The Mother is already waiting for us in the dinning room, when I enter, a plate of scrambled eggs and sausage in front of her.
“Full English?” I ask with a smirk. “Yuk.”
“We’re not all so fussy,” she replies. “When you get older, you’ll realise it doesn’t taste that bad.”
“Really?” I can’t imagine human food ever tasting better. It all tastes like dishwater to me.
“Sure. In like five hundred, six hundred years, you might actually be able to enjoy a meal.”
I shudder at the thought.
“Farah will be down in a moment,” I say, taking a seat.
“She’s not happy with you. You really should treat her better. Hell, you should just change her already. What are you even waiting for?”
I don’t really want to talk about this, especially when Farah could walk in and overhear.
“Let’s not talk about that,” I say between gritted teeth.
“Sure. Sure. You’ll regret it though, if you lose her,” she says sincerely and for a second her grief shows.
The door opens before I can say anything and Farah enters the room. She looks confident, striding towards us as if it’s nothing at all. Her expression is steel, unreadable in a way I don’t like.
“You must be Farah,” the Mother says, getting to her feet, offering her hand for Farah to shake.
It’s strange seeing her interacting with a human. It’s something I haven’t seen since I was a human, at least not when there wasn’t a meal to be had.
Farah accepts her hand with a confidence that most Vampires would lack in the Mother’s presence. My lip twitches, wanting to smile with pride.
“They all call me the Mother like we’re in a Godfather movie but instead of it being a sexist patriarch, the women rule. But I have a name, though no one uses it. I hope you will.”
It’s surreal. The Mother is not just being polite but outright friendly. In the minute and a half since Farah entered the room, she’s been treated with more civility from the Mother than I have in my entire existence.
“My name is Jessamine and it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Thank you,” Farah says, her voice quiet and hesitant, the only clue that she’s scared.
“You look just like your mother.”
“Wait. What? You knew my mother?”
Farah’s eyes go wide. She glances my way before looking back at the Mother.
“How do you know my mother?”
“It’s a long story. One I’ll happily tell you over breakfast.”
Farah looks uncertainly down at the plates on the table.
“You’re eating?” she asks.
“I’m old enough that my tastes have evolved, unlike Everette. He’s still very much so a child. Don’t let him fool you.”
“A child?” Farah asks with a smirk.
“Will you eat with me?” the Mother asks, pointing towards the place where Farah’s breakfast lies waiting for her.
I’m conflicted. A part of me wants her to stay as far from my world as humanly possible but I also desperately want to keep her by my side for eternity if I can. I want her to take that seat and run away in equal measure.
The problem is that even if she were to leave, run away and not look back, that wouldn’t save her from my world.
My world and her world are one and the same.
To Be Continued In
THIRST
Hanleigh Bradley’s Books
The Elite Series
INSTINCT
CRAVING
Utterly Betrayed Series
Flip A Coin
Hanleigh’s Reverse Harems
Lust & Lyrics – Celebrity Reverse Harem
His, His Or His?
All Mine
Less Than Conventional
Kumari’s Kitsune – Fantasy Reverse Harem
Cursed by the Crown
Tainted by Prophecy
Standalone Reverse Harems
First Snow
Hanleigh’s London Saga
All the books in this Contemporary British Saga have interwoven plotlines, returning characters and places.
The Rules Series
Broken Rules
Enforced Rules
Revised Rules
A Secret Melody
The History Series
Repeating History
Deleting History
Forging History
A History In Paris
The Intimacy Series
Damaged Intimacy
Entangled Intimacy
Forceful Intimacy
Call Me Doctor
The Fate Series
Inescapable Fate
Inexplicable Fate
Irreversible Fate
A Bleak December
Hanleigh’s London Boxsets
RULES
HISTORY
INTIMACY
FATE