Kaiden stayed on the sofa in his mother's bedroom until Yunohana finished her tea, enjoying the weight of both women against him while dawn began to lighten the window.
He could have spent the morning there. Every time Vespera adjusted her head against his shoulder, he wanted to hold her a little longer.
Yet his thoughts kept returning to the people strapped to those beds.
His mother had brought them out. She had taken one of the vampires alive, and Kaiden wanted to know what they had learned before someone silenced this one too.
"Mom?"
"Hm?"
"The vampire you captured. Where is he?"
Vespera lifted her head. Beside him, Yunohana stopped turning her empty cup between her hands.
"What remains of him is downstairs."
Kaiden's arm stopped moving against her back.
"Someone killed him?"
"During questioning. His body collapsed, then everything was pulled out of his clothes. I was there."
