Page 53 of The Vampire and the Case of the Cursed Canine

‘It won’t,’ he said fiercely. ‘You are so strong, Bunny, stronger than you know.’

‘The book,’ I said suddenly. ‘Did it tell you who I am?’

‘I don’t need a book to tell me who you are,’ he said. ‘I know you.’

‘Not who, then, but what.’

He hesitated. ‘I have some information. Let’s talk when I’m home, okay?’

I accepted that; besides, I’d probably had enough answers for one day. ‘Hurry,’ I said softly. I hung up, then I sank to my knees and cried.

Chapter 33

I pulled into my driveway and sat frozen for a moment. I wasn’t ready for what was coming but I couldn’t avoid it any longer. I climbed out of the car, Fluffy following anxiously. I could feel his concern like it was my own.

It was nearly morning and Mum was up, sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of tea and eating a piece of toast. She looked at me as I came in and gave me a warm smile. It stabbed me; she had never before looked at me with such warmth. Somehow by coming here, living with me, capering in black markets together, she’d finally connected with me. Now that I wasn’t ped, I guessed.

My face must have shown the mess of my emotions because she stood up, alarmed. ‘What’s wrong, Elizabeth?’ she asked. Fluffy moved in between us and growled loudly. ‘Stop that, you brute,’ she grumped at him.

That was it. Connor called Fluffy ‘Brute’ with affection, but I wouldn’t stand for my dog to be mocked or belittled, not after all he’d been through. Not when he was protecting me. ‘No. You stop it, Victoria,’ I snarled.

She stepped back as if I’d slapped her. I’d always been respectful to her, despite all her put downs and pushiness.

‘I know,’ I spat. ‘I know what you did to me. You’d better tell me why or you are leaving Portlock and I’ll never talk to you again.’

She sat down hard. She didn’t ask what I knew; she read the rage in my face and connected the dots. To her credit, neither did she try to deny it. ‘I can understand why you’re distressed,’ she said. ‘But he did it to help you, darling.’

‘Help kill me, you mean?’ My voice was ice. Then I realised what she’d said: not I or we, but he.

Mum looked horrified. ‘No! He was trying to help you! And the business,’ she conceded weakly.

The business. Dad? Dad had done this to me? But with or without Mum’s knowledge? ‘Did you know?’ I demanded. ‘Did you know what he’d planned for me?’

‘No! I swear I didn’t know. You saw how shocked I was that day!’

I replayed the memory.

‘Those marks on your neck, are they … love bites?’ she asked, horrified. The truth was going to horrify her more.

My hand leapt up to my throat, covering the two tell-tale pricks in my neck. ‘No!’

She stood up and reached out to pull my hand and the jacket collar away, displaying the bite in all its vampiric glory.

‘Is that…?’ She trailed off looking shocked and dismayed, then shook her head. ‘No, that’s silly. They wouldn’t dare…’

I looked at her, seeing the fear in her eyes. There was no point trying to hide it. Her long association with Dad’s business meant that she knew what it was as surely as I did, for all she was practising denial right now. It wasn’t a river in Egypt.

I decided to say it quickly, like ripping off a plaster. ‘I’ve been bitten, Mum. I’m a vampire.’

She clutched her pearl necklace and sat down heavily on the sofa. ‘No,’ she whispered.

‘You were shocked,’ I conceded slowly. Something in me eased and I sat down. ‘You didn’t know.’

‘I swear I didn’t!’ she repeated desperately. ‘After I saw the marks, I went straight to talk to Cyril, to demand that Octavius find whoever had done this to you and punish them.’

‘But Dad wasn’t shocked,’ I said faintly.

‘No,’ she agreed grimly. ‘He wasn’t.’

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