I laugh and Ira continues to stare at Rebecca as though he’s studying her.
“I don’t think so. I’m not sure why he doesn’t speak. I think that maybe he just doesn’t want to.”
I turn to look at Ira just as his eyes land on me. For some reason I turn away and blush. I still can’t get my head around the fact that this man and the dog I once cuddled and slept with are one and the same.
“That’s strange,” says Rebecca, shaking her head and picking up a comb to brush her doll’s hair.
“It is. How have you been since coming home?” I ask. I’m not really sure how to talk to a ten year old, so I decide to simply address her as I would an adult. I hate it when people speak all weird and babyish around kids anyway.
Rebecca smiles. “It’s better now. I get to see Daddy every day.”
“You didn’t before?”
“No. He was always busy. He told me he’s gonna be spending a lot more time with me from now on.”
Well, I suppose if there’s one good thing that came out of Rebecca’s kidnapping it’s that it got Pamphrock to make an effort as a parent. I pick up a fawn coloured teddy bear and sit him on my lap.
“I like this guy,” I tell Rebecca. “He’s got nice fur. What’s his name?”
“That’s Harold. I sleep with him every night. Aside from Daddy, I missed Harold the most when I was away.”
I momentarily wonder how isolated Pamphrock keeps her if the person she missed the most wasn’t even a person at all, but an inanimate object.
“What about your mother?” I ask, without really thinking.
“She’s with the angels,” Rebecca replies matter of factly. “That’s what Daddy says. I thought you were an angel, but Daddy said you’re just a very special person like me.”
I set Harold down and lower myself to the floor to sit beside Rebecca. I take her little hand into mine and it feels so incredibly calming to touch her. I get this overwhelming feeling of being kindred. Tingles run from her palm into mine.
“That’s true, we’re both the same. A little different from everyone else,” I tell her. Of course, we’re not entirely the same, since she’s a dhamphir and I might be part witch.
She smiles up at me and giggles. “You feel sparkly.”
She pulls her hand away and rubs it on her stockinged knee. Just before she’d pulled her hand out of mine, I’d gotten an odd sensation in my mind, like a book opening in my brain that I didn’t even know existed there. I try to go back to it, but nothing happens. I need to hold her hand again.
“Can we do that one more time?” I ask.
“It tickles,” she smiles, giggling again.
“I know it does, but did your daddy tell you anything about what I need to do for you?”
She nods, suddenly solemn. “He said you have to make it so that the scary people can’t take me away again.”
“That’s right, but I’m still figuring out how to do it. You need to let me hold your hand again. It might help me to find some answers.”
“Okay then,” Rebecca replies, a little hesitant.
She shakes it off and thrusts her hand at me and I take it. I close my eyes this time and my mind begins to flick through the pages of the book in my head. It lan
ds on a page and all of the words except for one line are indecipherable, as though written in an ancient language. The one line I can read is lit up like a lamppost. It says, “In order to hide the blood of the child, you must use the blood of the parent of the same sex.”
I open my eyes with a start and let go of Rebecca’s hand. That’s it! My mother used her blood in the spell to hide my blood, which means I need Rebecca’s mother’s blood in order to hide hers. A moment after I’m hit with this revelation my stomach sinks, because another less than welcome revelation rises. Rebecca said her mother is with the angels, and that’s just a fancy way of saying she’s dead. Just when I think I might be making headway I’m presented with a big, hulking roadblock.
I stand up and walk over to the glass sliding doors, through which Finn and Pamphrock are still deep in conversation, probably planning their strategy for when the vampires decide to strike again. Whitfield has been suspiciously inactive ever since we got Rebecca back.
I rap my knuckles on the glass to get their attention. Pamphrock motions me through and I step out.
“What is it?” he asks, a little impatient at being interrupted. Jeez, not so friendly anymore I see.