“Good, you, Byron, and your child will hopefully bring the witches and the vampires together as the Grand Duchess Lucia and Cosimo Debrek did. We all need each other.”

“I hope so, Magda. I think we all want peace. Sybil said she wouldn’t come here, that she knew where she must be. Do you know why?” Byron said.

“I do, but show me the letter Daisy left.” Amelia handed Magda the letter, and she gazed over it. “Yes, as I thought. The time has come.”

“What time?” Byron asked.

“Sybil isn’t coming here because she is at Daisy’s grandmother’s house in Scotland,” Magda said.

Amelia wasn’t expecting that answer. “What? Why?”

“She feels Daisy might go there if she escapes the Dred castle. Daisy’s grandmother, Margaret, is familiar with Sybil. They have crossed paths many times over the years.”

“She has?” Byron said with surprise.

“Margaret Brassard is her full name.”

“Brassard?” Byron said.

“You recognize it, Byron?”

Byron looked at Alexis, and Alexis replied, “We both do.”

Amelia hated being in the dark like this. “Byron, what is this about? How do you know the name Brassard?”

Byron sat down beside Amelia and said, “The Brassards are, and have always been, vampire hunters.”

Amelia gasped and looked at Magda. “Is this true?”

“Yes, indeed it is. The Brassards have always been vampire hunters, and the calling has been passed down through the generations, along with the ability to sense when they are with a paranormal.”

“Her spidey sense, as Daisy calls it,” Amelia said.

“Yes,” Magda said. “Daisy’s father was a MacDougall, that’s why she doesn’t carry the family name, but the calling to be a vampire hunter…yes.”

Katie piped up, “Does Daisy know?”

“She does now, but not until very recently. Margaret kept the knowledge of the family business a secret. The calling had already gotten Daisy’s mother and father killed, and she couldn’t bear to lose Daisy, too.”

“And yet Daisy found her way to this secret life anyway, starting with her Monster Hunters YouTube channel.”

“Indeed,” Magda said, “that’s why it is a calling and not a job. Margaret works for a government agency based in Edinburgh that protects the public from paranormals with ill intent. Daisy’s mother worked there, too.”

Amelia was shocked. She turned to Byron and said, “You never told me about that.”

“The department? They got those of us who wanted to help with the war effort involved in World War Two.”

Amelia shook her head. “Every time I think I know something about this world, it turns out I don’t.”

“How will she get away from the Dred castle on her own?” Byron asked.

“There is only so much I know. Sybil knows more.”

“Alexis, Bhal, we’re going to rescue her. Daisy is one of us, and she’s obviously important for more than one reason.”

Amelia squeezed Byron’s hand. “Thank you, sweetheart.”