Chapter 23: Awkward Questions

Ariana POV

Aunt Sally, looking beautiful in brand new clothes, simple and elegant, sat beside Ariana, staring into her eyes. 

"No, Auntie." Ariana tried to keep her face as innocent as possible. "He's not--"

"He's a vampire! He's one of them."

Defensiveness rose inside her. "He also defied his whole family for us."

"After he oversaw the murder of several women in our family, except you," Sally muttered, clasping Ariana's hands with her own warm and still-smooth hands. 

"He was never there. This was the first year."

That sounded weak, even to her ears. Dd she even buy Dimitri's explanation? Why hadn't she investigated for herself? There were ways. Sure, she couldn't exactly ask anyone in the royal court ... but Dimitri mentioned a friend. Maybe he ...

No, too risky. 

What about vampire social media? They wouldn't necessarily post this kind of stuff on human social media, but maybe vampires had their own sites?