Unraveling Soren by Marisa Maichel (free reads txt) 📖

brought that book along by Jamie Williams if you want to continue reading it.”

“I would love that.”

I pulled the book out of my pocket, and realized the cover had been chewed on a bit. I sighed. I would have to talk to the cats about personal property and touching something that isn’t yours.

I kept reading.

“I stared at my young rival, and then I laughed. ‘It’s not funny,’ he snarled.

‘It is funny, because you are what one would describe as a nincompoop. There is a reason why I am here, but it’s none of your business, fool. I do as I please, and I enjoy what I do. So get over it.’ He bared his teeth, and leaped at me. I clotheslined him, and then I grabbed his head. ‘I could snap your neck if I so chose. But I won’t, because I care about Carissa too much. So here’s your warning: don’t test me.”

I continued reading until two more chapters in, and then I marked the spot with a receipt from my favorite record store and closed it.

She was leaning against me, and I kissed the top of her head. She was unbraiding her fishtail braid, and then rebraiding it in a French braid. I kissed her again, and soon we were kissing. I nibbled on her lip a bit-she bit mine in response. I turned her and nibbled on her earlobe, careful to keep her earring out of my mouth. Then I noticed something.

“Where did you get these earrings?” I asked.

“They came to me through a relative on my dad’s side. Do you like them?”

No, I really didn’t. Because these earrings, these ruby-red earrings with werewolves in the center, were a pair I knew for a fact were cursed.

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

I didn’t know how to tell her. I knew I’d have to, or she would die. We were coming home, to the Nicolai house, and when we walked in, Selena was holding Cirino, who smiled and reached out his hands for Sarah.

“Ba,” he said, giggling. “Ma.”

She picked him up, and he reached for her braid. She pecked his forehead, and then he looked at me and his smile disappeared. I wasn’t sure he liked me too well. Maybe babies, like animals, can sense tension.

Sarah brushed his small blond hairs, which were growing rapidly. He had her green eyes, and they stared at me relentlessly. She kissed him again, and he signaled that he wanted to be put down. She set him in his playpen, where he promptly started pulling at the carpet.

“Don’t do that, sweetie,” she said, moving his hands away, waving a mirror in front of him. He grabbed the mirror instead, giggling at his own reflection. Something hit me.

“Hey, Sarah, you would do anything for him, right?” I asked.

“Of course,” she replied sweetly. “Most parents would do anything for their kids. Even this little stinker.”

“Hey, Alexander,” I said to my stepfather, “Would you do anything for Kieran?”

“Reese, there are a lot of things I would do for Kieran,” he gruffed. “Anything is a bit of a stretch.”

“But, like, if someone murdered Kieran, what would you do?”

He looked at me in astonishment. “If you must know, ask your father what he did when Rosales was killed,” he said. “Ask your uncle what he would do if one of his fledglings was killed, or even Louis. Ask your mother what she would do if you or one of the girls was killed.”

I knew the answer. She’d get revenge, any way she could. So would Uncle Soren, and so would Father and Alexander. Something tickled in the back of my mind. But what? I thought back to the last two years. What all had happened?

I’d started dating Sarah, met an uncle I never knew I had, met an evil version of myself, became a brother, met my girlfriend’s relatives, found a book called The Book of Transformation and Death….

Something was definitely ticking in my mind. But what? Something to do with death. There was the Book, my uncle’s death, my girlfriend’s parents’ deaths, and all the human deaths I’d been at least partly responsible for.

Deciding to put it out of my mind for now, I instead watched my girlfriend play with her son, who found her as endlessly fascinating as I did. She was a good girl, although she had her flaws. That was okay, though-I was much more flawed than she was.

No one is perfect, not even her, except for Jesus, according to her Christian side of the family.

She dangled a rattle in front of him, and he reached for it. Then I noticed something.

“Where’s Spunk?” I asked. The male golden retriever was usually jumping all over me and trying to lick my face.

“He’s at the vet with Coffee,” Sarah explained. “He ate a toy rope, silly head.”

Something deep and ugly grew in the pit of my gut. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

“Are you sure he’s okay?” I asked.

A small crease formed between her perfect eyebrows, then she said, “I’m sure he’s fine.”

“You are so paranoid, brother,” Selena said, looking at me. “I know we haven’t known each other long, but I can already tell you’re a worrier. Simmer down and relax for a few minutes.”

Sarah huffed out a laugh. “Reese hasn’t relaxed once since I’ve known him,” she said. “Especially when we started dating, he was always so tense and worried. He was even afraid another guy would “steal” me away from him!” She added air quotes.

She continued. “As if that’s possible. Reese, you are my first and only love. I will stay with you until you no longer want me or until one of us dies.”

“Why wouldn’t I want you?” I asked, ignoring the second half of her sentence. “You are fantastic, and smart, and funny, and you watch wrestling, read manga, enjoy movies, you are kind and sweet as hell, and you’re a good mother to the little man in the playpen there.”

“Alexander,” I said, below human hearing, “Those earrings on Sarah’s ears. Where did they come from?”

“I don’t know, Reese,” he growled. “I know, they’re cursed. She only said they came from a relative on her mother’s side.”

“You know they’re cursed?” I asked at normal volume in Spanish.

“Aye, I know every product that the old man ever sold,” he replied, also in Spanish.

“You’re talking about those ugly things on her ears?” Selena asked in Greek. “I knew there was a reason I didn’t like them. All right, I’ll take them when she’s asleep tonight and hide them.”

“Thank you, Selena,” I said in English. I turned to Alexander. “How did you know the old man, anyway?”

“The same way your father did. I bought some of the objects he sold,” he said, with a disturbing grin creeping onto his face.

“What are you guys talking about?” Sarah chirped.

“Your earrings, the ones on your ears,” I said truthfully. “They look like a pair that my father’s friend, Radcliffe, sold in his shop. Radcliffe sold a lot of cursed items.”

“Cursed?” she squeaked. She carefully took the earrings off and handed them to Selena.

“Thank you, dear,” my sister said. “I’d hate for these to fall into the wrong hands, or worse, kill you or your sister.”

Sarah stared at her socked feet. “Why would she want to curse me? What’s going on with my mother’s side of the family? They knew what you were, Reese. They were angry with me for deciding to live here. They stopped talking to me over it. But why would they want me dead?”

“You’re not going to start crying again, are you?” Alexander scoffed, causing both me and Selena to glare at him in warning.

Sarah bit her lip and stared at the floor, her eyes filling with wetness, but she didn’t start sobbing, thank the gods. She went upstairs instead. I followed her.

She was sitting at her vanity, taking the elastic out of her hair and grabbing a boar-bristle brush.

“May I?” I asked, pulling her desk chair over. She nodded, and I started running the brush over her hair. I noticed that it lost some of its curl when I did that. Her hair was wavy from the braid, and I slowly brushed the waves out, admiring the softness and shine. Her hair smelled like coconut today.

I’ve never understood the need for girls to smell like fruit, until I started noticing them. Especially her. I’d had crushes before her, but not as intense or extreme. I truly loved her. At first it was just lust, then infatuation, then love. I felt all of those things for her now.

I brushed her hair back, and she set out a hair straightener, pushed a button, and it started warming up. Meanwhile, she started getting out different makeup and serums and potions. First, she rubbed her face with her dry hands, to stimulate the blood flow. Then she pumped two squirts of face moisturizer into her fingers and rubbed them together.

I sat and stared, amazed at all the different products that usually went into her routine. I’m not the type to wear a ton of makeup, and I usually don’t anymore, and growing up in a royal household, it is expected of me to look my best at all times in the company of others. Other than my family, I mean.

I won’t lie and say I don’t care about my appearance. I brush my hair, I keep it tied up when it’s long, I wear clean clothes and try to keep my boots and sneakers clean.

A vision hit me.

I am writhing on the ground. My arm is sliced open, and half my leg is missing. I am laying on my side, crying and shaking.

I blinked, then shook my head. My new futuristic visions were incredibly random and strange. Couldn’t they bring me something more cheerful? I would have loved to see my son or one of my daughters again.

Sarah went to her dresser and pulled out a pair of athletic shorts and a tank top. She slowly took off her clothes, while I watched. And then I found myself looking at her stomach. Was Shadowfang right? Had I become a father already, and didn’t know it?

It takes two weeks, doofus, I reminded myself. It’s only been a couple of days.

Sarah pulled on the shorts and the top, then spun around in a circle.

“How do I look?”

“Lovely, as always.”

She laughed, a sprinkling of rain soothing the dryness of my undead heart. She turned out the bedroom lights and crawled into bed, turning the heat blanket up to a high setting.

“All I want to do is go to sleep and never wake up,” she said.

“Don’t say that,” I said, horrified. “I’d be alone if that were to happen.”

“Too many people either want me dead or want me as a sex slave,” she groaned.

I kicked off my boots and settled in next to her. She buried her face in my chest and closed her eyes.

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

When I woke up, I had twenty texts from Father, and thirty calls.

“Shit,” I said. He was going to kill me. I’d fallen asleep next to her, and now, as I slowly moved away, she grabbed at me and whispered:

“No, don’t go.”

“I have to, lover. My father will kill me if I’m not home in one second.”

She groaned and let me go, all while muttering nonsensically, still half-asleep. I kissed her, pulled my boots on, and crept down the stairs.

Mother waved to me from the kitchen, and I waved back. We both knew we had to be quiet so as to not wake the other vampires in the house.

I left out the front door, and started the short run home. My mother’s house was less than a mile from Father’s house, and both were on the outskirts of town, so to be away from prying humans or other beings.

Halfway there, a light suddenly blinded me. I stopped, shield my face with my arms, and the next thing I knew, someone hit me in the gut, sending me flying back twenty feet. The being, wraith,