*
The cabin Arland assigned me wasn’t just spacious, it was luxurious and decorated in a beautiful teal-gray, blue, and pink color scheme, which I would shamelessly copy the next time a vampire came to stay at the inn. The door behind us slid shut.
I turned around and hugged Maud. She hugged me back.
Helen pulled on my robe. “Hugs.”
“Hugs.” I let go of Maud and picked her up. “How do you even remember me? The last time I saw you, you were this tiny.” I held my thumb and index finger about an inch apart.
Helen giggled, showing her fangs. “Mommy showed me pictures. She said if she died you would take care of me.”
All the fun went out of me.
“I’ll take care of you,” I said. “Always. And we’ll start with a bath.”
“With water?”
I didn’t even want to know why she asked that.
“With all the water,” Maud said. “All the water ever.”
I carried her into the bathroom. A massive tub rested in the middle of the room, sunken low into the floor so it could be sealed when the ship maneuvered. I turned on the water. Helen pulled off her clothes. The dust and blood had combined into a sort of paste that saturated the fabric beyond the point of return.
“Dina,” Maud said.
“I think her clothes are a lost cause,” I said.
Helen jumped into the bath and splashed. Dark swirls spread from her through the water. Maud had the strangest look on her face, half-pain, half-happiness.
“Wash your hair, baby,” my sister said, grabbed my arm, and pulled me out of the bathroom.
“What is it?”
“Dina, I don’t want to make trouble for you. You can drop us off anywhere outside of Holy Anocracy territory.”
“What are you talking about?”
Her voice was quiet and urgent. “Melizard dishonored his House. They didn’t just exile him, they removed all traces of his existence from the family tree. It’s like he never was born, I was never his wife, and Helen was never his daughter or a child of House Ervan. Two thirds of exiles sent to Karhari die within the first three years. Before they sent us, I begged— “, her voice broke, and she swallowed, “—I begged his mother on my knees to take Helen so she wouldn’t have to go into exile with us. That bitch looked me straight in the eye and told her guards to remove the strangers from her house. I can’t go back to the Holy Anocracy.”
“We’re not going back to the Holy Anocracy.”
“I don’t want to make trouble between you and your vampire. I’ve put you into a bad position and I’m so sorry. House Krahr is one of the most powerful Houses.” She raised her hands. “Look at this ship. I don’t want to ruin it for you.”
“It’s not a problem.”
In the bath Helen dived and surfaced, laughing.
“Dina, I saw his face when the two of you were talking.”
“You threw him off his stride. His cousin is married to a human and he has an odd fascination with Earth women. He just didn’t realize not all of us are shrinking violets. He was explaining to me how you sealed your armor while wearing it and how it didn’t compute in his head.”
Maud frowned. “The two of you aren’t together?”
“No.”
“Then how?” she raised her arms, encompassing the ship.
“I asked him for a favor. He offered, actually.”
“The Marshal of House Krahr just offered to take his destroyer and come rescue me because you asked him?”
“Yes.”
She stared at me. “Why?”
“He’s a frequent guest at the inn and he felt obligated to help because the inn hosted a peace summit that saved a lot of vampire lives and resulted in his House making a lot of money. Also, he’s a kind man.”
“The inn? You found Mom and Dad?”
Pain stabbed me straight through the heart. “No. My inn. Gertrude Hunt.”
She looked at me, her face blank.
“I’m an innkeeper,” I told her. “We’re not going to the Holy Anocracy. We’re going to Earth, to my inn. We’re going home.”
All the blood drained from Maud’s face. She looked at me as if she didn’t understand, then her lip quivered and my sister cried.
*
It’s amazing how much dirt could come off one little girl. When we finally extracted Helen from the bath, the water had turned a muddy brown. We toweled her dry and put her into one of my T-shirts. She yawned, curled up on the soft covers, and held out her hands. “Fangs.”
Maud handed her two daggers in dark sheaths. Helen hugged the daggers and fell asleep. Maud gently covered her with a blanket.
I pulled a T-shirt and a pair of jeans from my backpack. Maud was taller than me by two inches and shaped differently. We both had Mom’s butt and her hips, but Maud’s legs were always more muscular and her shoulders broader. I offered the clothes to her.
“I had to guestimate the size. Go clean up.” I told her. “I’ll watch her.”
Maud touched the place where a crest would’ve sat on her armor and grimaced. “Old habits.”