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

He ignored my tone and hugged her. "Oh, Sarah." Mother hissed as he pushed her aside.

Sarah looked embarassed. "Glen, please."

"Sarah, have you told them yet?"

"No."

"Told me what?" I demanded.

Sarah turned pink. "I decided to give Glen a chance."

"Without the use of a love potion," Glen crooned. Father growled at him.

"Why do I not believe that?" Uncle Soren said. "Marina, smell her breath."

Mother tipped up Sarah's head and opened her lips, then took in a deep breath.

"She smells like it," she informed us. "He gave her a potion!"

I frowned at Glen.

"She's mine!" he cried. "I am her soulmate! Her future husband! We love each other!"

"I was thinking that I could love you," Sarah told him. "If I wasn't already with Reese at the time. Glen, did you really give me a potion?"

I saw his Adam's apple move up and down. "I...I did, Sarah."

Sarah burst into tears. Mother immediately went to comfort her, and Alexander grabbed Glen by the shirt.

"Shall I turn him into a snail?" he asked. "Oh, wait, he's already a snail."

"Mom," Sarah said. Mother turned and smiled at her.

"You called me Mom."

"You are my mother," Sarah said. "You've shown me more love in less than a year than my real mother has shown me in seventeen years."

"Because I do love you," Mother said. "You are my souldaughter."

"Sarah," Glen said, "I...I never meant...please forgive me..."

"Get out," I growled at him.

Alexander picked him up and threw him from the room. He slid and hit the wall on the other side of the hallway outside the room.

"Cretin," I grumbled.

"I will stay with Sarah," Mother said. "She needs me. The rest of you, make sure Glen doesn't go near her again." She turned and put her nose in Sarah's hair.

"Beloved, the baby," Alexander reminded her. She glared at him.

"You are his father. You can watch him. He was yours before he was ever mine. Like Kieran."

"Kieran is biologically mine," Alexander said. "And Reese was yours before he was mine."

Father growled warningly at him. Alexander ignored him.

"I broke up with Caden," Sarah said. "Oh, Mommy!"

"It'll be all right, my love," Mother told her. Sarah sobbed into her chest. I reached out and took Sarah's hand. Her cries tore at my heart. Mother growled at me, and I growled back. I stepped back. Mother's instincts were haywired right now, and she would be extremely protective of Sarah.

When I looked back, Evan had a look of betrayal.

"What was that?" he asked after we got back to the lobby.

"Hey, I'd do the same for you. Besides, I'm responsible for this. If I don't take care of her now, I'll hate myself for the rest of my life."

He frowned, looking irritated.

"Evan," I said, grabbing his shoulders, "Are you jealous of Sarah?"

"Yes," he admitted after a moment. "I mean, she's nice to me, but...come on, you know how beautiful she is. And she's so much smarter than me, and a lot kinder."

"It's true that she's kinder, but she's no more beautiful than you are, just in a different way. I'm still attracted to you, and I want to give this another try. If we break up again, it won't be because of Sarah. The first time we broke up, it was a me problem. Not a her problem, or a you problem. I'm the one that screwed up. I had to pay the consequences."

"All your decisions affect others," he said.

"Not all of them. If I decide to eat a...uh...salad..."

"But you won't eat a salad, because you're a vampire! You eat humans!"

"I drink their blood," I corrected. "It's true, I have been killing a lot lately, and for good reason. To have a full stomach, and to save others. I only kill those who are evil. Trust me, I grew up around evil. I know how to sense it and detect it. Heck, Alexander is inherently evil, but he'd never hurt any of us, except maybe my father."

Evan was biting his lip now and holding back tears.

"I'm so sorry," he said. "This is all my fault. I'm sorry."

"No, no, it isn't your fault," I told him. I took him outside and pecked him on the lips. I heard someone shout a gay slur, but I ignored it. Evan turned to glare at the heckler, and I turned his head to face me. "Ignore him. He's not important to us."

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

"I love you," Evan said that night, as he caressed my body.

"I love you, too," I said. "Evan, when you said earlier that it was your fault, I-"

"Shhh," he pressed a finger to my lips. "Don't blame yourself. We are both to blame."

"You're right," I sighed. I hugged him close. "Odin, you're so fucking beautiful."

"So are you," he said.

CRASH!

Glass shattered us as a vampire leaped into the room. I stood up and hissed, ready to defend my boyfriend.

"Reid!" Evan stuttered.

Reid faced us, his irises glowing red.

"This is what you left me for?! The prince?!"

"Reid, I...I never meant..."

"Shut up! I am so sick of your lies! It's either me or him!"

"He's already chosen, douche," I growled. "Back off."

Reid shook his golden locks. "No! You will both die tonight!"

He leaped toward me first. He threw me on the ground. I felt glass cutting in my skin. Reid bit into my throat. I screamed, and so did Evan. Suddenly, Reid was thrown off of me. Father threw him into the wall, scattering books and papers. I sighed. Another first edition ruined.

"Dimitri! Dungeon, now!" Father ordered. Dimitri grabbed Lockhart and dragged him out the door.

"Are you okay, Reese?" Father asked, smelling me. "Honey, your back..."

"I'm okay," I lied. I turned to Evan. "Evan?"

Evan looked frightened. Tears were running down his cheeks.

"Reese...I..." he stuttered. "Reese, I'm so sorry...I have to go."

"No, Evan!" I grabbed his arms.

"Reese, please," he begged. "I need to leave."

"No, I won't let you! He'll kill you!"

"It's not anything I haven't thought about."

"What? Evan, you can't mean that. I won't let you hurt yourself!"

"I have to go! Let me go!"

"No! Stay here! Where I can protect you!"

"Like you protected Sarah?!"

His words cut me to the quick. I kept quiet after that.

"Yeah, I see what's going on. You're still in love with her!"

"No, Evan, I'm not! Okay, I am, but I love you as well!"

"You're just like Reid and all the other cheaters of the world! Stay out of my life!"

He left after that.

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

Being alone doesn't mean that you're free.

The words of Jack Savoretti floated through my mind over the next week. Sarah was released from the hospital, Jordan was caught and thrown into the dungeon, and Reid was interrogated by my father and uncle. My father was afraid that I'd kill him if I interrogated him.

Evan completely blocked my messages and calls. I was hurt by this. I did love him. I also realized that I was not ready for another relationship after Sarah, and especially not now. I was not ready for love.

Then on Saturday, I finally got to interrogate Jordan.

I walked into the dungeon wearing my usual black outfit, plus a trench coat.

"Do you know who you're dealing with?" I boomed across the dungeon.

"Vampire royalty," Jordan admitted. "Some prince you are, you can't even protect your mate!"

I pulled a lock of hair out of her head. She cried out in pain.

"Do not test me, witch," I hissed. "That's what you are, after all."

"I'm not a real witch," she hissed back. "I was not born one. I was lied to by Gwen and Simon Hart and Claire and Brian Nales. Scarlett had a crush on Michael, and I was jealous of it. My life was ruined."

"Yes, but not because of Sarah," I said. "You're using her as a scapegoat. I know all about your little adventures in thievery. Formed your own little gang of lip gloss pocketers. You told the girls' parents, didn't you?"

"I should have been the best!" she shrieked. "I was the best! I am the most beautiful in that group! But no one else thought so. It was always Sarah this and Sarah that. I swear, I think Mia Rayport might've had a crush on her."

I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths to control my jealousy.

"You were jealous," I finally said, after counting to three hundred. "You wanted what she had. Natural beauty and charm. So you looked up all you could on the dark arts, didn't you? You convinced Scarlett to show the girls how to make beauty potions and spells to attract others. You turned into a conniving, single-minded, cruel, evil, slutty, trampish bitch!"

"Watch who you call a bitch, bloodsucker."

"Who turned you into a vampire?"

"I turned myself into a vampire. I knew what you were, because Scarlett told me. She knew, and she's holding it over your head as blackmail."

"How did you turn into a vampire?"

"I killed a real one. I took some of his blood and drank it. I went to a vampire club in Princeton, and then I flirted my way into his arms. Then I stabbed him with a metal stake, and drank the blood from his heart. I still have some of his blood and hair."

I was horrified. "You truly are evil! How did this happen?" How could I have let this happen?

I considered my next question. "Who did you kill?"

"Fuck, I don't know. Kieran something."

I glanced back at Alexander, who pounced on Jordan.

"DID YOU KILL MY SON, YOU BITCH?! WHAT WAS HIS LAST NAME? WHAT CLUB WAS IT?! MY SON! WE NEVER MADE UP!"

Alexander collapsed on the stone floor, holding himself.

"Toby, Dimitri, take him out of here," Uncle Soren commanded.

"Jordan Nales, your punishment is death," Father said. "Reese?"

I stepped forward and ripped the bitch's head from her shoulders. I threw it across the dungeon and into the fire pit. I made short work of the rest of her body and threw it into the pit as well. My father lit a match and tossed it into the pit.

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

"How is Alexander?" I asked Uncle Soren.

"Distraught. He thinks it was his Kieran that Jordan killed. I, however, have my doubts. There are a million vampires with the name Kieran, and the Kieran that we know lives in St. Louis, Missouri."

"Someone call my name?" Louis teased.

"Your name is pronounced Louie, not Loo-is," Uncle Soren rebutted.

"Fine, whatever. So the bitch is dead. What now?"

"We inform the women," my uncle said. "Reese will be the one to inform Sarah. I will inform Marina and tell her what Jordan said. If Alexander tells her, he will twist it to make it sound like it was his son that Jordan killed. I know Kieran. He'd never allow such a thing to happen to him. Besides, he's gay."

"He's gay?" I parroted.

"Yes, he is. It has taken Alexander years to accept it. one of the reasons why Kieran does not speak to him anymore. However, Alexander regrets that now, especially considering that you yourself are bisexual, Reese. Alexander wants to make it up to Kieran, but if Kieran is truly dead, he can't. He will hate himself forever if it is our Kieran that Jordan killed."

So now I had to find Kieran Nicolai.

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

I looked up on all the usual websites. Nothing, not even a Facebook account. I looked him up on the government websites. Nothing. I looked him up on the vampire database. It said that he lived in St. Louis, Missouri, and he was approximately one thousand years old. Still fairly young for vampires. He was a hybrid, half-human. I tried to find a photo-nothing. So now I would have to find him myself.

I gave Louis a file of information and told him to get to work. He stuck his tongue out at me, but took the file and started his search.

I busied myself with my studying. I read the whole math book, then worked on history. Father came to check on me twice. He promptly told me that I was working too hard, and I gave him the finger. He tweaked my nose and told me to behave.

I thought about Mathias. He'd mentioned something about a book. What kind