Page 128 of Blood and Bonbons

“I hate vampires!” she fumed.

I gave her a warning look. While she may hatemostvampires, she had no cause to hate Cross when he was the reason Miles was home again.

Thinking of Cross, I took Miles’ empty bowl to the sink and looked out the kitchen window. The tracks were empty.

After Shepard had taken away Sierra, he’d ordered Doc and a team to track the vampire they could smell. I was worried something might happen to Cross and Doc.

Both sides had made it clear they had no love for the other. Truthfully, the werewolves seemed to hate the vampires a little more deeply.

I could empathize if the majority of vampires were going around brainwashing and kidnapping people.

“So you don’t know why Sierra kidnapped you or why she kept you tied to a chair for days,” I asked, returning to the table.

“It’s obviously not some crush gone wrong since you were also fed on,” Vena said.

Miles lifted his hand to touch the twin, raised bumps on the base of his neck.

“I’m going to kill Spawn,” she said under her breath before she disappeared into her room.

“When we talked to Spawn and showed him the ring we’d found, he freaked out,” I explained. “He didn’t want anything to do with us. He said that we needed to stop looking into things or more family would go missing. Why would he warn us but sell you out?”

Vena emerged from her bedroom and dropped the skin map on the table next to Miles. “Does your kidnapping have something to do with this?”

“What the hell, Vena?” I scolded.

Vena shrugged and looked at her brother. “Well, does it?”

Miles’ gaze lit with excitement, and he pulled the map toward him. “You got it open?”

“She fondled it for days, Miles,” I said. “On my coffee table. On my counters. Even at work. And why would you put it in a delicious piece of cake? I ate some of that cake, Miles. It was in my mouth.”

He gave an absent laugh as he studied it with interest.

“I knew if something happened to me, you’d find it.”

“That’s not okay. Never do that again. Wait. Please tell me this nasty sheep scrotum isn’t the reason you were abducted.”

He didn’t say anything.

Vena narrowed her eyes at him. “I want information. Whatever you know. Spill it.”

Miles rubbed his forehead like he was trying to rid himself of a headache.

“You’re not going to like the answers, Vena. Spawn was right. What I’m looking into is dangerous.”

“Let me guess,” she said. “Following old leads? We followed your breadcrumbs, Miles. The map in the cake. The picture of the book Grandpa Barnaby checked out of the archives before he and Grandma disappeared on an expedition. The stupid vampire strip club someone texted you.”

He looked surprised by that, and Vena suddenly seemed very tired. “Our parents have been trying to find leads for years, Miles. They asked us to leave it alone. They didn’t want to lose us, either. Yet, you…youdisregarded their wishes, put yourself in danger, and almost disappeared forever, too.”

I frowned. “Even if you found information regarding your grandparents’ research, why would Sierra’s vampire friend care enough to kidnap you?”

Miles shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe my research intersected with someone else’s? That book our grandparents had was supposedly a key for this map.”

Vena and I glanced uneasily at each other, knowing we had the missing piece. I had a bad feeling that combining them would make my already stressful life a hundred times worse.

Miles noticed our shared glance. “What aren’t you saying?”

Vena went back to her room and returned with the book.

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