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glanced at the van we were leaving behind. The spray painted black exterior looked dull in the sun, matching the worn and grimy walls of the building beside it. Another twenty-four hours and it would blend in perfectly under a blanket of brown dirt.
    Derek drove onto the road and hammered the gas. My head plopped back against the head rest as I settled in. Sitting in a padded seat was so much more appealing than a hard carpeted floor.
    "Are you ready for that talk?” Caleb asked, turning his body and folding his leg onto the seat, bracing his elbow across the back of the headrest.
    I opened my Cola and took another drink before I nodded. Here was the moment I had been waiting for—ready or not.
    "Your Father's name is Luca DeViard, and our boss Sam, has done work for him in the past. We were informed a long time ago that he wanted a plan in place to retrieve you, so Sam prepared everything.” He paused, gauging my reaction. When I didn't speak, he continued, “Luca wanted to wait. There was no reason to ever make you aware of us or our world. You see, technically, vampires only keep two or three blood relatives a time in each family. This is done to keep their numbers down and to ensure the continuation of a living bloodline."
    "A living bloodline,” I murmured quizzically.
    "But,” Caleb continued as if I'd never spoken, “Your Father's plan changed when Tristan got word of your existence. Vampires are notoriously protective of the existing names of living blood relatives, Emma. Without them, there is nowhere to turn to keep the family line intact."
    "So, he sent you....to what?” My eyes darted from him to Derek, who alternated between watching me and the road.
    "To bring you home and get you out of town before Tristan's people arrived. We knew he would send someone—counted on it, actually. But we hoped he didn't have time to amass any half bloods."
    Caleb's eyes watched me attentively, deep blue irises skimming across my face.
    "So my Father, he's a...” I couldn't make myself say the word. Vampire sounded insane and surreal, even in my head.
    "Yes. One of the most influential and powerful,” Caleb answered. “He'll be able to explain everything to you, but right now, we have to get you someplace safe."
    My mind rebelled against the information, and I knew if I hadn't seen the angry mob chasing us out of town, I wouldn't buy a word of it. I felt as if I had tumbled into a nightmare I couldn't rouse myself from.
    No matter how loud I screamed.
    "And this person, this Tristan, what exactly does he want?” It couldn't be good, not if he was accountable for what happened in town.
    "Tristan, like many other common vampires, desires what they will never have,” Caleb explained. “He's power hungry, malicious, and ultimately furious that the hierarchy doesn't acknowledge those turned who don't have some blood legacy to their families. He has tried every way he knows to infiltrate the royal houses, and when that didn't work, he went in search of the names of living relatives."
    "Like me,” I said softly.
    A living relative out of a house of vampires, how was that even possible?
    You just entered the Twilight Zone, Emma.
    "Like you.” Caleb nodded.
    "What happens now?"
    He looked at me, lowering his head and gazing at my face through dark lashes. “We're going to keep you safe until we can bring you to your Father."
    "And then?"
    I was not becoming one of those things, absolutely not.
    "I don't know,” Caleb answered softly.
    "I won't be one of those things.” I said it more for my benefit than theirs.
    There was no way in hell.
    We lapsed into an extended silence. Caleb's head fell against the headrest and he stretched his body out, closing his eyes and relaxing. I studied him for several minutes as I processed everything.
    My Father was alive, well, in manner of speaking. He was a vampire named Luca DeViard—not at all what I envisioned in my childhood daydreams.
    We traveled exclusively on back roads, only