Unraveling Mathias by Marisa Maichel (reading women TXT) 📕

"Why did you kill Amalia? Does Eilief know?"

"Of course not. Enough questions. Time to die!"

He lunged toward me, and I kicked out with my legs. He went sprawling down. I turned to run, but he grabbed my leg and bit my ankle. I screamed and kicked with my other foot. He grabbed the waistband of my jeans, and pulled me closer. I about lost my pants.

"How many other vampires have you killed?" I asked Mathias.

"Oh, hundreds. Including Eilief's brother, Lief!"

"Why did you kill him?"

"I had to. He was going to convince Eilief to cut me off!"

I punched him in the side of the head, dazing him. "Let go of me!"

"NO! YOU AND YOUR FAMILY ARE DEAD!" Mathias bit down on my side and tore off a chunk. I screamed. Then he pulled out a steel stake.

"A...stake?" I breathed.

"Sorry. Wait, no I'm not." He plunged the steel stake down into my chest, missing my heart by centimeters. Everything became blurry, and the pain was unbelievable. I furiously tried to contact Father with my mind, but I was becoming too weak.

I heard more yelling, and the sound of a vampire crashing into another vampire. It was like a clap of thunder. I saw a flash of blond hair, and a flash of red hair. My grandmother's ghost kneeled over me, pulling my head into her lap.

"You were so brave, grandson," she said.

"I..."

"REESE!" Father rushed over to me. "My son!"

The blurriness turned to frost, and then flashes of darkness.

"How do...you always...show up...at the right time?" I asked him.

"He's delusional," Father said.

"It's all my fault," Uncle Soren said, coming toward us. Father's eyes flashed at him.

"Yes, it is your fault. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Quiet, both of you!" Grandfather snapped. "Mathias got away. Again. How does this keep happening? How does he evade us?"

"Maybe he has some kind of gift?" I pondered.

"How are you still talking?" Father asked in amazement. "You should be writhing in pain!"

"It's the adrenaline," Uncle Soren said. "The shock hasn't worn off. At least he's still with us."

"Invisibility," Grandfather said. "It's the only possible explanation."

"Shut up," Father told him. "Reese is hurt, and you're worried about Mathias!"

"Mordecai, I am just as concerned about Reese as you are!"

"Mathias killed Amalia and Lief," I said. They looked at me. "Mathias told me himself."

"I will look into that, Reese," Grandfather said.

A sharp pain hit me then. It flowed from the center of my chest to my shoulders and ribs. The blurriness came and went. During a moment of clarity, I noticed my family members looking behind me, mouths agape.

"Mother?" Father said. He must have seen her.

"Amalia?"

The blurriness became blackness, and my consciousness strained.

I was laying...well, nothing. And then I started falling. The pain in my chest became unbearable as I fell into a lake full of acid. My nose and lungs burned as I fought to get to the surface. A chain was around my ankle. I fought with it, and it tightened.

My heart constricted, and I fought to breathe. Breathe? I didn't need to breathe. I was born undead! I looked around, noticing members of my family. Father. Uncle Soren. Grandfather. Louis. Sarah, even Alexander and Mother. Even the baby, who was purple and blue.

Sarah fought to get to him, and Mother fought to get to all of us. Father and Alexander were fighting to get to me, and Uncle Soren was trying to get to Louis. Grandfather stayed still, observing us. Then he whistled loudly, broke the chains on his ankle, swam toward Cirino and broke the chains around him, and Uncle Soren broke the chains on his ankle, Father's, and Louis'.

Alexander and Mother broke their chains, and I broke mine. I broke Sarah's chain, grabbed her, and swam toward the sun.

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

I started giggling uncontrollably.

"He's gone crazy," said a familiar male voice.

"He's loopy," Grandfather's voice corrected. "The drugs are affecting his brain."

"Drugs? What drugs?" I chuckled. "Ow! My head hurts."

"You might have a migraine," Grandfather said.

"Reese!" Father rushed to my side. "I was so worried! Are you all right? How do you feel?"

"Sore. Giggly. I had a weird dream."

"It's the drugs," Grandfather repeated. "The pain medicine. We had Ethan look at you and sew you back up."

I rolled over and vomited on the floor.

"It feels like a vise is around my skull," I complained.

"Reese, I'm so sorry," Uncle Soren said. "I should have never brought you along. It's my fault you got hurt."

"I'm okay now," I lied.

"He's lying," Father informed Uncle Soren. I tried to sit up, but the pain blurred my vision and I fell back onto the bed, hitting my scalp on the headboard.

"Ow! Shit, shit, shit," I groaned.

"Reese!" Father held my head up, then began licking and kissing my hair.

"How long has it been?" I asked.

"Almost a week," Grandfather said.

"Shit. Sarah's probably worried sick."

"She is," Grandfather said. "It's affected her greatly."

"I need to-ow."

"You need to do nothing," Father said. "She's just downstairs. Your mother has been comforting her."

To see Sarah was a great relief. Her skin had darkened, especially around her eyes, her makeup was smeared, her hair tangled, and she was complaining about the climb up the stairs.

"You're worth it, though," she said, sitting beside me. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too," I said. "How is little man?"

"Very kicky. He knows something's wrong."

"I'm sorry I put you and him through all that."

"It's not your fault, Reese. How did Mathias get away?"

"Grandfather and I think he might have some kind of gift, such as invisibility."

"That's both creepy and cool."

I told her about my conversation with Mathias, she hoped he'd be caught soon, and I asked her if any new books or movies came out.

"That new book by Jamie Williams. It's about a guy with walking corpse syndrome who falls for a girl with porphryia. The vampire disease."

"For vampires, it's called porphyrina and it's completely different. And are you still crushing on that guy?"

"Hey, he's a great author. You'll always be on top in the gorgeous department, Reese."

"Thank you, Sarah. What else is new?"

"I'm on a Lois Duncan marathon."

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

I was able to get out of bed a week later. I needed to do something. I texted Noah and Duke, called Mason, who was still recovering, and met up with them at Pon's, a bookstore cafe that Sarah had mentioned she might apply to work for.

I looked through the selection of titles.

"I have to thank you, Reese," Mason said, walking up to me. "I don't know what I was thinking."

"Hey, don't mention it," I said. "That's what I'm for."

We discussed what had happened over the last week. Noah and Mason had talked and made up, and both of them agreed to start flirting with Amara and see where things went.

"Love triangles suck in real life," I sighed.

"Dude, you're only saying that because of that Crow dude," Duke said.

"Dude, do you ever say anything other than 'dude'?" Mason asked him. "It's like saying 'why', 'you know', and 'like' all the time."

"Who cares?" Duke said. "All of you are nuts. Girls ain't worth jack. Look at what happened with the Hart sisters and Ariella."

"Ariella and I were never a couple," I told him. "And don't forget about Sarah."

"First of all, didn't Ariella, like, date your uncle? And Sarah's one of the few good ones. At least for now, but believe me, before long she'll start thinking about other guys. Then she'll exchange numbers with one and start talking to him. Then comes the subtle flirting, and then comes the bitchiness phase. And then she'll stomp all over you and run you over with a lawn mower."

I was silent. Was Sarah capable of cheating on me? I couldn't risk being possessive. More possessive than I already was. I'd already screwed up at least twice, once when I kept my secret from her, and then again when I tried to get her to break up with me a few months ago. My heart was fragile at this point. Both literally and figuratively.

"Duke, shut up," Noah said. "Just because that trashy chick ran over your foot with her car-"

"Um, that was kind of a big deal," Duke retorted. "She shattered my foot."

"A girl ran over your foot with her car?" I asked. "When did this happen?"

"A couple years ago," Mason told me. "Duke was obsessed with this girl from the 'hood. She cheated on him, he confronted her while she was in her car, and then she got mad and slammed on the accelerator. Duke had to get surgery and a cast. Duke, just because Brianna shattered your foot, that doesn't mean that all girls are like that."

Duke shut up after that.

"Is it common knowledge that Ariella dated my uncle?" I asked.

"Rumors were going around that she was dating an older guy, and then someone saw her at your house with a guy who said he was your uncle," Noah explained.

"Who?" I demanded.

"I don't know...some chick."

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

I wondered who it was. The only possible explanation seemed to be Sarah. But she wouldn't do that, would she? I decided to ask her directly.

We were in her favorite makeup store, and I told her to go crazy. She'd already decided on several lipsticks and eyeshadows. Now she was getting some help from a shop girl on finding a foundation that matched her skin tone.

They were talking about "summer skin tones" and "winter skin tones". It made sense. A lot of people get tanner or more orange in the summer, and they stay paler in the winter. As for me, I'm pale all year round.

She finally decided on a powder foundation and put it in the basket. She grabbed a few eyeliners, then said she was ready. I paid for her stuff, then we walked out. She was happy. Now was my chance.

"I heard something," I said. "Apparently, quite a few people know about Uncle Soren and Ariella."

"Yeah, it's not exactly a secret," she said.

"Any idea who could have told?" I asked. She looked at me.

"Nope. It could have been anybody."

"Sarah, did you tell?"

"What? Of course not!"

"Well, someone who knows me and goes to our school did."

"I have no idea."

Not entirely satisfied, I took her into Target to choose some art supplies and to grab a snack. She filled another basket with more sketchbooks and paint and painting tools, then we discussed what we would paint our house if we bought one together.

I bought her stuff again and then headed to her house. Alicia was still at rehab, and her grandparents, Gianna and Benjamin Abraham, were settling in nicely.

They had more control, which improved behavior in Sabine, and even got rid of an ear infection that had been growing in Spunk for a while. He and Coffee greeted me with the usual, a jump and a bunch of kisses, and Coffee actually approached me without barking.

"Hello, dumpling," Gianna said. "Did you and Reese enjoy your date?"

"We did. Reese got me some new art supplies."

"How fun! Art is important, and yours is wonderful. Thank you for buying her things, Reese."

"You're welcome," I said. I scratched Spunk behind the ears. I followed Sarah up to her room, where she put her bags on her desk. In one corner lay some bags from her latest shopping expedition. My girl loves to shop. And others usually bought her stuff.

"How is Evan?" she asked.

"Oh...I haven't talked to him in a while." My ex-boyfriend had moved in with his parents again shortly after he came back to America.

I looked around for any sign of other males. I sniffed the room. I got a few female scents, but no male scents, not even Alexander's. Thank the gods. I took another sniff. I smelled Ariella, Mia Rayport, Rachel Griffin, and Angela Montgomery.

"Have you been talking to your old clique?" I asked.

"Yeah, a few of them. We sort of made up. Full trust is still not there, but I obviously trust them enough to let them into my room. Truth is, we've been meeting up."

"Meeting up?"

"Yes. It's time to bring Scarlett down