30
Kaitlyn
I’m sure you’ve probably heard the saying, “You could have heard a pin drop,” but in this case, you really could have. There was dead silence in the room—shocked silence. And the look on Mr. Breedlove’s face was every bit as shocked as the one on everyone else’s.
“There must be some mistake,” Mr. Breedlove said at last, shaking his head. “There’s no way that’s possible.”
“Not without long-term systematic abuse, there’s not,” Griffin said grimly. He glared at Alastair Breedlove. “You and I both know that biting is a sexual act, Breedlove. Which is why I ask you again—how long have you been abusing Kaitlyn? How long have you been biting her for this unthinkable thing to have happened?”
“I never—” Mr. Breedlove began, shaking his head.
“No, he didn’t!” I exclaimed.
Suddenly I understood what Griffin had been hinting at the other night in the Norm Dorm when he had asked me if I thought Mr. Breedlove was a good guardian. Even then he must have guessed what was happening to me—though he must have hoped he was wrong.
“He never bit me!” I said to Griffin again. “I swear it—he never did!”
Griffin frowned at me.
“Kaitlyn, the signs of what is happening to you—has already happened—are unmistakable.” He ticked them off on his fingers. “Your body temperature has dropped, your hemoglobin is dangerously low, you have a sore throat and a terrible thirst which no amount of water can satiate, you have no interest in food—well, other than the extremely rare, bloody roast beef that Avery made for you twice this past week—and you crave blood. Also—and this is something that only an Other would notice—your scent has changed. You smell like a Nocturne.”
“I…I do?” I remembered seeing his nostrils flare when he got near me—and Headmistress Nightworthy had done the same thing—as though she was smelling me—when I was in her office. Was this what the two of them had been smelling? The fact that my scent was changing from human to Nocturne?
“You do.” Griffin nodded firmly. “Given all that, it’s clear that someone—some Nocturne…” He looked accusingly at Alastair Breedlove. “Has been biting you on a regular basis. And since biting almost always goes with sex—or in this case, abuse—”
“It’s not like that,” I said hurriedly. “Mr. Breedlove was never the one who bit me. It was…it was Allegra.”
“What?” Mr. Breedlove looked shocked all over again. “You encouraged my daughter to bite you?”
“No, I never encouraged it,” I said quickly. “It’s not anything weird—it’s just something she does after she has a nightmare and needs comforting. She just bites me on the wrist and takes a few swallows of blood—it’s never been a big deal.” I held out my hands to him appealingly. “I have so much scar tissue I can barely feel it. It just comforts her—that’s all. And I never knew there was anything wrong with it or any kind of…of consequences. Oh, Mr. Breedlove—I’m so sorry!” I exclaimed, feeling like I was going to cry.
His face went from shocked to cold as ice in an instant.
“I’m sorry we never explained that there could be consequences for such an action but it wasn’t something we even thought we had to discuss. Mrs. Breedlove and I would never have dreamed that you would allow our daughter to draw your blood!” He shook his head. “In light of this, I’m afraid we’ll have to sever our relationship with you, Kaitlyn.”
“What?” I felt as though he had slapped me. “What…what does that mean?”
“It means exactly what it sounds like,” he said sternly. “You will no longer stay with us during weekend or summer or holiday breaks. We will continue to pay your tuition to Nocturne Academy but only on the condition that you never tell anyone it was our daughter who turned you.” He pointed a finger at me. “Allegra’s life and prospects would be ruined forever if she was ever implicated in the making of a Made Vampire.”
“But…does that mean I can’t see her again? That I can’t see Allegra?” I whispered.
“No, never.” He frowned. “I’m surprised you would even ask such a thing. Clearly Allegra must be taught that what she did was wrong and she must be separated from the mistake that she made—permanently.”
A mistake. I was just a mistake. His words seemed to shake me—to ring my body like a bell. I felt as though he had slapped me. But more than that, I felt physically ill.
It was as though someone had told me I could no longer see my own child, ever again. I thought of Allegra waiting for me out in the cool leather depths of the Breedloves’ Mercedes, thought of her asking where I was and then crying when she was told she would never see me again.
“Please,” I begged brokenly, reaching out my hands to him. “Please, Mr. Breedlove—don’t do this! I love Allegra like she was my own. This was a mistake—just a mistake. Can’t it be undone so we can all just go on with our lives? I promise I’ll never let her bite me again. I didn’t know it was wrong—please!”