Unraveling Mathias - Marisa Maichel (most read books of all time txt) 📗

a vampire barreled into the room. Father and I both got into defensive crouches. The vampire looked familiar, although I couldn't place his scent. He was gaunt, almost skeletal, his dull blue eyes sinking into his sockets. His black hair was long and dirty and tangled. He appeared to be wearing a uniform of some kind.

The vampire grinned. "Out of the way, Mordecai." His voice was flat and gravelly. Father hissed, baring his teeth. The strange vampire inched forward slowly, trying to circle around. Father's hiss got louder and more vocal.

"You cannot take him," Father growled. The vampire tilted his head.

"Huh. You must love Louis more than I thought." Louis? He thinks I'm Louis?

"He's not Louis! Father cried. "Look at his eyes!" Then I realized who this was. Mathias. He had come back.

Chapter Three - Revenge

I whimpered and cowered behind Father.

"It's all right, baby," Father told me. Mathias grimaced.

"No, it is most certainly not all right! Louis is mine! Let me have him!"

"You idiot! Smell his scent! He smells nothing like Louis! He's my son, and his name is Reese!"

"Bullshit. Where's Soren? I want to kill him."

"Where the hell is Dimitri?"

"Oh, I tore his head off."

"What?"

"Both your guards are incapacitated. It was quite easy. I haven't lost all my strength."

"Mathias," Father said, "I don't want to have to kill you. I still consider you my brother."

"Bullcrap. I was never a part of the family. I'm not even a natural-born! Eilief changed me!"

Suddenly, he ran forward and kicked Father aside. He snatched me up, despite my hisses and growls.

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

I woke up some hours later in a bed. I blinked.

"Where...where am I?"

"You are in Denmark, my son." I looked up.

"Mathias?"

"Call me Father."

"Mathias, I'm not-"

"Louis," he said. "I don't know what they told you, but you are definitely Louis, and you are my son." I blinked, focusing on Mathias. He was watching me from a corner, crouching. "Are you hungry? I have a human waiting for you."

"A little," I replied. He disappeared, only to bring back a half-dead male human.

"Drink."

I looked at him, then back at the human. I sunk my teeth into the human's neck and drank my fill. Mathias finished off the human by draining him completely. He rubbed his stomach.

"They never did feed me enough in the sanitorium. I was always hungry."

"I'm sorry," I said, feeling terrible for him. He gave me a strange, lopsided smile.

"I grew used to it. But thank you anyway."

"What time is it?" I asked.

"It is ten in the morning, two days after I found you."

Two days?! Father must be worried sick! I analyzed my situation. I looked around the room. The walls appeared to be metal, the only furniture being an old mattress on which I was laying.

"Louis?" Mathias asked, worried.

"My father must be worried about me."

"I am your father. Soren has you wrapped around his finger. He's not an innocent man, you know. He's killed thousands of people. Humans, vampires, even Elves. He has a history of which I am uncomfortable to speak of. He's not a pure man, no matter what he tells Eilief."

"Why do you want to kill Soren?"

"He's the cause of all this! He's the reason why I got locked up in the first place! Years of pain and torture over an accusation that wasn't true. I didn't kill Alga, she died because she messed with the wrong vampires."

I laid back on the mattress. Mathias cocked his head.

"Louis?"

"All my life, I never even knew you existed. Then I saw a picture of you in a family geneology book. I've been busting my back trying to find you."

"Well, I'm here now. You can stop searching." He was trying to sound playful. He sidled in next to me. "Try to sleep, son. I will watch over you." I did as he asked, and closed my eyes.

I woke up with him nudging me awake.

"Louis! Wake up! We have to leave!" I looked up, smelling the air. Then I felt a wave of joy.

Father. I looked all around for him. Mathias grew tired, and simply put me over his shoulder. I struggled.

"Put me down! I can walk on my own!"

"You were taking too long!" I kicked him in the ribs, and he dropped me. I ran to the scent of Father.

I got a glimpse of him in a helicopter. Pure relief and joy came over his face when he saw me. Suddenly, I was knocked down.

"You little traitor! Come with me!"

I kicked and fought Mathias, eventually throwing him off. I ran over to where Father was. He looked like he was in pain now. There was a bang, and the helicopter started spinning out of control. I looked up. Mathias had a gun, cherry, and pipe bombs.

How the hell did he get all that?

He threw another one at the chopper. Bullseye! I thought I saw Father mouth the words "Forgive me." And then the helicopter disappeared. I felt angry tears pierce my eyes. How could he do this to me?

Mathias grabbed me around the waist, and I kicked and fought harder than ever to get away. I kicked Mathias below the gut, and he let me go. I ran as fast as I could in the opposite direction of the helicopter. It didn't process at the time, but now I had a known murderer after me, and he was furious.

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

I kept running, not stopping, even when I crossed the stream. I don't know how long I ran, maybe an hour or two. Finally, I started slowing down when I was sure that I lost Mathias. Big mistake. A strange vampire jumped in front of me. Then another, and another, until I was surrounded. I quickly counted them. Twelve. Twelve! If they wanted to kill me, I'd have no chance.

I felt a hiss gathering in my throat, when I noticed the leader. He was tall, good-looking, with long black hair that trailed down his back. His eyes were a rarity, even in the vampire world. They were violet.

I decided to take a risk. I jumped over the vampire in front of me, and ran for my life. I heard the leader yell a command, and suddenly, I had twelve strange vampires after me. I ran over another stream. I was knocked down, and felt arms snake a round my waist. I struggled to get free. The vampire who caught me growled and pressed his teeth against my neck. I stopped fighting. He grunted in satisfaction, and allowed me to turn around and study him. It was the leader.

I fainted.

 

Hours later, I awoke in a strange place. I was laying on a bed in a cold room, covered with furs and ratted blankets. I sat up and looked around. My eyes stopped on the coven leader, who was staring at me.

"Are you awake, young one?" he asked in a Bulgarian accent.

"Aren't you going to kill me?" I asked him. He looked horrified.

"Absolutely not! Are you hungry?"

This was the second time I'd woken up, and my kidnapper asked if I was hungry.

"Not really," I replied, just before my stomach growled. The leader cocked his head.

"Your belly says otherwise. Come, I have a fresh kill."

I followed him to a kitchen. An old refrigerator stood in one corner, while an unused stove stood in another. To my surprise, the leader opened the refrigerator and got out a bottle of blood. He warmed it up between his hands and gave it to me. I sniffed it. The blood was unusual, a scent I couldn't place.

"Drink," the leader insisted. I downed it quickly and winced at the strange taste. It was not human, nor animal. I wondered what it was. The leader looked happy, though.

"What's your name?" I asked him.

"Ambrose," he replied, blinking. "What is yours?"

"Reese." I didn't dare say my last name, as the Emerson clan has as many enemies as allies. Ambrose smiled and pressed his nose in my hair.

"I waited for so long...so many years, I was alone...now you're here at last."

"I don't understand," I admitted.

"What don't you understand?"

"Why you're so nice to me. I invaded your territory."

"Reese, how old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"I mean, what is your real age?"

"Seventeen."

"So young...yet so beautiful. How long have you been a vampire?"

"My whole life. I was born one."

"A natural-born. Interesting." He kissed my hair, and smiled, revealing pointy teeth. He lifted me up and brought me back to the bedroom, where he started nibbling my neck and undoing my pants. He admired my abdomen and chest. He nipped my chest, exploring every inch.

"I-I can't," I said, pushing him away. "I just can't." Ambrose looked disappointed, but he nodded.

"I understand. It is too soon, and we barely know each other." That was not it, but there was no way that I was going to tell him about Sarah. He might track her down and try to kill her. Ambrose couldn't control himself, though, and he went back to exploring my body. He squeezed my ass, and I yelped. Ambrose chuckled.

"Would you like to meet the rest of my coven?" he asked. I nodded. "Come, then." I followed him to a room. "This is Peter and Dean's room. They are mates." He opened the door, to reveal two men in mid-dress. They immediately stopped and bowed their heads to Ambrose. "Peter, Dean, this is my new mate Reese." I blinked stupidly.

"Welcome," said one of the men. He had blond hair and brown eyes, and was built like the Statue of David. His companion, a brown-haired man with electric green eyes, studied me curiously. Ambrose let out a quiet hiss, and he averted his eyes.

"I am Dean," the brown-haired man said. "This is my husband Peter."

Ambrose nodded satisfactorily. "Come, my young one." I followed him to the next room. He opened it up. There was a woman and a man in it. "This is Cassandra and Thomas. Thomas, Cassandra, this is my new mate Reese."

"Nice to meet you," said Cassandra, a drop-dead gorgeous woman with long blond hair, blue eyes, and red lips. Her husband, Thomas, had dark curly hair and bowed respectfully.

"Cassandra can control the electricity around her," Ambrose said. "She powers most of our electricity and electronics." We moved onto the next room. Ambrose put an ear to the door. "Do you remember a woman with blond curly hair and a dark-skinned man?" I nodded. "That is Jenette and Nick. They are our most amorous couple, and I'd rather not disturb them at this moment. There is also my right-hand man, Doyle, but he's out hunting right now. We all hunt for our own food, and all of us drink from humans. I have changed every vampire in this castle except for Dean. He came to us about five hundred years ago, looking for a place to rest. He and Peter found each other, and the rest is history."

I nodded, understanding so far. "What abot the rest of the coven?"

Ambrose waved a hand. "They are unimportant. Come, you have not seen the rest of our suite. My suite holds the only computer, an old thing from the nineties. There is also the library. Do you like to read?" I nodded.

"I read whenever I get the time."

"Then you will enjoy our library. Follow me."

I did follow him to an ornate set of wooden doors.

"Is this cherry?" I asked, running a hand over the smooth wood. Ambrose looked surprised.

"Yes, it is. These doors have been here for at least four hundred years. Our coven member Jonas used to be a wood craftsman. He built them himself. The handles are made from the finest brass available at the time." He opened the doors, and my eyes widened.

It was a book lover's heaven. There were hundreds of shelves, thousands of books and scrolls. I walked inside, still gaping.

"Each coven member is required to hand over any books they own," Ambrose told me. "And we have lost many coven members over the years, and all of their books are still here."

I absentmindedly ran a finger over an old spine, admiring the detailing and the faded gold title.