They Tried To Punish My Daughter, Unaware We Were Vampires Chapter 03

They Tried To Punish My Daughter, Unaware We Were Vampires Chapter 03

The basement was forbidden territory in our home. It held eight centuries of House Vesper’s secrets and all the supplies Ivy needed to survive.

I fixed my gaze on Rosie. Her instincts were almost frighteningly sharp.

“It’s only a storage room. There’s nothing worth seeing.”

My curt refusal only piqued Silas’s interest. He knew me too well. The harder I tried to hide something, the more certain he became that the basement held a secret.

“A storage room? I lived here for ten years. How did I never know it existed?”

Silas shoved me aside and strode toward the basement door.

“Move. I want to see what you’ve been hiding from us.”

I caught him by the shoulder.

“Don’t push your luck, Silas.”

Rosie suddenly cried out and fell backward.

“Ow…”

She clutched her ankle, her eyes filling with tears.

“Mrs. Vesper, I only asked a question. Why did you shove me?”

I hadn’t touched so much as her sleeve.

Silas flew into a rage.

“You’re asking for it, old hag!”

He lunged at me in a rage. I dodged, but Rowan rushed at me from the side, knocking me off balance.

The impact would have seriously hurt an ordinary human.

I stumbled back but didn’t fight back. The midday sun had weakened me too, and my strength hadn’t fully returned.

Silas didn’t spare me a second glance. He grabbed a bronze ornament and slammed it against the basement lock. After several blows, the lock broke off.

A rich, distinctive scent drifted from the basement. It came from rose oil mixed with synthetic plasma.

Silas and Rowan rushed inside. Rosie forgot all about her act, scrambled up from the floor, and ran after them.

There was no gold or jewelry in the basement. Rows of large temperature-controlled freezers lined the walls, each neatly packed with bags of red liquid.

“What is this?”

Rowan pulled out a bag and checked the label.

“Tomato juice?”

Disgust crossed his face.

“You really are getting old, Mom. All that secrecy over a basement full of cheap tomato juice?”

Rosie walked to a crystal display case at the back of the basement. Inside was an elegant glass bottle filled with dark red liquid.

It contained a premium synthetic blood substitute. Acquiring even that small amount had cost me a fortune.

“Silas, that bottle is gorgeous. The juice inside must taste amazing.”

She reached for it.

I forced myself up and rushed into the basement.

“Don’t touch that!”

Silas intercepted me and shoved me back.

“It’s one bottle of juice. If Rosie wants it, what’s the big deal?”

Silas took the glass bottle from the case and twisted off the cap. The sharp smell of blood filled the room.

Rosie covered her nose and frowned.

“That’s disgusting. It isn’t juice. It smells like spoiled pig’s blood.”

She slapped Silas’s hand.

The bottle slipped from his fingers and shattered on the floor, spilling its contents across the concrete.

My heart clenched at the sight.

That was Ivy’s only supply! Without it, she’d be weak for the next two weeks.

Faint footsteps sounded on the basement stairs.

Ivy stood there trembling, her face ghostly pale. At the sight of the spilled liquid, Ivy’s eyes turned crimson, and she let out a piercing scream.

“That was my food!”