House of Royals(17)

“There was this man there,” he says, his voice hardening, but showing the slightest emotion. “Eyes glowing red, face covered in these horrible black veins. His face was covered in blood. Dad was already dead, drained dry. The vampire was holding Mom. She was stone white.”

A shiver runs up my back. As horrible as my own mother’s death had been, at least I hadn’t witnessed her murder. In such a brutal and unnatural way.

“The vamp looked up at me, and I thought for sure I was dead. Elle, too. I should have screamed, but I could only stare at my dead mom.” His voice cracks just slightly, but overpowering it is anger. “The thing just stared at me…for a long time. Finally, sense came back to my brain. I slammed the door shut, locked it. I grabbed Elle from her bed. She started crying. I crawled out the window with her and started running.” Ian takes a deep breath, his eyes rising back up. “I ran here. To my grandmother’s house. I told her what I’d seen. The crazy thing was that she believed me.”

Finally, hesitantly, I reach out and place a hand on his back. His body is warm through his t-shirt. I rub my hand back and forth lightly just twice.

Ian had been just a kid. He was so young and so innocent. And in an instant, he’d become an orphan. But instead of crying, instead of breaking down like pretty much anyone else would have, he grabbed his baby sister and saved both of their lives.

Ian looks back at me, his eyes serious and heavy. “You hear that ignorance is bliss all the time. I had no idea as a kid how bad Silent Bend’s vampire problem was. And is. And the thing is, half the town is fully aware of it.”

“Whatever this House is that you keep saying is going to come after me, they’re all vampires, aren’t they?” I ask, taking my hand back.

Ian nods and then stands. He reaches out a hand and pulls me to my feet. “Yeah. And I’ll tell you about them, but first we have to lock the house down.”

When we walk back inside, Ian makes his way to Elle’s bedroom. “You need to go anywhere else tonight?” he asks.

She looks up from her book, lying on her bed, and shakes her head.

“’K,” Ian says. “I’m going to lock up now. We’re going to bed.”

“Alright,” she says, glancing over at me. But it isn’t suggestive, considering what Ian just said. This girl knows her brother. It comforts me that she knows Ian isn’t like that. “Goodnight.”

“Night,” he says as he pulls her door closed.

I wait in the living room as Ian tells his grandmother goodnight. And as I wait, I then realize how there are bars on all the windows in the house.

Ian reemerges and heads straight for the front door. He sets a series of locks that are intense. He does the same for the side door that goes out the laundry room. “Come on,” he says with the tip of his head for the back door. We walk out and he pulls out keys and locks no less than four locks. Finally, he pulls out his phone and taps something. I hear three beeps from inside. A green light flashes on one of the locks.

“That’s one intense security system,” I say as he slips his phone back into his pocket. “I’m guessing that doesn’t alert the authorities if it’s tripped.”

Ian shakes his head. “You’d guess right.”

Poor Elle. Considering all of this, it’s hard to imagine she’s capable of having much of a social life. Or any chance at any form of a normal life at all.

We walk across the lawn and back in to the cabin. I flip a light on and turn to watch Ian lock up six locks, sliding a solid iron bar over the door.

“Will all that stuff really keep out a vampire if they’re determined to get in?” I ask.

Ian turns to look at me. “Not if they really want to get in. But it’ll slow them down. Take a look.”

Ian walks over to his couch and pulls the cushions off of it. Beneath them is a long box, the entire length of the couch. He pulls off the lid.

Inside is a huge stack of wooden stakes. Some of them stained with blood.

“You take being a vigilante seriously,” I say, raising an eyebrow.

He actually laughs. He gets small crinkle lines around his eyes and mouth when he does. It’s kind of ridiculously charming. “You have no idea, baby doll.”

He’s called me that twice now…

He crosses to the kitchen and opens the oven. But instead of delicious baked goods, this one reveals a stash of guns and knives. Ian looks back at me and gives a smug look. He goes on to reveal a mirror in the bathroom that opens to show off more guns. From beneath his bed he pulls out a crossbow and three shotguns.

“Okay, I realize now why Rath sent me off to stay here,” I say. There’s genuine concern in my voice. I’m suddenly very intimidated.