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Ok, I'm actually going to write the rest of this.
Edmund and Gambino didn't seem to be able to agree to anything. Edmund's sarcastic question started Gambino raging about how he wasn't going to expose both his children to vampires, and although I tried to butt in several times, they were quick to ignore me once they started arguing. So what could I do? I slipped off to take a look around the underground complex. It wasn't hard to get very lost very quickly, but soon I found myself stepping through a door I was sure I'd been through before... As it turned out, I was very wrong. I found myself in a sterile-looking room, in which, incongruously, was a large picture of a family. The man was unmistakably a younger Gambino. But the golden-haired woman, and the baby she held in her arms, were strangers to me.
A loud crash rang through the air, and I heard Edmund shouting, "You act so much like you care about them, but how much did you care about Dawna before? Or Gino when you possessed him? Or all your bastards? Including the ones I don't know about!" Then the sound of running feet, and Edmund burst into the room.
"Come on!" he snapped, taking me roughly by the arm. "Johnny doesn't know what he should or shouldn't do, so I'm taking matters into my own hands."
"Who..." I motioned at the picture.
"Your dad, Gino's mom, and sweet little baby Gino," Edmund said, suddenly sounding very tired. "I'll give you a tip, don't let him know you've seen that."
And that was the last bit of useful information he gave me until we got were he was taking me: A tiny bedroom, just as sterile as the rest of the place. "Bathroom's in here," he said, pushing open a door that led to a tiny bathroom, only big enough for the toilet, sink, and shower it contained. "I'm afraid the only woman's clothes here are useless for evading vampires..." He turned away from me. "I'll get some of Gino's old clothes for you, they should fit. Take your shower, I'll leave them on the bed." He had left and closed the door before I could say anything.
My mind was in complete turmoil. I had a duty to my people...but didn't I have one to my family too? At least to Gino, who had done me no harm, and was at least a third my brother. And I had to get out of here. So I took a shower, which felt very strange indeed after all this time, and stayed under the hot water until I heard the door open, something "floomp!" on the bed, and the door close again.
Gino's clothes didn't suit me at all, but in the end I put on a shirt with the top two buttons undone, a pair of rather-too-tight trousers, and very uncomfortable boots. Then I opened the door, and found Edmund standing there. "I was just about to get you," he said. "Now Johnny wants you to go find Gino...but I wouldn't recommend it, considering the circumstances. Just stay on land for a while, we might be needing you."
He took me back to where Gambino, now much calmer, sat. "I know from your mark that you are queen of the sea-people," he said before I could say anything. "I've seen the ceremony done, and I'm not surprised the mark stayed on you longer. And I know you won't trust me when I ask you to leave your people. But...Dawna...I know you care nothing for me, but save your brother...from...them..."
Great. Now he was crying. Trying to put the icy edge I'd often heard in Cindy's voice in mine, I said, "Brother? Not even half, really..."
"But a third, yes," Edmund said behind me. "You are almost certainly the only person on Gaia to have a third-brother, seeing as it's impossible for a...normal human." He spat the last words, and I spun around. "Quite honestly, Dawna, you're a failed experiment, a mule, a hybrid of two species that were never meant to mix. Religious people would call you an abomination..."
"STOP IT!" I shouted the words at the same time as Gambino did. Edmund laughed.
"I'm not religious," he said, "or at least not enough to blame you for your very existence. But I will blame you if you can't have some loyalty to your family...which does happen to be human."
"Not exactly!" I snapped.
"No?" Edmund raised his eyebrows, and the scar on his forehead twisted. "If you are queen, than I assume your other father is dead...meaning that there are no living sea-people who are genetically related to you."
It was at that point that Gambino did something I didn't think I'd ever see him do. He went down on his knees, sobbing. I turned around, and he grabbed my hands...and then he said it. "Find Gino...my son...your brother...I swear, by all the gods, by dark Eirmehz himself if you wish, I'll do everything for your people if you bring him back to me."
I stared at him. "Eirmehz? I asked quietly. "Why him?"
"Because he's your patron god," Edmund said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Quite obvious, seeing how your life's been so far...but then, you Aekeans don't believe in the gods, do you?"
"I thought you said you weren't religious!" I snapped, feeling more confused by the moment.
"As a scientist, I can't be too religious," Edmund said with a shrug. "But an interest in the supernatural is an occupational hazard of working with Johnny..."
Gambino burst into a laugh that seemed rather insane. "Yes, your books on demons and Hellfire!"
Edmund scowled. "Come on, we haven't all night," he said, and hurried me out of the room.
When we got back outside, he said quietly, "Dawna, you've got a ticket on the next ferry to the mainland...go to Durem if you like, but don't go near the vampires. It could be extremely dangerous for you to be turned into one of them, much more then for a human. Find Gino if you can without putting yourself in danger..." He handed me my ticket.
I would have liked to leave at once, but I had to say one thing. Gambino's sarcastic comment had made me remember his Xmas present to me, and how he had cheated the landlady from Hell. "Gambino..." I licked my lips.
"Yes?" Edmund said.
"He...he does know he's going to go to Hell, right?"
Edmund chuckled. "And I thought you weren't religious," he said. "But yes, he does know...and he doesn't care." I thought I saw a smile cross his face. "He's an interesting man, your father is. You should try getting to know him if you have a chance."
Driven by conscience and Edmund's stinging words, I took the ferry to the mainland. I went to Durem and fought vampires. Even when Gino was safe with none of my help, I hung around, in case sparks started to fly again. But now I have no excuse for staying away from my people. Besides, what little gold I had saved has run out, and I can't sponge off Natasha and Devin any longer, even though they never complain about the odd vampire hunter who insinuated herself into their life and shop. And yet...I would so like to see Cindy again. I've stayed hidden as much as I could, because I know it would hurt us both, but...oh, how I'd like to sit at the kitchen table and eat supper with her again!