Page 77 of Poison Sun

There’s a pause as I shuffle my feet, unsure how to approach the next topic.

From the way she waits patiently, I can tell she knows I have more to say.

“As you know, we went to the Guardians for help the other day,” I start, since it’s common knowledge by now. “I met Jax and Autumn.”

“Oh.” She stiffens at their names, immediately on edge.

“Jax asked after you,” I continue. “But it wasn’t genuine. It was more like he was trying to goad me. I asked Damien why, but he told me that’s your story to share—if you want to.”

She pauses, and I know if she refuses to tell me more, I’m not going to push.

She’ll tell me when she’s ready. If she’s ever ready.

Still, it never hurts to ask.

And, as I wait, I hope she trusts me enough to give me some answers.

Amber

“Let’s sit down,” Abigail finally says, and she guides me toward the bleachers, settling onto the cool metal bench.

I join her, saying nothing as I wait for her to continue.

“Amber,” she starts, her voice steady, despite an unmistakable undercurrent of pain. “What happened with Jax and his family was one of the hardest moments in Xavier’s and my lives. You have to understand—we were forced into an impossible situation. We did what we had to do to survive.”

I lean in, keeping my attention on her to make her as comfortable as possible.

She’s waiting for me to say something. Maybe something wise? That isn’t necessarily one of my strengths—compared to a lot of the vampires here, I’m basically a toddler—but I take a few seconds to put my thoughts together anyway.

“I’ve learned in my time in the supernatural world that we’re forced to do things we never dreamed we could have done otherwise,” I tell her. “You’ve been here for me since I arrived. I won’t judge you on what happened in your past. I promise.”

“Thank you.” She nods in appreciation, and continues, “As you know, Xavier and I were shifters before becoming vampires. What you don’t know is that twenty years ago, Xavier’s sister Jessica fell in love with a vampire. She let him turn her so they could be together forever.”

“Drinking from a supernatural is enough to get a vampire killed by the Guardians,” I say, trailing off. “Choosing to be turned…”

“It was disastrous,” Abigail says. “Jessica’s lover was hunted and killed by the Guardians. She had nowhere to go, so she hid in a cave outside Pine Valley, since Xavier and I lived there at the time. Things spiraled out of control from there.” Her eyes go distant, as if she’s seeing it play out all over again. “We were trying to protect Jessica. To help her escape to a place where she could live freely. But Jax and his wife found out.”

“How?” I ask.

“They were suspicious. So, that night, Jax, his wife, and Connor’s parents followed us to the cave, where Jessica was waiting. We tried to reason with them, but they were determined to kill her. In the chaos, Xavier and I had to defend ourselves.”

“You killed them,” I guess. “Jax’s wife and Connor’s parents.”

“We did.”

“And Jessica?” I ask.

“Killed in the fight.”

“So, the only ones who survived were you, Xavier, and Jax.”

“Killing our alpha goes against our instincts,” she explains. “So, taking advantage of Jax’s pain over the death of his family, Xavier and I ran. Jax was so stricken with grief that he didn’t come after us. But we knew he eventually would. So, we went to a witch and had her strip us of our magic, so we could live far away, as humans, and raise our daughter in peace.”

“Which is why Ruby grew up thinking she was human,” I say, the pieces fitting into place.

“Yes,” Abigail says. “Although, as you know, the moon goddess had other plans for Ruby, which is why she star touched her. And when Ruby was brought into the supernatural world, the attention was brought back to me and Xavier as well. We couldn’t protect ourselves as humans. Which is why…” She motions to herself—at what she is now.

“It’s why the two of you were turned into vampires,” I say.

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