Chapter Sixteen

"Uncle Lance." Collie St. John has been moping around the country house all weekend. She really wanted nothing more than to head off to school and never have to think about these pesky problems again. But she figured she should let her host in on what was going on just in case he had a better solution than to kill them.

"Niece, you say you're confused about what to eat now after these dreams which felt real? Blood makes you sick?"

"Well, I am semi mortal, since Mom is human, but come to think of it she is hybrid, too, isn't she, since Grandpa Joseph – your Uncle – was a vampire who'd taken the compound, right? Mom has never craved blood nor has Elliott. So maybe I'm changing into a human? All I know is that drinking blood makes me vomit – ah, sorry, nauseated – whereas the smells and oh, the tastes, of fruit and vegetables, and roasted meat are incredible."

"This is fascinating, ma cher. It has been such a long time ago since I was mortal that I cannot remember flavors."

"When was the last time, Uncle Lance?"

"1793. The bloody vampire genocide peasants called The Reign of Terror during La Revolution. Mon freres, ah, brothers and sister …"

"Aunt Coraline?"

"Yes, we were running for our lives. Thankfully, one of our brothers was an amateur botanist before his turning. He had met with the locals and gone into the woods many a day searching out unusual plants."

"He discovered the mortal cure?"

"Oui, a bit of sorcery involved in that. Seems as if one of our servants, Marie Davidandous, bewitched my brother and took him into the woods one evening. After making love, she gave him this small tin and told him how to use it."

"Was she human or vampire, Uncle? And did she know what was coming?"

"She was human but she had been what your Uncle Josef would call a "freshie". She willingly gave her blood and body to him. And yes, I believe she did. She was known for having the "sight". Very beautiful amethyst eyes."

"What happened to her? Did she escape, too?"

"No. She turned on us, on me."

"Oh, no, what happened?" It was obvious to Collie that Lance had not spoken of these things for a very long time, but that in some strange way, he needed to tell this story.

"My brother, while human, fathered a child with her. She did not want him to leave her. She turned on me, with a small knife. I had taken the cure and was defenseless. I barely escaped with my life but my eye … when I re-turned, it did not heal."

Collie has gone very quiet. So that's how Uncle Lance got that black eye. And his wrath must have been something against them.

"Tell me again, this time in as great a detail as you can, what happened that day at Montmarte! Everything, niece, from the beginning."