Page 18 of Night of the Vampire
I put a spoonful of gumbo in my mouth, then nodded. "Mm-hmm. That sounds right."
Aunt Judy set down the half sandwich she'd been about to eat and sat back in her chair. She stared at me, chewing the inside of her cheek.
"What? Do you know him?" It wouldn't surprise me. She'd lived in this city her entire life. And, from I could guess about Killian, so had he.
Leaning forward, she laid her hand on my arm where it rested on the table. "Lizzy, Killian is...well, he's not the normal kind of guy that wanders into a voodoo store."
She wasn't wrong there.
"He's..." Her eyes wandered the room, looking for the words she wanted to say.
"What? From Ireland? A thief? A woman abuser?"
"He's not a good guy, honey."
Even though I'd thought that very thing myself, hearing the words out loud pulled all of the air from my lungs. "Yeah, I kind of got that feeling about him. Something...I don't know. Dangerous."
"And that's putting it lightly."
I got up to rinse off my dishes and make some tea. "So, how do you know so much about him?" I asked as I picked up her empty bowl and took it to the sink.
She glanced up at me. "Make me some of that tea and we'll talk about it some more."
I did as she asked, setting her cup on the table in front of her before taking my seat. Blowing on my tea, I waited for her to get her thoughts together. This was the first time I'd seen my aunt this serious about anything. I was starting to get nervous. Was this guy a rapist? A murderer? Jesus, he practically knew where I lived.
"What do you know about our family, Lizzy? Did your momma ever tell you anything?"
The question, so far out in left field of what I'd been thinking, completely threw me off. "What?" I thought we were talking about Killian.
"Our family," she repeated. "You were barely a teenager when she took you away, and even before that, she'd never let anyone but me see you. And that was only because I swore to keep my mouth shut about our family's...eccentricities. So, I'm just wondering, what, if anything, did your mother tell you?"
I thought back to our conversations about my father and his side of the family, which was pretty easy since my mom didn't like to talk about him at all. "She didn't really like it when I asked questions about Dad, or any of you."
Aunt Judy nodded, her expression thoughtful. "Don't blame her for the first part. Your father was a piece of work."
"But, you know, if there are some deep, dark secrets I need to know about, you can tell me. I'm not a kid anymore. I'm thirty-eight, and quite mature for my age." I smiled at my joke.
Aunt Judy's blue eyes lit up as she chuckled. I now knew where I got my goofy sense of humor.
"I'm also single and alone, so you don't have to worry about me telling anyone anything. You're the only one I talk to. Except for Mike at the store, but I don't make it a habit to confide in him about personal stuff." I thought about it for a second. "And Wiggles, but you know, he's a dog. And he's old and deaf, so he doesn't hear anything I tell him."
"Typical male."
"Pretty much."
I could see her teetering back and forth, trying to decide, and then she slapped her hands down on the table, rattling the salt and pepper shakers. "Well, since your mother slacked off on her parenting duties—no offense—"
"None taken. She was flaky."
"I suppose it's up to me to pass down your heritage to you."
Heritage? "You mean, like, money?"
"No, honey." She laughed again. "Hell, if we had money I'd be living in one of those million dollar houses down the street."
"This is true. Unless, of course, you didn't want anyone to know you had all that money."
"Lizzy, do you want to hear this or not?"
