Chapter 31 #2
Elise helped Josi into Layla’s bed and stood in her doorway until she was sure she had fallen asleep. Even after that, when she came to the living room to sit with Layla by the window, all Elise could think about was how tiny Josi looked beneath the blankets.
Layla shifted as Elise settled beside her. “How is she? I figured she would want a bed. Who knows what Karine had her sleeping on—if she let her sleep at all?” Layla said.
A buzzing that had started at the beginning of the night in the apartment continued now, making Elise’s thoughts hard to keep track of and even conversation threads with Layla difficult to follow.
“Fine, thank you.” She blinked as Layla furrowed her brows at her. “Sorry…reapers don’t have to sleep?”
“Technically no. But we would be so much more miserable if we didn’t.
Sleep deprivation severely inhibits our impulse control.
If Karine was keeping Josi from sleeping, that could explain her erratic behavior,” Layla said.
Her eyes roamed Elise’s face, picking up on all the distress she wore.
“Then again, she’s newly turned, so who knows?
Maybe she just needs more training. I’ve never seen anything like her before; I would assume it has to do with Valeriya’s ancient blood and venom being what changed her. ”
Elise looked at her then, an idea coming to her. “Could you train her?”
Layla nodded. “Once I know exactly what she needs. If she’s as in-between as Karine and other reapers say she is, then Josi probably doesn’t need blood. So I can just teach her how to control her emotions—especially anger. For now, I think it’s best if we starve her and go from there.”
A loud meow cut between them, and they both turned to see Hendricks pawing at the door to where Josi slept. While Elise had no energy to shoo the cat away, Layla bared her fangs at him. Much to their surprise, the door opened, and the cat trotted in before it closed again.
Elise tensed at the thought of her younger sister alone with that cat.
By now she was convinced he was more demon than feline—perhaps an abomination created in the shadows of the earth.
Elise could not remember a time where she had been more afraid than when she was home alone with Hendricks the first for the first time and he would not let her leave the kitchen area.
The cat had crouched on the counter and watched her with sharp green eyes, hissing and swatting at her whenever she tried to pass.
He might have been worse than the most dangerous of reapers.
Even then, Elise had faced off against an ancient one and survived, but whenever she came face-to-face with Hendricks on a bad day, she had to remind herself that there was no worse fate than being torn to ribbons by his tiny razor-sharp claws.
Another day, Elise might have laughed at the cat’s threatening presence.
But tonight she had been drained of all her energy.
Even sitting up, talking to someone she loved more than anything in this world, felt like too much.
Elise looked down at her hands, her fingers twisting in patterned intervals of seven.
No matter how distracting a conversation might have been, her mind was always elsewhere, working overtime to protect itself from her.
Moving closer, Layla reached a hand out to rest on Elise’s. Her fingers stopped immediately, and she looked up at Layla, seeing the remnants of a soft understanding in her eyes. Elise only hoped she looked as grateful as she felt.
“You were so good back on the ship. It was very impressive. You saved so many of us,” Layla said quietly.
Elise sniffed. Tears rose in her throat, and no matter how hard she fought to keep them back, they still spilled onto her cheeks. “You almost died.”
“But I didn’t,” Layla said firmly. She tried to wipe Elise’s tears, but Elise moved away and stood.
“I couldn’t save my mother. She’s gone, and Josi will grow up with one parent. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for all this,” Elise whispered.
Layla followed her around the room, stepping in front of her to stop her obsessive pacing. “It’s not your fault. Karine is to blame.”
Elise shook her head. “No. I started this. Five years ago. When I told my father everything I promised I would keep as your secret. I made his fears worse, and I’ve been feeding them ever since. He ruined your life and ruined mine, and nothing has ever been the same.”
“This didn’t start with you. This whole situation is bigger than us.
” Though Layla spoke calmly, Elise could hear the undertones of ire in her voice.
Whether it was in response to the situation or bringing up her parents’ murder, Elise couldn’t be sure.
But she regretted sharing this many of her thoughts anyway.
That same little girl had been alone then, with no one to turn to for help wiping her tears and understanding her grief.
It had all been too premature. Both of them had been too young to deal with anything like this.
And now they remained stuck in the past in moments like these, when Elise could not stop remembering the pain and feeling it so clearly now that she thought she had gone back in time.
Elise dropped her head into hands and cried. Tears poured out of her while her heart cleaved in two in her chest. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Layla.”
She felt Layla’s arms around her and the frantic tension in her muscles while she cupped her cheeks and whispered, “I know,” into her ear over and over.