Chapter 18
Chapter Eighteen
APRIL
Screaming internally, telling myself how stupid I was for agreeing to something as insane as getting naked with the door open and two monsters present, I start taking my clothes off.
Well, taking them off is farfetched. I fumble with the bottom of my shirt, twisting it between my fingers.
Breathing through my nose, I do my best not to freak out.
I really want to freak out.
“I won’t start the story until you are under the spray,” Asshole Sebastian says, not turning to look over his shoulder.
The funny thing is, I actually believe him. For some insane reason, his word means a lot to him. I can make that little fact work in my favor. If I stop acting like a five-year-old idiot and start using my brain. Easier said than done.
My eyes dart around, taking in the bathroom.
Just like everything else in this place, it’s absolutely breathtaking.
Marble tiles cover the floor. Glass doors separate the shower from the rest of the room.
Further down, on the same side as the shower, is a large tub that can fit a full family inside.
Different sized bottles are clustered in one corner.
Opposite that is a large mirror taking up half of the wall.
Marble, sand-colored counters stretch the entire length with two basins nestled on it.
More bottles are spread around. Who the hell needs that many bottles?
Sebastian clears his throat, and I yank the shirt over my head angrily.
No matter how long I stall and linger, I can tell he won’t budge.
Plus, I have to admit, only to myself, of course, I can’t wait to feel the water run down my body.
It has been a while since I’ve felt clean.
Giddiness almost makes me smile. Almost. The rustling of clothing stops the asshole from twitching at the door.
The entire time I’ve known him, he has been unnaturally still.
Freakishly so. I’m not sure he is aware that he is twitching.
I shouldn’t even care what he is doing, but I can’t help myself.
Something about him pulls me like a moth to a flame.
And I will burn myself. I know it as well as I know my name.
“And that’s how people die, April. Don’t be stupid.” I should’ve known he would hear me.
“You will not die. Whoever wants to hurt you will need to go through me first.”
God help me, I might be mentally unstable because I believe him about this, too. What has made me flip the switch to make me trust what he says? I have no idea. Whatever it was, it worked, because deep down in my soul, I know he told me the truth.
Kicking off my boots, I unbutton my jeans and let them pool at my feet.
I don’t wear a bra or panties. I never saw the point of it, keeping only one pair for when my period came.
It was the only time I wore underwear, and it was annoying as hell.
My skin pebbles when the cold air in the room hits it.
Unwilling to stand naked longer than necessary, I hurry inside the shower.
When I move, I think Sebastian stiffens, if that’s even possible.
Ignoring him, I jerk the door open, letting it slam closed behind me.
Fumbling with the controls, I yelp when a freezing-cold spray hits me.
I adjust the temperature fast, yelling at Sebastian at the same time, ‘‘I’m okay, don’t look.
’’ He says nothing and doesn’t turn. With the warm spray, steam surrounds me fast in the closed-up space.
I watch the black water swirl, disappearing in the drain at my feet.
A great sadness overwhelms me. It feels like I’m watching my life leave me in this nightmare I find myself in.
Tears mix with the water, running down my face.
“Start your story.” My voice is thick with pain and sorrow.
“Are you okay, April?” The concern in his words makes me want to curl up on the tiles and weep.
“I’m fine. Start talking or I’m coming out and leaving.” Brave words for a scared little girl like me.
“Many centuries ago, my Sire was obsessed with the history of our kind. He always thought there was more to it than what we’ve been told.
” His words take a faraway tone, and I can tell he is stuck in the memories.
Centuries? What the hell! How old is this guy?
I can’t wonder long because he keeps talking.
I’m paying attention in case he asks me to repeat something.
“He must’ve found something important because he died only an hour after telling me to meet him at his home.
There were no phones in those days like we have now.
We communicated through our bond. Sending messages through our feelings.
I never spoke to him again because I found him beheaded in the middle of his yard.
They never let him enter his home. I never found out who did it, but I had my suspicions.
That night, I took over his research while pretending for the world that I felt relieved to be rid of my Sire.
He was a cruel master, indeed, or so everyone thought.
In truth, he was very kind. His humanity never left him. ”
Sebastian trails off, no doubt reliving those days. I find myself leaning forward, listening to his story with bated breaths despite my reluctance to hear it. The water draining at my feet is not black anymore. It’s grayish, and sand gathers around the metal plate of the drain.
“I found out that he was looking for some prophecy to confirm that the Council was never meant to rule our kind. We had a matron, a queen if you may, that ruled for millennia. No one knew what happened to her. The records of her were passed on as tales, while overnight, the Council was born, taking over our lives. They’ve ruled with cruelty and without mercy.
They do so today the same way. Whoever mentioned the truth in the tales, they met the final death.
I never spoke a word about it, dismissing even the gossip publicly.
But I searched. I was losing hope after so long, until a year ago when I found an old parchment that gave me a lead. ”
“What did it say?” Yanking my fingers through my matted hair in hopes to detangle it, I can’t help prodding him to continue talking. Pouring a handful of conditioner into my palm, I rub my nest of hair with jerky movements. The water is running clear full of white suds at my feet.
“It spoke of the matron. Whoever wrote it must’ve been serving under her.
With a shaking hand, they wrote of an attack.
Eight masters forming an alliance. Greedy for power and wanting to rule over humans instead of living in the shadows, hiding our existence.
They waited until close to dawn and attacked together as one.
Our matron was strong, but not enough to fight off eight almost as old as her at once.
They didn’t just kill her. They brought a mage that placed a curse on her.
To be born over and over as human, not remembering who she was unless she was turned. ”
“I’m sure someone would’ve gotten lucky by now to find her in so many lives lived.” Even I don’t believe my own comment.
“True, but the mage did his own twist while playing with the fates. Her blood was made poison to all our kind. Whoever tried to turn her…well, he or she would die before that could happen.”
“O negative.” Blinking fast, I rinse off my hair because my eyes start burning when the conditioner drips in them. “Unless your matron can multiply, there were tons of people with that blood type. Sorry to disappoint you.”
“She has been reborn over and over through many lifetimes as human. I’m sure she’s had a family in quite a few of those.”
“You’re saying all the O negative are somehow related?” It is so crazy that it weirdly makes sense. “They all come from the same woman?”
“You all come from the same woman, yes.”
“Okay.” Dragging out the word, I turn the water off and twist my now detangled hair so I can squeeze the moisture out. “And the point of the story is?”
“There was a small glass vial that the parchment was wrapped around when I found it.”
My heart picks up the pace, thundering in my chest. Everything in me is telling me I don’t want him to finish the story. Curiosity has no bounds. I want to know. “What was in it?”
“It was blood from the original matron. She gifted it, knowing her time was running out. The person writing the story begged whoever found it to drink it and find her again. Her memory will return when she is reborn. I drank the blood and felt that she lives.”
“So, you searched for her.” Standing outside of the shower, goosebumps cover my naked skin but I’m too lost in his story and his voice to grab a towel.
“And I found her.” His words are soft and reverent.
“I’m not her, big guy. You are mistaken.” The words pass through numb lips. I can feel the truth of everything he said in my bones. “I’m just a broken, scared girl. Not a powerful mother of a race of monsters.”
“Your blood doesn’t lie, April.” He was about to break his promise and started turning around.
I was going to let him, standing naked in the middle of the bathroom, too numb to move.
The slamming of a door makes me jump a foot off the tiles.
Marcus bursts inside the bedroom somewhere behind Sebastian, or in front of him since his back is still turned to me.
“We have a problem.” His voice is shaking in anger. “They know about the girl. We’ve been summoned.”