Melissa walked by her side in silence. Abbey bit her lip as they moved farther away from the crowd. They stepped into the connecting hall with its pale, frozen sculptures and grand, barrel-vaulted ceiling. In any other circumstances, she’d be thrilled to have the opportunity to wander through the ancient art without having to fight her way through tourists to see the exhibits. Now, however, she worried she’d overstepped with her vampire guide.
“That is a time in my life I do not discuss,” Melissa said, breaking the silence.
Abbey snapped her attention back to her companion. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m too nosy for my own good. I didn’t mean to offend.”
“Lucian is right. Our turning is a personal experience we do not share lightly. However, my sire treated you as someone who is important to him.” Melissa’s gaze landed on her. “Which means you are important to me.”
They stepped into the grand White court, the star of the Roman exhibition. Tall marble columns arched up toward the glass-domed ceiling. Moonlight filtered through the panes, illuminating the statues lining the perimeter.
“Do you know what it means to sire someone?” Melissa asked as they wandered toward the fountain in the center of the hall.
Abbey chewed her lip, wondering if she should pursue this line of inquiry. But her curiosity, as always, outweighed her need for tact. “No. I’ve always wondered but our vampire clients are very quiet about it.”
“It’s a bond every bit as important as, say, the mating bond. For every species it’s different but for vampires, a siring bond is for life. I know where Lucian is at all times. I can sense when he needs me and I have an innate desire to please him.”
“Like…” She swallowed hard. “In a sexual way?”
Melissa snorted. “Absolutely not. For some the bond works that way, but Lucian has never been anything but a father to me. Even when I was a human, he was the only father I’d ever known.”
“Has he changed others?”
Melissa shook her head. “Only me.”
“Can I ask why?”
“Because my mother died in his arms and he didn’t want to lose me, too.”
They stopped beside the still fountain, peering down at the coins glittering under the water as Abbey tried to decipher what Melissa was telling her.
“Your mother was a vampire?”
Melissa shook her head. “She lived and died as a mortal.”
Shock sliced through Abbey. Lucian had cared for a human before? Loved one?
“Lucian came into our lives when we had very little,” Melissa said. “I was a child then.”
“And he stayed with you?”
A sad smile crossed Melissa’s lips. “Yes. My mother, Claudette, was a beautiful woman. Lovely enough to catch the eye of a vampire.”
“He loved her,” Abbey said.
“No.”
The budding hope she didn’t dare acknowledge deflated in Abbey’s chest.
“At the time, through a child’s eyes, I thought it was love, but I’m not sure my sire has ever been capable of such emotion.”
Abbey kept her gaze on the water and tried not to show how the words affected her.
“Perhaps you will change that,” Melissa said with a shrug. “Where was I?”
“Your mother.”
“Ah, yes. She was vivacious, my mother. Bright, full of life. Her humanity drew him to her and for years, he stayed.”
“She never asked him to turn her?”
Melissa shook her head with a sad smile. “My mother liked being human. And she knew, I think, that Lucian would never love her the way she needed.”
“Sounds like a sad life.”
“You’ve known my sire for a handful of days. Would you walk away from a lifetime of joy with him merely because he couldn’t satisfy all your expectations?”
Abbey thought about the question, wondering if she could settle for less than she dreamed of.
Melissa’s gaze turned thoughtful as she watched her. “Perhaps you would,” she said. “In any case, my mother did not. For years, we were as close to a perfect family as any of us ever experienced.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
Melissa gazed up at a statue for a long, quiet moment. “Because he honored you. My father is lonely and for the first time in my memory, he is smiling.” Her blue eyes turned to Abbey, eyes so like her father’s despite their lack of biological relation. “He will never tell you this and you will never understand him without it.”
“You barely know me.”
“I’m a good judge of character. Don’t prove me wrong.”
She swallowed. “We aren’t a couple, Melissa. Not really.”