Page 57 of Clouded by Envy

Bray left and found Wes working on the garden—he lifted his head in her direction and gave her a smile. “Glad you’re back. You can come over here and help me real quick.”

“You seem to be handling the garden well all by yourself,” Bray said mischievously as she approached him.

Wes let the yellow measuring tape slide back into its container. “Maybe it’s just a reason to get you over here.”

The expression on her face faltered.

“What’s wrong?” Wes asked, setting down the measuring tape.

“I was with Brenik.” Bray knew she probably shouldn’t say anything because she loved her brother so much. But with everything he had done, it would be wrong to keep it from Wes. She didn’t want to break this special thing that was blossoming between them.

“Your brother?”

“Yes. Listen. I—uh—have something to tell you,” Bray stuttered.

Wes’s back straightened, and his face grew concerned. “Are you leaving?”

“No, it’s not that. He’s supposed to come by the house, possibly tomorrow.” Bray wasn’t sure if he would really show up, or if she would have to hunt him down.

“He does live in the tree, right?” Wes glanced up toward the tree hole.

“Well… So, he’s not small anymore,” Bray mumbled, tapping the ends of her fingers together.

His eyebrows both lowered, causing a crease to form in between. “Okay, so he’s like you now?”Close, but not quite.

“Not exactly. He, um … went to the Stone of Desire and it granted him his wish to become human. But it came with a price. Brenik had this fear of withering and growing old like Ruth, so his desire was to stay young, not just to become human. To stop him from progressing in age naturally, there is a terrible hunger he must live with if he wants to stay young. That’s how I understand it, anyway.”

Wes shook his head with his face scrunched up. “Wait, I’m completely confused here. So he’s going to live forever?”

“I don’t know! But you know the four people that had holes in their necks without blood?” Bray asked.

“No, I forgot about that,” he said sarcastically. “But you mean three people, right?”

“No, I mean four,” Bray started. “Brenik can only feed off human blood. He has this painting that he presses the blood onto, and it absorbs it in order for him to stay young.” She tried to make the sentence sound like an everyday occurrence.

Wes’s eyes widened, and he didn’t blink for a long while. The bout of silence between them seemed unnaturally long. “Your brother is a vampire.” Not a question, only a statement.

“No, he isn’t a vampire.” She wouldn’t say he was a vampire,per say.

He flung his hands up. “I’m sorry—he’s going around drinking people’s blood when he’s hungry? That sounds like a vampire to me. Not to mention the weird immortality thing.” His hands continued to hover in the air.

“Brenik’s not a vampire—he can go out in the sun. He isn’t immortal if he doesn’t drink the blood.” Bray grimaced.

“This is just like the whole bat argument. I let that one go, but I’m right this time. He’s some type of damn vampire. I don’t care what you say. Are you forgetting that his victims have been roaming around attacking people?” Wes was angry, and she was, too, but Brenik was still her brother.

“From what the Stone said earlier, Brenik could have saved his victims before they awoke again.” She didn’t mention that Brenik had carried the dead body of a woman he was involved with through the forest to find answers. That wasn’t going to solve anything right then.

“That doesn’t even begin to counter the fact of what he’s done. Look at Kyle’s dad! And what am I supposed to do? Do I call the cops and tell them that these victims have a case of vampiric rabies, because a bat turned vampire is going around murdering them because he’shungry?” Wes’s eyes bulged, and the veins on the sides of his neck were throbbing.

“This situation isn’t as strange to me because of where I’m from. And I’m not saying it’s okay. It’s far from okay, but I think I can fix him. If I can’t, then I’ll think about what I can do after. Just give me a week.” Bray had to try, or she would never forgive herself.

Wes sighed. “A lot can happen in a week, Bray.”

“I know. Let me try talking to the Stone one more time—if it will listen.”

“Let me come with you, then.” He was already moving toward her, but it was her mistake to correct. She couldn’t help but blame herself.

“I don’t know if it will awaken if you’re there, but I’ll tell you everything when I come back.” Without another word, Bray left. She could have changed and flown, but she wanted to walk and absorb the situation. The pit in her stomach was growing, an endless bottom of a sea covered in a whirlwind of darkness.

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