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“Her eyes were red and swollen like she’d been crying. Did you two have an argument or something? Maybe you can apologize.”
“It was just time for her to go home, Mable.” I step into the street and wander around the neighborhoods and park before strolling home. It’s late when I get back to Scrim Hall. I head for my room and pull the shades. In the dark, I sit in the chair in the corner.
* * *
The door opens for the fourth or fifth time. Noah steps inside.
“Go away.” I’m tired of telling them I’m fine.
Crossing the room, he places a glass of blood on the little round table next to me. The room is pitch, but his phoenix sight is even better than my vampire’s. “Drink. It’s been four days.”
The metallic scent makes my stomach growl. “Four days?”
“Yes. You need to eat and bathe. This room smells like a boys’ locker room.” He opens the blinds and a window.
The sunlight blinds me for a moment and I shade my eyes like the vampire I am. “I don’t care.”
With his fists on his hips, the quietest of my brothers narrows his gaze at me. “Oliver, get the fuck out of that chair, drink the blood, and go shower. If you don’t do it on your own, I’ll call Silas to help me force that entire glass down your throat, and we’ll scrub you until you’re raw.”
“What the fuck, Noah?” I know he means it, so I drink the blood. My body fills with life and the aches I’d been ignoring dissipate. “Now leave me alone. I’ll shower when I’m up to it.”
“Get up to it, now.” The violent stare is full of fear.
I realize he’s not angry, he’s afraid he’s losing one of his brothers. My ire fades. “I’ll shower.”
He takes in a long breath, then lets it out. “Good. Then come downstairs. We have something you need to see.”
“Can’t I just stay in here a few more days? I’m really not up to bantering with everyone.” I get up. My knees crack and my back aches. In fact, every joint screams over sudden movement. I walk to the bathroom door.
“Once you’ve seen what I want to show you, if you want to come back up, I won’t stop you.” Noah gives me a warning look so I know he’ll drag me down the steps if I don’t comply.
Despite hating the world and everything in it, the warm water feels good. I hate that anything feels good when I want to crawl into a hole and die. How did four days go by so fast, yet seem like an eternity since I’ve seen Britta.
Standing under the showerhead, I can’t keep the stunning images of her from flashing through my betraying mind. Rejected by my mate. I suppose I’ll have to accept that I’ll be alone forever. A tear pushes through my rage and more follow until I’ve spent them all.
I wash, dress, and walk downstairs in a fog.
Noah waits in the library with my brothers and Morris. He steps around the desk and hands me a tablet that’s already cued up to the online paper Britta writes for. “Read.” It’s a command.
At the top is a small photo of Britta’s smiling face. It’s hard to breathe.
How One Man Saves the World
By Britta Daniels
The first few lines are about Wentworth Pettigrew and how he adopted six troubled little boys. I read on looking for mention of monsters or vampires, but the entire article is about how he saved us and gave us a family. It’s about his goodness and how the people in the town adored him. There are a funny few lines about his charm with the local ladies, but mostly she wrote about how we all grew up to be good, honest men, who continue to take care of the region in Wentworth’s name.
I stare at the page until the screen saver comes on. “She said she’d tell the truth.”
“It’s all true,” Morris says. “Wentworth did all the things she reported.”
“Every word is true.” Finn’s scales shimmer along his neck and hands in the bright sunlight streaming through the windows. “She only left out our creatures and maybe how rude we were to interrupt your romantic dinner.”
I don’t know what to say. She could have ruined our lives. She could have depicted us as the monsters we are or how people like the Peevys see us. “This isn’t what I expected.”
“What are you doing?” Silas demands.
I look around for what he’s talking about. “Why would she protect us?”
