This Blood that Bonds Us (This Blood that Binds Us #4)

7. Seven

Seven

Aaron

“Don’t say anything,” Presley said as he pulled plates from the cabinet. We offered to set the table while Mom heated the soup.

“How? She’s going to want to see us eat,” I whispered, and scrunched in next to him in the tightness of the kitchen. Mom wasn’t paying attention. Instead, she whisked her way around the kitchen to pick up things off the counter and ready the food. I’d already told her Kimberly wouldn’t care about the mess.

“I don’t know. We’ll improvise. Just don’t tell her yet. Let me enjoy this for a minute.”

I sighed, catching a glimpse of Kimberly as she emerged from the bathroom. She’d taken her hair down and combed through it. The hairs on my arm stood up. I couldn’t let myself think about her too much, otherwise it was all I would think about. Our previous encounter. Getting her alone. Taking off her clothes. Biting her neck—

“Is everything okay?”

“Uh. Don’t say anything. Presley wants to keep the vampire thing under wraps.”

“How?”

“I really don’t know.”

She nodded like she understood the assignment anyway, and I guided her to the dining area. Mom set a big simmering pot of soup in the middle of the table. It was old and worn and had cracked light-blue paint on the side with intricate, faded designs that reminded me a lot of Alice and Wonderland . Mom’s whole cabin was accented in blue. The cabinet knobs, the couch, her shelf that held her trinkets she loved to collect. I eyed a set of cherubs sitting on a shelf above the fireplace.

“One of my neighbors brought the table over. Her older daughter painted it before she left for college.” She turned to Presley. “Maybe when she comes to visit, you could meet her. You might get along.”

I hadn’t fully processed her presence yet. My old world blended into the new, and I’d often wondered if they’d ever realign. None of it felt real. Why did it feel like it had been so long? It wasn’t quite a year yet, but everything was different. She looked the same yet different. Her hair was grayer, her dark circles were still there, but now she looked . . . relaxed. I didn’t know if I’d ever seen my mother relaxed a day in my life. Maybe once or twice. She was always in a rush. Trying to get to work or trying to get us somewhere on time. We were never on time.

Here, she moved slowly, adding things to the table. Cornbread, butter, linen napkins, and mismatched porcelain china. I wanted to stop her from doing the work, but I couldn’t take my eyes off her. I’d wondered if I’d ever see her again, and when we decided to run away from The Legion, I imagined it would be a lot longer, if ever.

Sitting next to Kimberly, I squeezed her knee under the table. This was all new for her, and regardless of what was going on with me, I would make sure she knew she wasn’t alone. I saw the wheels turning in her head as she tried to figure out how to act. She was probably worried Mom wouldn’t like her, but Mom liked everyone. She’d treated Ashley and Sarah like her own daughters. Plus, it was impossible not to fall in love with Kimberly, and thanks to her, I was able to enjoy sitting with my mom without wondering if I would snap and kill her. Things were looking up.

“Dig in.” My mom smiled, and the wrinkles next to her eyes bunched. I’d never noticed them before.

We all hesitated until Presley took the lead, filling his bowl with soup and gathering a large stack of cornbread. The smell filled the space, and my heart ached from the nostalgia of Mom’s cooking. Suddenly, I was five again, waiting anxiously while Mom cooked dinner. I think she enjoyed it; she just didn’t always have the time. I wished I could eat it.

I’d seen Akira eat popcorn. There had to be a trick to it. Maybe it was small bites. I grabbed a piece of butter for my cornbread and motioned to Kimberly. Maybe she could kill time by pretending to butter her bread.

“I’m so happy to have my table full again.” She laid her arm on the table, looking at us longingly. Her eyes flickered to the front door behind me.

“Have you been lonely?” I asked.

“Oh no, there’s quite a community here. Lots of retired women. Families. I have the best neighbors. We share food and stories.”

“We were in this place called Blackheart. It’s where Kimberly grew up. It was on a mountain and had these huge trees with massive trunks,” Presley said.

“Oh, is that how you all met?”

Kimberly nodded. “Yeah, we met at college. It’s a university town in California.”

Mom’s forehead dented. “You were all going to college together?”

We all shared a look, wondering what to say. She’d probably imagined something much worse. All of us lost. Scared. Hungry. Unbeknownst to her, we were all drunk in a frat house in California.

“What did Luke tell you?” It felt weird saying his name, knowing he wasn’t here. I didn’t know where he was, and that wasn’t a feeling I’d ever really had before. He was always close enough to visit, but they could be anywhere.

Mom picked up her mug of tea and sipped it. The smell of lavender permeated the air, mixing with the roast. “I got an urgent call from Luke while I was at work in the ER. He couldn’t wait. He simply said, ‘You asked me to tell you when I needed something. Right now, I need you to go home and pack a bag. We’ll meet you.’ I didn’t ask any questions. I was saving them to ask later, but when I got home your brothers were waiting with a car and a driver who was instructed to take me as far as he could across the country. I asked about you. I asked about them. Luke just said, ‘Trust me. We’ll keep them safe.’ I didn’t go easily, but your brothers begged. They said I’d put you all in danger if I stayed and that it was safer for all of you if I didn’t follow.”

She paused and stared into the woodgrain of the table. “I’ve spent all this time thinking and wishing I’d done something different. Maybe I should have asked more questions. I thought about how many times I should have stood my ground and stayed. But I knew that look in your brother’s eyes, and I trusted him. The day I’d always believed would come had finally come. Something your brothers had been running away from had finally caught up with them, and they were scared.”

Mom sniffled and wiped at the redness of her nose. There was a strange pause. A lingering emptiness in the air. Something we all knew but wouldn’t say. The Family had poisoned everything. And somehow, even in the glow of the cabin, the cold crept in.

“Honey, the soup will get cold if you don’t eat.” Mom rubbed Presley’s back.

“Oh, right,” he said.

I gathered the tiniest bit of broth I could onto my spoon. The soup wasn’t steaming anymore, but I blew on it anyway. When the spoon touched my lips, my whole body reacted. Drawing in on itself. The sample was so small I couldn’t even get a read on the taste, but the moment I tried to swallow, I gagged. I changed my mind. There was no trick. Maybe Akira’s senses had dulled, because my body rejected it like it was rancid.

Presley, who had taken a much larger bite, coughed it up on the table, and Kim held her hand over her mouth, trying to force it down.

“What is it? The meat is fresh. A neighbor just brought it over.”

“No.” I coughed. “It’s not your food.”

“Are you sick?”

Presley and I shared a look. “Kinda.”

Mom waited, glancing between the three of us.

I shrugged at Presley, not knowing what to say. I didn’t know how we could keep it a secret. Or was it even necessary. It’s not like my mom would try to turn us into the police or anything. Plus, she deserved an explanation.

Presley smiled sheepishly and turned to her. “Uh, do you remember that movie I always used to make you watch . . . with the girl . . . and the love triangle, and the guy with the hair who could do cool stuff?”

“Of course I remember that. You dragged me to all five of those movies.”

“Well, we’re kinda like that.” Presley looked at me for help, and I shook my head.

“You’re a . . . wolf?”

“No, we’re like the other thing. The other guy. The sparkly one with good hair.”

“We don’t sparkle,” I said. “And we’re not cold or anything.”

“Are you telling me you’re . . . vampires?”

We nodded.

“All three of you?”

We nodded again.

There was a long silence as we waited for her to process.

Kimberly squeezed my leg, and I squeezed back. She’d been able to believe it once. Mom could too.

My mom had gone pale and fiddled with her coffee cup. “You’re not playing a prank on me, are you?”

I’d never seen Mom blow up. She was always calm, probably a learned behavior from work, so her silent processing didn’t scare me.

“No, Mom. This is real. We could show you . . . if it helps.”

“Show me how?”

I motioned to Presley.

“Do you want some honey for your tea?” Presley said.

“What does that have to—”

Presley shot across the room to bring the floral ceramic bear holding a dipper stick. In less than a second, he was back at the table.

Mom’s hand shot over her mouth, and she gasped in a ragged breath.

“We’re okay. I know it seems scary, but we’re actually better than before because . . .” Presley motioned for me.

“Because we’re immortal, technically. And we can’t get sick, and we don’t get hurt easily, so if that’s what you’re afraid of, then don’t worry. We’re okay, Mom.”

Her eyes were wide as the silence settled between us.

“I was just changed . . . and I can confirm. It’s better than being human. Safer,” Kimberly said.

“This has something to do with your brothers, doesn’t it?” There was sadness in my mother’s eyes when she looked at me. “This is the secret.”

“Yeah. It’s a long story. But we don’t sleep, so we can tell you if you’re not too tired.”

“Let me make some coffee.” She placed both hands on the table to keep her steady as she stood up.

But Presley shot up after her. “Let me help.”

I wondered what my mom thought of me. Would she look at me the same? Was I the same person she knew? She had to know I was scared, because she squeezed my shoulder on her way to the coffee pot.

We told her everything from start to finish. The journey to Blackheart when our brothers changed us, joining the frat, meeting Kimberly, then meeting The Legion. She nodded through most of it but cried when we told her about Sarah. I knew it would be hard to say it out loud, but telling her made it finally feel real.

These two separate parts of my life had collided, and we were left in the wreckage. Nothing was familiar anymore without my brothers. Every minute was new territory for all of us. There was no more Brooklyn and no more Blackheart.

We moved to the living room so Presley could pull Mom close to him and hand her tissues. The fire cracked in front of us as a few logs tumbled and fell into the ash.

“You believe us?” I asked.

“I always knew there was something. And as far-fetched as it is, somehow, your brothers joining a vampire cult makes sense. As much sense as it can for tonight. And Sarah . . . ugh, my sweet girl. Luke must have been devastated, and he never told me.” She wiped another tear.

“He couldn’t, Mom. He didn’t know immediately. I think they were scared,” I said.

I was scared too. I’d seen firsthand what The Family was capable of. Every day, I replayed that day in the burning forest again. I didn’t want to think of what would have happened if we’d all been captured. I also didn’t have it in me to imagine where my brothers were. My chest ached again, so I leaned into Kimberly for comfort, and she grabbed my hand.

“I can’t believe I let this happen.” Mom’s voice broke.

“You didn’t do this,” I said. If anyone should feel guilty, it should be me. If I’d made different decisions, maybe they wouldn’t have felt like they had to do everything alone. My whole life I’d let them shoulder all the responsibility.

“Luke didn’t say anything to you? About what we do now?” I asked.

I still had hope there was more to this story. That somehow my brother had prepared for our inevitable separation too. Maybe he had a secret way to contact him or a way we could find each other again.

“Luke left you a note. I have it here.” She pulled a tattered letter from her cardigan and handed it to me. The envelope was inked with Luke’s handwriting— Aaron .

“A note?” I swallowed. The familiar ache tore at my insides, which leaped with hopeful anticipation.

“Just for Aaron?” Presley said next to her.

Kimberly squeezed my leg, and I carefully grabbed the letter, overly aware of how worn the paper was.

Aaron,

If you’re reading this, that means we succeeded. You’re finally safe and reunited with Mom. Sorry in advance about the cold. But I needed it to be somewhere secluded. Plus, I know Mom really likes the snow. This was the best I could do on short notice. Things didn’t exactly work out the way I wanted them to. I wish we could all be together. I want you to know that.

I have a lot to apologize for. I’m sure you’ll be mad at me. But try to remember the good times we did have. Try to remember the people we were. No one can take that away from us.

Take care of them. I know you will.

Love,

Luke

I let the letter fall to the ground, and Presley snatched it.

My heartbeat was in my ears.

“Aaron?” Kimberly called, but the room was fading around me. “What does it say?”

That was his plan all along. To disappear and go back to The Family and . . . stay there? He didn’t plan on ever coming back. He didn’t want us to follow. There was no map, or coordinates or cellphone number. My brothers were out there, and we had no way to find them. It finally hit me.

I may never see either of them again.

No one would hand me a grand plan of how to fix it. We were on our own in the middle of nowhere.

“They want us to stay here. This is it. That’s all it really says.”

It all fell into place. What should have been obvious but I’d never fully realized. The reason Luke constantly asked about our five-year plan. He never had one. Neither of them did. The Family was their plan. Their fate. Their future.

“I opened it after the first three days of waiting,” Mom said, “and I cried all night. Your brothers didn’t think they were ever going to outrun what was chasing them. Now I know why.”

I shot to my feet, feeling hot all over. That couldn’t be it. There had to be more.

“Aaron?”

“He didn’t give you anything else?” I snatched the envelope to make sure it was empty.

“No. Just this letter and some money.”

My chest burned. The room was spinning. It couldn’t be it. Why didn’t he give me anything else? How could that be it? It was nothing.

“Are you okay, honey?”

All of them stared at me with wide-eyed worry. My whole body was flushed with emotion I couldn’t place.

“Can I have a second alone on the porch?”

“Of course, honey.”

Without grabbing a coat, I went out the door into the freezing night.