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

would be bad for the books and the records. Instead, I ducked into a coffee shop, where I ordered a water and sat reading one of the books. Before long, Scarlett reappeared in the doorway, ordered a caramel macchiato, and sat across from me.
"Let's make a proposal," she said. "You kiss me once, and I don't tell Sarah you cheated on her."
I glared. She was bluffing. She couldn't possibly know that I'd slept with Sadie before she committed suicide. It was during a fight with Sarah, and I had mistaken her words for a breakup. When she sighed and said that we'd simply had a fight, I hated myself instantly even more than I already did.
I didn't want to lose her, not now, not ever. So I'd kept my mouth shut about the affair and hoped no one would find out. Well, Father knew. And Uncle Soren. Other than that, I hoped no one else knew. Louis wouldn't be able to keep his mouth shut, and Grandfather would want to get any confessions off his chest before he died.
Still, I stayed firm. "Not happening, Hart."
"Come on, Reese," she said pleadingly. "It's my last chance before I leave for Salem."
"Salem? Seriously, Scarlett?"
She nodded. "Seriously. You can either join me, or lose Sarah. Your choice."
"Number one, I'd lose Sarah with either of those options, two, I don't give in to ultimatums, three, I'd never join you, and four, you disgust me. And five, I won't ever leave Sarah."
"But you've been having doubts, haven't you?"
I blinked.
"Yes, I know all about what goes on in a boy's mind, Reese. You've been having doubts, thinking that maybe, just maybe, there's another boy in her life. Think, Reese. Use your incredible thinking brain. You know as well as I do that there's something about Sarah that draws members of the male variety to her. She has tons of guy friends, and almost all of them have considered fucking her at least once. She has so many options."
I hated to admit it, but she was right. I'd been having doubts. She took my silence as confirmation and nodded.
"You'll never have a better offer, Reese. When's your birthday?"
"The first of October."
"That's tomorrow. Come on, sweetheart, take a deep, unneeded breath and pull me in."
"Don't call me sweetheart. Your words are poisonous, Scarlett Hart. I don't care how beautiful you are, Sarah's beauty surpasses yours in every category, especially her inner beauty. She may not like herself right now, but I do. I adore and worship her. I knew she was different than the rest of you. And I was right. You're a vile, vain, horrid woman, Scarlett. Stay away from me. For the last time, stay away from me."
I grabbed my purchases and left Scarlett there, fuming. When I got home, I heard batches of French coming from upstairs. It was Beckett and Sarah.
"Vraiment, Sarah? Pourquoi Caitlin?" ("Really, Sarah? Why Caitlin?"
"Papa, elle avait peur et avait besoin d'aide. Je sais qu'elle a déjà menti, mais je pense que c'est pour de vrai." ("Papa, I know she's lied before, but I think this is for real. She's scared and needs our help.")
"N'oublie pas, mon amour, elle t'a fait du mal avant ton départ," Beckett said. ("Don't forget, she hurt you before.")
"Je n'ai pas oublié. Mais je suis sur lui depuis des années, papa. J'ai Reese maintenant." ("I haven't forgotten. I've been over him for years, Papa. I have Reese now.")
Stomach roiling, I cleared my throat loudly.
"He's back," Beckett said. I heard tension in his voice.
"Papa, don't be jealous. Reese was my rock when I had no one else."
"I know I'm being irrational, but if I get my hands on him..."
"Papa! Not okay!"
"Okay, okay, I'll control my jealousy. Any sign of your sister?"
"None. She's ignoring all my calls and texts. I can't help feeling guilty-"
"Sarah Harper, don't you dare blame yourself for his mistakes. It was his uncle's fault that the young vampire died."
"It wasn't Soren's fault! It was Samuel who ordered all those murders to be committed, and it was Alana who went through with half of them. No one could have been safe with those two around."
"If Soren had just given him the Book-"
"The Book's dangerous, Papa. No one is supposed to rise from the dead."
"But I did, and I'm glad I'm back. I can protect you now."
"I am, too." I heard the shuffling of clothing, and assumed they were hugging.
"You're my petite rose, dear daughter.That's why I died for you."
"I don't fully understand."
"Sarah, it's quite simple. When you were a baby, you were cursed to die. But I found a loophole. If someone else died in your stead, you would live."
"Papa, if what you're saying is true, you interfered with fate!"
"It was worth it, to watch you blossom and grow from Heaven."
More shuffling of clothing. "I missed you, Papa."
"I missed you too, mi petite rose."
I entered the room, carefully avoiding Beckett's eyes as I sat in my desk chair.
"Where have you been?" he snapped.
"Where's Caitlin?" I redirected.
"In the bath," Sarah said. "Where were you, Reese?"
"I went to the Douglas Plaza. I got you some books, lover."
"Ooh, thank you." I handed her her bag of books and she eagerly looked through them. "I've been wanting to read this one. I was planning to buy this one anyway. This looks interesting. Ooh, a detective story. And a book of fairytales? You know me so well."
"A book of fairytales?" I asked, surprised. "I don't remember picking up a book of fairytales." I took the book from her and thumbed through it. It had all the usuals, like Tom Thumb and Thumbelina, Red Riding Hood, A Midsummer Night's Dream. I was confused. A Shakespeare story in a book of fairytales. Then I realized that its pages had been ripped out and added between Sleeping Beauty and Beauty & the Beast.
Now I was very confused.
"Scarlett," I muttered.
"Huh?" Sarah looked up from her perusal of the pages of the latest great teen novel. "What about her?"
"I met her in the coffee shop. She asked me to leave you, and go to her instead."
"I'm glad you didn't."
"Yeah, me, too."
I kissed her on the cheek, and Beckett raised an eyebrow.

Two days later, I was running to burn off energy, and I was near the lake. I suddenly smelled a vampire smell, and saw a glimpse of white skin. I sniffed the air again. It was a female scent, very old.
I looked around and then sat down by the dock. I smelled grass, flowers, dying leaves, earth, and the scent of the lake. I pulled out my phone and texted Sarah, asking how she was. I spotted a snake suddenly, and edged away. I can't stand snakes. And this was a northern copperhead, one of the most venomous species on Earth. Not that his venom would affect me, but I'd prefer not to get bitten.
"Reese."
I turned around at my name. "Hi, Kole."
She sat down beside me and pulled up some grass. "So I suppose you've figured it out by now?"
"That your creator abandoned you?"
She nodded. "I'm sorry if I bothered you. I'm just so alone, and I have no family or friends to turn to. I was raised in foster care, and I ran away. I guess this was just one time too many, and I got lucky." She said the last part sarcastically. "I didn't even know vampires existed until he bit me. I know he wanted me to do something, but I don't want to do what he says he wants me to do. All I want is for somebody to take care of me and teach me how to be a vampire."
"It's hard sometimes," I said.
"Are there rules I should know about?"
"Yes. One, never drink from another vampire unless the situation is dire. That's one of our biggest laws, because it's considered cannibalism. For another, try to drink from bagged blood, and don't kill humans." She winced at that. "Or, since you already have," I began, and she looked guilty, "try to hide the body. Don't ever take another vampire's mate, that's another big law. If you're an animal or plant drinker,-"
"Animal drinkers? Plant drinkers?"
I nodded. "Animal and plant drinkers do exist, but it's considered taboo to drink from an animal. It's ridiculous, because it doesn't give us the right nutrition or satisfy us like human blood does. And all you'll get is a constant thirst. Plant drinkers, or chlorophyll eaters, only drink plant juice. I don't know how many there are or when they were created, but they're slowly dying out. I've never met one yet. I've met some animal drinkers, though, and they are the most pretentious, egotistical tools in the vampire race. I had a girl try to convert me years, ago, but I ignored her."
Kole nodded, taking in all this information.
"There is a Vampire Council in addition to the royal family, and there are twelve members, the head of which is Bram Sterling. He hates us, because we overrule him. The rivalry between us and the Council is ongoing and constant, and it will probably end in death. I don't know all the Council members' names, but I know a few."
She nodded again, absorbing her lesson in vampire rules and laws.
"We used to have a Law of Secrecy, but it was abolished years ago. It doesn't matter anymore-most humans don't believe we exist, anyway. My family and I admitted on television that we exist, and we created our own vampire channel, called VStation. It's all about vampires. Shows, movies, news, and so on."
"And what about mates?" she asked.
"When you see your mate, you'll know it's them almost immediately. A mate is the most precious, worthwhile thing in our existence, and there are so many fewer females than males, which is why they are so coveted. Without a mate, a vampire will get depressed, isolate himself. He'll slowly be driven into madness by his loneliness and will eventually go off the deep end or commit suicide. If a mate dies, their death is mourned."
I paused. I looked at Kole; she was staring at me intently.
"Um, Kole?" I said nervously.
"Yes, Reese?" She fluttered her dark eyelashes.
"I'm in love with Sarah. Normally vampires only date other vampires or humans, but Sarah...she's not all human. We only recently discovered that she's actually part fairy."
She blinked. "She is? Well, she's very lucky to have you. I'm jealous of her."
If I could blush, I would have then. "I'd say I'm lucky to have her."
"How can I find my mate?"
"Just be patient. He'll come to you eventually. Fate always finds a way, and the Fates are hard to change."
I leaned back and watched as a turtle poked its head out of the water. It stared at me for a moment, then dived back down. I looked at Kole, who was stretched out on the dock, her legs spread out sexily and her elbows on the ground.
If I didn't have Sarah, I'd consider dating Kole. She was hot, for one thing, and for another, she was alone, and needed vampire company. Just like my Sarah.
Then I heard the flapping of gigantic wings, and Sarah landed softly between us, her purple wings spread out.
"Hello, Reese," she said, wrapping her arms around me and kissing me sloppily on the cheek. "Hi, Kole." Did I detect a note of jealousy in her voice?
"Sarah," Kole replied, nodding at her. Sarah sat beside me and folded her wings. I kissed her back on the lips, and she left a Divine Crimson lipstick mark on my cheek and lips. I was