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

able to carry him to a human tribe who were desperate for food. I was one of the few creatures who helped the humans learn how to speak. They called me a god, a deity. I can crush your skull in a matter of nanoseconds. So watch how you speak to my father.”

He glanced at Mitra, possibly hoping she’d be impressed. She did look impressed, but only for a few seconds. Everyone else stared at my uncle in amazement.

“You are not to tell anyone where we reside over in this country,” Father said. “Give Bornac your names, and he will have IDs made for you.”

“Why are the wolves here?” I asked.

“To give them some information and a warning,” Father said. He turned to them. “There are vampires around who look like us, but are not us. The only one I believe you need to worry about is the one who looks like Reese. He’s trying to kill him.” He shuddered and pulled me close. “Leave everyone else alone.”

“Why are all the wolves here?” Mother asked.

“Because I don’t trust Eric,” Father replied.

“Too bad, so sad,” Louis chanted. Eric frowned at him.

“What makes you think I’d lie to my pack?”

“We are not your pack,” said a wolf. I recognized him as Justin Goode.

“What?” Eric said, shocked.

“You insult our women, have indeed lied to us, and intend to marry off one of our daughters. You cause needless fights. You just insulted the mate of a vampire, degrading her. We seek an alliance with the vampires. I vote for a new leader.”

The rest of the wolves were nodding along and agreeing.

“Who else votes for a new leader?” Eric asked. Hands shot up. More than half the wolves voted for a new leader.

“Fine, I’ll step down,” Eric said. “Just kidding!” he taunted. “I’m the leader, and you pansies need to get over it.”

“I challenge you, Eric Martin,” Faolan spoke up.

“Again? I’ll kick your ass again, old dog!”

“Faolan,” Father hissed. “Please don’t. Remember, your curse….”

“I’ll be fine, Mordecai,” Faolan said. “I have age as my advantage.”

“Please, Faolan,” Father pleaded. “Don’t do this. If I lost you, I don’t know what I’d do!”

“You’re going to lose, old man,” Eric said. He started taking his clothes off, and so did Faolan.

“Faolan, I’m begging you,” Father said. He grasped Faolan’s shoulders. “You don’t have to do this. I’m begging you, please, don’t do this.”

“The pack needs a leader,” Faolan said. “They need me. Eric, I accept your challenge.”

“Thank you, old man,” Eric grinned. He stripped completely, taking his boxers off. So did Faolan. Mitra covered her eyes, and Alexander covered Mother’s. Father tried to cover mine, but I nipped at his hand.

Fur sprouted on both alpha males. Their noses grew into snouts, their ears became pointed and hairy. They both grew, standing on bent legs that were both human and wolf. Weighing a thousand pounds each, the wolves faced each other, their yellow eyes glaring. The mouth started to appear on Faolan’s stomach.

“The darkness is rising,” Uncle Soren said.

“I don’t understand his curse,” I said.

“Faolan has another soul inside of him, one that isn’t his,” Father said.

“Another soul? You’re saying that Faolan has a soul that isn’t his?”

“Faolan sold his own soul many years ago,” Father explained, his voice cracking. “To save mine. And then the demon that took his soul gave him another, the soul of a bloodthirsty draugr.”

“A draugr is basically a zombie vampire,” Louis explained. “There comes a time, in a vampire’s life, when he has lost all feeling and becomes cold and indifferent. If there is no intervention, his soul begins to die. A vampire with a dead soul is a draugr.” He glanced at Alexander as he explained this.

“So Faolan has a dead soul inside him?” I said, as Faolan bit Eric’s leg. Eric retaliated with a swipe across the cheek. Father pushed me out of the way as Eric shoved Faolan back, almost landing on me.

“Watch it!” Father cried. “My son is right here!”

“Father, do something!”

“I can’t, Reese. He’s too far gone. The only thing we can do now is pray to the gods.”

“Gods?” Mitra said.

“We’re Asatru,” Uncle Soren explained to her. “We believe in the Norse gods.”

Faolan took a swipe at Eric, who kicked the mouth in Faolan’s stomach. It grabbed his leg and sucked him in slowly. Eric kept fighting, but the mouth pulled him in.

“That wasn’t a very good fight,” Louis complained.

“It’s not over yet,” I said, as Eric pulled free, his leg bloodied. His teeth clamped down on Faolan’s neck. Faolan whined and fought to get free. Father stepped forward, but I grabbed his arm and held him back. Eric kept his teeth on Faolan. Suddenly, a tongue whipped out and grabbed Eric around the middle. It dragged him between its lips, making disgusting noises.

Eric went in headfirst. I remembered my dream where Faolan burst open. Father looked at me, horrified, and I realized he’d seen my memory. Father jumped in, despite our protests, and grabbed Eric by the tail, pulling him out. The mouth continued to slurp, finally decided to let Eric go. Eric flew back and landed on Father.

The tongue grabbed Father around the middle and pulled him inside Faolan’s stomach in seconds.

“No! My son!” Grandfather cried. The mouth just smiled and chuckled. Then it turned its attention to me. I backed away, suddenly grabbed by Alexander, who took me by the shirt and held me back, glaring. Mother was standing up as well, crouched defensively.

“I lost my daughter once,” she snarled. “You can’t take my son!”

The mouth snarled at the same time it grinned.

“Vampire,” it hissed. “You are the son of the man who would have destroyed me. You will die as well.”

The tongue grabbed my leg, I was dragged along on my belly to the gaping mouth. Alexander grabbed my arms, Mother grabbed me around the ribs. While I was looking at Mother, I noticed Selena standing off a ways. Before long, though, she jumped into the fray and wrapped her arms around my middle.

“You’re supposed to be in bed!” Mother cried.

“I had to see what was going on!” Selena responded.

“Did you leave them alone?!”

“No, Zie’s there!”

Selena tightened her grip around me, then shoved her foot into the teeth. It clamped on her foot, and she fought to free it.

“Fuck it!” Uncle Soren and Mitra shouted in unison, rushing in to help. Mitra and Uncle Soren grabbed my legs, while Louis grabbed Faolan in a chokehold.

“Spit them out, fat ass!” he yelled. “Faolan, take control! I know it’s hard, but you’ve got to take control! You just ate Mordecai! He’s inside you, and not in the way you like! Spit them out right now!”

Faolan continued to whine as Eric made his move. He bit Faolan’s other arm, and Grandfather pulled him off.

“That’s cheating!” Justin shouted. The wolves assented. “What do we want, an out-of-control monster, or a total asshole for a leader?!”

“Neither!” some of the wolves shouted back.

I kicked the teeth, and it finally let go of my sister, but was still dragging me in.

Father burst out of the mouth, sending some of the teeth flying. He was covered in blood and other fluids that smelled terrible.

“I don’t want to kill you, Faolan!” Louis told him. Finally, the mouth let go of me, sending my entire family flying back except for Louis, who still had Faolan in his grip. Finally, the mouth, panting, disappeared, and Faolan turned back into a man.

He panted, laying on his hands and knees, covered in blood and dirt. The wolves turned and left, and so did Bartimaeus’ clan, except for Romeo.

“Intense,” Mitra said.

“My sweet, are you hurt?” Romeo asked.

“Nah, I’m fine. I’ve never seen that, though.”

“Nor I, but you are safe, and that’s all that matters.”

“Thanks for the help, asshole!” Mitra shouted to Ellis.

I collapsed in Alexander’s arms, tired and filthy and stinking.

“So tired,” I said.

“Then sleep,” Alexander said. “We will take you to our house.”

“Faolan?” Father asked, kneeling beside his lover. Faolan was crying silently, eyes staring and open and mouth parted a little. He stayed on the ground.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN – AFTERMATH

I was bathed and in bed hours later. We did indeed go to the Santorino/Nicolai home, where I was washed and nurtured and fussed over by Mother and Sarah. Sarah was horrified when she saw my injuries, but I convinced her that I’d had worse, which I had. We watched several Disney movies together, and Sarah cried at the end of The Fox and the Hound.

Then we watched a couple of horror movies, in which Sarah stared fixedly and occasionally buried her face in my shoulder. She also cried at the end of Van Helsing.

Now, I was in bed, clothed and resting, trying to sleep. Faolan was in Father’s room with him. I could hear Faolan both raging and sobbing. He raged about his lack of control, his curse, and his appetite. He talked about killing himself, in which Father begged him not to.

Alexander came into my room around four in the morning, and snuggled in with me. He said that nearly losing me made him realize how much he loved me and how much I truly meant to him. He didn’t know how to be a soulfather, but he was beginning to realize that it was a lot like being a real father.

My father’s hate of Alexander would only increase as more days passed slowly. Bartimaeus’ clan left for Denmark, Other Mordecai was nowhere to be seen, and Sarah worked whenever she wasn’t studying or in school. She had found another job as a waitress, deciding her own hours and making more money than ever in addition to the family payroll. I was somewhat worried, even though she was going to therapy and no longer throwing up on purpose, although there were times when Sabine reported that Sarah ate so much that she threw up.

I was worried about her. She was becoming obsessed with making money. She had been part of a thief ring with the Beautifuls. She was one of the best thieves, but she felt the most guilty. The rest of them thought that it was no big deal because they weren’t stealing from small owners, but from chain stores.

Mostly makeup and clothes, but also books, electronics, movies, music, and food.

We had in common that we had both broken the law, with my crimes more serious than hers, but I felt less guilty about mine, because Michael Nales was a rapist and a creep. And now I was seeing his ghost everywhere.

I stared at the ghost as he glared at me.

“You killed me,” he hissed. “You will suffer.” Then he grinned like the Cheshire Cat.

Was I afraid? Absolutely? Was I terrified beyond all belief? No. If I was, I’d have screamed my head off, but I didn’t. Instead, I said, “Hello, Michael.”

“You killed me,” he repeated. “I will get revenge.”

“You raped Sarah! You got her pregnant!”

“He should have been mine. He belongs to my parents now.”

“Ah, no. That’s not how it works.”

He continued to grin, and then disappeared.

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

Several problems arose a few days later. I noticed a police car in front of my father’s house, and was confronted by Emma Greene and Suzanne Moon, two of the officers that worked on Sarah’s case.

“Hello, Reese,” Emma said. “Can you tell us how Michael Nales died?”

Uncle Soren shook his head a fraction.

“Sorry, I can’t. No idea.”

“Really? You’re not aware of any plot to kill him?”

“No.”

“It’s been almost a year, Reese, and a boy is dead.”

“I can’t say I was sorry to see him go.”

“Yes, because of your crush on Sarah.”

“Sarah and I are soulmates. We’re meant to be.”

“Some DNA samples came back from Michael Nales’ body. It was clear that he did in fact rape Sarah and fathered the baby, however, no one knows who killed him until today.”

“Are you accusing my son of something?” Father said. “If you are not, then leave.”

“Reese,” Suzanne spoke up, “Did you plan to kill Michael Nales?”

“No,” I said, a bit too harshly.”

“You still have no