Page 59 of Little Wing
“I know.”
He quickly looked back up at me and cocked his head to the side. “And you think I’m willing to let that happen again?”
“No,” I shook my head. “But I’m tired of hiding. Listen, there will be people who will believe the lies, but I realize I’ve existed too long to let them scare me like this. The people who matter the most to me know my truth. That’s what is most important.”
His eyes begged me to reconsider, but that was just it… Silas respected my decisions. He trusted me, even if his matured age still left him deeply rooted in the need to defend.
“And what about Luca?” he asked.
I could hear Silas gritting his teeth at the mere mention of my brother, even as I got up from the bed to pick up his shirt off the ground to wear. “I will not hide."
“I’d never expect you to, but I hope you understand that this shit is driving me crazy and I just can’t make it go away. I feel like I’m not doing something right. How am I supposed to keep you safe?”
When our eyes met, we could feel the acknowledgment. After all these years—how was it that after only a few short months, our paths had become so tangled in each other? That he would be risking his own safety to protect mine.
“Believe me, I can understand.” I reached to run my hand across his jaw, smiling when he pressed his lips against my fingertips. “But I cannot stay hidden. Luca will find me either way; our blood is tied. I am his kin and it’s not a matter of if he finds me, but when. I’m just so tired of him dragging my name through the dirt.”
Silas nodded before yanking me by the arm, pulling me into his chest back on the bed. He ran his hands lazily up my exposed legs and sighed wearily against my neck. “I know, Lo, but it doesn’t mean that I won’t be ready to kick anyone’s ass for even looking at you the wrong way.”
What time we had left before needing to leave was spent with our limbs weaved together. Wordless agreement lingered between us. What would await us beyond the peace of our embrace would come either way. It was only a matter of time, and I was tired of waiting for the storm to arrive.
Luca, my brother, my creator, and my tormentor—I am ready. I am unafraid.
Going back to Little Wing, I understood that it wouldn’t be like stepping back in time. No matter how much I wished to erase everyone’s collective memory, I had no choice but to move forward and hope the rest could, too. With my head held high, I walked in with Silas at my side.
It only took a few moments for the vibrant chatter in the main activity room to quiet down. Many pairs of vampire eyes glided over me and Silas as we walked to the front desk where Quinn greeted us quietly.
The anxiousness in the air was difficult to miss, yet no one spoke. They just watched, but I could almost hear the words they did not dare speak aloud.
Did she really murder someone?
Why did they let her come back?
Shouldn’t she be behind bars, or better yet… dead?
I clutched my crossbody bag tightly against my chest and exhaled softly, allowing myself to offer a kind smile to anyone who would be willing to look at me. It might take people longer to realize that I wasn’t a threat to them. That what they read in those horrible articleswas slanderous and incorrect. I just needed to give them time. That was certainly what I kept telling myself.
“Alright, everyone,” Silas clasped his hands together, suddenly breaking the stares of anyone trying to size me up. “Let’s get back to whatever you were doing, okay?” He turned to me and watched for a reaction, for any sign that I needed to leave. Even after I confirmed that I would be alright, he was reluctant to head up the few stairs to his office down the hall. Eventually he did make it there, leaving me in the presence of young vampires whose scattered murmurs still floated around the room.
Once they hushed again, I looked over my shoulder to see Quinn step out from behind the front desk. She was dressed in a blue shirt with Little Wing’s logo on the breast pocket and black fitted jeans with her white flats. Though there was nothing threatening about her presence, the young vampires hesitated to speak again. Was it really me making them so nervous?
A young woman with crimson eyes stepped forward from the cluster of young men and women. She approached me with her arms folded over her chest, embracing herself.
“Um, Ms. Lotus, a bunch of us were wondering if you could tell us about your experience moving here after… everything.” Her voice was timid, but the look in her eyes dissolved the angry assumptions I had imagined earlier. In fact, what I saw reflected in each of their eyes was the same pain I had seen in my own for as long as I could remember.
With parted lips, I tried to find my voice. When no words came, I felt Quinn press the palm of her hand against the small of my back before speaking.
“Only if you’re comfortable, Lo,” she whispered. Her quiet assurance was a steady comfort.
The group of vampires who ranged in physical age all began to look at each other. My initial fear of rejection was very quickly replaced by an ache, an understanding of what these vampires were asking me about.
Another young woman from the group stepped forward to grab onto the crimson-eyed woman’s sweater. “Can you tell us how you endured and still wanted to stay?”
Tostay? To live.
The question could have shattered my heart at the kinship I felt. It was true—many of the vampires who did come to Little Wing were there because they had nowhere else to go. They had no maker left to guide them, or they escaped them, and they didn’t know what their next steps would be.
Surviving and enduring was one thing, but choosing to exist? That was another battle in its own.
