“Hey, Lydia, so good to see you!” Katie greeted her with a smile and pulled her into her arms. She squeezed her niece tightly and ran her hand over her long red hair. “How are you holding up?”
Nineteen-year-old Lydia drew her head back and sniffled. “I miss Isabelle. She’s my best friend.”
“I know, honey, I know.”
“We’ll get her back,” Luther said from behind them.
Katie released her niece and turned sideways. “This is Luther, he’s been helping us. Luther, that’s my niece Lydia, and—” She pointed to the sixteen-year-old hybrid already cutting the pizza in slices. “—my nephew Cooper. Haven and Yvette’s kids.”
Luther offered his hand to Lydia. “Your mother is Yvette? But that’s impossible.”
Lydia hesitantly shook Luther’s hand and quickly released it. “I’m adopted.” Then she pointed to Cooper. “But unfortunately Mom had him later.”
Cooper grinned, chewing on a slice of pizza. “You’d be bored if you didn’t have me to boss around, sis.” He stretched his free hand out to Luther and shook it. “Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise.” Luther looked quizzically at Katie. “I guess we’re not talking about the Yvette I knew a long time ago, because she’s a vampire.”
“Oh, Mom’s a vampire,” Cooper said casually. “That’s also why she sucks at cooking.” He grinned at Katie and pointed to the pizza. “This is amazing! You’re the best cook in the world, Aunt Katie!”
Katie rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you at least sit down while you’re eating?”
She turned to the hanging cabinets and pulled three plates from it, then placed them on the table, while Cooper put the baking tray with the pizza in the middle of the kitchen table.
Luther pulled the chair back for her and motioned her to sit. She could sense that he was still baffled about Cooper’s comment and looked over her shoulder. “Maya, Gabriel’s mate, is a doctor. She pioneered a fertility treatment for vampire females. It was successful.” She ran her hand through Cooper’s dark mane. “And this boy here is one of the results.”
“Hey, I’m not a boy. I’m a man!” Cooper protested.
Lydia laughed and scooped a slice of pizza onto her plate. “Yeah, right.”
“So vampire females don’t have to be infertile anymore,” Luther said, clearly digesting the news. “How does it work?”
“I’m not a doctor, but the way Maya explains it is that when a vampire female wants to conceive, Maya injects her with human stem cells to prepare her body,” Katie started. “You see, conception was never a problem for a vampire female. But as soon as a fertilized egg tries to implant itself into the womb, the vampire’s body perceives it as an injury and heals it, killing the egg. So by injecting human stem cells, Maya in effect creates a human womb. During the entire pregnancy Maya monitors the vampire female and continues injecting human stem cells to keep up the right environment for the fetus to thrive until it’s time for the birth.”
“That’s amazing,” Luther said.
“Guess they don’t keep you up to date in prison,” Cooper said.
“Cooper!” Katie chastised, but Luther immediately squeezed her shoulder.
“It’s okay,” Luther said.
Lydia looked up at Luther. “Dad filled us in. So we volunteered to bring Aunt Katie’s car back.”
“Thanks, honey, that’s nice of you,” Katie said and smiled at her niece.
She bit into a slice of pizza, ravenous now. She couldn’t remember when she’d last eaten something. Oddly enough, she hadn’t even noticed until now. Maybe the fact that Luther had given her his blood to heal had kept the hunger at bay.
“Though Dad did say that you can’t go anywhere,” Cooper added now and glanced at Luther, looking him up and down.
Luther sat down on the chair opposite Katie’s, not saying anything about Cooper’s obvious curiosity. For a moment there was silence.
“Have there been any developments?” Luther asked, directing his question at Cooper, treating him like an equal.
Cooper immediately sat up straighter and pulled his shoulders back. “Nothing new. They’re looking into all the leads they have. Thomas and Eddie are going through all the databases to see if they can find any other hideouts this Forrester might have.” Cooper sighed.
“Did they match the voice on the recording to Forrester’s to get a positive ID?” Katie asked.