Page 5 of Queen of Darkness
“I understand,” I said softly, swallowing back the quiver in my voice.
The first domino was falling. I was being asked to leave to keep the pack safe. Johnathan made it clear that it was only temporary. That was why he’d said he would protect my parents “until it was all sorted out.” Once I was no longer a danger to the pack, then they would welcome me back.
But in the meantime, I needed to go.
I’d already been planning on it, but choosing to leave versus being told you’re no longer welcome are two different things. If I needed a place to stay or to lay low, I couldn’t return.
Not until the Vampire Queen was dead. Or I was.
I’m going to need to find my own way now.
That wasn’t going to be easy. Word was getting around now about who I was. The Blood Letter was an open call for bounty hunters to come after me. I would have to start over. Make a new identity and find a place to hide.
And there was only one person I knew who could do that for me.
Chapter Four
“Hey, Mom,” I whispered, sitting down gently in the ancient white chair next to her bed.
My mother lay under the covers, staring at the ceiling, unseeing. I often wondered what was going on in her brain all this time. Did she hear and understand the outside world but couldn’t respond? Or did her drugs prevent her from having any coherent thoughts?
No, she must have some idea. Some cognitive awareness. Otherwise, how would she have managed to come down the stairs and start yelling at Aaron when he first came to the house.
‘First came to the house.’ That made it sound like it had been forever and a day ago, but in reality, it had been a little over a month, nothing more. It felt like so much longer. Everything that I’d seen and done, crammed into these past few weeks, had aged me years, decades even. To step back and think about it seemed impossible.
Sighing, I returned my focus to the woman on the bed. She didn’t look frail; her shifter heritage kept her looking healthy and normal, despite the vacant look in her eyes. Her hair was cut short to help my dad manage it better, and she was dressed in a plain white nightgown, as always.
“I have to go now,” I continued, talking to her like she could understand me. “I can’t stay here. I can’t just try to hide and do nothing. I have to try tostopthis. To keep you safe.”
There was no response, but I hadn’t expected one either.
“You’re going to be free of this,” I whispered. “I’m going to kill her, Mom, and then, I’m going to take her place. I’m going to prevent anyone from coming after you. We’ll learn how to deal with our demonstogether. No more pills. You’ll be you again.”
I smiled at her. “I can’t wait to meet you. The real you.”
To my shock, my mother’s head turned slowly toward me. She stopped partway, unable to complete the move, but for an instant, just an instant, our eyes locked.
“Mom?” I gasped, realizing that we were making eye contact, and sheknewit.
She blinked. Twice.
It wasn’t much. It was practically nothing. But it was also everything in the world to me. Sheknewme. She understood what I was saying.
The awareness faded, replaced once more by the distant stare, but it didn’t matter. The woman I wanted to meet, the one my father had fallen in love with, was still in there. She was just trapped by the effects of the drugs. Drugs she’d made my father swear never to take her off of. He hadn’t known why at the time, but we did now.
And I was going to ensure he could break that promise.
“I’ll see you soon, Mom,” I said, leaning over to kiss her on the forehead before getting up and heading for the door, where I paused to look back at her. “You and I have a lot to catch up on.”
Then, I left, pulling the door closed behind me and heading down the stairs to say my most difficult goodbye.
My father was waiting, and he swept me up into his arms without preamble.
“Are you sure you have to go?”
I stepped back from the embrace. “Yes, Dad. I can’t stay here. It’s too dangerous for everyone. Especially you and Mom. One bounty hunter already got to you guys, and I nearly lost you. I can’t let that happen again. I just can’t.”
My dad looked unconvinced. “We’re your parents, Jo.”
