Mr. Maker by Rayven WoodSong (read books for money .TXT) 📕

She said she was going to visit family and hasn’t been back. I had no idea to she was visiting that side of the family...”

I turn my head, looking for Adrian. I know he’s bound to be upset, even if he doesn’t show it. Blake was his brother. Just as our eyes lock the front door bursts open. I don’t even have to look to know who it is.

“What happened?!” Elizabeth demands. I bite my cheek. As much as I don’t want her here, she’s technically their sister. She just lost her brother.

“A Hunter got him.” The Marcos say.

“How?”

“She pretended to be a friend..” Blaine adds.

Elizabeth turns to me, her anger is etched onto her face. “I assume she was a friend of yours?”

I don’t say anything. Technically she was, even if I just met her. Elizabeth narrows her eyes but doesn’t say anything else. She turns to Adrian and runs to him. I close my eyes and bite my tongue.

“Ady, how could you let this happen? It’s her fault. You shouldn’t have Turned her.”

I hear a growl and a thud. I open my eyes to see Elizabeth on her ass on the floor. She’s looking up at Adrian, shocked.

“Anastasia is my Mate, Elizabeth. How dare you blame this on her. She had no idea her best friend's mother was a Hunter. It's just as much her fault as it is mine. Or Jace's. Or yours." He's shaking with rage. I doubt its because of me though. He's trying not to show his grief.

Elizabeth stares at him, momentarily speechless. Everyone but me is shocked by his outburst.

“Does that mean you claim me?” I ask quietly. He doesn’t respond, just blinks at me.

“I don’t believe you. She’s Marco’s Mate. Not yours. I’m yours.”

I can’t help but growl. “If he’s your Mate where’s your Mark?” I ask.

She turns and blinks at me. “What are you talking about?”

“The Mark? It proves you’re Mates.” I walk over to the Marcos and take their hands. I pull them up to show their Marks. The middle of the lightning bolt is missing. I let out a choked sob, but otherwise ignore the empty feeling in my chest.

“Blake had the middle of the bolt..” I whisper. I drop their hands and go to Adrian. I tilt his head back and pull his collar down. “This happened that day you pulled him away from me.”

Elizabeth picks herself off the ground and she goes to the Marcos. She examines their Marks. Then comes to us. I’m still holding Adrian’s shirt down and she leans in and looks at it.

“I’ve never heard of Marks..” She says, stepping away from us.

“You have, you just never paid attention to them. People were saying we belonged together since we were little. It’s understandable that you’d believe them."

"You believed them."

"For a while, but I haven't in a long time."

She frowns. ‘I wasted all this time on him...’ I hear her voice, but her lips don’t move.

“You didn’t waste your time, exactly. You just... prioritized it.”

Everyone looks at me. Elizabeth looks shocked, then angry. “How dare you read my mind! I am your Elder!”

“I read your mind?”

“She can’t control her powers yet, Miss,” Jace says.

“Who are you?”

“I am Jace Van Helsing. Ana’s Guardian.”

Elizabeth turns to the Marcos. “Why does she get a Guardian, and I don’t? She just Turned. I’m your sister!”

The Marcos hold their hands up. “Wasn’t my decision. He’s been assigned to her for years. Way longer than I’ve known her.”

“I’m sorry to bring up this subject again, but what will done as a funeral? He was part of three.. Will there be a typical Vamp service or something different because he’s King?” Jace asks.

“There will a public Celebration of Life, a Week of Mourning, and then a private ceremony for family and close friends,” Adrian says.

“And this will happen in the Vampyre Society?”

“Yes, it’ll happen throughout all the lands, but it’s be centralized near the Palace,” Elizabeth says.

I have questions, but I don’t want to voice them.

“The Celebration of Life is a day with no boundaries. Think of Mardi Gras, but with splurging Vampires. And the Week of Mourning is actually only three days of fasting and nothingness. No feeding, no eating, no sex, nothing. The only exceptions would be Newly Turned, as they have to feed every night and sometimes have difficulty controlling their sex drives,” Jace informs me. He knows me well enough to know I wouldn’t ask my questions out loud.

“When is it?” I ask.

“He died today. It’ll be in about a week, that way it’s gives people time to get to the Palace,” Elizabeth says. Her eyes narrow at me. “You can’t go. You have to be a born Vampyre to go to the Palace.”

“As Mate to the deceased, Anastasia has every right to be there. Quit being nasty. Her status is technically above yours, sister.” The voice sounds different with the just the two. I didn’t like the 3 together, but it was better than this. Both the Marcos stand up and leave the room. I have no idea where they’re going. I consider going after them, but Elizabeth beats me to it. Jace quietly leaves the room, he knows that Adrian probably needs me.

I turn to look at Adrian. His face is still blank, but I know him well enough to know that he’s just hiding his feelings. He meets my gaze and opens his arms. I walk slowly towards him, amazed that he even opened his arms.

The hug starts out for me. My face is buried in his chest, his arms are wrapped tightly around me. But it slowly turns to me comforting him. He falls to his knees, almost dragging me down with him. His arms wrapped around my waist and his face buried in my tummy. I can’t really hug him back very effectively, so I just place my hands on his shoulders. I don’t say anything, I don’t want to ruin the moment.

After a few moments, he pulls away and looks up at me. “I don’t handle losing people well...” he whispers. Oh, he’s opening up again.

I open my mouth to say something, but I’m interrupted by my phone ringing.

I look at it, its mother.

"Hello?" I answer, sitting down next to Adrian and pulling him into my lap.

"Where the hell are you young lady?! I called the hospital you were never there. What about your education? Are you trying to fuck it up?"

"Im at my apartment, mother. And at the moment I have more important things to deal with than school. One of my Mates just died."

I hear her sharp intake of breath. "Mates? Oh no. Please don't tell me you've been Turned. That can't happen. You're father will freak."

"What the fuck, mother?! You know about Vampires?"

Adrian looks at me curiously.

"Language. Of course. We're Van Helsings dear." If my heart still beat it would have stopped. Adrian hisses and appears on the other side of the room.

"Van Helsings killed my Mate, mother. Choose your next words carefully."

"I heard that Sera actually got the King. Did she kill him?"

I hang up. I don't want to hear that I'm technically a Van Helsing. My phone rings again I throw it, it hits the wall, but surprisingly it doesn't break. I turn to Adrian. My blood runs cold at the look on his face. He's not bothering to hide his feelings this time. He's thoroughly pissed.

"You bitch! I fucking trusted you. I opened up to you.” He snorts. “To think, I actually believed that you were upset.”

I stand up slowly. “What are you talking about? I am upset. My Mate just died.”

He appears in front of me. Stinging on my face tells me he hit me. I freeze, I don’t even breathe. He actually hit me.

“Don’t lie to me, woman. You’re one of them. You’ve been using me to get close to the King.”

I’m sure my jaw drops. “Adrian. I have no idea what you’re talking about. I seriously didn’t know about any of this before you came along.”

He roars and time slows down. His arm slowly raises as he goes to hit me. Again. Instead of knocking his hand aside, or getting him to the ground, I take several steps back. His missing me makes him angrier so he attempts to hit me again. I turn around and run to the bedroom. I slam the door behind me and turn the lock. It won’t keep him out for long. I ignore the tears as I quickly try to figure out what just happened. Adrian got like this after mother said we were Van Helsings. He started accusing me of faking feelings and using him to get close to the King. He’s been inside my head.. How can he think that? I hear a door slam. I collapse to the floor, attempting to hold back the sobs. After a few moments, there’s a light knock on the door. I ignore it. I don’t want to see anyone. I don’t understand why Adrian is mad at me, but he hit me. He’s never actually hit me before. I never even thought he was capable of hitting me, especially after the speech he gave the Marcos.

The door crashes open and I get pulled into someone’s arms.

“What happened?” Jace asks.

“Adrian hit me..” I whisper, turning to bury my face in his neck. He let’s out a growl.

“I’ll kill the bastard.”

“He thinks I used him to get close to the Marcos...”

“Why does he think that?” Elizabeth asks.

“Mother called and informed me that we’re Van Helsings..I had no idea! But Adrian thinks I used him..”

“Once he’s had time to calm down, he’ll come back.” Blaine says, leaning against the door next to his brother.

“No. I saw the hate in his eyes. I’ve lost two people today.” I can’t stop the tears as they continue to roll down my cheeks. Blaine and Blaire push themselves from the wall and sit on the ground next to me. They pull me into their arms and away from Jace. I direct an apologetic look towards Jace. He shrugs, telling me he understands.

“Even if you’ve lost him, you still have me. “ They say in unison. I don't say it out loud,  but it's not the same. I'm closer to Aidan than them.

Chapter 18

The next few days pass in a blur. The Marcos make me pack a light suitcase and we start traveling to the Society. Which, I learned,  is actually a whole other world that you have to get to through a portal. To limit the amount of people traveling to the Society, there are only a few portals available. Unfortunately,  I'm in such a trance, from losing both Blake and Adrian, that I barely pay attention to where the boys are taking me. I am aware that Jace is able to go, even though he's not a Vampire. Elizabeth accompanies us too, but she seems to be understanding of my need to be withdrawn.

The portal takes us directly to the castle. Or