Immortals After Dark 12 - Lothaire

Each of the Valkyries was eccentric in her own
way, from the vacant-eyed Nïx to the daunting Cara—who was part
Fury, a breed of warrior females that even the Valkyries gave a wide
berth.
    Though many of the dozens who lived at Val Hall were wary of Ellie’s vampirism, she thought she was growing on them. When they forgot themselves, the Valkyries were kind of fun.
    They were all half sisters, basically a big family unit, with all that came with a family of this size—feuds, cussing matches, favoritism, and unwavering loyalty.
    In a way, Ellie was right at home here.
    She sighed. But she still missed her own friends—Balery and Thad—and her own family. . . .
    Ellie’s gaze dropped to the couch, to Regin’s forgotten cell phone . Her eyes went wide. After ten days of browbeating her captors to let her make a call, Ellie still hadn’t persuaded them.
    As carefully as she would cradle an egg, Ellie collected the phone. Did she dare call her family, let them know she was alive?
    She’d just started talking herself out of it when she realized she at least had to tell them they could safely come out of hiding now.
    Besides, she still refused to accept that she couldn’t see them, that she’d never return to her mountain.
    Though she understood Lothaire’s caution about mixing immortal strength with human frailty—Vampirellie never met a doorknob she didn’t break—she believed she could train herself to control her strength.
    And what of the warning that she should never needlessly reveal the Lore to humans? Well, her family had had their blinders pulled off long before now. First with Saroya, and then with Lothaire.
    If the gods wanted to punish Ellie, she’d remind them that hosting Saroya in her body for six years was time fucking served .
    On that thought, she dialed her mother’s cell. “Mama? It’s me. Ellie.”
    “Oh, Lord Jesus in heaven, I knew you wasn’t dead! They told us you’d been shot in some prison escape, but I knew you still lived! Why ain’t you come home?”
    Ellie could hear the bafflement in her mother’s tone, understood it. If she was alive and out of jail, then she ought to be home—end of story. “I will in the future. Sometime. But it’s . . . complicated, Mama. And really hard to believe.”
    “Well, let me see if I can’t keep up and keep my eyes in my head.”
    Where to begin? So much had happened. How much should she reveal to her mother? “First, tell me how Josh is doing.”
    “Josh is getting even more rambunctious, unruly, and willful, so naturally the family’s proud as all get out—”
    Valkyrie shrieks sounded in the next room.
    Mama cried, “What in the hell was that?”
    “The TV! Let me turn it down.” She sped to the door, closing it and locking it—by breaking the knob. Shit. “How’s everyone else doing? How about you?”
    “Oh, honey, we’re all managing just fine,” she said brightly. Too brightly.
    “Tell me how bad it is, Mama.”
    An exhalation into the phone. “We’re scraping together mortgage payments each month, but Va-Co’s holding our feet to the fire, girl.”
    Ellie’s fangs sharpened, violence simmering inside her.
    “All our men are back in the mine.”
    “ What? But they swore they were done with that. What about Ephraim’s store?”
    “In this economy? All closed down. It was either the mine, or we’d lose the mountain. Most of your cousins are just happy for the work.”
    “I’m gonna figure out a way to send you money, okay?”
    “Ellie, just tell me about you. Start from the beginning.”
    She nibbled her lip. “Remember that red-eyed demon everybody saw that night?”
    “The one we’re hidin’ out from? The Mothman?”
    “That’d be him. Only he’s not a demon or Mothman, and you don’t have to hide any longer. He’ll never hurt you.” Lothaire could never break his vow not to harm her family—she’d seen firsthand how binding those vows were.
    “Then what is he?”
    After a hesitation, Ellie admitted, “He’s a vampire. He’s the one that broke me out of prison. His name’s Lothaire Daciano.” Merely saying his name brought on a pang. You took my name the instant I claimed you. . . .
    Mama sputtered, “V-vampire? Oh, Ellie, you’re about to give me a heart attack. Are you sure?”
    “I’m sure—I’ve seen him drink blood.”
    “Jesus! Did this . . . vampire hurt you? Are you with him now?”
    “He came to be protective of me, took me traveling over the whole world. He’d