Unraveling Selena by Marisa Maichel (black female authors TXT) 📕

Prologue

If someone asked me five years ago what my life would be like, I would have never said it would be like this. A beautiful girlfriend, a group of good friends, a loving family. It's all too easy to lose it all, though. You have to be careful what you do and say. Or you could lose it all.

Chapter One- Call

I was sitting in my bed and reading The Double by Fyodor Dostoyevsky when I got the call.

"Hello?"

"Hello?! Where is he?! WHERE IS HE?!"

"Who is this?"

"This is his father! Where did he go?!" I hung up at that. My father ran in, only wearing a towel around his waist.

"Who was that, Reese?"

"I don't know. He was freaking out, looking for his son."

Father ran his fingers through his long, blond, still wet hair. "Damn. Let me take a look." He grabbed my phone before I could protest and looked. "Odd. I've never seen symbols like that." It was an exclamation point, an upside-down lowercase J, the number two, and then a series of seven numbers, which I assumed to be the main number.

"I haven't, either," I said.

"Hang on. I'll get your grandfather to have a look."

My grandfather, Eilief, also known as king of the vampires, was the best chance to figure out what the symbols meant, unless Father wanted to have a conversation with his archrival and my soulfather, Alexander Nicolai, the first of our kind.

Soon, he would also become my stepfather. My mother had finally agreed to marry him after thirty years. She would soon be known as Marina Nicolai. The only person more excited than her was Alexander himself.

After my father's mistake, which resulted in my mother and Alexander breaking up and then my birth, she and Alexander had spent some time away from each other. My girlfriend, Sarah Cresley, described it as a sad love story. She would know, as she'd been through plenty of tragedy in the past few years.

Her due date was approaching fast. She would have the baby, named Cirino, July seventeenth. She had been scheduled for a C-section, which she was nervous about.

My grandfather had no news on the strange phone call, so my father gave me back my phone and told me to erase it. Then I forgot about the call as I lost myself in nineteenth century Russia.

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

"THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!" Alexander barked as the poor florist cowered. She was already close to tears and he'd only been in the store for ten seconds. "DO YOU REALIZE WHAT THESE FLOWERS MEAN?! DEATH!"

He threw the lilies to the ground and stepped on them. "I am paying a lot of money for this wedding, and I expect perfection! Nothing less! Do you understand me?!" The florist nodded and opened her mouth, but Alexander was already halfway out the door.

"Geez, did you have to be so hard on her?" I asked, catching up to him.

"She works with flowers all day! She should know better! I will not have my bride holding anything that means death or impurity! She has dealt with enough death, and she does not need another bad omen."

"Be nice," I told him. He glared at me. I turned my head back. Even though he was inherently evil, he was still my future stepfather, my soulfather, and Grandfather's cousin. I wondered if his half-human son Kieran would be at the wedding. I remembered that Uncle Soren had mentioned that Kieran never shows up to an event if Alexander would be there.

I knew that Alexander missed Kieran, but their relationship was torn. Kieran blamed Alexander for the death of Celine, his mother. All I really knew about Celine was that she was human, a peasant, had blond hair and blue eyes, was a teenager, and had died giving birth to Kieran.

Now Alexander was going to marry my mother, Marina Santorino, during the Winter Solstice. A traditional vampire wedding, married for existence, and the exchange of blood and the consummation.

They'd already chosen the ritual knife for the blood exchange, and Mother was out choosing a bridal gown with my girlfriend, Sarah. Sarah was recovering well after she gave birth to Cirino, the baby that resulted from the seed that Michael Nales forcefully planted in her belly. In fact, everyone loved the baby, especially Mother and Alexander, who had adopted him.

I went from feeling like an older brother to the mother's savior boyfriend constantly. Both of them were important positions, and I felt happy every time I thought about it. Right now, though, the baby was home with the housekeeper, Zie.

I was on an errand with Alexander to talk to the florist, even though was wedding wasn't until December and it was September, and to check on the customized tuxedos. Alexander was in charge, since he was paying an absurd amount for everything. There was not even a limit.

We grabbed a quick snack, two pickpockets, and headed toward the car dealership. Alexander and Mother, as royal vampires, needed to go out with a super expensive car or limo.

Alexander was studying a BMW when a car salesman came up to us.

"First car?" he asked, smiling cheerily at me.

"Actually, it's for me," Alexander growled. "I'm getting married, and my bride deserves the best vehicle to leave in."

"Congratulations! What kind of vehicle are you looking for?"

"Something shady, to protect us from the sun. My bride has...sensitive skin. And something with a back view, to see if I am pulling out correctly."

While they discussed cars, I looked around. My Chevrolet Astro was officially bust, and I didn't want to drive a Toyota until the next car. I thought about it. Sarah drove a Honda, and she raved about it. Usually more expensive upfront, but it will last forever if you take good care of it.

My eyes settled on a black Nissan. It was the newest GT-R, and it was gorgeous. Almost as gorgeous as Sarah.

While Alexander chose a Bugatti Veyron, I asked about the GT-R. I filled out the paperwork, wrote him a check, everything was processed, and the keys were handed over.

I was thrilled. Alexander thought I was being silly, but I told him that I was saving more money than he was. He rolled his eyes and told me to hush.

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

Grandfather said he couldn't decide who was the bigger idiot, me or Alexander. Alexander, for buying a car he'd only use once, and me, for not asking anything else or even test driving the GT-R. I told him that I drove it on the way home, and told me that I was a goofball.

Louis, Uncle Soren, and Father admired our new cars. Well, Father admired my new car openly. He pretended not to be interested in the Bugatti, but I saw him glancing at it with a look of jealousy and admiration.

Spencer, who was good with cars, looked over both cars and said they were in pristine condition. In addition to being a guard, he was also our vehicle expert.

The Toyota was put in the spare garage with the Ferrari an another Toyota that we didn't use, and the keys were put in the console. My father was rather proud of himself for our car collection. He himself drove a Rolls-Royce.

After some contemplation, we decided to keep the extra Toyota.

"You'll be in debt when the wedding's over," Grandfather told Alexander.

"Eilief, I have billions of dollars, euros, krones, and other currencies all over the world! And my bride deserves the best! She will only be seen in the finest of everything."

"Still, you should be careful."

"You worry too much."

"I have to; no one else seems to, except Reese. And I worry about him."

Annoyed, I decided that I needed to see Sarah.

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

She was busy organizing all her school supplies. She'd been working hard since she gave birth to Cirino, and here was the result. New clothes, fresh makeup, and tons of school supplies.

"Does the school give out planners to seniors?" she asked.

"I don't think so," I said.

"Shit, I forgot to buy one! Does Kate Spade make planners? Should I do floral, stripes, or animal print? Or some cute cartoon characters?"

"Do whatever is cheapest," I suggested.

"I need a high-quality one to last all year! My last one was destroyed by a certain yellow Labrador." She glared at Spunk, who wagged his tail and grinned.

"Buy one online," I suggested. She started going through her phone.

"Okay, I found one. It'll be here by next week, though. Next week is too late!"

"School starts next week," I reminded her.

"Yeah, yeah. I need a planner!"

"So go to Target and buy one."

Sarah stood up and kissed me on the mouth. "Oh, Reese. You're a genius! How could I have forgotten Target?"

"You're stressed, and school hasn't even started yet."

"I know! I still need to get my new cheerleading uniform. I tried out yesterday, and I get the results on Monday. Penelope said that I might even make co-captain!"

"Congratulations," I said. "You deserve it."

"Thank you, Reese! Let's see...cheerleading, the dance committee, and I've been nominated for treasurer. I don't know who all nominated me, but they obviously think they can trust me!"

"You're very trustworthy," I told her. She blinked, eyes shining. She got up and hugged me.

"I love you, Reese Emerson."

"I love you more, Sarah Cresley."

"My new schedule got here last Monday. First period is Graphic Design. Always useful. Next period is Mythology And Folklore again. I heard that we're covering the Greek deities this year. You're bound to get an A on that."

"I should, I worship those gods and goddesses along with the Norse gods and goddesses."

"Um...third period is Geometry. Every fashion designer needs to learn that. Fourth period is French 3. I know French really well, my dad came from France. Then lunch. Sixth period is Biology, and the last class is Senior English. I love writing. What are your classes this year?"

"First class is Advanced Senior English, second period is World History, third period is Geometry, fourth class is Italian, I have fifth period lunch, sixth period is Art, and then the last period is Biology. So we'll have two classes together this year."

"Not as many as I'd like, but oh well. Good luck in Italian!"

"I have a tutor right here," I said, smiling. She grinned and then grabbed a book off her bookshelf.

"This'll help. My grandma gave me this book to help me learn Italian."

I flipped through the book. "Thanks, love. I need an A."

"Reese, your grade point average is the best in the class!"

"I don't know about that, but yes, it is fairly high."

"I need to work this year, too."

"For what? If you want to work, fine, but for what?"

"Mom is..." She bit her lip cutely. "Well, rehab didn't work, especially since she got out early due to...." She trailed off.

Jordan Hart had tried to push Sarah off a bridge earlier that summer. Jordan's goal was to kill all of the Beautifuls, starting with Sarah, since most of them thought she had spilled all their secrets. She hadn't, but that couldn't be proven without the real whistle-blower confessing.

She was the kindest of them, and hated stealing. She'd secretly paid back all the stores she'd taken items from, and now she was wanting to keep working because of her mother's drinking. Alicia was blowing through her own paychecks on vodka and wine, and my family payroll, despite being extremely high, was not enough, since Alicia had stolen money from Sarah before.

Now she had all these security measures, along with her sister, Sabine. Mother and Alexander had secretly threatened to go to the police if Alicia stole from her daughters again or threatened them in any way.

We'd gotten a visit from Lee Clark from CPS, and it still wasn't enough. The only thing we hadn't tried was going on the Dr. Phil show. And Alicia was about to lose her job as a realtor, so rehab was one