She continued to speak after they got into the SUV.
Her grandparents soaked up her stories, laughed and cried, asked her more and more questions about her mother. Elena answered everything, found herself smiling more than once as she talked about events she’d almost forgotten—like the time she’d found her mother and Beth giggling together as Beth “helped” her bake a cake. “Except most of the mix was on Beth’s face,” she said with a laugh.
“I would like to meet our other granddaughter,” Jean-Baptiste said. “I think we are ready.”
“That’s where we’re going.” Ten minutes later, she nodded to the right. “This is her house.” It was a home into which Beth had moved without telling Elena until it was done.
“It has big enough doors for you,” her sister had said when she finally sent Elena a message asking her to come over. “Harrison picked our other house, and he wouldn’t let me renovate. So I moved.”
Elena’s heart had all but exploded—she’d never expected such stubborn determination from her baby sister. Neither had Harrison. But the vampire had caved and the entire family now lived in the dual-level Lenox Hill home Beth had chosen.
Elena had offered to give Beth any money she needed to clear what she’d assumed was a large mortgage, given the location of the house. She’d already set up a regular transfer to Beth’s account so that her sister didn’t have to rely financially on her husband. The only reason she hadn’t given Beth a big chunk at once was because she knew that while Bethie was a great mom, she wasn’t too good with money.
But her sister had shaken her head. “Daddy paid,” she’d said, her turquoise eyes dark as they looked into Elena’s. “He’s not so bad, Ellie. He loves you, too. I told him why I wanted to move and he didn’t argue, just wrote the check.”
That Elena and Jeffrey had a complicated relationship was an understatement.
“Beth is strong,” Elena told her grandparents. “Stronger than I knew for a long time, but she’s also the baby of our family.” Not Jeffrey’s new family, but their original unit of six.
“I understand, Elena,” Majda said. “We will treat her with care.”
Elena had told her sister they were coming and Beth was waiting for them in the doorway, a wide smile on her face and her body clad in a lovely floral print dress with a big skirt. “Is this them?” she asked excitedly before running over to hug first Majda then Jean-Baptiste with warm exuberance. “I’m so happy to meet you!”
Both grandparents smiled in unabashed delight.
Beth had that effect on people.
“Hello, Bethie.” Elena hugged her sister when she came over, kissed her temple.
And heard an excited cry behind Beth. Releasing her sister, she turned just in time to scoop up a gorgeous toddler dressed in a neat blue pinafore and with a ribbon in her air. “Hello, Giggles.”
Her niece giggled and kissed her on the mouth. “Aniellie!”
“Yes, Auntie Ellie.” Elena rubbed noses with her niece before turning to her stunned grandparents. “Grandmother, Grandfather,” she said because this was about family, “I’d like you to meet Marguerite Aribelle, your great-granddaughter.” She kissed her niece’s soft cheek. “Maggie.”
Maggie stared from Elena to Majda as her great-grandparents’ eyes shined wet at the knowledge that their family line was another generation strong.
“Aniellie?” Maggie said at last, a frown on her little face as she looked at Majda.
“No, this is Great-grandma Majda,” Elena said. “You want to give her a kiss?”
Maggie’s smile was shy, but she held out her arms. Majda took her great-granddaughter with gentle care, her entire body trembling. “Hello, azeeztee.” It was a whisper.
Patting at her wet cheeks, Maggie said, “Gamma have boo-boo?”
Majda shook her head. “I’m happy.” She leaned in, accepted Maggie’s sweet kiss. “Would you like to meet your great-grandfather?”
Her mother’s daughter, Maggie fell head over heels for her handsome great-grandfather, all but batting her lashes as he took her into his arms. He, in turn, was clearly besotted.
Looking at Elena with eyes that held a piercing joy, Majda said, “We will be staying here. Near our family.”
Beth, leaning against Elena, clapped her hands as Elena smiled . . . but her heart, it wasn’t in this city she loved or with the people who meant so much to her. It was with an archangel with wings of white gold who was in the heart of nightmare.
Bloodlust
The Cadre had been forced to make landfall not once but multiple times when the lightning storm returned three hours after their departure from Lumia, appearing in erratic bursts as if it was formed by the sheer proximity of so many archangels. Avoiding it had put them behind schedule, but they’d finally arrived in China.
As for their specific destination, they headed straight to the area Jason had pinpointed as having fallen to bloodlust. Jason’s information, however, was now a week out of date—and things had deteriorated. Smoke rose from burning homes several miles forward of where Jason had marked the then current line of blood red.
The Cadre flew on, past the burning buildings and deeper.
Below them, the movements were jagged. People running, others moving almost like crabs as they scuttled over the landscape and tried to hide from angelic shadows. The same pattern continued for miles, right up to the mountains that acted as a natural barrier.