Carl woke me the next morning, looking pitiful and claiming he was starving. Bleary-eyed, I stared at him until I realised he hadn’t eaten in a long time.
“All right, I’ll go hunt and gather. Wait here. And don’t wake Peter.”
I got up but paused to look at Peter for a minute. His face was completely relaxed and utterly handsome—devoid of frowns and glares, he looked five years younger. I felt a little pang as I wondered what had really happened to him. Losing his whole family must have affected him badly. For an instant, I wished our lives were normal so I could get to know him better.
Heaving a sigh, I left the room, knowing it wasn’t meant to be. We both had too many issues to deal with. The fact I could probably do to him what I had done to Carl didn’t help.
The chilly presence followed me out of the room.
“What are you, then?” I mumbled, half to myself.
“Ava?”
I jumped about a foot in the air. Covering the yelping sound I made, I greeted Eddie with a false smile.
“Hi, um, Carl’s hungry. I was going to go out and get him something.”
“No need for that. Kitchen’s this way. Sit with me while I finish making breakfast. It’s still early, but I thought we all needed a good meal to start the day. Before we get into anything else.”
I followed him into a cosy intimate kitchen. There was a small table surrounded by four chairs near the door, but I was too absorbed by the smells coming from the old-fashioned cooking range to be interested in anything else.
“That smells delicious. Need any help?”
He shook his head. “Sit at the table; I’ll pour you some coffee. Did you sleep well?”
“Okay, I suppose. As well as anyone would knowing there’s an army of vampires outside waiting to tear you apart.”
He smiled. “It wasn’t quite an army.” He sat across from me. “In fact, I believe you would be more than a match for any of them.”
“But not all of them,” I said. “I doubt I could take on even one of them, anyway.”
He hesitated then leaned forward. “If what I’ve heard is true, daywalkers are strong, stronger than vampires even. But they must drink.”
“I thought I was the only one.”
He leaned back. “The one who ruled before Daimhín created one. He passed on the knowledge to Daimhín as he lay dying, murdered by his own child. She had that daywalker murdered and swore to never allow another to live. There have been others, most are killed in the womb or not long afterwards. Some escape for a while, but almost all are found out in the end.”
“How do you know all of this?” I asked in wonder.
“I have my ways. Just remember what I said. You have untapped talents inside, and that’s what Daimhín’s afraid of. Use them. I’ve been waiting for a daywalker to come along for quite some time now.”
“We smelled food,” Carl said behind me. Eddie held my gaze for a few seconds longer, enough to make me feel uncomfortable. He stood up abruptly and gestured toward the chairs.
“Sit. Breakfast is just ready. I hope the room was comfortable,” he said, heading back toward the cooker.
“Yeah, great,” Peter said, sitting down and giving me a penetrating look. “You okay?”
I nodded, but I really wasn’t. As the men chatted pleasantly together over breakfast, all I could think about was having hidden talents. I wasn’t sure if drinking blood to somehow unleash some kind of special power that might exist was something I was prepared to do. I didn’t doubt Eddie’s words, something told me he knew very well what he was talking about. What I doubted was my ability to handle the consequences.
