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“After you,” my father says.

Standing tall, I walk hand in hand with Erin to the large oak door. This guy better not be wearing a cape. The bell rings several times. It must echo around the entire building. A minute or two passes before we hear footsteps. The door creaks open and a woman smiles at us. She looks to be in her late thirties.

“Hello, can I help?”

I can smell she is a vampire, so that helps the next part of the conversation. “Good evening,” I begin. “My name is Amelia Loch, and this is my mate, Erin.”

The woman smiles widely and gives me a knowing look. “You’re here to see Bartholomew,” she says. Am I? Mohan never gave me a name. “Follow me.”

I look over my shoulder to the rest of the family, who all shrug and urge me to follow. Erin grips my hand a little tighter.

The inside of the castle is just as gothic as the outside, making me want to scoff and roll my eyes. “Barty,” the woman calls. “Visitors.”

“Are we expecting visitors?” a man’s voice replies from somewhere upstairs.

“No, but you’re going to want to meet them.”

We enter a large sitting room with a roaring fire. The woman gestures for us all to sit and then offers me her hand. “I’m Anya, by the way.”

“It’s a pleasure.” I then spend a few seconds introducing everyone as we wait for this Barty fellow. Moments later, a tall blond-haired man enters. He is dressed in jeans and a shirt. A vampire, for sure.

“Evening all, I’m Barty.”

This is so strange. How do I begin the conversation? “Barty, it’s a pleasure,” I say. “I’m Amelia, and this is my mate, Erin.”

“Oh, wow,” Barty breathes. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both.”

“Do you… Could we ask you some questions?” I still haven’t established if this is the right vampire.

“You want to know if I’m the lucky vampire who mated with a human, right?”

“Yes, that,” Erin points at him, laughing.

“Take a seat, everyone.” We follow Barty’s order. Anya scuttles off to pour us all drinks. “To answer your question, yes, I am. And Anya is the aforementioned human.”

“But…” I begin, confused. “She smells like a vampire.”

“That’s because she is one,” Barty laughs.

“How is that possible?” my mother asks.

Barty takes a second to study his mate, who is handing out large glasses of Irish whiskey. I chug mine as soon as the glass is in my hands.

“Honestly, we don’t know,” Barty finally answers. Well, that was less than helpful. “Remember that back then. We had no doctors. We were still developing as a species.”

“Surely you’ve looked into it since?” I say.

“Not especially. We were just so pleased to have each other we didn’t question it.”

“Great,” I mumble a little too loudly.

“Not what you wanted to hear,” Anya smiles understandingly.

“We were hoping for a little more,” Erin replies kindly.

“Barty, Anya, would you be open to having our doctor examine you both?” my mother says, cutting through the melancholy that threatens to settle upon us all.

Barty and Anya exchange a look. Anya nods and turns back to us. “Of course, if it helps.”