Between Shadow & Ruin (Fangs & Fae Saga Book 2)

twelve.

We reached the hotel and went up to our suite. It had three rooms, a living area, a small kitchen, and two bathrooms. My stomach turned at the thought of us having to tell the twins that Chris and I were vampires. They knew what vampires were, but it still scared me that they would know we were. Odie went into one of the rooms, closed the door and locked it. I heard his phone ringing – he was calling Ella I assumed. I rolled my eyes and put our bags down in the room. I pulled my suit out of the bag and hung it up in the closet. It was still going to be a few hours until the ceremony. Val grabbed my hand, hers were sweaty.

"You okay?" I asked.

"I don't know how they're going to take it... Odie was easy to tell! He just accepted it and didn't even care."

"Maybe they'll be the same way?" I asked. Chris and Zane grabbed the twins and Noah sat on the couch next to me, while Ava sat on Chris' lap.

"Kids, we have to tell you something," Chris started.

"What is it, Daddy?" Ava said, throwing her arms around him, resting her head on his chest.

"You know how Momma and I... we're different from Poppa and Mommy?"

"Yeah..." Noah said. "Daddy, we already know why you're different!"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You can't do magic!" Ava said.

"Well, yes. But that's not the only way we're different." Ava pointed to her teeth, as did Noah.

"You guys are vampires!" Ava said loudly with her fingers still in her mouth.

"Uncle Ray, and Auntie Aria are too!" Noah added. The four of us looked at each other.

"How did you know that?"

"...One of the older girls in school told us, Momma."

"When? Who?"

"A few weeks ago. She tried to scare us, but we said there was no way you would hurt us!"

"Why didn't you tell us you already knew?" Chris asked.

"Because! It didn't matter! We still love you!" Ava said, hugging Chris. Noah looked up at me. He looked sad.

"Momma, I'm sorry," Noah said quietly.

"For what, baby?"

"I broke the rules in school... When she said that..." Noah was starting to cry. "When she said that, I – I used magic to make her hit herself in the face." I saw Val's eyes open wide.

"'Magic'? Like a spell?" I asked.

"No, like the bad magic. I didn't mean to..." He was sobbing into my chest. I rubbed his back lightly.

"Oh, was she okay?"

"I think it was Jeanie. I saw her with a bloody nose later and I fixed it for her. She wouldn't tell me what happened," Zane said. "She was okay after though."

"Noah," Val said quietly. "You're still learning how to control that, but you have to be careful... When you're scared or angry, remember what I told you to do before you speak?"

"C-count t-to ten." He was hyperventilating. "I'm sorry, Mommy! I – I d-did a bad th-thing!" I nodded to Val, and I picked him up and carried him to the room. I sat him down on his bed and opened the window. He was much smaller than Odie was at nine. His feet dangled high off the edge.

"Hey, hey, look at me, Noah." I picked up his head and had him follow my finger back and forth across his face for a few seconds just to distract him. "What's Daddy's favorite color?" I asked. I watched the wheels turn in his head as he thought about it.