Chapter Seventeen

Scott

We arrived back to our matingmoon house with a full front porch. My parents were there, and my wolf wagged his tail. Terrick was healthy and whole now, but they were here. They could deal with everyone back in the village square pissed off about a little girl with a sword. Blithe and the twins were there too. I was about to tell Trista and Travis to hit the road when Salta squirmed down from Terrick’s arms and crashed into Trista. Her hug knocked her over and sent a highheel flying across the porch.

“Hello to you too!” Trista laughed and glanced up at me for answers.

Fuck her. I had nothing to say to her. I nodded at my parents and Blithe and made my way back inside the house. My carrier followed me, but I didn’t stop until I was inside the kitchen where it looked as if Terrick had started to make bloodshakes before everything blew up.

“They’re not staying here,” Dad said, running his hands through his red hair. “We didn’t know they’d came until we saw the other video. We knew they took off, but never would we have dreamed that they’d come here to stir up more shit.”

I sank into a chair at the table and Dad joined me.

“What other video?” I asked, regretting the question as soon as it was out of my mouth.

“She made a video saying Terrick was here and had no memories. We think that’s how Salta found him.”

“It was,” I nodded. “Not that she should be running around the continent or Other World alone.”

“I’m sorry they did that to you,” he said, bringing the topic back to what I didn’t want to talk about.

“Probably more than they are,” I shrugged. “Did you see Blithe’s kittens? Delilah and Lane?”

“Not yet, but we will. We’ll see Duke’s egg too. We just wanted to check on you guys first. How is he? I mean, besides flabbergasted about his little sister’s sudden appearance?”

I told dad the whole story leaving out only the spicy parts that neither of us wanted to discuss together.

“That was a lot easier than getting all mine back,” he chuckled and leaned back in the chair.

I opened my mouth to apologize but he shook his head. Sometimes I wondered how he went on at all after everything he went through with Grady Moore.

“One day at a time,” he shrugged, picking up my thoughts over the family link. “That’s all any of us can do. We already spoke to High Priestess Arrakia. She knows Terrick is here. Apparently, she sent him away for scaring everyone and being grouchy. Not the way I would’ve handled it, but then again, I’m not her. I don’t think she knew about the ghosts or spirits or whatever they’re called properly now.”

“It’s going to kill Terrick to send Salta back,” I frowned.

“They’ll have to work that out between them. There isn’t anything we can do about it,” Dad flashed me a sad smile. “Kiddo, I’m sorry Trista and Travis made that video,” he tried again.

“Me too. What do you want me to say about it? That they humiliated me and mocked the one thing I’m good at?” I snapped and Dad flinched.

“That’s not the only thing you’re good at and you know it. I thought you did well with the video. It’s going to be videos like that from you and other young vampires that break a lot of cultural stigma. They didn’t just make fun of you, they made fun of all of us – themselves included. That’s why they’re cut off until they figure life out. They won’t starve. They have their social media money and can move home and eat what’s in the fridge, but we’re not funding hatefulness.”

“It won’t stop them. I know everyone is all ‘Yay, Trista’ because she made that new video, but I’m not. I feel like they ripped me open and showed everyone everything I’ve ever doubted about myself.”

“What they did says more about them than it does about you,” Dad sighed. “I don’t know what happened with those two. I don’t know how they went from cute little balls of joy to making videos like that.”

“It’s not your fault,” I sighed back at him. “Seriously, the rest of us are fine. I’m trying to be anyway. Blithe has twin kittens and a mate. The littles are happy. They just --- I don’t know. If I knew, maybe I could hit them with it make them see reality.”

“Just don’t hit them with that,” Dad chuckled, nodding at the sword on the table. “Do that much for me, okay?”

“I’m not them,” I shrugged.

“I know. You’re like us. Always studying and experimenting,” he said, digging into his pocket. “That reminds me. Dakota said you might want this back.”

He laid my phone on the table. I frowned down at it. It was mostly missed calls from the twins after everyone found out about the video.

“At least you’ll be able to call us,” Dad said.

“True,” I nodded.

“Congratulations on meeting Terrick,” Dad said, smiling in a way that reached his green eyes this time.

“Thank you. It was so crazy. Everyone thought he was a monster, and I knew better.”

“Now you sound like your sire,” he chuckled.

“At least I don’t sound like the twins,” I shrugged.

“Don’t get me wrong. We love your brother and your sister. They just need to grow up and see that what they do can hurt people.”

“You think they’d be old enough by now,” I sighed.

“You would think that, huh?” he sighed back at me.

“Terrick’s going to make French toast,” Salta announced, waltzing into the kitchen ahead of her brother.

“If we’re not interrupting anything, that is,” Terrick said walking into the kitchen behind her.

“You’re not,” I shook my head and leaned back so that he kissed me when he passed by.

Salta made a face and whispered something about grownups being gross.

“Your sire and Blithe will be inside in a bit. The twins are leaving, and I think they’re seeing them out,” Terrick said, his voice level, but his emotions high over the mating link.

“Your sister is the reason I found Terrick,” Salta said, dropping into an empty chair at the table and pulling the sword in front of her.

“Don’t play with that, Salta,” Terrick said.

“I’m not!” She twisted to look at him as he started the blender.

When she turned back to face the table, she put her hands in her lap as if to prove she was old enough to be around the sword without playing with it.

“She is the reason,” Salta nodded. “She made a video. That was nice of her.”

“Salta?” Terrick said, grabbing her attention back.

“Yes?” she asked, turning to look at him again.

“Three doors down the hallway is the bathroom. Why don’t you go clean up for breakfast? You’re all sweaty.”

“But I don’t have clean clothes,” she reminded him.

“That’s okay. Just go wash up the best you can,” he said.

She groaned at him and bared her fangs for a second in the way little vampires do when they’re not impressed with what adults have to say. It was adorable and somehow, I managed not to laugh until the bathroom door shut behind her.

“My mom is probably shitting dinosaurs right now,” Terrick said, setting down a bloodshake in front of me and another in front of my carrier.

“Thanks,” we said at the same time and Terrick chuckled.

“Shitting dinosaurs, though?” I blinked at him as he turned back to the cabinets and found the waffle maker.

“It’s just something we’ve always said,” he shrugged. “She’s shitting dinosaurs, and my sister is hero worshiping yours.”

“That’s because she’s young and just wanted to find you,” Dad said. “Your mother knew you were here. We called her as soon as we got the call. I couldn’t imagine thinking one of my kids were dead or lost and hurt.”

Terrick nodded, but didn’t say anything.

“Mate?” I asked softly.

“Yes, love?” Terrick asked.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m doing my best.”

“Hey, I can make the waffles. You can sit down and finish my shake,” I said as his thirst wound around me over our mating link.

“Shit!” he swore under his breath and went back to the freezer.

“Did you really forget you were thirsty?” I asked him.

“Being in dad-mode will do that to you,” my carrier laughed.

“Maybe drink two then,” I suggested.

In the end, it was Dad who made the waffles while Terrick drank his shakes and I texted Dakota to thank him for sending my phone with my parents. Under the table I put my toes on top of Terrick’s to remind him he wasn’t alone in any of this. I was here now, and I wasn’t going anywhere. As he drank the shakes some of the tension fled his shoulders.

“I found shirts in one of the bedrooms. They’re like dresses,” Salta came back into the kitchen with her hair wet and wearing a t-shirt that fell just below her knees. “I don’t like wearing dirty clothes.”

“You look perfect, sweetheart,” Terrick said as his baby sister sat down next to him.

Her big eyes were full of questions that I wasn’t sure any of us had the answers to.