“What?” I’d heard what she said, but I didn’t understand her reaction. Was she seriously going to stay? She would be defenseless against them. Their vile minds wouldn’t think twice before consuming her life blood and slaughtering her with a single swing.
“Do you know who said that?” Jacklyn took on a faraway look as she swallowed the last of her drink.
“No, and I don’t care. You can’t stay here, Jacklyn! It’s too dangerous. How are you going to protect yourself from them, huh? Do you have any idea how powerful they are?”
I dashed to her in less than the blink of an eye, clutching her hand in mine. If I had to beg her I would, anything to get her to come with me. She might not have been my real mother, she might have been consumed with her work, but she raised me. For eighteen years she was there with me every day, and I didn’t want to see her hurt. I didn’t want to see her dead. I knew I was going to outlive her, but I wasn’t ready for that day to come anytime soon.
“Titan,” Arrick answered solemnly.
“Titan? Who’s Titan?” I turned around to face him, my hands on my hips. He was supposed to be helping me convince her to come, not joining in on her riddles.
“You know your history.” She beamed at him, all the fear gone from her face. “I read once that he never believed the dark ages would be gone for good.”
“He didn’t.” Arrick joined Jacklyn as she invited him to take a seat at the dining table.
“I snuck into the restricted section of the library once and read about him.” She pulled out a seat and let herself down with a sigh. “He made me fall in love with vampires. I was about Claire’s age when I pledged my life to them. It’s been my life’s goal to get others to see them as I do. So many only see the evil of the past, they can’t look beyond it and truly see what amazing things they are capable of.” Her face took on a dreamy expression that was the complete opposite of my own.
“You’re really going to stay? Seriously?” I did my best to hold back my anger, but my annoyance bubbled through freely.
“Now, more than ever, I’m needed here.” She rose and took me in her arms for the first real hug we’d shared in longer than I could remember. “If there is a force out there that wants to tear us apart, the only thing we can do is stand together. This is my calling, Claire bear. Do you understand?” She used the childhood nickname she’d given me that I hadn’t heard since I still had recess during school.
I did understand, but I didn’t like it. I thought she was being careless and selfish. Had I really expected her to choose me over her work? I suppose I had. I felt Arrick’s hand fall onto my shoulder so I pulled away as unshed tears clung to my eyes. Leaving her here now was harder than when I had left to move to the palace. She’d made her choice and I tried my hardest to respect that. All my life I’d been jealous of her work, but now I realized that to her it was more than just a day job, it was who she was. Jacklyn was going to continue fighting for what she believed in and I admired that, but I also hated her for it.
“If you need anything…” My words came out strained as I fought the emotions inside me. I wanted to lash out at her and pull her to the car against her will all at once. The thought that I could easily do so was hard to ignore.
“I’ll call you,” she answered with a smile, cupping my face and planting a kiss on my cheek. Tears spilled from her eyes as she pulled away. “I’m so proud of you, Claire.”
The dam on my tears broke and they flooded out with reckless abandon. I’d waited my whole life to hear her say those words. Why had she waited until now to say them?
“If you change your mind…” Arrick leaned around me, handing Jacklyn a small business card, “you can reach me directly at this number.” He pointed to the card and she nodded.
“Thank you.” She wiped at the tears on her face, the bracelets on her wrists clinking with every movement. With her