Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 73252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Could I have been used to open every single door the Blackwoods closed?
“You don’t have to answer right now,” Mabel says, giving my hand another squeeze. “Right now, you need a shower, and I’m gonna order some food for you and your brothers.”
“Do I stink?” I ask.
Mabel laughs. “No, but sometimes a shower can metaphorically wash things away.”
“True.” I pick up several strands of my hair and sniff them. “It does kind of smell like smoke.”
“It does,” she agrees. “But not in a bad way, I suppose. I mean, it’s going to remind you of a warehouse that burned because a demon came out with hellfire from a crack in the ground.”
We turn and look at each other for several seconds before we both laugh, knowing how insanely ridiculous that sounds out loud.
“Thank you,” I say, rolling onto my side.
“You don’t have to thank me.” Mabel smiles. “It might be weird for me to say this, but I’m glad I have the opportunity to be your friend.”
“It’s not weird, because I’m glad too.”
The words get choked up on their way out, and tears spring to my eyes. But instead of sucking it up and telling myself to knock it off like usual, I bring my knees to my chest and cry. Mabel puts an arm around me, hugging me while I do. I give myself a whole sixty seconds of crying before I sniffle, inhale, and force myself out of bed.
I could shower in here, and I’m sure there’s still a fluffy pink robe in the closet, but all of my clothes are in the room I share with Xavier. I stop at the threshold of the bathroom, looking in.
“All the boys are gone,” Mabel says, somehow knowing exactly what I’m thinking. “Well, except for your brother.”
“Okay.” I take a breath, fighting back more tears. I leave the room and walk down the hall, not stopping as I pass Antonio’s room. The door is closed but not latched, and I can hear the TV playing in the background.
He’s watching reruns of The Office, his go-to, feel-good, I-don’t-want-to-think-about-anything show. Grabbing a pair of black sweatpants and a cropped black T-shirt, I go into the bathroom. I turn on the water and stand beneath it for probably way too long before I finally wash myself and get out. I dry my hair and twist it into a messy bun on top of my head.
Male voices float up the stairs as I make my way down the hall, and I pause for just a second before continuing, not wanting to see Xavier. But the hesitation makes a knot form in my stomach. Other than when I first got here and hated his guts, I’ve always wanted to be near him.
I don’t have many healthy relationships to compare ours to—or really any relationships, if I’m being honest—but is this something we can come back from?
Maybe Mabel’s right, and he did what I couldn’t do. That doesn’t make the break in trust any less real.
“Hey,” Antonio says when I come into the kitchen.
He’s sitting with Leo, and there’s an obscene amount of Chinese takeout spread across the counter. Leo looks at me, and his face breaks into sadness. For a split second, relief washes over me as I go to him, thinking he’s going to pull me into a reassuring hug and tell me everything is going to be okay in a very Leo way.
But then anger takes over his face, and he shakes his head, stopping me dead in my tracks.
“I didn’t think you’d actually fucking do it,” he says coldly.
Mabel, who’s sitting on the edge of the counter curiously eyeballing all the food, stiffens.
“You released the demon, Wren,” Leo goes on.
“Hey.” Antonio holds up his hands. “This isn’t Wren’s fault.”
“But it literally is.” Leo lets his chopsticks fall from his hand. They hit the plate in front of him, spilling fried rice onto the otherwise pristine white marble countertop. “It was her blood. Wren was the only one who could’ve released the demon. It’s free, and now it’s possessed our mother. How long can a demon stay inside a body before that person dies?”
“That’s not exactly fair,” Mabel says softly. “Wren was forced into this. She didn’t choose it.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Leo replies, leaning back and crossing his arms. “Your fucking vampire husband forced you to do it. He only cared about himself and fucked over the rest of the fucking world.”
“Leo,” Antonio says with older-brother, shut-up-right-now authority. “Wren didn’t start this.”
“Well, she sure as hell finished it. And now Mom’s gonna die.”
The same rage I felt while staring down Marco in the warehouse floods my system. I splay my hands across the cold countertop in front of me in an attempt to stay grounded.
“The only reason I’m not casting a sleep spell on you, making you wake up chained in the basement, is because you’re in shock,” I say, my voice thick with anger. The pendant lights above the countertop sway, and I slowly let out a breath, trying to release the energy I’m accidentally pulling in. “You know as well as I do that I didn’t want this to happen. It shouldn’t have happened. I shouldn’t even be here right now.”