I spun to look at them closer. If they really were related to me, I didn’t remember them at all.
We settled in around the large table. Dad stood behind me, and Mom stayed near the door. I sat across from my “cousins,” with Meredith and Chris on either side of me. Shannon and Adrian took the heads of the table, and Axel sat next to the guy “cousin.”
Dad squeezed my shoulders. “Claudia, please.”
The name was familiar, but the last time I’d seen any of my mother’s family was over a decade ago.
Claudia nodded. “It’s really good to meet you. Again. Your parents told us that you didn’t know about us or what your place was supposed to be here.”
What the what? I glanced at Mom.
“I only did it to protect you. Living with La Alquelarre can be a bit much, and with what you could do and so young…it was better to give you choices. But when that wasn’t working out for you, I thought maybe they could help.”
The guy leaned closer. “I’m Raphael, Claudia’s twin. Our mothers are sisters.”
“We’re brujos. Witches,” Claudia said. “You were supposed join La Alquelarre—our coven—this year.”
“Holy shit. This is out of control.” Adrian clapped his hands, and then blushed.
Wow. I’d never seen him blush, and now he’d done it twice.
Adrian cleared his throat and sat taller in his chair. “It’s really nice to meet you guys,” he said in a much more controlled voice.
Raphael nodded. “Igualmente. Wish it could be under better circumstances.” His gaze met mine again. His female counterpart might have been friendly, but this guy was all business. “Vampires are hanging out in the caves just north of your school. It seems your pack is having some problems with them?”
I moved uncomfortably in my seat. “It’s not my pack.”
Claudia and Raphael shared a look. “Nevertheless,” Raphael continued, “you need to stabilize the pack. If you can’t, there will be war. It seems one of your wolves thought it’d make him look good to humans if he brought a bunch of vampires here, have them tear apart this little town and the wolves would come to the rescue.”
That sounded completely crazy. And totally like the Hoels. “How do you know?”
“Because we had a visitor at our house today. We were told, not so nicely, to stay out of the way tonight,” Raphael said. “So we came here to talk to your parents, hoping that they knew some way to contact you.”
Meredith slapped her hand on the table. “Fuck a duck.”
“Language!” Mom said.
I grinned. Even when the world was going to crap, she was watching everyone’s language. Maybe one day she’d realize it was a lost cause. “She’s sorry, Mom.”
Meredith scoffed, her jaw dropping open. I grabbed a handful of Doritos and shoved them in her mouth.
“If you don’t take care of this problem, then La Alquelarre will,” Raphael said. “I don’t think any of your pack would like that.”
This wasn’t good. At all.
Chris growled, and I placed my hand on his arm. “Calm down.” I focused back on the twins. “We want this taken care of as much as you do. And—”
“We’re missing some of our alphas.” Shannon cut me off, and I tried not to punch her for it. “Can you scry for them?” Shannon asked the twins.
“Scry?” I asked.
“It’s a form of divination and can sometimes be used to locate someone in the present,” Raphael said.
“I’m sorry. Our powers don’t work like that.” Claudia looked at me. “But hers do.”
Everyone but Meredith expressed surprise. Chris must’ve noticed. “You knew about her and you didn’t tell us?” he said to Meredith.
“It was her secret to tell, ass—”
Mom cleared her throat.
“—dude,” Meredith finished.
“?Joder! I should’ve known when you said you were like half-bruja blood.”
“Don’t take it too hard. I’ve apparently gotten pretty good about hiding it.” I sat quietly for a second as I gathered my thoughts. “If I understand everything right—which might be a stretch because I’m kind of a newbie—Mr. Hoel can’t do this whole vampire attack thing with wolves more alpha than he is. They’d order him to stop. So he took out the four wolves in the area that are more than him the fastest way he could, tranquilizers, and then shoved them somewhere. But no wolf could be ordered to kill their alpha, they’re not doing that. At least not yet. But even if Mr. Hoel pulls off today, he’s going to have to deal with the alphas. So, my best guess is that he’s going to ditch them someplace close to the vamps. Have them take care of them. Then celebrate with a lovely supernatural coming out party.”
“Shit,” Chris said. “It makes so much sense when she lays it out like that. How come she can see it and I couldn’t?”