, but I could see the emotion in his
eyes.
 
There was something like joy
there.

I glanced at
Daniel.
 
“Lois?”

“Your
grandmother,” he answered somewhat reluctantly, but also with a warm smile as
well.

My gaze floated
over to the woman and then back to Daniel.
 
Leaning in closer, I quietly whispered in his ear “Okay, exactly how
many members of my family are vampires anyway, because this is really going to
screw with my family tree.”
 

I’d said it in a
whisper only meaning Daniel to hear, but of course in a room full of vampires
that was a fruitless effort.
 
Thomas and
Lily sputtered trying to hold in their laughter.
 
Lucy rolled her eyes while Lois shook her
head disapprovingly back and forth.
 
In
the meantime Randall frowned as if he’d been caught red handed.

“Just us, dear,”
Lois answered.
 
Her tone was now pleasant
but she looked up and shot Randall another dirty look.
 
“Daniel, will you please stand up,” she added
still staring at her husband.

He immediately
put his hand behind my back, lifting me as he stood.
 
I think sensing how confused I was Lois came
over and taking my hand patted it lovingly.
 

“It’s not your
fault, dear.”
 
Again she shot Randall a
dirty look only to follow by giving Daniel one of his own.
 
“You’re only human after all, but these
two.
 
Well, they should know better at
their age.”

“It’s not that
I’m not thrilled to see you again, my dear, but what brings you here?”

“Lucy, the one
with all the intelligence around here it seems, was smart enough to come find
me.
 
And just in the nick of time from
what it looks like.
 
Thomas, Lily, can
you please scout around outside and set up a defensible perimeter so we can
watch for any signs of his approach.
 
Lucy dear, go with them and give us a moment alone here.
 
Thank you.”
 

Lucy
frowned.
 
She was obviously disappointed
she wasn’t going to see what happened next.
 
Without a word, all three retreated out the front door, each with their
own lingering looks over their shoulders.

Lois paused for
a moment looking around the room curiously.
 
I suddenly remembered that this had been her home as well.
 
Then I watched as her eyes fell on the
addition off the kitchen and her hands found her hips.

“What on earth
did they do to our house?” she asked in astonishment.
 
Randall just shrugged in agreement.

Daniel and I
exchanged our own look and deep in the middle of all our drama we started to
laugh.
 
Unable to stop my cathartic
laughter, I felt this hand cover mine again and in that small gesture of his
touch, I felt how much he loved me.
 
Was
he truly forgiven?
 
I’d think about that
later.

“Very well now,
enough of that,” Lois said curtly.
 
“It’s
good to see you again, Daniel, even if it is under these circumstances.
 
You’re looking well.”

“Thank you,
Mother.
 
So do you. –
We’ve
missed you.”
 

I watched as
Daniel nodded toward Randall who seemed to have disappeared into the kitchen.

She sighed.
 
“I know, dear.
 
I know.”
 
Then she walked over to follow after Randall.

“You call her
mother?” I asked when she was gone.

“Sometimes.
 
She and Randall are very much like parents to
me.
 
My own mother died young.
 
I had Sophronia, my grandmother, but after I
died it was Lois who really helped me through it all emotionally.
 
Randall is the head, but she has always been
the heart of our family.
 

“Why did she
stay away so long?”

“It’s a long story.
 
Suffice it to say theirs is a very complicated relationship.
 
I’ll explain it one day when we have the
time.”

The rest of the day was spent
preparing themselves as best they could.
 
They knew Demetrius would try some sort of sneak attack to get through
their defenses and I watched as they did what they could to eliminate any holes
he might try to take advantage of.
  

I on the other
hand, had little to do.
 
When I’d asked
how I could help, I was curtly told to stay out of their way.
 
Annoyed that I was allowed to contribute
nothing, I sat on the back porch and cleaned my gun for a while, ate when I got
hungry, then sat down at my computer and played another game of solitaire.
 
I kept my mouth shut, but quite frankly I was
a little insulted by their treatment of me.
 
Especially Randall who knew full well I had something to offer their
endeavor.

Eventually I got
bored and walked out onto the front stoop to stretch.
 
As I looked over the front lawn, Randall came
out to stand beside me.
 
I was watching
Lily, Thomas and Lois talking some ways down the driveway.
 
I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but
from their gestures, I guessed they were discussing ways to anticipate my
hunter.
 

“I feel
useless,” I mumbled.
 
“This is
ridiculous.”

I was still
watching the three vampires down the way, wondering why Lucy wasn’t with them.
 

“It’s for the
best,” was all he said in reply.

“Why teach me
all that if you won’t let me use it.
 
I
mean, I probably know more about this sort of thing than – ”

“Yes, yes, I
know,” he cut me off with.
 
“And I hope
you never have to use it,” he said as he patted my shoulder and headed back
into the house.

I’d forgiven
him.
 

I don’t think I’d really realized it until that moment.
 
How did that happen?
 
How could he have done all those things to the
helpless little girl I’d been, his own flesh and blood?
 
I knew what his answer would be; I’d already
heard it, but still … What kind of a man, or vampire, had it within himself to
even consider those things?
 
I didn’t
know, and that was what made my forgiveness of him all the more puzzling.
 
Perhaps it was because I knew the enormity of
the hate I could have had if I hadn’t chosen the high road of forgiveness.
 
That kind of hate consumes a person,
destroying their humanity little by little.
 
Perhaps it was because in this sea of near immortality, I felt the need
to hold on to every last scrap of humanity I still had left.

A while later, Randall settled
down to work at his microscope to examine the latest blood sample he’d taken
from me.
 
From my spot in the living
room, I could see Daniel watching him from across the kitchen while he took a
transfusion of blood.
 
They talked off
and on, mostly about my blood.
 
It all sounded
very technical and I couldn’t understand half of it.
 
Considering what I had flowing through my
veins, maybe I should start taking some bio-
chem
classes.

Lois had taken
up station by my side in the living room, and while I concentrated on my game,
she sat in the chair reading the newspaper I’d bought.
 
Periodically she’d shake her head, making
derisive noises at articles she’d read concerning the stranger sides of human
behavior.

Needing a break
from the game, I leaned back and stretched my shoulders.
 
It was getting cold in the house, but I
doubted any of them had noticed.
 
When I
got up to stretch some more, I started piling wood in the fireplace.
 

Looking up from
her paper, Lois called out “Daniel, come start a fire.”

“I could have
done that,” I said quietly to her as Daniel obediently came in and did as he
was told.
 

I sat back down
near her feet and started to play my game again.
 
A moment later she leaned toward me and
quietly whispered in my ear, “A lady doesn’t start a fire when there are men in
the house.
 
That’s what
they’re
here for.”
 
After imparting her words of wisdom, she
leaned back and resumed reading the paper.
 

I found myself
staring up at her.
 

Wow, Lois Maxson
.
 

How many times
had I seen her name in my genealogy computer program?
 
I’d never have guessed she’d have such
beautiful green eyes.
 
Suddenly they
looked down and smiled at me before returning to the newspaper.

After a few
minutes of playing and losing a game, I asked “Where were Thomas and Lily that
they took a ferry to get here?”

“At your
house.
 
They were keeping an eye on your
mother.
 
There was no sign of the blood
hunter there so they were on their way here via the ferry to New London.”

“My parents?” I
asked in a worried tone.

“They’re fine,
Sara.
 
Demetrius is still here in the
area.
 
But you have to understand that
it’s important that we finish this now.
 
He’s been to Wading River stalking your mother.
 
Even if we chase him off here, it’s only a
matter of time before he goes after her or Roger.
 
That’s why we have to end this now.”

I heard Daniel’s
voice in another part of the house and sighed.
 
She must have seen my distraction.

“As your
grandmother, Sara, I feel obligated to tell you that a relationship with Daniel
is probably not a wise course of action on your part.”

I looked up at
her and saw a look in her eyes I’d seen in my own mothers many times
before.
 
Her tone wasn’t as judgmental as
Randall’s, but it was obvious she was deeply concerned.
 
Such a strange sensation to feel love from
someone I’d known for only a handful of hours.
 
Strangely enough, I think I loved her in return, although I wasn’t even
sure how that was possible.
 
Randall?
 
No, I harbored too much
resentment to love him as a grandfather.
 
But Lois?
 
Yes, somehow I could
sense what she felt for me was a pure, selfless love.

“However, I
should also tell you that if ever a man was worth the troubles, it would be
Daniel.”

I studied her
eyes trying to figure out which she would have preferred, us together or us apart.

“I want you both
to be happy is all.
 
Yes, I suppose it’s
possible you could be happy together, but it’s not as simple as it sounds.
 
I wouldn’t expect you to understand, but his
heart is layered with the many burdens we carry as vampires.”
 
She sighed as if pondering her own burdens
for a moment.
 
“God took the rib to open
up the way to man’s heart, Sara.
 
That’s
why he gave it to woman.
 
Who’s to say
you’re not the woman to find your way into his.”

She smiled a
cryptic smile then went back to her reading.
 
I wasn’t sure I found any encouragement in her words.
 
To be honest, I wasn’t sure if they were
meant to be.
 
She seemed confused herself
as to what to think about us.
 
But
whatever she thought, I believed her motivation to be purer than
Randall’s.
 
I didn’t know much, but it
seemed I knew enough to recognize that none of it was in my control
anymore.
 
Taking a deep breath, I sighed
and returned to my game as I tried to distract myself for as long as I could.