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

“Mine,” she said.

“Mine,” I corrected, taking her from Mother.

“You just made a very big mistake, girl,” the green-skinned woman growled, stepping forward.

“I’ll take my chances.”

“Three races will be united,” quoted a tree woman. “A princess who will be connected to the races of vampire, Fae, and werewolf will be the One to unite all three races.”

“Utter nonsense,” said Marius. He glared at Sarah. “She’s a traitor. She should die as well.”

“No one is going to die today,” Alexander said, stepping in front of us. “If you want to kill my children, you’ll have to kill me first.”

“Wow, Alexander, that was cliché,” said Father. Grandfather smacked him on the back of the head. “But for once, you’re right. Hurt our children, and you hurt the family. And then we will never be united.”

“We should not risk it,” said a satyr. “They are faster and stronger than all of us.”

“She called them a family,” said a female centaur.

“Because we are,” said Grandfather. “If you attack us, we will fight back. And we will defend our young ones.”

“There will be no fighting today,” said King Fowley. “We will speak to Uriah Dreschler and the Elves again. If there are any more problems, we will contact you.”

“Good riddance,” Louis and Sarah said in unison.

With that, we turned and went back to the car. Sarah slid in first, followed by myself and Mother.

“Assholes,” Sarah muttered.

“That pretty much sums it up,” I said.

“They always are,” Louis said.

“Sarah, I’m so proud of you,” Mother cooed. Sarah beamed. “You defended us and yourself exceptionally well, and you called me your mother and Alexander your father.”

“Because you are,” Sarah said. “You’re my mother, my real mother. You may not have given birth to me, but you love me and treat me like I’m yours. Alexander may be a huge asshole, but he’s like a dad to me sometimes. He could never take the place of my real dad, but he’s just as good.”

Within minutes, my girl was asleep with her head on my shoulder, We reached Mother and Alexander’s house first.

“Sarah, it’s time to get up,” I said softly. Mother picked her up and carried her inside. Suddenly, she hissed and crouched defensively.

“Mom?” Sarah muttered, rubbing her eyes.

“Hush, my little one. And don’t rub your eyes, you’ll get makeup in them.” Sarah stood up and wobbled in her heels. I grabbed her before she fell and hissed at the unknown threat. I heard a sob, then Mother’s eyes went wide.

“SELENA!”

Within moments, a woman with a large belly came into view. She looked almost exactly like Mother. Same wild curly black hair, same crystal blue eyes.

“Mom?” she whimpered. Mother rushed forward and hugged the other woman.

I glanced back. Most of my family was shocked. Louis had his mouth open and Uncle Soren rubbed his eyes.

“I don’t believe it,” Alexander said. “Selena is alive.”

“Impossible,” said Father. “We thought she died in the explosion.”

“I can’t stay,” Selena said. She grimaced and clutched her belly. “He’s coming.”

“Who? Liam? No, I’m not letting you leave!”

Sarah was wide awake now and staring. “That’s your sister?”

“He kept me for years…he’s the father of my baby....”

“Shhh, sweetheart. He won’t get to you. Stay here with us tonight. I will protect you.”

“No, I can’t…too dangerous…oh god, it’s coming!” She fell to her knees.

“Reese, take Sarah inside. Mordecai, let Reese stay here tonight. You can bring his clothes over tomorrow. I have a pair of sweatpants he can borrow to sleep in.” Mother picked up Selena and carried her inside. I carried Sarah.

Once inside, Mother took Selena to the spare room and shut the door. I took Sarah to her room and helped her out of her dress. She took her pills with some water and ignored Spunk, who was jumping up on her.

“Was it fun?” Sabine asked, still fully dressed.

“It’s past your bedtime,” Sarah said.

“Whatever. Where’s Mom?”

“There has been a development. We have a guest,” I informed her. “Don’t be shocked if you hear screaming and crying.”

Alexander came in just as Sarah was taking her bra off.

“Do you mind?!” she snapped at him.

“It’s nothing I haven’t seen before. Here are some of my sweatpants, Reese. You can sleep either in here or with me tonight.”

I undressed and pulled on Alexander’s sweatpants. Sarah pulled on one of my old shirts.

The ocean of tears was getting bigger. Mother was on a raft by herself, sobbing. Selena was on another raft, completely torn apart. I was on a raft with Sarah, but I was hungry, and she was the only source of nutrients around. I couldn’t help myself. I drank her until I felt like my stomach would split open.

We reached the shore of North Hampton, which was odd because North Hampton is an hour away from the nearest beach. Faolan was in werewolf form, the mouth on his stomach grinning, its tongue snaking out and swallowing my sister whole. Then Mother. Then Sarah. And then me. I cried out for Father, but he was already dead.

Faolan changed to his human form. His stomach was swollen with everyone he’d eaten. It was angry and red and full of marks. He moaned as I turned into Little Red Riding Hood. His tongue flicked out and grabbed me by the ankle. I kicked him in the stomach, and he groaned and clutched it. I could see bumps from the people moving inside.

Suddenly, Faolan’s stomach burst open, but he didn’t die. He still moaned in pain, doubled over. Father crawled over to him, tears in his eyes.

“Forgive me, Faolan, please forgive me,” he said, and then he bit Faolan.

The dream changed.

I was floating, Selena beside me, our fingertips barely touching. And then we were in a car, and I was driving, sitting on Mother’s lap. Mother was unconscious, and Selena was in labor. She screamed and cried for hours, and we still didn’t reach our destination.

Our destination was a house in the country, a three-story home with three bedrooms and a basement with a kitchen. A plum tree stood outside, a bean tree on the other side of the yard. Sarah ran out of the house wearing a white dress and heels. She ran forward, then suddenly tripped over the heels and fell down the steps leading to the front door. When I finally reached her, she was dead. Then I turned back to my sister.

Selena had blood pouring out of her. And then I heard a baby’s cry.

I woke up, suddenly aware of what was happening. Sunlight poured in from the window. My head was fuzzy, my sides felt cold, and, embarrassingly, I had a male issue that needed to be attended to.

When I came back from my cold shower, Sarah was also waking up. She had major raccoon eye going, and her lipstick was smeared on her cheek. I took a tissue and cleaned her as best I could. The rest she would have to wash off with face wash or makeup remover.

She suddenly snorted, sitting up. Her hair was tangled in the back, and she looked exhausted. She got up and grabbed a pair of underwear from her dresser, rubbed my chest, and went in to take a shower.

I went into the room where Mother took Selena. I knocked first.

“Come in.” I opened the door, only to be met with a grisly sight. There was blood everywhere. Selena was naked and crying, Mother holding a baby in her arms.

“I’m so sorry,” Mother said. “She’s a stillborn. She likely died just before you went into labor.”

Damn. A stillborn. Mother looked at me.

“Reese, you would have been an uncle if the babe had lived.” Selena’s sobs became more pronounced.

“Mom, why? Why did she have to die?” I asked.

“I’m sorry. She would not have lived long anyway. Vampires and half-wolves are not meant to mate. She died from her confused DNA. Should her heart beat or not? Unfortunately, her heart just gave out.”

I felt like crying. I had a niece, and then lost her.

Sarah cried just as hard when she heard the news. We buried the baby in the yard, in a small casket that Alexander bought. We prayed for her tiny soul. It was a tense meeting between Alexander and Selena, since he had believed that she was dead. It was even more tense between Selena and Sarah and Sabine. When Selena met Cirino, she burst into tears and ran from the room.

I was sure that Liam Wolfheart would arrive soon. He was obsessed with my sister. I was sure of something else. My sister had gone off the deep end, at least according to Mother.

Selena stayed in bed most of the time, only eating bagged blood and barely moving.

“Hello,” I said one day, coming in to see her.”

“So, you’re my little brother,” she said, looking at me. “Your father is Mordecai.”

“And you’re my sister,” I said. “I’ve always wanted a sister.”

“I’ve never known you,” she said. “You’ve never known me until now. I was kept locked up for years by Wolfheart. My daughter was his baby. She was my everything.”

“I’m so sorry,” I said. I was. I had a niece, and then lost her. She had a daughter and lost her. I wouldn’t even be able to imagine the pain she was going through. If she had been my daughter, or if Cirino my son, I might be able to.

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

I was walking by myself, trying to find clues. I didn’t know to what, just clues. To Other Reese, or Torrance, or Liam Wolfheart. I didn’t know what I was looking for. I tried to find the building that Other Reese had kept me in, but he’d burned the room he kept me in. There was nothing left, not a trace.

I marked my territory by spreading my scent around and rubbing my back into the ground. I probably looked like a dog, but it was necessary. I needed to make sure that none of my enemies would be able to go too far close to my family or my girl and her family. I talked to Other Mordecai and got some information on my adversary.

He and Other Alexander had gotten into a bad fight. Like, punching holes through the wall, trying to kill each other kind of fight. That’s when Other Reese disappeared and came to our universe. He was bent on taking over my life, but he screwed up. He let himself be discovered by my family. They knew better now.

Besides, he had a scar now that Louis had given him.

Torrance was also from the other universe where he came from. He was a killer-for-hire, hired to kill yours truly. When Other Reese screwed up, Torrance had also been caught. Now they were both hiding, and we had no idea where. Not even Other Mordecai. Other Reese hadn’t taken his cell phone with him, so we couldn’t track him that way. The only other option was to wait and see what they did next. That could take weeks, or even months.

Fortunately, it didn’t even take days. Torrance came to us. A female in Bartimus’ coven came to us and reported that she’d seen a red-eyed long-haired male nearby.

We went, myself, Louis, Father, Uncle Soren, Grandfather, Other Mordecai, Bartimus, and Apollo. We saw him come through the trees on the other side of the road, looking thinner than usual and tired.

“I surrender,” he said, holding up his hands. Uncle Soren and Apollo grabbed his arms.

“Where is my son?” Other Mordecai asked.

“I swear, I do not know. He left me and told me I was fired.”

The older men didn’t believe that, but Louis and I did.

“I’m so sorry,” Other Mordecai said later. He continually rubbed his belly, which had grown a bit since he’d come here. “Oh gods, it’s all my fault. I drove him to this.” He burst into tears and wiped at his eyes. “I’m sorry. This is just overwhelming. I had no idea he was capable of this.