CHAPTER THREE
The sight of the two kids playing in the backyard was the most innocent one Raz had seen in a long while—and long for a vampire was long, considering how many years they usually lived. The kids were both blond, with fair complexions and bright green eyes that were exactly like Michael’s. In fact, they looked so much like their father that it was almost uncanny.
Of course, these kids were far from innocent, considering they weren’t exactly like normal human kids. But they were still innocent in vampire terms, as they hadn’t seen the bloodbath that most vampire adults did and hadn’t been exposed to all the politics and power hunger that was practically instilled in their kind.
Not yet.
So this was the secret Michael had been hiding—at least, Raz thought so. Vampire children were rare, particularly half-vampires who survived up to this age and continued growing. Most vampires in their community right now were bitten ones, already adults when they were turned into vampires and in control of their enhanced senses and bloodlust in no time. Vampire children were rowdy and weren’t created for a reason, unless they were the product of copulation with a female non-vampire. Still, the health factors were a risk, and most died before they could fully grow.
The fact that these two were still alive was a miracle in itself, and Raz found himself becoming curious.
It had been very difficult to find them in the beginning, as Michael took great pains to keep his vampire life and his old human life completely separate. Raz obviously didn’t know he had children until he spotted a tiny trail, one that could have easily been ignored. But he followed the trail from Brooklyn, leading him to a lot of dead ends until his frustration was so strong that he almost told Lucinda that there was nothing to discover. But patience had a nice way of rewarding those who stayed in that lane, and Raz called on to his patience as he kept searching.
He found the jackpot about a month after searching, then followed the latest trail, which led him to this little town in New Jersey. The fact that it was so close to Manhattan determined that Michael had planned this from the start, possibly because he didn’t want to involve the kids in the supernatural world but still wanted to see them. But how long was he going to hide them? Was he going to let his children grow without the clan guiding them? Were they just going to be able to walk freely among the normal human population and possibly harm them in the process?
Those were questions that couldn’t be answered yet. Raz decided he needed to feel out the situation for now, which was why he found himself taking quiet steps towards the backyard as a test more than anything.
Almost immediately, the girl stiffened and stopped what she was doing with the doll in her hand. She looked up and met his eyes, the green intensely boring into his before she slowly stood up and faced him squarely. Raz didn’t miss the way she held her body in front of her little brother’s, a protective instinct.
“Peter,” she called out to the boy playing with his cars. Peter stood up and met his gaze, too, though his was more curious than cautious.
“Hello,” he greeted, his tone friendly and welcoming. “I’m Peter, and this is Ana. And you are?”
“Peter,” the girl warned. Peter grew quiet right away but didn’t stop staring at him.
Having been given the opening, Raz used it and nodded his head. “I’m Raz. I’m a friend of your father.”
“Our father never introduced his friends to us,” Ana answered instantly. Smart girl. Still, it wasn’t enough to deter Raz, and he found himself nodding.
“He was a comrade of mine,” Raz answered truthfully. “He was also a good man, and I just wanted to express my apologies for your loss.”
“If you didn’t kill him, then there’s no need to apologize,” Ana said, her tone somewhere between polite and firm. Not only a smart girl but kind of a smartass, too. “But thank you.”
“Thank you,” Peter repeated.
They looked at each other before looking back at him, the silent gaze holding so much communication that he couldn’t understand. Raz waited them out, watching as they watched him back and didn’t back off.
Finally, Ana spoke again. “Why are you here?”
“I just wanted to check that Michael’s kids are alright and well-protected.”
“Our aunt protects us well,” Peter replied, earning an elbow from Ana.
But the girl grudgingly nodded her head. “We’re fine. Thank you.”
The way they were speaking carefully now made Raz think he was already toeing some line, and he decided it was enough for the day. He nodded his head again, telling them it was nice to meet them and that he was now happy that he confirmed they were safe. He advised them to keep being safe and to watch out for each other before leaving the backyard and disappearing completely from sight.
The two kids weren’t completely fooled. They looked around for the first few seconds before the oldest finally ushered her brother in, leaving the backyard empty.
Raz supposed he could just tell Lucinda about this now and let someone else take over, but he had a feeling he wasn’t even scraping the surface yet. Instinct told him there were more secrets in that house, and it was better to discover them first before reporting everything to his leader.
Which meant he needed to keep investigating.
He watched the house for a few more minutes, waiting to see if the kids would come out again. They didn’t. With a sigh, he decided to get to his next agenda: observe the aunt, and see where that took him.
*****
Eva Thomason was a tiny excuse of a human being, so petite that Raz wouldn’t have thought her to be Michael’s sister at first glance. Michael had the body of a warrior, honed and skilled with broad shoulders and a tall stature. Eva may have had the faint makings of muscle in her toned arms, but he had a feeling it had more to do with her job of baking than anything else.
Even their colors were different, as Eva had strawberry blonde hair and moss-green eyes, darker than her niece and nephew. She was also more tanned. Vampires weren’t necessarily affected by daylight, but the younger or newer ones found it annoying and tended to stay indoors until the sun was completely down. Based on his observation, the kids didn’t stay out past noontime, when the sun was at its peak.
Having watched Eva for two days now confirmed the thought that she was hardworking and too preoccupied for her own good. She didn’t even notice him trailing after her, even when he tried to test her by walking directly a few meters behind her at one point. She went to work. She did her grocery shopping. She went to the hospital, then brought home what looked to be bags of blood, indicating that she knew her relatives were vampires and didn’t seem to mind.
A human who knew about vampires was considered dangerous because of how they could expose the supernatural to the world, but Raz was pretty sure Eva wouldn’t be doing any exposure anytime soon.
She had a pretty standard routine, and Raz thought he already observed the basics and decided he needed to switch back to observing the kids—that was, until he felt it.
A presence that wasn’t hers.
It didn’t take Raz long to hide his own presence, something that he was very, very good at as a long-standing vampire. The presence he felt was faint, but he wasn’t a second-in-line for nothing. He felt it trailing Eva, invisible at first as she walked to her work on one of those pleasant mornings where one often thought, Oh, hey, nothing could possibly go wrong today.
You never, ever trusted those moments.
Raz waited it out, as he usually did. He chose a nice spot inside a coffee shop and watched Eva enter the bakery and do her work from across the street. He felt around as the presence kept steady, never disappearing once.
Two hours after Eva entered the bakery, a man walked out of one of the alleys and casually made his way down the street towards the bakery entrance door. Raz watched the man’s dark clothing, fashionable and not necessarily suspicious. The presence he felt no doubt came from him, strong but masked. He continued watching as the man slipped inside the bakery door, sipping at his coffee in a leisurely manner.
What was a vampire doing tailing Eva?