Unraveling Sarah Cresley by Marisa Maichel (best summer books .txt) 📕

"Well, just be cautious of how much you spend on her."

"I thought we didn't have money problems."

"We don't, but next year's your senior year, and after that...well...where do you want to go after that?"

"I'll probably end up going to the music college."

"I will miss you dearly."

"Father...it's only a few blocks away from that Walmart by my old middle school."

"Whatever. Anyway, just be careful how much you spend on her."

"Why were you looking at my bank accounts anyway? Wait...are you keeping tabs on me?" If he could, he would have turned red from embarassment. "Next thing you know, you'll be reading my old journals."

"In my defense, you are my son, and I must watch you at all times if I am to be a good father. Back to your hair. If you cut it, I'll raise your allowance."

"I already get more than two thousand dollars a week. For most people, that's a lot. Besides, I hate my ears, and I like my hair this way."

"It will obscure your hearing."

"That's an old wives' tale. Back to you stalking me. I wish you'd leave me alone." He actually looked hurt when I said that. He buried his nose in my hair.

"I wish you hadn't said that," he said.

"That's not what I meant. I don't want you to leave me alone constantly, all I want is a little privacy."

"Shush. Listen." We both froze. Someone was outside my window. Father got up and pulled the blinds. "ALEXANDER! GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!" Father flitted downstairs. When I went outside, he and Alexander were a flurry of blond and black hair. The sky was grey, and it was starting to sprinkle.

"Stop this!" I cried. They didn't stop. I started to walk towards them, then someone pulled me back. It was Uncle Soren.

"Stay here. Louis, keep a hold of him." My blue-eyed cousin grabbed my arms roughly. Uncle Soren and Grandfather pulled my father and Alexander apart, although they still snapped at each other.

"LET ME GO! HE TRIED TO TAKE REESE AWAY FROM ME!" Father roared.

"I did no such thing! I merely wanted to see if he...it's not important. Let me go, Eilief!" Alexander spun around and kneed my grandfather in the gut. When Grandfather released him, Alexander knocked Louis and I over and grabbed me. Uncle Soren released Father.

"I AM GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU, ALEXANDER!"

Alexander smirked. "Murdering your own cousin? That's rather heartless, but then again, so is stealing your cousin's mate."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I said. "Cousin?" At this point, everyone glared at Father, even Louis.

"I am your grandfather's first cousin," Alexander said in an overly joyful tone. I felt faint and collapsed. "I'm surprised your father didn't tell you. Reese! Are you all right?"

"He needs me!" Father stepped on Alexander's foot, cracking his toes and causing Alexander to let go of me.

"He's our fucking cousin and you didn't tell me?!"

"Hush, little one. Yes, I'm sorry. He's our cousin." I turned around and retched. Father rubbed my back.

"Now you're just being dramatic," Grandfather said. I gave him a dirty look. "Don't look at me like that, Reese, I've had a very hard day."

"You need to be more sympathetic," Father said. He picked me up like a baby and cradled me. Embarassed and angry, I buried my face in his chest. "I'm taking him up to his room. I don't want anyone to bother him for at least twenty four hours. Place guards around the house and territory. Alexander, once again, I ban you from communicating with Reese Mordecai Emerson. Leave us alone. I don't know where Marina is, and neither does he. We only know that she goes between Greece and France. She has homes in both countries. Now leave him alone. Bother me all you want, but please, leave Reese alone."

Father carried me up to my bedroom and placed me in bed. He shut the blinds and started straightening things up.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked. He paused.

"I was trying to keep you safe. I didn't want you to seek him out, because I was afraid that he would try to kill you. I was wrong on so many levels. I'm sorry, Reese. Even parents make mistakes sometimes." He sat beside me. "I know you've been dealing with a lot lately. I want you to know that I love you more than the universe. If I had a choice between you and the universe, I would choose you, even if it meant killing everybody else, including your mother."

"Why did she leave me?"

"I don't know, baby. It's strange because she loved you just as much as I do. She wanted full custody of you, but I refused. We fought for quite some time over it, until she simply stopped contacting me. She left you with me because she was going back to Greece for a while. Now she's...well, I think she's remarried. She may even have other children."

The thought that she may have had other children nearly made me physically ill.

~~~~~~~~

I was five years old. At a clap of thunder, I buried my face in Father's stomach. "It's all right, little one," he said, stroking my hair. "It's only thunder."

"Daddy, I'm scared."

"Don't be. Daddy's here. Daddy will keep you safe."

I woke up from the memory/dream when my alarm went off. Tonight was a big night. I was going on a date with Sarah. I had called her and asked her to go out to dinner with me. She had, tearfully, accepted. She apologized profusely for thinking that I would ever call her a bitch. I accepted her apology immediately.

I took an extra-long shower, being sure to scrub every inch of my body with chocolate and vanilla scented body gel. I paid careful attention to my hair. Father and Sarah were right. It was getting longer. Pretty soon, I'd need to trim my bangs. I even deep-conditioned my hair to make it extra soft and shiny. I paid extra attention to my chin. Vampires do not grow facial hair as quickly or have as much as humans, but it is still there, and I had not shaved in a while; thus resulting in stubble. I shaved quickly, nearly cutting myself on several occasions.

I rinsed and washed the rest of my face, even brushing my teeth. I studied my eyebrows. They didn't look too bad. Stomach quivering with anticipation, I dressed in the day's clothes. I would wear something different later tonight for her.

Father pulled me into his lap when I sat on the living room couch. He planted his nose in my hair.

"You smell like chocolate," he said. I felt his tongue run over my hair. "But you taste like shampoo."

"You're silly," I told him, turning to look at him. He smiled.

"I was quite mischievous when I was younger. I enjoyed playing pranks on your uncle. He always got me back though, until Louis was born. Then he became Mr. Serious-All-The-Fricking-Time!"

"Who taught you about pranks?"

"Your great-uncle did before he died. Father's brothers were all quite ornery. My father, being the oldest, felt that it was his responsibility to keep them in check. Before they all passed away. After the last one died, I think that's when he started losing interest in life. And when Amalia died, that's when he lost complete interest until Louis was born. And then a miracle happened, and you were born, and he was overjoyed for a short while until Marina left the family. He was quite fond of her, as was Soren."

"What was my mother like?" I asked.

"An amazing woman. Beautiful. Well, stunning, really. Intelligent. She's where you got your brains from. Kind. Always gave to the poor, whether it be food or money or her services. She loved children and worked to keep them out of abusive and neglectful homes, the same for animals. I remember that she had a very old cat named Thompson. She was fond of him and spoiled him rotten. He was very fat and pretty much useless.

"In the beginning of our relationship, she had a rat terrier that she named Ferret. I remember that that dog was very much like a ferret: always stealing things and always needed a bath because she was chasing smaller creatures in the mud. In all honesty, I miss the little cretins almost as much as I miss your mother. They were excellent companions." Father had tears in his eyes by this point, although he was still smiling. Then the smile disappeared.

"I...I need a moment. Excuse me, Reese." He went upstairs to his bedroom. I laid across the couch and turned on the television. The news came on. Nothing new about Mike's death. I smirked. All they knew was what he'd done and that his heart was ripped out of his chest. I would have to thank Father again for that. I would have done it myself, but I was afraid of screwing up.

I had never killed anyone before, although my father has, many times. Mostly people he felt deserved to die, although there have been some accidental deaths in the past, or so he's told me. But by now he's too good to make that sort of mistake again. Something about a book sale at the library. I will not be able to resist that. A werewolf symbol in a park. I sat up.

There on the concrete was a drawing of a wolf. It was standing on a cliff and howling at the full moon. A circle was around the wolf. Known werewolves: none. Well, I personally knew of two. Eric and Damon. But they had not caused trouble or bothered me lately. Ariella had been warned by Uncle Soren to stay away from Damon, and she was complying. She had told me that she got a weird feeling around Damon these days, and she decided to listen to her instinct.

A crash on the highway. Traffic was backed up for a couple hundred yards. A robbery at a clothing store. Nothing else that pertained to my life. Father came down again after about an hour. He pulled me into his lap again. He purred softly.

"I'm so happy you're safe," he muttered. "You'll always be my baby. You're my baby and no one else's." I heard two grunts of disagreement from upstairs.

"Am I also Grandfather and Uncle Soren's baby?" I asked.

"Nope. They didn't raise you enough to be considered their baby." When Grandfather came out, he flicked Father on the ear. He was wearing an unusual outfit for him: a tight white wifebeater and jeans.

"What's with the getup?" I asked him.

"I have no reason to do anything today. The guards have been stationed around your property, Mordecai. There are two outside Reese's bedroom and one outside your own."

"Surely I don't need two guards," I said.

"Your father insisted, and I agree with him. Alexander came too close to you yesterday. He's getting antsy. Dimitri is outside your bedroom, Mordecai."

"They'll get bored pretty soon," Father said. "Bring them inside."

Indeed, Grandfather went out, only to come back in flanked by Dimitri and two other guards that I did not recognize. One of them was middle-aged and had thin blond hair. The other was young and had dark skin and long black hair.

"Reese, this is Spencer and Toby," Grandfather said. I nodded to them, and they bowed to me as custom dictated. The blond one, Spencer, spoke first.

"A pleasure to meet the youngest prince." I detected scorn in his voice.

"It is for me as well," Toby, the dark-skinned one, said. He sounded sincere. Father gaped at both of them for a moment, then hissed softly.

"Enough, Mordecai," Grandfather said. "They do not want to take Reese away from you." Father bowed his head and mumbled an insincere apology. When the guards went up to the guest rooms, I fought to get out of Father's grasp.

"I need to go," I told him.

"Are you hungry? I can bring you blood."

"No, just let me go!" Frowning, Father released me. I really was getting tired of this routine.

CHAPTER 16 - DEAD DOUBT

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