Page 47 of Midnight Whispers

“You know what the Counsel will require of you.”

“Yes.”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Flora snaps. “Can everyonepleasetalk as if I have no fucking idea what you’re talking about so cryptically? Because I don’t. So, fill me in.”

Asher and I look at one another, speaking without words by just the looks in our eyes.

“You’re right, Kitten.” He sighs. “Please sit down.” Flora and I walk around the long side of the couch and sit down in separate spots. I sit next to Ash, and she sits on the side diagonally from us.

“This isn’t the way I wanted you to learn about me, but I fear we don’t have any other option with the given circumstances.”

“We are vampires,” I interject. “Asher is my maker, not my cousin.”

Flora snickers and rolls her eyes. “Shut the fuck up.”

My voice is a whisper as I stress, “We are quite serious.” Asher elongates his fangs.

“What the hell!” Flora jumps back some, covering her chest with her hand. “No, no, no. Vampires aren’t even real.”

“But we are very real and sitting right in front of you,” I responded.

“So, this Cedar guy is, like, one of your enemies then?”

“Something like that, yes.”

She looks at me. “And you're going to kill him?”

“Yes,” I answeredfirmly.

“What is the Counsel Asher mentioned?”

“They are our equivalent to the human government. There’s the main Counsel and sub Counsels, but killing another vampire is considered one of the highest offenses so I will be sat in front of the main Counsel,” Asher explains calmly.

Flora turns back to me with concern in her eyes. “What will happen to you?”

“I will have to make another vampire.”

“And you don’t want to do that?”

“I’ve had to do it before, and Cedar had him murdered. I never wanted to go through that pain again. So, no I don’t want to do that.”

“But you’re willing to do it anyways?” She arches her brow.

“I will doanythingfor Lillia.”

“Does she know… What you are?”

I nod. “She does.”

“And she’s just like,oh cool, you’re a fucking vampire?!”

I can’t help but chuckle. “I mean I don’t think it’s like that, but yes,

she’s accepting.”

“Her dad always thought supernatural shit existed. That’s probably why she was so understanding andaccepting.” She gasps. “You’ve drank her blood, haven’t you?” she asked me.

Asher frowns. “Kitten, that’s a very private thing to just ask.”