Page 99 of Burn Falls

“But how can vampires have babies with their true loves or whatever? You don’t produce semen.”

“I’m still not sure how it’s possible, but Renzo saw the picture of your great-grandmother in the paper and knew that she was the mother of his daughter.”

My eyes widened. “Is my grandma in danger then?”

He paused for a moment and then whispered, “Yeah.”

I bolted off the couch for the second time. “We need to call her. We need to go there.”

“Usually I would ask Athan, but there’s more you need to know.”

“Right,” I said. “Why was my dad—Wait, why wouldn’t you send Athan now?”

“Let me keep going from the beginning.”

I started to walk in front of the fire again as Draven continued, “Renzo saw the picture in the paper and read the story of how OBB is a family business run by your father. He remembered that Gael had his baby—I still don’t know the details—and he sent Donovan to bring your father back to Chicago.”

“What?” I whispered.

“Donovan said that your father wouldn’t go willingly and couldn’t be compelled.”

“What?” I whispered again and turned to Draven. “My dad couldn’t be compelled just like me?”

“Right.”

“So he wouldn’t go, and Donovan killed him instead?”

“Donovan tried to force him to go. There was a scuffle, and your father got cut somehow. I don’t know how old Donovan is—how long he’s been a vampire—but he said that he couldn’t control himself the moment he smelled your dad’s blood.”

More tears slid down my cheeks as I remembered seeing Donovan over my father’s body and everything that happened afterward. “Of course he wouldn’t go. How did they think he would just up and leave everything? Leave his family on Christmas?”

“Because Renzo doesn’t care. All he cares about is himself.”

“I hate him.”

Draven grinned. “I hate him too.”

“Now what? Why did Donovan tell you all of this?”

“Because he’s now on the run.”

“Like you and Athan.”

He nodded. “Yeah, and he warned me that Renzo might send someone else or he might come himself. He doesn’t know your father is dead.”

“Am I still in danger?”

He stopped me from my pacing, grabbed my wrist, and brought me to his chest. “I will never let anything happen to you—ever. But yes, once Renzo finds out that your father is dead, then I imagine he’ll look into his children.”

I looked up into his dark eyes. “You told me that older vampires are stronger. He’s much older than you and Athan. How can you protect me from an old vampire and his coven?”

“I’ll do everything I can if it comes down to it. That’s why I didn’t kill Donovan. He told me he’ll stick around for a few more weeks so he can be another set of eyes and ears—keep an eye out for Renzo if he decides to come here. We both know that when Renzo wants something, he gets it. It’s only a matter of time.”

“I don’t like this.”

“I don’t either, but my world is different from yours. And while I don’t agree that Donovan should have killed your father, he didn’t do it on purpose. Whether you like it or not, vampires are killers. It’s the blood that keeps us immortal. I fight it, but not all of them do.”

We were silent for a bit while we stayed in each other arms. I replayed everything in my head, and it was on the tip of my tongue to tell him that I loved him because Draven was a goodman. Even if we weren’t true loves, I knew without a doubt that I loved him. We weren’t a perfect fit—him being a vampire and myself being a human—but that didn’t mean I didn’t want to be with him. Draven had walked into my life for a reason. I could feel it in my soul.