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“We know the drill,” the doctor promised.

One of the nurses was already pulling out his cell phone. “I’ll contact the advocate.”

I nodded and went to check on the child, my heart breaking when she was desperate to know how her mom was. I promised we would take the best care of her—them both and keep them safe.

I just needed to know what happened.

“Grandmother is horrible,” the little girl choked out. “She’s so mean to Mommy. I hate Daddy too. He ignores it and—he never believes us. She got mad at Mommy and threw something at her. It hit Mommy in the head, and she was holding me, protecting me, and we fell. We fell down all the stairs and Mommy shielded me as best as she could.”

“You lost consciousness, right?” I checked, elaborating what I meant when that seemed to confuse the little girl.

She nodded but then winced, her neck undoubtedly hurting her. “I woke up and Grandmother was screaming at Mommy. She said bad things meaner than normal. She said she wouldn’tjust make us leave but would kill us because Mommy called help.”

“She threatened your lives?” I checked.

The little girl nodded. “She said if Mommy really called 911, she would kill us both. Mommy said she didn’t but called Daddy, but Grandmother screamed she was a liar when the ambulance and police came. Mommy did something with her phone. Grandmother tried to take it but couldn’t unlock it.”

“Okay, okay,” I said gently when she tried to sit up and tell me more. She was in pain and needed to stay still. “That’s enough for now. I can get the rest from your mom when she’s better. Now I can call the police and—”

“They don’t help,” the girl said too loudly, tears going down her cheeks. “Daddy lies that he doesn’t see anything, and it’s him and Grandmother against Mommy. I don’t count. So they never do anything.”

“They will this time,” the doctor promised. “Ms. Reed is the guardian angel of women who are being hurt. She saves them.” He reached out and booped her nose. “If I am ever in trouble or being hurt, she is thefirst personI will run to so I’m protected. That makes you very lucky to have come here today when she was near.”

The girl stared at me cautiously. “But you’re a vampire like us. Mommy says they won’t ever help us.”

I reached over and gently rubbed her shoulder since her head had to hurt. “Because I was a vampire like your mommy,” I confessed, ignoring when people went tense around us. “Someone in my family hurt me too and no one cared. Someone helped me, and one day when you’re both safe and living wonderful lives, you and your mom will help others too.”

“I would,” the little girl promised. “I would help. If you help Mommy, I’ll help lots of people when I’m older.”

I winked at her and went off to battle knowing exactly what came next and what I needed to do.

5

Ellie

The woman was a mess of new wounds… And some old. That wasn’t normal as a vampire, but the mother-in-law didn’t let her have as much blood as she needed.

And she would need more to heal from injuries.

These sorts of situations were so triggering for me becauseIwas almost the woman who came in. It was the fate I’d almost faced not once before, not twice before.

But three times. That last time even after I’d showed I was different and special. Father thought he could win the absolute brass ring selling me off after learning just how special I was instead of just taking over the family and being his successor.

That was when I’d first decided to run. I didn’t blame others for not running though. Especially back then it was certain death, and it was a miracle that I hadn’t become one of the many who fled and regretted it.

Death wasn’t worse than being bled dry more than a normal mating, and I didn’t have a child to protect. Once there was a child, it trapped the women.

I listened to the exhausted and traumatized woman tell me her story. She was on pain medications and potions now, so she wasn’t in pain and could talk.

Well, she wasn’tphysicallyin pain, but her soul would be for many, many years.

Unfortunately, it was a story I’d heard too many times. The woman before me was sold to a wealthier family for an alliance and to raise her family’s station. The men of the family deciding it and the whole situation setting off the mother-in-law.

Theliesthe “matriarch” had been told about how she’d have power and a voice when she was married or when she’d had a son—any of them—were finally shown to her. She realized she would forever not matter, and that last shred of hope that she wasn’t just a broodmare and now past her prime and not even respected for birthing children was gone.

And she’d snapped. Lashing out at the new woman in her family who would at least be respected for birthing the next generation of males in her family—“stealing” her position and place in the family. It was like a mental breakdown and the daughter-in-law was blamed for everything.

Instead of who should be blamed.