Page 45 of B Negative

Sixteen

Hours later,we all still had our noses in books, but none of us were at the dinette any longer. Sunny had given up her stance on no reading in the bed two hours in when all of us got neck aches from being hunched over so long.

You’d think vampirism would come with a warranty against such banal ailments.

“Oh shit,” B said from where he was comically stretched out on the floor. Sunny’s bedroom, though spacious, didn’t have enough floor space to accommodate B’s large frame, especially with the dinette in the center of the room.

He peeked out from under the bed like some monster come to snatch up and drag us to wherever under-the-bed-monsters took their prey.

Sunny and I shared a giggled as we peered over the edge of the bed.

“What is it?” she asked.

“I think I figured out why King Julian was so set on protecting Eden by any means necessary.”

Shit. I was sure I wasn’t going to like any of what he was going to say.

B army crawled from under the bed and put the book on the towel Sunny and I had our books on. Sunny agreed to lounging while researching, but she still didn’t want book dust in her bed.

“See right here. This whole passage is talking about someone called the Golden King. I think that’s Titus.”

“Because he’s blond?” I asked.

Sunny stiffened beside me. “It was Titus’s nickname in the Middle Ages. I only know because Odette used it like a slur once. I’d never seen him so angry. So hurt. He made her swear never to bring that name up again.”

Sunny’s copper hair fell in front of her eyes as she took the book and skimmed the page. The color drained from her face.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” B asked.

Sunny nodded, pale as a ghost. “The passage says Titus used to keep his favorite humans to feed from in his castle.”

“Like thirty-three?”

“Nothing like thirty-three, Eden. He kept them fed and healthy enough to drain their blood but no more. And when they died, because they all did die eventually, he liked to dip the corpses of his most favored in gold and display them in the castle entrance as reminders to all who visited not to fuck with him.” Sunny swallowed, a ghostly haze in her emerald eyes. “It was the beginning of his collector habit.”

Fuck. “Sunny, we gotta get you outta here,” I said.

The haze lifted, emerald gaze boring right into mine. “He doesn’t do that any longer, and I will not leave him vulnerable, Eden.”

My brain scrambled to understand Sunny’s stance. “Babe, he wanted to collect you. Wants to collect me, and now you’re saying he might dip us in gold given the chance? I say let’s get the fuck outta dodge and let whatever happens to the crazy coot happen.”

Sunny took a breath. Then another and another. She took several deep, measured breaths before speaking again. “You wouldn’t know this, given the end your maker met, but we do not abandon our family, Sunny. Not for anything. Titus is my family, and like it or not, I’ve accepted it...” She paused before gathering her words and starting again. “I mean this in the most non-judgmental way, Eden, but you’ve been looking out for only yourself for most of your life, so I understand that this is a strange mindset to have. But you have to trust me to make my own decisions about my life.”

I had been looking out for me and only me for as long as I could remember. I needed to. To survive.

But I didn’t need to anymore.

I nodded, still not quite understanding Sunny’s choice but understanding that she needed me to trust her.

It also occurred to me that Julian probably knew about his longtime rival’s habit. Though, considering how much misinformation he had about Cypress City, he probably didn’t know Titus had changed since the 1200s.

Haven’t we all?

But, given the information he had…

I crossed my arms, flopping backward onto the bed.

Sunny smirked at me. I rolled my eyes and she let out a small musical chuckle. “Starting to see it from his side, huh?”

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