Love Sucks! Read Online Free Page A

said.
    Aunt D nodded and poured Tave a glass. “Me three,”she said, pouring her own serving.
    â€œToday the bairns were chased by a beastie known as a Bborim. It was big and mean and hell-bent on taking our AJ with it back to the Serpentines.”
    â€œAJ!” Mom said, bolting from her seat. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    â€œHave ye some tea, Mum,” Aunt Doreen said, pouring her a cup of something hot. I’m quite sure it was a very special pot of tea. Mom would be calm in no time.
    â€œWe told the kids to stay quiet until tonight,” Tave said, taking a very big drink of her scotch. “You’re already under a lot of stress, and we didn’t want to make matters worse.”
    â€œThese are my children!” Mom said. “If it pertains to them, I need to know!”
    â€œAnd we’re telling you now,” Rick said, laying a hand on her belly. “This is your child, too, and any stress could cause more problems. We aren’t excluding you, but we aren’t going to wake you up just to upset you.”
    This seemed to calm Momma down a little bit. “Okay, but don’t ever think I’m too weak to know what’s going on in their lives,” she admonished before sitting back down and taking a sip of her tea.
    â€œThere’s more,” Aunt Doreen said. “As much as I wished Ryan had sent that no-good teacher of theirs toa parallel universe—preferably one with starved teacher-eating giants—I knew that was too much to ask for. Mr. Charles was also there.
    â€œAccording to Ana, there was a third person who the rest of us never saw. He was in robes, and the demon and teacher both called him Elder. I’m sure he’s the one who’s in control of the demon right now and is probably behind this whole mess.
    â€œWe know they’re after AJ because they think she’s the one chance they have of retrieving the runes. We also know that they know you are carrying a half-Frieceadan, half-vampire baby and they don’t like it. Mum, from now on you don’t get to leave the house without a protection spell and without one of us with you.”
    Mom nodded. Her clear blue eyes were cloudy all of a sudden. Her forehead was drawn, and all the color had drained from her face.
    â€œKids, you guys will always travel in pairs,” Rick added. “We’re not leaving this house unprotected or alone. Am I clear?”
    Aunt Doreen walked to an antique bookshelf in the living room. She pulled out a large, ancient, leather-bound book and laid it on the table in front of us as she flipped through the pages.
    Each page was filled with sketches, drawings, diagrams, and calligraphy.
    â€œAh, yes. Here is the creature. A Bborim is a shape-shifting demon. Serpentines don’t just let anyone in their inner circle, so my guess is this demon is probably part Serpentine as well.”
    â€œHow could it be part Serpentine?” Ryan asked. “I thought they only wanted pure blood in their family.”
    â€œDuring the wars, the Serpentines decided the demons would be more powerful allies if they were assimilated into the clan. So they began to bite them and transform them. A Bborim that has been transformed is difficult to detect. They shapeshift into whatever they fed off last—human or animal, it doesna matter. Once they’ve shifted, they can maintain that form for as long as necessary.
    â€œThere are some documented cases of successful matings between the vampires and the demons, but the clan wasn’t always happy with the end result. The Serpentines wanted a stronger being, and they wanted to maintain their ‘superior’ bloodline. In their minds they couldn’t remain superior if they continued to transform Bborims. So they began to experiment with different ways to combine the two species. Eventually they developed a vaccine from the Bborim spinal fluid and marrow. When thisvaccine is injected