Unraveling Mordecai, Marisa Maichel [ebook reader .TXT] 📗

and I heard vomiting. I went dowstairs and heated up some blood for myself, then brought some tea for Sarah. She was busy brushing the yuckiness out of her mouth when I returned. She smiled when I brought her the tea. "Reese, you're a saint."
She laid down in bed on her side, and I brought her a bucket. She asked me to read to her, so I did that for a while, until she threw up again and had to run to the bathroom to clean out her mouth again. Zie brought some buttered toast and a sachet of herbs she said were meant to help pregnant women.
Amazingly, the smell of the herbs did calm Sarah down, but they also made her sleepy. She slept for a while, then woke up and started crying and complaining that she was wasting her life away by sleeping. I cooed to her and whispered calming things to her...well, I tried. She cried harder after I said something about looking tired.
"I'm not pretty anymore!" she sobbed. "I'm fat and ugly! And my sister hates me! My parents are vampires, and the Abrahams won't even talk to me because I'm with a vampire!"
"Honey, it's all right," I urged. I hated the thought of it, but I considered using hypnosis to calm her down. She was starting to upset me.
"What did you do?!" Selena asked, finally opening the door.
"I didn't do anything!" I said. "She just started getting upset after her nap!"
"How long did she sleep?"
"Three hours!"
Sarah sobbed harder and finally, Mother burst in and I was promptly thrown out of the room.
If anyone can calm her down, it's Mother, I thought. She adores her.
I went into a spare room and turned on the TV. I watched the news for a while, then switched to cartoons. But I couldn't laugh, because my thoughts were on my fiancee. I could hear her simpering soprano voice as Selena's alto urged her to keep calm. Then I heard something I didn't want to hear.
What if my babies die?
I couldn't bear the thought of losing any of them. Not Sarah, not Caitlin Juniper, not Joseph. I loved my children so much already that just the thought of living without them was unbearable. This had to be our fate. I'd even seen the future, a future with all of us together and happy. I had thought it was a new gift at first, but maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was just Fate. However, I hadn't taken my grandfather's slow descent into dust into account, or Sarah's emotional state, or David, or Satira.
I hadn't seen as much of my brother as I would have liked, and I'd already seen all I wished to see of Satira.
I needed a mentor, someone to guide me when things got rough. I couldn't count on Father, he was too emotionally invested, especially with David now here. And Uncle Soren was far too unstable, and Louis would just make things worse. I considered Krauvas, but remembered that he was Mason's father, and I did not want to see Mason yet.
I considered my options, which were few and far between. Grandfather was dying. I could go to Alexander...I shuddered at the thought of asking him for advice. Truthfully, I never had great role models. I had to learn how to keep a relationship together on my own. I had plenty of role models who taught me how to be a man, but that was it.
I sighed. I had no choice. I had to go to Alexander. I shuddered again at the thought.

I found him in the backyard, overseeing the work being done on the garden. The men had finished laying the stone for a massive pond, and now were laying more brick for a path from the patio to the pond, where we would sit, watch the fish, and maybe have a greenhouse in the future, and a pool.
"The red brick goes there! The hose must be attached to the fountain!"
"Hello, Alexander."
He turned to me and nodded. "Reese."
"I need to ask you something."
"What is it, boy?"
"Actually, I need advice."
He smirked and turned back to the workers. "And you thought I was the best candidate. You refuse to be my son, yet you want my expertise."
I sighed internally. I couldn't believe he was still irked about the fact that I wasn't his biological son. He had been so desperate for both companionship and a son, and he found out about me and decided I would do, that was my theory. I remembered when I first saw him. Sarah was in the hospital, and Alexander spotted me coming out of her room. We had just found out she was pregnant, and he was looking to adopt a baby, anyway, preferably a boy.
Someone he could mold into a version of himself.
"Never mind, I see that this was a mistake." I started to walk away, but guess who grabbed my shoulder? Alexander.
"Now you listen here, boy, and listen carefully. I spent too many years alone. Kieran still hates me, and Marina hated herself too much to be with me for years. You were my last chance to have a legacy, to not be so lonely. I could have killed you for all you know; I should have. Now if you want my advice, you ask for it, you little bastard."
"Let me go!" I tried to pull away, but he tightened his grip and his nails grew, causing me to yelp in pain.
"Ambrogio Nicolai, you let our son go right now!"
If he could, Alexander would have paled. The scariest thing in the world is a protective parent. And my mother stood on the patio, hands on her hips, glaring at her husband.
"Dearest," he simpered. "Reese came to me for advice and mouthed off. So I had to teach him a lesson, you see."
"So you grabbed him and scratched him?"
"Lovely wife," he began,
"Don't start with me, Ambrogio Nicolai. Come inside, Reese."
I quickly hurried in, and shut the door behind me. Seconds later, Mother's and Alexander's raised voices echoed in my ears.
"I shouldn't have mouthed off to him," I rued.
"It's not your fault," Selena said, coming up behind me. "He's just a big meanie."
"How's Sarah?"
"Asleep. She was shaking and cold to the touch, but Mother hypnotized her into sleeping."
"Hypnosis?"
"Don't tell me you're against what Mother did."
"No, but-"
I heard a scream from outside.
I ran outside, only to find Mother in the stone pond, laying on her side. Half the workers ran to her side, and a few glared at Alexander. I jumped in the pond, Selena following me.
"Mother! Are you all right?"
She looked at Alexander, a new hatred in her eyes. "He pushed me."
"Dearest, I didn't mean-"
"You son of a bitch!" Selena jumped on him and started pounding him. He spun her around and held her in a bear hug, while she squirmed. Then I saw it. Blood. Pooling between my mother's legs.
"Dearest!" Alexander put Selena down and walked toward us.
"Don't!" Mother shouted. "Don't come near me again!" Tears in her eyes, she ran inside.
Selena helped Mother, while I told Alexander it was best if he left. He looked stricken, but nodded and left in his Bugatti Veyron.
I heard sobbing coming from Mother's room, and I called Ethan Potter. He promised to come over right away. Then I checked on Sarah. She was disturbed by all the noise, but I sang to her, and she fell back asleep.
Ethan arrived minutes later, and Zie let him in. She led him to Mother's room, where he stayed with her for hours. I could still smell fresh vampire blood.

Sarah and I cuddled for a long time.
"What would happen if someone put the nozzle of an air hose in their mouth?" Sarah asked. "Would they blow up?"
"Geez, what goes through your mind when you're alone?" I replied.
"You don't want to know. How's Marina?"
I fine-tuned my ears. "Still hurting. Damn Alexander. He's gone too far this time."
"I...I need to stretch my wings," Sarah said, getting up. I followed her to the front yard, where her wings grew out of her back and she flapped them. Just then, it began to rain.
"Shit," Sarah said. "I can't fly when it's raining. I don't have enough experience."
"Have any of your other cousins gotten their wings yet?" I asked.
"Just Kaz. His are white, like an angel's. No one else is old enough yet."
"Not even your cousin Riley?"
"Riley's still figuring out who Riley is. They can't wait to get their wings, though, and neither can Bow or the boys. But the younger ones are nervous. We've told them that it hurts when they first come out, and Phillip especially is afraid of pain. But most people don't suddenly get their wings like I did-it takes time."
"That's because you were overdue," I said. "And you deserve your wings more than anyone else."
"That's sweet, Reese, but you're wrong. Kaz deserves them more than I do, if not as much. He's a volunteer firefighter, he helps out on the farm, he volunteers at the library and the animal shelter, all while getting good grades. He's headed to Oxford next year."
"Impressive, but you are so amazing as well, my lovely Sarah." I grabbed her wrist, and she spun around in the mud and kissed my lips, her wings bringing her to my height.
I smelled salt, and realized she was crying. I mentally sighed. Her self-esteem was so low, no thanks to Nales and Scarlett and Sabine and Puck. I'd have to work on that with her. I needed her to be completely healthy before her change.
I grabbed her shoulders, pulling her into me. She tasted like tea and spearmint and her favorite lipstick. She wrapped her legs around my waist, hugging me. Finally, she needed to breathe. Damn human needs.
I walked her to the garage, where she flapped her wings furiously, drying them. Then, to my shock, a feather fell off.
"Oh my gods, Sarah, your wings..."
"What?" She looked down and laughed. "Yeah, that happens sometimes. I have a whole bunch of them in my desk drawer. She picked up the feather and handed it to me. "Soft as a kitten."
I ran my finger along the fine feather. It was soft, the softest feather I'd ever felt.
"You can have it," she said. "It'll grow back."
I put the feather in my belt, and kissed her again.
"You're so selfless," I said, pecking her.
"Not really. I'm selfish when it comes to you. I want you, and nobody else can have you. Except your family. I trust them."
"You're not selfish. You're sweet, and amazing, and I adore you. I don't want to lose you, Sarah."
"You won't lose me. We'll go to Denmark on the first of November, and we'll have a fantastically grand time and an incredible wedding. I've already got my dress picked out, and the flowers, and everything."
"I've done about half the planning," I said. "I picked the castle, and the carriage, and even the horses. Have you ever ridden in a horse-drawn carriage?"
"No, but it sounds dreamy."
"It's fun. It'll be more romantic than buying a car. And I have all your presents ordered."
She looked amazed. "You got me more presents? Reese, you just bought me a Lamborghini! I haven't even got to drive it yet!"
"That's my fault, dear. I want it installed with every safety feature available. When it's finished, you can have it back."
"Oh, Reese Mordecai..."
"Oh, Sarah Harper."
We kissed again and again until she announced that she needed to use the bathroom. I've said it before and I'll say it again: damn human needs.

"What kind of gifts