Page 48 of Little Wing
I knew her eyes would grow wide the moment I said that, and yet I still winced.
We sat in silence until Reina showed up at Kait’s apartment with a bag of takeout and a bat that she was asked to leave at the door. She wasted no time rushing to my side to look me over for any signs of wounds. Aside from what I already felt fading; I assured her that I was fine.
“So, what the fuck happened? Why are you here and not picking up your phone?” Reina asked, taking a seat on the loveseat diagonally opposite from me. The cushion barely sank beneath her weight as she remained seated on the edge. “Is anyone going to start talking? Or at least explain why Silas called me ten times both on my cell and at work?”
Oh, Silas…
I bowed my head, bracing myself for the final moments of the tranquility I found in my friends. The feeling of belonging after years of isolation conditioned by Luca. I hated him. I hated what he took from me, beyond my life. I loathed him for being a fool. His fucking narcissism landed him in this shit that clung to me like a leech. My fists were clenched so tightly that I felt my nails puncture my palms.
Before my friends could say anything else to coax information from me, I inclined my gaze to meet theirs. Reina was still seated on the edge of the loveseat and Kait was seated on the arm of the chair with her arms folded across her chest.
“My name isn’t Evans,” I started. Okay, it was like pulling off a band-aid. Before long, I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold back. The dam that kept years of omitted truth would come crumbling down. “My name is Lotus Everett, and I do not know if that surname sounds familiar to you at all, but… it has haunted me for nearly a hundred years.”
Kait shifted her weight on the arm of the couch and glanced down at Reina whose eyes were as large as saucers. She leaned in further and clutched the coffee table. “Lo, what are you saying?”
“In the Carolinas, nearly a century ago, there was an author who was discovered in a car that had fallen into a lake.” I frowned at the memory, still so clear in my mind. It played over and over like the headlines that wouldn’t stop playing on TV. “Upon the recovery ofthe vehicle from the water, paramedics discovered that she was not the only victim of the accident. In the truck was the body of her daughter, already deceased.”
The room felt like it was spinning. The words were wanting to slip out faster than I had time to process their coherency. I already started; there was no going back.
“When they were recovered and brought in for an autopsy, the mortician discovered that their bodies were completely drained of blood. Their necks were broken and their bodies were covered in punctures that were a perfect match for—”
“Fangs,” Kait finished, slapping her hand on her forehead. “Holy shit—the Wells’ murder on the East Coast.”
“What does that mean?” Reina asked, her voice hiked up an octave. “Somebody fucking tell me or I’m going to lose my shit.”
“You have heard, then?” I asked, pointing my question at the startled woman. Kait’s expression was frozen in shock. How was she piecing it together? Was there truth in the information she had, or did she believe the vampiric articles? After all, there was some truth in Luca’s actions almost costing us all the treaty that changed our lives.
“You’re Lotus Everett…” Kait said, stammering as she got up from the chair. “Lotus, you need to keep talking. You need to explain this…”
That answered my question.
When I didn’t speak up, Kait pulled out her phone and quickly tapped away at her screen before handing it to Reina. No doubt she pulled up the article with the headline: Ophelia Wells, 84, and daughter murdered by vampire! After the shocking reveal to many that vampires roamed their lands, the body of the article wasted no time in revealing the name of said murderer.
“Luca Everett?” Reina asked, setting the phone down on the coffee table. “Someone needs to fucking talk. And enough of this cryptic shit!”
“Luca is my brother,” I admitted, his name tasting like poison on my tongue.
The admission resulted in my friends, my family, sinking into the cushion of the loveseat. While I did expect at least Kait to equip herself with the bat that Reina brought with her, I found some sliver of comfort that they remained seated and with their attention fixed on me. They waited for me to speak, so I did.
I told them everything. I told them who Luca was and how it was because of him that I was there, locked in time as a vampire and with the unfortunate reality of having my blood tied to his for all eternity. His scent was my scent and if anyone was looking for him, they would eventually come across me. His actions put a large target on me that I fought to flee from by relocating across the country. Perhaps it was the last bit of hope I had that made me believe I could truly reinvent myself as a Lotus that was free from sin.
“So, the makeup?” Reina asked, circling her face with her index finger. “Not just a fashion choice?”
“Correct.”
“Man, your brother’s a dick.”
I nodded.
“So, Luca was the one who killed those women?”
I nodded again. “I didn’t know what happened until days later when Luca came home covered in blood. I was locked in with no way of leaving. I couldn’t have done anything to stop it, let alone cause it.”
“What happens now? Why are you hiding? Why aren’t you talking to Silas?” Reina fired off question after question. While it was a lot atonce, I was just grateful that our communication did not shut down after my confession.
“Someone recognized me at Little Wing,” I replied. “Many humans have long forgotten, or rather learned to cope, with the loss of Ophelia and her daughter. But the people who hated us the most were… our own.”
“Vampires?” Reina sat, puzzled, and looked up at Kait who nodded slowly along to my retelling. “You’re telling me the people hunting your brother are vampires?”
