Unraveling Mathias, Marisa Maichel [online e reader txt] 📗

and Spencer snarled. Janna just looked confused.

"But I have Sarah," I protested.

"You'd better not have fucking agreed to that," Uncle Soren snapped.

"I didn't! Father is furious. He's telling her off right now." His nose wrinkled, and his head whipped around. "Sarah, stay in the den. Reese will tell you what's happening later." My girlfriend backed into the den and shut the door.

"Don't yell at her," I growled.

"I didn't! Reese, go into the den with her!"

"Her who?" asked a silvery female voice. It was Rosita.

"Reese's girlfriend," Louis growled. Rosita's eyes flickered to me.

"I see. Well, whoever she is, she is a lucky young lady." She blew me a crimson kiss. Then she left, her heels making the only noise besides the TV in the den. When Toby slammed the door shut behind her, everyone started talking at once.

"What a bitch!" Toby muttered under his breath.

"How dare she? After all she did to us?" Louis phonated.

"I know I broke her heart, but we're not soulmates!" Uncle Soren cried.

"Not my Reese! Anyone but Reese!" Father pleaded.

"Everyone, SHUT UP!" We all looked at Grandfather. "I'm just as angry as the rest of you, but yelling over each other isn't helping anything. Reese, go back to Sarah. Check on her. Louis, guard them. Janna, guard the door to the den. Spencer, make sure she's truly gone. The rest of you, come with me."

Sarah looked confused when Louis and I entered.

"It sounds like everyone's really mad," she said.

"Understatement of the year," Louis mumbled under his breath. I glared at him.

"Sarah, are you all right?" I asked, holding her.

"I'm all right," she told me. "No pun intended." I smiled. She was still herself.

"How's Mia?" I asked her.

"She's good. We might not have what we once had, but it's better than what we had before."

"Oh." I didn't say anything else after that until wrestling was over and it was time to drive her home.

When we reached the house, I smelled the air. Sarah peeked in the window.

"Mom's passed out," she informed me. I glanced inside. Alicia was laying on the couch, looking like a corpse surrounded by beer bottles. Sarah stood up on her toes and kissed me on the lips. I whined a little when she pulled away.

When Sarah stepped inside, Alicia woke with a start. "Where've you been?" she asked, her words slurred.

"I was watching wrestling at Reese's house, Mom."

"Oh. That boy's gonna have you wrapped around his finger. Get me some water, will ya, babe?"

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, do not panic. I could not afford to panic, even though I had worse things to worry about. I officially lost my North Hampton Library card, which costs two dollars to replace. I wasn't worried about the cost, but I still thought it was an outrageous amount to replace a lost library card. Well, it was still better than my school. At North Hampton High School, replacing a lost library card costs four dollars, which really is outrageous.

I shuffled through my wallet, and finally just decided to give up, when I remembered the miniature card on my keyring. Silly me. I placed the card under the scanner, entered my PIN number, and checked out three horror novels, two graphic novels, and three nonfiction books on aliens and conspiracy theories. I sighed when I saw that I also had an overdue book.

Ten dollars. Kill me.

I paid the amount, and shoved the books into a plastic bag. I glanced around. North Hampton Library has a better selection and item organization than most cities its size. North Hampton is not as big as New York City, but it certainly isn't a small town either. I looked into the Adults Only section, and wished I could enter. Unfortunately, I wasn't even allowed in the section until I turned eighteen on October first.

I looked at the calendar. It was almost March. Damn, still eight more months to go. Sarah was almost three and a half months pregnant. I wondered when we would know the gender. I started toward the exit, when I noticed a flash of blond hair.

No. It can't be. No freaking way. But it was.

Michael Nales.

Except, he wasn't alive. No, it was his ghost that was giving me a look that would have killed had he been alive. As a ghost, he was less dangerous, but still frightening. I gulped and pretended not to see him.

I shoved past, only to knock down a girl.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I reached down to help her up, until I saw who it was. Scarlett Hart.

"Watch it, freak," she hissed. She stood up and brushed herself off. She looked at me. "What's it like to have loser friends?"

"What's it like to have no friends?" I retorted. For a second, she looked like she actually might cry. She pushed past me.

I drove home, trying to keep myself calm. Three omens in one day. What would happen next?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Either fortunately or unfortunately, it didn't take long to find out. The next day after school, I saw a two police cars in front of my house. Crap. I parked by the curb and headed inside.

Arastoo Armada, Stephanie Wilkins, Suzanne Moon, and Emma Greene, all of the detectives who investigated Sarah's rape case, were there, talking to Father. They must have thought they were alone, but I spotted Dimitri hiding behind a wall. Spencer appeared in the foyer, put a finger to his lips, and led me to the library, where the rest of my family and guards were gathered.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"They suspect that we had something to do with Nales' death," Uncle Soren grumbled. Double crap.

Oh gods...Father.... This was all my fault. I'm the one who asked Father to kill Nales.

"Relax, Reese," Louis told me. "It's not the first time he's been suspected of killing someone."

"Keep your voice down!" Uncle Soren urged him. He looked at me. "Don't worry, Reese. He's always managed to get away scot-free without any lingering problems. And if they do try to arrest him, we have a spare jet ready for takeoff."

"I need to tell you something," I told my family. I started with the missing library card, then seeing Nales' ghost and bumping into Scarlett.

"You are making mountains out of molehills," Grandfather told me. "The missing library card is merely a daily hassle. It's nothing to be overly concerned about. I admit it was strange to see the spirit. Are you sure you were not hallucinating?"

"I'm sure," I told him, my voice shaking.

"And the library is a popular place," Louis said. "Believe it or not, people go there to do more than check out books, despite how your brain thinks." I could tell that he was teasing me, and I bared my teeth at him. He threw up his hands in the "I surrender" sign.

"Louis, be nice," Uncle Soren warned him. Then my uncle did something unexpected. He pressed his cheek against mine and started purring. "Do you feel better, baby?"

"I don't know," I answered honestly. I started hyperventilating.

"Reese, please calm down. You have to stay calm. Honey, look at me." I tried to focus on my uncle. "Your father can take care of himself. He's done so for years. He's been through this before. We have all killed people, Reese. We know how to handle a murder investigation."

"Otherwise we would have been burned a long time ago," Louis piped up.

"For once, he's right."

"I'm always right."

"Not now, Louis. Reese, try to focus on me. The color of my eyes, the sound of my voice."

"Okay, now it's getting weird."

"Louis, shut up. Reese, are you still listening to me?"

"Why wouldn't he be listening to you?"

"Would somebody please glue my son's mouth shut? Honestly. Sometimes I wish I'd had a daughter instead."

I could tell that Louis was hurt by the last comment, but he made no sign of it. In fact, he really did shut up for the remainder of the day, even after the detectives left.

"They're gone," Father told us. His eyes locked on mine, and we threw our arms around each other. "Reese, why are you crying?"

I couldn't answer. I was trying to keep my emotions locked inside.

"He saw something strange the today," Grandfather began, "-and he thinks it's an omen."

"Is that all?"

"Father," I sobbed. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be, sweetheart. I didn't like Nales either. Hush. Stop crying." He picked me up and carried me to my room. I fought to get out of his arms, and he just threw me over his shoulder.

I was given blood and water and told to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I awoke the next day around eight in the morning, and groaned. I felt like a clamp was on my head. When Father came into the room, he sensed my distress and called the school, saying that I was too sick to leave my bed. I tried to grab the phone, and he kept me at bay. I sulked a bit when he finally hung up.

"Oh, Reese," he said when he saw my look. "What am I going to do with you?"

"I'm going to hunt," I said.

"Be back before noon."

 

An hour later, I was on the rooftops of the downtown buildings, searching for a meal. I sniffed the air, and was surprised to smell other vampires. I decided it was nothing and kept looking. I finally spotted a cutpurse pretending to be a tourist. I watched as the victim finally walked away, made sure he was gone, then prepared to leap onto my victim.

The moment I started running, I felt another vampire presence. I ran to the alley, where I was jumped by the new vampire.

"Damn you," he said. "The meal knows we're here. We lost the element of surprise thanks to you."

"No, we lost it when you started chasing me," I argued back. I looked up. The other vampire was a male with dark curly hair and a pockmarked face. I threw him off.The other vampire leaped onto the cutpurse and started drinking from his throat. Defeated, I looked for another meal.

I did find another victim, a man stalking a girl from the shadows. I leapt onto my victim, and finally got a decent breakfast. I took the cash from his wallet and made it look like a robbery, using a pocketknife to cut his throat where my teeth had been. I wiped the knife on my shirt and went home, satisfied.

I told Uncle Soren what happened when I was hunting. He said he'd look into it. Of course, Father overheard and demanded to know what happened.

By the time I was done explaining, I had another headache. I went back into my bedroom and crawled into bed. I dozed off, and when I woke up again, Father was in my bed, gently nudging me awake.

"Reese, wake up, baby boy. There's a coven we don't know coming toward us. They'll be at the lake in twenty five minutes."

"So?"

"One of them looks like the vampire you described earlier."

"So? That just means that he's part of a coven."

"A coven that is larger than ours. There's four males and three females."

"We have the guard."

"Only four guard. I'm sorry to do this to you, but we will be needed in case they are hostile."

I groaned and got up. My stomach rumbled loudly at the sudden movement.

"Maybe you should stay in bed," Father quickly backtracked.

"No, you're right. I should go."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There were indeed three females and four males. Two of the females were blond-one had a short hairstyle and the other had long, wildly curly hair. The dark-haired female was unbelievably beautiful. Her eyes were a dark brown, her hair was long and sleek, she had bow-shaped red lips and perfect eyebrows, a small nose, and she was slender. Her breasts are not as large as the breasts currently in fashion, but they are a decent size and perky.

Her attire was sexy. She wore a sheer lace blouse over a black tank top, a leather jacket, black skinny jeans, high-heeled boots, and hoop earrings. Louis was gazing at her like she was a valuable piece of artwork. She stared back at him with a look of surprise and