Chapter 31 #3
Or what was he that never awakened because he had never died before today?
His fingers move to his lips, more claws than anything else. When he prods at his gums, a set of long, sharp canines drops down. The rest of his teeth resemble those of a flesh-eater.
Oh hell no. Recognition sets in, and I forget to breathe, my body temperature dropping—it can’t be. Is this what my magic sensed so briefly when I first met him that night?
My hand is in his hair as I pull William’s head back, exposing his throat. My dagger is in my other hand, the blade pressed against his skin, already breaking the surface.
“No!” Isabella screams, lunging for him.
Elly is faster, and her soft touch on Isabella’s arm turns into an iron grip. “What are you doing? He’s alive!” she spits at me.
“Not if I have anything to say about it,” I snarl back.
“Mal,” she says, her voice laced with anger, “don’t.”
“I can’t allow him to live.”
William begins to struggle, and I count myself lucky that he clearly hasn’t fully awakened yet.
“Why? Because of something his parents did?”
She’s right, of course, but it changes nothing.
“He’s tainted, an abomination,” I state, struggling not to snap at Elly. The hypocrisy of her words isn’t lost on me. After all, she’s the one who constructed a curse to slowly kill all the descendants of her ex-husband and sister, punishing the children for sins they didn’t commit.
“But he’s still family,” she counters fiercely. “He didn’t choose this, Mal. He clearly didn’t even know.”
I look down at William, his face twisted in pain and confusion. I know what he is. But does he? “Do you know what you are now? What you truly are?”
He stills, searching my face with his eyes for a moment. Then he nods and pushes himself harder against the blade. Blood trickles down, but this doesn’t seem to deter him. I don’t know if it’s better that he’s aware, but at least it means I can give him a choice.
“Do you want to live knowing this? Knowing what you’ll need to do to continue living from this point forward?
” He nods again, and a flicker of relief fills me.
“You are still my flesh and blood, and thus, you’re also still bound to me by that same flesh and blood.
Do you swear to live by this, with the knowledge that I could end it all whenever I please? ”
Another nod, and I’ve made my decision.
“Then prove it.” I pull the blade away and push the First Son toward Isabella.
William remains like that for a moment, on hands and knees between his mother and me. He struggles to breathe, his claws marking the tile floor like butter. After a few moments, he raises his head, looking at his mother.
“Love,” I say, and Elly quickly lets go of Isabella. She steps to my side, and I wrap my arm around her shoulders, tucking her against me.
A low growl rumbles from William. Elly flinches against me as he lunges at Isabella.
The woman kicks and screams, but even with her vampire strength, she’s no match for him.
William tears into her flesh, shredding her to pieces with his teeth and bare hands.
The sound of flesh being ripped and blood being slurped fills the air around us.
Elly snuggles against me as we watch William literally devour his mother.
After a while, he falls back on his arms, a satisfied sigh escaping his lips. Isabella isn’t completely gone—that was to be expected. She’s dead, though—for real this time. The better part of her flesh has been torn away and eaten, and most of her blood drained.
William cranes his neck to look at us. I nod at him, and he seems to relax a bit, his shoulders slumping. His canines disappear back inside his gums, leaving only the sharp flesh-tearing teeth. He casually begins to clean his claws on the sheet draped over his mother’s corpse.
I take out my phone and call Alix. “Can you come over to the family house? And bring Désirée. We have a flesh vampire.” I disconnect before Alix can respond and pocket the phone.
“A flesh vampire?” Elly asks, clearly confused and curious.
“They eat both flesh and, occasionally, blood, but only from other vampires. They’re quite rare since they don’t reproduce like normal vampires. As a matter of fact”—I frown at William—“nobody knows where they come from.”
“Looks like we do now,” Elly remarks.
The front door slams open, and Alix stands panting in the doorway. “We gonna kill him or what?”
I gesture at William, who’s now clumsily getting to his feet. “No need, as you can see.”
“Then what the hell do you need from us?”
Alix is pushed aside, and Désirée strides in. “Guidance, I assume?” She smiles as she approaches William, who is wobbling on his legs.
“And whatever else the coven can offer to help him adjust to his new life.”
“We’ll take care of him,” Désirée says softly, reassuringly, before turning to the First Son. “Alright, let’s go.” She takes William’s hand in hers, and then they’re gone.
Alix gives me a long, hard look, clearly displeased with this turn of events. “He better not eat us, or I’m coming for your ass, D.” Then he’s gone too.
A few seconds of blissful silence tick by.
“Now what?” Elly asks, her fingers starting to draw lazy circles over my blood-stained shirt.
“Sleep for a week seems appropriate.” I huff, running a hand through my hair.
“Sounds good to me.” She laughs softly.