Read Online Re-Vamped! by Sienna Mercer - Free Book Online Page B

over to the sisters, twirling like a top. “I can’t believe you’re going to be in Vamp magazine,” she shrieked, “with all the most
famous vampires in the world!”
    Mrs.
Daniels breathed in sharply, and outside, Mr. Daniels’s barbecue tongs
clattered to the patio. Ivy looked completely panicked and Bethany suddenly
froze, mid-swoon, realizing what she’d done.
    “Oops,”
she squeaked.
    “You
didn’t really mean vampires,” Mrs. Daniels said hurriedly, “did you, dear? That
was just your little game.”
    “Q-quite
an imagination,” Mr. Daniels stammered, coming inside.
    All at
once, tears began pouring out of Bethany’s eyes, making her whiskers run. “Am I
going to be condemned?” she bawled.
    Mrs.
Daniels bent down to comfort her as everyone averted their eyes. Olivia felt terrible .
Bethany was clearly going to be scarred for life if Olivia didn’t let her off
the hook. She crept up and took the little girl’s hand.
    “There
aren’t any vampires, I swear!” Bethany sobbed, shaking her head wildly at
Olivia, her face soaked with tears.
    “Bethany,
it’s okay,” Olivia responded kindly. “I already knew.”
    We’re
staked! Ivy
thought, her stomach sinking as she waited for horror to spread across the
faces of Brendan’s parents. Instead, Mr. and Mrs. Daniels exchanged knowing
looks, and Mr. Daniels bent down before his daughter.
    “My
nightingale,” he said, “you must never, never talk about vampires.” He glanced
toward Olivia. “Especially when there is anyone around that you’re not
absolutely sure is one of us. Do you understand?”
    Bethany
nodded and wiped her nose on her sleeve.
    Mr.
and Mrs. Daniels turned to Ivy.
    Brendan’s
parents are going to hate me forever! she thought. “I didn’t mean to break the First Law,” she blurted.
    “Of
course you didn’t,” Mrs. Daniels said. “But how could you not have? Olivia’s
your twin sister, after all.”
    Brendan
came up behind Ivy and gave her shoulder a supportive squeeze.
    “This
is an exceptional case,” Mr. Daniels agreed.
    Ivy
felt relief spreading over her. It was like walking out of hot sun into cool
shade.
    “Remember
the last time a human was told, Marc?” said Mrs. Daniels.
    “I
thought I was like the only one ever,” Olivia said nervously.
    “It is
very rare,” Mr. Daniels admitted, “but a handful of humans have learned the
Blood Secret.”
    “Of
course, there was a time when anyone who discovered the existence of vampires
was killed,” Mrs. Daniels said. Ivy noticed her sister turn white. “But things
are different now.”
    “What
happened the last time?” Ivy inquired.
    “His
name was Karl Lazar,” Mr. Daniels said, stroking his chin. “The story made
quite a scandal in the black papers, because he was the son of a vampire count.
And Karl didn’t just break the First Law. He broke the Second Law, too.”
    “Falling
in love with a human,” Mrs. Daniels clarified. That’s what must have
happened with our parents, Ivy thought.
    “Yuck!”
little Bethany exclaimed.
    “So
what happened to him?” Ivy asked uneasily.
    “The
Lazar clan was strongly separationist,” Mr. Daniels said. “It was the worst of
all possible situations.” Ivy thought of her father, and how he refused to meet
Olivia.
    “Karl
ended up in exile, living with his human mate. He was completely isolated from
his community and his family,” Mrs. Daniels concluded, and Ivy felt like a tiny
stone had dropped inside her stomach and hit the dark bottom. Is that how
I’m going to end up, cast out because of my relationship with my sister? she thought.
    Mrs.
Daniels looked at her children tenderly. “I don’t know how parents could stand
to sever themselves from their own children in that way.”
    A few
minutes later Mr. Daniels unobtrusively gestured to Ivy that he wanted her to
come outside to the barbecue. Ivy hurried over. Mr. Daniels was turning steaks.
He pointed with his tongs at an unappetizing brown disk in one