Daywalkers: The Awakening (The Daywalkers Series Book 1)
Page 7
The biggest question of all. Who had my mother’s body?
I poured myself a glass of tequila. The whole bottle wouldn’t help with how I felt.
I sighed when I realized I was no longer the only person in the study. This girl was going to be the death of me. I could sense it.
“We should really start locking our doors.”
I turned to look at Melinda. She walked into the study and sat down on the couch. “I’m sorry.”
She sounded so small when she spoke. Her words confused me. She had nothing to be sorry for.
“For?”
She looked down at the floor. “My family. They’re not good people. My mom and dad. They weren’t who I thought they were.”
She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. I tensed at the feeling I felt in my gut. I didn’t like seeing Melinda distraught. These tears were my fault. I shouldn’t have mentioned her parents. I stole something from her.
I ended up being the one to take her innocence. Another regret to add to the long list.
“I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“No,” she said, wiping away her tears. “I needed to know. You’re the first person in my life to actually tell me the truth.”
“I just wish that the truth didn’t hurt you. I didn’t want to hurt you Melinda.”
She smiled a sad smile. “You didn’t.”
I wanted to make her feel better. I needed to. “Melinda, once upon a time my family was your family. My family was a part of your coven. We hunted vampires. We killed so many of them. Until my mother was killed by one herself. After that, my father became unhinged.”
“What did he do?”
I shook my head. “That’s another long story to tell. My point is, you can’t blame your mom and dad for being who they were taught to be. They were taught to hate vampires, and so when they became them they had no choice but to do what they thought was right.”
She nodded her head, though I don’t think she was all that convinced.
“I know one thing though,” I continued.
“What’s that?”
I moved closer to her, sitting down next to her on the sofa. “They didn’t teach you to be like them. Which tells me they didn’t want you to carry around that kind of hate inside of you.”
Her eyes met mine as a gentle smile appeared on her lips. “I’m glad they didn’t.”
I looked into her eyes. Her beautiful hazel eyes. She wasn’t Elizabeth. I would never compare her to Elizabeth again, and if anyone tried to I’d argue to the death against the comparison.
Melinda was so much more than Elizabeth. She was beautiful, outside, but more importantly, inside.
She was gravitating towards me. I fought to look away. She deserved so much better than I had to give her. I didn’t want to ruin her life any more than I already did. But I couldn’t pull my gaze away from hers. I felt myself moving closer to her as well.
When her lips brushed against mine, it was the purest feeling I’d ever felt. It was a soft, gentle kiss. Our lips barely touched, but it felt so electrifying. When we pulled back, neither of us could move or say anything. We were both stunned at what had just happened.
“Aww, moving on from me?”
My blood went cold at the voice that filled the silence between us. I felt my body go numb as Melinda and I turned to look at our new guest. Perhaps intruder was the better word.
She stood up against the doorframe. She looked different, but I could tell it was her from miles away. The voice. The cold look in her eyes. The seductive smile.
“And here I thought I was your one true love.”
Melinda looked at me in question and then back at the woman.
“Elizabeth.”
Chapter 25—Scarlett
I walked into the house. It was abandoned. There was a time when it was the most beautiful home in this town. It was in shambles now. No one was around to maintain the upkeep and my children didn’t want the home because of the memories it brought back. The horrid memories. They didn’t recall that we also had good memories in this home.
Nonetheless, the house was a good place for privacy. My children couldn’t know what we were doing in here. No one could know.
Andrew was in what used to be the dining room. When he saw me, he looked at me with rage. “It took you long enough! I’ve been waiting for over three hours.”
“Andrew, patience is a virtue you’d be wise to adopt.”
“Lord knows you have enough for the both of us.”
I smiled. I had patience alright. Centuries worth of it. My patience was beginning to run thin though. Andrew wasn’t being forthcoming with the information he was providing to me. He was the reason I was still using the bodies of random witches. He owed me his honesty.
“You didn’t tell me that our children’s lives were linked to the Sinclair bloodline.”
“Oops.”
“That was your plan all along though. You wanted me to kill Alexander so that the Sinclair line would perish, including the body I now possess.”
Andrew shrugged. “I’m not keen on you using our daughter to live forever.”
I narrowed my glare at him. “Theodora has grown to be a strong, beautiful woman. She’s so powerful. It was so difficult not to tell her who I really am. My daughter.”
“And yet you intend to use her for your malicious ways.”
I glared at Andrew with such hatred. “You destroyed her. You destroyed all of our children when you turned them into vampires.”
“Being a vampire doesn’t have to be a bad thing. I’ve killed tons during my time as a vampire. Our children allowed it to overtake them. Most of them are weak. But not Theodora.”
I scoffed at his words. “She’s killed many.”
“Not like the rest of them though. She killed for survival and she feels guilt for the things she has done. She can be saved. She can continue the legacy of our family. She can be a vampire that hunts vampires. You don’t have to take over our daughter’s body.”
“I won’t be at full power until I do! Do you think I want to take our daughter’s body? I take no joy in this. But it’s what I must do if I want to have the power we need.”
He looked away from me. He was angry. He knew I was right. We needed Theodora if we wanted to succeed.
“I intend to right your wrong and continue what our family first set out to do. I’m going to rid this world of all vampires. And I’m going to use our daughter to do it.”
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Book 2 Coming Soon