Yay, we have an age jump! The triplets are now a few months into seven. They grow up so fast... :'c All right, new chapter, on schedule this time! (:

Disclaimer: The triplets, no matter how old they are, will always be mine. Their parents, well, uh, no.


Four years had passed, and the triplets were two months into being seven years old. It killed me how time went by so fast. They were growing up, and Dimitri and I were having a harder time keeping the secret from them. They were so smart, thanks to Dimitri's planning and were the top students of their class.

Adrienne's hair had grown almost as long as mine. It was the same color, the same texture, everything. We kept Jeremy's hair shorter than Dimitri's, but longer than most other boys. It barely fell past his ears. Sabrina's hair was long, just like Adrienne's. But it was straight, rather than loosely curled, like Adrienne's was.

And then, one day, Sabrina dropped a bomb on me. "Mommy?" she asked. "Can we go to the playground?"

It was daytime. I knew this would kill Dimitri. "Now?" I asked. She nodded slowly. I bit my lip. "Dimitri!" I called.

Sabrina ducked her head. When I called Dimitri, it usually meant something bad. But this, this was completely different. He'd be devastated. He had wanted to be in every part of their lives. But going to the playground during the day was out of the question for him.

He entered the room, smiling gently. "What?"

"Sabrina wants to... um... go to the playground." He didn't see anything wrong with that. "Now," I added. We had gone there at night before but never in the day.

"Oh." He looked down, hurt. He lifted his head quickly, seeming to remember something. He disappeared and reappeared moments later.

"Here." He handed me something. It was a... video-camera? "I figured this day would come soon. So I got this. Now you can record them so I won't miss anything."

I smiled and shook my head in amazement. Once again, his innate way of always being prepared stunned me.

"Wow. Okay. So you're fine with this?" His grin faded slightly.

"I'd have preferred to be there in person, but this is the next best thing," he said, shrugging. I kissed him on the cheek. Jeremy was watching TV in the living room, and Adrienne was brushing her hair, sitting on the couch.

"You wanna go to the playground?" I asked. They both agreed with zeal.

So we left without Dimitri. For him, it was a sad occurrence. For the kids, however, it was going to be a fun day.

"Daddy's not coming with us?" Adrienne asked, disappointment clouding her face as she strapped herself in.

"No. He can't. He has some stuff to do."

Adrienne frowned, not completely buying my story.

We made it to the playground. Nobody was there, but the kids had fun. I recorded their whole adventure, trying to keep track of all of them at the same time.

We left in an hour. They were exhausted by that time.

I opened the front door, and Dimitri was sitting in the kitchen, resting his head in his hands. I heard him sigh before the kids ran for the kitchen.

Sabrina, Adrienne, and Jeremy tackled him, laughing, trying to tell him all about what they had done at the playground. He tried to smile, to be happy for them, but it seemed impossible.

"Why don't you guys go play in your room for a while? Daddy and I need to talk about something." They grumbled a bit, but left us alone.

Dimitri glanced up at me, pain in his face. "I-I –" He shook his head. "I couldn't be happy for them."

I hugged him. "It's not your fault. They still don't know. And they were so tired today. I don't think they'll really want to go back. But here –" I handed him the video-camera "– I did your bidding."

He half-smiled. "Thank you."

"It was nothing. Dimitri?" I had started to walk away, but I realized that it might be time for us to tell them about Dimitri's secret.

"Yes?"

"Do you... think it's time?" I asked hesitantly. He knew what I was talking about. We had talked about this many times.

He froze. "I'm not sure."

"I'll go see if I can get them to pay attention. You might want to come along." He sighed but agreed. I hugged Dimitri tightly before opening the door to the children's room. "Sabrina? Jeremy? Adrienne?" I called. "We want to tell you something."

They appeared, all in a line. They looked like they had expected this. I then wondered what they knew.

I sighed, glancing at Dimitri. I silently asked him if he really wanted to do this. He smiled grimly in encouragement and motioned for me to start. I knew he didn't want this to be told, preferably ever, but the kids had a right to know. I felt like they were mature enough to handle it, as well.

"You might want to sit down. I'm going to tell you a story."

They grew excited and restless, planting themselves on their beds. Dimitri faded into the background, but Adrienne forced him to come and sit next to her. I heard her whisper, "Have you heard this story, Daddy?"

He looked like he was going to cry. "No, I haven't, Adrienne." He picked her up and set her on his lap, for, in his mind, possibly the last time.

"Okay. I'm going to tell you some things, but you mustn't ever tell them to anyone else. It's a secret. You like secrets, right?" They nodded. "This is the most important secret you'll ever get to hear." They leaned forward with anticipation.

"In this world, besides humans, there are three other kinds of creatures. Not animals, but people that act like humans." I paused. "But they aren't."

Sabrina and Jeremy exchanged worried glances.

"I am one of those things." Sabrina gasped and hid her face. I rushed to her side and comforted her. "None of these things are mean. They can be, if they choose to be, but they aren't if they don't want to be. I'm not mean. I am what's called a dhampir. You know Aunt Lissa?" They nodded eagerly. "She is what we call a Moroi. She's a vampire. But she's a good vampire. A very, very good vampire. I am half-vampire, and half-human. And guardians protect the Moroi from the Strigoi. Strigoi are what the Moroi consider to be the bad vampires." Dimitri flinched slightly.

"Because the Strigoi usually hunt down the Moroi and dhampirs and kill them. But the dhampirs need Moroi to live, so we protect them, going to school to learn how to fight them."

Jeremy interrupted. "But wait. Didn't you say that the Strigoi kill the dhampirs and the Moroi?"

I nodded.

"I thought you said that all of them could be good, if they wanted to."

"They can. Most choose to be evil, because they don't have a reason to be good. I know of one Strigoi who is good. Who has always been good, and always will be good." I made direct eye contact with Dimitri as I said this.

"Is it Uncle Christian?" Adrienne asked. Dimitri frowned, looking down. Jeremy scowled. He didn't like the idea of Aunt Lissa's husband being mean.

"No, Adrienne."

"Then who is it?" Jeremy asked.

I didn't say anything, but lifted my gaze to look at Dimitri. At my husband, at their father. Slowly, they followed my gaze. When all of them were looking at Dimitri, Adrienne let out an "eep" and ran to my side. Dimitri's face was stone cold, like he'd expected it.

"Now, hold on," I said severely. Jeremy had started to scoot closer and closer to me. I started to stand, but Adrienne already saw where I was headed with this.

"No, Mommy, don't!" she said, tugging on my arm. "He's mean."

"No, he isn't." Gently, I pulled my arm out of her grasp. I sat next to Dimitri on Adrienne's bed, and hugged him. "Dimitri, it's okay. You remember what Liss was like when we told her. You remember what Christian was like when we told him. This is just like that."

"But it's not, Rose," he argued. "These are my children. I've known them for seven years. You said – you promised that they wouldn't be like this."

"Dimitri," I said, my voice choked up with emotion. "They will get over this. It won't take long. I promise. You can't... you can't just give up. Not like this."

He glanced at me and sighed.

"Momma," Sabrina asked softly.

"Yes?"

"Why do you love him?" she asked. To me, it was an extremely mature question for a seven-year-old.

"Because he isn't mean, like you guys think he is. I said that he was the only good one I knew, didn't I?" They nodded hesitantly.

"But he couldn't have always been like this," Jeremy pointed out rationally.

I shook my head. "Seven years ago – a few months before you all were born. I loved him before then."

"But why, Mommy?" Adrienne persisted.

I smiled. "Because I knew that he was nice. He was the one person who never let me down – when Aunt Lissa wasn't there for me, your daddy was."

They gasped in astonishment. They hadn't thought that it was possible for Aunt Lissa to let anyone down.

Adrienne took the first few cautious steps forward. "I think you're nice, too," she announced. She – without any assistance from him – put herself onto his lap. She hugged him softly for a minute. He glanced over at me.

"They have to hear it rationally," I whispered.

Hesitantly, he hugged her back. "I'm sorry, Adrienne. I'm so sorry. I wish I could've told you earlier. We didn't think you'd understand," he whispered.

"It's okay, Daddy," she said, looking up, tears in her eyes. "I understand."

"Me, too," Jeremy said, moving forward to sit next to him. Dimitri lightly kissed his forehead.

So Sabrina was left by herself, debating, wondering in her head whether or not Daddy really was mean.

"Are you coming, Sabrina?" I asked. She slowly moved forward and crawled into my lap.

"I guess if Mommy says it's okay, then it's okay," she admitted.

Suddenly, Adrienne touched the back of my neck. "Momma? What are these?"

I smiled. "Those are called molnjia marks. They're tattoos. For each Strigoi you kill, you get one."

"So you got... two?" Sabrina guessed.

Dimitri laughed. They all turned toward him. "No," he said gently. "She got about thirty." Their awed glances went from me to him and back to me.

"Your daddy got some, too," I reminded them.

They looked at his neck, where there were seven little marks.

"Seven?" Adrienne guessed. He nodded solemnly.

"Technically, he killed about as many as I did. When we were at school, there was an attack. Nobody saw it coming. Your daddy stayed by himself while I ran to go tell the other guardians what was happening. We were almost done. We had gone after some hostages. We only had about fifteen feet left until we got outside." I dropped my voice to a whisper. "We thought we were free. . . . He never saw it coming."

Their gazes all turned grave. "I'm sorry, Daddy!" Adrienne wailed, throwing her arms around him.

"So why do the Strigoi kill the Moroi?" Jeremy asked.

"For blood." It was said simply by both Dimitri and me.

Jeremy thought that one through. "Wouldn't you need blood, then?" Sabrina asked.

I nodded. "He does. And he gets it without hurting anyone."

"How?" Adrienne asked.

I glanced at Dimitri nervously. He shrugged. We might as well show them.

"From me. Speaking of which," I added slyly, "it's that time of the week."

Dimitri groaned but stood up without a complaint.

"Where are you going?" Adrienne demanded.

I grinned. "It's dinner time for Daddy."

"Can we watch?" Jeremy asked.

I froze and looked at him. Didn't see that one coming. "Dimitri?" I questioned.

He just shrugged. "If they want to."

We led the way into our bedroom, making sure they were following us. I squeezed Dimitri's hand.

I turned to my kids. Adrienne and Jeremy looked excited, and Sabrina looked scared.

I held Dimitri's hand. This had to be hard for him.

"I'm not going to tell you that you shouldn't be scared of a Strigoi, because most of them are scary. Except for Daddy. Most of them will kill you within seconds. Daddy doesn't do that." I squeezed his hand reassuringly.

I nodded at Dimitri. "Come on, Dimitri. Show them your fangs."

We both crouched down to their level, and his fangs appeared.

"Wow," Adrienne breathed.

Jeremy was speechless.

When it was Sabrina's turn, she just turned away from him.

I hugged her. "Sabrina, it's nothing to worry about. You guys know Aunt Lissa?" They all nodded. "She has fangs."

"Does not!" Jeremy replied indignantly.

I smiled. "Yes, she does, Jeremy. I've seen them. So does Uncle Christian, and so will Andre when he gets old enough."

Dimitri stood up, and I stood up with him.

"You all have to be very quiet," I warned. "Daddy is good, but when he's feeding, he has to concentrate. You must be very still, and very, very quiet. Do you understand?" I had to make them understand. The call of blood was almost irresistible to him. He needed all the focus he could get.

Adrienne and Jeremy nodded. Sabrina trembled. I stooped to her level again.

"Sabrina, Daddy won't hurt Mommy. This has been going on for years. It's happened once a week since before you were born. Daddy won't hurt Mommy, I promise."

She glanced at me, tears in her eyes. I hugged her.

When I stood back up, she started to tremble again. Adrienne and Jeremy pulled her into their arms. She had been standing off to the side, but now she was in the middle of them.

"It's okay, Sabrina," Adrienne said, holding her shoulder.

Jeremy nodded, agreeing. Sabrina took an uncertain breath and nodded.

I, in turn, nodded at Dimitri.

He couldn't bear to look at them. He kept his eyes focused on my neck, as usual.

Fangs sank into my neck, and, in the background, I heard a low gasp. Dimitri swallowed, and pulled back, smiling triumphantly.

Adrienne ran up to him. "That was so . . . cool," she said, her eyes sparkling.

Jeremy was next. He walked warily up toward his father, but when he saw that the fangs were gone, he eased up some.

"Adrienne's right," he whispered. "That was cool."

And Sabrina – Sabrina was nowhere to be seen.

I figured she was in her room, and I was right. She was crying.

"Sabrina, baby, what is it?" I asked tenderly, coming to sit next to her.

"He bit you. He has fangs, like a snake," she whispered.

"Oh, honey," I said, shaking my head. "Think about this for a minute – do you think that this might just be hard on him too? Do you think he wants to be like this? You think he wants to scare you and your siblings?"

She thought. "No," she answered finally.

"You're right. He doesn't. If I had let him have his way, you wouldn't know Daddy ever existed. He didn't want to be a monster, but I made him stay. For us. For you, Adrienne, and Jeremy."

"He wasn't gonna stay?"

"He didn't want to scare you, but I told him that you guys would be so proud of him. I told him that you'd know that he was doing the right thing in not being a monster."

"I do know," she eventually said. "I just didn't think anything of it. He didn't eat, the red eyes, he wouldn't go into the sun – it all seems so simple now. It was right there in front of me, and I didn't see it coming."

Again, she sounded very mature when she said all of this out loud.

"So do you think you can give him a chance? I know it's hard to believe, but trust me when I say this – Daddy would die for you, Adrienne, and Jeremy."

"I know." She thought for a moment. "Okay. I wanna go see Daddy."

I smiled at her. "Good girl. We always give other people chances."

She nodded and ran to go find Dimitri. When I found them, Dimitri had his arms wrapped around Sabrina tightly, whispering apology after apology into her hair. He glanced up and mouthed, Thank you, before burying his face in her hair again.


Aaaaawwww... So the secret finally came out. Like it? Review. The triplets want love. :D

Reviews? Please?

- J.C.