Page 113 of House of Crimson Kisses
“Say more. Make it better,” Amelia says.
“I was pissed with you, Octavia, you’d tried to take my memories... again?—”
“To protect you,” Octavia barks.
I glare at her, unimpressed, and then fire an equally pissy look at my sister.
“Point is, I didn’t trust you, and let’s be real. I am a hunter. The Chief sent me into these trials to spy on the St Clair’s, so I assumed...”
“Hold on a minute, aren’t we missing a really fucking important point? Aside from the fact hunters and vampires hate each other. If the Chief is really Eleanor, why the hell are they working together? They were cursed to hate each other,” Amelia says, a furrow forming between her brows.
“Are you saying they don’t hate each other?” Xavier asks.
I shake my head. “Oh, they hate each other, alright. At least, from what I overheard, anyway. But they seem to think they have a common enemy, and they want to use me for something. But that’s the limit of what I’ve discovered.”
We all fall silent for a while. Octavia’s fingers knead her knuckles. When I can’t take her fidgeting anymore, I’m about to say something, anything, when she pipes up.
“I know who my birth mother is,” she says.
My eyes bug wide, Xavier’s do too.
“She’s the witch-god,” she laughs. It’s a short, sharp bark. “The Mother of fucking Blood. That’s who my real mother is.”
“Wait, what?” I breathe.
Xavier chokes on the mouthful of blood he drank, and Amelia outright gasps.
“Yeah, Cordelia’s been lying this entire time. The only reason she adopted me is because she killed my birth mother. Or so she thought. She left her bleeding out on the tiles of her kitchen floor. But she was praying and praying. And the witch-gods saved her and turned her into one of the monsters she’d created. I can only imagine that was some kind of god-humour.” Octavia is dry and monotone as she speaks as if she’s already resigned to all of this.
“But… what was her name? The other original vampire?” I whisper.
But it’s Amelia who answers. “Isabella. Her name was Isabella Montague.”
“What happened to her?” I ask.
Octavia shrugs. “That’s the thing. There’s no clear answer. I couldn’t see her face in the vision. But I can’t let go of the idea that maybe she never really disappeared or died. What if she’s alive and wasn’t lost to history? What if she’s been in hiding this entire time?”
“Fuck,” I say. “Have you confronted Cordelia yet?”
Octavia shakes her head. “What am I supposed to say? Fuck you for lying to me for a thousand years? Oh, and I found out you killed my birth mother. Oh wait, no you didn’t. You’re just the reason she chose to become a fucking vampire.”
“Right. Good point,” I say, because what the fuck else am I supposed to say to that?
Amelia blinks into the void. Xavier leans back and necks the rest of his drink, then outright reaches for the bottle and starts drinking from that instead.
And I grip the arms of the chair, wondering how fucking deep this rabbit hole goes.
Chapter32
RED
It’s Wendell who breaks up our discussions. As dawn crests the horizon, little embers of light streak the bar. I get up from our seating area and close the curtains before either Amelia, Octavia or Xavier get crispy.
Wendell makes his way into the bar with a selection of envelopes in his hand. He offers them out to each of us and then takes his leave.
Amelia pushes the plate of food I barely touched towards me. I pick at it, hating that I’m the only one who actually needs to eat. Obviously, none of them touch it, though there are three empty goblets of blood left on the coffee table. But I mostly shove the food around the plate, none of it appealing or tasting the way food used to.
Octavia glances at her envelope and then sighs. “We’ve been invited to a casino night. Hardly appropriate, given the riots the other day.”
