At some point, I have to let go of what I don't know, especially, when things have taken a turn for the better.

Nick called me and said everyone returned from the other realm. I'm not sure why Will hasn't contacted me, but it's a relief to know everyone's home safe. Truthfully, I'm feeling pretty agitated toward the coven. I was worried about them this whole time and they can't be that worried about me if they have yet to say anything.

Stella offered to drop me off at Nick's.

"I'll be back soon! Text me when you want picked up!"

"Okay!"

Stella drives away. Her jeep disappears back into the wooded driveway.

Gravel crunches beneath my feet as I hurry over to the farmhouse. A large amount of invisible weight has left my shoulders. After I knock on the door, Nick opens it a few moments later. Inside, the TV is on playing a sports game. I hear Mr. Silvet inside yelling at the TV.

"Valerie! Come on in," Nick greets. With a smile, I follow him inside expecting to see Regina somewhere. Maybe, she's upstairs because I don't see anyone else here except his father. He said over the phone she would be here joining us. "We're gonna have steak on the grill. How does that sound?"

"It sounds delicious."

"It's my favorite!" his father hollers from the couch.

Nick walks straight through the living room. He opens the screen porch gesturing for me to follow. Oh, Regina's probably waiting outside with the food. Outside on the porch, the sun is just starting to set over the trees in the woods beyond the pasture down below the house. The pigs are still out in the field grazing happily by the big black barn.

"Wow, it's so peaceful back here. Totally different from town."

"It sure is," Nick replies. He opens the lid of the grill with a grimace. "Unfortunately, Regina couldn't make it tonight. I hope you don't mind."

"Oh, is everything okay?"

"Yes, she just had some car trouble."

Car trouble? It's not my business I guess.

Nick sets the steaks on the grill. There's a small picnic table on the porch. Mr. Silvet comes out and sets down an old faded white table cloth on it. He also has a bottle of beer. He proceeds to sit on the bench and guzzles it down.

"Be a doll and grab us some plates," he tells me.

"Sure."

Eventually, I find the right cupboard in the kitchen. I pull out plates and find some utensils.

"Can you get the ketchup, too?" Mr. Silvet yells from outside.

"Yes!" I answer.

Somehow, I juggle the items without dropping them as I head back out. I feel Mr. Silvet's stare on me as I set the table and it's sort of unnerving. In the distance, thunder can be heard. The pigs start moving around in their pen as they're visibly afraid. They have nowhere to go for shelter since they aren't in the barn. Their squealing is hard to ignore.

"Dad, why don't you go bring the pigs in before we eat? They're calling for rain. Unless, you'd like an earful of that lovely chorus down there while we eat."

"Good idea, Nicky."

His father walks down the steps and heads off toward the barnyard. Nick turns away from the grill with a charming smile as he's finished plating the steaks.

"Sorry, I know he can be a bit of a pill."

"Oh, I don't mind."

He sets the food down on the table and sits beside me. He really is handsome. The setting sun makes his hair a sparkling gold. He starts eating so I begin to eat too.

"Why are you so kind to me? You invite me into your home when I've done nothing but cause trouble for you."

"The only troublesome folk are the coven," Mr. Silvet announces. I jump, startled at his sudden return. He picks up his plate across from Nick. I didn't hear him come back up the porch. He must have transported himself here with his vampire speed. With mud-covered hands, he carries his food back inside the house. He took care of the pigs with lightning speed seeing as the barn is closed now and the pigs are no longer in the field. "Nicky will have all 'em locked up real soon. Have a nice dinner y'all!" he finishes happily.

With his mouth formed into a hard line, Nick meets his father's stare. I have a feeling they're doing that weird thing vampires can do when they talk to each other without speaking out loud. Nick's aura moves up and down rapidly in anger as he watches his father silently.

What do you expect me to do? If you didn't like her you would have gotten rid of her by now, I hear the demon sneer. At first, I think it's talking to me. It's sinister voice commands my attention.

Mr. Silvet grabs the handle of the porch door. He looks over his shoulder at his son before disappearing inside.

Do as you will. I need more witches, a different voice says.

Somehow, it sounds even worse than the demon I'm used to. It sounds far older and more cunning. It has to be coming from Mr. Silvet. Was my dream true, then? All this time the demon I've been hearing is Nick, and now this new one, his father. The demons are just vampires talking? This is how they speak to each other without anyone else hearing, but why am I starting to hear more than one voice in my head now? What's changed?

I'm pulled out of my head as thunder echoes around the porch. "Don't mind him. I'm not angry with you, Valerie," Nick tells me. He sets down his fork and looks out into the barnyard below. "The way I see it, you died very young. Your brain wasn't done developing. The coven robbed you of your adulthood."

I don't feel like that's completely true.

"I'm an adult now," I insist lightly, "I died over a decade ago. All that time counts for something, doesn't it?"

Nick folds his arms watching me down the bridge of his nose.

"But you weren't here. You don't remember all that time missing because you were dead. That's what happens when a soul dies."

"What are you trying to say?" I ask while searching his eyes. I must be annoying him because they have newly turned red since his father left. "I'm here now. Somebody brought me back. So, I'm not dead anymore. Right? I'm aging like everyone else. I'm creating new memories in this life. I'm living again as an adult."

"I'm sorry, Valerie. You died as a teenager. You are very much a child to me. I understand what you are trying to say regarding your age. My perception is different. I've lived much longer than you."

A moment that feels like an eternity passes between us. I continue picking at my food unable to ignore the weight of his words. After we finish eating, Nick and I go inside as it's started to rain. His father doesn't appear to be downstairs anymore. The TV's off. Nick walks around the living room and shuts the windows as rain starts to fall heavier.

My phone buzzes in my purse.

How's dinner going? Roads are flooding here. I'm not sure if I can drive through them. I haven't left the house yet, I read Stella's text.

It's raining here, too. I'll call an uber. You have work in the morning. Don't worry about me. All is well, I text back.

"Everything okay?" Nick asks.

He's putting the dishes away in the dishwasher. Lightning flashes outside. It lights up the window in the kitchen as he shuts the dishwasher closed.

"Yes, I was telling Stella I'd get a ride home."

"Alright. Are you sure you don't want to stay a little longer? They're calling for flash floods. It might let up soon, but it could be a couple hours. Do you wanna watch TV or something while we wait?"

"Sure," I agree.

In front of the living room couch, there's a coffee table. Nick turns the TV on. He flips through the channels until he finds the news. A large black book rests on the coffee table among magazines and empty beer cans. I begin to look through the book. I was expecting it to be a spell book because of how old and worn the cover is.

It's not really a book. It's more of a photo album. Some of the pictures inside are really old and cut out of newspapers. Others, are black and white photos. At the back of the book are the newest photos, they're in color with glossy film.

It's mostly pictures of men standing outside around the farm. There are bigger pictures of the same type of thing hung up around the living room. Historical pictures.

Nothing really catches my eye until I turn to the last page. Why is my father standing next to Nick in the group photo? It's true that Nick's property is lined up at the back of my family's. There are many acres between the houses. It's not like I would remember seeing Nick's farmhouse at all growing up let alone him. There's too much land between the properties.

All this time, he has known my family? That would make sense, especially, if he brought me back from the dead. If Nick is the necromancer, why didn't he resurrect my parents as well?

"There's a picture of my dad in here, Nick. Did you know him?"

"Yes. This farm stands right against the end of what used to be your family's property line. Your dad and I were neighbors," he explains while watching the TV. His gaze flickers over to me before returning to the news. "He helped around the farm sometimes. Many of the other neighbors did."

There aren't many other neighbors this far outside of town.

"You were friends with my dad?"

"I wouldn't say 'friends'. I knew him, though. He was a good man."

"Who took these pictures?" I ask with growing suspicion. Nick turns down the volume on the news as his eyes fade to their normal blue. It's hard for me to hold back my feelings. "How could you not tell me you knew my father, my family, after all this time?" I say. His serious gaze remains on the TV. I feel ignored. With courage, I step out in front of the TV so he can no longer pretend to be watching it. "Nick?" I press.

"I didn't really know your family, Valerie. I knew of your father. I never met you or your mother. We were just neighbors. I assumed you guessed so yourself seeing where the farm is. As for who took the pictures, it was Regina. She collected them over the years as we worked on the barn's construction. She put the pictures in that book for me."

"How long have you known Regina? She's your maker, isn't she?" I ask gently.

"Yes, she is," he answers slowly, "How did you know that?"

"She told me."

"When?" he asks in a hard tone. It sounds more like a command than a question. I don't like it. He stands up to his full height towering over me. Then, he rests his hands on his waist like a parent about to give a child a scolding. "It's not something vampires usually go around talking about."

"She told me in a dream I had a few days ago."

"What dream?" he asks quickly. His mouth forms into a hard line as he watches me expectantly. Anxious, I sit down and sink back into the couch wishing I could just disappear. "I'm sure that's not all she said. Just because my aura is moving does not mean I'm angry with you. Please stop trying to judge me according to your witch readings. You should not be scared of me at all. I am the only one protecting you."

"I'm not scared," I whisper. Tears begin to fall. "I'm frustrated you didn't tell me you knew my family-"

"Would it have changed anything?" he asks with a scoff, "You aren't upset about that. What you should really be upset about is the coven. William has gotten you so scared of what I am, vampires, that you forget he is the child of the couple who murdered you. Have you ever considered why he might do that?" he asks. With a frown, he sits down beside me. The couch dips a lot and I almost slide right on him. A blush grows on my face as I scoot away a little. It's hard not look at him and wonder what all he knows. He probably knows a lot more than I do about my parents. "Ms. Parway, William isn't sorry at all. Criminals are only ever sorry when they get caught. His right-hand man, his familiar, tried to kill you, after all. Why are you so surprised he's made no contact with you since returning from the other realm? He wants to play his cards right, with the public, not you. He wants to protect his image, his ego, not you. When his cards all fall down, and they will, you will be glad you chose to trust me."

What are Nick's cards, though? On the surface, he hasn't really hidden much from me. He's welcomed me into the police department and his own home. The memory of finding that bone in his office burns a hole into my brain. How am I supposed to let go of that?

"I'm sorry I've doubted you so much, Nick. I think I'd feel a lot better if you talked to me about that bone I found," I admit. At the mention of the item, Nick's eyes shine with new amusement. His mouth forms into what can only be described as a feigned pout. If I knew any better, I'd say he is content. "I did tell you it belonged to a human."

"Yes, you did. Why don't you bring it into the station and I'll have you write up a file for forensics?"

"I can't...the bone is in the other realm. Viktor took it from me."

A repressed smile forms on his face as he folds his arms. "Oh, that's too bad," he answers in a babied tone. Without bothering to hide his smirk, he turns up the volume on the TV as though to put an end to our discussion when a car horn beeps outside. 

Outside the window, it looks like the rain has stopped as Stella pulls up the car near the house. Windchimes can be heard somewhere on the porch still blowing around in the breeze. Nick seems to relax as he perks up seeing it's time for me to go.

"Thank you for dinner," I say. "Stella's here."

"Oh, is she?" he replies while standing up. 

Even though some things still hang in the air unanswered, after he told me he knew my father, I feel like I can trust him much more. Why he wouldn't admit that from the start is what I do not understand. How well did he really know my father? If he is the necromancer, why not just say so at this point? But, where's the proof beyond the feeling in my gut?

Feelings aren't always true. For a long time, I felt angry at whoever brought me back here. That could be why, if it's him, he kept quiet. He wasn't sure how I'd take it, especially, with just me here without my family.

"What's the matter, Valerie? Are you using your witch sight on me again?"

"No," I smile. He opens the front door. The sleeve of his jacket tugs upward against the movement revealing snippets of what looks like the same satanic tattoos Colin has on his arms.  "I'd like to review my family's case files again tomorrow."

"I can arrange for that," he answers, "Have a safe trip home, Ms. Parway."

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