Page 37 (2/2)

"Vaeneral rule, don’t like the sun because it ic, but it won’t torch them"

"She doesn’t seem tired to me Would SPF three-thousand sunblock do the trick?"

He offered a grim smile "She may be a djadajii, also called a dhampyr, a very rare breed of vampire"

"Oh, hoonderful A rare kind of bloodsucker" I tossed the remains of my apple into the trash

Dad stood and brushed the crushed pen bits from his hands then wiped at the spilled ink with a paper towel "True vae and potency can successfully turn a human into their kind However, in the dark days it was a known practice of so a wonant"

"Babies can survive that?"

"Rarely Va adults die during the process"

"Did your parents homeschool you about this stuff?"

"It’s certainly not so you’d learn at public school Your norant of the facts We’d hoped you would be a human child and that we could offer you a nor And for that, I’listening Scary as hell but so da the baby could come out as a vampire A dhampyr What makes it different from a normal vampire?"

"Dhampyrs have souls They are immortal but they can also procreate like hue?"

"Even our irowth phase because we are born and not turned Our aging simply slows and then ceases A e froht about what that could mean Elyssa’s entire family could be vampires But ould she call me a monster if she was a vampire? It made no sense She was every bit the ated the monster inside her

"Elyssa almost killed me She called me a monster"

"Aren’t we?" Dad said He scrubbed at the ink on his hands but it wouldn’t co on a second," I said "This isn’t just about me, it’s about Mom too Does she think you’re a monster? Does she think I’m a monster?"

"It’s very complicated, Justin Your mother still loves us despite all outward appearances that she’s abandoned us"

"Then why did she leave?" I pounded the table in anger A crack ran down its center

"Her parents are very powerful in the sorcery coe e nonhuh to bear my children However, yourvery precious froer It nearly destroyed us"

"What could be so precious that she’d abandon us?"

He seeh his next words carefully "Your little sister"

Chapter 25

I sat there,in stunned silence

"Her name is Ivy, and she’s about to turn eleven," Dad said, jaw tightening like a vice, eyes literally flickering with an unholy blue light "Eliza and Jeremiah Conroy, your mother’s parents, took her shortly after birth and the Arcane Council supported keeping her out of the hands of ’an irresponsible girl’"

"I have a sister," I said "My mom is a sorceress, and ht people on reality TV had it bad"

Dad srimly "Like I said, son, love doesn’t conquer all"

"Why did Moo to Ivy? Why didn’t the Conroys take ed to hide fronant with Ivy Their price not to reveal our location to the Slades and to let us keep you was our daughter They forbid us fro her until she turned eleven, at which point your mother could return home to them"

I did some quick math in nant? I was only seven, but I think that would stick out"

"All those times you mother charmed you, she also blurred your s She thought it was for the best, sparing you the pain, although I disagreed"

"You’re da! I have a sister I want to reht back to the nant woman who had stepped in front of my car after my first encounter with Stacey She had looked like Mo dark hallway and the shadowy figure with the cane Now that I was thinking about it, I re babies andto recall any of it in detail, however, was like trying to peer through a shi haze ItMy first encounter with Stacey had triggered Mom’s protective charms and that must have jarred loose a few suppressed le" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>