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

him out. I ran to Sarah, who was whimpering and crying softly.

"Baby," I purred.

"He's a fucking demon!" Alicia yelled. "He's a vampire!"

"Alicia, you know better than to use that language!" Gianna Abraham said. "And so what? He clearly cares deeply for her, a lot more than you ever have! This is the final straw!"

"I agree," Benjamin said. "If you cannot be a good mother, then you cannot have children."

"I wish Daddy was still here," Sabine whispered, scurrying over to Sarah.

"Oh, sure, you wish Daddy was here. Because I'm a bad mother, is that it?"

"Toby, take the girls and the dogs to the house," I said. "I parked the Toyota on the street." I tossed him the keys. He caught them and grabbed the leashes on a keyhook.

"No, they're not leaving!" Alicia stood in front of the door. Toby calmly picked her up and set her on the other side. Then he opened the door, which hit Alicia's nose. "Stupid!" She proceeded to call him a slew of racial slurs.

"Alicia, we taught you better than that!" Benjamin cried. Alicia grabbed an air purifier off the table and threw it across the room.

"Alexander, I'll leave you to handle this," I said.

"My pleasure," he replied.

I went outside, watched the Toyota until it disappeared, then ran to the house.

I beat the Toyota by five minutes. As soon as they arrived, I opened Sarah's door and pulled her into my arms. Coffee promptly bit my breast.

"Coffee! Bad dog!" Sarah scolded the tiny tyrant. She set Coffee down and kissed me. "Thank you, Reese."

"You're most welcome. Now, come inside. Are you hungry or thirsty?"

"I could use some water," she said.

"Coming right up."

I led her inside. Sabine, who had never been inside the house, gaped at the size. I got some water for Sarah and licked away the rest of her tears.

Alexander came back after a couple hours, looking furious.

"Girls," he said, "When we go back to your house, pack as much as you can. You're staying with me for a while."

"Are you sure Zie won't mind the extra work?" Sarah asked.

"I pay her to clean, cook, and occasionally watch the baby. Of course she won't mind."

Sarah looked down at her plate and played with her food. Sabine ate the vegatables like a dog with a beef rib.

"It's my fault," Sarah said.

"Honey, why would you think that?" I asked, hugging her.

"She quit rehab because of me."

"Sweetheart, what happened to you was out of your control."

Alicia had gone to rehab until Jordan Hart/Nales tried to kill Sarah by making her jump off a bridge.

"I should have never gotten involved with Jordan and Scarlett."

"Love, you couldn't have known," Alexander said. "It's not your fault. Now, eat your chicken."

Sarah burst into tears and continued to move her food around. I patted Spunk, who was eyeing Sabine's plate.

"Alicia has been forced back into rehab," Alexander said. "Your grandparents will watch the house."

CHAPTER THREE- FIGHT

Over the next few days, we helped the girls move into Alexander's house. Sarah was happy to see Cirino, and so was Sabine. I didn't tell Sarah about the letter.

School was becoming more stressful. I felt sorry for Sarah, who had cheerleading, study group, and was joining the dance committee, not to mention her treasurer duties.

While at lunch, I saw her walking to the library, and Scarlett held out her leg. Sarah avoided Scarlett's leg, and Scarlett said something about dead fathers and drunk mothers.

"What did you say, bitch?" Sarah said.

"I said that it must be nice having not having two parents."

"Oh, really? What about a killer vampire for a sister?"

Scarlett grabbed the front of Sarah's shirt, and Ariella got inbetween them.

"Just ignore her," she said, prying Scarlett off. Then she glared at Scarlett. "Stop being a bitch, why don't you?"

"You call me a bitch like it's a bad thing," Scarlett chuckled. "I'm sexier than everyone in this hellhole combined, smarter than the smartest nerd, and prettier than the prettiest skank." At that last part, she glanced at Sarah.

"I don't have time for this," Sarah said. "I'll be late getting back."

I turned back to my book. Sarah was suffering. She was depressed.

At cheer practice, I watched her turn her anger and sadness into an amazing performance. She was really good.

I noticed another male sitting near me. His face was covered in a black hood, and he seemed to be looking from me to the cheerleaders and back again.

Oh, hell no.

"That cute brunette is my girlfriend," I said out loud.

"The short one?" he replied. "With the curly hair?"

"Cresley! Smith! Pyramid!" yelled the twenty-year-old cheer coach, Ms. Kent. My Sarah was amazing on top of the pyramid.

I looked back at my potential rival. His face was now partially obscured, I saw his chin and bow-shaped lips. Sarah was dropped (is that the correct term?) and landed perfectly on her feet.

"Land on the balls of your feet, Smith! Not your heel!" Ms. Kent shouted. "Cresley, stay still on the top."

My enemy kept staring at Sarah. Or me. I hated him. My thoughts were rather violent.

When practice was over, the girls had noticed him and were pointing at him and giggling. Some of them thought he was creepy, others thought he was good-looking.

Sarah was sweaty and hot, her skin flushed red from the sun. Her tank top, once a light green, was now nearly blue with moisture. She drank from her water bottle and packed up.

"I almost forgot how good it feels to practice," she said. "Well, I got my exercise for the day."

"Exercise, schmexercise," said Trina Smith. "Kent wants us to pass out from exhaustion."

"Maybe so," Sarah said. "Mrs. Waverly wasn't nearly this militant."

"Waverly was old," Trina said.

"She only stopped coaching because she got arthritis!"

"Oh, goth behind you," Trina said. Sarah turned and hugged me tightly around the midsection. Trina looked shocked.

"Reese is my boyfriend," Sarah explained. Trina, and some of the other cheerleaders, looked even more shocked.

"Him?" said Maisie Goldinger, sounding disgusted.

"Reese is a nice guy and the smartest person I know," Sarah defended. "He's helped me out a lot. I wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for him." I glanced back to make sure that my new rival was listening. He was. His obscured face was pointed in our direction.

I felt a bit smug as I drove Sarah home. Well, to Alexander's house. I didn't know if she considered it home.

She hopped into the shower right away. Zie was feeding the baby, Sabine was doing her homework, and Alexander was out back, staring into the distance.

"Where are you?" he muttered. He turned. "Reese. Come sit with me." We each took a chair at the patio table.

"The sun is bothering my eyes," I said, shielding myself.

"Mine too."

"Then why are we still outside?"

"Don't tell Blondie this, but I'm...I'm suffering. I feel...I know...that I'm to blame for Marina's disappearance, yet I can't do anything about it. I need to be here, to be a parent to our young. Especially the humans. Sarah misses Marina as well. I heard her crying out in her sleep, begging for her mother. Upon setting my ear on the door, I realized that she was talking about Marina, not Alicia."

"My Sarah crying out in her sleep?"

"She has...shall we say...fitful dreams. Nightmares. She also talks in her sleep more often. She feels stressed because of cheerleading. That Kent woman is not nice to the cheerleaders when nobody else is around."

I stood up.

"Where are you going?"

"To kill Kent."

"Hold on. She is the daughter of the mayor of North Hampton."

I tilted my head at him. "You never used to care about that."

"I don't want to get Sarah in trouble. We need hard proof first. Video or audio recording. I could set her phone to video, but it would probably use up her battery. Besides, she turns it off and leaves in her locker during classes."

"Okay, who are you and what have you done with Ambrogio Nicolai?"

He chuckled. "Believe me, I wish there were another way." He got a strange look on his face, and looked up towards the window. "The window on the far left is Sarah's room, just so you are aware."

"Does it open?"

"Yes, but only she can open it, and it is protected by a screen. Oh." He turned away, looking abashed. I looked up and saw her top half and head. She was drying her hair with a towel, and she was...well, she was nude. I don't think she realized that we could see her. Either that, or she didn't see us. She turned on some dance music, shaking her cute butt to the beat.

She pulled on a tank top and a pair of cotton shorts, then ran a brush through her hair. She picked up her purse and set it in a chair, then started rummaging through it.

I had gotten excited when she was naked, and now I was disappointed at her lack of complete nudity.

"Now I'm getting a headache," Alexander growled. "Come on, son."

I went up the stairs, taking them by two. Coffee, who was whining at Sarah's door, greeted me with her usual yappiness. Sarah opened the door and smiled at me.

"Can I braid your hair?" I asked her.

"Sure," she said. "Marina used to braid my hair."

"I know you miss her," I said. "We all do." Sarah wiped her eye. "Any other problems?"

"Well, Ms. Kent is a bitch. She practically called me fat!"

"She what?!" In my anger, I accidentally ripped out some hair strands.

"Ouch!" Sarah clutched her head.

"Oh, love, I'm sorry! How did she call you fat?"

"She said 'You know, Sarah, if you lost some weight, you'd stay on the pyramid better'."

"I thought all flyers were lightweight."

"They are. And I'm one of the lightest girls on the squad, I just have boobs and a butt. I did get soft after I gave birth, but I lost a lot of weight in the process."

"Hon, everyone knows you're not fat. I can't believe Kent would say that."

"I can. Becky did some research. And Kendra knows her cousin. She says that Kent got kicked off her old squad for her temper and insulting the other cheerleaders. I suppose Principal Turner skipped over that part when he hired her, because it was a pretty big deal. Kent supposedly called a Native American cheerleader a racial slur and said that Native Americans can't be trusted. She also made another one cry when she called her Carrot Top and said that she had no soul."

"I swear, if I hear about this again...."

"Reese, don't hurt her," Sarah said nervously.

"Sweet, I promise I won't kill her while she's your coach."

"Thank you," she let out a breath of relief. She didn't hear my double meaning. She continued to look nervous and downed some pills.

"What are those?" I asked.

"They help me sleep and keep my anxiety down. Prescribed by my doctor."

I looked at one of the bottles. It indeed was a prescription.

"I can't wait until tomorrow."

"What's tomorrow?" I asked.

"School day off. I can sleep in." She dug in her drawer and pulled out a pair of fuzzy glittery lavender socks. She put them on and wiggled her toes. "Next weekend is the first game and dance. Want to go with me?"

"Of course," I said. It would show all the other males who she belonged to. I nibbled her ear.

"Ouch," she said, holding her ear. Her ear started bleeding.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"It's okay. Just try not to bite my ear." She went over to the desk and grabbed a sketchbook. She put a 2B pencil to the paper and started drawing. Her movements were fluid and fast. Soon, I could see a picture forming.

A boy and a girl, laying in a field of grass. The boy looked like me. He had my long black hair, my eyes, my nose, my chin, my body shape. He wore a white button-up shirt open at the midsection, black jeans, and heavy black boots. His abs were tight and muscled, like mine.

The girl looked like Sarah. She wore a long dress that hugged her figure. Her hair was long and curly, like Sarah's. On her