Unraveling Mathias by Marisa Maichel (reading women TXT) 📕

Ethan Potter, a vampire friend who worked in a hospital, gave me an injection in my arm. He said that it was to ward off further infection.

I began to have hallucinations. First, I dreamed that something was crawling under my skin, I dreamed that I gave birth to a monster, and I had more dreams about Sarah. I realized now that I was a fool to want her to break up with me, or to try to break up with her. She would not have broken my heart if I hadn't broken hers.

Once you break up with someone, however, you can't control if they decide to see someone else. You can't have it both ways. As much as I wanted to control that factor, I knew that I couldn't. I came to the realization that I was being stupid and jealous.

When I woke up, it was Monday. I decided I liked Mondays. I managed to get up and drink some blood. I was up before anyone else, and I turned on the news and turned down the volume. One of the cats, Mishka, weaved her way through my legs. I gave her some food and filled up all of the cat bowls.

Father came downstairs and looked happy to see me. I wrapped my arms around him.

"I love you, Father," I said. He squeezed me like a vise. We broke apart after a long while. I looked at him. "I came to the realization that my life isn't as bad as I had originally thought. I have an incredible family, great friends, a large house with everything I could ever want, several cats, plenty of food, and an amazing girlfrie-" I cut off, and my heart cracked. Sarah. I had to make it up to her.

"I'm glad you're feeling better," Father said. "And I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about Faolan. I'm not bisexual, Reese, it was merely an experiment." We hugged again.

I sat up watching news and cartoons for a couple hours. Slowly, everyone in the house started to wake up. Uncle Soren, Grandfather, the guards.

After my shower, I looked at the time. It was only nine in the morning. I decided to wait for a while. I thought about all the songs that I knew that Sarah liked. All the movies. I listened to a whole album. I made a decision.

I read for a while, then looked at the clock again. It was around eleven now. I called Sarah's cell phone.

"Hello? What do you want?" she answered. I held my cell phone next to the computer and played "Together" by Michelle Branch. I waited until the song was over.

"Did you hear the whole thing?" I asked.

"Yeah," she sniffed. "If we get together again, you have to control your jealousy."

"I promise on my great-grandfather's grave, I will try to control my jealousy. However, there will be moments where I may have to seclude myself because of jealousy or thirst."

"I understand that. Alexander, it's just Reese. No, I'm not giving you the phone. Hold on, Reese. Alexander, quit it. He's your cousin! You thought he was your son for a while! Oh, grow up. I don't know how old you are, but you're acting like a teenager."

I perked up my ears and listened carefully.

"Little girl, I am older than your oldest ancestors! Oh! Marina, I was just-"

"Leave her alone, Alexander. She's having a private conversation. Really, I think you spend more time here than in your own house! Oh, and Sarah, ask Reese if he's feeling better. I would have stayed, but I was needed elsewhere."

"My mother visited me?" I asked after a moment.

"Of course," Sarah said. "She wouldn't have left your side, but she got hungry."

"Who else knows I was sick?"

"I think everyone does at this point. Ariella, Mason, Amara, Lauren, Noah, Duke, Jody, Shelly, Caden, everyone."

I groaned loudly. "What do they think I have?"

"They think you had the flu." I let out a sigh of relief. "So, what else has been happening?"

Sarah and I had a long two-hour conversation. We talked about our classmates, our families, our friends, both mutual and non-mutual, people we hated, favorite new books and movies, and Sarah talked about wanting some new makeup brushes that resembled mermaid tails.

When we finally decided to end our call, I said "I love you."

She said "I love you, too. I'll talk to you later!"

Finally happy at last, I laid on my bed and daydreamed.

Chapter Eight- Deal With It

The next week was wonderful. As we entered March, thoughts of Ambrose were barely a blip on my radar. I was too busy kissing my girlfriend's feet, figuratively and literally. I couldn't get enough of her. I was always sad to leave her during the end of our dates.

Finally, when the week was over, I went back to work at my father's store, which was doing better than ever. We had Richard now, a big, bald black man in his fifties with lots of experience. We could finally afford to get rid of Delia, but a certain somebody refused to fire her, and I wasn't in a position to fire her.

I silently did my work: stocking, cashiering, and occasionally doing paperwork that Louis was too lazy to do.

At school, I kept up with my work and kept talking to my friends. They all wanted to know how I was feeling and if it was contagious.

Duke said something about a male problem, and Amara smacked him upside the head. Her hair was blue this time. I noticed that Jody Williams sat with Ariella and Sarah's group now, commanding attention. Sarah and Ari were still the most popular, as much as Jody tried to take that.

When I went to the library in my house that night, I came across a book full of the oldest vampires in the world, starting with Alexander, then Grandfather, then his brothers and their wives, Grandmother, Uncle Soren, Mathias, Father, and even Ambrose. I looked through the book. It named several vampires as deceased and listed the dates of birth, death, what kind of vampire he or she was, and whether or not they were a natural-born or changed.

I took the book to my room and studied it. When I was finished, I returned it.

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

On Wednesday, we had a breakthrough.

"I think I've found the cure for porphyrina," Ethan told my father one night. "Soon, you'll have the old Reese back."

My father let out a sigh of relief and looked over to me. I turned my attention back to the TV. Maury was razzing on some poor guy who got jilted by a girl who wound up pregnant. When he was declared not the father, the guy did a little victory dance. I thought, if the girl was Sarah, and I was that guy...would I accept the baby as mine anyway? That was food for thought.

Of course, if she cheated on me like this girl had, it would be a different story. I'd probably break up with her, if I was being honest with myself.

"Reese works at my store most Saturdays," Father said. "Would you come in on Sunday?"

Ethan nodded. "That should give me enough time to prepare the medicine."

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

On Sunday, Ethan came to the house carrying a vial with a purplish liquid inside. I smelled it. Sugardonna, otherwise known as deadly nightshade.

"Hold on a minute-" Father said, but Ethan had already prepped my arm and inserted the needle into my skin.

"How do you feel?" Uncle Soren asked me.

"I don't feel any different," I told them. "Hold on, I take that back. My arm is really itchy." I started to scratch it.

"It will be, after a shot like that," Louis said. "Don't scratch it; you'll make it bleed more." Ethan put a Band-Aid on my arm.

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

I held Sarah as she dozed. I admired her as she slept. She looked like an angel. My angel. I buried my nose in her neck and took a deep breath. She smelled amazing. Like oranges and gardenias. She slowly opened her eyes.

"Reese," she said softly.

"Sarah," I countered. She slowly got up. I whined a little. She got out of the bed and went over to the bookshelf. She pulled a book out, then dropped it and gasped. Almost immediately, the scent of blood invaded my nose. My stomach contracted and I bit my lip. Sarah stood up and faced me, looking nervous. I flitted in front of her.

I grabbed her injured hand. She had a deep gash in her palm. She started to pull away; I tightened my grip and growled.

Blood. In front of me. Mine. All mine. But mate is injured. That last thought canceled out all my other thoughts.

I pulled her hand up to my nose and smelled it. My tongue flicked out and tasted the wound. Her blood was the most amazing I'd ever tasted-like sugar and caffeine. She tried to pull away; I growled.

"Mate, stay," I ordered her. She looked absolutely terrified. I whimpered and nuzzled her injury.

I sensed another presence. A male presence. Father opened the bedroom door.

"Reese," he said cautiously, "Let her go." I hissed in contempt.

"Mine," I stated firmly.

"I'm not trying to take her away; I only want to help her." Louis appeared behind him.

"Mine," I said, even more firmly.

"Reese, don't be an idiot," my cousin said. "Go hunt. My father is waiting for you."

"His instincts are on overdrive right now," Father said.

I looked back at my human mate. She was looking at the carpet now. Something about that picture softened my heart.

"Sarah," I said. "Oh my god...I'm so sorry!"

I hurried out of the room and hid in the utility room.

"Reese," Uncle Soren said. "Come out of there. No one blames you."

"Do you know what I did? I almost killed her!" I cried.

"It's not your fault. These things happen. Come hunt with me."

For a few hours, Uncle Soren and I hunted. When my veins and arteries were full, I went back to the house. Mother was there, and Sarah was also still there, wearing one of my old shirts. The primitive side of me purred and growled in appreciation. Her legs were pulled up to her chest, and she was staring straight ahead.

I sat in front of her. She blinked and looked at me.

"Reese, I'm sorry," she said.

"It's not your fault," I told her. "Accidents happen. Really, it was mine for having such poor control. Is your hand okay?"

"Louis wrapped it up," she said, holding up her bandaged hand. "I didn't know he had medical experience."

"He used to work at an apothecary. Plus, one of our businesses is manufacturing medical equipment."

"Really? You must be as rich as the Rothchilds!" Then she blushed.

I chuckled. "Just about. We prefer to keep our money hidden, though. We have different accounts for different purposes, and each one has a different amount. For example, my college fund only has about fifty thousand dollars in it right now, but by the time our senior year is over, it'll have two million. My regular account actually has twenty five thousand."

Her emerald eyes widened. "So basically, you're getting richer as time goes on."

"Yes and no. We also give a lot to charity. Louis especially gives a lot of his earnings to animal rights groups. He treats women like crap, but he is ferocious about protecting animals."

"Speaking of animals," Sarah said, as the kitten Anakin nudged his way into my room. "How old are the kittens now?"

"At least three months old. Louis thinks that Mishka is about two or three years old."

We cuddled some more, and then Sarah said that she had to go home. I unhappily watched her car leave the driveway.

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

School was subdued. Scarlett kept glancing at me, showing up wherever I was. It was like she had memorized my schedule.

Ariella invited me to sit over at her table with Sarah and all their friends. The rest of their group gave me an odd look as I sat down inbetween the girls.

"Everybody, you know Reese, Sarah's boyfriend and my best guy friend,"