“Woah, put your seatbelt on, dude,” Arman said.

  Justin laughed. “How do I get down from here?”

  Trying not to show how amused he was, afraid he might offend Justin, Arman watched as Justin hung around the ceiling, his arms and legs outstretched as if he were flying, except he was just stationary. “Imagine yourself descending and then once your feet are on the floor of the van, sit, and strap yourself in.”

  They were nearly home when Justin fell off the ceiling onto the bench seat. “I did it. Not exactly like I wanted to, but wow, what a rush.”

  “You’ll just need to practice. Maybe over your bed so you can land on the mattress and not hurt yourself.”

  Justin laughed. “I’ll have to try that. I thought…well, I thought I would be able to have a lot more control over my vampire powers than this, come a fight tomorrow.”

  “You’ll get it,” Caitlin said. “Suddenly, it will just happen. Just keep practicing.”

  “I can’t wait to try it out while we are fighting. Maybe I’ll get it right then,” Justin said.

  “We’ll practice together. I can hold your hand, or anyone else will and then that way you can’t fly off and hurt yourself,” Jasmine said.

  “Thanks.” Justin sounded relieved.

  Then they finally arrived home and Arman really, really hoped Fiona wouldn’t be mad at him for turning her brother.

  Fiona heard the party planners return. She was curious as to what they came up with for the birthday party. She would be thrilled no matter what it was because it was so much better being with her friends here than at Regina’s home with Tobias. But she was still worried about what was going to happen as far as the blood moon went.

  But when she saw Arman, she smiled and felt so happy. There was just something about him that lit up her whole world. She thought he looked worried, though he gave her a small smile.

  Justin looked like he was eager to tell her what they had gotten her for her birthday. She hadn’t expected her brother to suddenly vanish. Her gaze riveted to Arman, right before he pulled her into his arms. “He insisted. I asked him if he was certain.”

  “You…you bit him.”

  “Yeah, I’m sorry. He said he didn’t want me to ask you if you were alright with it,” Arman said.

  “No, no, it’s his decision to make.” In a way Fiona felt relieved that he had been turned by Arman. She trusted Arman, and her brother appeared so happy she was glad they’d done it. But then she realized he hadn’t reappeared. “Justin?”

  “I’m right here,” Justin said, and reappeared right next to her, grinning. “Man, I love this.” He gave her a hug. “Are you alright with this? That I’m now a vampire?” He showed his small canines. “And that Arman was the one who changed me?”

  “Yes, to both. I think you will be better off as one in fights, or just to fit in more with family.” She meant as far as her parents went since they were vampires now. She couldn’t believe he had asked Arman to change him, but would it help in a fight with vampires? “Let’s go practice sword fighting. We need to see what you can do with your vampire skills when it comes to fighting vampires now.”

  “I’m all for that.” Her brother looked so eager and happy.

  She was glad he was one of them now. She glanced at her mother, but she was only smiling, and she didn’t seem to mind that Arman had turned Justin instead.

  Then they all went to the grassy lawn to practice swordsmanship.

  Fiona was total distracted, knowing she needed to concentrate on fighting Arman, but instead her attention was diverted to watching Justin fight with Jasmine. Fiona hoped Stasio wouldn’t be upset about Jasmine teaching Justin. But she also figured that since Jasmine did this kind of work for a living, she would make for a really good teacher. And she was.

  Justin was fighting her sword to sword then when Jasmine struck again trying to knock his sword from his hand. She did and sent it flying. But then before she could attack him when he was defenseless, he vanished. Fiona smiled. Now that was a great maneuver!

  Suddenly, his sword disappeared, and he reappeared. Jasmine had been watching to see if Justin went for his sword and once he showed up, she immediately struck his sword with her own, but he held onto it more firmly and fought back. She glanced at Arman, and he was smiling.

  “It looks like he’s going to do well with his new skills. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a newly turned vampire who has so much fun with his new abilities,” Arman said.

  Fiona smiled. “Yeah, I didn’t think he would either. Despite how we grew up in such a dysfunctional family, he was always good-natured and fun-loving.”

  “He sure seems that way. I’m so glad he has taken this so well,” Arman said. “Do you want to practice?”

  Fiona laughed. “Sure.” Then they started to playfight, and she was thinking it would be fun if she could vanish like her brother had done. But she wasn’t interested in the blood thing.

  She was just as strong as Arman when connecting with his sword and she assumed it was because she was a huntress. She saw her mother and father practicing their sword fighting and she was fascinated to see how they fought each other. Both were excellent fighters.

  Arman touched her shoulder, and she hadn’t realized he’d gotten that close. “Sorry,” she said. “I was just curious how my parents were at fighting.”

  “Because you’re worried about them.”

  “Yes. If Tobias can control my mom, that would be bad news.” Fiona frowned at Arman. “Is that why you turned Justin instead of letting my mom do it?”

  “I had thought of it, but the main reason was that Justin didn’t want to wait. He asked me and he wanted to do it then, before we did weapons training again.”

  “I’m glad you did it. Okay, we’re going to do this.” She started fighting Arman again, but then Jasmine switched out with him, and Arman put Justin through his paces.

  Jasmine was smiling as she fought Fiona. “Your brother is a character. I’m so glad that he is one of us now. He’s doing really great fighting as a vampire now. So much better than when he was solely a human. He has got our strength now and that’s good.”

  “Exactly.” Fiona was glad and was hoping that would mean that he would stay safe. After fighting Jasmine for a while, her mother came over to battle it out with Fiona. “You were alright with Arman turning Justin instead of you, aren’t you?”

  “Yes. After I’d offered, I had realized if Tobias ends up here, he could control me and force me to control your brother. Your father would have done the deed instead.”

  Fiona’s mother was an excellent swordswoman. She kept Fiona on her toes. Unlike when Fiona was fighting Arman, she found her mother was tricky. She kept vanishing and coming in for another attack. Which was great! It helped Fiona learn how to fight vampires who used their abilities to try and take the advantage. But Fiona was listening hard, and she could hear her mother’s heartbeat just as she reappeared behind her or to her side. Fiona wasn’t used to being able to use her hearing in that way—to really concentrate on the sounds around her, blocking out the sounds of the fighting all around her—to protect herself.

  She was doing really well fighting a vampire when she didn’t have their abilities, she thought. Her father came to take her mother’s place, but Fiona was getting tired by now. “Did you ask Mom to turn you?” She knew that her mother had done so to protect him from Tobias, but had she just turned him in a hurry, and he hadn’t really had any choice?

  He smiled at her. “We discussed it, but we didn’t have a lot of time to make a decision. Tobias was trying to get Bea to bring me to him. She was fighting his telepathic suggestion. We found a home for you, then we moved to Germany, any place to get free of Tobias’s control. We continued to travel, to evade him, while we continued to pay for you and for Justin as you grew up. We couldn’t reach you fast enough once your foster parents had died. We traveled through Scotland, learned what Arman and his friends had done, and I was able to connect with him in a dream.”

  “Did you know I had run into Arman at the Dallas mall two years earlier?”

  “Yeah. I had something to do with that. I knew he had dreams like I do, like you do. I knew he was a vampire and he helped hunters and humans who were in need. I knew he and his friends would help you if he ever learned of you and you became Tobias’s next target.”

  “How did you have something to do with me running into Arman?” She had always wondered how she had been so clumsy to have spilled her soda on him. She swore she had tripped over her own feet, and she wasn’t normally like that.

  Her father struck her sword, but he was a lot easier on her than Arman or her mother was. “I had to get you to make a connection with him. I couldn’t have spoken for you, but when he offered to take you to lunch, I wanted to step in and tell you to do it.”

  “I was so embarrassed. I was with my brother there, and I’m sure he wouldn’t have liked that I’d just met some guy I didn’t know, spilled soda all over him, and then had lunch with him.”

  Her dad smiled at her, and he quit fighting her to talk.

  Then Fiona frowned. “How did you know he had dreams like you?” She needed to learn what her father could do with his dreams and what she could do with hers.

  “You feel it. You share them. You know. You had dreams of him.”

  “Okay, true. So you had dreams with him?”

  “I could see into his dreams. I saw into yours. When you were just a toddler, your mom and I had to leave Dallas because Tobias had turned your mother in an attempt to control her so that she would help him use me. But she turned me instead.”

  “How did you end up with the dreaming ability?”

  “I was born with it, just like you were, but it takes time before you even realize you have it. And it does grow on you.”

  Did that mean if Fiona had a child, he or she would have the same ability and then they would have to deal with rogues like Regina and Tobias trying to take control of her child? “What can I do with it?”

  “My grandmother had the same ability. For her, she was able to change nightmares into comedy or something pleasant and an agreeable dream into a nightmare.”

  “For whom? Could she do it with anyone?”

  “For anyone. I have the same abilities. But I also can suggest changes in someone’s behavior.”

  “Like telling Arman I needed help.”

  “Exactly. I couldn’t force him to do it. He had to make his own decision whether to help you, but having already met you earlier and liking you, and because he and his companions were known to help people in need, he was the perfect candidate for the job. I knew if anyone could rescue you, it was him and his friends. Since that day when you had first met him, their little vampire pack had gained a couple of new members who would only be a help in getting you to safety and keeping you safe until your mother and I could arrive.”

  “But if Tobias arrives here, then he could control Mom and make her fight us too.” It was hard to believe her mother could be forced to hurt Fiona, but for Tobias to get his way, he would do anything that gave him the advantage.

  “Yes. We need to protect her as much as we need to protect you. I couldn’t leave her on her own in another country for fear Tobias would get to her,” Fiona’s father said.

  “Okay, I understand. So what happens when the blood moon is here? I’m already having the dreams and some control over them. What changes?” she asked.

  “You’ll be able to get into anyone’s dreams whether you’re sleeping or not, targeting someone, or just ‘listening’ in. You can tell them to do something you need them to accomplish, a suggestion that is so real that when they wake, they’ll know they have to do it.”

  “Kind of like a vampiric suggestion, or command of a human.”

  “Right, but you can do it with a vampire.”

  “Oh, sure. I’ve done that with my friends.”

  Her father smiled.

  “I didn’t give them nightmares.”

  “But you can. And when you turn eighteen, you’ll even be able to give someone like Regina or Tobias nightmares or suggestions.”

  “Why couldn’t you do that with them?”

  “I hadn’t had my full abilities yet, and Tobias was after me, trying to use Bea against me. We had to leave. But I don’t know if you’ll have the same abilities as me.”

  “When did you get your abilities?”

  “I was twenty-five and it was during the wolf moon.”

  Fiona sighed. “So if Tobias comes here, what are you going to do with Mom?”

  “As much as I hate to do it, but she also agrees, we’ll have to lock her up so he can’t get to her easily.”

  “And we’ll have a couple of people post guards. Uhm, how do you feel about Arman turning Justin?”

  “It was a good call. He’s our son too. We feel that with all of our hearts, and we want to him to continue to be part of our lives. It would have been too risky for him to fight ruthless vampires like Tobias without being one of us,” her father said. “It’s your choice, but we would feel better if you were also one of us.”

  19

  That night, Arman and the others went swimming, before the big day. “Are you worried about tomorrow, Fiona?”

  “Yeah, but I’m looking forward to the birthday party too.” She swam around Arman and then he pulled her into his arms. She told him what her dad said about his abilities and what she might be able to do once she turned eighteen.

  “Have you been able to see any of Shelly or her brother’s dreams?” Arman asked. They were inside the house, not interested in swimming.

  “No. I keep trying at night, but I’m not able to.”

  “When were you born? I mean, the hour of your birth?” Arman asked.

  “One in the morning.”

  “Hmm, so then if this is all true, you’ll actually have your abilities shortly after the bewitching hour.”

  “Yeah. I was thinking just sometime tomorrow, but I should have it while we’re sleeping. I’ll try to see what I can do with everyone for fun.”

  Arman said to all their friends and her brother and parents, “Since Fiona was born at one in the morning, we need to have a couple of us guard her at all times.”

  Everyone agreed.

  “And my mom too, in case Tobias ends up here and tries to control her,” Fiona said.

  “Absolutely,” Levka said. “We have about thirty people at our disposal who were glad we helped them to overthrow the League here. They’re here and you’ll see one or two of them occasionally, but they’re really trying to be inconspicuous and will come to our aid if we need them. Because we have a long night and day ahead of us, I suggest we have dinner, and retire to bed, except for those pulling guard duty.”

  Everyone began getting out of the pool and grabbing towels. Then Arman took Fiona in his arms and transported her to their bedroom. She smiled at him. “I will never get used to you doing that to me.”

  “Which is why you need to be one of us. I can’t bear the thought of potentially losing you tomorrow.”

  She put her hands on his shoulders and kissed him. “Which is why you’re going to turn me.”

  He was shocked and his expression revealed how much so. And he was speechless.

  “Okay, look, I see what my brother can do and how happy he is to have all these new feats. Everyone in my family is a vampire now. I’ll feel like everyone will always have to watch out for me because I won’t be as strong as you. I…I want to be with you and for that reason alone, I want to be a vampire also. Who knows? Maybe if Tobias comes for me, he’ll be so shocked that I’m one too now, we’ll be able to catch him off-guard and take him down.”

  Arman wanted to do this with her. He wanted her in his life not for just a brief time, but for a vampire’s long life. If they were going to do this, before her eighteenth birthday would be preferable.

  “But we don’t tell anyone.”

  He frowned. “Do you think your parents would object?”

  “No. Dad said he wants me to be a vampire too. I just think it would be beneficial if no one knew…unless I have to deal with Tobias or his minions.”

  “I wouldn’t keep a secret like that from my friends. Our friends. If you want to wait to tell your parents later, that’s fine.”

  She sighed. “Yes and not Shelly and Michail either.”

  He rubbed her arms. “You must have a reason that you want to keep this secret from the others.”

  “I…I don’t trust Shelly and Michail. Don’t ask me why. It’s just something instinctual. Did you notice they never practice fight with us? They don’t swim with us either. They eat with us, but they’re…distant. They did rescue my brother, but maybe they had an ulterior motive. What if Tobias sent them to learn where you were staying? What if he told them to pick up my brother and bring him here as a show of how they are on our side? They said they were friends of Tobias, and of my parents. But what if they made contact with my parents for the same dark purpose? To get us all here in one place where Tobias and his people could make their move? What if my parents think Shelly and Michail are friends when they really aren’t?” Fiona asked.

  “I agree. Though your parents don’t seem to interact with them much.”

  “True. So bite me and let’s do this,” Fiona said.

  “I’m not going to ask if you’re sure because I know you are.” He leaned down and kissed her. His hand swept through her hair and then he rested his forehead against hers for a moment. “I love you.”

  She pulled him into her arms and gave him a warm hug. “I love you too from the moment I christened you with a cup of sticky, carbonated soda. You were the hottest guy I had ever run into, with the help of my father, I might add.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah, he said it was not an accident.”

  “I will have to thank him for that.” Then before she worried about the next step, Arman pushed the hair away from Fiona’s neck and she offered it to him like a human who was under a vampire’s charm would do. Only she was a huntress, and she couldn’t be charmed in that manner. Which was just the way he wanted it. Her choice entirely.