Rein hated the idea of someone else calling her father their own. She was an only child. An only daughter.
“
But there is no one here to speak French with,” Taverin continued, “so I do not use it often. I want to be as English as I can.”
“
That’s good,” Rein said, forgetting her uneasy feeling. “You’ll speak less and less broken English. I know French myself, but I was taught in school. Traith as well.”
Rein took a seat on a sofa in the corner of the room, and Traith did the same. He relatively mimicked her every move because of his lack of knowledge and his shyness of the situation. But Traith had to be put at the back of her mind for the time being, though she found that extremely hard to do.
Looking at Taverin, Rein felt a little charmed in noticing how the girl’s black hair resembled her own.
“
It might seem odd, I do know…” Taverin began with nervous laughter, “and I do not know how, or-or when, but I can…I can almost remember you both from somewhere, as if you were here, in my room like this once before.”
Rein looked oddly into her half-sister’s eyes, head tilted.
The girl looked a little dazed. “As if I’ve heard your voice before.”
“
I don’t know how you could possibly think that,” Rein said slowly, casually shooting Traith a wary glance. “I’ve never been to visit you before, but I’m glad I got the chance to today. I was never…” she swallowed the pain of her lie. “I was never told about you, Taverin. That’s why I just came now. I would’ve been to see you so much earlier if I’d only known.”
The girl was looking down. “I was not either. That is so terrible, isn’t it?”
Taverin smiled, but as her eyes turned completely up, Rein noticed her expression weaken. No, it didn’t just weaken; it turned to one of fright. She saw; something was wrong. Rein felt she had blown it already, yet she had no idea how.
Her heart sank at the girl’s face; it was as if she was scared of her for some reason. Taverin’s stare shifted behind her. Rein suddenly realized that there was a mirror behind the bed; a mirror neither she nor Traith were in.
Taverin stood up, her eyes large. They were darting back and forth between her and the mirror. Her voice cracked. “Why aren’t you in my mirror?”
“
Oh boy,” Traith sighed sympathetically, keeping his head down to avoid any part of the conversation if he could.
Rein continued to study the mirror before meeting the girl’s glare. She blinked hard, wishing her form would appear. They had just ruined their chance at secrecy. Had she even been planning on keeping it secret from her? They had to take her that day, that
hour
. Danger was coming; it was like the calm before the storm, and it ate at Rein’s composure.
Taverin began speaking again before Rein could. “I know what you are,” she said in a high, nervous tone. “You may be part my blood, but you are something different as well!” Her voice rose, horror stricken.
Rein looked for a moment as if she was unaware of what Taverin spoke of, but she realized that it would be hard to hide much else from the girl. The girl already knew.
She knew
. Rein could feel it in her head.
“
Let me see your face,” Taverin said, beginning to cry.
“
Please, Taverin, what are you talking about?” she returned.
“
You aren’t in the mirror, Rein! You aren’t an apparition; I
know
what you are, so show me!”
Rein felt desperately ill. “I can explain this to you if you only let me—”
“Your true face, you’re hiding it. Can’t you tell me the truth? I want to hear it from you.” Her voice was hoarse. “I want to know the real truth about my sister and what happened to her when she disappeared. Show me what you really look like.”
“What are you…How do you think you know this?”
Rein stopped and saw in the girl’s mind that she indeed was scared to think the truth: that Rein was a vampire. But she knew. Somehow, for some reason,
she knew
. What was she to do? She couldn’t possibly
show
her.
“
Please,” the girl murmured. “I know you
died
.”
She was unsure what to do.
The girl stared at her, as if waiting for her response. “Please. I won’t be afraid.”
Without more thought, Rein felt herself changing. She felt her teeth lengthen. Her nails instantly darkened. Her skin became pale. Her changes were in full view for the girl to see. Rein met her eyes directly, as if piercing through her haze. Taverin’s expression stiffened when she stared wholly at her. She sat a moment and studied her, and Rein fought to say something. But what? The moment was too awkward to address. She had to wait.
Traith was sitting stiff, trying to avoid eye contact so his eye color would not be pointed out to add to the confusion of the situation.
“I know what you are. I knew I did. That’s why you changed yourself!” Taverin stared, the hint of terror in her eyes suddenly gone. “What
are
you? Please, tell me.” She looked deep into her eyes.
Rein stood and slowly walked toward and sat on the bed beside the girl. She put her soft hand over Taverin’s worried cheek. “No wrong will come to you from me, I assure you. I
am
your real half-sister; I’ve not once lied to you. I’ve done nothing for you not to trust me, have I?”
“What
are
you?”
“Do you trust me?” Rein asked sincerely, staring hard at her.
It was imminent. They only had minutes left.
“
I…yes, I do,” Taverin whispered in fear.
“
Then you must come with me. Your life is in grave danger, and I can take you somewhere safe. But I must do so
now
.”
The girl did not reply, but stared at Rein with her large, watery eyes. Then she nodded.
Traith quickly gave his attention to Rein. “Are there any…things you want from here?” he asked. “I can…I mean, furniture, anything. Are there clothes left?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, Rein!” Taverin declared. “I found an entire room full of clothing up here. Hall won’t come up here. But are all those beautiful clothes yours? They’re all so lovely!”
Rein was stunned to the point that she couldn’t reply for a few seconds. The girl had gone from being quite scared to comfortable. “My clothes are still here? I wouldn’t know how to thank you, Traith, to bring all this…”
“
Always my pleasure, Rein. Take her down the steps to the entrance and I’ll take care of everything as quickly as I can. How long?”
“
Minutes.”
He nodded and left the room.
“
Where is he going?”
“
To gather any and all of my things to bring home with me. That is where I’m taking you, Taverin. Home, with me.”
While Traith transferred furniture, clothes, the painting of her family that hung on the stairwell wall, and numerous other things back to the castle, Rein had made her way to the bottom of the stairs, careful not to let Taverin see Hall lying unconscious on the floor.
Barely a minute had gone by when Rein heard a set of quick and light footsteps coming down the stairwell. Traith appeared from behind the corner, nothing in his hands and standing straight. He walked to her and smiled at her as if letting her know everything was taken care of.
“
Anything and everything,” he said, winking. “Are we ready?”
Traith gently let both of them out of his grasp. He’d brought them to the castle, into the tower spare bedroom—the only other tower bedroom besides the master bedroom, which was just down the hall.
Before she even had a chance to react to the sudden change of setting, Taverin gasped in awe of the room he’d brought them to. Although Rein’s previous house was definitely grandeur, it was common architecture for the time. His castle was built in a Romanesque fashion; Medieval, with grand ceilings and stone from top to bottom; something he had always found antiquely enjoyable.
“
Do you like it?” Rein asked softly.
Traith found a shadowed corner and stood in it. After all, this technically wasn’t his conversation to be had. Rein had to talk to the girl relatively alone, but he had that funny feeling that she wanted him there. So he stayed, merely to watch and speak if needed.
Rein looked like a beautiful, elegant girl with an unbearable stress laid upon her. Her dark chunks of hair were slowly falling from her casual attempt at a knot, and her face looked tired. Even her once vibrant dress seemed to fade out with the strain Rein was feeling. She was in a difficult situation—just after his own transformation he hadn’t had anything to recover from but depression over his unearthly state. Rein had that along with having to deal with
him
, an “experienced” vampire, mental powers beyond his own imagination, and the surreal world; all that, not even to mention a sister she never knew who would present a problem in either natural
or
supernatural realms.
But, as with every situation he’d ever seen her presented with, she handled it with grace and poise. Somehow, when she spoke, her voice came out soothingly enough to make even the word “vampire” seem ordinary and attractive. For someone so young—in reality, still only twenty—she was highly mature and wise.
He left his thoughts on Rein behind. He, who had always been a concise man, could go on and on about each appealing detail Rein bore. But it was the girl—Taverin—who needed attention.
She seemed ecstatic over the view of the chamber, but she calmed herself down to think clearly; to ask the questions that needed to be asked.
“
What
is
going on?” she pleaded, slowly sitting in a chair in the side of the huge chamber. “How am I
here
?”
“
Taverin,” Rein began, but she was stopped.
“
Just tell me what you are, Rein,” she spoke, becoming impatient for the truth. “I want to know what you
really
are. Tell me.”
Rein looked gravely into her eyes. “I’m a
vampire
, Taverin.”
Taverin backed up a little in the chair. She blinked quickly a few times. “Oh…” she stuttered. “I…I’m not scared of you. It’s a strange—t-terribly frightening. Things like that…they aren’t
real
. But I…how can this be? You
lied
to everyone about your death?”
“
No,” Rein replied swiftly. “No, I did not lie. I
did
die. Do you suppose that I should’ve let my own father see me like this?”
“
You don’t look that different at all,” she said.
Rein swallowed her words. The girl shocked her; she shocked
him
. She wasn’t even scared. Traith saw an expression surface on Rein’s face that warmed him, especially within the problematic state of affairs they were in. An expression of
relief
. Taverin had said she didn’t look different at all, and that small sentence, no matter how many times he were to say it, meant so much more to Rein in hearing from fresh lips.
“
I just saw you change,” the girl said. “Just…change. That would’ve been frightening for him to see. But not for me.”
Rein’s eyes narrowed. “Not for you?”
“
I
knew
,” the girl said.
Rein couldn’t reply for a moment, and she finally took a break and sat on the bed to be comfortable. “How did you
know
about this, Taverin?”
“I am not sure. But I did. Somehow I did. I
do
trust you, even though I do not know you. That is why I can easily learn to live with it; because somewhere in my heart I knew.”
Rein was as bewildered as Traith was.
A tear unexpectedly fell from Taverin’s eye, but she embraced Rein. “Oh please,” she said as she held onto her, “I can stay here, can I not? I don’t know what danger you took me from, and I hardly know you, but I have no other family, and Mr. Hall is…” Her voice died down to a whisper. “Rein, he is a drunk. He is hardly ever lucid, and I…he makes me—”
“
He makes you nervous,” Rein finished with despair.
She hesitated in her words. “Yes. I want to be on your side so I never have to worry or be frightened. You met me today, so if
you
meant to hurt me, you would have by now.” Taverin spoke fast and between sharp breaths of sorrow as she cried.
Rein watched her, confused. A sort of dumbness overwhelmed her. The girl’s manner changed from second to second.
She stood and took a seat next to Taverin. She lifted the petite girl’s chin. “I knew I would need to tell you about this,” Rein said. “You are old enough; that is, in fact, why I came to see you.” She looked at the small smile beginning to creep up the girl’s face. “And I wanted to get to know you, Taverin,” she said. “Really. I do.”
The faint sound of the breeze hitting the balcony doors woke Rein, and her eyes opened slowly. She blinked to get the drowsiness out and sat straight, her neck stiff from how she’d slept. Looking around, she saw that Taverin was curled in the huge bed, sleeping soundly and peacefully. After an hour or two of talking, the girl had fallen asleep—in the middle of some explanation Rein couldn’t exactly remember as she, herself, had been just as exhausted.