Whoo what a weekend! Went to see a production of Annie on Friday, did absolutely nothing on Saturday but read, and then Sunday I got to go see the tall ships that came to town. Too bad I came home with a migraine and ended up puking :/. But all in all, it was still a good weekend. And next weekend is gonna be better cuz I'm going to a wedding out of town :D I'm excited. And, as promised, here is the next chapter!

There's a small spoiler in this chapter if you haven't read Kiss of Death yet. But it's not that big, although you may be annoyed if you discover it because that was one of my favorite scenes. Anyways, enjoy:)

I do not own Morganville Vampires.

Shane was hiding from Claire. She kept yelling and it scared him- or he liked to think so- so he wanted to leave for a bit. And the only place he could think to go was Common Grounds. Not exactly his favorite place but he didn't want to go somewhere where he would be easily found.

Those hopes were easily crushed as someone sat down across from him at the little table for two. "That seat's taken," he said, not looking up from the magazine he was trying to look busy with.

"No it's not," replied a gravelly voice, and Shane's head snapped up. The man sitting across from him was none other than Shane's father, Frank Collins. Who had been turned into a vampire before Shane's eyes and mysteriously disappeared. This was the first time they had met since the change, so Shane was at a loss of what to say although a thousand questions flooded into his mind at the first glance of him.

Luckily he didn't have to say anything because Frank spoke first, "I heard your girl's pregnant."

This wasn't what he had expected. Confusedly, Shane said, "Yeah. Where'd you hear that?"

His father shrugged. "It's a small town. News travels fast." As in, Eve was telling everyone she handed coffee out to that her best friend had one on the way.

"Is that why you're here?" Shane asked, careful as he met his father's eyes.

"Sort of," Frank scratched his chin. What he said next was hesitant like he wasn't sure how to say what he wanted. "See… you're… part witch."

"What?" Shane said, a little loud. A few heads turned to see what was happening. He continued a little quieter, "You think I would believe something like that coming from you after I haven't seen you in like, three years?"

"I know it's hard for you to trust me right now. But I'm not lying. Okay? Your child will be different. And I think it's time you learned a bit about your family history."

Shane was silent now, the words Your child will be different ringing in his ears. He didn't know what to say so he didn't say anything and Frank took this as his cue to continue.

"Your great grandmother was a witch. And I don't mean figuratively, she could really do spells and talk to spirits and things. 100 percent witch. She grew up in a small village in Ireland where everyone knew about and did witchcraft."

"Wait," Shane interrupted. "Is this your grandma or mom's?"

"Your mother's," he answered. "Anyway when she got older she left the village and moved to America. She met a guy, a clueless nut, and they had your grandmother. So she was half-witch. But she didn't have any of the abilities had but her daughter- your mother- did." He let this sink in for a moment before continuing.

"That's probably how she remembered about Morganville so fast after we left. The witches have a bit more brainpower than normal people do…. Anyway, what I'm saying is there's a pattern here with witching abilities being passed down through families with non-witches in the blood line."

"Okay, hold on," Shane stopped him. "How do you know all of this? I mean, this was mom's side of the family, right?"

Frank paused like it was hard to talk about. "Your mother… wrote a letter about all of this. She could kind of tell what was coming for her. I guess she couldn't have told me, I was drinking so much. She said not to tell you until you had a kid coming."

Shane nodded, understanding. "Okay, so what about the pattern you were talking about?"

"Okay, yeah, this is kind of hard to explain. It has to do with fractions and square numbers. You know how one person's blood passes down through the generations and the amount of that person's blood gets smaller by half with each generation?" Shane nodded. "Well the same thing happens here. But wherever the denominator is a square number the person will have some kind of abilities. And incidentally that works out to be every other generation usually."

"So," Shane said, thinking, "if someone was one-sixteenth and they married someone who was one-eighth, their kid would have- abilities?"

"Yep that's how it works," Frank confirmed.

"But-" Shane started, "maybe Claire has some of the blood in her too so maybe the baby won't-" he trailed off as his father shook his head.

"I already checked her family records. None of the blood in her family at all. Remember the village was small, and not a lot of people left."

Shane didn't want to know how he had gotten into Claire's family records. "But how do I know you're not just trying to freak me out? Maybe you're lying."

"Three points. First, I don't lie. You know that, I always tell it like it is. Second, that claddagh ring that was your sister's came from your grandma's village. It's been passed down through the generations. You can look it up online, even. (A/N: It's true, you can) You gave it to your girl, right?" Shane nodded, wondering how he had known that. "And third, even the children whose 'denominator' isn't a square are able to do certain things that aren't very obvious and don't happen a lot. Maybe like seeing strong auras at times or being able to decode messages easily but only in certain texts or languages."

Shane thought of Claire's aura he could sometimes see and now it all made sense. He understood and Frank seemed to see that. "Let me walk you home. It's getting late," he offered.

Shane looked out the windows. It was indeed getting darker. "Okay," he agreed. Even though his Protection pin from Amelie should be enough. "As long as you don't plan on chompin' down anytime soon," he added.

His father chuckled. "You have my word. I still need you to raise my grandchild."

On the walk home it was silent as Shane contemplated the thought of Frank being a grandpa. It was a little out-of-character. What was also out-of-character was how patient he has been through the whole conversation. And un-intimidating. Strange. Being a vampire must have changed him. Or maybe the fact that he was going to be a grandpa had. Which started the whole thought circle over again.

They reached the house a lot quicker than Shane realized. He said goodnight to his father then jumped up the porch stairs. He stopped before turning the knob and turned back to Frank who was still standing on the path.

"What was her name? My great-grandmother?" he asked. He didn't know why, but it seemed important. Frank's answer came out soft and gravelly.

"Madeline."