Had he ever exchanged blood with Eva?
Jesus, Dawn didn’t want to even consider the scenario. But she had to. What if Frank was already one of them, just as Eva had planned?
The actress sniffed, tucking a strand of blond hair behind an ear, hand quaking now. “Over the years, I saw your movies, read about you in published articles, heard about you from…well, connections Above. You make me so proud. You grew up to be such a beautiful, capable woman.”
Dawn tried not to let on how much she’d fantasized about hearing this kind of thing from Eva; the years had been filled with a lot of imagined conversations, pep talks, mother-daughter chats about boyfriends and growing pains.
“You can stop putting on such a show,” Dawn said, forcefully twisting the cap back on her water. “You don’t have to compliment me.”
To tell me I’m beautiful or wonderful. Because I’m not.
Frank cleared his throat, shuffled his boots. “Why don’t you hear her out?”
That earned another glare. “Why don’t you get your head out of the past and think of what’s waiting for you in the present?”
The name “Breisi” spiked between them.
Frank shut up again, but Dawn wished he would show more fight. She wanted her dad to put his daughter in her place, to tell her he had this all under control. But he didn’t.
“Tell me,” she said, swiveling her gaze to Eva, “how do you stop Frank from screaming during the night? One of your attempted mind screws? Can you soothe him like that?”
The vamp seemed unfazed, even with her sickly cast. “I think of it as a sharing of sorts. An intimacy between husband and wife.”
Out of the corner of her eye, Dawn caught Frank’s hand going to his neck. That bitch.
She threw the water bottle to the ground, taking a step forward, but Frank stopped her by grabbing her shoulders. Their chains rattled chaotically.
“Calm down and I’ll tell you as much as I can,” Eva said. “That’s what you want, right? I want you to be excited about your new home. You’ll learn more about it eventually, but I’ll answer almost anything you ask now.”
“It’s not like you can get me pumped up about moving to a different school district or something, Eva.”
Dawn shrugged out of Frank’s grip, but he hovered behind her anyway. Didn’t he get that this…thing…wasn’t really his wife?
“The sad truth is this.” The actress’s brown gaze went soft, worried. “There might be a war, and if my suspicions are right, you’ll be stuck in the middle. Frank would’ve been, too, but I’ve made sure he’s out of the way now. I’m going to have to answer for taking him, but it was worth it.” She lifted her chin. “Now I know enough to choose family over anything else, even the Underground.”
She smiled at Frank, and Dawn shrunk away, left out in the cold.
“See,” Eva continued, “no one knows I have Frank, and I’ve had to do some tap dancing to convince them that he’s really missing. I said to them, ‘Maybe he’s on one of his benders or on a road trip that’s lasted a little too long.’ They didn’t want me to reclaim him yet because his disappearance might trigger this war I’m talking about. But…” She glowed like a bride. “After I was released from the Underground, I couldn’t wait to see him. I had to break rules and then lie by telling my master I’d search for Frank later, and he believed me. I…he favors me, and he truly thinks I’d never put my family above the interests of our home….”
So she’d been Acting! with this master. One more reason not to trust Eva, because if she could do it to him, she could do it to anyone.
“My master’s always protected me from anyone who doubts my loyalty,” Eva added. “But, when I left, I needed to promise him I’d contact Frank only after I had you in hand, Dawn, because that’s all that matters to him. You.”
Dawn furrowed her brow. “Why?”
“Because you work for a monster.”
At first, Dawn didn’t process that. But as she backed up, then hit the couch with the back of her legs and slumped onto it, the possibility slipped into her. Jonah, the question mark who never gave her any answers. Jonah, with his lies and betrayals, his baiting and secrecy.
“What do you mean?” she said.
“The Master calls him a usurper. He believes Jonah Limpet wants to take over our Underground, and he’s using you to accomplish that.”
In her bafflement, Dawn looked to Frank. He was watching her closely, probably already having heard this from Eva night after night. He’d lied to her about not knowing anything of substance, maybe because Eva had told him to. Maybe he thought it best that her mother be the one to explain everything.
Did he believe his vamp wife? Or was he biding his time, pulling Eva into his good graces so an escape would be that much easier? He was still on Limpet’s side, right?