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

or know about us at all. What happened at the meeting was my fault. Don’t blame yourself for something that we should have known would happen.”

I leaned over and kissed her tears away, tasting the saltiness and licking my lips. She looked at me and stared at my mouth. She leaned against me and started crying. Then I smelled fresh blood.

Sarah looked down. “Oh, shit,” she said, closing her legs and pulling a stray towel around her. She grabbed a pair of clean underwear and ran to the bathroom, where she stayed for exactly three minutes.

Her scent assaulted my nose. I bent down and tasted the blood. Excitement coursed through me. I felt adrenaline intrude my veins. I grabbed the sheet and sucked on it. Sarah walked in, wearing pajama pants and a tank top. She looked at me sucking on her bedsheets and squeaked. I looked at her with my fangs out, my eyes red and my pupils blown wide. I growled and crawled toward her on all fours. She was frozen in fear. I smelled the adrenaline in her, and more blood.

Mother entered the room, looking concerned.

“Reese, calm down,” she said. She stood between me and Sarah.

“Where were you, Marina?” Sarah asked.

“Call me Mom. And I was out…making preparations for the wedding. Alexander keeps terrifying everybody we hire.”

“Mom…what’s going on?”

“Have you been taking birth control?” Mother asked her. Sarah averted her eyes. “Darling, you have to take all your medications. I’ll shove it down your throat if I have to. Reese, hold your breath.”

I relaxed, my shoulders loosening, my stomach untightening, my manhood limp.

“I’m sorry,” I said, standing up. I told Mother and Sarah what Ethan had determined.

“Porphyria?” Mother said, horrified.

“I thought only humans got that,” Sarah said.

“Oh, vampires get it, too,” Alexander said, crossing his arms and startling her. “It mostly causes us to go crazy at random times. What you just witnessed was a prime example. Reese should have full control around you by now, but the disease caused him to temporarily lose his mind.”

“Is there anything we can do?” Sarah asked.

“Eilief and Soren are searching for a cure as we speak,” Mother said. “Sarah, Sabine wants to speak with you about…her new computer. I think she likes Facebook a little too much.”

“I’ll talk to her.” Sarah gave Mother an odd look and left the room. Mother waited until Sarah was gone before letting out a sigh.

“Boys, I did something that will break the girls’ hearts,” she said.

“What did you do?” Alexander asked.

“I killed Alicia.”

I was stunned. Alexander burst into laughter.

“I wondered when you would! Did you enjoy snapping her neck?”

“I drained her,” Mother said. “I didn’t snap her neck.”

“They already lost their father,” I said. “Was that really necessary?”

“Alicia begs Sarah for money, and when she doesn’t receive it, she calls her a selfish bitch. I had enough of that.”

“You’ll have to tell them,” Alexander said, still smirking. Mother shuddered.

“You’re right. I must tell them. They will be upset, they may even start crying. That alone will break my dead heart.”

“Girls, we have something to discuss,” Mother said, sitting on Sabine’s pink bedspread. Spunk greeted me with his usual kisses. “I’m afraid that your mother has passed away.”

The girls burst into tears. They started crying and holding each other. I held Sarah while Mother held Sabine.

“I’m so sorry, girls. I truly am.”

I can’t say I was upset myself. I hated Alicia for how she treated her daughters. It was terrible.

Sarah cried the hardest, her sobs breaking through my chest. I sang softly to her in Italian, and Mother spoke in rapid Greek to Alexander. He replied, saying that he was staying out of it. She glared at him and gave him the finger. Then she yelled at him, saying that it was his fault that everyone they had hired was quitting and he needed to do something to help.

Alexander rolled his eyes, but he sat behind me and patted Sarah’s back. Spunk whined, sensing the sadness and stress in the room.

Selena came in, also hearing the crying. Mother told her what happened in Latin, and Selena’s eyes widened. She sat behind Mother, rubbing Sabine’s back. I noticed that my sister looked stressed. Her black curls were tangled, her skin looked tired and stretched. She also smelled strange, a sort of musty scent, not like a werewolf, more like a zombie.

Mother, why does Selena smell strange? I silently asked.

Her soul is dying. Losing the baby broke her. Mother started crying herself as she told me this. If her soul dies, I’m afraid she will die or turn into a draugr.

I needed a break.

“I have to go,” I said. I looked at Alexander. He got the message and stood up, following me out the door after I hugged and kissed Sarah and hugged Sabine and Selena, barely tolerating Mother’s rib-crushing squeeze.

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

Alexander and I combed the forest for Marius, even looking around the lake and the cemetery. I used my sight and smell, ready to kill the shapeshifting Elf.

“I must speak to King Fowley,” he said. “This has gone too far.”

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

I took a long shower when I got home. I felt dirty, filthy. I told Uncle Soren had had been discovered and what happened. He sent out Spencer, Toby, and Dimitri to find Marius.

Shadowfang did not appreciate me reacting in disgust to his present, said present being a half-dead snake that tried to bite me before Uncle Soren reached over and snapped its neck.

“It was supposed to be a meal,” Shadowfang insisted.

“For who?” I asked, staring at the biblical creature who tempted Eve.

“It’s blood,” the cat said.

“I drink human blood,” I told him.

“But snake blood is really tasty!”

“Anyway, I wouldn’t be able to even get a snack out of him. He’s too small.”

“It’s a she, actually. And she laid eggs near a bird’s nest.”

“Poor birds,” Uncle Soren smirked.

“She is too small to eat birds,” I said. “Anyway, take it outside.”

Shadowfang gave me a look of deepest disgust before picking up the creature and taking it outside, hopefully far away.

I leaned against my uncle, who petted my hair.

“He’s a cat,” I said. “He’s killed birds before.”

“Not young birds,” said Mishka, who was watching from a windowsill.

I ran outside and threw up. I felt a hand on my back. I was surprised to find that it was Other Mordecai, looking concerned.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Porphyria sucks,” I said. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped.

“If you have it…my son…Reese…my god…”

He fell to his knees. If I had porphyria, Other Reese most likely did as well. Other Mordecai threw up next to me on the grass.

“It’s all my fault,” he said. “I wasn’t paying attention. And now Sawyer’s…Odin’s beard, Sawyer…he still has no idea…he’s probably devastated…”

Uncle Soren and Louis pulled up Other Mordecai and helped him into the house, where they set him on the couch.

“You need to relax,” Louis said. “Stress isn’t good for the baby.”

“I have more than one baby,” Other Mordecai muttered. “I should have realized that. Gods, he’s gone crazy because of porphyria! Your Reese has it, too.”

“How long do you think he’s had it?” Louis asked Other Mordecai.

“I don’t know…I just realized…”

“Probably a long time,” Uncle Soren said. “He’s quite possibly at the point of becoming a draugr.” Other Mordecai let out a distressed moan.

“Hey, Dad, keep your comments to yourself.”

“Shut up, Louis.”

“Don’t tell me to shut up! That’s all you ever say to me! ‘Keep your mouth shut, Louis. Don’t be an asshole, Louis. Shut up, Louis.’ I’m sick of it!”

“Boy, I have seen the rise and fall of many civilizations. I fought alongside Robert Burns. I watched Jesus die on the Cross. I was there when Caesar was killed.”

“No you weren’t, you were hundreds of miles away in Denmark with- “

“Both of you shut up!” I snapped. “You’re making it worse!”

Other Mordecai was drifting in and out of consciousness. He kept moaning, one hand on his head, the other on his swollen belly.

“It’s all my fault,” he muttered. “My fault. Even my husband thinks so. That’s why he didn’t come with me. Oh gods, he doesn’t care about Reese or me anymore. He never did. He just wants the money and a proper heir.”

He ran his nails across his forehead and cheeks, scratching lines of blood. “It’s all my fault,” he repeated.

“Keep an eye on him, Louis,” I said. Then the door opened, and our Alexander stepped in.

“It’s a mountain of estrogen at the house,” he said. “I had to get away.” He paused and looked at Other Mordecai, who stared back at him. “Great, another one? Thanks, whoever brought him here. As if I didn’t have more than enough Mordecai in my life.”

“You’re in his house,” Louis reminded him.

“Because Reese is here. And you are here. You are still my family, even if I must also consider Mordecai my family.”

“Are you growing soft?” Louis teased him. If looks could kill, Louis would have died then and there.

“I most certainly am not, boy. If you ever suggest that again, I’ll rip your head off.”

“Watch it,” Uncle Soren growled warningly.

Other Mordecai was in tears now, sobbing into the pillow. Alexander looked down at him and smirked.

“You know, that’s your kid inside him,” I told him. His expression became one of shock, then disgust.

“For centuries, women have been the only ones to- “

“Let me stop you right there,” I said. “Seahorses and leafy sea dragons have been around for millions of years, and the males give birth. Plus, sexes are not black and white. Women race cars, drive stick shift, work on vehicles, ride motorcycles without a man in front of them, and men can sew, knit, wash dishes, cook, clean, and watch their brats. There are also intersex people, people who can have both male and female organs, and transgender pregnancy is becoming quite common.”

“Still wrong,” Alexander said, and I wanted to smack him. “Transgender is a mental illness, a lifestyle choice. I have been around for thousands of years. You have only been around for seventeen years and two months. I think I know more about it than you.”

“The world is constantly changing,” Uncle Soren said. “Besides, you’re both forgetting that he’s from a different universe, where men and women really do live on different planets in separate societies. The men can impregnate each other or themselves, and same with the women.”

“Aha, so it’s a cultural thing,” Alexander said. “You have either been forced to accept the fact that- “

Louis put his hand over Alexander’s mouth.

Uncle Soren and I both started laughing, and even Other Mordecai cracked a small smile. Alexander nipped at my cousin’s hand, but I saw a small smile on his lips.

“Do you have any homework?” Uncle Soren asked me.

“What?” I said. He never asked that question before.

“Your father put me in charge until he gets better,” he explained.

“Aha. Well, I have a test I need to study for. And a Psychology paper due on depression and anxiety and why they are often connected.”

“Like you won’t get an A plus even if you don’t study, little buddy,” Louis rhymed.

“Hey, no one expects perfection. Well, no one sane expects total perfection all the time.”

“I like your family,” Other Mordecai said to Uncle Soren. “There is humor, love, and understanding, despite all of your problems. I wish I could say the same for mine.”

“I’m sure Alexander loves you,” I said gently. “He just needs time to think.”

“I can’t believe that no one has seen Reese in weeks. He must be hiding. Maybe he’s ashamed.”

That was a thought.

“Or maybe he’s biding his time, hoping to catch you off-guard,” Alexander growled. Louis smacked him upside the head. Alexander snarled, and Louis yelped and hid behind his father.

“Touch him, and I rip your head off,” Uncle Soren warned him. Alexander stared at him, then started laughing.

“I deserved that.”

I stared in shock at this man. Was it really my Alexander, my soon-to-be stepfather and possible soulfather?

“Who are you and what have you done with Alexander?” Louis sputtered.

“I am Alexander, stupid boy. Don’t