Page 40 of Valley of the Shadow
Toward the end of the second week, she felt steadier, but she still hadn’t ventured any farther than the porch. She felt inundated by her senses anytime she stepped outside. Baojia thought it might help to remind her why she needed to wrestle control back, so he arranged for his Nocht-compatible tablet to be brought to the cabin, and Giovanni and Beatrice would wait on the other end with the kids.
The signal booster Matt had installed seemed to be working if they sat on the far corner of the porch, so Natalie and Baojia waited to connect with the two people they missed the most.
The tablet beeped as it connected, and a picture of two small chins appeared on the screen.
“Mama!”
“Sarah, you just… you bumped it.” Jake righted the tablet and aimed it so that Natalie and Baojia could see their little faces. “Did I do it? Can you see us?”
Natalie felt like she couldn’t breathe even though she didn’t need to. It was a weird feeling. She nodded and knew she was crying.
“Hey guys.” Baojia was smiling. “We miss you so much. Have you been being good for Giovanni and B?”
Natalie swallowed the lump in her throat and focused on Baojia’s hand rubbing her back. “Hey, baby.” She touched the screen by Jake’s face and was startled when it went wavy. “Oh sh— Bugger. Oh bugger.”
“Careful.” Baojia moved her hand away. “Just the edges. You can touch the edges.” He kept rubbing her back.
“Mama, why are you crying?” Sarah was already climbing on the back of the couch. “I miss you. I went to the barn today with Dema and Andre and I saw kittens.”
“I miss you too.” She wiped her eyes, hiding the red-stained tissue in her hand. “Tell me about the kittens.”
Sarah blathered about the kittens for a few minutes, and Jake stared at her silently.
“Hey, Jakey.” She smiled at his solemn little face.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m more than okay. I promise. Dad is with me, and Uncle Lucien and Auntie Mak. I promise I’m okay.”
“You’re crying.”
She shrugged. “I’m just emotional, and I miss you, buddy.”
Baojia leaned over and kissed her temple. “I promise I’m taking good care of her. She’s doing great.”
Jake’s eyes lit up. “Are you drinking blood now? Like Dad?”
Natalie laughed a little. “Yeah, but you want to hear something weird?”
“What?”
She whispered, “I actually like cow blood best.”
Jake wrinkled his nose. “No way.”
“Yes way. Really. I’m a superweird vampire, I think.”
Natalie had been both bothered and relieved to learn that cow blood satisfied her as much or more than human blood. She still drank her share of human blood—Lucien’s orders—but while that tasted overly rich after the first few swallows, cow blood tasted great. Everyone thought she was nuts except Carwyn.
Carwyn—upon hearing about her preference for cow blood over human—automatically assumed they were distantly related, citing her freckles, red hair, and superior intelligence.
Natalie found nothing in that to dispute.
“Tell me what you’ve been doing while I’ve been gone,” Natalie said. “Sarah, don’t crawl on the back of the couch like that please.”
“Isabel says it’s okay!”
“Did I just ask you not to do it?” Natalie asked. “Please listen, because I’m not going to say it again.”
