"I'm tired of being afraid. It's no way to live."
"Your father," he said with regret.
"You look like him," Lissianna said quietly. It was a silly thing to say. Of course he looked like her father. They had been twins, but now she thought that perhaps that was part of the reason she had always cringed in his presence. He reminded her of her father, and Lissianna had always been afraid of Jean Claude Argeneau, and so she was instinctively afraid of her uncle Lucian.
"I may look like him, Lissianna, but I am not him," he said quietly as he sat on the bed, half-turned toward her. Then he sighed. "I knew he was difficult to live with and that he made life hard for you and your mother, but I never realized just how hard. I am sorry."
"There's nothing you could have done," she said with a small shrug.
"Yes," Lucian countered. "There was. I fear I protected him when I should not have. Your father would have been staked and baked centuries ago for his misdemeanors if I had not interfered."
Lissianna's eyes widened at his claim, then she sighed. "He was your brother, blood ties are strong, and love often leads us to do things we perhaps shouldn't, things we later regret." She shrugged. "Just look at what Thomas and the others did for me."
"And what you did for Greg."
"That was different," Lissianna said quickly. "I don't love--" She paused and flushed at his knowing look.
"At least you can no longer bring yourself to lie about your feelings for him. Now you just have to find the courage to admit them to him," her uncle said with mild amusement. When Lissianna allowed her perplexity to show, he said, "Your mother says she knew he was for you the moment she saw you together. The others thought so, too, and when they found that Greg knew what we were--or as much as he could know with all those ridiculous movies and stories about us out there--and was not repulsed by it, Martine and your mother decided they could not wipe you from his memory. They brought him home to allow you two to discover for yourselves what they already knew."
"Then why did she call you?"
Her uncle gave a short laugh. "No one called me. I just happened to drop by for a visit. It has been a while since I spent time with Martine and the girls," he said wryly. "When Thomas nearly swallowed his tongue at the sight of me, the women were forced to explain, then they took me to meet Greg."
"And?" Lissianna asked curiously.
"And I was not sure," Lucian admitted, then added, "until you came home that morning while we were in with Greg. Your panic when you realized I was there was loud and strong, and every bit of your energy was focused on him." He shrugged.
"Then why did you tie him up and decide to involve the council?" Lissianna asked with confusion.
"Your mother had him tied up again, not I. And I was calling the council to inform them that he would be joining our ranks soon. The council keeps track of everyone, you know that.
"After you had snuck him out, your mother admitted she'd hope you'd take everything the wrong way. She'd hoped that the fear of his being subjected to a council of three would force you to recognize your feelings for him. However, instead you grabbed him and ran."
Lissianna stared at him in amazement. It had all been a con? Her mother had just been manipulating her in an effort to get them together? She'd been playing matchmaker?
"So Valerian wasn't chasing us at the mall? You didn't even send anyone out to watch for us?" she asked with disbelief.
Lucian grimaced. "Well, I put a couple of the boys out to watch you and make sure you did not flee the country, but no, I did not set the dogs on you or anything."
"Except Julius," she said dryly.
Lucian snorted. "Julius would never hurt you. That dog is a lamb when it comes to you and your mother. He might have gone after Greg, of course, but we expected you would find a way to keep him off him. And you did."
Lissianna released a slow breath as she considered all of this. It was good to know that her uncle hadn't had her staked. On the other hand, that meant someone else had.
"So," Lucian said, following her thoughts. "This Debbie whose home you stayed in, she's a coworker?"
Lissianna nodded. "And a friend."
"So you do not think she might have been behind the staking?"
"No." Lissianna shook her head firmly. "She's a friend, and she would have been at work at the shelter last night when it happened. Besides, she has no idea I'm a vampire. No one at the shelter does. I'd bet my life on it."
"You are betting your life on it," Lucian Argeneau said softly. "Staking a vampire is a mortal trick, Lissi. Our kind would have known enough to cut off your head."
"Yes, but..." Lissianna frowned. "Uncle Lucian, other than our own kind, I don't know of anyone who could know what I am. I've been careful."
He thought for a minute, then murmured, "Well, I shall look into it and see what I can learn, and I will stay until it is resolved." He raised an eyebrow. "I suppose you will want to see him now?"