Unraveling Mathias by Marisa Maichel (reading women TXT) 📕

"What are you going to do now?" he asked.

"Go home and hate myself."

But when I got home, Father literally pounced on me.

"You smell like the Ruthford clan," he said.

"Get off my chest and I'll explain."

And I did. His eyes got redder and redder, until he finally growled and nipped my shoulder.

"Ouch!"

"I'm sorry, Reese, I had a moment of rage. What were you thinking?! If I'd lost you-" Then he launched into a long, boring lecture about how all teenagers are irresponsible and he'd never forgive himself if he lost me. I stopped listening ten minutes in.

When he finally ran out of steam, it was time for dinner. Tonight's meal: a rapist who targeted a teenage blond girl.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE - FAMILY FEUD

"He's not even in North Hampton yet!"

I woke up to yelling the next day. It sounded like a huge argument between my father, uncle, and grandfather.

"Mathias kidnapped Reese because he thought he was Louis! He was trying to get to me, not the boys!"

"We need to tell Alexander-"

"What do you think he'd do?! He'd take Sarah and Marina and take off! We need him here!"

"Sarah's in no danger. Neither is Marina or Faolan. Only you, Soren."

"You as well! Don't be stupid, Mordecai! He wants revenge on all of us! Ar...oh my god, Ariella..."

"Why do you care about her? She dumped you for a wolf!"

"But she...I..."

"He still loves her, Mordecai, even though she hurt him."

I groaned and sat up.

"Shh, I think Reese is getting up."

I stumbled out of bed and accidentally stepped on Shadowfang's tail. He yowled and bit my toes.

"Ahh! Stupid cat!" The insult resulted in another bite. I clutched my foot, cursing, and went downstairs.

"Good morning, Reese," Father said.

"Morning, everyone. What has Mathias done?"

They all froze.

"I didn't know you heard us," Father said. "How much did you hear?"

"I started listening at the part where you said he's not in North Hampton yet."

"Oh, Reese." He licked my temple. I noticed Faolan behind him. Faolan put a finger to his lips, then grabbed Father around the waist. "Hello, my love. Did you sleep well?"

"I did," Faolan said. "The pack caught his scent, unfortunately. They want action."

"It's been too quiet," Father said. "Mathias hasn't bothered us much since he kidnapped Reese months ago. But now he's back, and he's with Ambrose. The real Ambrose. I've figured it out. Ambrose's clan drove Zeke's clan out of their territory. Adam was originally a member of Ambrose's clan, but he asked to join the Ruthford coven, which wandered to our territory.

"Adam was feeding Ambrose information. Mathias had also met Ambrose back in Germany after I rescued Reese. They agreed to work together, because they both want revenge on the Emerson coven. Adam and Janna fell in love, and she left her position as our guard to join him, which broke up the Ruthford coven. Jeremy spotted Sabine that day that Marina and Alexander brought Sarah and Sabine over, and he fell in love with her.

"Glen spotted Ambrose hanging around you, Reese, and that's why he decided to disguise himself as Ambrose a few times, to lead us away from Sarah. Now Mathias and Ambrose have split up, and Mathias is tired of planning. He wants his revenge now."

"Ingenious," I said. "So now what do we do?"

"Nothing," Grandfather said. We all looked at him. "Going to Mathias is exactly what he wants."

"Father, we don't know what he's planning," Uncle Soren said.

"Even so, we cannot take any risks. Even with Louis' information."

"Father, are you sure?" Father asked.

"I am. We should go about our daily lives. I have a meeting in three hours that I cannot miss or be late for. Soren, you should come too."

"Send Mordecai instead."

"Why me?" Father said.

"Just trust me," Uncle Soren replied. Father sniggered.

"Trust you? And why should we do that?"

"Mordecai, unless you want Reese caught in the crossfire-"

"Fine, fine. Okay, I'll go to the stupid meeting. If I come back and Reese is in more than one piece, you'll wish you were dead."

"Deal."

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

A few hours later, Father and Grandfather left for their meeting, and Uncle Soren told me to get in his car.

"We're going someplace private," he said. "Oh, and don't tell your father."

We drove for nearly an hour, finally reaching an old factory.

"They used to make car parts here," he said. "Specifically, mufflers. In fact, this was an Emerson business when we tried out the car business. My father decided he didn't like it, so we sold the place to a tire mogul. It closed down about twenty years ago."

He popped the trunk open, grabbed a shovel, and handed the shovel to me before kicking the doors down. He loudly took the Lord's name in vain, followed by "damn it."

"Fuckers must have switched things around. I have to call Louis. Stay here, Reese."

I wondered what was going on. More specifically, what was the shovel for? The floor was reinforced concrete. He'd have a hard time digging anything up.

Maybe that's why he's calling Louis.

Indeed, we had to wait an hour and half for Louis to get here.

"What's going on?" I asked my uncle.

"I need...it's not important. Just say silent and go into the factory."

Instead of arguing, I went into the factory, and was immediately knocked out.

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

This dream seemed too real. I was on a beach. I could hear the waves and smell the breeze. I sat up, and realized I was dressed like a romantic hero. White shirt, black khakis. I was barefoot. I looked up, and saw a female figure.

Realizing it was Sarah, I smiled and started toward her. She was smiling too. No, not smiling-grimacing. I looked down. She was barefoot as well, her tiny toes covered in blood. Her white dress was stained with dried and fresh blood.

Each time she took a step toward me, bits of glass cut her feet.

"Stop!" I cried. "Stay right there!" She paused, then collapsed. I rushed to her, ignoring the glass cutting my feet. I slid on my knees and held her up. Her stomach and chest were bleeding now. I smoothed her hair away, accidentally cutting her with my sharp nails.

"Sarah, I'm sorry," I said.

"That doesn't make it less painful," she said. She cupped my cheeks. "Kill me."

I was stunned. No, I couldn't kill the love of my life. Her skin began to bubble and turn pale, her eyes became black and almond-shaped, her hair darkened until it matched the color of the night sky.

"Scarlett!" I cried, and nearly dropped her. She cackled like a stereotypical witch, then she transformed. Her hair lightened, her eyes turned green again, and she turned into Jordan.

"Jordan?" Then Jordan changed. She turned into a girl I'd never seen before.

"Who are you?" I asked the blue-eyed beauty with black curly hair.

"Your sister," she said. "Selena."

"I don't-"

And then I was drowning in a river. I looked down. The girl was sinking to the bottom, her dress revealing more than I wanted to see, especially if she was my sister. The darkness swallowed her, and centuries passed, and I still drowned. My hair became long and white, my vision blurred. And then I had a tail.

I was jolted awake by a sharp movement. I sat up, realizing that I was in fact by an ocean. I could feel the wet sand beneath me and hear the waves. A seagull glared at me from a rock. I looked around, noticing a boat by the shore. I wondered if it was the same one that Ambrose tried to kidnap me in last time.

My heart leaped. There, standing in front of the boat, was Mathias. His hair was cut short, and his jumpsuit was replaced by sweats and a stained t-shirt.

"Hello, nephew," he growled.

"What happened?" I dared to ask.

"I'll ask the questions. Specifically, where is Mordecai?"

"I don't know."

"Liar!" He rushed forward and knocked my head into the water. A crab scuttled by. Seagulls were crowing, startled. Mathias grabbed me by the hair. "Tell me where Mordecai is, you little twink."

"I don't know, and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you!"

"Wrong answer!" He stepped on my arm, cracking the bones. I yelled out. I found it ironic that Father had told us what's really been happening for months, and Mathias attacked the same day. I wondered if that was significant. But right now, I was more concerned about my arm. I held, it, grimacing.

"I'm sorry that they locked you up!" I tried.

"Your stupid uncle accused me of killing his bitch of a wife! Alga died because she got mixed up the the mafia dei vampiri!"

"Yeah, I don't quite understand that," I said. "What exactly is the mafia dei vampiri?"

"What do you think, you stupid boy? The vampire mafia! More dangerous than the human version, but just as sneaky, if not more so. They're the reason why Ambrose wants to rule the world! The reason why Castro was caught! They're behind the recent attacks!"

"What attacks?" I asked cautiously.

"All those rapists and murderers you've been catching lately? Humans sent to kill other humans. That Vanessa Slaughterman girl you met months ago? She's part of it!"

"I find that hard to believe."

"Well, believe it, boy! Now, I'm hungry, so let's wrap this up. Where is Mordecai?"

"I don't know where he is!"

Mathias kicked me in the gut this time.

"Lying faggot! Tell me now, or I'll tear your head off!"

"If I tell you where my father is, you'll kill him!"

"Really? I'd've thought you'd want your faggot father dead. He's lied to you countless times! He kept his love for that mutt a secret! And now he's lied about your sibling as well!"

"Sibling?" I remembered the dream. "Mathias...do I have a sister?"

"You did. Years ago. She died. Don't tell me you don't know!"

"No, no one told me! Kind of like no one told me about you! Who else don't I know about?"

"You're lucky to even be alive, with all the mistakes Mordecai has made."

Crap. I needed to try another angle. "I believe that you didn't kill Alga. How did you find out that the mafia dei vampiri killed her?"

"Simple arithmetic. She always wanted what she couldn't have, but she never had the money for it. That's why she married Soren. She had dated a member of the mafia dei vampiri, and later broke up with him when he went to jail for forgery and laundering money. She had borrowed money from him, and when they broke up, he became angry. He sent a female vampire to kill her. A bitch by the name of Slaughterman; I don't remember her first name.

"This Slaughterman chick was the best female assassin in the world. She killed countless politicians and leaders before she gave up on mercenary work. That's why I said that Vanessa Slaughterman was involved. It was her ancestor who killed Alga."

"It's ironic that her name has "slaughter" in it and she was a mercenary," I said.

"Oh, it's no coincidence. She purposely changed it to match her life's work."

"Does Vanessa know?"

"Oh, goodness, no. The Slaughterman vampire would not want her descendants to know about her past."

Okay. One more try.

"I believe that Uncle Soren did try to kill you," I said. "He's famous for his physical strength as well."

"That son of a bitch tried to tear my head off! If Amalia hadn't been there, he would have succeeded!"

"Amalia? Eilief's wife?"

"Yes, Eilief's wife. She was the only good thing in my cold, dark world. She helped me fight my demons and took care of me just like a mother would. It's a shame that she had to die."

"Excuse me?"

"I said, Amalia had to die. I didn't want to do it, but she found out that I stole some of the family jewels. What was I supposed to do, walk around in rags?"

I noticed a silvery mist behind him. It slowly took shape. It took the form...of my grandmother, Amalia. She was looking at Mathias with such rage and hate. She noticed me, and