The Seventh Sister, A Paranormal Romance (13 page)

When I fall off to sleep, Derek is still with me. We’re walking to school again, he’s holding my hand. I ask if he forgives me for kissing Vayle.

“Of course,” he sings.

“I think I wanted him in a sexual way, and really bad too. Is that okay?”

“Of course,” Derek says again.

“Do you want me in that same way?”

He runs a finger across my lips and then lowers his to kiss them. But it’s a soft, quick kiss.

“See,” he says, sounding unaffected. “It means nothing to me.”

I feel extreme residual heartache after hearing my mother yell my name and waking me up.

Both Vayle and I are at first shocked to see her. Her usual blue eyes are glowing orange, and the pretty soft features of her face have given way to hardness.

“Mom?” My pulse is racing.

“Selell?” Deanna growls, stabbing Vayle with her eyes.

I don’t know why, but I spread my arms out in front of him, protecting him from her.

“Mom, wait,” I say.

In her mind, it’s too late. She’s moving swiftly around the walls. She’s like a blur. When she’s done, all the curtains over the windows are all pulled. I never pull them because I like it dark inside.

It’s not a sunny day, but all the light from the rising sun flows in through the windows. I do believe that was her attempt to kill Vayle on the spot, but when he doesn’t burn her mouth and eyes are agape.

“Mom,” I shout louder and finally she looks at me. “Please.”

“Get away from him now, Zillael,” she orders me.

“No, but calm down so I can explain.”

She looks crazed. It’s insane.

“What are you?” she asks, more like orders Vayle to answer.

He glances at me before saying, “Vampire, I think.” He genuinely doesn’t sound sure of himself.

“You should’ve burned,” she says.

“I know,” he and I say at the same time.

“It’s because of me, we think,” I say.

Finally, her eyes turn blue again, and I sigh with relief.

“Move,” she orders, looking at me.

I’m still splayed in front of him, but only now do I realize that his arms are wrapped around me as well.

Vayle doesn’t budge until I say, “Okay.”

I slowly separate from him and when we’re apart, she does that blur movement thing and now she’s in his face, sniffing him.

Vayle and I watch her, confused.

“You
are
a vampire,” she confirms. “But I don’t understand why you didn’t burn.”

“So you were trying to kill him?” I sound horrified.

“Yes,” she answers bluntly and then side-eyes me as she mutters, “for your own good.”

Then out of nowhere Mr. Lux appears in the doorway holding that sword of his at his side. It looks like he’s postured to start the fight at any time.

At the moment, I’m reacting to a couple of things at once, but when Derek rushes up behind Mr. Lux and his eye s fall over my scantily clad body, getting myself covered becomes my first priority. I scramble for a blanket on the bed and pull it up over me.

I think it’s only when I cover myself that Deanna takes notice that I’m only wearing a pair of white cotton bikini cut panties and a white cotton full-coverage bra. I keep it simple. What’s odd is her eyes just sweep over me and that’s the total of her reaction. I would think a parent, especially a mother, would lose her mind. Deanna doesn’t, and for the first time, it’s crystal clear to me, she’s truly not my mother.

“Look, Lux,” she says to him precisely, meaning the curtains being pulled from the windows and Vayle there beside me untouched by the sunrays.

Mr. Lux looks from the windows to Vayle and then disengages his sword

Derek hasn’t taken his eyes off of me since he showed up, and I can’t stop trying to figure out what that expression he’s wearing on his face means. I’ve never felt so apologetic my entire life, although I’m not sure if I have to be so remorseful because he doesn’t look mad or hurt, just blank.

Chapter 7

Strangers in the Fog

We’re all in the living room, the area with the most windows, and all the curtains are pulled. I’ve been given time to put on a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt, and now I’m standing beside Vayle in the middle of the living room. He’s still under scrutiny, and I dare not leave his side, not when Mr. Lux, or Lux without the mister keeps his hand close to that deadly sword of his.

I also already told Deanna about the birthmarks and now she’s behind Vayle, lifting up his shirt studying the mark on his back.

“Derek, come see this,” she says.

Derek, who still hasn’t said anything yet, hesitates before walking over.

“Look,” Deanna says and then lifts my shirt to show him that I have the same mark.

When Derek touches me in that spot, I find myself catching a breath. Although Deanna is holding my shirt up, he takes it by the hem and gently lowers it.

“It’s the sign of the sun,” he concludes.

“Elaborate,” it sounds like she’s ordering him.

“One of the sisters shares the light with a Selell. Zill shares the sun with this one.”

“So they’re linked?”

Derek takes a long time to answer that. “They just share the sun, that’s all.” Surprisingly, he sounds defiant. I’ve never heard him speak in that tone before. “And we don’t know why yet,” he finishes saying.

“I think we’re linked,” Vayle says to my surprise, sneering at Derek, who sneers back.

“I don’t think so,” Derek counters.

“I do,” Vayle insists. “It makes sense. That’s why we have such a
physical
connection.”

“That’s what you
Selell’s
do best, right? Seduce? But seducing her kind doesn’t give you a connection, it makes you a creep.”

There’s a long continuous growl trapped in Vayle’s throat. Derek steps up to him, and now they’re standing nose to nose.

I’m in an awkward position, standing right beside this showdown.

“Hey,” Deanna cuts in, and she sounds really stern. She commands their attention. This is definitely a side of her I’ve never seen before. “The light connection with the Selell, you’re talking about Cl’auta mean?”

“Clarity?” I ask, using a highly inquisitive tone.

Derek, Mr. Lux and Deanna snap their attention to me.

“
Gon
me du
lej
?” Deanna says to me.

“Yeah, I can I understand.” She just asked if I understood her. But it was more like
, do you now hear
in English.

Deanna takes me by the shoulders and looks me dead in the eyes. “Zillael, you’re ready.”

“Ready for what?”

“Vampire,” she asks, still looking into my eyes. “What do you know about the Life Blood?”

Vayle and I give each this quick but confused glance.

“What’s Life Blood?” he asks.

The next thing I know Deanna his him by the neck and is squeezing. Even with her slender five-feet, four-inch frame, she looks so powerful, as if her hand can crush his neck into mush.

“I’m going to ask you one more time. What do you know about the Life Blood?”

I’m just bewildered to see her like this. Where’s my petite, blond mother who couldn’t hurt a fly but can negotiate extra life between a snake and a ferret?

“I’m not going to remove your hand from my throat because Zillael loves you,” Vayle says past clenched teeth.

“Mom, can you stop please?” I beg her.

She looks over at me and without debate she puts her hand down. That was too easy.

“I don’t know much about being what I am,” Vayle admits.

“This just happened to him last year,” I add in his defense.

“Wek,” Deanna calls.

“It’s true,” Derek confirms.

“Do you know the name of the vampire who did this to you?”

Sadness colors Vayle’s expression. He says, “No,” but I don’t believe him.

“You know a human can’t become a vampire unless they sacrifice their blood. Did you sacrifice your blood?” Deanna asks, continuing her interrogation.

“I don’t know, maybe,” Vayle answers and he looks so confused trying to recall.

“What happened?” I finally ask. My tone is very tender, and when I take a glance at Derek, he’s staring at me again.

“It was my birthday, and there were these strippers and Dan must’ve slipped me something. I can’t remember the rest.”

Deanna nods like she knows the scenario all too well.

“You were drugged,” she concludes. “And I heard three Selells were trying to feed on you, which means you were changed by an old generation vampire.”

“What does that mean?” I ask. I’m getting comfortable because it sounds like nobody in the room is going to attempt to kill Vayle. I walk over to the couch to take seat and Vayle does the same.

Derek instantly narrows his eyes at us. “I have to go,” he says and before I know it he shoots out of the room.

I chase after him, forgetting we were engaged in a discussion that would’ve given me more insight into the being Vayle is and why we’re so connected.

Derek is moving fast, but I catch up with him in the forest that would be a twenty minute walk away for a normal person.

“Derek,” I shout as I see him moving about fifty meters ahead of me.

He stops dead in his tracks.

“Derek,” I say again, and this time I’m standing right behind him, taking advantage of my ability to move as fast as lightening.

“Nothing happened between us,” I lie.

“You’re not telling me the truth, Zill. I can smell him on you.”

He said that so calmly.

“We did kiss but that’s it.”

He’s just standing there with his back to me. I’m thinking he’s only seconds from running away from me again. And I swear to myself that this time I’ll let him go because I think I’ve broken his heart and then tried to lie about it.

Instead he spins around to face me. “I’m not supposed to do this,” he says breathlessly.

“Do what?” And before I know it, Derek Firth, the Wek, has his arms wrapped around me and I think we’re kissing.

My eyes are closed, but my feet are off the ground and my head is floating away from my shoulders. It’s as if my mouth can’t get deep enough into his and my whole body wants to merge into his.

Time is passing and we’re on the ground now—the snow covered ground mixed with twigs, dead leaves and mud. We’re getting all wet and it’s cold as heck, but I don’t care; I don’t want to stop,
never ever want to stop.

I think Derek feels the same because his tank is on full, and I don’t think he’s going to run empty any time soon.

Then it happens. A thick fog flows over us. Before I know it, Derek pulls me up and we’re both on our feet.

“Let’s go,” he whispers.

He still has my hand as we race through the brush, breaking the record for the fastest speed I’ve ever ran.

“The fog means vampires, right?” I say as we break out of the tree line.

Derek stops, and I stop with him. “They’re close, Zillael.”

He somehow maneuvers us until we’re standing back to back. Then suddenly we’re joined by a third body. It’s Vayle.

The fog is thicker as it spreads over us. We can hardly see two feet ahead of us. Another body joins our circle. It’s Deanna.

“We keep her safe, Wek,” she whispers very low to Derek.

“Yes,” both Derek and Vayle say at the same time and then look at each other.

“I can fight myself, you know,” I say on my own behalf.

“Don’t do anything stupid,” Deanna warns me.

I roll my eyes. I mean really, nothing’s changed that much about me. I’ve never been a delicate little girl who needs stronger people to fight her battles.

“Wait,” Deanna says and tenses up. She’s right next to me and I sense that she’s listening to something far off. We’re all standing as still as possible. I can hear the rustling in the woods, and there are screams all around us.

Finally a wall of wind hits us hard. It’s strong, but it doesn’t move us a bit. After a moment, it feels like we’ve been caught in the eye of the storm because all the air is somehow curving around us and blowing past us.

This lasts for about a minute. When the wind subsides all the fog is gone. Even the sun above is visible as there’s no cloud coverage either. Instinctively we all look at Vayle.

“I’m not toast,” he says and throws up his hands.

I sigh in relief.

“What happened?” I finally ask.

“It’s the one with the power of the wind,” Derek answers.

“Who’s that? And what does that mean?” I ask.

“
Woah
. They’re hot like you, Zill,” Vayle says gazing straight ahead.

“Don’t call her that,” Derek snaps.

“I can call her what I want to,” Vayle snaps back.

“Hey, cut it out you two,” Deanna warns both of them.

Before Vayle can retort, I whisper, “Oh my gosh,” because I see them too.

There are two women walking towards us. One is dressed in all black. Black pants, long sleeved shirt and black shiny shoes on her feet. She catches my eye first because of how the contrast of the black against her glowing brown skin. The other woman is just as stunning. She’s wearing nicely fitted jeans, a long white sweater and knee-high black boots. Her hair is a ginger color and her skin rosy. They’re basically upon us now, and I can see that her eyes are the same color as Derek’s, emerald green. Also, both women have graceful swan-like necks. Other than skin color, they,
we
, look identical. Both of them are smiling at me.

“Cl’auta and Falu,” Derek whispers.

“That’s Clarity and Fawn?” I ask, but they’re already right in front of us.

“Yes, I’m Clarity,” the one wearing black says.

“I’m Fawn,” the one wearing the white sweater says.

“How about we talk over a cup of Goshem tea?” Clarity asks.

I just bob my head—finally, I know it’s come. My future away from Moonridge has just begun.

THE END