Sebastian escorted me to the New York nest just after sundown.

  “Have you been here before?” I wondered when he led me to the stairs.

  “It’s been a while. Everything looks the same though,” he answered glancing back behind him. “Expect for the front door.” I hid my chuckle with a cough. It had been replaced shortly after I had broken the door when I was hunting for Anton.

  Turning to head to the dining hall, knowing that was where I would find my mother, Sebastian grabbed my hand halting me. I eyed him quizzically. “I can’t stay, Gaby.” I couldn’t hide the disappointment on my face. He had been with me all day. It wasn’t his responsibility to be a buffer between my mother and I. I nodded. When I tried to move towards the hall he again stopped me. “Show me your room first.” I narrowed my gaze at him quizzically. I didn’t know why he wanted to see my room. “Please?”

  With a sigh, I released his hand and strolled through the building until I stood in front of a familiar door. I hadn’t had the best memories here during my last few visits expect for the very last one. I smiled remembering the night of Anton’s wake.

  When I didn’t move, Sebastian opened the door and stepped inside. I hesitantly followed him in and shut the door. A closed door here was only for the appearance of privacy. The nest wasn’t supernaturally soundproofed.

  Sebastian glanced around the room. It felt strange seeing him here.

  “Grayson’s been here?” he asked. I didn’t see the point in lying. The last time I had been there had been with Grayson. It made sense that his scent lingered.

  He sat on the edge of my old bed then held his hand out to me. I took it. He pulled me between his knees and his hands rested on my hips. My breathing was labored. When his fingers brushed my skin, I inhaled sharply.

  “I’m just checking. It’s been five days. When you go seven it tends to be painful.”

  I nodded and felt his fingers brush up my side dragging my shirt with them. I looked up at the ceiling biting my lip while he did his examination. It was difficult. I hated that I enjoyed his touch. He lowered my shirt back into place then led me to sit next to him.

  “So?” I asked curiously about his diagnosis.

  “I think it’d be best if you fed. The lines are starting to appear.”

  “It can’t wait?” I uttered but he was already shaking his head.

  “Don’t wait until you’re hurting to do it. I’m here.” His fingers brushed across my face. “Let me help.” I swallowed hard and nodded. I don’t know why I kept waiting for the pain as a sign. Sebastian stood and shuffled out of his jacket and shirt until he wore just his jeans with his bare chest on display, looking delicious with his godlike physic. I took a brief second to admire him before he reclaimed the spot next to me. No mater how careful I was, a little blood always dribbled down his neck.

  I tried to crawl into his lap but my stomach was making it difficult. Sebastian chuckled when I grew frustrated.

  “I know! I’m huge.”

  His laughter cut off immediately. “You’re beautiful.” His tone made me blush. He peered around like he was trying to figure out an angle. He lifted me until my legs dangled over his thigh and his arm was rested behind my back.

  “I don’t think this will work,” I giggled when he held me like a bride as we sat.

  “Get behind me,” he stated. I did as he asked. I got on my knees behind him. Sebastian leaned back on his hands bringing himself closer to me. “Go ahead.”

  I ran my finger into his hair, tilted his head and bit. When I was done I threw myself backwards landing on the bed with a moan. His blood made my body break out in goose bumps. I felt the mattress shift and Sebastian laid next to me. His green eyes were dark showing he enjoyed it too.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  I beamed feeling great. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that? I just took your blood. Do you need a cookie or a cup of juice?” I teased, running my hand along the contours of his face.

  He chuckled then frowned. I kept my palm against his cheek as I rolled over onto my side to study him. Before I could ask, Sebastian stood. He was back in his shirt and jacket as if nothing had happened.

  “Hey are you okay?” I asked sitting up which was no easy feat these days.

  “No I’m not.” He moved to the door, but stopped. “This,” he threw his hand out, “is hard.” He turned to face me. His gaze felt like a weight. “I’m fighting against my instincts to touch you when you feed from me. I want you Gaby.” He moved to kneel before me. I was struggling to rein in my emotions. My chest heaved, but I didn’t withdraw when he grabbed both of my hands in his. “I’m in love with you, Gabriella.” He had never called me by my real name. It was always Gaby. “I love you more than I can possibly explain.” I bit my lip struggling to maintain my composure. “And I know you love me too.” The tears streamed freely down my face. “Come away with me. I’ll keep you safe. This baby,” his hand rested over my stomach and my baby moved under his palm, delighting in his touch. “I will love him or her like they’re my own. When I fell from heaven, I never thought I’d know happiness again, but I did. I found it with you. You are my heaven, Gaby. You’re it for me. My forever. My happily ever after. Just come away with me?”

  It was quiet as the room buzzed with his declaration. Sympathy tugged at my lips pulling them into a sad smile. “Grayson is my forever.”

  He didn’t even seem surprised by my response. His eyes fluttered closed as he bit his lip and nodded.

  “Then you need to speak with him. He’s keeping something from you.” I was stunned by his words, but when he stood and headed towards the door my emotions took hold.

  “Sebastian,” I cried.

  “We’re okay, Gaby. I always knew where your heart lied. I just held out hope. I always will.” I wanted to tell him he shouldn’t but he was tugging at the door. When he opened it a vampire appeared.

  “You smell good,” she said before baring her fangs.

  Sebastian shoved her back by her shoulders and she slammed against the wall. She was obviously a newbie and was no match for his strength, but I stood and crossed the room anyways. Sebastian held his hand out keeping me shielded with his body. I eyed the girl and was determined my tears were making my vision play tricks on me.

  “Rachel?” I whispered unsure if I was truly seeing what I thought I was.

  She stood righting herself. “I just wanted a taste. You let her have a taste.” Her gaze shifted to me. “Gaby?” she returned my curious gaze. “What are you doing here? Do you know where you are?”

  “You know her?” Sebastian asked still standing between us.

  “We used to work together, but she died.” I focused back on Rachel. “You died. I saw your body.”

  “Well, see, the thing is, I wasn’t dead. Technically.”

  “You were in transition,” I uttered to myself my legs feeling like they were about to give out.

  “You know?” she asked dumbfounded. When she tried to move closer Sebastian blocked her. “Oh, come on, big guy. It’s you I want, not her.”

  I touched his shoulder. He eyed me a moment while keeping Rachel in his peripheral. When he saw I wasn’t budging, he sighed and stepped back.

  Her eyes landed on my belly. “Oh my god. You whore!” She squealed and rushed me. Sebastian moved to step in but I held my hand out to stop him. Rachel pulled back and looked at me. “Why don’t you smell delicious? You kinda smell like him, but not as good. Wait! Are you two fucking?”

  “What? No!”

  “So is the baby daddy, Mr. Alexander? Are you two still doing the horizontal tango?” Sebastian groaned and walked away. “Something I said?”

  “Grayson and I are still together. We’re married and yes he is the father.”

  “Then why is the big guys scent all over you? What is he by the way? He sure smells yummy.”

  “That’s Sebastian. He’s an angel and stop eyeballing him. He’s off limits to you.”

  “Girl, you have Grayson Alexander, let me have the big guy.”

  I shook my head in response with a smirk. Even undead, Rachel was still Rachel. She had no filter. “And the reason I smell like him is, you were right.”

  “You are fucking him? You bitch.”

  “Rachel!” I threw my hand over her mouth silencing her. She seemed to have become more vocal since she died. “I was feeding from him.” I relaxed the muscles I normally held tight and my fangs dropped while my eyes shifted to honey-green.

  “You’re a vampire? Since when?”

  “Always.”

  She shook her head. “That’s not possible. I saw you in the sun. We had lunch outside. That Persephone bitch says I’ll fry if I go out in the sunlight.”

  “And you will,” my mother’s voice joined us. “Thank you Sebastian. I’ll keep an eye on her until her husband arrives.” Sebastian stood just over my mother’s shoulder. I nodded. He smiled softly at me before walking away. I wanted to go after him. To talk to him about his grand reveal, but I had no words of comfort that wouldn’t also offer false hope. “Gabriella is a special vampire,” my mother explained. “She is part angel.”

  “Ew, Gaby, please tell me that wasn’t your dad that you were drinking from, ‘cause gross.”

  “Ew, no,” I responded equally grossed out.

  “Then can you only feed from angels because of your angel blood?”

  “She asks a lot of questions,” my mother stated. “Gabriella was poisoned shortly after conceiving. Angel blood is the only way for the fetus to survive. Now Rachel, I hope we have sated your curiosity a bit. If you’ll excuse us, my daughter and I have plans for dinner.”

  “One last thing.” My mother sighed when Rachel began speaking again. “Are you the reason that hot guy killed me?”

  Grayson

  I headed into the New York nest. No matter how many times I did, I was always looked on with ridicule. I was the reason their former master was dead. I walked up to Persephone’s office. There was no point in knocking. The room was a fortress when it came to soundproofing. Anton had enjoyed his privacy. It was the one room in the entire compound he’d insisted on soundproofing.

  When I walked in, I saw Gaby sitting on the sofa against the wall crying in Persephone’s arms. The office itself was tiny in comparison to some I’d seen. It was large enough for a glass corner desk that faced outwards almost creating a square with it and the walls, leaving only one side open. Two chairs rested in front of it and a gray sofa sat against the wall to the left of the door.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “She’s had an emotional night,” Persephone explained, rubbing Gaby’s back. “First with Sebastian then Rachel.”

  “What happened with Sebastian?” He had made his comments at the office. Had he decided to tell Gaby I was lying to her? Was it some maneuver of his?

  “Nothing,” Gaby cried.

  “I think this is more to do with Rachel,” Persephone responded. Rachel? I couldn’t place the name. “Why don’t you take her home? She could use some rest.”

  I approached Gaby ready to lift her off the couch and carry her from the room, but she stood on her own and headed to the door walking past me.

  “What happened?” I asked Persephone in a whisper hoping that Gaby wouldn’t hear.

  “That it something she needs to explain.”

  The entire car ride home Gaby was quiet. Her crying had even ceased. When we entered our apartment, I couldn’t bear the silence. “Gaby, what happened tonight?”

  She rooted to the floor when she heard my question. She seemed fearful almost. “Do you remember my coworker, Rachel?”

  There was that name again. I racked my brain and then it hit me. “The girl Anton killed?”

  She snuffed. “That’s the thing. He didn’t kill her.”

  “Then who did?” Rachel’s death was something Anton had boasted about. Had someone helped him? Was there another person we needed to worry about?

  “It was Anton, but he didn’t kill her,” she explained but it made no sense.

  “I was there, Gaby. I may not have seen her, but there was an investigation into her murder.”

  “Did you ever wonder why we never heard from the cops? Why no one ever followed up?” I had never really thought about it, if I was being honest. After Rachel’s death, Anton had attacked me, and then everything else just spiraled. I had never given the poor girl another thought. I suddenly felt guilty about that and a bit selfish. “Anton didn’t kill her. He turned her.”

  Shit! Out of all the scenarios I had running in my head, I hadn’t expected that. “When you found her…?” I wondered.

  “She was in transition.”

  I took a moment to let it all sink in. “Where the hell has she been? It’s been over a year since all this?”

  Gaby took a deep breath then sank into the sofa. “Rachel has always been impulsive. Mix that with being a vampire and it can have serious repercussions. The nest was worried they’d have to put her down. When she turned, she killed the entire morgue staff. The vampire’s had to influence everyone, cops included. They had her in a cell afterwards. Now she’s wandering around the nest but is basically on house arrest. She’s still not great. She tried to attack Sebastian tonight.”

  Hearing his name got me wondering about what Persephone said, but I let it be for a moment knowing no matter how I worded it, it would come off as jealousy. “So they kept it hidden from you? That she was alive?”

  She nodded. “I’d already lost her once.” She leaned her head into me and rested it on my shoulder. “My mom didn’t want to give me hope only to yank it away.”

  I held her, stroking my hand up her back. When I couldn’t wait any longer, I had to ask. “Gaby, what happened with Sebastian tonight? Did he tell you something?” I was trying to remain calm. I didn’t know how much he knew about what I had been up to or what he could have told her. Regardless I was on guard right now.

  She sighed. “Nothing I didn’t already know.”

  I listened to her heart and she believed what she was saying yet there was pain laced in her words, but I left it alone.

  “I miss Shawn,” she cried.

  “I know baby,” I kissed her head.

  “He keeps calling me and texting me, but how can I get past this. He was working with Ava.”

  I squeezed her tighter. “I don’t know, baby. Maybe he’ll do some grand gesture and everything can go back.”

  “I want to believe that, but I don’t know what he could do that would make me forget what he did.”

  Gaby

  With Thanksgiving came an unexpected experience. My first real family holiday. Grayson’s parents arrived at our new apartment Wednesday evening. We had our old apartment available, but I wanted them near us and it seemed they felt the same. His mother was practically glued to my side eager to feel her grandbaby, who was staying uncommonly still when she was around, kick.

  Grayson and I had discussed whether our parents would ever meet. After all, how did one explain my parent’s youthfulness? When I offered influencing them into not questioning my parent’s appearance, Grayson agreed faster than I expected, which shocked me. He was always anti-influencing.

  Grayson and his mother were busy in the kitchen Thursday preparing dinner. Every time I approached I was ushered out by one or the other. Each had their own reasons. Mrs. Alexander didn’t want me lifting a finger, but Grayson knew I was more likely to cause chaos than be of any help.

  The Alexander’s didn’t question my parents’ early evening arrival. They greeted them with affection. My mother seemed stunned when Grayson’s mother pulled her into a hug, but my father smiled kindly, welcoming the affection of his in-laws.

  The patriarchs were seated at the heads of the table with their wives to their sides. Grayson and I sat opposite our mothers seated side by side. He reached under the table and gently squeezed my hand. It was the first bit of normalcy I had had in forever.

  Grace was said which I found amusing at a table filled with vampires and a fallen angel. Once plates were served Mrs. Alexander spoke up.

  “Now that we’re all seated, I have a bone to pick with you two.” She pointed at Grayson and me.

  “Mom?” Grayson tentatively asked.

  “How dare you elope and not give us a chance to celebrate with you. Am I the only one upset by this?” She asked turning to her husband then my mother.

  “You are not,” my mother began and I groaned. “But then again, I wasn’t even told I was going to be a grandmother until the news slipped.”

  Mrs. Alexander’s eyes bugged and she turned her sights on me. “You forgot to tell your mother?”

  I opened my mother to defend myself but Grayson chimed in. “We’ve had a lot going on. It’s one of the reasons Gaby and I chose to elope.”

  “Well, we still deserve to celebrate with you.”

  He eyed me. We were in a no win situation with two mothers against us. “Gaby is too far along in her pregnancy right now. What if we celebrate on our anniversary? The baby will be here and hopefully things will be a little calmer. We weren’t trying to deny you all. We just wanted to be married.”

  Once dinner concluded, we saw my parents out. They both had their own nests to attend to. My mother took my hands in hers as she spoke. “I did not come here to gang up on you. I hope you know that, but I saw an opportunity so I took it. You are my only daughter and I wish to celebrate your marriage with you.”

  I sighed and nodded.

  “Gaby,” Grayson’s voice drew my attention. I turned to where he stood with my father.

  “My first thanksgiving,” my dad beamed hugging me. “Thank you for inviting me.”

  The next day Grayson and his father left the apartment for some time. I wasn’t sure whose idea it was, but Mrs. Alexander dragged me into the kitchen shortly after they left.

  When the men arrived there was a decadent German Chocolate cake seated in the kitchen and we all broke out singing happy birthday to Grayson, who despite celebrating his thirty first birthday would never age past twenty nine.