Chapter 38

I put my hands on my thighs and tried to breathe in deep gulps of air. Little stars were swimming before my eyeballs. It felt like a punch to the gut. Like a great big vise was squeezing my adrenal glands and causing my heart to beat at fifty times the rate it was supposed to.

Mom.

My uncle had made it through.

And he had her.

Killian had left my side and came back with a paper bag. He handed it to me and I placed it over my mouth and nose, trying to focus on inhaling regularly. I know he was rubbing my back and stroking my hair in a comforting manner.

Next thing I know, I’m staring up at him and he’s smacking my face, saying, “Wake up!”

“I’m awake!” I muttered. “I’m awake.”

It took me a second to figure out where I was and what was going on, but then it came rushing back with Technicolor clarity.

“No…” I began to cry, “No…”

Killian gathered me up in to his arms and held me there against his chest as I wept, seemingly unaffected by the snot bubbles coming out of my nose and streams of water leaking out of my eyes.

“We will get her back,” he murmured. “We will get her back.”

Slowly I was able to pull myself together. I wiped my face on the back of my sleeve and looked at Killian apologetically, “Sorry about your shirt.”

He laughed and brushed back a sweaty hair from my blotchy red face, “I shall run a load of laundry before we kick the bad guys’ asses.”

I hiccupped out a laugh, “Wouldn’t want to get your shirt dirtied up before it got vampire guts all over it.”

He gave me another hug, “You are going to be okay.”

I gave him a nod. I wasn’t, but I was as okay as I was going to be under present conditions.

He helped me up to my feet. I had a banger of a headache.

“Get cleaned up. See if anything comes to you. I will look around for clues.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but he turned me around and pushed me towards my mom’s over-decorated guest bathroom, “No arguments. Go. You are of no use to me like this.”

I gave him a grateful smile and he kissed me on the top of my head, “Go.”

I ran the cold water and hoped that it would chase the red from my face and eyes. I leaned my hands against the side of the sink and tried not to think about the fact my mom might be getting tortured or killed or turned at that moment.

How could she have not seen this coming?

I needed to calm down. I was going to become sloppy and miss something important if I didn’t get my emotions under wrap. I splashed the water on my face.

Uncle Ulrich made it across the border somehow. Yet despite the fact that he finally made it, despite the fact he had my mom, he still wanted that damned diamond lion.

And unfortunately, he and the vampires were under the false belief that I had it. Even more unfortunate, Dad had taken that lion and I couldn’t get it back.

I started to shiver and it wasn’t from the cold.

I slammed off the water. The more I thought, the pissier I got.

How dare they? They made me leave Earth. They took my dad away from me. They destroyed my family. Now they had my mom. I started getting so angry I was shaking.

Mad was better.

Mad I could use.

Mad made me want to punch someone in the nose and right now all that ire was aimed at a guy whose name began with “U” and rhymed with “Ulrich”.

I grabbed a clean towel off of the rack. It smelled of rose soap.

“I swear I’ll find you,” I vowed to any gods who might be listening.

I was my mother’s daughter and I wouldn’t rest until I got her back. Any undead being that thought they could get away with something like this obviously didn’t know the women in my family.