Sinister Secrets Book. 3

Epilogue: 6 Years Later

"Where are you going?" I look up from my belt, startled to see Nicola blinking against the darkness, her hazel eyes nearly glowing in the black of the room. She drags the quilt down, a little off her body. "Sebatian?"

The sun hasn't even crested the horizon yet. The world is still bathed in darkness - the perfect time for me to hunt.

We need to feed, the demon in my mind grunts. Fool.

"Are you going to..." she trails off, understanding.

"Go back to sleep," I say, my voice soft, stuffing the last of my throwing stars into my waistband. I reach for my cloak, careful not to step on a tiny pair of shoes that had been discarded and forgotten by the closet door.

My wife sighs, pulling the quilt up over her shoulders once more. "Don't be all day," she warns lazilly, "Don't forget -"

"I won't," I whisper back. "How could I forget?"

"Hmph."

As if on cue the bulge next to her shifts, and I catch a glimpse of periwinkle hair. My chest warms. I tiptoe closer, bending down to press my lips against Nicola's lips. She groans and gently slaps me away, and I chuckle. Next, I lean over her, pulling the quilt and sheets back every so slightly to see my daughter, curled against the back of her mother.

Sita's cheeks are flushed a beautiful pink. "I love you," I whisper in her ear. "Happy birthday, my angel."

She stirs, her long black lashes fluttering a moment before she opened eyes that shine like polished gold, and she smiles. A smile that can ignite the fire of inner laughter to all that witness it. "I love you too, Daddy."

I smile at her, bending to place a kiss on her forehead, both of her cheeks. "Are you excited for your party?" I ask her. Nicola moans - a warning, if I'd ever heard one.

Sita smiles sleepily. "Vera, Aunt Eve, and Uncle Foster will be here."

I snort at this. "I know, darling. Go back to sleep. I will be back before you wake."

She smiles at this and her eyes fluttered close. I listen to her breathing, hearing it slow as sleep once again takes her.

I slip from the halls of Del-Haggith silently, the warm air of the Spring Court, moist and comforting, there to greet me when I emerge. My boots are mute over the moss as I creep into the looming trees that surround the estate. With the moon still high over a sleeping world, I listen, and begin my hunt.

I take a few squirrels, and even a raccoon before the sky turns pink and threatens sunrise.

Not enough, the voice inside cries.

"It will have to be," I bark back at it, causing it to slither back into the darkest part of my chest, my soul. I could hold back the urges to feed - for the most part. Though the monks under the temple in the Summer Court had cured of my lust of the blood of unborn beings, I still craved blood. And if I had to suck a few woodland animals dry to live a happy life, I was willing to do so, and Nicola was willing to let me.

As I tramped my way back through the woods to my sleeping wife and child, I felt something familiar stir awake.

I felt her there, my queen. She woke every morning as the sun rose, and many more times throughout the night, for that matter, though if it was to feed Vera, or from nightmares, I wasn't sure.

But I could feel her there, Eve. I chuckled.

And though I could feel her exhaustion from the tiring efforts of rearing a seven months old baby girl, I could feel her happiness as well. And that made me happy. She deserved it, after all.

We all did.