Unraveling Mordecai - Marisa Maichel (top ten books of all time .TXT) 📗

the blinds. Sarah was sitting in her reading chair, playing on her regular phone.
I was thirsty, but she was more important. I crawled out of bed and slowly slid along the carpet on my belly. When I reached her toes, I nibbled them, and she giggled.
"Don't chip the paint, Reese," she gently chided.
"What color are we this week?" I teased, looking at her toes. "Oh, gold and silver? Gold on one toe, silver on the others?"
"I couldn't decide which color I wanted to paint them," she explained. "And I was sick of red polish."
"How are the babies?" I asked.
"They want greasy food. Hash browns, bacon, eggs with cheese and peppers."
"You're half-Jewish," I noted.
"I meant turkey bacon. I'm not the type to cheat at anything, except tests and sales."
My heart wrenched at that. I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced myself to sit up beside her. She noticed there was something amiss.
"Reese? What's wrong?" she asked, her pretty brows furrowed.
"Sarah, I...I...I can't...I found your gun."
She blinked. "Oh."
"I smelled the gunpowder and I just..."
"You went through my purse."
"Yes."
She sighed. "Well, I can understand that. I should have been more careful where I left it."
"Sarah, why do you have that gun? You have more protection than anyone in the world."
"I can't let anyone else die. Not without a reason."
"Protecting you is not a good enough reason?"
"Definitely not. I won't have more people die because of me or Sabine."
"Sweet, lovely, angelic Sarah, it's not your fault. None of it is."
She sniffled. "I read Mom's diary after...well...I'm cursed."
I couldn't move at that. "C-cursed?"
She nodded. "I was supposed to die on my sixteenth birthday, but Daddy died instead. He pretended to have cancer so there was a sensible reason for his death. No one else should have to die because of me."
"Sarah...." I swallowed. I looked down at my hands, then her. "Who?"
"Who, what?"
"Who cursed you?"
"I don't know. I know that I was betrothed to Caden when we were younger, but now, I have you. I would rather die than have anyone else."
I was touched by her devotion and selflessness. She continued.
"You protected me. You avenged me. You kept me safe when no one else could or would. You loved me even though I'm not perfect. I adore and love you, Reese. I have for a long time."
I wrapped my arms around her in a fantastic embrace and kissed her roughly. Eventually, she needed to breathe, and I pulled away.
"Sarah, you don't need to be perfect to be loved. Just be yourself. Anyone would love you then. Even serial killers have their multiple admirers."
She smiled weakly at that, and hugged me tighter. Then she winced.
"Ow, my back," she complained.
"Is it your wings?" I asked, cautiously.
"More between my shoulder blades. Oh crap." She ran to the bathroom, and I heard vomiting. I went dowstairs and heated up some blood for myself, then brought some tea for Sarah. She was busy brushing the yuckiness out of her mouth when I returned. She smiled when I brought her the tea. "Reese, you're a saint."
She laid down in bed on her side, and I brought her a bucket. She asked me to read to her, so I did that for a while, until she threw up again and had to run to the bathroom to clean out her mouth again. Zie brought some buttered toast and a sachet of herbs she said were meant to help pregnant women.
Amazingly, the smell of the herbs did calm Sarah down, but they also made her sleepy. She slept for a while, then woke up and started crying and complaining that she was wasting her life away by sleeping. I cooed to her and whispered calming things to her...well, I tried. She cried harder after I said something about looking tired.
"I'm not pretty anymore!" she sobbed. "I'm fat and ugly! And my sister hates me! My parents are vampires, and the Abrahams won't even talk to me because I'm with a vampire!"
"Honey, it's all right," I urged. I hated the thought of it, but I considered using hypnosis to calm her down. She was starting to upset me.
"What did you do?!" Selena asked, finally opening the door.
"I didn't do anything!" I said. "She just started getting upset after her nap!"
"How long did she sleep?"
"Three hours!"
Sarah sobbed harder and finally, Mother burst in and I was promptly thrown out of the room.
If anyone can calm her down, it's Mother, I thought. She adores her.
I went into a spare room and turned on the TV. I watched the news for a while, then switched to cartoons. But I couldn't laugh, because my thoughts were on my fiancee. I could hear her simpering soprano voice as Selena's alto urged her to keep calm. Then I heard something I didn't want to hear.
What if my babies die?
I couldn't bear the thought of losing any of them. Not Sarah, not Caitlin Juniper, not Joseph. I loved my children so much already that just the thought of living without them was unbearable. This had to be our fate. I'd even seen the future, a future with all of us together and happy. I had thought it was a new gift at first, but maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was just Fate. However, I hadn't taken my grandfather's slow descent into dust into account, or Sarah's emotional state, or David, or Satira.
I hadn't seen as much of my brother as I would have liked, and I'd already seen all I wished to see of Satira.
I needed a mentor, someone to guide me when things got rough. I couldn't count on Father, he was too emotionally invested, especially with David now here. And Uncle Soren was far too unstable, and Louis would just make things worse. I considered Krauvas, but remembered that he was Mason's father, and I did not want to see Mason yet.
I considered my options, which were few and far between. Grandfather was dying. I could go to Alexander...I shuddered at the thought of asking him for advice. Truthfully, I never had great role models. I had to learn how to keep a relationship together on my own. I had plenty of role models who taught me how to be a man, but that was it.
I sighed. I had no choice. I had to go to Alexander. I shuddered again at the thought.

I found him in the backyard, overseeing the work being done on the garden. The men had finished laying the stone for a massive pond, and now were laying more brick for a path from the patio to the pond, where we would sit, watch the fish, and maybe have a greenhouse in the future, and a pool.
"The red brick goes there! The hose must be attached to the fountain!"
"Hello, Alexander."
He turned to me and nodded. "Reese."
"I need to ask you something."
"What is it, boy?"
"Actually, I need advice."
He smirked and turned back to the workers. "And you thought I was the best candidate. You refuse to be my son, yet you want my expertise."
I sighed internally. I couldn't believe he was still irked about the fact that I wasn't his biological son. He had been so desperate for both companionship and a son, and he found out about me and decided I would do, that was my theory. I remembered when I first saw him. Sarah was in the hospital, and Alexander spotted me coming out of her room. We had just found out she was pregnant, and he was looking to adopt a baby, anyway, preferably a boy.
Someone he could mold into a version of himself.
"Never mind, I see that this was a mistake." I started to walk away, but guess who grabbed my shoulder? Alexander.
"Now you listen here, boy, and listen carefully. I spent too many years alone. Kieran still hates me, and Marina hated herself too much to be with me for years. You were my last chance to have a legacy, to not be so lonely. I could have killed you for all you know; I should have. Now if you want my advice, you ask for it, you little bastard."
"Let me go!" I tried to pull away, but he tightened his grip and his nails grew, causing me to yelp in pain.
"Ambrogio Nicolai, you let our son go right now!"
If he could, Alexander would have paled. The scariest thing in the world is a protective parent. And my mother stood on the patio, hands on her hips, glaring at her husband.
"Dearest," he simpered. "Reese came to me for advice and mouthed off. So I had to teach him a lesson, you see."
"So you grabbed him and scratched him?"
"Lovely wife," he began,
"Don't start with me, Ambrogio Nicolai. Come inside, Reese."
I quickly hurried in, and shut the door behind me. Seconds later, Mother's and Alexander's raised voices echoed in my ears.
"I shouldn't have mouthed off to him," I rued.
"It's not your fault," Selena said, coming up behind me. "He's just a big meanie."
"How's Sarah?"
"Asleep. She was shaking and cold to the touch, but Mother hypnotized her into sleeping."
"Hypnosis?"
"Don't tell me you're against what Mother did."
"No, but-"
I heard a scream from outside.
I ran outside, only to find Mother in the stone pond, laying on her side. Half the workers ran to her side, and a few glared at Alexander. I jumped in the pond, Selena following me.
"Mother! Are you all right?"
She looked at Alexander, a new hatred in her eyes. "He pushed me."
"Dearest, I didn't mean-"
"You son of a bitch!" Selena jumped on him and started pounding him. He spun her around and held her in a bear hug, while she squirmed. Then I saw it. Blood. Pooling between my mother's legs.
"Dearest!" Alexander put Selena down and walked toward us.
"Don't!" Mother shouted. "Don't come near me again!" Tears in her eyes, she ran inside.
Selena helped Mother, while I told Alexander it was best if he left. He looked stricken, but nodded and left in his Bugatti Veyron.
I heard sobbing coming from Mother's room, and I called Ethan Potter. He promised to come over right away. Then I checked on Sarah. She was disturbed by all the noise, but I sang to her, and she fell back asleep.
Ethan arrived minutes later, and Zie let him in. She led him to Mother's room, where he stayed with her for hours. I could still smell fresh vampire blood.

Sarah and I cuddled for a long time.
"What would happen if someone put the nozzle of an air hose in their mouth?" Sarah asked. "Would they blow up?"
"Geez, what goes through your mind when you're alone?" I replied.
"You don't want to know. How's Marina?"
I fine-tuned my ears. "Still hurting. Damn Alexander. He's gone too far this time."
"I...I need to stretch my wings," Sarah said, getting up. I followed her to the front yard, where her wings grew out of her back and she flapped them. Just then, it began to rain.
"Shit," Sarah said. "I can't fly when it's raining. I don't have enough experience."
"Have any of your other cousins gotten their wings yet?" I asked.
"Just Kaz. His are white, like an angel's. No one else is old enough yet."
"Not even your cousin Riley?"
"Riley's still figuring out who Riley is. They can't wait to get their wings, though, and neither can Bow or the boys. But the younger ones are nervous. We've told them that it hurts when they first come out, and Phillip especially is afraid of pain. But most people don't