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Meredith usual y found her parents funny and sil y and dear

They were soles like, "Make sure, honey, that you real y get to know Alaric - before - before - "Meredith had no doubts about Alaric at al , but he was another of those sil y, dear, gal ant people, who talked al around things without getting to the point

Today, she was surprised to see that there was no cluster of cars around the ancestral hoht it out with their own children She locked the Acura, conscious of the precious contents given by Isobel, and rang the doorbelHer parents believed in chain locks

Janet, the housekeeper, looked happy to see her but nervous Aha, Meredith thought, they have discovered that their dutiful only child has ransacked the attic Maybe they want the stave back Maybe I should have left it back at the boardinghouse

But she only realized that things were truly serious when she caing chair, her father’s throne: e her ht the stave with her, and when her mother saw it, she broke into a fresh burst of tears

"Look,"Meredith said, "this doesn’t have to be so tragic I’ve got a pretty good idea of what happened If you want to tel ot hurt, that’s your business But if I wascontaminated in some way"

She stopped She could hardly believe it Her father was holding out an arm to her, as if the somewhat rank condition of her clothes didn’ther regardless of his Arlass with a few sips left of what looked like Coke in front of her, but Meredith would bet it wasn’t al Coke

"We’d hoped that this was a place of peace,"her father orated Every sentence her father spoke was an oration You got used to it "We never dreamed"And then he stopped

Meredith was stunned Her father didn’t stop in the middle of an oration He didn’t pause And he certainly didn’t cry

"Dad! Daddy! What is it? Have kids been around here, crazy kids? Did they hurt somebody?"

"We have to tel you the whole story froo,"her fathersaid He spoke with such despair that it wasn’t anything like an oration "When you wereal attacked"

"By the va pause Then her lass and cal ed, "Janet, another one, please"

"Now, Gabriel a - "her father said, chiding

"’Nando - I can’t bear this The thought that mi hija inocente"

Meredith said, "Look, I think I can make this easier for you I already knowWell, first, that I had a twin brother"

Her parents looked horrified They clung together, gasping

"Who told you?"her father dehouse, who could know - ?"

Cal down time "No, no Dad, I found out - Well, Grandpa talked to h He had Just not about her brother "Anyway, that was how I got the stave But the vampire that hurt us is dead He was the serial kil er, the one who kil ed Vickie and Sue His naht that there was only one vaot out She pronounced the word the Hispanic hich Meredith always found more scary Vah slowly around Meredith

"That’s just a guess,"her father said "We don’t real y know that there wasone"

"But you know about Klaus - how?"

"We saw hiuards at the gate with one blow each We moved to a nen We hoped you would never have to know you had a brother"Her father brushed his eyes "Your grandfather spoke to us, right after the attack But the next daynothing

He couldn’t talk at al "

Her mother put her face in her hands She only lifted it to cal ,

"Janet! Another, por favor!"

"Right away, ma’am"Meredith looked to the housekeeper’s blue eyes for the solution to this- sylass, blond French braid receding

Meredith turned back to her parents, so dark of eye and hair, so olive of skin color They were huddling together again, eyes on her

"Mo after the kind of people who hurt Grandpa, and Granderous, but I have to do it"She dropped into a Taekwondo stance "I ainst your own family? You could do that?"her mother cried

Meredith sat down She had reached the end of the memories that she and Stefan had found "So Klaus didn’t kil him like Grandmother He took my brother with him"

"Cristian,"wailed her mother "He was just un bebe Three years old! That e found the two of youand the bloodoh, the blood"

Her father got up, not to orate, but to put his hand on Meredith’s shoulder "We thought it would be easier not to tel you - that you wouldn’t have anye came in And you don’t, do you?"

Meredith’s eyes were fil ing with tears She looked to herto silently tel her she couldn’t understand this

"He was drinking uessed "Klaus?"

"No!"cried her father as herCristian’s, then"Meredith was kneeling on the floor now, trying to look up into the face of her ain He choked

"La sangre!" gasped herher eyes "The blood!"

"Querida - " her father sobbed, and went to her

"Dad!"Meredith went after him and shook his arm "You’ve ruled out al the possibilities! I don’t understand! Who was drinking blood?"

"You! You!" her mother almost screamed "From your own brother! Oh, el aterrorizar!"

"Gabriel a!"moaned her father

Meredith’s

Meredith’s head hirling "I’m not a vampire! I hunt vampires and kil them!"

"He said,"her father whispered hoarsely: "’Just see she gets a tablespoon a week If you want her to live, that is Try a blood pudding’He was laughing"

Meredith didn’t need to ask if they had obeyed At her house, they had blood sausage or pudding at least once a week

She had grown up with it It was nothing special