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

them, the lot was almost full. I checked the time and yelped. I had five minutes to get to class.

I grabbed my backpack and rushed out, not bothering to lock my car. As if I kept anything worth stealing. Granted, the GT-R was a very nice car, but it could be replaced. That was my first big mistake.

I zoned through my classes as usual. I turned in my homework and started this day’s homework. When it was lunchtime, I was starving. I could not be nourished by human food, and seniors were allowed off-campus during lunch, so I headed to my car, where I kept an extra stock of blood in the trunk.

When I got close, the scent hit me like a water balloon. Okay, bad analogy, but it did hit me full-force. I cautiously got closer, and took a big sniff. It smelled vampiric. Vampiric and something else I couldn’t place. I almost didn’t notice the note taped to my windshield.

Stop investigating, or the girl dies.

I gulped. Did they mean Sarah? Gods, I hoped not. Of course, I didn’t want it to mean any other girls, either. I hoped it was a fluke. Oh, who was I kidding?

Strange scents all over my car, cryptic notes, mentions of a girl? This was meant for me.

Father was not pleased. I’d called during break and told him what happened. He wanted to see the note for himself, and smell the scents. He wanted to rush over to the school, but Toby calmed him down and offered to investigate himself.

I had to get back to class, but I put the note back where I’d found it. By the time school ended, I could smell Toby’s scent. He’d been here. He’d also taken the note with him. I spotted Sarah with a group of her girlfriends, including Ari. She waved at me, smiling, and Ari came over to me.

“My parents said yes,” she said. “When can I meet him?”

“Come over anytime,” I said. “Also, there’s something I need to tell you.”

I told her about the note and the scent, and then about the bodies we’d found. Her smile disappeared slowly.

“Odd,” she said. “And it’s all connected?”

“My father thinks so. I hope Sarah’s not in danger.”

“I hope so, too. Don’t worry, Reese, I’ll watch her.”

“Thank you. You’re a good friend, Ariella Spears.”

“So are you, Reese Emerson. Well, I’ve gotta go now. We have study group tonight, and I want to end it early if I’m picking up a cat.”

Sure enough, right at seven, she arrived to meet Frodo.

“Which one’s him,” she asked, looking around.

“The smaller black and white one,” I said, pointing him out.

“Do you have treats?” Frodo asked. Ari did a double take.

“Sorry,” I said. “You’ll get used to it. He talks a lot.”

“It’s okay,” she said. “I mean, my parents know that I can read minds now. What’s one more big secret?”

“Oh, it’s not a secret,” Frodo said, twirling around her legs. “I can talk whenever I want. If your parents can’t accept that, then this isn’t going to work out.”

“I mean, I can…I think you should meet them,” she said.

“Sounds good to me. I’m ready for a break. Just let me say goodbye to my siblings and parents.”

There was a lot of cat tittering, trilling, and meowing, before he was ready to go.

“I’m going to miss you, little buddy,” Louis said, pretending to cry.

“Grow up,” Frodo snapped, and then Ariella picked him up and carried him to the car.

“Now you have to get rid of the rest of us,” Remy said.

“I know. I have a few friends who might like you. But it’s up to you.”

The rest of the cats were jealous.

“It’s not fair!” Remy whined.

“Sorry,” I lied.

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

I went back to Mother’s house one afternoon after school. Sarah was at the table, studying with Sabine. I wrapped my arms around her and my lips nuzzled her. She smacked me.

“Now is not the time, Reese, I’m helping Sabine with her history,” she said.

“You’ve got four vampires who live here,” I said. “Ask them.”

“Alexander,” Sabine said.

“Yes?” he replied, looking up from his book.

“How many wives did Henry the Eighth have?”

“Six. He divorced Catherine of Aragon, then married Anne Boleyn, whom he had executed for infidelity and witchcraft. He had one daughter with her, and then he married Jane Seymour, who died in childbirth. He then married Catherine Howard, whom he had executed for infidelity, and then he married Catherine Parr, whom he widowed when he passed away. He had children with Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, and Jane Seymour.”

“Wow, thanks. How do you spell Boleyn?”

Sarah glared at me. I smiled and shrugged.

“You’re forgetting Anne of Cleves,” I told Alexander.

“They never consummated the marriage. Apparently her stench was unbearable.”

“I will help,” Mother said, bustling in with Cirino on one arm, holding a bottle in the other hand. “Where is Zie? I need her to watch the baby.”

“You need a nanny,” I said. “You’re overworking Zie.”

“Maybe.”

“I will take care of him, my love,” Alexander said, getting up and moving into the dining room.

“Thank you, husband. He keeps spitting up his food.”

“I tell you, you must wean him.”

“Nonsense. Most babies drink formula until they are a year old, and he is not even eleven months yet.”

“He must have some cow’s milk, at least. He’s getting fat.”

“Poppycock. He’s as fit as a baby could be. All babies have a bit of a belly.”

While they argued over the state of the baby, he started fussing, so Alexander took him into the living room to feed him.

While Marina took over the helping of the homework, I leaned over Sarah’s shoulder and read the equations she’d written on the paper.

“This is wrong,” I said, pointing out an equation that had gone awry.

“Thanks a lot,” she said sarcastically, erasing the equation.

I snatched the paper from her and wrote down the correct equation before she could blink twice.

“I write in your hand almost as well as you do,” I said cheerfully. She brightened when she saw that I was correct.

“Can you look over the others?” she asked, fluttering her eyelashes at me. I melted and took the pencil up again. I looked over her paper. She only got two others wrong. I finished her math homework, then she took out a paper from her Astronomy class.

“How many moons are in our solar system?” she asked. I told her the answer. “Okay, now how many moons does Jupiter have, and what are they called?”

I told her the answer again.

With my help, she completed her homework in record-breaking time, and then Mother finished with Sabine. The girls put their work away, and I went up to Sarah’s room.

I flopped down on her new black-and-pink bedspread. I listened carefully. Okay, she was talking to Sabine. Good.

I went to her walk-in closet, and carefully reached down into her laundry hamper. I pulled out a silk olive green thong. I put it up to my nose and took a deep inhale. Gods, this always got me excited. Her scent was all over this pair. I licked the inner part. I growled as butterflies attacked my stomach. No, wasps, not butterflies.

Hearing her coming, I quickly stuffed the thong into my pocket and sat in her vanity chair. I pretended to be interested in her makeup brushes, before I noticed her favorite hairbrush. She liked this particular hairbrush, because it detangled her hair while being gentle on her head and still keeping the curls.

I tried to control myself. I really did. I remembered the time she’d caught me shoving my face into her pillow. But as I inhaled, I scented her hair, and then I started pulling the strands out of the plastic bristles. I shoved the hair into my other pocket.

“What are you doing?”

I closed my eyes and turned around, preparing for a storm, but to my surprise, she looked amused. Before I could say anything, however, my sister came rushing in.

“Oh, thank the gods you’re both okay,” Selena said. Her hair was wild and her face was shiny.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Oh my god, didn’t you hear? Kellan is dead!”

“The albino? The one who was in love with Kieran?”

“That would be the one. His body parts were found about six miles from here, spread out. His heart, brain, and stomach are missing, and we think they might have been burned. We just found his head and his torso and one of his arms and one leg.”

Sarah’s hands flew to her mouth.

“Poor Kieran, he must be devastated,” she said.

“He is.” Selena’s curly black hair bounced as she nodded her head. “Mom’s with him now. He won’t speak to Alexander; he thinks he killed him.”

“Like Celine?” Sarah asked.

“Yes,” I said. “Like Celine.”

The news certainly devastated Kieran. He stayed in Alexander’s guest house and wailed for days. He could be heard saying that it was all his fault, it was just like Thomas, and Kellan was his best friend.

Alexander and Mother were both concerned about Kieran. Mother especially. She’d taken it upon herself to watch over him twenty-four-seven. She installed security cameras herself so she could keep an eye on him. There wasn’t much point. He just laid in bed and moped.

Father was both amused and worried; I could see it in his eyes. He’d always been a helicopter parent, but now he was doing almost nothing else. He seemed to think the death of the witch and warlock and Kellan’s death were connected.

I wasn’t sure what to think. But I had an inkling.

No one had really liked Kellan, especially Mother and the girls. He’d called them whores and Jezebels, he insulted Selena on a daily basis, and he treated Mother like dirt.

Mother acted out her part-the concerned stepmother. But I had a feeling that she had something to do with it.

My suspicions began when I saw her carrying a bag out to the trash. I smelled blood, and asked her what it was. She had said it was Sarah and Sabine’s old clothes that they’d bled through during their monthly cycle. But the scent wasn’t feminine, it was masculine. I knew better than to ask the girls if they bled through their clothes, so I took a big whiff when no one was looking. It smelled like Kellan’s blood.

And then I saw Mother smoking a cigarette. Mother never smokes; she hates the smell. And then I heard her mumbling to herself about Kellan and what an asshole he’d been. What a woman-hater he’d been.

She acted surprised when I appeared and asked how the baby was. She’d been changing his diaper. She actually had a clothespin keeping her nose shut.

I shared my suspicions with Father.

“Don’t be silly, Reese,” he replied, and didn’t say anything more, but I saw lines of worry crease his forehead.

I didn’t get any other clues or deaths until three days after I’d shared my suspicions.

I was at a dress store with Sarah. She wanted to go to prom, so I promised I’d take her. I’d already ordered my tuxedo, but she could not decide which dress she wanted.

“What do you think about this one?” she asked, holding up a coral pink with a short hem.

“It’s nice,” I said.

“Yes, but it’s such a common color. I was thinking dark blue. It goes better with my skin tone, anyway. I know I’m still dark, but I’ve actually lost some of my summer tan already.”

“It’s April,” I reminded her. “You already lost your tan.”

She didn’t meet my eyes.

“You went to a tanning salon, didn’t you?”

“I mean, they had free passes. And they do a free session on your birthday. And I got coupons from a friend who works there.”

“Oh, Sarah.”

“What color is your tux?”

“It’s black, of course. With a white shirt. I’ll even wear a black tie if that will make you happy.”

“I was thinking you’d look cute in a bowtie.”

I blanched. I hated bowties; I thought they made me look goofy.

She eventually settled on a midnight-blue minidress with light blue trimming and sparkles. She picked out a gold