A Shade of Vampire 32: A Day of Glory Read Free Page A

thinking along the same lines as me. She didn’t even ask whose blood I wanted to test—she already knew it was Field.
    Ben, Corrine and I headed to the Sanctuary. Corrine already had a sample of Grace’s blood from prior to Grace’s turning, when she’d been trying to figure out how to stop the impending transformation. Grace’s blood would make for a better sample than my vampire blood.
    Corrine wanted her spell room to herself as she started work, so Ben and I waited outside.
    It was a bizarre feeling to be sitting there, waiting for Corrine’s news. I could hardly express it. I wasn’t sure what my reaction would be if it came up positive. I shared a son with somebody I didn’t even know. It must have been just as strange and uncomfortable for Ben. I held his gaze, wondering what he was thinking. He placed a hand on my knee and squeezed it, even as he kissed my cheek. He looked deep into my eyes and held the side of my face.
    “Whatever the result turns out to be,” he said gently, “don’t think that it will change anything… If Field is your son, then he will be mine, too.”
    Tears welled in my eyes as I clutched Ben’s face and kissed him hard. “I love you, Ben,” I whispered.
    He held me close, providing me comfort when I needed it most. Anchoring me when I felt adrift in uncertainty.
    We were hardly breathing as Corrine finally emerged. It was hard to tell the result from her expression alone. She was doing a good job at pulling a poker face as she made her way toward us. The wait only made me more tense.
    She ran her tongue over her lower lip before glancing from Ben to me. “Well,” she said, “would you really like to know the answer?”
    Ugh . “Yes!” Ben and I urged at once.
    “Okay… Your instincts were correct. Field is your son.”
    Although I had truthfully been expecting this answer all along, I still wasn’t quite prepared for the tsunami of emotions that came over me. I wasn’t sure what to feel: excitement, that Grace had a sibling she’d so often said she’d wished for; grief, on considering what a terrible, neglected life Field had lived in my absence; or fear, over how this was all going to work. And over everything, curiosity burned within me to know who his father was. Whether he was even still alive.
    My emotions manifested in uncontrollable tears. I found myself shaking and sobbing in Ben’s arms, even as he held me firmly and kissed my temple.
    “Hey, it’s okay, baby,” he whispered, rubbing my back. “It’s okay.”
    Could I even be a mother to him? Would he even accept me? Would he accept Ben?
    We were complete strangers to each other. I wondered if the bridge between us could ever be closed.
    This was all so strange. Stranger than a dream.
    Corrine gave Ben and me some privacy, and I continued to cry in his arms until I could cry no more. I drew in deep shuddering breaths as I tried to compose myself. I should listen to what my husband said . It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.
    “We can go and talk to him in your own time,” Ben said. “There’s no rush.”
    I nodded, clearing my throat. Though I actually did not want to drag this out. I wanted to talk to Field, now. Drawing it out would only leave me to speculate longer about how it would all go. How it would all work out.
    I clutched Ben’s hand and kissed the back of it before raising my eyes to his. “I’d like to talk to him now. And I think that, at least initially, I should see him alone.”

    * * *
    C orrine escorted us back to the hospital. We found the five boys on the ground floor, sitting around a table in the dining room. They were gulping down a meal. Who knew the last time they had eaten proper food. Maybe even never.
    I stood with Ben discreetly in the doorway of the dining hall, waiting until they had finished before daring to venture in alone and make my way toward Field, while Ben headed up to Grace’s room. Field was just dumping his disposable plate into a trashcan and I