Chapter Nineteen
Keryth
Y esterday had been… a lot , but I was glad I’d gone to Brinnswick to check on Anton. He’d needed me there, and I was happy to be a comfort for him.
Having him climb into bed with me last night was just icing on the cake.
I hoped he climbed into my bed every night.
Or… maybe I could crawl into his… maybe. If I could find the courage.
Stifling a yawn, I walked into the kitchen and straight to the coffee pot that I’d brought from home. I’d had to bring it because they didn’t have one here. Which made sense, being in a house with vampires and all.
I still felt… a tiny bit uneasy here. Well, uneasy wasn’t the right word. It was more like I just wasn’t one hundred percent comfortable yet. Like this wasn’t home yet.
I moved my kids from the only home they’d ever known, into a giant house with six people we barely knew, let alone ever lived with before. Six vampires.
If I didn’t feel one hundred percent comfortable here, I was sure my girls didn’t either, and that wasn’t something I was okay with. They needed to have a safe place to land, somewhere they felt comfortable, somewhere they could be whoever they wanted with whatever emotions they needed at the moment.
They needed a home .
And I needed to figure out how to make this one.
Even if I still didn’t want to get rid of my apartment.
Which was an issue.
I sighed and rubbed my forehead at the thought.
I’d thrust us all into the unknown, and I’d done it with barely any hesitation.
But Trayben needed to be near me—and Anton—and it wasn’t like we’d all fit in my tiny apartment, for fuck’s sake. This was the only option, and I needed to make it work well for my kids.
The apartment was only a two-bedroom, which meant that I’d spent most of my life sleeping on the couch. This was the first time I’d had a real bed since I was a kid. Which was, admittedly, really nice. And the girls sure did like having their own rooms.
So this move was a good thing.
But I hated that I’d taken away my kids’ safety net.
So how did I make this place their safety net?
Was it just time that we needed? Did we simply need to get used to living with everyone?
Jedediah, Katja, and Beshiro were really nice and were trying to make my girls and Tray feel welcome, which I appreciated. Phaeron was standoffish, but he hadn’t done anything rude or anything like that. I wasn’t sure he was happy to have us here, but… he wasn’t hostile or anything.
And my girls seemed happy. Tray was… having lots of emotions, which was to be expected since the poor baby’s life had been turned upside down and he’d been so traumatized. He was tortured, for fuck’s sake. Of course he’d be all over the place.
I’d found him a therapist last week, and so far, he liked the woman, so hopefully, she’d be able to help him.
So… I guess I was already doin’ everything I could to make the place more homey.
Maybe I should talk to Bel about it. Or maybe Oakley would be better. Oak had some experience with having their world flipped and needing to adjust.
Hmm. Yeah, talking to them was a good idea.
“Good morning.”
The voice startled me so badly, I jumped and spun around with my hand pressed to my chest. “Holy shit, you scared me.”
Jedediah sent me an amused smile. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to.”
I took a deep breath to calm my shaky nerves. “I thought you all would’ve been asleep by now.” The sun was coming in bright through the kitchen window.
He shrugged. “Phaeron and Shiro are in bed. Kat’s in her room, but I can hear her moving around. She’s probably reading or something. She likes to do that before bed.”
“And what about you? Don’t you get, uh… tired in the daylight?”
He smirked. “You can say sluggish. We vamps are known for being super sluggish. But I’m old enough that the sun being out doesn’t bother me.”
“Really? I knew you could go out in the sun, but I thought it still affected you and made you sluggish or something?”
Instead of answering me, he gestured to the coffee pot. “Looks like your coffee’s done.”
I blinked and turned to face the machine, then grabbed a mug from the cabinet. It took me two tries to find the right one. Then I went about making my coffee. And even though I knew it was a stupid question, I felt rude not asking, so I said, “Do you want a cup?”
“No, thanks. I’m not much of a coffee drinker.”
I snorted at that, then turned around and leaned my elbows on the kitchen island, facing him.
Jedediah sat on one of the barstools across from me with his hands folded on the counter and his striking green eyes on me, looking innocent and sweet. But I sorta thought that was an act. Or… maybe not an act, exactly, because he really did seem like a good guy. But I was pretty sure he was up to something right now. Although it was nice to see that he was fully recovered after yesterday.
“How are you feeling?”
“As good as new, thanks.” He sent me a soft smile.
I nodded, and we continued to stare at one another. It was weird.
After a few seconds of staring at me, he asked, “What’s wrong, Pops?”
I blinked at that. Um… what? “What?”
He blew out an amused breath. “I asked you what’s wrong.”
“Yeah, not that part. Did you just call me Pops?”
“Sure did. I was going to go with the classic Dad, but I figured that’d get confusing since I call Fang-Daddy Dad a lot. So I thought I’d try out Pops. But maybe I should go with something else, like a good ol’ Da. Or Padre. Or maybe Paelie. That one might work.”
“Paelie? What’s that from?”
His brow furrowed as he frowned slightly. “That’s… Dad in Fae’lee.”
My mouth opened in shock. “Oh.”
“You don’t speak Fae’lee.”
It was more a statement than a question, but I still said, “Nope.”
“Your dad didn’t teach you? That’s who was fae, right? I think I heard that your mom was human?”
I nodded. “That’s right.” I cleared my throat. “Don’t you think it’d be weird for you to call me Pops when I call you Uncle Jed?”
A bark of laughter came out of him. “Oh, lord. Can you imagine how confused people would be? Ha. I love it.”
I snorted out a laugh. Since we now lived together, I doubted I’d continue calling him Uncle Jed, but it was kinda funny to think about.
He calmed and stared at me for a moment, and I didn’t think he was going to push, but then he asked again, “Your dad really didn’t teach you Fae’lee?”
Well, if he really wanted to know why, then I guess I’d tell him. “My father was never really around, always off doin’ business—supposedly. He was never really a part of my life, not even when I was little. And he left my mom right after Gemma was born, so when I was about nine. He disappeared for nearly seven years, then showed up out of the blue, just long enough to get my mom pregnant with Saranor. Then he was back to his whole off doin’ business bullshit.”
Even though he never brought in any money, and I was already working to help with bills since he wouldn’t.
I continued, “He didn’t even care when my mom got sick. He only got her pregnant again, then fucked off to who knows where. I haven’t seen him since the day Mom told him she was pregnant again. He’s never even met Zellya.” It still baffled me that my mom kept letting him back into her life. I would never, ever understand that. Why did she let him use her like that?
Jedediah winced a little. “I’m sorry, Keryth. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
I waved him off. “It’s fine. You’re not the one that left his family.”
To my surprise, he stood up and walked around to my side of the kitchen island. He stood there for a few seconds before asking, “Can I give you a hug?”
“Um… sure.” I guess. I… liked hugs, so yeah.
Jedediah moved in and wrapped his arms around me, and after a few seconds, I hugged him back. It was actually kinda nice. He was bigger than me—most people were—but not by much. He was the smallest of the vampires, not counting Tray, but I could feel the strength of him. He was a good hugger too.
He gave me another squeeze before stepping back and offering a smile. “I have the perfect name.”
“I mean, you could just call me Ker.”
He waved that away. “Nope. Everyone else calls you that. We need a name that shows you’re family.”
That’s weird, but… okay. Right.
“Fae-Daddy.”
I couldn’t help but snort out a laugh that turned into a groan. “That’s awful.”
“No, it’s not. It’s perfect. We have Fang-Daddy and Fae-Daddy.”
“They sound way too alike. You need somethin’ else.”
He crossed one arm over his chest, then rested his other elbow on his hand and raised his finger to tap over his chin and lips. A clear overly-dramatic thinking pose. “Hmm. What about Papi? Or we could just go back to Pops.”
“Honestly, I have no idea why you’re trying to call me anything.”
“Uh, obviously because you’re now my stepdad. Duh.”
I blinked at him. “You’re like a billion years older than me!”
He snorted. “A billion? I don’t look a day over a hundred, thank you very much.”
My eyes widened. “I hate to break it to you, Jed, but you don’t look a day over twenty—tops.”
His grin grew. “A day over twenty-one, actually. Fang-Daddy waited till then to turn me.”
I tilted my head to the side. That… that made me really curious. “You knew him for a while before he turned you?”
“Daddio saved me when I was ten. My parents threw me away like I was a piece of trash when I was seven-ish—well, actually, they sold me. For two goats. Anyway, this… man told them I’d be his apprentice, but he lied. He… used me and passed me around to friends for years until one day, Dad passed through town, saw the big bruise on my face, and went to have a conversation with him. It didn’t take long for Dad to figure out what was going on.
“So he took me in, raised me like a son, and waited until I was an adult to turn me. Despite me wanting him to turn me as soon as I was eighteen, he made me wait till I was twenty-one.” He winked. “It was part of my birthday present.”
My jaw dropped. I didn’t know why, but I didn’t expect this bright and happy person to have a past like that. His parents sold him for two goats? And then the man who’d bought him did… terrible things to him, from the sound of it. And the way he said it so nonchalantly. Like it didn’t matter. But it did. It very much did.
But maybe that was a coping mechanism? Or… had it happened so long ago that it truly didn’t bother him to talk about it now?
And Anton took him in when he was ten? I… never would’ve guessed that. I supposed I didn’t know a whole lot about vampires, but I was always under the impression that they only turned those who’d served them in some way, usually as a blood donor.
And maybe that was me being a little speciesist.
“Did he—never mind. Not my business.”
“Ask me. I won’t be offended. Promise.”
I sighed. “Were you a, um, blood donor before you were turned?”
“Nope. Dad refused to let me. I mean, I did convince Shiro to drink from me once because I wanted to know what it was like, and you should’ve seen how pissed Daddio was. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so mad.” He grinned, like it was a funny and fond memory.
“So Beshiro’s older than you?”
He nodded. “I was the youngest until Trayben and the girls came here.”
I thought Anton said something like that, but I’d had a lot of new things thrown at me lately, so it was good to know for sure. “Did Anton know the others when they were kids too?”
He shook his head. “Nope. But Katja was barely eighteen when he saved her from her asshole husband. I never met the guy since I wasn’t even born yet, but I’ve heard the stories. Our father killed the man, of course, and he saved Kat. Like he does.”
“Wow.” There was obviously more to both stories he’d told me, but I wasn’t sure I’d get any more out of him. He seemed to want to glaze over the details. But that was fine, and since he was talking, I figured I’d let him and get as much out of him as I could. I could get more details later.
“Yeah, he’s a good one. In case you didn’t know that already.”
“I know.” I really did. Despite what happened between us—which I now knew was a big misunderstanding—I’d always known, deep down, that he was a good guy.
“He likes to save people. That’s his thing. When he met Phaeron—”
“Giving away all our family secrets, Jedediah?” Phaeron asked as he came into the kitchen.
I cringed away because he seemed a little miffed.
Jed turned a smile his way. “Only to our new Papa.”
Phaeron let out a small sigh but didn’t say anything else. He just walked past us, took a blood bag out of the fridge, then walked back out and toward the stairs that led up to the bedrooms. He didn’t even look at me.
He was not a fan of mine. At all.
As soon as he was upstairs, Jed leaned in and mock-whispered, “I knew he was there the whole time.”
I looked him up and down. “So… you’re the shit-stirrer of the family. Good to know.”
He laughed loudly and slapped my shoulder. “I really do like you, Paelie.”
I shook my head, but a smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. “I think I like you too.”
“Thanks, Fae-Daddy.”
Before I could respond, Anton’s voice called out from the staircase, “Don’t call him that.”
Jed grinned and winked at me.
I shook my head again, smiling, and mouthed shit-stirrer .
He laughed and shoulder-bumped me. “What’re you making for breakfast today? I can help.”
“Um… I don’t know what you guys have.”
“You mean what we have,” Anton said as he walked into the room. “It’s your food and your kitchen too.”
I shrugged a little but gave him a nod of acquiescence, then asked Jed, “You can cook?”
“Of course I can. I still like the taste of food sometimes, and I have a good nose, so I know what flavors mix well.”
Anton shook his head. “Don’t believe a word of that. Jed’s an awful cook.”
“Hey!” Jed put his hands over his heart. “You wound me, Fang-Daddy.”
Anton huffed, shook his head, and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling as if asking the heavens for patience. “Can we just stick with Dad or even Daddio, please?”
“I mean, I can’t make any promises.”
Anton snorted. “Try.”
“Alright, alright. I suppose I can try, Daddio.”
“That’s all I ask.”
Jed snickered, then reached over and snagged the blood bag Anton had in his hand. The older vampire didn’t even blink an eye. He just reached back into the fridge for another one. Jed shot me another grin and a wink, then leaned over to kiss my cheek. “I’m going to bed since Dad won’t let me help cook, but I’ll see you in a few hours. Maybe I can come pick the girls up from school with you?”
My eyes widened in surprise. “Uh, sure. I’d… like that.”
After another grin, he affectionately shoulder-bumped Anton’s chest as he walked by, and Anton gave his neck a squeeze. And then the hyper vampire walked out of the room, leaving me alone with Anton.
He walked over and leaned against the counter beside me. “You doing okay?”
I nodded and ran a hand through my hair. “Yeah. I just… wanted to settle in a bit before I wake the girls up for school.”
“Do you want me to leave you alone?”
I shook my head. “No. I… I don’t mind.” In fact, I liked that he was here with me, but I didn’t want to say that out loud.
“Alright, let me help you make some pancakes.”
As Anton started on the batter, I couldn’t help but step back and watch him for a few minutes. It was just all so… domestic.
When I imagined what my life with Anton might be like, this was not it. But this… this was so much better.
My earlier anxiety about living here seemed to slip away the longer we cooked and packed lunches for the kids together.
Anton kept rubbing my back or squeezing my hand or tucking my hair behind my ear, and every time, my heart gave a little flutter.
“You okay, darling?” he asked when he caught me staring at him.
I offered an embarrassed smile. “Yeah, I’m good. Thank you for helping with all of this. I usually hate the morning rush with lunches and everything, but this was actually fun.”
He leaned over and pressed a kiss to my temple. “Then I’ll help you every morning, if you’d like?”
I nodded. I’d like that. I’d like it a lot.