Chapter 5 - Blood and BloodlinesGertrude’s eyes darted from the shattered gifts on the floor to my face, then down to Sarah and Jamie huddled in the corner of the squalor. I watched the color drain from my mother’s face in slow motion—first her lips, turning ash-gray, then her cheeks, leaving her skin looking like curdled milk.
For several seconds, the only sound was the distant murmur of party guests laughing through the partition.
"Ethan," Gertrude choked out, her voice pitching into a panicked squeak. "You… you weren’t supposed to come back yet. Your contract—"
"My contract ended," I whispered. The tone of my voice made both women flinch as if I had struck them with an iron bar. "And I came home to find out what kind of monsters I share DNA with."
Prudence tried to recover her composure, tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder. "Ethan, don't be dramatic. You know how these lower-class girls are, she probably spent all the money on—"
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I crossed the kitchen in two massive strides, my hand shooting out to grip the edge of the silver platter Prudence was holding, sending the roasted chicken crashing onto the floor. She shrieked, stumbling backward into Gertrude.
"Get out," I said, my voice dangerously low. "Get out of this kitchen, and get every single guest out of my house before I stop being civilized."
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