Page 11 (1/2)

Shock washed over Bones&039;s face Wraith see from his chest

"Lies," Bones finally said "My mother had no other children aside from me"

"She didn&039;t," was Wraith&039;s reply "Your father did"

Bones still looked thunderstruck, but his grip didn&039;t loosen "My mum was a whore There&039;s no way she could&039;ve knoho my father was"

"Your mother was Penelope Ann Maynard, who did indeed become a whore But not until after she bore the Duke of Rutland&039;s illegitimate son That son was raised in a London whorehouse and sentenced to deportation for thievery in 1789 He died in the New South Wales penal colonies a year later, but he didn&039;t stay dead" Wraith&039;s gaze slid to the man behind him "Any of this sound familiar to you?"

Each word hammered into Bones like physical blows, I could tell fro into my subconscious While I&039;d heard the story of Bones&039;s past, it wasn&039;t coe, and Wraith had been spot-on with the dates and details Plus, there was the reseh, chiseled cheekbones, thick brows, full yet firant stances Bones was a brown-eyed brunet and Wraith a blue-eyed blond, but if Wraith dyed his hair and got dark contacts, even a casual observer could guess they were related Half-brothers, if what Wraith said was true

"Close, but my mother&039;s surname was Russell, not Maynard," Bones stated "And neither she nor any of the woreith even hinted that they kneho my father was Now, over two hundred years later, you expect -lost brother?" His arhtened around Wraith&039;s neck "Sorry, mate I don&039;t"

"Iaveoof" The words were garbled from the pressure Bones put on the varip

Wraithme, I&039;ll show you"

Fabian followed us at a discreet distance as alked down the winding gravel road that led to the botto above the tree tops, he didn&039;t comment In fact, he seeuard I&039;d had people smile the whole tiht indicate good intentions if you were Santa Claus, but the sao for vampires

"How did you find my house?" Bones asked He also hadn&039;t lost an inch of his wariness, as the currents swirling around him indicated

"I followed you from the hotel," Wraith replied

I stopped short "You&039;re ad you&039;re the asshole who carved up Annette?" Brother-in-law or not, he&039;d pay if he was

Wraith sighed "I rescued Annette by chasing that vah By the ti her into the car, and the lot of you looked angry enough to kill first and ask questions later"

Ian had said he&039;d heard a vaht it was the perpetrator fleeing the scene, but could it have been Wraith chasing after the real attacker?

"If that&039;s true, ouldn&039;t Annette mention you e arrived? Andthe walls with her blood?"

Wraith cast a sideways glance at the flatness in Bones&039;s tone He wouldn&039;t need to be linked to his emotions to know that Bones didn&039;t believe this version of events

"I was on my way to see her You can check her ht before she was attacked waslate When I arrived, I heard so odd Her door was unlocked, so I entered in ti that Annette was still alive, I chased hiuess it was due to a uided attempt to keep the surprise"

"What surprise?" Bones and I asked in unison

"That you have a brother," Wraith replied softly "The neas to be Annette&039;s birthday present to you"

Even with their similarity in appearance, it still seemed impossible to think that Wraith was Bones&039;s brother Fro into my subconscious, Bones felt the saood look at hi the subject

"Sorry, never seen hi I can tell you is that he had dark hair and could fly like the wind"

A brunet vampire who could fly That narrowed it down to at least ten thousand-not much help at all We were almost at the bottom of the hill Up ahead, a Buick was parked on the side of the road, its lights off