We hurried inside the house, upstairs. Jude pulled me into an empty room while his man went to knock on another two doors down. I could hear him talk to the nanny. Their voices drew near and then we could hear them leave in the direction of the stairs we had just climbed.

My heart was racing. I was so close and my emotions were all over the place but I had to hold myself together. I couldn’t lose control no matter what. There was so much riding on this.

“Are you ready?” Jude whispered to me.

I swallowed my nervousness and nodded.

He opened the door and led me to the room the nanny had just left with his man. I held my breath as I stepped in behind him.

The sight of two identical toddlers shook me. Jude’s warning that vampire children grew much faster than human ones didn’t prepare me for this.

They were only two weeks old, there was no way they could be walking around.

I continued to hold my breath as I took in the way the brothers sat side by side playing and talking. It was a lot of nonsense but when I listened closer I could hear some words. It was mind blowing.

“Five minutes and we have to leave,” Jude said as he set a timer on his watch.

I nodded, moving closer to the toddlers whose attention had moved from their toys to the two strangers now standing in their room.

“Jude,” one said. Jude smiled and bent down to one.

“Hey Avery,” he said to the little boy.

“Avery?” I whispered.

Jude nodded. “He named him after you.”

His revelation crushed me into a million pieces and I fought the tears that stung.

The little boy’s eyes focused on me with a precision that took me by surprise. He walked slowly over to me where I bent down on a knees to level my eyes with his. He had his father’s dark coloring, he had the shape of my face and eyes. I struggled to keep my emotions in check as he neared me. I think he was trying to figure out if I was a friend or foe.

“Who?” the little boy questioned with the one word and a deep frown.

“She is a friend,” Jude explained as vaguely as he could.

There was the fear that we would slip up and we couldn’t afford for Avery to mention something outside of this visit.

It was the first time I understood the true danger of what Jude had been trying to warn me against.

“Friend,” Avery echoed.

I reached out my hand to him and his little fingers curled around a finger. And then he smiled. It hit me straight in the heart. I was overwhelmed and I sniffled back my tears. He was beautiful and he was mine.

My heart filled with a possessiveness that took me by surprise.

“Av,” the other little boy said when he stood up and followed his brother to stand beside him.

They were both curious.

“Friend,” Avery said to his brother.

“What’s his name?” I asked Jude, my voice husky.

“Archer. Avery is the eldest, Archer was born three minutes after him.”

I loved the names. There was no jealousy that I hadn’t been able to name them myself. The fact that Silas had named our eldest after me had shaken my world. Just when I had been able to compartmentalize what I had shared with Silas, this unravelled it all.

I was too focussed to even concentrate on Avery’s actions while I stared at Archer, taking his beautiful eyes and inquisitiveness. I felt the pain of the bite before I realized that Avery had bitten me on the finger he held.

“Avery,” Jude admonished as he picked him as Avery let go of my finger. I put the bloodied finger to my mouth to suck the blood.

Luckily none had dropped to the floor. This was far too dangerous.

“You know you’re not supposed to do that,” Jude lectured as he sat the boy down by his toys.

Avery kept his eyes on me. It was like he knew I was more important than what he had been told. It was unbelievable how aware they were as toddlers. Human toddlers were not like this at all. This meeting had been far too risky and I regretted pushing Jude for it.

But at least I would know what they looked like so when I thought of them they would have faces even if they wouldn’t remain this way for long.

“You be a good boy and play. Keep an eye on your brother,” Jude told Archer as he lifted him to sit beside Avery by the toys they had played with before.

“Yes,” Archer said to Jude. “Brother.”

My heart squeezed. Even as young as they were they looked out for each other and that gave me some peace. I might not be there for them as they grew up but they had Silas and each other.

It was then I heard a noise. Alarmed I looked to Jude. He motioned for me to hide behind the bulky curtain.

My heart raced, blood pounded in my ears as I hid, trying to keep my breathing slow so it couldn’t be heard.

This was all going wrong. We were about it blow the only chance we had. And I was the one to blame. It would be my fault.

Jude remained on a bended knee playing with the boys. He never showed the nervousness I felt as the door opened. I caught of glimpse of Silas and I held my breath. The emotion that filled me was impossible to process. I felt a million things all at once.

I loved him so much, even more than I had before. Perhaps my emotions were amplified because of my distance and the knowledge that he would never be mine.

I closed my eyes as I fought the pain in my heart, trying to remain as quiet as possible.

“Jude, this is unexpected,” Silas said as he surveyed his sons.

“I had some free time so I thought I would drop by to see how they were doing.” Jude rose to stand beside Silas.

“They are good,” Silas said. I could hear the pride in his voice and I found it hard to swallow.

“They will flourish,” Jude added.

I closed my eyes, feeling the pain that it would be without me.

“They remind me of her,” Silas said. There was a touch of sadness in his voice and tears stung my eyes.

I couldn’t cry now.

“They have inherited her strength and strong will.”

I didn’t feel very strong right now. In fact I felt myself waver. Leaving them felt impossible even when I knew it was the right thing to do for them.

For me it would be hell. This meeting had made it much more difficult for me but there was no turning back the time and changing things.

Avery stood up and toddled over to his father who picked him up.

“Friend,” Avery pointed to Jude.

“Yes, Avery. Jude is a friend.”

I held my breath, as I knew what Avery was trying to tell his father. I just hoped that he wouldn’t be able to explain what he meant properly for Silas to understand that Jude had brought a friend to meet them. A friend who was their mother who was standing behind the curtain, wishing and praying she wouldn’t be discovered.

Silas took a deep breath. “I can even smell her now, in this room.”

Oh dear God. This could not be happening. Then I remembered the bite and knew that he could still probably smell my blood in the air even if it hadn’t touched any object.

“Time will heal the loss,” Jude said, trying to play it off as something he was imagining and not something tangible in the room.

Silas nodded.

He kissed Avery on the cheek and lowered him to the ground. “I need to get going. I forgot a file that I needed.”

“No problem.”

“I’ll check in with you later,” Silas said as he moved to the door.

“Daddy,” Avery said and Silas stopped.

“I’ll see you later son.”

Daddy. Son. It killed me.

The door opened and closed.

I didn’t move for fear that I wasn’t sure he wouldn’t return.

“We need to get out of here,” Jude said as he came to stand beside me at the window and peered down to see Silas return to his car.

“Yes,” I said. I needed to get out of there as quickly as possible.