When pureblood vampire Rose Mcnoxnoctis adopts a human baby orphaned in a car crash, her family and friends are sure she’s lost her mind. Little Eleanor grows up surrounded by danger, her sweet-smelling blood a temptation to those who love her most and a lure to those intent on her death. But unknown to the powerful monsters who lust for her blood, Eleanor carries a secret destined to transform vampire society forever…
Age Rating: 18+
Raised by Vampires by Sarah Jamet is now available to read on the Galatea app! Read the first two chapters below, or download Galatea for the full experience.
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When pureblood vampire Rose Mcnoxnoctis adopts a human baby orphaned in a car crash, her family and friends are sure she’s lost her mind. Little Eleanor grows up surrounded by danger, her sweet-smelling blood a temptation to those who love her most and a lure to those intent on her death. But unknown to the powerful monsters who lust for her blood, Eleanor carries a secret destined to transform vampire society forever…
Age Rating: 18+
Original Author: Sarah Jamet
I stared out the stained-glass window. After the avalanche, the earth was still, and the air was silent. Everything was white, the sky, the land, and the horizon.
The moonlight shone through the thick clouds making the fresh snow sparkle like a thousand diamonds encrusted onto the earth’s surface.
There was no movement across the barren land, no sound. Everything had been buried.
I moved away from the window, bending down to pull my thick brown boots on over my bare feet, tucking the ends of my cotton trousers in.
I tied the laces then straightened up, adjusting my black cotton blouse.
I walked toward the two large cathedral doors ornamented with gold and jewels. Pushing the strands of my long hair out of my eyes, I pushed on one of the doors lightly with my finger.
It swung open, slamming against the side of the cathedral. I heard voices of complaint farther back in the cathedral.
I stepped outside onto the virgin snow. It cracked sweetly under my steps. The air was frigid, but the cold didn’t bother me.
I slipped into the night, closing the door behind me, racing across the white landscape.
The land around me had been lashed with the wind, and the trees were bent toward me, heavy with snow and broken branches.
“Hello, Mother.” I heard a deep voice.
I whipped around. Aric was standing behind me, a slight Arctic wind ruffled over his bare chest, but didn’t raise any goosebumps.
He gave me a small smile.
“I’m an engineer,” he told me as he held out a paper diploma. “Actually, I’m a doctor.” His smile widened. I chuckled lightly, examining the diploma.
“Again,” I breathed, handing the diploma back to my son. “Well done.”
“Thanks.” He shoved it into his back pocket then glanced around the tundra. He sniffed the air, then frowned at me.
“It was a heavy avalanche. I can’t smell any sort of prey,” he told me, pushing his hair out of his eyes.
“I know,” I glanced around with him, sniffing the air, only snow. “I’m going to have to go pretty far to find something that hasn’t been buried.”
“I can come with you if you like. I haven’t fed in a week,” he offered. His bright blue eyes sparkled. I smiled, shaking my head.
“No, you go show your father your diploma and your grandmother. I’m sure she’ll be proud. You know she has no idea what an engineer does this century. I’ll be back soon with lunch,” I answered.
Aric hesitated, then nodded obediently.
“Okay. Good hunting, Mother,” he gave me a small smile, then turned and disappeared into the white landscape. I could only just hear the slamming of the heavy cathedral doors behind him.
Alone again, I slipped away, heading south through the small valley, sniffing the air for prey.
Every so often, I came across a frozen rabbit or a moose cub, but they were frozen through. Their blood was too full of water to be any sort of nourishment.
I soon found myself by the highway. The scent of cold tar and gasoline hovered on the wind. As I approached, I noticed the road was covered in snow, a thinner layer, the end of the avalanche.
I stepped out onto the road, shuffling my feet through the snow. The high bluffs on each side of the road were coated in thick snow, and the trees had crashed down onto the road.
I peered into the distance, a mile away maybe, was a large truck, on its side, in the middle of the road—a tragedy for humans, possibly warm blood for me.
I was at the truck in seconds, ripping the yellow door off. I could smell warm blood, not quite frozen through.
As I started digging through the snow filling the front seat, I heard a small thumping, a fluttering, and the distinct scent of fresh, young blood.
My throat burned, filling my body with heat, I felt my muscles tighten. I let the pounding heart fill my mind. My movements cleared the front seat in seconds.
Two corpses, a couple, young, frozen. The closest to me was a man. His brown eyes were wide, unseeing and his expression showed worry, more than fear.
His blond hair was frozen against his sheet white skin. The thudding wasn’t coming from him, but I could smell the blood in his body.
His head was split open, and the blood had dried and frozen on his forehead. I picked up his wrist. There was no pulse. His blood was cold.
I moved my lips over his vein and slowly opened my mouth, pressing my fangs against his skin. It popped open, and I pushed my tongue into the wound, warming the blood and sucking it up into my body.
It tasted bitter and watery. I drank my fill, then slipped onto his lap facing the dead woman whose forehead was also cracked open with the impact.
Her face was cold, dark, her eyes squeezed shut. She was hunched over, wrapping her arms around a small shape. Curiously, I pulled her arms away. They snapped off in my hands.
Scowling I tossed them behind me and picked up the bundle that she’d been holding.
My throat burned, aching throughout my body.
I stared at the baby in my arms. Its heart was thudding rapidly in its chest, its blood still churning in its body. It was still alive.
Despite the horrible crash, it looked unharmed. It wasn’t bleeding, only very cold. Its breath was wheezy. Its blankets were thick with snow soaking the baby to the core.
It shivered in my arms, the blankets around it shaking.
I held it up to my mouth, staring at it intensely, letting its heartbeat fill my mind and body. Its blood smelled sweet and refreshing. I closed my eyes, letting my hunter’s instincts take over completely.
It was such easy prey. I opened my mouth, hovering my fangs over its neck where I could hear its blood rushing through its veins.
I pressed my lips against the thudding vein on its neck. I was caught off guard by a very small giggle. I opened my eyes and stared at the baby in my arms.
It stared back at me and felt a small spark in my chest, a spark of warmth I hadn’t felt since Aric was cut out of me, and I first saw his face.
I kept my eyes on the baby, letting the pain in my throat dull down, and the small warmth the baby had put in my heart spread. I was suddenly overcome with an urge to protect it.
The baby blinked at me, then slowly, its face scrunched up, and warm tears rushed down its cheeks. Its cry filled my head. It seemed to echo across the mountain range.
I hugged the baby to my bosom and smoothly slipped out of the car.
I stood in the middle of the road, staring at the child in my arms, letting the freezing wind play around with my feelings.
The crying baby fidgeted and shivered, its eyes scrunched up, its face going red. I smelled the shock of blood under its crimson skin.
“I’m here. I’ve got you, baby. I’m here now. Will you stop crying for me, baby?” I asked the baby softly. I stoked my finger down her cheek lightly, breathing in her rich bloody scent.
I leaned down and pressed my lips to its forehead. When I drew back, it stopped crying. Suddenly.
The tears froze on its face, and its wide eyes stared up at me. Such a peculiar and unusual shade, forest green, flecked with blue and lined with black.
I didn’t see fear in them or sadness; I saw warmth.
The heat radiating from the baby seemed to glow, like a bright flame, bright as the sun, but much softer and less lethal.
“If you had been any older,” I gave it a small hint of a smile. “You wouldn’t still be alive.”
The baby blinked at me again and shivered.
I licked my lips, finally deciding that I’d have to wait yet for lunch.
I hugged the bundle of baby against my chest, shielding it from the fierce wind that had started to pick up.
Rapidly I moved back from the highway, keeping my eyes on the baby, listening to its steady, rapid heartbeat.
With the wind behind me, I moved faster. I rushed across the white valley, scanning the horizon for any movement of prey.
I stopped for a frozen rabbit. It tasted wet, so I chucked it back and moved on.
I was back at the cathedral soon after. I slowed my pace and stared down at the baby in my arms, who was looking around, with its wide, beautiful eyes.
I pushed the thick wooden doors open and entered the main hall.
It was a long room lined with thick red marble columns, stain-glass windows of Jesus and his cross.
The ceiling, arched above us, painted gold with carved in gold flowers. Four large gold chandeliers embedded with gems dangled on ten-meter length chains.
The thick beige stone walls were decorated with ancient tapestries and statues. The floor was made of antique red marble, scratched and dented.
On the second floor was a gigantic golden organ, blanketing the whole wall.
I walked across the room, my high heels clicking against the floor. To my right was a fireplace, big enough to fit four adults in standing up.
A large log was placed in the middle, and from it burned a long, thick flame that flickered and warmed the room. I could feel the snow melting off my clothes and hair.
The bundle of blankets and the baby in my arms were soaked. Facing the fire was a long, thick table surrounded by richly decorated chairs.
I paused by the fire, staring at the shadows as they danced across the baby’s face. A warm light glowed from its eyes, and I smiled.
“Soon you’ll be warm and cozy,” I told it, moving toward the end of the hall, directly under the organ where the floor sloped down into a large winding staircase illuminated by red candles.
I slipped down, following the staircase to the bottom. It led into a wide chamber, richly illuminated with candles and a large fireplace.
From the room were six winding tunnels that disappeared underground. I took the one furthest to my left. The tunnel wasn’t very long. It led into a larger chamber than before.
There was a rich fire blazing in the hearth of the fireplace, three long, comfortable sofas, a thick fuzzy rug, and a glass coffee table. On each side of the chamber were three large wooden doors.
I sat down in one of the sofas and set the baby on my lap. Inside, the chamber was warm, and the baby had stopped shivering. I unraveled the blankets and tossed the soaking heap to the ground.
“A girl,” I smiled, brushing my finger against her cold stomach. “A light in all this darkness.” I continued, then held her up and pressed my lips against her cold cheeks.
“Let’s get you warm.” I smiled at her and stood up again.
The second I opened my bedroom door, my husband, Demetrius, pounced on me. He had been at the walk-in wardrobe choosing something to wear.
I just saw him turn his face to me, then suddenly he was towering over me, his arms winding around my waist.
His head lowered, and he pressed his lips against mine, running his fingers through my hair, pulling my face up to meet his, his hands grabbing my bottom.
In the heat of the moment, I almost forgot the baby girl in my arms.
Demetrius pushed away from me suddenly, his eyes blazing a brilliant crimson. He stared at the girl in my arms. His mouth hovered open, and I could see his fangs protruding.
“Is this breakfast in bed?” he asked me with a sly grin spreading over his handsome features.
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I shook my head, kicked our door closed, and marched past him.
“No, she’s not,” I answered stiffly, sitting down on our king-size bed and setting the baby down on a fluffy white pillow. Demetrius followed me, gazing hungrily at the baby.
“Then, what’s it doing here?” he asked, arching his brows at me.
I stood up slowly and moved toward the wardrobe. It was almost the size of our room. Inside, it contained all my favorite fashions pieces since 1412.
“I’m not sure yet,” I admitted, kicking my soaking boots off and tossing them next to the fire. Demetrius watched me with a frown. He stared at the baby, then back at me.
“Rose… I don’t understand. Why is this human here?” he asked.
I tugged my trousers off then my blouse and faced him.
“Because I couldn’t leave her where she was,” I paused, taking a deep breath and squaring my shoulders. “She would have died.”
Demetrius blinked at me, then tossed his head back, howling with laughter. I scowled and turned away, slipping off twenty-first-century lingerie.
I was pulling a white slip over my head when I felt Demetrius’s arms wind around my waist. He held me against his chest, grinning. His large moss green eyes were glowing.
“You brought it here because you were afraid it would die?” he chuckled, leaning down to nuzzle his face in the crook of my neck. I tried not to let lost in his soft kisses and wandering hands.
“No, Demetrius.” I paused.
“I don’t know what I’m thinking, but I know that I’m not going to let that child die. I don’t know how to explain it, but this baby needs me, and I have time, and I want to care for it.”
I glanced at the small girl, still on the pillow, shivering slightly, staring at us intently. Slowly I moved my eyes up to meet Demetrius’s.
He stared back at me in utter confusion. I could read it all over his face, his eyes, his scent even.
“But you’re the hunter, Rose, and it’s the prey. You can’t care about it,” he breathed, starting to pace across the room.
Seizing my opportunity, I grabbed a long, dark purple gown from a hanger and slipped it on over my head. It had long, thick sleeves and a gaping neckline.
I tied the laces at my back and brushed the heavy fabric out. Demetrius was still pacing, rubbing his fingers through his thick auburn hair.
“This child is light,” I told him, tiptoeing and moving my hand across one of the many top shelves in our wardrobe. I pulled out a thick pink velvet blanket. One that I had used with the twins.
“What?” Demetrius turned to me.
“Light. I can’t explain it. She’s light.”
“That… it doesn’t make sense, Rose,” he murmured.
“If you say so,” I answered simply, moving to pick up the baby. Demetrius collapsed in our richly decorated chair and watched me, scowling.
“Can’t you smell its blood? Doesn’t it make you thirsty? Are you feeling all right?” he snapped.
I picked the girl up in my arms and wrapped the velvet blanket around her small body tightly. She stopped shivering.
I could see and smell the blood rushing to her face as she warmed up. I hugged her in my arms.
“I can smell her blood. But I will not drink it,” I looked up and met my husband’s eyes, then smiled at him sweetly. “I am going to raise her!”
Before I could stop him, Demetrius was by my side, snatching the child from my arms. His eyes were bright scarlet. He bent down, ready to rip her throat out.
A jolt went through me, and I leaped on him, wrapping my legs around his waist, pressing my lips against his. His fangs sliced my lips open, and I felt my cold blood against my skin.
Right on cue, my still heart started beating, pushing my cold blood through my body pouring out of my wound.
For a second, Demetrius was still, then his eyes blazed bright crimson, and his tongue lashed out, lapping the blood from my chin.
His hands moved quickly up my body, one hand cupping my breast, the other knotted in my hair, pushing my head back so he could have better access to the blood trickling down my throat.
He let out a throaty groan, and I felt his fingers tighten in my hair. As he rained kisses down my throat, I slowly pulled the baby back into my arms, locking her in an iron grasp.
Demetrius pulled back, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. My lip was already healed, and my heart stopped beating.
He stared at me in wonder, his red eyes slowly dimming back to green. I watched his expression soften.
“I don’t understand, Rose,” he repeated.
“She needs me, and I feel I need her too,” I replied. Demetrius looked hurt. He looked away, behind me, at the closed door.
“If it’s children you want, we can have more,” he breathed, his eyes wide. He reached out to stroke my cheek lightly.
I bowed my head and moved away from him, cupping the girl’s head in my palm and gazing into her brilliant green eyes.
“No, how many more pregnancies do you think I’ll survive? I’ve already had three children, and all three of them almost drained me. Especially the twins.
“No, I don’t want to have any more children. It’s her I need. She is warmth and light.”
“Then she is the opposite of us,” Demetrius summed. When I looked at him, I could see he was getting annoyed.
“Demetrius, try to understand,” I pleaded.
“I’m having a hard time Rose,” he admitted. “You go out hunting and come back with prey that you want to raise.
“How do I understand that? Can you imagine a wolf raising a rabbit? It’s absurd. It’s wrong Rose. You have to give it up.”
“I can’t, not now. It’s too late to turn back now, Demetrius. I’m not asking for your permission,” Demetrius turned around and hissed at me.
“How long do you expect it to survive? Here?”
“I will protect her!”
“Even when you’re out hunting?”
“She will come with me. I will not let her die.”
“Until she dies of old age,” he uttered.
“I really don’t have time for this, Demetrius. My mind is made up, and unfortunately, you’re just making it easier. I have to find some food for her.” I moved past him swinging the door open.
Demetrius fumed behind me, and I could practically feel the steam coming off his furious body. I left him there and moved back into our living room. It was empty again.
I continued back down the hall to the staircase. Instead of going up, I went down the tunnel in front of me.
At the end wasn’t another living space but a chamber full of antiquities. It was all the furniture, paintings, and clothing we’d once worn, and we didn’t know what to do with centuries later.
Holding the child in one hand, I headed to the furniture, scrambling over the tables and chairs. Easily I found the crib.
It was a little over four hundred fifty years old. Demetrius had made it in five seconds flat when I first announced to him that I was carrying his son.
It was made of thick branches of solid oak and cherry wood and covered in carvings of winding veins and roses. Its rosy color was due more to the stains of blood than the cherry wood.
I picked it up with one hand and, with one breath, cleared it of all the dust.
“Let’s see if we can find any of those pretty blankets I used with the twins.” I pressed my lips together and started pushing through the large trunks of clothes.
I discovered, with a smile, the twins’ clothes when they were in their thirties. They had been the size of the child in my arms.
I picked out all the small dresses, underwear, socks, and shoes and put them all in the crib. I put the baby in the crib, too, and continued searching through the trunks.
“I still have to figure out how to feed you,” I told her, discovering a trunk of blankets. With a wide grin, I pulled out six soft blankets and walked back to the crib and leaned over.
The baby stared back at me with wide eyes. It gurgled something. I felt my heart tighten. I picked her up gently and dumped the blankets in the crib after her.
Carrying her with one hand and the crib with the other, I moved out of the tunnel.
I heard the hiss of voices above me. I tried to hear what they were saying, but they were all whispering. I moved up the stairs, listening as the voices grew louder.
I gripped the child closer to my chest when I heard my name being spoken.
When I made the last turn of the staircase, I was faced by the whole family. All of them, under the organ standing or sitting. They all stopped speaking when I appeared.
I scanned their expressions slowly.
Demetrius stood closest to the fire, his expression hard and furious. Planted by his side was his elder brother, Angus, with his thick arms crossed over his chest.
Beside him stood Aleesha, his wife, with the same expression as always, a mixture of surprise and a smirk.
I moved my gaze away from them toward the large armchair facing the fire. I couldn’t see her face, but I knew that Elizabeth, my mother-in-law, wasn’t smiling.
I turned my head slightly to the long table where my children sat. The twins, Phoenix and Venus, were both sitting in chairs, watching my every move with obvious distaste.
Aric was sitting on the table, his expression curious. He was trying to figure out my motives. Next to him sat my niece and nephew, Eloise and Jude, both wore expressions of pure boredom.
I finished moving up the stairs more slowly, meeting all of their hard gazes. I tossed my hair back smoothly and walked past them all.
Feeling their stares on my back, I set the crib down in front of the fire and knelt next to it, still gripping the child in my arms. Putting her in the crib would be a death sentence right now.
As usual, Angus was the first one to explode.
“Rose, this is unbelievable! It’s preposterous!” he hissed, storming over toward me and leaned over me, staring at the child in my arms. “What are you thinking?”
He made a grab for the child, but I spun away, leaping to my feet and hugging her to my chest.
“She’s not thinking,” Elizabeth answered.
I turned to face her slowly. The two-thousand-year-old pureblood vampire gazed back at me with her fangs bared.
“Rose, you’re not stupid. Stop this game and hand the child over,” she told me smoothly. Her voice didn’t betray her anger as her expression did. I leaned away from her shaking my head.
“No. This is not a game. This is not because I’m lonely. She needs me, and I can be here for her,” I told them all, glancing down at the child in my arms.
“Ridiculous!” Angus spat.
“Unheard of,” Phoenix added. I glanced up a locked my eyes with my daughter’s until she turned her face away, scowling.
“I’m not asking for your permission,” I reminded them all coldly, “I’m not asking for help either. For all I care, you can never speak to her. But I will raise this child as my own because right now, I need her.”
“Rose,” Demetrius took a step closer to me, his eyes filled with compassion. “I will not help you,” his expression turned hard, his voice flat. “That human is no child of mine.”
He bared his fangs, meeting my eyes. I tried to ignore the pain in my heart. I bowed my head slightly.
“I will do this alone,” I breathed.
“Mother,” my head snapped up. Aric slipped off the table smoothly and gracefully walked toward me. He faced me, staring at the child in my arms.
“She is a human Mother—not a pureblood baby, but a human. In two years, she’ll be twice her size now. In eighteen years, she’ll be your size. Eighteen years,” he winced slightly.
“Mother, what will happen when she turns fifty and looks like she could be your mother? Or when she turns eighty and could be your grandmother?
“What about when she dies, Mother? In only one hundred years?” his gaze met mine calmly. “I think that you’re making a mistake. She is not one of us. She cannot live here. She will break your heart.”
There was a long silence in the room. I blinked at my son, then stepped back.
“How can my heart break if it’s not beating?” I asked in a flat tone. Aric flinched back.
“I’m sure you can all suck it up for twenty years while I raise her, then I’ll send her off into the world, where she can get married, find a job and have children of her own.”
“And be killed by a vampire,” Angus hissed. I glared at him.
“Shut up,” I snapped venomously. Aric turned away from me slowly, shrugging one shoulder.
The only sound in the room was the slight pumping of the baby’s heart. The only scent was her overwhelming sweet blood. I knelt by the crib again, facing the fire.
“She is a beacon.” I spoke calmly. “I will name her Eleanor, light.” I smiled and hugged her to my chest. “My beautiful human daughter,” I breathed, pressing my lips to her forehead.
I heard hisses and noises of disgust. I didn’t turn. I heard footsteps walking away; Demetrius, Eloise, and Jude all marched past me, disappearing downstairs.
“Besides uh, Eleanor, did you bring any lunch home?” Aric knelt next to me, a small hint of humor playing in his voice.
“No, sorry. You’ll have to go hunting,” I replied. He turned his face to me, then leaned toward my daughter, Eleanor. He breathed in her thick bloody scent. I saw his eyes flash bright red.
“This is not going to be easy,” he warned me, taking a big step back. I could tell he was fighting not to pounce on Eleanor. “I have to go,” his voice was strained. I could smell his hunger.
He disappeared from in front of me, the heavy doors slamming in his wake.
“I always knew you were different, but I never even considered you being this different,” Elizabeth told me, standing up smoothly and disappearing after Aric.
Angus and Aleesha hovered behind me, then disappeared to go hunting as well.
I picked out all the clothes and the blanket from the crib and lay them on the stone floor.
“Hmm, I was given this for my thirtieth birthday,” I heard a smooth voice say next to me.
The twins knelt on either side of me, fishing through their old clothes.
“You aren’t going to give these to the human, are you?” Venus asked me, staring at me with her soft moss green eyes.
“Yes.”
“But they’re ours,” Phoenix answered harshly.
“Can you still fit into them?” I asked smoothly, poking the mattress into the side of the crib. It was still as soft as it had been four hundred years ago.
I stood up and put Eleanor inside and placed a blanket over her small body.
“How old is it?” Phoenix asked leaned over, her voice softer.
“I don’t know. About six months old, I’d say. Maybe less. She’s very small.”
“She could just be short,” Venus smiled, tucking her long slender legs under her. I placed my hands on their shoulders before they could pull back and squeezed them.
“I’m not asking for your support, but you can, if you want to, consider Eleanor as your sister,” I told my daughters. They snorted, drawing back at the same time.
“A sister for twenty years who’ll look twice our age,” Phoenix chuckled.
“If she’s not father’s daughter, she’s not our sister,” Venus replied.
“Aric can do what he wants, but she’ll never be part of this family, Mother,” Phoenix continued.
I stared at her then nodded my head once.
“I hope that one day—I don’t care if I have to wait a millennium—you’ll understand,” I said. I held her gaze then moved to Venus slowly. They kept quiet, watching me caress Eleanor’s soft cheek.
“I’m afraid she’s going to hurt you, Mother,” Venus said finally, running her finger through her long wavy strawberry blond hair. I smiled at her.
“A human couldn’t hurt me,” I answered.
“With all the love you’re giving her, this one could,” Phoenix replied curtly, tossing her rich red hair back. Then she got up slowly, brushing the pleats out of her long dress.
I watched Venus stand up on my other side. The twins stared down at the child. In their eyes, I could only read confusion.
“Mother,” Venus moved toward the fire and leaned against the marble fireplace. She faced me, digging her moss green eyes deep into mine.
Phoenix hovered next to her, cocking her head to one side.
“You said this was not about children, but…” Venus trailed off.
“Were we that bad?” Phoenix finished for her, and they nodded in agreement.
A wave of compassion rushed through me, and I stood up and crossed the small space between us in a split second. I wrapped my arms around both of them and drew them against me.
“My daughters, you are wonderful, gracious creatures, and I love you so much. Eleanor may also be my daughter, but I will never feel about her like I feel for you.”
I pressed my lips to both their foreheads then drew back, keeping my hands on their upper arms. The twins both smiled and nodded.
“We need to feed,” Venus said.
“We haven’t feed in three days,” Phoenix replied. “And we were expecting to eat the human you brought home.”
“We should go before we eat her.” Venus jutted her chin toward Eleanor.
“Of course,” I stepped back, then smiled at them. “You wouldn’t mind bringing me back something, would you? I uh, wouldn’t want to hurt her either.”
When I thought of Eleanor’s blood, my throat tightened, and I was fighting the thirst away. I realized that raising her was going to take a lot of control.
The twins grinned at each other and nodded.
“We’ll be back soon,” Phoenix told me just before she and her twin disappeared through the cathedral doors.
I turned back to my human daughter. I hadn’t even noticed her fall asleep, but there she was, her breathing heavy and clear, her heart beating in rhythm.
When I touched her cheek, her skin was warm. She was warm, she was going to be fine. I just had to find a way to feed her.
I gazed at her long black lashes and warm light brown skin. My hand looked so pale next to her face. I drew back slowly, keeping my eyes on her small face.
I’d never considered a human more beautiful than a vampire, but she, even so young, was stunning. I smiled at her.
“Eleanor, my own personal sun,” I breathed.
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