Abby still fidgeted with things on the table as if she hadn't heard me so I asked again, "Are you okay, Ab?" I reached out and touched her hand and her eyes snapped to mine.

"I'm sorry, what?" she asked.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she answered as she resumed.

"You're worried about Leon, aren't you?" I asked.

At that she stopped and looked up at me. I could see it in her eyes and knew before she even said it, "Yeah."

"Have you had a chance to talk to him about the other day?" I asked.

She lowered her eyes. "No, he won't talk to me. He won't talk to anyone."

I lifted her face to look into her eyes, "everything will be okay," I rea.s.sured her quietly.

"I know," she said as I kissed her cheek. Just then, the doorbell rang and she pulled away smiling. "Thank you, I needed that," she whispered then ran to the door. I watched as her long ponytail swung from side to side as she nearly skipped into the house.

"Is she okay?" Lothair asked me as he and Casimir walked over to me.

"Yeah, I think so " I answered. "She's worried about Leon. Has he talked to either of you since the whole Edward thing?" I asked.

"Not at all," Casimir answered.

"Nada," Lothair chimed.

"Leon's like that, though, he needs time to deal with things. He's a brooder. He doesn't talk to anyone as he broods over whatever it is that has upset him. Hence the running off when he found out about Darin. He deals with things alone," Casimir explained.

"True," I replied, "But shouldn't he be happy about the prophecy? He regains his humanity instead of dying. Or shouldn't the two at least cancel each other out?" I asked.

"Not in Leon's eyes. He always addresses the bad before the good. Once he is done brooding about what happened with Edward, he'll s.h.i.+ft to the great news and celebrate with us," Casimir answered.

"Ok," I remarked as Abby came back out with my parents, Aunt Denise and Uncle Leiman. Mom smiled at me, as she always did and Aunt Denise hugged me firmly. "Hi, Aunt Denise, how are you doing?" I asked as she pulled away.

"I'm good. I'm glad to see you two," she said.

"As we are glad to see you, too," Abby chimed.

The doorbell rang again and Abby ran to answer it. Everyone was welcoming everyone, greeting one another hugging or shaking hands, as Abby came back with her arm locked with Veda's. Mitch.e.l.l was right behind them as they walked through the back door.

The greetings started over again as everyone that was here had all met before. Veda looked around, then at Abby. "So we have Kethra, a Krznik and a lycan but still no vampire?" Veda asked. She was dying to meet a vampire face to face. She had missed the guys the last time she was here. That was shortly after we cleared the air and Leon left, while Casimir and Lothair were out and about, so Veda still hadn't met him or any of the others, yet. In meeting Casimir, Veda looked up at him and I saw her furrow her eyebrows as if some recognition had registered in her mind. Then it was gone.

"They should be back soon enough. Then we will be crawling with vampire," Abby replied with a laugh.

"They? How many vampires are going to be here?" Veda asked and Aunt Denise gasped.

"There are seven of them, but they are all vegan. That is actually what they are doing right now, hunting. That way, they don't feel any temptation with so much fresh blood," Abby giggled as she walked over to Aunt Denise. "They are good people, Denise. All of them," she rea.s.sured her.

"I'll take your word for it," Aunt Denise remarked.

"Oh my G.o.d, did you hear that, Mitch.e.l.l? Seven vampires!" Veda was excited again. She was normally a bit bubbly all of the time but if you started talking about vampire, she would bubble over with joy.

"Yeah, as soon as they get back, I will introduce you." Abby said to both Veda and Denise.

"Who are the other six?" Mom asked.

"Some really good friends of mine, Silas, among them is the man that revitalized my faith in mankind. He's a very compa.s.sionate person, even when he was human. Aaron is a young man that he had turned early in the twentieth century. He's a good fighter and a great person. The others you will meet when they get here but they are family," Abby explained.

We all started to the table when Abby stopped and looked out over the cliff. "Well, you won't have to wait much longer to meet them because they are on their way," she laughed and continued to the table.

"Really?!" Veda was excited again.

Just then, Leon was at the cliff side smiling, Aaron right behind him. "Told you, I'd beat you," Leon laughed and Aaron shook his head.

"But I should be faster, I'm younger," Aaron said.

"Yeah, well, sometimes age can work in your favor when you're immortal," Leon chuckled.

Aaron laughed back saying, "True, you got me there, Old Man." We all couldn't help but laugh at Aaron's banter.

The others were here as well by the time we all stopped laughing. Abby stood up and strolled to Silas as I stayed next to my mom at the table. "Veda, everyone, meet Silas and his wife, Myla, Aaron and his wife, Allison, this is Kyra and Keegan. And Veda, this is Leon," she paused then continued. "Guys, this is Veda, my best friend and her husband, Mitch.e.l.l. That is Aiden and Liza, Adam's parents and Leiman and Denise, who are my late husband's parents, though now I just refer to them as mine." She chuckled and everyone nodded and smiled except Veda.

Veda was looking at them all questioningly. Her brows were furrowed as she looked at Leon. Her smile was gone and her lips were now pursed in contemplation.

"Excuse, Veda. She loves vampire, Hollywood vampire, I should say. She's never actually seen one in reality. Veda? Are you okay?" Abby explained and asked.

"This is so weird," Veda started and looked at Abby. "You're a Kethra, not vampire, though you look like a vampire. Then they're vampire and they look totally normal. Do you like s.h.i.+ft when you attack?" she asked toward the lot of them.

"No," Leon answered, "We just look like this," Leon pulled back his upper lip to show his teeth. "Not like in the movies. Actually, Hollywood vampires resemble Kethra more than vampire," he laughed.

"That is so weird. So are there any truths to Hollywood vampire? Obviously, the fangs are wrong, along with the whole vampires burn in the sun," she motioned to the beautifully clear sunny sky.

"Not many," Abby put in, "they don't sleep in coffins, they don't transform into bats, they don't burn in the sun, obviously, garlic doesn't hurt them, actually it can help them."

"As long as you can get past the smell," Leon laughed.

"How is that?" Veda asked.

"Well," Abby started, "vampires are undead. They have no heartbeat, no circulation of their blood. As it stagnates it dies and coagulates in their veins thus they must feed on blood to replenish it. Garlic is a blood thinner. If a vampire cannot get enough fresh blood but need a fix, they can drink a small mug of blood and put some garlic powder in to thin their blood. Keeping it from coagulation and clotting so quickly," Abby paused.

"I didn't know that," Kyra piped in.

"Yeah, but the smell will knock you out if you're not careful," Leon laughed.

"Cool, what else?" Veda asked, "so they don't sleep in coffins."

"No, we don't really sleep very often," Aaron replied.

"You don't turn into bats."

"No, only Markus, the creator, has the ability to sp.a.w.n wings," Casimir said.

"You don't burn in daylight," Veda stated.

"Nope, but you can nearly see a s.h.i.+mmery glow to them in the sun," Abby said.

"Yeah, it makes you look like perfect porcelain dolls," Veda giggled. "What about crosses?"

"Depends," Leon answered.

The others looked at him except for Silas. "It depends on what the cross symbolizes to you. If you were never a religious person then it does nothing, but…" Silas paused and pulled his s.h.i.+rt open revealing his chest. "If you were a very religious person in your mortal life then it will burn into your flesh." There, on Silas' chest was a large, perfect shape of a cross. Silas apparently had been very religious in his mortal life.

Almost in response to my own question Abby added, "Silas was the son of a Puritan preacher. Thus he was raised in a very religious house and a cross stands for pure good in his eyes. But Leon here is Greek, his family wors.h.i.+ped the Greek G.o.ds and there was no cross symbolizing good so the cross doesn't affect him," she finished and it all really did make sense.

Veda took this all in and thought about it, "okay, what about the whole stake through the heart bit? Does that kill a vampire?"

"No, a vampire can survive a stake through the heart. Now if you were to remove the heart or brain, as in decapitate a vampire, then that will kill them. Then you burn them," Abby answered.

"Why burn them?" Veda asked.

"To dispose of the existence of vampire, I think that's where the whole burst into flames or turning to ash comes from in the movies," Abby answered.

"That would make sense. You wouldn't want the world to know those vampires actually do exist. You would have a lot of very scared people," Veda said with a shudder.

"Yeah, I know, right?" Abby said.

"So vampires don't really burst into flames, huh?" Veda asked.

"Well," Abby started and took a deep breath. "Yeah, they do. If a vampire has been bitten by or has bitten a Kethra, then they will," I knew this but I don't think any of Silas' family did. They all looked at Abby and I then looked at Silas.

"She's right. It is said, that a vampire who shall drink the blood of a Kethra shall feel the eternal flames of h.e.l.l within the belly of the beast. They will combust into flames," Silas explained.

"Yup, just poof," Abby added, "I've killed many vampires like that. I let them bite me, thinking that I am just a girl then I would sit back and watch as they burst into flames one by one."

"Now are you seeing that dislike for vampire that runs deep within her?" Leon asked. "I'll admit... I'm part of the reason that she hates us so. I…" he stopped, realizing the topic that he had almost brought up.

"Leon killed our son when he was but five years old but he didn't know any better. He was misled by another and now we have reconciled. I have forgiven him for the treachery and we are moving on," she smiled at Leon and he smiled back. "We are now closer than we have been in many, many years."

He walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her. "And thank you for your forgiveness," he said quietly.

"My G.o.d, that's what kept you two apart? That's why you hated Leon? I had no idea," Silas gasped.

"I know. No one really did," Abby admitted, "I never told anyone. Adam read it out of my diary and made me tell Leon. Then Leon disappeared for about a month while he coped with the fact."

"Yeah, it was pretty devastating to find out about my son. I didn't even know that I had had a son and then I find out that not only did I actually have a son but I was the b.a.s.t.a.r.d that killed him. I needed time to myself to deal with it. I had to go ho…" he started but stopped himself for some reason.

We were all quiet for a moment. Then Aaron looked at Leon with a confused look on his face.

"Adam, did we ever tell you about the night that I met Dru for the first time?" Mom asked.

I turned to Mom and walked over to the picnic table. Everyone else followed and sat down with me. "No, I've never heard that story," I answered.

"Do you remember the first night we met?" Mom asked.

"Oh, yeah, how could I forget?" Abby laughed.

"Why? What happened?" I asked.

"Well, Aiden told your grandparents and me that Liza was coming over for dinner. He told us all to behave," Abby started and laughed. "We all looked around at each other as if it were all a joke. When Aiden arrived with Liza, we all acted civil and polite. He introduced us all to her and her to us, without explaining what we all really were. She looked strangely at Lena and I, naturally."

"Well, I'd never seen a same s.e.x couple," Mom chimed in, "Back then it wasn't something you saw every day."

"Yeah, I know, but dinner was ready and that is when things got weird. Lena, Cas and I were all sitting with plates of food in front of us like we were normal," she huffed. "But Lothair had just a b.l.o.o.d.y, rare steak with nothing else. Leon, of course, had only his mug of red soup," Abby explained and raised he eyebrows, laughing. "Liza kept looking at Leon with narrowed eyes and I knew that she was catching on. She knew that there was something different about us," Abby laughed, again.

"Yeah, then I got the guts to just ask," Mom stated.

"She looks straight at Leon and says, 'Excuse me, Leon, but what exactly are you drinking? Why is it blood red? And, Lothair, why aren't you eating anything but an extremely rare steak?" Abby stopped and looked at Mom. "We were all trying to figure out how to explain without scaring her off."

"Then, after a moment, I figured, 'What the h.e.l.l, if she really wants to be with me and it is really meant to be then she should know,' so I tried to explain," Dad said.

"He tried and failed," Mom stated, "I was completely lost," she laughed and Dad shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah, she was totally lost, so I took over and started again. I explained who and what each of us was. I explained that we weren't bad people, that we protected the Garrett's. After everything was out in the open, I sat and waited for Liza's reaction, to see if she had any questions. But she didn't say anything; instead, she stood up, thanked everyone for dinner and walked outside. She didn't say anything to anyone. There was no expression to her face as she walked out or anything," Abby stopped and looked at Mom with a smile. "After a minute or so, I decided that maybe Lena, our secret weapon, should try to talk to her. Lena was always so good at explaining things. She always knew the words to say to fix it. She walked outside to find Liza."

"And she found me; I didn't even make it off of the porch. I didn't want to leave Aiden. I knew that Dru and the others were good, I could sense it. But at the same time, I didn't really know how to take it all," Mom explained. "Lena found me on the front porch and began to talk to me. She asked me if I had any question and of course, I did. I started with easy questions that just verified what Aiden, Dru and Lena had all just told me. I sat silent just staring at the ground, letting the tumblers in my mind click into place. Lena sat quietly beside me as I thought, then what snapped everything into place was Lena reaching over and taking my hand. She was so gentle, so sweet, so…" Mom paused for a moment. "She was so caring. I knew that what they all said was true. How could a woman as caring and sweet be bad? There was no way that she would hurt anyone.

"I looked into her eyes and knew that this," Mom stopped and looked around at everyone. "This was my new family," she smiled and looked at Abby.

"But of course, that wasn't the end of the night. While Lena and Liza were out on the porch talking, there were a few wondering vampires that had spotted them," Abby stated.

"Yeah, I didn't know what they were. I just saw a few guys walking into the yard. Lena jumped up and pushed me toward the door. We were backing up, when Dru came out of the door, her red hair s.h.i.+ning and curly. She told us to go inside and we did but I didn't close the door. I wanted to see it. I wanted to see what Dru really was," Mom finished.

"She did, but I was, too, preoccupied to care," Abby started. "I fought them and one got my arm. It sunk its teeth into me and naturally my fangs came out. I looked at Liza after I had killed them all with my fangs still out and told her, 'I'm not a monster, don't fear me. Those things were the monsters, not I.' Liza stood with her eyes wide and her mouth gaped open for a moment. Lena touched her shoulder and had her fangs out. When Liza saw that Lena; kind, gentle, caring Lena; was just like me, she calmed."

"After that," Mom interrupted, "I wasn't afraid. I loved my strange new family."

"And we love you," Casimir said. One by one everyone nodded in agreement, Lothair, Leon and Abby.

"And as for the rest of you," Mom continued, "welcome, to the family." She smiled and everyone else smiled back.

"Our big strange, a bit disfunctioal but awesome family," Abby added.

We truly were a strange family. Looking around proved it, Vampires, a Kethra, a Lycan, Humans and a Krznik, definitely strange.

"Hey, Abby, have you seen anymore of Laylan?" Veda asked.

"Laylan?" Leon asked surprised.

"Yeah, a woman or G.o.ddess named Laylan," I replied. I looked at Abby and she looked at Veda.

"No, not really, not since I remembered who I am. I haven't really even talked about her," Abby answered as she gazed around the circle. Leon was the most intrigued by the mention of Laylan, though I didn't know why.

"What do you know about Laylan?" Leon asked.

"Well, she's a G.o.ddess with a blue eye and a green eye that I have seen, my whole life, well, from time to time, at least since I've been Abby. I know that she is the daughter of the Sun G.o.d and Moon G.o.ddess of the Pagan religion. She was born of a red tipped white rose that floated to the sh.o.r.es of Beskal, her home. She was taught by elves in logic and combat. Her teachers were Greagan, leader of the elves and his wife Gomorrah. Their son, Luca.s.sius, was Laylan's sparring partner and best friend next to Artimous, the talking…" Abby stopped looking around at everyone but gazing at Leon. "You know, just silliness, dreams of an overactive imagination," She laughed.

"How do you know they were just dreams?" Leon asked.

"Because, that would be crazy," Abby replied sternly.

"Crazy for her to exist? Or crazy to know everything about her?" Leon questioned.

"I don't know. Both! It's crazy to even think about it being anything but a dream! Why don't we just drop it," Abby said.

"No," Leon said quietly.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, no, I will not drop it."

"Yes," Abby stood, never taking her eyes from him. "Yes, you will. Unless you have something to add. Do you?"

He stood, gazing back into her eyes. "Why didn't you tell me about her?"

"Tell you what? That I used to have dreams of some nonexistent G.o.ddess. That for a long while there, I thought I was going crazy? I started seeing stuff everywhere I went. Things just didn't make sense anymore. Then one night, I not only lost my husband, but I saw it happen. I saw who did it. How she did it. And then woke up to find that it hadn't been a dream at all." Tears streamed down her face as the shock of what she was saying struck everyone. I jumped up and wrapped my arms around her and she buried her face into my chest, sobbing.

"What?" Aunt Denise whispered.

"A vampire," I replied, "a blond vampire who has the ability to inflict pain with a single word."

"Ailia," Silas whispered.

"What?" Abby asked as she emerged from my chest. "Who is Ailia?"

"The blond with the ability to cripple anyone with a thought, she's very powerful," Silas explained.

"Ailia? Abby, why didn't you tell us this?" Aunt Denise stood with tears in her eyes.

"Denise, Leiman, if I were to have come to you and told you that I had dreamed of Josh's death, the night it happened, would you have believed me? If I had told you that a vampire had killed him, would you have believed me? I didn't even believe me. Not until my birthday when I realized or rather remembered that they do exist. But I still had no answer as to who, until now," Abby explained.

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"I…I guess you're right. We probably wouldn't have believed you until your birthday."

"But I promise you one thing, Denise. I will kill her myself. After I finish with Markus, Cain and Rurik, I will hunt her down and kill her. I will avenge Josh," Abby said vindictively and Aunt Denise nodded.

"Rurik? Who's Rurik?" Veda asked.

Suddenly, Abby gasped, grabbing her head and fell to her knees. We all stopped and looked at her as she bent over with her head on the ground. She was groaning now and I knelt next to her. I touched her shoulder and she jerked away from my touch. "Don't… touch… me…" was all I heard amidst the groaning. I moved back some to give her s.p.a.ce. Then she stopped moaning and a quiet sob came from her.

"Abby?" I asked. I was scared.

"Rurik," she mumbled and the sobs stopped. "Rurik," she said again, this time anger lining her voice. She sat back on her heels and looked at me. She was rubbing her wrists with her hands as if she were trying to message a cramp.

She looked up at Silas and said, "Rurik, Rurik was the b.a.s.t.a.r.d that killed Lena and me."