Unraveling Soren by Marisa Maichel (books under 200 pages txt) 📕

that. I’ll ask Mom and Dad if I can have a cat. Mom grew up on a farm with a zillion cats and Dad had two cats growing up. So that’s it. I can read minds, I’m bi, and my fish died.”

“Thanks for the update,” I said.

Ariella turned to Sarah. “I’m sorry, but can I…can you show me your belly ring?”

Sarah pulled up her shirt. I was amazed at the small piece of jewelry attached to her navel.

“I’m getting a nose ring next,” Sarah said. “I remember you wearing a nose ring, Reese.”

“Yeah, I had earrings, a nose ring, snake bites, and I wore eyeliner and sometimes I wore black lipstick and nail polish. The other guys called me a pussy. But who’s the real pussy who can’t even wear a nose ring?”

“Exactly!” both girls cheered in unison.

“They say that getting kicked in the balls hurts,” Sarah said. “I guarantee, giving birth is a hundred times worse. I know. I went through it.”

“You had a C-section,” I reminded her.

“Yes, but it still hurt. My whole body hurt for days.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, for the wrong assumption.

“Thank you, Reese. So what are you doing to do now, Ari? Find someone else?”

“No, I need to be single for a while. I need to figure things out on my own. Cate didn’t hurt me nearly as bad as Damon did, but it still hurt. Actually…Reese, is Soren single?”

“No,” I replied. “He’s dating a Native American vampire named Mitra Dearwood.”

“Oh. Well, it was worth a shot.”

I frowned. “What was worth a shot?”

“Seeing if Soren was single.”

“You know he still hasn’t forgiven you, right?”

“I don’t blame him,” she said. She sniffed. “Well, that’s all I really wanted to say. So I guess I’ll be going now. Are we still on for the study session, Sarah?”

“Of course. I’ll invite Britt and Hailey.”

 

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

After Ariella left, after being stared at by Kellan a great deal, Sarah went to her desk and booted up her laptop. She wrote in her diary, and then she opened a document on her computer and started writing.

When I went down to socialize, Mom was singing “The White Rose of Athens” in Greek, and bustling around the kitchen, Zie was in the laundry room, and the baby was in his bassinet, watched over by Alexander. Sabine was pouring herself a glass of milk. Kellan walked into the kitchen.

“You know milk won’t make your breasts grow, right?” he said to Sabine. She glared at him. The albino smirked and sat on the couch beside Alexander. Kieran walked into the room, looking worse for wear. He had dark shadows and lines under his eyes, and lines around his lips that looked like dimples.

“What is your problem?” I asked Kellan. He looked at me, his red irises gleaming. “Seriously, what is your deal? You say you’re Louis’ son, then Soren’s, you stare at everybody, and you’re staying here, even though no one likes you.”

“He’s my friend,” Kieran snapped. “My best friend. He was there for me when Thomas died.”

“You look terrible,” Alexander said to Kieran. Kieran frowned at him.

“I haven’t been sleeping well. I miss Thomas. My head hurts, and so does my heart. It feels like razor blades have cut my heart open. You can’t possibly know what that’s like.”

Alexander’s brows furrowed at the verbal cut. Of course he knew what that was like. He had lost the most lovers out of all of us. He almost lost my mother.

I purred when I saw Sarah come down in her booty shorts. I was not so happy when Kellan looked around at her and said “Ugh. Women.”

All the females in the room subtly glared at him. He didn’t get the hint.

“There’s too much estrogen in the world. In the universe, even. I’m sick of it.”

“At my house, there’s too much testosterone,” I said. “All the women are my house have always been guards or maids or servants. I’m glad to have so many women in my life now. I lost my mother once; I’m not losing her again. And I nearly lost Sarah too many times. Sabine comes with Sarah as a package deal, because she’s her sister. And Zie is helpful and kind, even to the animals. We recently hired a new guard named Samantha; she’s Chris’ sister. She’s always been nice to me, and so has our part-time maid, Augusta. Claudia is the cook in our castle in Denmark, and she’s very motherly.”

“I didn’t mean all women,” Kellan quickly tried to amend. “Just the whores. And the Jezebels. The whore of Babylon is already here in this country, and she-“

“Kellan,” Kieran spoke up, “Shut up. No one gives a damn. No one here is a whore or a Jezebel, and just because you’ve had nothing but bad experiences in the past-“

Kellan flipped him the bird and stormed out, slamming the door in the process.

“I wonder who he thinks is the whore of Babylon?” Sarah wondered. “Me? Or Mom, maybe?”

“No, no,” Kieran quickly came to the aid of his friend. “That’s just how he talks. He became mad after a stint in the electric chair fifty years ago. He survived, but he’s been crazy ever since. And he was never right in the head, anyway.”

“A stint in the electric chair for what?” I asked.

“Murder, of course. He was caught strangling a prominent member of society in London. The man died, and Kellan never tried to escape or claim innocence. They were shocked when he began laughing after he received the shock. I apologize for him, ladies. He has a vendetta against women in particular, though I don’t know why.”

“Is it because he’s gay?” Sabine asked.

“No, no, not because he’s gay. He’s never spoken of his life before he met me, or of his life as a human, if he ever was one.”

“Should he be around the girls?” I asked nervously.

“He would never harm a woman, believe it or not. He simply hates them.”

“I do not want him around my daughters or the baby,” Mother said firmly. “Get rid of him, or I will dispose of him myself.”

“Mother!”

“I’m quite serious, Sarah. He’s a danger to this family, especially the girls and the little one. I want him gone.”

“He follows me around,” Kieran said. “I will move, if it comes to it.”

“No,” Alexander said firmly. “I don’t want to lose you again, Kieran. I nearly lost you more than enough times.”

“Then I will kill him,” Mother said.

“No,” Kieran exclaimed. “I told you before, I will take care of it. He’s my best friend. He’ll listen to me.”

But just then, Kellan returned. He entered the house, went straight to Kieran, and kissed him. I turned away, disgusted. Then a heard a sharp noise. Mother had dropped her spatula, Sarah just stared, and Sabine made a disgusted face. Alexander finally pulled Kieran away.

“I will leave tonight,” Kellan said. “Goodbye, whores and drunkards.”

Then he stomped up the stairs, and I heard a door slam. Kieran ran up the stairs, and started repeating Kellan’s name, asking him to come down and talk to him.

I decided to take a walk. A bit of fresh air would clear my head.

It was an overcast day, getting ready for rain. I walked a few miles before Shadowfang caught up with me in his cat form.

“Fun weather,” he shuddered.

“What are you doing? You hate water.”

“Looking out for you, of course. Your dad asked me to.”

“Don’t you have your own kittens to watch? A mate to bother?”

“Mishka’s in heat, and the rest of us are avoiding her. A queen in heat is a disaster waiting to happen.” He shuddered.

“How would feel about Frodo going to live with Ariella?”

“The one with the long brown hair? Okay. I think he’d like that. Every cat’s dream is to have their own human servant.”

“Haha, very funny.”

“Hang on,” he said, pausing. He sniffed the air. “I smell…death.”

“Death? Animals die all the time.”

“No, not an animal. Human. Warlock or witch, maybe.”

I sniffed the air. My nose was assaulted by a rancid stench of death.

“Holy shit, you’re right, Shadow. But where…?”

He started digging around in the bushes. Then he paused in front of an old oak tree.

I pulled the bushes aside, and was stunned by the sight.

A man was laying there, completely naked, a strange mark carved into his chest. A Satanic symbol carved into his stomach. He had messy blond hair, and his skin was pure milk white from blood loss. I pulled out my phone before Shadow could interfere and started calling Father.

“Hello? What’s wrong, Reese?”

“Father, there’s a dead man here. I didn’t kill him. He’s got a Satanic symbol on him, and another symbol that I don’t recognize.”

“I’ll be there soon.”

He was indeed there in less than ten minutes, along with Uncle Soren, Grandfather, Louis, and Mitra.

“Does anyone recognize him?” I asked.

They all shook their heads.

“Wait…” Louis broke in. “I did see him, the other day when I was getting gas for my Thunderbird. He was talking to Krauvas, of all people. No, not talking. Arguing. They were arguing about some sort of ritual. I don’t know, I only caught the tail end of it. Then this guy stormed off, and so did Krauvas.”

I was calling Mason before he finished.

“Hello?”

“Hello, Mason, it’s me. Um, is your father there?”

“Yeah, why?”

“There’s a guy here, and um, he’s dead. We think your father might know him. He’s got some symbols carved into him.”

“Where is he?”

I gave him the location, and then hung up.

“So weird,” Mitra said. Uncle Soren wrapped his arm around her and pressed his lips against her hair.

Less than an hour later, Mason found me, along with Krauvas. When Krauvas saw the man, he looked stricken. His eyes widened.

“What’s with the pentacle?” Mason asked.

“It’s not a pentacle,” Krauvas said.

“Dad, it looks like one- “

“I know. Mason, you and Reese need to go home.”

“But Dad- “

“No arguments, boy. Go home. Go somewhere else, anywhere else.”

“Who are you going to call?”

“None of your business.”

“Are you going to call your old coven?”

“Mason Salazar Godfrey, go home right now!”

Mason and his father glared at each other for a moment, then Mason stuck his tongue out at his father and stomped away. I followed him.

“I’m sick of him treating me like a kid,” Mason complained. “He acts like I’ll screw up.”

“He’s afraid for your safety,” I said. “Whatever that was scared him. Did you see the look in his eyes when he saw the man? Did you recognize the man?”

“Never seen him before in my life. But I would not be surprised if Dad knew him. He knows everybody. And how am I supposed to get home? I can’t take the truck, he needs it.”

“I can take you home.”

“No…” He looked thoughtful. “Don’t take me home. Take me to First Street.”

“To the library?”

“Not the public one. There’s an old woman who lives on First Street who is friends with my father. She has the largest private library I’ve ever seen. I mean, besides you.”

“Does Krauvas have an old coven?” I asked, remembering his earlier words.

“Yeah, but they hate his guts now. He’s never told me why. Can you take me to First Street?”

“Yeah, I just have to text my mother…and…done.”

A few minutes later, I was driving my Nissan GT-R to First Street.

“Why do you drive such nice cars?” Mason asked. “I mean, not that there’s anything wrong with it.”

“Habit,” I said. “Luxury. Satisfaction. All of us like to drive fast.”

“Is there anything else I should know?”

“My father and I can communicate telepathically. So can Uncle Soren and Louis. Once Sarah and I are fully connected, we will be able to, too.”

“Damn. If my father could read my mind, maybe he wouldn’t get on my case so much.”

“Instinct,” I said. “My father’s overprotectiveness is driven by instinct. He’s had so much loss already, and I’m his only biological child. He doesn’t want to risk losing me.”

“If something happened to me, I guarantee that my father wouldn’t care.”

“Mason, I think he loves you more than he lets on. Plus, you know, he’s going through a divorce.”

“I