I nodded.
He stared at me for a second and touched my leg. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. Falling for Ethan wasn’t your fault. Even I understand that now.”
I gave him a weak smile and he squeezed my knee.
When we arrived at the large colonial mansion, it seemed so ominous, even in the daylight. We sat in the car and stared at it.
“What are we doing here again?” asked Nathan, rapping his knuckles on the steering wheel.
I swallowed. “Finding answers.”
“Come on,” said Duncan, getting out.
We got out and followed Duncan up the porch. Before we could even knock, however, the front door opened.
“Well, what an interesting surprise,” purred Celeste. She appeared to be wearing nothing but an oversized hot pink T-shirt that left little to the imagination. Her long, red hair was loose and she looked like she’d just enjoyed a tumble in someone’s bed. I wondered if the vampires fooled around together when they weren’t hunting humans.
“Obviously, it wasn’t too much of a surprise,” said Duncan, pushing past her, into the house.
“Hi, Celeste,” grinned Nathan, staring appraisingly at her outfit.
I scowled. From the look on my brother’s face, he was still putty in her hands, vampire or not.
Ignoring me, she locked her arm through his and I followed them into the house. “I missed you, Nathan,” she said, giving him a pouty look. “You never called me back.”
“We’ve been busy. Did you hear about Susan?” he asked.
Her eyes widened. “Yes, what a shame – I went to school with her last year.”
“She was a nice girl,” he said.
“I’m sure,” said Celeste.
I followed them to a large sitting room, where Duncan was already seated and looking pensive.
“You okay?” I asked him.
He shrugged. “Just still trying to absorb everything, you know?”
Celeste looked at him and then turned towards Nathan. “So, he told you everything, I take it?”
Nathan nodded. “Yeah. Got to say, it’s a little hard to believe.”
She smiled. “You’re not frightened?”
He paled slightly. “Should I be?”
“No,” said Caleb, entering the room. He was dressed in a long, blue robe, his hair tousled, like he’d also just woken up. “You have nothing to fear; not from me or Celeste, at least.”
Nathan’s eyes narrowed. “Does our mom know what you are?”
Caleb’s lips turned up. “No, not yet. But soon, she’ll know everything.”
“Yeah, soon when you decide to change her into a vampire completely,” I snapped.
He studied me for a minute and then let out an exasperated sigh. “I don’t know why you’re so against her…surviving. She’s an extremely sick woman. This is the only shot she’s got to stay alive.”
“How can you be sure?” I said, clenching my fists. “What about chemotherapy? What about seeking medical help, instead of being condemned to living a life where you have to drink blood and stay out of direct sunlight?”
“It’s not so bad. In fact, life has many rewards when you’re a Roamer. I’m sure you’ve figured out some of these already, hanging around Ethan,” he answered with a small smile.
I blushed at the knowledge in his eyes and looked down.
“Okay, I’m extremely lost,” said Nathan, moving away from Celeste. “Are you trying to say you’re going to change our mother into a…vampire?”
Caleb turned to Nathan. “As I’ve explained to Nikki, your mother has cancer. The moment we connected, if you want to call it,” he said with a sad smile, “I sensed it. The worst thing is, that it’s terminal, Nathan. She won’t survive another two years without my help. She’ll just wither away… and die.”
Nathan’s face fell. “What? Did she tell you this? How do you know?”
“She doesn’t even know. Not yet,” he answered.
“What if he’s lying?” I said to Nathan. “What if he just wants our support to help him with mom?”
“That’s absurd,” snapped Caleb. “Why would I go to that extreme, just to turn your mother into one of us?”
“To get our support,” I repeated. “So we won’t try and stop you.”
His eyes flashed. “I don’t need your support. Have you talked to your mother lately? She’s happier than she’s been in a long time. She suffered the abuse your father put her through for many years and now I’m trying to give her everything a woman like her deserves. When I offer her this gift, I doubt she’ll refuse it.”
“This gift of yours, it sounds pretty morbid to me,” I said.
Nathan ran a hand through his hair. “This is some heavy shit. I don’t even know what to say.”
“Nathan,” said Celeste, putting her arms around his waist. “Everything will work out for the best, I promise. Your mother will live and we can be together.”
“Excuse me, Celeste,” I hissed. “Do you mean you and Nathan or you and Duncan?”