Page 96 of Our Sins in Shadows (Coven of Sin 2)

He strode back to the bed and sat on the foot of the mattress, with the window at his back and the full moon sitting behind his head like a crown. His face tilted down to the book cradled in my hands, and there was a hint of something I couldn’t put my finger on twinkling in his gaze. “That book belonged to Sapphire.”

My skin prickled with bumps, and I could almost feel the tingle of them as they spread to every inch of my body. I held something that belonged to my mother. Suddenly, the scotch tape and rainbow animal stickers made sense. Which was funny. I virtually knew nothing about her. But it made sense.

I opened the cover to see the title page with my great grandfather’s name printed in old-fashioned block lettering. Beneath his name was my mom’s, handwritten in purple sparkly ink. She wrote her a’s in the shape of padlocks with a tiny heart for the keyhole.Holy shit. Was my mom?—one of the most powerful monster slayers to walk the planet?—a girly girl? I smiled at the notion as I read her name again.

My smile fractured when my mind went back to what Sterling had said. “How did my mom become a prisoner here?”

Sterling’s shoulder muscles tensed. “She surrendered herself to your father.”

I blinked. “Because she had to?”

“No. She walked up to our doorstep, knocked, and surrendered herself of her own free will. There was nothing at stake for her, save for her life. As far as I know, your father hadn’t even been aware of her location or the Helsing Guild’s.”

I let out an indignant snort. “So she just came out of hiding and gave herself up? Why would she do something so crazy?”

“As the leader of the Helsing Guild at the time and the only living Helsing, there was enormous pressure on her shoulders. Other bloodlines have been a part of the Guild for centuries, and even those with Lockheart blood only stick to killing small-time monsters. But it’s a Helsing who is expected to take on the vampire king and his progeny. And seeing as none of her predecessors had been successful, she had to invent new tactics.”

This new piece of the story didn’t sit right with me. Probably because my mom’s attempt to get close to the vampire king ended up with me in her belly, and a dark fae with a chip on his shoulder killed him instead.

“Sounds to me like her tactic sucked.”

Sterling’s mouth tightened into a mild scowl. “Sapphire failed in her mission, yes. But she tried. She was reckless in her methods. Still, her unyielding courage was something to admire.”

The expression carving the prince’s statuesque features made my insides bristle with apprehension. “The vampire king didn’t rape my mother, did he? She seduced him to get close to him.”

Sterling’s pale brows climbed almost into his hairline with surprise. “How did you know?”

“Because it’s what I’d do,” I said with a stiff shrug. “If I was trying to murder an ancient vampire I had no hope of defeating in a fair fight, I wouldn’t play fair. I’d put him in a vulnerable position, like his bed. I’d try to kill him before he entered me.” I ran my hand over the page where my mother had written her name. “I guess sometimes shit doesn’t go according to plan.”

“In this house, it seldom does.” The sad smile in Sterling’s voice tugged my attention back to him. “Something you should understand about your parents is they shared a passionate hatred for one another, that was just as intimate as love in certain ways. I believe, in some capacity, they were in love with their hatred for one another. I also believe it’s what kept them both alive while they co-existed in this house.”

“Didn’t the other vampires have an issue with a Helsing living in their house?”

“Oh yes.” A sound that I could only peg as a snicker flitted past Sterling’s lips. “Everyone hated it, not that their opinion mattered. No one dared cross the vampire king. He kept promising the Elders he’d kill her once he could extract the location of the Helsing Guild from her, and that was enough to appease them.”

“And he never got it out of her?”

The grim smile that had been lingering at the corner of Ster’s mouth took full form. The somber priest rarely smiled, but when he did, it was magic. “As far as I know, he never even asked her.”

I shivered, noting the way the monster stirred within me. “Do you think he cared about her?”

“Your father was obsessed with most things he couldn’t have. Sapphire Lockheart was so alive and vibrant, she was sunshine in human form. Any other vampire would have resisted the allure of a Helsing, no matter how charming. But your father was the only one fool enough to try and contain her. He wanted to keep her light to himself.”

“So he kept her prisoner here?”

“Yes. Though she wasn’t treated poorly. Master gave her one of the best rooms in the house. Your room.”

My mind went to the silver-backed mirror in my bathroom. I’d suspected a human had inhabited the room before me, but never could I have guessed in a million years that it belonged to my mom. I held the Helsing monster guide tighter to my chest, enthralled as Sterling continued the tale.

“Sapphire’s room was locked during the day, and at night they permitted her to roam the halls. She came to the library often. The other vampires were forbidden to approach her. Even if they weren’t, I doubt she’d have spoken with them. She saw them as nothing but monsters.”

“But she spoke with you?”

The vampire’s attention turned toward the window, his eyes reflecting the sea that glittered with moonlight. “She first sought me out to kill me. The Helsing creed dictates that all Knight progeny be eradicated. As she held the stake to my heart, she was furious I didn’t put up a fight. I told her I’d welcome the true death if it meant escaping Thomas Knight.”

“She couldn’t kill you after that,” I muttered, my jaw hanging open in awe.

“No. I think I piqued her curiosity too much. She expected the vampire prince to worship the ground his maker walked on. Instead, she found me. A blind, traumatized Catholic who’d lost his faith. Instead of killing me, she gave me a book recommendation.”

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