Accidental Sire (Half-Moon Hollow #6)

“Why would you tell her that?” I asked.

“To keep from sleeping in the polka torture cell,” Ben told me.

“Fair enough.” I slumped back into my comfy conference chair and stared at the ceiling. Who could have helped Dr. Hudson’s liberator into the building? I didn’t have any enemies here. The only person who had reason not to like me was Gigi, and she’d been nothing but sweet. Heck, people let me skip ahead of them in line for the copier because I was willing to take on Jane’s schedule. Maybe it was someone on her “nope list”? Had some weirdo I’d banned from contacting Jane busted into the Council office and released Dr. Hudson so he could continue his medical poking and prodding?

But before I could pull up the nope list on my tablet, Ben slid a stack of papers in front of me. Really boring, science-y papers. I frowned.

“Cal has been helping me look into Dr. Hudson’s research history,” Ben said. “About twenty years ago, he wrote a paper for the Journal of Vampiric Medical Advancement called ‘The Next Stage in Vampire Evolution,’ where he talked about splicing vampire DNA with samples from a snake.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Ophelia cried. “I hired Hudson. I don’t recall anything about reptile research on his CV.”

“You hired a mad scientist, what a shocker,” Jane muttered as she scanned the papers, only to be elbowed in the ribs by her husband.

I skimmed the contents of Ben’s packets, speed-reading and absorbing the dry-as-toast academic info. My Introduction to Anatomy course had not prepared me for this. “He wanted to find a way to fix vampires’ sensitivity to sunlight. Snakes don’t get sunburned because they’re cold-blooded and covered in scales. So why not throw some reptile alleles into the genetic cookie dough and see what bakes?”

“Apparently, one slightly bitter cookie,” Cal said, frowning at me.

“Talk to me when you’re a test-tube vampire, Cletus,” I retorted.

Cal turned on Gigi and Ben. “You told!”

Gigi shrugged. “Some people find you intimidating. I thought that hearing your ridiculous birth name would help her relax.”

“Focus, children, please,” Nik said blithely, flipping through science journals.

“I didn’t know about any of this,” Ophelia swore, turning to Jane. “Hudson never mentioned a word of this to anyone while he worked under me.”

“Well, it takes time for the crazy to percolate.” Jane sighed.

“Dr. Hudson’s theory is not well regarded,” I said, holding up a review of his work that called Hudson a “card-carrying member of the nutcase brigade.”

“But,” Ben said, “it just seems a little too convenient that he did studies on mixing up our genes with snake juice, and the preliminary report he turned over to Jane mentioned rattlesnake genes. Also, every time he talks about the ‘genius’ who created us, he gets a creepy look in his eye. Like intellectual masturbation.”

“Gross,” I noted.

Jane shuddered.

“Do you think Dr. Hudson had something to do with us being turned?” I asked Jane. “Like maybe he had some connections in Lexington and somehow arranged for me to be turned by his dosed volunteer vampire sire? So he could experiment on me when you brought me back to the Hollow? Ben was just collateral damage.”

“It seems unlikely,” she said. “Why would he choose you, specifically? How could he know you would be brought back to the Hollow?”

“I didn’t say it was logical, I just asked if it was plausible,” I said.

“I’ll look into it,” Jane said, still sounding skeptical. “For now, let’s get the two of you back to the house. You are officially relieved of your on-site Council duties until further notice. It’s too dangerous having you here, possibly near Dr. Hudson’s accomplice. Not to mention the danger of traveling back and forth every night. You can do whatever work you can complete from home. Gigi, make Ben a list. Meagan and Ben, you should know that a few days into his incarceration, Dr. Hudson made some pretty specific threats against anyone you loved, if that’s what it took to get you back into his lab. So you will be assigned a UERT detail to guard the house. Ben, your parents will also be assigned a detail in Florida. Meagan, please call your friends Morgan and Keagan, and tell them that the men in black suits following them around the college day and night are Council personnel, so please don’t report them to campus security as stalkers. Please don’t tell me this is unnecessary. We have to protect the people close to you so they can’t be used against you.” She paused, as if she was waiting for us to argue.

I shook my head. “No, this is a logical plan. I will cooperate.”

Jane sagged in her chair. “Damn it, I had a whole speech prepared about how much I care about you and how I just want to protect you. There was love and drama and more than a smidge of guilting. My mother could have written this speech. It was a work of passive-aggressive mastery.”

“You can give it to us on the ride home,” I promised.



On the ride to River Oaks, while Jane delivered her masterwork of guilting, I texted Keagan and Morgan to ask for a three-way Google hangout. Despite it being two in the morning, they both agreed readily. I sprinted past the UERT members standing guard on the porch to get to my laptop and set it up in the still festively decorated dining room.

I opened the application to find one window showing Keagan propping her chin on her hands, drowsily bobbing her head up and down. Morgan was bundled up in coat and hat, the Best Buy sign behind her casting a yellow glow over her dark hair.

“Morgan, what are you doing?” I asked, making Keagan snap awake.

Morgan rolled her eyes. “My dad likes to be the first one in line for Black Friday sales.” She sighed. “It’s a tradition.”

“Please tell me you’re carrying pepper spray,” Keagan said with a yawn.

“Two cans,” Morgan swore, holding both up in front of her cell phone.

“Hey, Meg, it’s not that I’m not thrilled to see your face, but it’s two in the morning, and I’ve had enough carbs to put the Cake Boss in a coma. I am losing my sparkle.”

“OK, so happy Thanksgiving. I miss you both, and . . . you’re going to be assigned a Council security detail, day and night, on campus, because I’m in a little bit of trouble and you’re considered potential emotional liabilities. OKthanksbye.”

I reached to close my laptop lid, and both girls yelled, “Wait!”

“Are you OK?” Keagan demanded.

“Tell us where you are!” Morgan cried. “Do we need to come down there? Because I will leave this frozen wasteland of a mall parking lot and come down there. I will make that sacrifice for you. Because I love you.”

“What kind of trouble are you in?” Keagan asked, fully awake now.