Epilogue
Zora
“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
- Nelson Mandela
Life without the constant threat of Adam and his minions was like the crisp scent of the air just after a cleansing rain. Suddenly, we allowed ourselves things that other people took for granted.
Mom and Dad finally took my siblings and me on a six-month-long vacation in the Caribbean. We not only visited Mom’s birth home of Antigua, but we also cruised around to several of the neighboring islands along that chain: St. Martin, St. Barts, St. Kitts, and Nevis, and all along the chain to Grenada in Dad’s new yacht. Although Uncle Drako already had a yacht, Dad bought one for us to cruise around the world in.
We spent another six months in the United States doing the touristy things we’d never done. Of course, Apollo thought that Disney World in Florida and Disneyland in California were the best parts of our holiday, but I loved the Broadway shows in New York and shows in Vegas. We all enjoyed American football, and Apollo was determined that he would one day become a quarterback.
Dad quickly nixed that idea, insisting that Apollo’s abilities would disqualify him from human sports. Cue the eye roll. Of course, Apollo will ignore Dad’s advice. There were countless dhampirs who took part in human sports already.
I was glad to not be the only girl in the family any longer. Aunt Xandra had a baby girl, who they named Alexia in honor of Pop-pop.
God, I missed him so much. Pop-pop wasn’t just my grandfather. He was my best friend. I had been glad of the distraction of us vacationing for a year. It helped to quell the emptiness that often descended out of nowhere whenever I thought of him, and I thought of Pop-pop often.
I couldn’t wait for my cousin to become an adult dhampir like me. And now that we had more freedom to live our lives, shopping might just become an Olympic sport for the women in our family. It didn’t help that Mom and my aunts were so seriously beautiful. My cousin was already on her way to being a great beauty as well. With her skin only a slight shade lighter than Aunt Xandra’s and her eyes sea-green like Uncle Xander’s and Uncle Drako’s, that was more certain than ever.
After a year of vacationing with not just Mom, Dad, and my brothers—my uncles with their families often joined us too—I settled into my studies. Watching my mom and my aunts being strong mates, strong professional women and inspiring philanthropists as Pop-pop taught us, made me more determined than ever to be just as fierce as they are. I wanted to be a scientist specializing in the study of DNA and psychic abilities. I wanted to determine if there was any avenue for us to alter or enhance our psychic abilities.
I had another ten years of studies, but Dad had already gotten assurance that I would get a coveted research assistant position in the Duke of Donegal’s Research Foundation. I had been studying the work of the president of the foundation, Dr. Malcolm McKenna, who recently succeeded his brother for the dukedom. I didn’t quite understand why the title passed to Dr. McKenna when the previous duke had adult sons. It was all very bizarre.
However, I couldn’t have cared less about the man’s title. I was more interested in his own studies on DNA, which were second to none in the world. The fact that the man was drop-dead gorgeous was irrelevant.