Page 71 of Blood Submission

Chapter28

Laney saton the side of the bed staring at the nightstand. On it laid her copy of Goodnight Moon. The rest of her stuff was in her backpack on the floor. A glass of juice waited for her to drink it. It had all been there when she’d woken up. She also had one of Dante’s T-shirts on over her jeans. It nearly swallowed her whole, but she didn’t change out ofit.

She’d woken up with a sense of panic, shooting straight up in the bed. The first thing she noticed was that the sun was up, and she quickly scanned the room, looking for Dante. But he wasn’t there.

However, the female vampire and two others were waiting for her, sitting on the floor against the wall. “It’s okay,” the strange dark-haired woman had said. “You’resafe.”

“Where’s Dante?” Something was wrong. Laney could sense it. He’d seemed okay before she’d passed out. “Is he okay? Where ishe?”

She smiled. “He’sfine.”

“I’ll go find him,” the vampire assured her, rubbing the dog’s ears on the way out. She didn’t appear worried.

Still, Laney couldn’t relax. “Why am I here? In the apartment,” she clarified when the other two looked at each other and then back at her in confusion. “Why is my stuffhere?”

“Dante brought you here and brought your stuff up for you,” the same woman answered.

“Why?” That sense of panic increased.

“I don’t know,” she answered. “But I’m glad he did. We were worried aboutyou.”

The other woman nodded and smiled in agreement. She had long mahogany hair and an “I love girls in wellies” T-shirt on. It was too big on her. “Can we get you anything? Are you hungry?”

Laney shook her head. Her stomach was in knots.

The first one got up off the floor and came to sit on the side of the bed. “You’re Laney, right?”

Laney nodded, looking around the room nervously. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off. It wasn’t the women, she felt nothing negative coming from them, only warmth.

“Laney, I’m Keira. Keira Moss. I’m a witch. As are you.” She smiled when that got Laney’s attention. “And this is Grace Moss.” The woman on the floor, Grace, gave a littlewave.

Wait. “Moss? Your last name isMoss?”

Keira smiled. “Yeah. We’re family.”

Laney looked at her again, closer this time. She couldn’t deny the uncanny resemblance. “How is that possible?”

Making herself comfortable, Keira tucked her legs to the side and leaned over onto one hand. “From what I was told growing up and from the guys here, the Moss witches all belonged to the local coven in this area until it was overthrown by the new High Priest. A few of the families scattered, taking their children—us—with them. Fate and a little help from yours truly here has brought us all back together. Here andnow.”

Laney rubbed her forehead. It was gritty from the seawater. As a matter of fact, her entire body felt salty. “I don’t understand—”

“We were scattered all over the world,” Grace spoke up from her spot on the carpet. “Four of us have found our way back to each other. Keira and Emma are sisters. Ryan and I are cousins.”

Laney tried hard to stay focused and keep up. “There’s more ofyou?”

“Five. Including you,” Keirasaid.

“Where are the rest? Your parents?”

“They’re gone,” Keira said sadly. “All taken by ‘accidents’.”

“Doesn’t seem very accidental to me,” Grace muttered.

“And there’s that,” Keira agreed. “But we can get more into the family history later. So, what happened out there? Luukas said when they found you that Dante was beaten to a bloody pulp and you were trying to protect him. He also said there were dead vampire bodies littering the ground, curiously empty of their demons.”

“I don’t really know—I think I killed them,” she said in a small voice. Glancing at them each in turn, she confessed, “I don’t really feel very bad aboutit.”

Keira sat up and touched her leg through the comforter. “Can you tell me what happened?”

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