“I can’t bear to lose you to a vampire, too, Daisy,” Granny pleaded.

“Torija saved me. The Dred vampires were after me, as well as Anka’s people, but Torija saved me. She kept a long-held vow to a young Brassard she loved when she was seventeen. Can you imagine how hard that must have been for her?”

“Nothing can truly replace a vampire’s lust for blood.”

“I’m giving it with consent. Torija is behaving with consent.”

“How do I know this isn’t just your blood bond talking?” Granny asked.

“I suppose you’ll need to trust me, Granny. I need to get back to Torija, but I promise she won’t hurt me.”

* * *

Daisy came marching into the kitchen. “What’s going on? Don’t do anything to her, Sybil. She’s changed.”

“I see that.” Sybil smiled and leaned back in her seat. “I can see why Angele Brassard chose you to take on the formidable Victorija Dred. No one else would have the courage to stand up to her.”

“It’s okay, Daisy. We were just having a chat.”

“Did you ask her about the poison?” Daisy asked.

“I was just going to when you came in, guns blazing,” Torija said.

“Go on then.”

Daisy and her granny sat down, while Torija stripped off her jacket and shirt. She held out her arm.

“Come closer,” Sybil said.

Torija stepped right up to her and pulled her sports bra to the side, so Sybil could see the green, now just above her breast.

“Indeed, that’s poison. If it reaches your heart, it will be poisoned, born vampire or not.”

“How did she get it?” Daisy asked.

“From you, when she bit you.”

“What? How?”

“To answer that I’ll have to tell you a story.”

Torija put her shirt back on and took a seat.

“Daisy, I understand you and your Monster Hunters were at the Beltane festival,” Sybil said.

“Yeah, in Edinburgh. Why?”

“It’s a modern retelling of an ancient Celtic festival, whose two main characters are the May Queen and the Green Man.”

Daisy butted in enthusiastically, “The Horned God, or the winter aspect of the Green Man sees the May Queen.” She slowed her storytelling, took Torija’s hand, and said more softly, “When he sees the May Queen in her maiden form, he realizes that to be with the woman he loves, he must undergo a complete change.”

“I’m the Green Man?” Torija said to Sybil.

“Indeed, and that’s why you were destined to meet. Daisy is your poison, but she also leads you to your cure.”

“What is the cure?” Daisy asked.

“Victorija must face her misdeeds, must face the untold pain and destruction she caused,” Sybil said.

“How does she do that?”

“That’s for Victorija to find out.”

* * *