Page 148 of The Vampire's Storm

Climbing up in the treehouse.

“I took his nose spray, Mom.” Her voice cracked, and she began to sob. “I killed him. I’m so sorry. So damn sorry.”

When the line was quiet, she began to shake.

“Are you there?”

“Brook,” her dad said softly. “You didn’t kill your brother. Is that what you think?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “I had his spray in the treehouse.”

More silence.

She had to get it out.

“Brad dropped it on the ground, and I just wanted to know what it was,” she sobbed.

“Oh, baby,” her mom cried.

“If it had been in his room, you could have saved him.” Brooklyn cried. “I killed him. Oh, god. I killed him.”

“Sweetheart no,” her mom cried again. “You brought the spray to us. Brad had a blood clot that no one could have predicted. The spray would not have saved his life.”

She blinked.

What? The new information raced through her mind. No one had told her that. She’d believed all these years that it was the missing spray.

She sniffed. “A blood clot?”

“Yes,” her father said.

“Why didn’t...”

“You were a little girl. We weren’t going to give you all the gory details about your twin dying. I guess as the years went by, we never thought it was necessary.”

“You didn’t think I killed him?” Brooklyn said, aware of how stupid the question sounded now.

Yet...the guilt and emotions she’d carried around with her were still in every pore and cell of her body. As if it were a fact.

“Never. Ever,” her mom said.

“Never, darling,” her dad said.

She crumpled onto the floor, the phone against her ear.

“Come home, Brook. Please,” her mom cried.

Tears poured down her face as she gulped in air.

“I’ll try. I’m just not sure if I can,” she said. “I love you. I love you both.”

“We love you too, baby.”

She hung up and stared at the carpet.

What have I done?

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR