Page 28 of Twisted
“Yeah,” he chuckles.“More options to make more money.”
He gets up and starts to walk toward the door.“What else exists?”
“What do you mean?”
“Monsters.You’ve…you’ve seen a lot.”
My head slowly bobs up and down.“Anything and everything.Besides unicorns.”
“That’s a shame.”
“I know.I’ve always wanted one.”
“Xavier will get you a horse if you want one.”
“Really?”I reply a little too quickly.
“Yeah.”He looks at the door, almost as if he’s worried his vampire family is back.“He needs the world to see him as the doting husband.Take advantage of it while you can.”
“Okay,” I say as he slips out into the hall.His words weren’t advice, but instead are a warning.
* * *
“You look lovely, Miss,”Nina tells me when I come into the kitchen.I’m wearing another dress and it’s so impractical but truth be told, I love it.
“Thank you,” I tell her and sit at the large, island counter.I slept surprisingly well, though I was overly tired.The room was the perfect temperature and the bed is so freaking comfy.Not having natural light is weird, and I had no idea what time it was until I saw the microwave clock.
Living without sunlight is going to slowly drive me insane.
“We have a busy day,” she tells me and opens the fridge.“You have a doctor’s appointment in an hour, then we’ll be stopping by the jewelry store to get your ring.Then we’ll come back here for hair and makeup—”
“Hair and makeup?”I interrupt.“For what?”
“Your wedding announcement photoshoot.It’ll be here, in the garden.A reporter from the paper will be coming.Then you’ll be escorting your husband to a VC event so you can be introduced to the council.”
She slides the smoothie in front of me and I take it.“Why do I have to go to the doctor?I’m not sick.”
“I’m afraid I don’t know the details, but I assume it’s to make sure you’re healthy.Your husband takes good care of you.”
She sounds like she’s in a fucking cult, and I feel like I’m a dog going to the vet for my yearly checkup and vaccinations.There are no medical records to look at from the Order.I am healthy, thanks to a lifestyle of dedicating myself to training and staying in shape.I told Devon I have an IUD, which is true, but I was supposed to get it changed for a new one over six months ago.It might not be effective at all anymore and it’s just a foreign piece of plastic inside my body.
Nina leaves and I sit in the kitchen in silence as I drink my smoothie.Not having a phone is weird.I have nothing to mindlessly scroll through while I sit here and eat.Deciding to explore the house, I down half the smoothie and leave it on the counter.
Mabel is in a formal living room toward the front of the house, sitting at a little round table.There are weird fake lights in the windows here as well.A pretty floral tea set is on the table in front of her, as if she’s having that tea party she spoke of yesterday.
“Florence,” she says with a smile, lighting up her pretty face.“I had a friend named Florence.Such a pretty name.We were inseparable, the two of us.We always said we’d make it to Hollywood and become actresses.”She looks like she came right out of a photoshoot, she’s so pretty and poised.“She did make it to California, but then she married a nasty man with nasty habits.Zeke told me he smelled and tasted quite foul.”Sadness takes over her face.“I watched from afar as she grew old and died.She never knew what happened to me.I couldn’t even go to her funeral because it was during the day.”
“I’m…I’m sorry,” I say, realizing she was turned into a vampire against her will.“That had to be really hard.”
She stares off into space for a few seconds and then looks at me, eyes wide.There’s something missing in her gaze, like her mind has been wiped clean so many times it left a permanent hole in her brain.“Thank you.Not many people realize how difficult it is to watch everyone you love wither away like wilted flowers left in the windowsill too long.It’s not right, you know, to outlive your children.”Tears fill her blue eyes and I start to feel sick.
“How many children did you have?”I say each word slowly and carefully.
“Nine.”She gets a faraway look on her face and smiles.“Nine beautiful babies.My three boys were chosen, you know.”
“To become vampires?”
“Yes.Such an honor.”The way she says it is all I need to know that “such an honor” was something magically drilled into her head before she herself was turned.“Two were killed by hunters.Hunters like my daddy.”
