“I was going to say asleep,” Marcus replied diplomatically.
“It’s been so long since anyone heard from them, I admit I thought they were myth,” Sloane commented with a shrug.
“Unfortunately, not a myth, they are very much real and yes,” Leonid turned to Marcus, “some were… resting.” He frowned. “But something has pulled them out of their slumber. Something that has concerned them and therefore they have called for me.”
“Why you?” Michael questioned, his distrust of the Vampyre evident.
“My wife sits on the Council,” Leonid held up his hands in a surrendering gesture.
“So, you’re dropping this bombshell and what –my sister– as you pass by on your wayhome?”
“Michael,” Salem warned softly.
“DonotMichaelme dad, have you been listening to this?” He glared at Tegan. “I don’t believe it.”
“It is no lie and is very much true,” Leonid replied calmly.
Michael crossed the room to lean over Leonid in his chair. “When was sheborn?”
“That’s the part I haven’t got to yet,” Leonid looked up at Michael with a smile.
“You said they performed an emergency birth on her mother,” Sloane reminded him.
“Yes, they did. They cut her from her mother’s dying body and I called for The Sisters.” Leonid was looking only at Salem. “They were close by; they had contacted me in the morning of that day to tell me I would have need of them.”
“They knew?” Salem whispered.
“Yes, they were there for the birth,” Leonid turned his head and met Michael’s glare. “They recorded the birth to the nanosecond.”
“The nanosecond?” Marcus queried curiously.
“Yes, it seems your son was premature, Salem.” Leonid leaned back in his seat. “Had I not been there I also wouldn’t believe it.”
“They were born on the same night?” Salem searched Leonid’s face for any sign of untruth.
“They were,” Leonid confirmed.
“Who was first?” Michael demanded again.
Leonid considered him for a long moment before turning back to Salem. “Neither.”
“What?” Michael could not hide his frustration.
“I don’t understand,” Salem said at the same time.
“Both babes born on the same day, at the same time, to thenanosecond,” Leonid confirmed.
“Impossible,” Marcus whispered.
“Apparently not,” Leonid looked between the two children of Salem. “Even the Sisters cannot explain it, and they spent some time trying to figure out who came first – the son or the daughter – but you both came into this world at the very same time.”
“There’s no Heir?” Sloane asked as he looked between the two of them.
“They are both Heir,” Salem replied as he looked to Leonid for confirmation, his shoulders slumped as Leonid confirmed.
“What does that mean?” Michael looked around at the occupants of the room.
“It means you either have a House divided or the strongest House there has ever been,” Marcus was also looking at both Michael and Tegan.