“Even when we were fit, though, we had to be careful. Nonsymbiont humans might attack us and murder us to steal our possessions or because we were careless and lived too long in one place without seeming to age.” He shrugged. “Some humans wanted to know how we could live so long. What secret magic did we possess to avoid growing old? What could be done to us to force us to share our magic with them?
“Suspicions about us grew out of control now and then down through the ages, and we had to run or fight, or we were tortured and murdered as demons or as possessors of valuable secrets. Sometimes they hacked at us until they thought we were dead, then buried us. When we healed, we came out of our graves confused, mad with hunger … perhaps simply mad. Well, that’s how in some cultures we became the ‘walking dead’ or the ‘undead.’ That’s why they learned to burn or behead us.”
“What about the wooden stake through the heart?” I asked.
“That might work or it might not. There’s nothing magical about wood. If the stake leaves enough of the heart intact, we heal. One of my fathers was buried with a stake in his heart. He lived and … killed six or seven people when he came out of his grave. As a result, my families had to leave Romania and change their names. That’s how my brothers and I happened to grow up in England.”
He sighed. “Even in the most savage of times, when there were Ina family feuds that were like small wars, it almost never happened that we wiped out whole families. What is happening now, what happened to your families, Shori, is rare and terrible.”
“And by coming here, I’ve brought it to your family,” I said. “I’m sorry for that. I just … didn’t know what to do or where else to go. And I was afraid for my symbionts.”
Hayden nodded, watching me. “I don’t believe my sons’ sons would have wanted you to go to anyone else, although you’re already making Daniel’s life uncomfortable.”
I wasn’t surprised, but I didn’t know what to say.
He smiled. “You didn’t know, did you?”
“I thought I might be. I’m sorry.”
“You needn’t be. It’s normal. Daniel apologizes for his behavior. He knows you’re much too young to make the kind of commitment he’s thinking of. And your efforts and warnings have kept us safe so far. No one is seriously hurt. What we do next, though … well …” He sighed. “I suppose we will do what we must. These murders must be stopped.”
He wouldn’t talk about what he and his family meant to do next. He only told me to keep the books as long as I needed them and to come to him when I wanted more or if I wanted to talk about what I’d read.
When he was gone, instead of reading more, I went up to where Wright lay sleeping. I undressed and climbed into bed beside him. He awoke enough to curl his body around mine.
“You okay?” he asked, his chin against the top of my head.
“Better,” I said. “Better now.”
“Do they know who killed your family or, rather, who’s idea it was?”
“They know one family name, and where they live. The two injured captives can’t be questioned yet.”
“Is Victor alive, Shori?”
“He is.” I swallowed. “Even though he remembers helping to murder both of my families. He even remembers attacking the house at Arlington where you and I and Celia and Brook could have died.”
“But it wasn’t his idea.”
“It wasn’t. So far, the Silk family seems to be guilty of all three attacks.”
“Silk,” he said. “Interesting name. I wonder if you knew them before.”
“I don’t think so. None of the Gordons mentioned any connection between them and me, and I think at least one of them would have.”
“What will be done to them?”
“I don’t know. Hayden wouldn’t tell me. But I don’t think anything will be done until the other two prisoners are questioned.”
“You bit them.”
“I did. It will help them heal quickly.”
He moved me so that we lay eye-to-eye and took my face between his hands. “It will help you question them.”
“Of course it will.”
“What will happen to them after that, to Victor and the other two captives?”
“When we’ve finished questioning them, I’ll help them forget us because I’m the one who bit them. Then they’ll be sent back to their families.” I rubbed his shoulders. “They’re not anyone’s symbionts, Wright. They’re only someone’s tools. People who never wanted them, never cared about them, kidnapped them and used them to kill my families.”