Page 52 of Twisted
“No,” Larissa and I say at the same time.
“I’m actually fine.Xavier isn’t as bad as I thought.”
“He’s a vampire,” Antonio reminds me.
“I know.I’m learning how that family functions,” I rush out without really thinking.It feels like an instant betrayal.
“You could get intel.”
“Yeah,” I say and the feeling of guilt grows.“Um…it’s interesting, that’s for sure.”
“We’ve been warned to stay away from the Malus family,” Leo starts, “which means they’re bad.”
“That’s not the reason we’ve stayed away.”I swallow and cross my arms over my chest.“A long time ago, the Order and the Malus family made a deal to leave each other alone as long as the Order gives them a healthy female every twenty-five years.The Order agreed and has provided them with medical records and everything so they can pick the best one.”
“Why would they want that?”Larissa asks, face paling a bit.Right.It was supposed to be her.
“I don’t know,” I say and then start to feel bad for lying to my siblings.But who can I trust?“I do know they’ve never had a witch before.I can’t be held spellbound…and…and…I just don’t know.”
“Okay, but why marry him?”
“The world doesn’t know I’m a witch,” I start and then regret that it’s so ingrained in my head to excuse what I am.“A vampire-human marriage looks good publicly.Xavier and Theo Malus are pretty involved in the VC.”That info is at least public knowledge and all I feel comfortable offering up right now.
It’s weird how quickly your life can be turned upside down and even weirder how fast the people you’ve considered family can feel unsafe.Once their true colors come out and you realize they only acted in ways that are self-serving…everything changes.I used to feel safe around my family.I used to think they loved me—actually loved me—but now I see they only cared about what I could do for them.
And that’s not love.Parents can be just as toxic as anyone and all it will take is a few words to make all the walls come crumbling down for my siblings too.I have to believe they had no idea what Vivian and Marco did, and I don’t know what will happen once they find out that I wasn’t saved but kidnapped so the Order could do experiments with my blood.
“You’re really okay?”Antonio presses, not believing me.
“Physically, I’m fine,” I start.“Mentally, hah…that’s another issue.”
“That’s what I’ve been saying for years,” Larissa quips, and her snotty comeback makes me smile.
“You know, I almost missed you,” I say, tipping my head to the side a bit to look at my sister.On some level, I used to think she cared about me.But after seeing how quickly she traded places, I’m not sure.The worst part is how she knows I would never do that to her.“How’s Gia?She’s not here?”
“No, she’s at home.”Leo frowns and shakes his head.“She’s really upset.Doesn’t understand what’s going on and we don’t know what to tell her.”
“I would start with the truth,” I say.“All these lies…they’re tangled and confusing and—”
“What lies?”Larissa asks.
“Well, for starters, the one where our parents knew there was a really good chance you were going to be taken by vampires,” I say pointedly.“I wasn’t part of the plan.”
Larissa just shakes her head and looks away.“Mom already talked to me about it.”
“What did she say?”
“Hardly anything,” Leo says for her.“It was a similar line to what you were told, but with this being the only way the vampires would leave the Order and the public alone.”
I cock an eyebrow.“So the Order is trying to spin this as a peace offering?Since when do they negotiate with terrorists?”
“That’s what I said!”Antonio exclaims.“Something is off.”
“Something is.”I bite my lip and inhale.“I think there’s a lot more than we know about.But I don’t know what we can do about it.”I have to tread lightly here.I’m only recently starting to see the truth and it’s still a tough pill to swallow—and that’s considering the fact that I’ve always been an outsider to the Order.Antonio, Leo, and Larissa are Order golden children and have Stockholm-syndrome-like loyalty to them.
“What the hell happened last night?”Leo asks.“We saw the video clips online.”
“Am I in them?”I ask, unable to help myself.
