Chapter 38

Leonie turned on Remy. "You be quiet. You don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't talk to him like that." Ephie didn't like the harsh tone of her mother's voice, especially not directed at the man who'd saved her life. But there was pain in her mother's voice, too. Deep pain. "Mom, what does he mean? What about my father? What did he do to you? What haven't you told me?"

Leonie shook her head, the pain in her eyes clear.

Hands stuffed in his pockets, Remy cleared his throat. "Darryl, what do you say we go get some coffee and you can ask me anything you want."

Darryl looked up. "Anything?"

Remy nodded.

The man got up and walked with Remy to the door. "I have a lot of questions."

"I'm sure you do," Remy said as he let Darryl go ahead of him. He glanced back at Ephie and gave her a supportive nod.

She already knew he was on her side. He'd saved her life. Twice. She appreciated him understanding her need for some private time with her mother. "Mom, what haven't you told me?"

Jean-Luc yawned, then went back to sleep.

Leonie sank into a chair near the bed, her face crumpling into an expression of anguish. "All my life, I tried to protect you."

"I know," Ephie said softly. "And you did a great job."

"I did a terrible job. Everything I tried to protect you from…" Leonie shook her head, wringing her hands in her lap. "All of it happened. And now this. You've become the creature I most despise."

Ephie let out a soft breath. This wasn't news. Leonie had always loathed vampires. "Why, Mom? What's so awful about vampires? There has to be a reason you feel that way. What are you keeping from me?"

Leonie took a tissue from the box on Ephie's rolling table and dabbed at her eyes. After a moment's pause, she sighed. "Your father wasn't Owen Larose. He didn't die right before you were born. Well, Owen did, actually. He was a nice boy at my college who was killed in a car accident, and he was convenient. May he rest in peace. But he wasn't your father. I don't think he would have minded being part of my story."

Ephie shook her head. "I don't understand."

Leonie looked up, her eyes suddenly hot with anger. "Your father was a vampire who seduced me and left me."

Ephie needed a second to process that. "What? My father was a vampire?"

Leonie nodded. "Yes. A terrible, heartless, despicable creature who used his allure to turn my no into a yes."

She twisted the tissue until it began to shred, then balled it up. "I didn't want anything to do with him, but that just spurred him on. No matter how many times I turned him down, he kept hounding me."

Her mother dropped her gaze to her hands again. "On three occasions, after vehemently refusing him, I found myself in his bed. Against my will. But he had the ability to charm a person into doing his bidding if he held their gaze long enough. Something I learned too late. I could have armed myself against his power if I'd realized it sooner."

Ephie felt sick at what her mother had endured. "I'm so sorry that happened to you. No wonder you hate vampires. But Remy's nothing like that."

Leonie nodded, still not making eye contact. "I guess he's not, but I can't help what I feel."

"After what you went through, you're entitled."

Leonie exhaled, a long, tired breath. "The only good thing that came from that devil was you. I'd always hoped your maternal bloodlines would be stronger than his side, but apparently, I was wrong."

"I don't think that's true," Ephie said. "From what Alice told me, your half of me is probably what kept me from turning sooner. Remy giving me his blood just sort of tipped the scales. I'm still very much your child, though. I still have my gifts. The change did nothing to take them away from me." Ephie knew her mother needed the reassurance that things weren't going to be any different. Even though they would be.

"That's good," her mother said softly.

What Ephie couldn't say to her mother was how she would gladly give those gifts up, if the chance arose.

After the fire, she never wanted to use them again.

She would never live down that fire. She hadn't meant for it to happen. She'd only been trying to save herself. Instead, she'd caused an incredible amount of destruction and taken a life. Didn't matter that it was the life of the woman who meant to harm her. It was still a life.

She would carry that loss for the rest of hers.

How she'd created such a fireball, she had no idea. All she could guess was that the sunstone around her neck had focused her abilities so intensely that it had resulted in a super-boost of her skills.

No more sunstones. No more magic. No more terrifying accidents. She didn't know where her necklace was anyway. Lost in the fire maybe. She had no intention of replacing it. In fact, she'd be very careful what stones she wore from now on.

She glanced down at her hand where her pansy ring usually sat. Birdie had told her the ring had been taken off her finger when she'd arrived at the hospital and stored with anything else that had been saved to be returned to her upon her discharge.

At least she knew the diamonds and sapphires were safe. She couldn't wait to put that ring back on. It meant so much to her.

Which would hopefully be soon. She wanted to go. To put all of this behind her and start her new life with Remy. Here. In Nocturne Falls.

New Orleans felt like her past now. Nocturne Falls felt like her future. Jean-Luc would be happy. He loved Remy's backyard so much.

Ephie glanced at her mother, who seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. Now was not the time to share her decision. Her mother wouldn't take it well regardless of when Ephie told her, but Leonie wasn't in any kind of shape to hear it now. Adding to what she was dealing with would just be cruel.

No, Ephie would let her mother believe she was just going to stay here with Remy a while longer, to convalesce and learn how to manage life as a vampire. Then, when the time was right, she'd tell her mother she'd decided to stay on permanently.

Ephie sat back, content to let her mother be. She had plenty to think about herself. Like what life would be like as a vampire.

She didn't feel much different. Her vision might have been a little crisper, her hearing more acute, but nothing else seemed to have changed. Being stuck in a hospital bed was no place to test out such a change anyway.

She was sure that over the next few weeks, Remy would give her all the information she needed.

She smiled. She owed Remy. He had been so obviously uncertain about what he'd done, but Alice—and Birdie—had explained everything. Ephie understood he'd done it to save her, not for his own reasons.

She wasn't sure she'd have cared if he had. The darkness and pain that had taken over her mind had been horrific. The nightmares had been even worse. She was glad all of that was over with.

And being a vampire wasn't such a bad thing, was it? Remy was one, and he was everything that was right in the world. In Ephie's world, anyway.

Her smile got a little bigger as she tucked her fingers under Jean-Luc's translucent sleeping form. Would Remy ask her to marry him again?

It seemed the logical conclusion now that they were both the same species and they had a better understanding of what they wanted out of life.

At least she did. What she wanted was to be happy. To do her job well. To make the world a better place whenever possible. And to have Remy at her side. Whatever else that entailed, she'd figure it out.

Or rather, they would, together, if all went well.

Jean-Luc shifted, opening his eyes and looking up at her. He gave her a slow blink. She slow-blinked back.

"I love you, bebe," she whispered.

A soft knock at her door was followed by a nurse coming in. She had a tablet in her hand and a small clear plastic bag with the hospital's name imprinted on it in the other. "Ms. Moreau, I have your discharge paperwork all ready. Just a few forms to sign, some instructions, and we'll have you out of here in the next hour or so."

"Great," Ephie said. "Because I am definitely ready to go."