Chapter 19 #2
“Right. Sorry about that.” I make a gesture, and suddenly the pig explodes into a full-sized vamp, who frantically oinks a few times before he sheepishly stops, draw himself to his full height, and glides gracefully across the lawn.
Layla folds her hands in front of her as if it’s hard to keep from touching her brothers now.
“I always wanted to introduce you to my family,” Layla forges on, faking normalcy to an impressive degree. “We have some things to discuss. But Aiden, Reid, this is Abel. Abel, these are my twin brothers. Aiden and Reid.”
She takes a deep breath. We could probably all use one of those. Then she asks, “Will you come in and talk?”
Reid glances at Aiden, and Aiden, after a second, jerks his head in a nod.
Abel’s eyes return to our group. “I’m pretty sure these are the gods that have been asking about us. Are you sure they’re your brothers? Gods are dangerous tricksters who--”
“Dangerous? Like making someone crash their damn car into a tree for fun?” Aiden’s voice is low and frightening.
“We’ve been at war with the hive that tried to hurt Layla ever since.” Abel pulls himself to his full height, and I have a feeling he wants to fight Aiden as much as Aiden wants to hurt him. “Do not make the mistake of thinking all vampires are the same.”
Aiden scoffs. “You look the same from here.”
Abel returns his gaze coolly. “Then why are you even still talking to your sister?”
“Enough,” Layla says, looking back and forth between the two of them with a look of exasperation written across her face. “Abel, will you give us some time, please? Make your wife happy.”
There’s a note of steel in her voice, but it makes him smile.
“Of course, my love.” He brushes his lips across her forehead, somehow kissing her while never taking his eyes off Aiden. “I’ll be near if you need me.”
It’s a warning for us as much as a promise to her.
“I think I can handle these boys,” she tells him, sounding frustrated with us all, but teasing too. “I always have.”
Abel jerks his head in a nod and walks toward the house.
The four guys face her, weapons in hand.
“Come on,” she says, leading us toward the house. “Normally, I ask guests to take off their shoes and leave their weapons in the coat closet, but today I’ll make an exception.”
“Cute,” Aiden mutters to Reid as we follow her.
“Sure sounds like Layla,” Reid says back, his voice quiet.
“When I came out of the grave, Abel was there.” She looks toward Abel as he enters the house, her eyes adoring, and I don’t know what to make of that. “He told me I could never go back. I could never have my old life again. You know how well humans do understanding the supernatural.”
“No.” Aiden squeezes his eyes shut. “You’re dead. I killed you.”
“Fuck.”
I jerk when I hear Reid swear.
Anger glistens in his eyes. “You let Aiden think he killed you all these years? Do you know what that did to him? Do you know how that destroyed him?”
Layla starts to cry. “I glamour myself when I go in town, but I’ve seen you guys. You seemed to be doing well.”
“We weren’t!” Reid roars. “We thought our sister was dead!”
“I’m sorry,” she says, and her voice hitches.
Tension sings between us all, and I get the sickening feeling that this moment will change our lives forever. I want to reach out and smack Layla for hurting them. Hell, I want to see what my godly powers can really do. But in my heart, I know it isn’t revenge that will repair their broken hearts.
“We became gods recently,” I say, lifting the volume of my voice and meeting her teary eyes. “It hasn’t been easy, but we also haven’t told our families. We knew this was dangerous, and we knew this was too much for them.”
She nods slowly. “The supernatural world isn’t a place for humans.”
“It’s not,” I say, then can’t help but add, “but you owe them one hell of an apology after all they’ve gone through, and you need to understand if it takes them time to forgive you.”
Layla brushes the tears from her cheeks and looks at her brothers. “I am sorry. You have no idea how sorry. I didn’t want any of this. I didn’t want to lose you.”
Aiden doesn’t answer. He just squeezes his eyes shut and looks away.
Reid moves to his brother and grips his shoulder until Aiden looks at him. Something passes between them, and I think they might hug, but they just stand together. Some of the tension eases from Aiden’s face.
“You’ve grown into men,” she says, so softly. “I saw you from a distance, but you’ve even changed since then.”
“It’s the whole ‘god thing’.” Van’s voice holds a protective edge.
“Gods?” Layla repeats, and there’s an edge of disbelief in her voice.
“Vampires?” Van repeats back, a sneer in his voice.
She draws herself up taller. “Good point.” Then looks back at her brothers. “Want to…come in? We can…talk?”
I answer for them. “Yes.” They have so many questions. They deserve to have them answered, even if they’re upset.
Layla leads us across the lawn, up the steps to a wide front porch made homey with hanging pots of flowers and benches with throw pillows.
It’s hard to imagine vampires sitting on their front porch, enjoying the sunshine or watching the rain, but then, there’s so much I don’t understand about the human world.
I notice that Van and Wilder walk in front of us, as if their massive bodies might protect Reid and Aiden from the heartache they’re experiencing.
As terrible of a situation as we’re in, I smile.
No matter what we’re going through, there’s something amazing about the fact that we all have each other's backs.
Especially knowing that Wilder and Van are one wrong word away from destroying this entire damn place, if it could give the twins even a moment of peace.
Following her through a two-story entryway, we enter a room modernly decorated, with a sitting room of pure white couches, a sleek black table, and a bar to one side.
She moves to the couches, then gestures for us to sit. “Would you guys like something to drink?”
“No blood for me, thanks,” Van says, that same protective note to his voice.
“We have more than just blood.”
He shrugs his big shoulders. “I think we’re okay.”
I sit in the middle of the twins on the big couch, and Wilder and Van sit on the arms of the couch. Layla lowers herself into the white, highbacked chair, and smoothes down the skirt of her short, red dress.
“So, what would you like to know?”
Aiden’s eyes hold an unmeasurable pain. “Everything, Layla. Every reason that you ruined my life.”