CHAPTER THIRTY #2
He didn’t want this. I failed him. I fucked up. I can’t believe I’m so fucking stupid.
“That can’t happen,” Lexi snarled. “He would never see the sunset on the beach again. He would never smile in the surf under the sun…”
“He wouldn’t,” Alexius confirmed unnecessarily. “How bad are your injuries, Lexi? Before I talk to your pack, I need a detailed rundown.”
“A long cut to the ribs. Four inches long, but not deep. I’m halfway done stitching it up now and plan to glue it, which will hopefully keep it from bleeding anymore. A knot to my head. Henry threw me into the kitchen counter. I was knocked out until Everly got there and started calling for me.”
“How did the knife wound happen?”
“It’s embarrassing, but I had grabbed it as a weapon, and when I was thrown…”
“It happens.”
Alexius was being very fair to Lexi, and I could hear the man who trained me.
It reminded me that Alexius was a good teacher, especially for combat.
He could be forgiving, patient, and nonjudgmental.
Lexi was also someone he didn’t know and had to be careful with because of her status as a werewolf.
“Please don’t tell them that,” Lexi groaned.
“I’ll tell them it happened while you were defending Declan and that’s all.” Alexius was dry. I knew he didn’t care about lying to her parents. For her pride was an interesting reason.
“I will let you two keep moving. I will call everyone else for you as I follow.”
“See you there. Hopefully, with Declan… and Henry already dead,” I said, then hung up.
There had been more I wanted to say. I wanted to rant and rage about how this was my fault.
Too slow to see the signs. Still trying to figure out which ones I had missed.
How could he get the jump on me like that?
But not in front of Lexi. To her, I had to be the one who knew where to go and what to do and believed that we could save Declan.
I have to believe I can save Declan.
“This drive is going to take longer than an hour,” Lexi said, looking at the map. “I actually think it’s an hour and a half. And he’s way out there. His property is secluded.”
“Fuck,” I muttered.
“Yeah…” Lexi sighed. “I guess we can talk?”
“I can tell you just how messed up our uncle is,” I countered. Lexi needed to know before she had to confront him a second time.
“Sure.”
“Vampires have issues with addictions and obsessions. No matter the vampire, it’s just…
part of what we are. I deal with the blood problem by just not feeding from humans.
The obsessions are harder.” I swallowed, then licked my lips, knowing there was something about me that was obsessed.
In fact, it was directly opposed to Henry’s.
He was obsessed with us as his perfect family, and now he was probably going to make Declan a vampire.
I was obsessed with Declan’s humanity. I had fucking died for it, after all.
“Okay.” She just stared at me, listening. Actively listening. I didn’t like it.
“And sometimes, those things clash or combine. It’s personal shit. Well, Henry… Henry was Turned a long time ago and leveraged his new vampire life to get his sister and her children work in that nest. I think my brother or I have mentioned this before.”
“Yes.”
“Okay, well, Henry was then pretty obsessed with us, it seems. Not just Declan and me, but like, having his human family around. Each generation that decided to stay, he grew very attached to. But our dad died when we were young. When I was twelve and Declan was fifteen.”
“He told me about your dad. I don’t know the pain myself, and I never want to. I’m sorry you two had to.”
“Yeah…” I blinked. I was angry, and talking about my dad dying was sad. I didn’t like or need all these emotions right now. I just needed the anger.
“Well, we didn’t know why, but Henry disappeared.
Then Alexius learned recently for me that Henry had actually been exiled.
I was hoping to confront Henry tonight about that because no one ever left the reason he was exiled written down.
” Though I had an idea now. One I refused to entertain.
“But what I’m getting at is that Henry is deeply obsessed with family.
The idea of it, the want for it, the desperation, which must make being lonely catastrophic for him. ”
“And if he’s been exiled and robbed of any connection to you and Declan as children, he must have gotten really lonely.”
“Yes. It seems to have driven him mad. Alexius told me earlier that Henry made the vampires everyone has been looking for. The girls have red hair. The boy has blond hair.” I looked sideways at Lexi as she grimaced.
“Oh. That’s… just really disturbing.”
“Exactly. So, he’s going to die tonight.
He has to die tonight. He will never let this rest. He’s proven he is incapable of controlling his obsession and moving on.
” And I was worried that was genetic. I had to be objective.
There was a strong chance that we were too late.
It didn’t take that long for a motivated vampire to drink all that blood, then feed their own to the victim.
“What confuses me is that this is where he raised his vampires, then he freed them in L.A. for some unknown reason. Why come back to a place that can be discovered?” I asked myself out loud, knowing Lexi couldn’t possibly have an idea about that.
“He’s not thinking rationally,” she said simply, and I gave her a flat look. “Am I wrong?” she continued, tilting her head.
“No. I just don’t like that you’re right, and it frustrates me.”
“I am here for Declan, and if you can’t get over your grudge with me—”
“You’re a threat to his humanity,” I hissed. “Don’t you get that? I lied to him and died later on to protect his humanity, and you are a threat to it.”
“Doesn’t look like I’m the real threat right now,” she said, lips pursed, but there was a twitch that made me wonder if she was fighting a snarl. “You spent so much time judging me that your uncle snuck under your nose and got to him.”
It was a slap in the face.
I had no choice but to take it. She loved my brother. It was clear in her eyes. It was clear in her choices tonight. It was clear just because she was in the car.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “There it is. My obsession. I… didn’t realize how strong it was until he decided to forgive you and continue trying to make it work. I… I just need time. I know you care. I do. He… cares so much about you. He loves you so much, you have no idea.”
“He and my father like to think I don’t know,” she said, smiling, but it was so sad. “I knew. I knew why he invited you out here. I’m sorry for not treating you better when we met.” She crossed her arms, protective of herself, her expression thoughtful. “How did you die?”
I told her the story. The third person to find out while I was on this so-called vacation. Declan, I had expected in some way. Henry, while unexpected, made sense. Lexi was in the realm of feeling like an alternative timeline. Nothing made sense anymore.
“You laughed at him?”
“I fucking laughed in his face. I had won. He murdered our mother and made me cover it up. He tormented me. I lived in fear… and for just a fucking moment, he was terrified. And I laughed. I wasn’t afraid.
I was going to die, knowing I’d won. It was…
the most powerful I had ever felt for just a split second. ”
“No wonder Alexius thinks you would beat me in a fight. That’s actually crazy.”
I looked at her, feeling a bit offended, but she was smiling.
“My mom would really like you,” she said softly. “But she’s a Viking, and to die gloriously on the battlefield is her ultimate idea of a good death. To go to Valhalla.”
“You’re here. I think she would like you, too, if you don’t think she does.”
“I think sometimes I don’t walk the path she wants, but it’s hard to know what path that is. I’m closer with my dad.”
“Fair. Just ask her, though. Ask her while you have her.”