Betrayal (Vanish Book Two) (11 page)

“Hey,” Rose said as she jumped up.

“Look Violet, I’m sorry, but you should just
go on pretending I’m dead; it will be much easier that way.”

“Wait Scarlett, what’s wrong?” She asked.

“Your daughters don’t want me to get to know
you, and I guess I’m just going to have to accept that.”

“You don’t have to listen to your little
sisters; they’re just jealous,” she reasoned.

“Well this is what just jealousy gets me.” I
took my sleeve away from my neck. I felt the blood dripping
down.

“Oh my god what happened?” Rose shrieked.

“Your sister—I think she said her name was
Sienna—cut me with a piece of glass.”

“I’ll talk to her that doesn’t mean you
can’t—”

“It does, at least for now. I’m sorry,” I
interjected.

“Look, I’m not saying it was okay what Sienna
did, but how could you do that to our mom? She didn’t do anything.
I should have just stuck with my intuition and not said a
word.”

“I’m sorry, I’m not saying that I don’t ever
want to get to know you,” I looked over at Violet. “But I think
they need to get used to the idea first.”

“No you’re right. I should go home and have a
talk with them,” Violet replied.

“Don’t be too hard on them; they don’t want
to lose all of your attention. You said it yourself; you may have
neglected them a bit. So spend some time with them, show them that
nothing will get worse with me being around, and then when they’re
okay with it, let me know.” I smiled. I could sound as tough— and
quite frankly, rude—as I wanted, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t
killing me.

“Okay,” she smiled.

“And one more thing, I don’t know how this
whole, reuniting-with-the-mother-you-can’t remember-after-years
thing works, but it feels kind of weird calling someone you just
met ‘Mom.’”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, honey, I
understand.”

I felt like crap, why did I just say that? I
guess I would need some time to get to know her before I felt
comfortable calling her that. Or maybe it was the fact that I
called Ann ‘Mom’ for so long before finding out she wasn’t actually
my mom. Either way, she seemed okay with it, so I just bit my
tongue and smiled. I walked them out, as they were leaving, I gave
each of them a hug. Rose stayed behind for a minute to talk.

“I guess I understand, but I don’t know how
long it will take them to get used to the idea of you being around.
So in the meantime, do you think we could hang out?” she asked.

“Sure.” I smiled.

As she walked away, Dante came up behind me
and put his hand on my shoulder.

“I know that was hard for you, I’m sorry. I
think you did the right thing,” Dante admitted.

“I don’t need you to give up your life for
me, and I don’t need your sympathy either.” Each word stung. I
needed him. I couldn’t dispute that, but if he felt he was giving
his life up for me, there was no way this could end well—and it
would end.

“Yeah, you were a little rude to them, too. I
don’t know what you want from me, Scarlett,” Dante grumbled.

“I thought I made it clear that I didn’t want
you to give anything up for me. How could you say you gave your
life up for me? I didn’t ask you to, and if you feel that way you
can leave.”

“I’m not going to leave you,” he
whispered.

“Well if you really feel the way it sounded
like you felt earlier, I’m not worth giving your life up over.” I
walked back into the house.

“Oh come here, let me bandage that up for
you,” Elizabeth said as I walked through the door.

“Thanks,” I smiled. “I hope you don’t think I
was being a brat; I just can’t deal with any more right now. I’m so
happy I found my mother, and that I have sisters,” I felt the tears
coming. “I’ve always wanted a sister, then I find out I have three,
but only one is willing to accept me.”

“They’ll come around. They’re stubborn, but
they always do,” Elizabeth assured.

“How didn’t you know immediately when you saw
me? I mean we all look so much alike,” I wondered.

“I definitely saw the resemblance, so did
Lily and Cooper well…” she shuddered, “…I can’t explain that one.
But Violet had gone through so much, and you didn’t know, so I
needed to wait and see.” Then it hit me.
Cooper
. That’s why
he was so freaked out, but why would he go for someone who looked
like his cousins anyway?

“I guess that’s understandable...” I
shrugged.

“I thought you were dead, just like they did.
But when I heard your name and when I saw you, I don’t know what I
thought. Some crazy coincidence, not to mention I hadn’t seen
Violet in quite some time before tonight, they actually just moved
back to the area. I was expecting them to visit soon.”

“They live in walking distance… I don’t
understand. When did they move back?” I asked.

“A week or so ago I got a call from her that
they were coming, but they had a lot going on with moving in and
all, and we’ve had quite a bit to deal with here as well,” she
explained.

“I guess you’re right. I just want to make
sure I’m not missing anything; I can’t deal with any more
surprises.”

“I know. So Sienna really did this to
you?”

“Yeah, she didn’t mean to cut me, or so she
says, but either way she had the broken glass to my throat,” I
replied.

“Well, as far as I remember she was always
the trouble maker,” she laughed. “There, all done. Keep an eye on
that cut, it could get infected.”

“Thanks, Elizabeth.”

“What’s wrong?” She asked. “I can tell this
isn’t about Violet or Sienna, so what is it?”

“Earlier Dante said he gave up his life for
me, I guess it hurt a lot more than he meant it to.”

“Oh come here,” she held her arms out. “That
boy loves you; I can see it. You just need to talk to him, and try
to hear him out before you say anything.”

“Yeah, you’re right,
Aunt
Elizabeth,”
I smiled.

“Ah you’re my favorite niece,” she smiled
back. “Just don’t tell the others,” she elbowed me.

“I’m going to go talk to Dante,” I said as I
walked to the door.

“Good luck,” she called from the kitchen.
When I opened the door, I realized Dante had been waiting
outside.

“Please just talk to me,” he said as I walked
up to him. I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him.

“I love you, and it would really hurt if you
left, but I don’t want you to feel like you’re giving up anything
to be with me.”

“I don’t, I only said that to convince you
not to go out there I didn’t want you to get hurt,” he reassured
me.

“Are you sure? Because if you’re not—”

“I’m sure. I’ve never been more sure of
anything in my life. This is hard, but I wouldn’t give you up for
anything,” he promised.

“Why does this have to be so hard?” I whined,
not expecting him to answer.

“We were born this way; it’s not going to be
easy, but we could try to be a little more understanding of each
other.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry.” I rested my head
on his chest.

“Let’s go home,” he said as he put his arm
around me.

As we walked, I thought about what Elizabeth
said when she told me about how all of this began. If we could find
a couple of the necklaces she talked about, we could be normal, we
wouldn’t have to deal with all of it.

When we got inside and Dante shut the door,
he had a smirk on his face.

“What?” I smiled.

“I just realized…we have the whole house to
ourselves.”

“Oh, uh yeah… I guess we do,” I mumbled.

“Chill,” he laughed. “Do you want to watch a
movie or something?”

“Alright,” I smiled. As he dug through the
cabinet by the TV, I couldn’t help but realize how normal this
felt. Even though we were in the middle of a forest that glowed,
even after everything we’d been through, it was possible to feel
normal again. “I was thinking…” I blurted.

“Yeah?” he replied.

“Elizabeth said something about necklaces
giving powers or taking them away….”

“No, Scarlett we can’t. Whoever is after us
would still be after us, we would just be more vulnerable.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” I shrugged.

“You pick. I’ve never heard of any of these,”
he said as he walked away from the cabinet and sat on the
couch.

“Okay.”

I looked through every last movie, and I’d
never heard of any of them either. We ended up watching some horror
movie from the seventies that I picked at random. I didn’t even
look to see what it was called, and I didn’t pay much attention to
it while it was playing. I could feel Dante’s eyes on me, every
time I would look; he looked away. This went on for at least twenty
minutes, and then I couldn’t take it anymore.

The next time I caught him looking at me,
before he could look away, I put my hand on his cheek and looked
over at him. We stared into each other’s eyes for what seemed like
eternity. With each passing second, our faces moved closer until
our lips met. The smell of his cologne was alluring, not
overpowering like most, but it was familiar and not just the fact
that he’d worn it before.

“Are you wearing the cologne that I got you
for your birthday?” I wondered.

“Yeah,” he blushed. “Well not exactly, I
figured you must have liked the smell, so I’ve worn it every day
since you got it for me. Even when you were in the hospital, it
reminded me of you. I actually had to buy another bottle.” We both
laughed. Once we could keep our faces straight, he brought his lips
back to mine.

After a while, we fell asleep there on the
couch. I didn’t dream, but I slept great, which with everything
going on, was a surprise.

When I woke up, I was alone on the couch. The
sun shined through the house. I had an eerie feeling, like
something bad would happen today. I shook it off and got up to look
out the window; it was a beautiful day. I could feel the warmth of
the sun through the window. I took a deep breath as I stared out. I
turned to walk over to the stairs to yell up and see if Dante was
home. I saw bloody hand prints on the walls.

“Dante,” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
“Dante,” my voice cracked. I noticed a trail of blood through the
house. He didn’t answer. I checked every room, but he wasn’t there.
I ran over to see Elizabeth. I barged in the door.

“What’s wrong?” She gasped.

“Dante’s missing, have you seen him? There
was blood all over the living room,” I cried.

“No I haven’t. George?” She called
upstairs.

“Yeah?” he replied as he came downstairs.

“Dante’s missing. You and Cooper go look for
him; we’ll catch up in a minute I need to talk to Scarlett.”

“Alright, I’ll go get Cooper.” He found him,
and they went running out of the house.

“What do you need to talk to me about?” I
wondered.

“You know what happened with Grace?” she
asked.

“Yeah,” I said, fidgeting around; we really
should be out there helping to look for Dante.

“We found him,” George said as he busted
through the door. Elizabeth looked apprehensive. She followed
behind me as I raced out the door. He was covered in blood; I
didn’t care I jumped up into his arms.

“Are you okay?” I cried.

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine.”

“What happened?” I worried.

“Whoever was in the woods broke into the
house, they tried to kill me, but I took care of it,” he was so
calm.

“You killed them?” I choked.

“Yes.”

“What did you do with the body?” I
demanded.

“It’s gone, there’s nothing to worry about,”
he assured me. Elizabeth stood not too far away from him, just
staring at him.

“You’re sure that’s how it went?” She asked
with skepticism.

“Yeah it is.” He enunciated each word.

“What did I say to you last night, when
Scarlett left to go chase the person who was in the woods?” She
questioned.

“What? Why?”

“Just answer me,” she said, her voice was
calm.

“I need to take a shower. I’ll see you guys
later,” he said before he left. I went to follow him, but Elizabeth
grabbed my arm.

“What?” I asked.

“You don’t think he was being a little
odd?”

“He just killed someone, of course he was
being a little odd,” I snapped. “I’m sorry—“

“I have a bad feeling about this,” she
whispered.

“I know there’s a lot going on, but we don’t
have to be afraid of Dante.” I turned around and walked away.

Dante was in the shower upstairs; the
downstairs bathroom was free, and I needed a shower as well. Once I
was done and dressed in my usual attire of blue jeans and a
T-shirt, I went downstairs to find Dante on the couch.

“I was thinking…” he started, “what if we
went for a walk in the woods today, it’s safe; whoever was out
there is gone now.”

“Alright, let’s wait until my hair dries.
It’s a little chilly out.”

“Okay,” he agreed. The phone rang.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Hey Scarlett, It’s Rose. I was wondering if
you wanted to hang out today?”

“Hold on a minute,” I said and put the phone
against my shirt. “It’s Rose, do you mind if she comes with
us?”

He stopped to think for a moment. “Sure.”

“Rose?”

“Yeah,” she answered.

“Dante and I were going to go for a walk in
the woods in a little while; you can come if you want,” I
offered.

“Alright, I’ll be over in a few,” she said
with excitement.

“Okay, see you then, bye.”

I was happy that one of my sisters liked me.
It was a dream come true to find out I had sisters. I just wished I
would have known them all my life, and Violet, too, that would make
all of this a whole lot easier.

“What’s going on?” Dante asked.

“She’ll be here in a little while.”

“Oh, okay.” I sat down next to him.