Page 48 of The Vampire's Seduction

“That’s a little extreme.”

Andrea gave her a look like Olivia was the unhinged one. “It can take decades to perfect a spell. Some are worth a fortune. You’re a scientist, right? You patent your research. It’s the same. A powerful spell can mean the survival of an entire witch dynasty or coven.”

Olivia soaked up these bits of knowledge Andrea dished out. She was used to knowing things, to being the expert in her field. Not knowing anything about witches made her feel discombobulated in the worst way.

Well, everyone had to start somewhere. She wasn’t born with a PhD. This was no different than studying in school. The information was out there and freely given. She just had to make obtaining it a priority.

“Do you have a piece of paper and something to write with?” Andrea asked.

“Yeah, hold on.” Olivia grabbed her planner and pen from the kitchen and flipped to another blank page before handing it to Andrea. Andrea copied the symbols from the grimoire to the planner. Then she snapped another picture. This time, the symbols showed up like a normal image.

“Ancient Greek,” Andrea said seconds later.

Greek? Olivia chortled. Andrea gave her a sidelong look. “What?”

The laughter burst out. Olivia cringed as she said between giggle fits, “It’s literally Greek.”

“Oh God.” Andrea covered her face with her hand like “what am I even doing here?”

Olivia tried to stop, she tried. It took her an embarrassingly long time compose herself. “Sorry, sorry, moving on. What does it say?”

Andrea clicked a few more keys on her phone. “Power. Family. Blood. According to Google translate.”

Power. Family. Blood.

With her index finger, Olivia traced the lines of the words. It felt familiar, though she swore she hadn’t seen it before in her life.

“What’re you waiting for?” Andrea asked with impatience.

“What do you mean?”

“Power. Family. Blood,” Andrea repeated like it was obvious.

“Yeah, so you said,” Olivia gritted out with annoyance. What did Andrea expect her to do? She wasn’t the expert here.

“Your blood. The protection spell is locked to your blood.”

Her stomach dropped. “My blood?”

How did she not see it before? She traced the foreign letters again, their raised edges rubbing against the pad of her finger as everything came together. It was Marek’s fault. Ever since meeting him, her brain had lost its sharp clarity.

“This book, it belonged to my family.” As she spoke, the truth of it settled into her soul. “My real family.”

Andrea nodded with a slight curve of her lips. “Yes.”

“But… how? How did you know? Why do you have it?”

“It was given to me.”

“Given to you? By whom?” Her heart skipped a beat. “Do you know my parents?"

Except for one time when she was four, she hadn’t cared about her birth parents. Why should she spend her precious time worrying about people who had abandoned her on the steps of a church?

When Betsy had just been born, she’d feared her adoptive parents would give her up. For three days, she’d been determined to find her real parents. When that turned out to be an impossible task for a four-year-old, she’d decided to become the perfect daughter and sister, to give no reason for her parents to return her to the church.

“No, I didn't know them,” Andrea said, cutting off Olivia’s unpleasant memories. “A long time ago, someone handed this to me and said I’d know when its rightful owner was ready for it. Yesterday, it started glowing. When I touched it, it showed me you and exactly how to find you. Itledme to you.”

Olivia’s fingers trembled. Maybe she should’ve done more to find her real parents. When she said nothing, Andrea continued, “You weren’t raised by witches?”