Epilogue
Bella
One Week Later
The house was explained away by a gas leak.
Only two victims in the tragedy, the news had told the world.
Yet as I look down at my brother’s grave, I know there are so many more victims than just two.
My entire family is gone; the life I used to know is gone.
And now, every day is a daily struggle to get a grip on the new life I am living.
I turn my attention to the grave next to it.
It is for Isobella, though it lies empty.
We found nothing of her remains, yet the headstone reads her name.
Isobella. I didn’t know Latham had done that until I got here.
Not only did she have a resting place, but so did the old version of me that died when my brother did. Now I was just Ari. A new beginning.
Addie has been trying to help, yet I still struggle. She promised it would get better, and I believe her, but for now, I remained close to my demons, safely tucked away in Latham’s apartment in Soya.
Latham had Brian’s body brought here for the funeral, and today is been the first day I have left the apartment.
Who would have thought craving blood would have this much control over somebody?
I have no idea how Addie works around humans all day, how she keeps herself under control.
Because even here, with not a person in sight, I struggle not to hunt someone down and feast on them.
Latham’s hand fall on my shoulder. “You ready?” he whispers, and I nod, looking at the grave of my brother one last time.
Addie stands by the car under a tree. She has flown straight to Soya the next day and has remained since, but today she is going home to her family. I would miss her, but I know Blaine, Xavier, and Latham would keep me in check.
Turning around, I Ieave the cemetery and walk toward Addie, who is leaning against the car, talking to Blaine.
They stop talking when they see me approaching.
Brian may have been a shitty brother, but he was still my brother, and I loved him regardless.
However, the thought of now having no one gnaws at me.
Not even my own identity, yet I have my demons.
And not just physically; I now fight demons I never thought possible, the demon that craves blood and has an appetite that can't be satisfied.
“I have to head home, but I will try to come back soon,” Addie says, embracing me.
Her scent doesn’t affect me like my mates, so I am nervous knowing she is leaving. Xavier comes over when she lets me go and wraps his arms around my waist, and I watch as she climbs in her car, waving as she leaves.
“Don’t be upset. You will see her again,” Blaine says, coming over to me and kissing my forehead. Latham sighs while my eyes move back toward the cemetery.
“Let's go home,” I murmur, wanting to leave this place.
As much as I hate being cooped away in the apartment, it gives me massive anxiety leaving it. Another thing Addie said would go away. I hope she is right; otherwise, my mates are going to have boring lives trapped in it with me, not that they would complain.
* * *
A Month Later
Latham
In a month, she has come so far as I watch her get changed out of her pajamas getting ready for the day.
Her excitement bubbles within me and it is hard not finding it contagious.
Ari is one that needs mental stimulation, she craves a challenge, and today would be her biggest one; she is going back to work.
When she heard Cyrus and Eli’s office had finally reopened in Soya she instantly put her hand up.
They needed help on the tech floor, and I couldn't deny her.
It was the first time I had seen her excited about something, and she barely slept last night with her excitement.
Blaine steps into the room with a towel draped low on his waist. Her eyes look him over hungrily, and he smirks at her.
Her hunger is coming forward as his scent teases her, and as soon as Xavier steps out of the bathroom behind him, she pounces on them, their scents overwhelming her.
Blaine wrestles her, laughing as she tries to overpower him.
I move my legs just in time as he pins her to the bed where they are. I shake my head at them.
“Don't get her riled up Blaine. She needs to keep her head,” I tell him worriedly, not that any humans work at this office.
Most of them are part of Eli’s pack. Also Ari's appetite is different from most vampires’.
Cyrus thinks it’s because she fed off me first; she craves demon blood above anything else.
Cyrus finds her appetite fascinating and is always asking her endless questions.
Cyrus once told me I smelled like burned almonds. I shake my head at the memory.
Yet with the way Ari looks up at Blaine like he is her favorite meal. Blaine bends down and pecks her lips softly, only for her to bite his bottom one and moan. He nips at her lips, making her let go, and Xavier smacks Blaine’s ass.
“Let her go. You’re distracting her,” he growls, and Blaine wiggles his eyebrows at her.
I roll my eyes at his playfulness. It is all fun and games until the fangs come out, which would be any second.
That assumption was correct as she wraps her legs around his waist and flips their positions before sinking her fangs into him.
Blaine grips her arms, trying to fight her off, but she growls, overpowering him; she always does when her bloodlust takes over her.
Blaine squeals when she bites him again.
Xavier clicks his tongue, grabbing her around the waist and hauling her off, and Ari laughs, wiping her mouth.
“That hurt,” Blaine whines, and I realize, she’s not only fed on him but bit his ear too.
“You were making me late,” she growls, yet I can see she still wants to feed on him.
“You were warned,” I tell Blaine as he sulks. He can be annoyingly clingy, especially with her. Though I am glad it isn’t with me anymore and she is his new obsession; however, the fool doesn’t know when to stop.
I shake my head as he growls playfully, sassing her up.
Idiot. Vampires love the hunt, and she would make him her prey.
Ari huffs, trying to ignore him as she continues to button up her blouse when Blaine uses his nail, slicing his chest. His blood trickles down, and she freezes and growls at him.
She holds her breath, and Xavier helps her button the last few buttons when Blaine runs his nail across his neck, tearing the flesh.
“Blaine!” Xavier scolds before shaking his head.
Xavier lets her go, and I can tell she will not be leaving for work today.
As he riles her up, and she will make him pay for it, and pay for it he does when she pounces on him.
Though instead of fighting her, he grips her hips as her legs wrap around his waist. She sinks her fangs into him, and he grunts.
“I give up,” Xavier says, tossing his arms in the air.
“I hope she drains you,” he curses at Blaine, stomping off while Blaine chuckles, wrestling her off, but she is locked onto him like a viper.
“Latham?” Blaine chokes after a few seconds.
“You were warned,” I repeat, pulling my phone from my pocket and texting that she wouldn’t be in today.
Reaching for the nightstand, I grab my newspaper and reopen it. While Blaine struggles to get her off.
“Xavier?” Blaine rasps, falling on the bed beside me and jostling me.
She wouldn’t kill him, but she would knock him out by draining him. Maybe that is her plan so he would stop annoying her. His arms flail, and I chuckle as she overpowers him, arousal flooding into me, and I raise an eyebrow at her as she rocks her hips against him.
“Okay, you can drain me,” Blaine mumbles, gripping her hips and rolling them against him.
Xavier walks back into the room and leans on the doorframe with his arms folded, staring at them. “He never learns.”
“Apparently not,” I tell him as his arms fall to his sides, and he passes out. Xavier rolls his eyes before walking over to her and gripping her hair; he tugs her head back.
“You drained him, love,” he tells her, pecking her lips and letting her go.
She looks down at Blaine and pouts before turning her head toward me, her blood-red eyes looking at me.
“Don’t even think about it,” I tell her, knowing she is now entirely consumed with the need to feed. This is one thing I hate when Blaine riles her up.
Xavier and I are left to control her afterward.
Xavier laughs as she eyes me, and I try to ignore her hungry gaze.
I know what she wants; she wants to hunt us, wants us to fight back, an instinct she can’t indulge in outside these walls.
I set my newspaper down. We have created a monster out of her, yet she is our monster.
And there is nothing she loves more than fighting her demons.
The End