The Beast (Black Dagger Brotherhood #14) - J. R. Ward Page 0,126

she was worried about us getting separated.”

“You can live here until you transition, Bitty. It’s not a problem.”

“She tried to pick the youngest age I could pass for.”

“It’s all right. I promise.”

Bitty looked down at her hands. “I’m really sorry. That’s why she told me not to talk very much and to play with that doll. She didn’t want me to give it away.”

Mary sat back and took a deep breath. Now that she thought about it, the timing of everything made better sense if the girl was older. Vampire females went through their needings every ten years or so and Bitty’s mother was pregnant when they got here—and those young were usually carried for about eighteen months. So Annalye would have conceived when Bitty had been eleven, give or take. As opposed to seven.

What was worrisome, though, was how tiny the girl was. For an eight- or nine-year-old, she was a good body weight. That was not true for someone who was thirteen—even if you took into account the fact that the biggest growth spurt happened to young vampires during their transition.

“I’m really sorry,” Bitty said as she hung her head.

“Please don’t feel bad. We understand. I just wish we’d known so we could have put her mind at rest.”

“There’s something else.”

“You can tell me anything.”

“I lied about my uncle.”

Mary’s heart started pounding. “How so?”

“I don’t think he’s coming for me.”

“And why’s that?”

“She talked about him from time to time, but it was always in the past. You know, what they used to do when they were kids. She did it to distract me when things got bad with my father. I guess I just … I just wish he were coming for me, you know?”

“Yes. I do.”

“He’s never actually met me.”

“How does that make you feel?”

“Really alone. Especially because my mahmen is gone now.”

Mary nodded. “That makes a lot of sense to me.”

“My mahmen and I … we took care of each other. We had to.” Bitty frowned and stared at the box on the desk. “She tried to get us away from him three times. The first one was when I was an infant. I don’t remember that, but it didn’t go well. The second time…” Bitty trailed off. “The third time was when my leg was broken, and she took me to Havers because it wasn’t healing. That was when I got the pin put in—and then we went home and…”

Rhage, V and Butch went and got them out.

“I like your hellren,” Bitty said abruptly. “He’s funny.”

“A total stitch.”

“Is that a human phrase?”

“Yup. It means he’s a crack-up.”

Bitty frowned again and looked over. “So you were really human? I thought that you couldn’t be turned into a vampire.”

“I’m not. I mean, I haven’t been.” Mary flashed a smile. “See? Nothing pointy.”

“You have pretty teeth.”

“Thank you.”

Bitty’s eyes returned to the cardboard box. “So she’s really in there.”

“Her remains are.”

“What happens if I don’t bury her right now? Does she … is that wrong? Is it bad?”

Mary shook her head. “There’s no rush. Not that I’m aware of, at least. I can double-check with Marissa, though. She knows all your traditions inside and out.”

“I just don’t want to do anything wrong. I guess … I’m responsible for her now, you know. I want to do the right thing.”

“I totally understand that.”

“What do humans do with their dead?”

“We put them in the earth—or at least, that’s one option. That’s what I did with my mom. I had her cremated and then buried.”

“Like mine.”

Mary nodded. “Like yours.”

There was a pause and she stayed quiet so that Bitty had the space to feel whatever she was feeling. In the silence, Mary took a good look at the girl, noting the reed-thin arms and legs, the tiny body beneath the layers.

“Where did you put her in the ground?” Bitty asked.

“In a cemetery. Across town.”

“What’s a cemetery?”

“It’s a place where humans bury their dead and mark the graves with headstones so that you know where yours are. From time to time, I go back and put flowers by her site.”

Bitty tilted her head and frowned a little. After a moment, she asked, “Will you show me?”

FORTY-TWO

“I did not expect your call.”

As Assail spoke, he pivoted around and smiled at Naasha. “Not so soon, at any rate.”

This eve, Naasha had chosen to receive him at her hellren’s abode in a dark and dramatic study full of leather-bound volumes and furniture that reminded him of humans’ private gentlemen’s clubs. Tonight, and she had dressed herself