To Vanquish Darkness (Le Sombre #1)

Chapter 26

26

1824 BLOIS, FRANCE

R achel curled into Florent's chest, her fingers tracing circles over the palm of his hand as they sat in the hollow of their tree by the river. "Do you have friends?"

"Of course, I have friends."

She grinned. "Vampire friends."

"Yes." He kissed the top of her forehead.

"Will I get to meet them?"

Florent blew a breath out of his nose. Rachel knew what that meant. He was always so cautious, so worried about how other people would react to him. But she knew of vampires. Her parents had been relentless in their teaching, and recently she’d learned the reason why.

Even after Oren had told her the truth, they'd still decided to protect their own children from it while they were young. There was no need to terrify them, especially when they were never far from their parents.

Now that she'd met Florent, she wondered about that decision. Had they been wrong? Rachel still had so many questions, none of which she'd get the answers to now that their parents were gone. Where were the other guardians? Why had they decided to go underground?

Her relationship with Florent was proof that guardians and vampires could live side by side. Their blood had the power to save humankind—to keep vampires from feeding. It seemed selfish to keep masking it.

"I'm going to talk to Oren."

Florent stiffened under her. "I don't think that's a good idea."

Rachel pushed up to look at him, her hair falling like curtains around her face. "I can't live the rest of my life sneaking around in the shadows, Florent. I want to be partners. Equals."

"Your family won't accept me."

She exhaled, dropping back to his chest. "I don't understand. You won't allow me to introduce you as human, but I'm not allowed to be honest either?"

"Your brother would figure it out."

"I didn't!"

"You weren't looking for it."

That was probably true. She'd been so enamored of him, she hadn't thought to question much. She was lucky it had turned out as well as it had, considering.

"My girls are only going to get older. They're going to stay up later. They'll notice if I'm always slipping in and out without a good explanation."

Florent brushed his hand up and down the side of her arm. "Then let's find a good explanation."