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

behind. I spotted an unfamiliar vampire about a hundred yards away.

“You’re in our territory, buddy,” I called out. Then nine more vampires jumped down from the trees. I arched my back and hissed.

Toby ran up to me and stood in front of me, crouched defensively. “We know you’ve been watching us,” he said. “What do you want?”

“Forgive us,” said the coven leader, stepping forward. “Your lifestyle has confused us. I am Bartimus, the leader of this coven.”

“I am Toby,” Toby said. “I’m the guard of Prince Reese Mordecai Emerson.”

“Oh, you must forgive our rudeness, then,” said the leader, kneeling. “We had no idea we were in the company of royals.” The rest of the vampires bowed or curtsied.

“Go get your father, Reese,” Louis said.

“They already know where we live.”

“Do it.”

Grumbling, I did as my cousin told me to do and flitted home. I found my father in the garage, working on his Rolls Royce.

“We had an encounter with the coven,” I said. “We need you and Grandfather.”

Father cleaned himself and dressed in record time, then grabbed Grandfather.

We ran back to the forest, where Bartimus and Louis were talking.

“Hello,” Grandfather said. “I am King Eilief. You have been on my son’s territory for some time now.”

“Our apologies,” Bartimus said. “We had no idea we were on royal territory.”

“Eilief?” A vampire came out from the crowd. He looked strangely like Alexander, the same black hair and blue eyes, except his hair was longer.

“Uncle?” Grandfather said.

The vampire and Grandfather stared each other down, then embraced. Grandfather turned to us, smiling a rare smile.

“Boys, this is your great uncle, Alexander’s father, Apollo Nicolai. Uncle, I had no idea you were still alive.”

“Nor I you, nephew,” Apollo said. He turned to Bartimus, who looked shocked.

“You did not tell us- “

“That I was one of the Ancients? Yes, I kept it a secret deliberately. I wanted to hide myself while my traitor son lives.”

“He means Alexander,” Louis shout-whispered to me. Apollo pursed his lips.

“Yes, that’s what he calls himself now. He used to be called Ambrogio. I have never really forgiven him for his part in the plot to kill me, nor his responsibility for the death of his brothers.”

“He said that you killed them,” I said.

“That is a lie! He has lied to you from the beginning, young one.”

“Why haven’t you shown up before now?” Louis asked. “I mean, you must have seen Grandfather before and known who he was.”

“Yes, I admit that I knew who he was when I saw him. Soren as well. I learned all your names by observing you. For example, you are Louis, the son of my great-nephew Soren. The little one is Reese, the most recent addition to the family. Only eighteen years old, born on the first of October. And you are Mordecai, Soren’s younger brother.”

Father beamed.

“Come with us,” Grandfather said. “We have much to discuss.”

“Indeed, we do,” said Apollo. He turned to Bartimus. “Is my coven welcome as well?”

“Yes, they are,” Grandfather said. “As long as they are kept in line and do not harm any of ours.”

“They won’t,” Apollo said firmly, looking back at the coven.

A few minutes later, we were back at the house. Other Mordecai was standing there, rubbing his belly. Apollo stared at him.

“He’s from another universe,” I explained. Apollo took on a look of understanding. He came into the house, ordered his coven to stay back, and stepped into the foyer. He smelled the air.

“I smell human,” he growled. “A young female.”

“She’s mine,” I told him. “Her name is Sarah. She’s my soulmate.”

“Aha. Then why hasn’t she been changed?”

“It’s complicated. She doesn’t want to be changed.”

“How strange. Well, then…I also smell Ambrogio.”

“He comes over sometimes,” I said. Apollo grimaced.

“Toby, give him a tour of the house,” Father said. Toby nodded and took Apollo on a tour of the whole house, and showed him where the dungeons were buried, and pointed out the guest house.

I sat on the couch and pet Shadowfang.

“Who’s the new guy?” he asked. I jumped.

“You can talk like a real person?”

“Of course I can. I just used your mind reading thing because, well, I really have no excuse. But yes, Mishka and I can talk like humans can. The kittens can’t, but they’re learning.”

“What am I going to do with you?”

“Give me a treat. Salmon-flavored.”

“Very funny.”

“I’m serious.”

“So am I.”

“You’re no fun,” he said, pricking up his tail.

“A talking cat,” Apollo mused.

“He’s Reese’s familiar,” Father said. “There are quite a few cats around. Soren and I found a mother with her litter last winter in a ditch. Well, it was cold, and it would have been cruel to leave them where they were and let them get eaten by wolves or freeze to death.”

“The cats’ names are Shadowfang, Mishka, Catniss, Remy, Belle, Anakin, and Frodo. They are quite shy and often prefer to be by themselves,” Grandfather explained. “They even have their own little room upstairs, full of toys and cat trees and food and water dishes. We kept the litterbox in there for a while, but it stunk too much, so we’re teaching them to use the toilet instead and flush.”

That was news to me. Normally we had a maid or one of the guards clean out the box, but since our sense of smell is so powerful, I suppose it made more sense to teach the cats to use the toilet like a human.

Shadowfang seemed to grin at that.

“I’ve gotten it right,” he said. “You just need to put your butt over the bowl and let things happen naturally.” We all looked at him. “Then again, vampires don’t pee or have bowel movements, so I can’t speak for you jerks.”

“Thanks,” I said sarcastically. I settled on the couch and turned on my favorite industrial metal channel.

“Reese is a big hard-rock and heavy metal fan,” Father explained.

“Like my Reese,” Other Mordecai muttered.

We all started as the door opened.

“Do you mind?” Father snapped at Alexander.

“Hey, I’ve as much-“ He cut himself off as he caught sight of Apollo.

“Hello, traitor son,” Apollo grinned.

“What is that bastard doing here?” Alexander cried.

Mother stepped in front of him. “I’m so glad I left the girls at home,” she said.

“Ah, your lovely wife?” Apollo stepped over to Mother and kissed her knuckles. “I am Apollo, Ambrogio’s father.”

“Ah, my fiancé has told me much about you,” Mother replied.

“Fiancé? How wonderful, a wedding. What is your name, my sweet?”

“Marina Santorino. I am the mother of Reese Emerson and Selena Santorino.”

“Your daughter has your maiden name?”

“Her father left me before she was born. As far as I’m concerned, she has no father.”

“How cruel, that a woman as lovely as yourself should have a man leave you before you birthed the babe. I can relate.”

“Enough,” Alexander snarled. “Come, Marina. We’re leaving. I was going to wring Mordecai’s neck because I have vampires crawling all over my territory, but there has clearly been a setback.”

“What do you mean, you have vampires in your territory?” I asked.

“A great ugly one with a German accent. Red eyes and long black hair.”

“Torrance,” I said.

“A name does not help, son.”

“Believe me, I’ve faced Torrance,” I said. “He was there when I was tortured by Other Reese.”

Other Mordecai looked shocked and saddened.

I felt worried. “Do you think he’d go after Sarah?”

“I doubt it,” Father said. “It’s you he wants, not her. And I don’t think he’s the type to kidnap her to get to you.” He gave Alexander a pointed look. Alexander glared at him.

Uncle Soren walked in the door then, looking both happy and a bit frazzled.

“Oh, hello,” he said, looking around. “Oh, Apollo! I haven’t seen you in thousands of years!”

“Hello, great-nephew,” Apollo said. He sniffed the air. “You have the scent of a female on you.”

“Her name is Mitra Dearwood,” Uncle Soren said. “She’s part of the Lenape tribe.”

“She’s only seventeen,” I said.

“Eighteen,” Uncle Soren corrected.

“That little girl is Miss Wonderful?” Alexander scoffed. “More like Miss Bad Attitude.”

“You’re one to talk,” Uncle Soren retorted.

“Enough,” Grandfather said firmly. “Alexander, what do you need?”

“None of your fucking business, Eilief. I need the boy.”

“Why me?” I asked.

“Not you, Reese. Louis.”

“I’m not a boy,” Louis growled.

“You act like one. You are needed because of your computer skills.”

“My computer skills don’t come cheap-“ Louis cut off and gulped as Alexander gave him a dark look. “But you’re family, so I’m going to risk my life for whatever you need.”

“An old vampire who doesn’t know how to use a computer? That’s a first,” Apollo said. “Then again, you always were the smartest one.”

“Watch it, old man.”

“Excuse me, you tried to kill me, remember?”

“You were a tyrant! A bully, a murderer, and a tyrant!”

“I shed no blood with my own hands. I merely made murderers out of others.”

I inched closer to Father. He noticed, and wrapped his arms around me.

“You killed Mother,” Alexander said lowly.

“That wench killed my baby! She deserved to die!”

“She did not kill Baby Celine on purpose!”

“That’s the name of Kieran’s mother,” I noted out loud.

“Smart boy you’ve got there, Mordecai,” Apollo grinned. Father let out a low hiss. Apollo laughed. “Oh come, I’m not going to harm him.”

“He’s my boy, too,” Alexander growled. “He’s my soulson.”

“Oh, I never believed in those, anyway. You just want Reese as a son because of his hair and because Kieran hates your guts, my traitor son.”

Alexander leaped at Apollo. Father picked me up and ran out the back door where Apollo’s coven was situated. Other Mordecai followed us.

“My Alexander is not this violent,” Other Mordecai said.

“They’re going to wreck my house,” Father complained as Alexander kicked Apollo through a wall. Apollo got up and ran out the back. Alexander followed him and pounced on him. He started pounding him, then Apollo’s coven interfered, two big male vampires pulling Alexander off.

“You haven’t killed me yet, Alexander,” he said.

“I swear, one day, I will kill you, Father. You had best watch your back.”

Alexander grabbed Mother’s hand and left, Louis following behind.

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

That night, I went out by myself wearing my usual outfit. I get comments like “You know it’s not Halloween, right?” all the time when I’m out in public, and this night was one of the few nights a year where I could be out in public and not be judged for how I look-long black hair ith white tips (unless it’s been recently trimmed), a large, beak-like nose, yellow eyes, and goth attire.

I’ve been told that I get my hair, nose, chin, and lips from Mother, and I get my eyes and build from my father.

I reached the haunted house, spotting Noah’s car by the entrance. I parked my Nissan GT-R next to his Kia Soul, and got out, seeing him loitering with Duke. He and Mason were still in a fight, which I found exasperating and stupid. They were supposed to be best friends, and yet Mason lied to him and held things back and pretended to like Amara, who was Noah’s crush.

I found that amusing, because Amara had a crush on Noah until she got with her current boyfriend, Cole Powers, a pug-nosed rockstar with long blond hair and a motorcycle.

“Reese, you made it,” Duke said, clapping me on the shoulder. “Dude, the chicks are coming out now.”

We all watched as Sarah and her clique exited the haunted house, giggling. Sarah looked a little better; she’d been keeping food down, and went to therapy appointments with Mother. She smiled at me when she saw me, and I smiled back.

“Dude, you and Sarah Cresley,” Duke said. “That’s fucking hot.”

“Say ‘dude’ again and I’d bloody your nose,” Noah told him.

“Chill out, du-oh. Maybe I do say it a lot.”

I paid for our entrance into the haunted house. The first attraction did scare me, as it was a zombie grabbing my shoulder. A fake vampire came out and shouted “I vant to suck your blood!”

A werewolf came out next, followed by an army of skeletons brandishing spears and swords. Evil laughter echoed through the room.

“Do you actually see any of this stuff?” Noah asked me.

“It was a nice