Unraveling Mathias by Marisa Maichel (reading women TXT) 📕

Louis found Ethan quickly enough. Ethan is about average height, with brown hair and brown eyes. He was strong, like all vampires, but not muscular. Ethan looked back at us.

"Go out in the waiting room. He needs surgery."

Before long, we heard my uncle's whimpers and cries of pain. I heard a whoosh of air, then relaxed. He would be back to normal soon. Grandfather was shaking. Not out of anger or coldness, but because of fear. He'd already lost my grandmother Amalia years ago, and Mathias was a traitor. He would be devastated if he lost any of us.

This is my fault, I thought.

Reese, my father's mental voice sounded, it's not your fault. Please don't blame yourself.

But Father-

No buts. I hate buts.

Grandfather is afraid.

Yes, he is. Why don't you do something to make him feel better?

In response, I leaned against Grandfather. He put an arm around me and pecked the top of my head.

Not what I meant, Reese.

Get over it, I snapped. He frowned at me and dug his phone out. He showed Louis a video of some drunk girls dancing on a counter.

"Drunk chicks are always funny," Louis laughed. A woman across from us glared at him. "Hey. Problem?" The woman shook her head and literally went back to knitting. "Stupid old bitch," Louis said below human hearing. Grandfather leaned forward.

"Louis! You are a prince! Act like one!"

"What, act like I have no life? No, thank you. I don't understand why we just don't tell the public about us. I mean, it's not illegal anymore."

"Louis Emerson, that would cause either mass pandemonium or would make us look like a joke."

"Says who? You don't know how everyone will react!"

"I will not put my family in jeopardy!"

"You already have! So has Dad! So has Mordecai! Even Reese, when he told Sarah and Ariella!"

"First of all," I said, "Don't bring Sarah into this. Secondly, you would have told Ariella anyway."

"Why? All I ever saw her as was a good fuck. You think I actually date bitches who hang out with wolves?"

"Don't call her that!"

"Screw it, Reese. Those brunettes have you wrapped around their pinkies. You know Ariella still hangs out with Damon! And Sarah is not as nice as she seems! She's playing you for a patsy!"

"Enough," Father said. He looked at Louis, opened his mouth, then closed it again.

"I'm moving out," Louis said. We all looked at him.

"It's about time," Father said quietly.

"I'm moving in with Meiko."

"Meiko? You barely know her!" I said.

"You barely know Cresley, yet you're already talking about marrying her. Meiko is going to leave Zeke's coven. Bye, losers." With that, he left, brandishing both middle fingers.

"Shit," Father said. "I shouldn't have said that. He is my nephew."

"It was really my fault," I said. "I shouldn't have fallen to his bait."

"He shoudn't have mentioned your girlfriend and your friend," Grandfather said.

CHAPTER TEN - FIGHT

Uncle Soren was out of the hospital in two days. He actually fought to be let out. When he found out about our fight, he was furious at everyone, especially Louis. I could hear them fighting from the garden.

I felt guilty. I knew it wasn't totally my fault, but I still played a huge part. We never did get to interrogate Mathias, as he escaped again. Toby was almost fired for that. He stopped speaking to all of us except me. I could tell that he felt terrible. He also had enough going on with Spencer.

Janna was spending all of her time at the guest house, which Louis had decided to move out of in a week. Father apologized and asked him to stay, but he refused. One night, we had a meeting with Zeke's coven.

"This isn't working out," Zeke said. "Our clan is inwardly fighting more often."

"So is ours," Grandfather said. "We will call for a truck for you and pay for it."

"Not us," Adam said, holding Janna around the waist. "Janna and I are going off on our own for a while." We looked at them, shocked.

"Janna?" Dimitri said, sounding hurt. Janna rolled her eyes.

"I quit," she said. "I prefer a life with Adam."

"Adam," I said, "When exactly did you join Zeke's coven?"

"Not long before we came here," Zeke answered. "Why do you want to know?"

"Just wondering," I lied. Actually, I was checking up on a hunch I had. My hunch was that Mathias' escape came from outside help. This coven had moved away from their territory because of Ambrose, who I had met right after escaping from Mathias.

"Well, Janna," Father said, frowning at me, "if you want to leave, we will not force you to stay. Louis, are you sure you still want to leave?"

"Yes," he said, frowning. Uncle Soren frowned at my father. He blamed him the most. My father bit his lip, and I could tell he was trying not to cry.

Louis looked at Meiko. "Ready?"

"No," she said. He stared at her.

"What...?"

"I cannot leave Zeke's coven," she said.

"What? Meiko, are you serious? What about all that stuff you said?"

"None of it matters when it comes to Zeke," she said. Jessica raised an eyebrow. "And Jessica, of course," Meiko continued.

Suddenly, there was a door slam. We all turned toward the house.

Fuck! I thought. Not now!

Sarah was walking toward us with Mother, Alexander, and Sabine.

"Oh, is this a bad time?" she asked, looking at the other coven, especially Zeke, nervously. I could have sworn that Jessica said "Mine."

Immediately, Mother growled and pushed Sarah behind her.

"Look! They even took care of dinner," Adam said half-sarcastically. I hissed at him and moved in front of Sarah.

"We'll just wait in the house," Sarah said, heading back in, followed by her sister and Alexander. Mother and Jessica continued to glare at each other.

"Well, this changes things," Zeke said. "We're staying."

I ran into the house.

"What's going on?" she asked, after jumping in the air. Sabine looked terrified.

"That's the coven that's staying in our guest house," I said. "I'm sorry. I should have been more prepared."

"That's okay, we should have called first," she said. Alexander smirked.

"No, it was my fault. Well, our fault."

"Free entertainment," Alexander said. I nearly punched him.

Father came in first, followed by an angry Mother.

"The bitch thinks Sarah is her long-lost daughter," Mother told Alexander. I snarled.

"I'm Alicia's daughter," Sarah said.

"No, you're my daughter! Mine alone!" Mother cried.

"Wow, Sarah, you hang out with some weird people," Sabine commented.

"Maybe we should just go..." Sarah began.

"No, stay," I begged. "You obviously needed something. What is it?"

Sarah swallowed. "The six-month ultrasound is on April fourteenth," she said.

"That's it?" Father said in a dangerous tone. "You failed to call us and interrupted us in the middle of a meeting for that? You quite possibly put yourselves and us in danger!" he roared. Sarah burst into tears and ran toward the front door. Sabine followed her after a minute. Mother and Alexander both glared at Father before following them.

Father closed his eyes. "I fucked up again, didn't I?"

"You fucked up the moment you let them move into the other house," I snapped. I went outside, but they were already partway down the road.

I went to my room and sat on my bed. I called Sarah. When she didn't answer, I sent a text.

Reese: I'm sorry about all that. We're just all stressed right now. He feels terrible.

Sarah: Then why doesn't he text me himself?

Reese: I tried to call you!

Sarah: I don't want to talk right now.

I sighed and threw my phone down. It bounced on the carpet. I cursed and banged around my room until I ran out of steam. I would pay later. Sometimes the women in my life were petty like that. I paused and thought about my last thought. I had just taken a point from Sarah. What did that mean?

I had known for a while that she wasn't perfect-she had a history of shoplifting and her friends had a history of dabbling in dark magic-but she was still perfect to me.

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

Sarah didn't speak to me the next day. She said she wanted to drive herself to school from now on. That worried me. Was this the beginning of the end? I couldn't bear the thought. I hated my father and didn't speak to him unless I absolutely had to. He apologized several more times, and even called Sarah to apologize to her.

It was already April, and the week was starting out bad. I tried to focus on my studies. I read some Harry Potter fanfiction, fed and watered the cats, cleaned their litterbox (I was the only one who could tolerate the smell), and took Shadowfang to the vet for his shots.

The cats seemed to know what was going on. More than once, I'd wake up and a cat was laying on my hair. Mostly it was Shadowfang.

Louis moved out earlier than expected; he moved out that weekend and moved into a brand-new apartment. He was speaking to anyone, even Uncle Soren. I kept thinking of the worst. Sarah would dump me, I would be cut from her life, and then Louis would never speak to me again and renounce his title and position.

Zeke Ruthford's clan still stayed, even more present in our lives than before. Before, we had promised to stay out of each other's way, but that wasn't happening. Janna moved into Adam's bedroom.

Toby himself was suffering. He was on the brink of quitting as well. Father ordered Spencer and Toby to keep their relationship, whatever it was, out of their work. Spencer agreed, while Toby merely said that it was already more than he could handle.

I was upset. I liked Toby the best out of all the guards, he was always happy and positive. He was respectful and kind to our allies and the cats.

One day, I heard Father crying in his room. I felt guilty, and opened the door. He looked back at me, the whites of his eyes reddened.

"Oh, Reese," he said.

"Father," I said, not knowing what else to say.

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

"I accept your apology," I said. "Now go apologize to Louis."

"I already have, several times. My family is breaking apart," he said sadly. I shut the door and walked away. He was right. We were breaking apart. I asked Grandfather about it, but he just told me to mind my own business.

Another week passed, and things were no better. I hadn't spoken to Sarah since that afternoon, and she wasn't trying to make contact, either. I wondered if it was over.

Finally, Uncle Soren called a family meeting. We met in the library. It was just us four; Louis still was not speaking to anyone.

"This is exactly what he did before," Uncle Soren began. "He started to tear us apart. Has anyone heard from Louis?" We all shook our heads. He turned to Father. "Mordecai, everyone, even Sarah, except Louis has forgiven you. You have to forgive yourself. Quit being a depressed broody teenage girl." He turned to Grandfather. "Quit being a grumpy old man. Start searching for Mathias." Then he turned to me. "Reese, work on forgiveness and your temper."

I smiled at him. I knew he was trying to be helpful; it had just been so long since he wasn't snarky, foul-mouthed, and sarcastic. I went over to Father and hugged him. He stiffened, then hugged me back.

"Now...what are we going to do about Ruthford's clan?" Uncle Soren asked.

"Jessica is focused on Sarah," I said. "Mother thinks that Jessica thinks Sarah is her long-lost daughter."

"Egotistical, paranoid, old Greek-"

"Hey, that's my mother you're talking about!"

"Right. Sorry. Why does she think that?"

"I have no idea." I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "I haven't spoken to Sarah since that day." Father looked guilty.

"I shouldn't have shouted at her. Well, I wasn't really yelling at her, I was yelling at Alexander