Did I trust him?   Well, it was the perfect time to try it. I took a deep breath, trying to keep the waves of panic out of my system. I kept him smile, just before closing my eyes.   “Count,” he instructed.     One.   I heard something move and his warmth left me.   Two.   A door creaked.   Three.   A scream shot through the wind.   Four.   The screaming stopped.   Five.   I felt something crawl across the floor.   Six.   Little by little, silence enveloped me.   Seven.   My hands shook.   Eight.   Where was Donovan?   Nine.   My voice broke in fear.

“I can’t do that,” I flatly denied. “Even if what you say is true, I cannot assassinate him.”   It is one thing for him to be a damn unhappy and quite another for his life to be in my hands. I was just a teenager, however adult I wanted to show myself. I was not a murderer, nor a callous being.   Yes, my father betrayed us in the worst possible way, but he was still the man who gave me life, the person who stayed with me every time I was sick, the one who secretly took me to eat ice cream from my mother.   Parents are not usually perfect. In fact, very few lucky ones could say that their parents, both of them, had been good to them. It was normal to be wrong, since there is no manual for raising children. I was not a mother, but after all these years taking care of my siblings, I could see how easy it was to fail and how difficult it was to patch up our mistakes.   That did not imply that I would for

My first reaction was to freeze. Had Donovan done something to my father? I didn't know how to feel about it, however, after a few seconds, I decided that I didn't care as much as I should.   After all, it was about the man who betrayed us. Then I'd take the time to talk to Donovan about what I could and couldn't do, but right now, it wasn't my biggest concern. I had enough with all the chaos that flooded my home.   The kids were being a bit rambunctious. It seems that they had too much energy and could not find how to drain it. On days like this, I used to take them to the park so they could run around the place freely. The house was too small, so they had nowhere to go.   Justin was one of those guys who couldn't bear to rest. Even when I begged him, he insisted on being all over the house. He even cleaned the bathroom. As the hours passed, he began to feel better. In fact, he only had a few traces of his bruises, whic

Donovan.    Her breathing was racing. I could hear her heartbeat, the ragged sighs, and the blood rushing through her veins. Her eyes were tightly closed, as if refusing to witness the act I would carry out. Her hair fell, long, dark.   I had seen many beautiful women. Of different sizes and colors. Some redheads, chestnuts and blondes. Women with light, dark and enigmatic eyes. With a voluptuous or slim body. Tall and small.   And none of them could compare to Juliet.   Juliet was beautiful in the way she looked, always alert, and always cautious. Also because of the shape of her mouth, so provocative even when she was swearing, trying to keep me away from her. She was beautiful for her walk, as if she was willing to take on the world, if given the chance.   Juliet was beautiful when she smiled. When she was with her brothers and the love she felt for them

When the children arrived, everything returned to normal. The normality that can we had with a vampire prowling the place. Justin had a better face, while Jake and Julia seemed to be much calmer. I was relieved to have them back in my range of vision. I knew Justin would take care of them, but it always made me nervous when one of them wasn’t home. After the kids had dinner, thanks to Donovan making dinner, I sat on a stool near the counter. The pencil between my fingers felt heavy as I calculated our income. I had found in my parents’ room the receipts for the clinic where my mother was admitted. No matter how much I looked for solutions, I was always in the red. The salary of the bar and the bookstore was not enough to pay the next month, nor for the treatments. Not to mention our food. I sighed, tired. The weight on my shoulders was much heavier with each passing day. To what extent co