Amanda sputtered. "I didn't say that."
"You didn't have to say that, Amanda. You know, I'm really tired of being the brunt of the family jokes. I've never understood why I'm the weird, crazy one when Tia dances naked out in the bayous in voodoo ceremonies; Selena chains herself to fences; Karma is a bull inseminator; Aunt Jasmine is trying to splice a Venus flytrap with kudzu to make a man-killing plant to devour her ex-"
"She what?" Valerius asked.
Tabitha ignored him. "And you, precious Amanda, who is everyone's darling. First you unknowingly date a half-Apollite whose adopted father is out to kill you for your powers and then you end up married to a vampire that I have to tolerate even though I personally think he's a pompous, overbearing, humorless boor. Why am I the crazy one in all this?"
"Tabitha-"
"Don't Tabitha me when you know it seriously pisses me off!"
Amanda's eyes flared. "Fine, you want to know why you're the crazy one? Because you flit from one extreme to the other. Good grief, you had, what? Nine majors in college?"
"Thirteen."
"See? You are a flibbertigibbet. If not for us taking care of you, you'd be one of those homeless people you feed every night and you know it. It's why you feed them."
"I can take care of myself."
"Yeah, right. How many jobs did you have until Irena left you the store? She didn't want to retire, by the way. Dad paid her to because it was the only job you ever held on to for more than a few days."
"You bitch!" Tabitha lunged for her sister, only to have Valerius intercept her.
"Tabitha, calm down," he said, holding her back.
"No! I'm tired of being treated like the village idiot by those who claim they love me."
"We wouldn't treat you that way if you didn't act it. My God, Tabitha look at yourself. Look at why Eric left you. I love you, I really do, but you have done nothing but cause strife all your life."
"Don't you dare speak to her that way," Valerius snarled as he moved away from Tabitha to confront Amanda. "I don't give a damn who you are, I'll throw you out. No one talks to her like that. No one. There is nothing wrong with Tabitha. She's nothing but kindness to anyone. If you can't see all her good qualities, then there's something seriously wrong with you."
A smile instantly broke across Amanda's face. "And that really was what I needed to know."
"You were playing with me?" Tabitha snapped.
"No," Amanda said sternly. "This is no playing matter. But before I go make my husband absolutely miserable, I have to know that you two are serious and that Valerius isn't just another one of your 'let me make my family crazy' fixations."
Tabitha glared at her as her volatile emotions swirled. "There are times, Mandy, when I think I hate you."
"I know. Bring him by the house tonight and we'll try this again."
"I can't believe you're doing this for us," Valerius said.
Amanda took a deep breath. "No offense, I'm not. I'm doing this for Kyrian. Ash told me something and I'm here to make sure it happens."
And with that, she turned and headed for the door.
"Mandy?" Tabitha called, stopping her before she left. "Do we have a truce?"
"No. We have a volatile, homicidal family. But at least it won't be boring. I'll see you tonight."
Tabitha watched as her sister left. Deep in the pit of her stomach, a strong sense of foreboding settled. It was bleak and harsh. Frightening and cold.
It was almost as if she knew instinctively that tonight one of them would die...
Dressed all in black lace, Apollymi sat looking to the uninitiated like a beautiful, ethereal blonde angel on her settee. She stared out of the open grand French doors onto her garden, where only black flowers grew in memory of her one true son who had been brutally taken from her.
Even after all these centuries, her mother's heart ached with the loss of him. With the feral, unending need she had to hold her child to her. To feel his warm touch.