16. Winnie #3
Billie blinked. “Cool.”
The word landed so perfectly, so absurdly, so exactly like the day we met, that I almost laughed. Almost. Instead, I pressed my lips together and forced my fangs back as much as instinct allowed.
“Children,” I said carefully, “there was a break-in.”
“We noticed,” Bianca said faintly.
Billie took one small step forward. “Are they dead?”
“No.”
“Are you dead?”
That question, unfortunately, had a far more complicated answer.
“No,” I said. “Not in the way you mean.”
Bianca’s gaze sharpened.
CJ turned toward her. “What does that mean?”
“It means,” Bianca said slowly, still staring at me, “she’s a vampire.”
Silence held the kitchen for half a beat. Then Billie gasped, not in fear but delight. “I knew it!”
“You did not,” Bianca said automatically.
“I knew she was something.”
CJ looked from Bianca to me, then back to Bianca. “Wait. Seriously?”
I rubbed one aching hand across my forehead, then immediately regretted it because my skin was too tender. “Yes,” I said. “Seriously.”
Billie’s eyes became enormous. “You’re a real vampire?”
“Yes.”
“With fangs?”
“You just saw them.”
“With a coffin?”
I hesitated.
CJ pointed toward the driveway with wide eyes. “The car.”
Bianca nodded once, grimly satisfied. “That explains why it looks like a funeral car.”
“You three notice far too much,” I muttered.
CJ looked almost offended. “Your skin is always cold.”
“And you never eat with us,” Bianca added.
“And when I hug you, I can’t feel your heartbeat,” Billie said, then tilted her head. “I thought maybe your heart was shy.”
Despite everything, despite the pain and smoke and unconscious criminals currently decorating the kitchen floor, tenderness pushed through me with such force I nearly lost my composure.
“My heart is not shy,” I said softly.
Billie frowned. “Then where is it?”
“That’s a very complicated story.”
She sighed. “Everything with grown-ups is complicated.”
CJ stepped closer, still cautious but no longer frightened in the way I had expected. “Are you dangerous?”
I threw a glance at the unconscious men. “Yes,” I said honestly. “But only when I need to be.”
CJ crossed his arms. “So.”
I knew that tone. I braced myself. “So.”
“Can vampires get cavities?”
I blinked. Of all the possible questions, that was the one he chose to lead with? “Yes.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Billie gaped at me. “Do vampire dentists exist?”
I considered this. “Probably, though I’ve never met one.”
“Do they have vampire toothpaste?” Billie asked.
“Uhh… I don’t know.”
“Do they brush upside down?”
Bianca rolled her eyes. “That’s ridiculous.”
Billie pointed triumphantly. “She didn’t say no.”
I smiled. “That’s because I genuinely don’t know. Some may.”
CJ immediately jumped in. “Can you turn into a bat?”
“No.”
“Wolf?”
“No.”
“Mist?”
“No.”
“A raccoon?”
“Definitely not.”
“Have you tried?”
I stared at him. “I feel like this line of questioning has gone awry.”
Billie bit her lower lip. “Are there lots of vampires?”
“Not lots.”
“How many?”
I didn’t want to scare the kids or to make them feel like they had to keep their eyes open at all times for something, or someone, that they’d probably never have to deal with. “Enough.”
Bianca’s eyes flicked over my burns. “Did the sun do that to you?”
“Yes.”
“You came out during the day because of the robbers?”
“Yes. I… I was asleep and my alarm went off. I was disoriented and thought you all were inside instead of at school.”
“You were trying to save us,” CJ said.
The air went very quiet again. I didn’t know what to do with the way he said it. So I chose truth. “Yes. And I’d do it again without hesitation.”
Billie’s face crumpled with sudden concern as she stared at the skin on my hand. “Does it hurt?”
“Some.”
“It must hurt more than some,” Bianca said. “Your skin looks awful.” She looked from my hands to the men on the floor. “Were you going to feed on them?”
CJ inhaled sharply. Billie looked fascinated and horrified all at once.
I could have lied. Perhaps I should have. But these were not children who benefited from falsehood. They had already lived through enough adults smoothing things over for comfort.
“I considered it,” I said quietly. “Only because I’m hurt, and I would heal quicker.”
Bianca studied me a while longer, then she nodded.
CJ looked suddenly panicked. “Dad can’t know you’re a vampire.”
Billie’s eyes widened, tears springing into them. “You’re right. He’ll send Winnie away.”
“No,” I said immediately, though fear twisted hard inside me because I did not actually know that. “Children, listen to me.”
“No,” CJ said, his face pale again. “No, there’s no way we’re telling him.”
“CJ.”
“He’ll freak out, Winnie.” His voice grew louder by the second. “Dad can’t handle change, and he especially won’t take the news that you’re a vampire well.”
“He might,” I said, though I didn’t believe my own words.
“He’ll fire you,” Billie whispered.
The fear in her little face nearly undid me.
Bianca stepped closer to me, lifting her chin in that way she did when logic became her armor against the heavy, adult things in her life. “Winnie put herself in danger to protect us and our home. Dad should be grateful.”
I sighed. “That does not mean we can hide this from him.”
“It means he needs context before reacting emotionally,” Bianca argued.
CJ nodded rapidly. “Exactly. Context.”
Billie hugged the stuffed bear tighter. “Temporary information management.”
I blinked at her. Bianca and CJ looked equally impressed.
“What?” Billie asked. “I listen.”
I leaned against the counter. Standing without support was becoming increasingly difficult. “We cannot keep secrets from your father.”
CJ crossed his arms. “You said you can explain. So explain later.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“You should be the one to tell him,” Bianca said. “Not us. It’s your life.”
That stopped me. Damn the smart child.
“It would be better coming from you,” she added.
I looked at the three of them standing there in the foyer, brave and terrified and loyal in ways children shouldn’t have needed to be. They weren’t afraid of me, not truly. They were afraid of losing me.
That fact settled beneath my ribs and hurt in an entirely new way.
“I’ll tell him,” I said at last. “When the time is right. Soon.”
CJ’s shoulders sagged with relief.
Billie launched herself toward me, then stopped abruptly before touching me. “Will it hurt if I hug you?”
Oh. My face nearly crumpled. “It will hurt a little,” I admitted.
So, she hugged me gently. CJ joined next, avoiding my singed arms. Bianca hesitated, but then she wrapped her arms around me with surprising force.
I stood there in the ruined kitchen, two unconscious intruders on the floor and three children clinging to me, and for one ridiculous, terrible moment, I felt more human than I had in nearly two centuries.
Finally, CJ pulled back and looked at the men. “So, what do we do about the robbers?”
Reality returned.
Right. Police. Conrad. Explanations that did not include the sentence I am a vampire and your children have formed a protective pact around me.
“I’ll call the police,” I said.
“And Dad?” Bianca asked.
My stomach tightened.
“Yes,” I said, looking down at my burned hands before reaching for the phone. “And Conrad.”