Blood Secrets - By Jeannie Holmes Page 0,61
Alex was quiet. She’d hardly spoken at all since finding Bernard. Emily had been … numb, as if she drifted through a haze. It wasn’t until Alex began crying, screaming that her father wasn’t dead, that she could hear him calling to her, and tried to rip open the coffin that Emily had finally snapped out of her stupor.
After the funeral, her days had been rote: wake the kids, feed them, greet the endless stream of sympathizers, avoid the media seeking to know more about “the first family of the vampire community” as they dubbed the Sabians once vampires revealed themselves, bathe the kids, send the kids to bed, and then collapse into a sobbing heap of misery. She would then rise the next morning to start the cycle again.
Throughout it all had been Varik Baudelaire. He hadn’t made any grand displays of watching over the mourning family, but Emily had been aware of him on the periphery. She would find envelopes stuffed with cash slipped under the front door. Vials of fresh blood would mysteriously appear in the refrigerator overnight. Stephen and Alex were provided with armed bodyguards when the vampire rights movement reached its peak. There were other small events as well, but perhaps the most comforting were the occasional gifts sent to Alex.
Emily had never understood why Varik left gifts for Alex and not Stephen, but perhaps he’d felt Alex needed more attention, more support to overcome the trauma of her father’s death. Whatever his reasons, Emily still felt indebted to him four decades later, and as she made her way back to the table where Stephen waited, she decided it was time she let Varik know just how much she appreciated everything he’d done for her family.
Smiling, she slid into the booth, opposite Stephen. Her smile soon disappeared as she noticed his once-clear blue eyes had shifted to vivid amber. “What is it? Did something happen to Alex?”
He slid her cell phone across the table in silence.
“Stephen, what’s—” Her question faltered and died as she noticed the displayed number of the last call received. The time stamp was only minutes ago, while she’d been in the restroom.
“Gregor Wahl called.” His tone was dark and full of anger.
“I see that. Did he leave a message?”
“He said to tell you he had a possible lead on Siobhan’s whereabouts, and he was going to check it out.”
Emily felt her heart sink into her stomach.
“Why is Gregor calling you, Mom? Who is this Siobhan?”
Emily closed her eyes and took a deep breath in an effort to calm her own rapidly shifting emotions. She’d hoped to keep her inquiries into the Tribunal a secret from Stephen and Alex.
“Mom?”
“I called him,” she said quietly. She squared her shoulders and met Stephen’s angry gaze. “I asked him to find out any information he could on the Tribunal’s proceedings, anything that could help save Alex.”
“He’s the one who suggested using us as the public face for the vampire rights movement after Dad died. He made our lives hell for seven years. Why would you call him?”
“I know you like Gregor about as much as you like Varik, but we—Alex needs all the allies she can find right now. I trust Gregor, just as I trust Varik.”
“Mom, you—”
“There is more going on with the Tribunal than we’ve been told, Stephen.”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Woody Phelps has taken a personal interest in Alex’s inquiry, and the Magistrates are calling in Enforcers from all over the country in some sort of massive internal investigation.”
“Why would—”
“I don’t know. Gregor was going to find out what he could and call me.” Emily punched the button to redial Gregor’s number. The line rang several times without anyone picking up. “That’s odd. Now he’s not answering.”
“So who is Siobhan?” Stephen repeated his earlier question.
She listened to a few more rings before ending the call. “A woman who worked with your father.”
“At the university?”
“Yes.”
“Is she the one Dad got pregnant?”
Emily wordlessly stared at him for several moments before finding her barely audible voice. “How do you know about that?”
“I heard you and Dad talking—arguing, at night. I may’ve been a kid but I wasn’t stupid. I knew Dad had an affair with a woman at work, but I didn’t know her name.”
“Oh, honey. This isn’t something I ever wanted to burden you and Alex with. You were both so young when he was killed.” She paused and drew a deep breath to keep her voice from shaking. “I didn’t want this