vampires of san francisco 08 - merry sucking christmas Read Free

before I need to be home. Annie is babysitting since she graduated just before Christmas break. But Sebastian will be home soon and we are going to the annual Christmas party at his night club, You Belong to Me. Annie and her friend Sacha are going to watch all the kids.
    I pull up to the house and park in the garage. I carry in my bags, cute party clothes for children. I splurged and bought all the kids matching outfits. Bast is going to roll his eyes at me but he’ll deal. He knows that I do it because I love them all.
    “Allo? Ou’est ma famille?” Sebastian had been making me practice my French so that Mattie will be bilingual. She is doing really well. She already speaks French better than I do.
    “Ici, maman!” Mattie comes flying out of the kitchen with a dab of blood on her lip. She must have been eating. She’s still on bag blood. Dr. Green says until she’s at least fifteen. Sebastian would make her wait longer. He has no desire to teach her to hunt or drive or date or grow up period. I let out a sigh and catch my daughter as she jumps into my arms. She snuggles into my neck and kisses me there. She smells heavenly as only a child can smell and I inhale deeply.
    “What have you done while I was gone?” I ask, switching back to English.
    “I played with Annie and then I ate. We had a tea party.” She grins showing her dimples. Her midnight hair is in ringlets and her soft blue eyes are full of innocence. I snuggle her again and kiss her all over her face until she is squirming to get down.
    Annie comes in from the kitchen and hands me a mug of coffee made just the way I like it.
    “Thank you, Annie. I didn’t expect to be gone so long.”
     “No problem, Lily. As usual, Mattie was an angel.” Annie wipes the blood dribbling down my child’s chin before it has a chance to get on her clothes.
    I have to admit that I feel safe leaving Mathilda with Annie. It took a while but Annie was patient with me and my hysteria. Sebastian had to drag me out of the house the first time and I sobbed all the way to the club and called Annie at least twelve times. She was a good sport and reassured me, even texting me pictures of a sleeping Mattie.
    I now think of Annie as part of the family along with Liam and Manda. They all have their own places in my heart. That’s why I have been on a mission to get them all the perfect gifts. I think I’ve accomplished it too. Now if I can get out of Midnight Mass, but Bast is insistent that Mattie go. I know he loves the ceremonies of the Church, steeped in ritual and history. He wants Mattie to grow up with the Church a part of her life. I was raised Lutheran and wasn’t ever very committed to church. It was always a trial to be in the congregation with everyone talking about Momma and me because of Daddy’s affairs. Didn’t they know we could hear them gossip? I always had a headache by the time we got home and would close myself in my room. I’ve nothing but bad memories when it comes to religion. Sebastian has never made me go to mass before, though. We’ll have to see. Maybe that can be part of my present to Sebastian?

4. Sebastian
    Mon Dieu. I’ve got a lot of shopping to do before Christmas Eve. I have Mathilda covered. I got her a little locket inscribed in French with “you are my heart.” It’s truly beautiful and I put a picture of Lily and me in it. I think she will like it. I’ve wanted to spoil her with jewelry but have held back. It’s so easy to give her everything but I don’t want her to grow up that way. I know Lily has plenty of gifts for her but I wanted at least one to be something I picked out.
    Lily’s gift was harder. She is very capable of buying her own clothing, purses, and shoes so I wanted to get her something that meant more. I’ve spent months thinking of the perfect gift. I just bought her a hybrid SUV and that didn’t really have the message I wanted to send her. So I hired an artist to design a memory/photo book about