I know, I know, I'm terrible with updates. Thank you for sticking with me despite how awful I am. Also, thank you for your reviews. I appreciate each one so much. I'm not making any promises, but I am going to do my very best to finish We're Damned After All this summer. We'll see how it goes. Here's the chapter. :)
I was on edge by the time we got back to the house. Cheryl released her grip on me, but Olivia pushed me down to sit on the couch.
"What do you know?" she demanded.
I stared at her blankly. There was no way I was about to give anything up. Olivia continued to glare at me.
"Olivia, relax," Nicole said as she pulled Olivia away from me.
"No, stop defending her. She knows way more than she's letting on. Where's Emily?" Olivia demanded.
"Mom will find out what she needs to from Evelyn, Olivia," Cheryl said softly. "Our biggest problem has been fixed. We have Mom back."
Cheryl sank down into an armchair. I hadn't noticed how tired she'd been looking these past few days.
Olivia pursed her lips and looked from Cheryl to Nicole. When she realized that she wouldn't be getting any support from them, she visibly deflated. "I don't like living with a traitor."
"Yeah Olivia, you should really make sure to sleep with one eye open, I might just bring a hoard of my vampire friends to get you," I told her coldly.
"Give it a rest, you two," Cheryl said with a sigh. "Nicky, can you take Evelyn to her room? Sit down, Olivia."
Nicole followed me upstairs, and as soon as we were both in the room, I shut the door. "We have to do something," I said.
Nicole grabbed my cell phone and searched through the contacts for Anthony's number. She put it on speaker phone.
"Don't say a word," she warned as she pressed the call button. He picked up on the second ring.
"Evelyn? Are you okay?" My heart twisted at how hopeful he sounded.
"This isn't Evelyn, leech," Nicole said, harshly. "Where's Emily?"
Anthony didn't say anything for a few seconds. "Why?"
"Because hunters have spotted her, that's why. They know she's a vampire. My people will not tolerate one of our own being turned. They will find her and kill her. You need to make sure she leaves now. Let me speak to her."
"Where's Evelyn?" Anthony asked.
I opened my mouth to speak, but Nicole glared at me. "She's fine," Nicole answered, curtly.
Anthony sighed in relief, and then I heard muffled talking through the phone.
"Nicole? Is something wrong?" Emily sounded frantic. "How's Evelyn? Is she okay? Anthony told me about Caroline. Please don't tell me you were lying to him. I'm surprised she hasn't had her hearing yet."
"Put it on speakerphone," I heard Eric say in the background.
"Her hearing was tonight –" Nicole began to explain.
"What? You said that she was fine," Anthony's voice was raised.
Enough of this, I did get a sick pleasure from Anthony being so concerned about me, but we had big problems to deal with.
"I am fine," I said. "My hearing was interrupted. My mother's back."
Nicole glared at me before she started talking again. "Emily, there were hunters at Evelyn's trial who said they found you. Did you go out today?"
"I was out with Eric," she said. "Do they know about the house? How'd your mom get away from Lucas?"
"We don't know," Nicole answered. "Look, just get out of there as soon as you can. Okay? You have to be careful. Since Caroline saw that you're a vampire they'll want to kill you."
"We'll all leave now," Eric said. "We have a house that's closer to the beach."
"I was talking to Emily," Nicole snarled. "I'll call when we have more information."
She threw my phone back to me, and walked out of the room. She was back within two minutes, her face still furious.
"What's your problem?" I asked.
"I warned you not to talk," she said.
"I wasn't planning to," I protested. "Anthony and Emily weren't letting you get to the point. I kept it short."
"It doesn't matter. I don't want you having any more contact with that vampire, period. He's the reason we're in this mess."
I didn't argue with her. I knew she was frustrated about all the secrets she had to keep for me.
"Why did you go downstairs just now?" I asked to change the subject.
"I wanted to see what Cheryl and Olivia were doing," she said. "Olivia's still suspicious, which is just another reason why you shouldn't have anything more to do with that vampire."
"You don't have to lecture me," I mumbled. I couldn't resist talking back while she was being so harsh with me even though I knew I would lose the battle.
Nicole's face took on a look of mock surprise. "I don't have to lecture you?"
"I broke up with Anthony. I told him we were done," I said meekly.
Nicole rolled her eyes and went to sit on my bed. She took a breath before she spoke to me again.
"Anthony is a vampire. You shouldn't have anything to do with him. You never should have had anything to do with him. But that's not our problem right now." She took my cell phone again and scrolled through all of the contacts. "Emily doesn't have her own phone?"
I shook my head. "She lost it after she was turned. She never really got around to getting a new one. If I ever wanted to talk to her I called Anthony. She usually uses their house line when she calls me."
Nicole started copying numbers from my phone into hers. "I don't want you talking to them at all," she said.
"But what if I need to talk to Emily?" I asked.
"I will take care of Emily from now on. You need to keep a low profile." Nicole glanced at the alarm clock. "It's late, get some rest. If Mom comes home I'll wake you up."
With that she left me to my thoughts. I tried to take her advice and go to sleep, but it wasn't working. I was too worried, and after an entire day of being cooped up in my room, I wasn't exactly tired. All of the events at my trial hadn't worn me out either, if anything it got my adrenaline going.
Somehow or another I must have fallen asleep though because the next thing I knew Nicole was standing over me, nudging my shoulder. "Evelyn, wake up. Mom's home, she wants to talk to you."
I squinted at the clock on my nightstand. It was seven o'clock in the morning. I told Nicole that I would be downstairs after I changed out of my pajamas. In reality, I just needed some time to pull myself together and work out what I would tell my mother. I did not want to envision this conversation with my mother. The woman was tough. Needless to say, she scared me.
The thought of this one on one conversation intimidated me more than the hearing had last night. Still, after a quick mental pep talk and a not so quick period of procrastination, I convinced myself to head downstairs where I saw my mother sitting at the dining table with my sisters all around her.
My mother was stirring sugar into a cup of tea, and she appeared to be carrying on casual conversation with my sisters. They all stopped talking when I walked in.
"Girls, I need to speak to Evelyn alone," my mother said, calmly.
I took a seat at the opposite end of the table out of a fear that my mother would strangle me once our conversation got started. Nicole was the only one who looked at me as they filed out of the room. I wondered if they were planning to stay and eavesdrop.
My mom didn't say anything for a while. She sat staring at me, occasionally sipping at her tea. "Would you like one?" She held up a plate of croissants.
I hesitated at her strange approach. "Sure."
I nibbled at it cautiously. I didn't have much of an appetite at that moment, and it did cross my mind that the croissant was poisoned…
"So, his name's Anthony?" my mother asked. Her voice was gentle, soft. It threw me off. I was expecting the stern tone she usually had with me.
"Yes," I answered slowly. "Anthony Carson."
"And he has brothers?"
"Yes, Eric and Mark, they all live together," I said. Surely she'd heard this by now. It occurred to me that she might be trying to weasel information out of me.
"And Emily stays with them, correct?"
I hesitated at that one. Above all I wanted to protect Emily – it wasn't her fault Juana turned her into a vampire – but I realized that Caroline had to have given away all the details when she found me with Anthony.
"Yes." I resolved to keep my answers short in the hope that I wouldn't let anything slip.
"You lied to me that day when I called you. I specifically told you that it was important for you to tell me the truth, and you lied anyway." She allowed a little of her no nonsense manner to slip back into her voice. This was mother I knew and loved.
She hadn't asked a question, so I figured an answer from me wasn't necessary.
She must have sensed that I wasn't ready to talk about Emily, so she shifted back to Anthony. "Did you know that Lucas was his uncle?" She went back to being gentle.
"No, it never came up."
The conversation seemed to be going absolutely nowhere, and that frustrated me. I felt as though she was dragging out the suspense. I knew punishment was inevitable, and I just wanted to know what it would be.
"I spoke with Administratio earlier. Do you know there are hunters who want to completely strip you of your powers, and banish you from our society? Others want you to be executed, and a few have called for death by torture," she said all of this very calmly.
I shivered at that. Executions among hunters were rare. We didn't have very many traitors, but when they were carried out they were quick. I suppose associating with vampires really was the highest crime.
I tried to fight my curiosity, but it won. "Has anything been decided?"
"Yes, we have decided that in this situation execution is not appropriate." It was scaring me a little, the way she was switching from calm and tender to firm and direct.
"It's not?"
"No, your death will not solve anyone's problems." She paused before continuing. "Caroline said that you told this vampire that you didn't want to see him again."
I wondered if this would give me any leeway as far as punishment went.
"I want you to call him and tell him you changed your mind," my mother ordered.
I stared at her blankly, positive that I'd misheard what she'd said. "You want me to do what?"
"Lucas allowed me to leave because your Anthony talked to him," Mom explained.
My mouth dropped open and my eyes widened, but I worked to regain composure. I didn't know Anthony did that. I also didn't know that it was possible to reason with Lucas. I thought back to when I'd said that my mom was back last night on the phone with Emily. Anthony and his brothers hadn't said anything. Emily was the only one who was surprised. They already knew.
"Based on your reaction, I assume you didn't know about that." She stared at me for a while. "Let me tell you about that day I called you. While I was hunting, I saw the female vampire who appears to be working with Lucas," she began. "Do you know her name?"
I nodded. "That's Juana."
My mom wrote down the name on a piece of paper and continued her story. "I fought her, she is very weak. But before I could stick a knife in her, Lucas came up behind me. He bit my neck and I tried to fight the two of them, but Lucas managed to knock me unconscious. I called you that day because I saw Juana clone herself, and I wondered if there was a connection to Emily."
"Why didn't you tell me what was going on?"
She frowned at my interruption, but still answered my question. "I wanted to find out more information about Lucas and Emily. I underestimated how long I would be there, but I didn't want you or your sisters storming the place. I suspect he let me keep my phone in the beginning because he wanted me to call other hunters to come. Eventually, he realized that wasn't going to happen so he took it from me. While I was there Lucas told me about you and his nephew. I don't know how this Anthony persuaded Lucas to let me leave, but I think Lucas may be under the impression that Anthony is in my good graces because he saved my life. I understand that this is how he managed to get your attention?"
I bit my lip, a little hesitant to give my mom the gory details about my relationship with Anthony. I planned to continue with my resolve to keep my answers short. "Yes," I confirmed. "I was hunting with Ethan, and Anthony saved me from a vampire."
"How noble of him," she commented.
I resisted the urge to sigh. At least she tried to keep the distaste out of her voice. Ava Sinclair was not a fan of vampires, even the ones who saved her daughter's life.
"I told you my story to get to a lesson in the hope that you do not make the same mistake twice," she said. "My lesson for you is this: in the rare event that a vampire saves your life – regardless of his motivation – the appropriate response is to treat him as what he will always be, your enemy."
I felt a chill go down my spine as I stared into my mother's cold eyes. She took another sip of tea.
"Which brings me back to your punishment, which isn't as much a punishment as it is a chance for you to redeem yourself. You will convince Anthony that you are interested in continuing whatever sort of relationship you had with him. You will gain his trust and find out as much as you can about Lucas and his weaknesses so that we can kill him, and then you will be responsible for killing Anthony and his brothers. Do not worry about Juana and Emily, the Administratio will take care of them. At the end of this, if everything goes as planned, we will have six dead vampires."
I sat frozen as the fear crawled through me at the thought of what my mother wanted me to do. I knew I was about to break out in cold sweats any minute.
"Anthony and his brothers don't kill, Mom. Neither does Emily. I wouldn't risk putting myself through this for anyone who was evil. It wasn't Emily's fault that Juana turned her. She didn't do anything wrong." The words spilled out of me, my voice shook in my desperate attempt to not cry.
My mother sat shaking her head. Any arguments from me were futile. "I don't care what you know or think you know about these vampires, Evelyn. Leeches are not good company to keep. Everyone is upset that Emily was turned, but all hunters know that turning into a vampire means death. Look at all the trouble associating with these vampires has gotten you into. Ethan is dead."
I flinched at that. It was a low blow. Ethan's death tortured me continuously. I didn't need any reminders.
"I don't think I can do this," I said.
She narrowed her eyes at that, all pretense of calmness gone. "You know, Evelyn, I went with some of the Administratio last night to check out the location where those hunters said Emily would be, but the house was curiously empty. If I find out that you are helping these vampires in any way, I will carry you in for the death sentence myself."
I couldn't hold back the tears anymore. This was always my problem. I was the screw up in the family, the black sheep, the weak one. Any of my other sisters would at least have been able to keep it together in my position. Then again, none of them would have gotten into my position in the first place.
I knew I would get no sympathy from Ava, but just so she was sure I was aware of this fact, she gave me her opinion on my tears.
"I forbid you from being sorry for yourself, Evelyn," she said. "You brought this on yourself." She stood up, but before she left she said, "By the way, the school called this morning because of your attendance record, and you have an unacceptably high number of absences. I expect you to be back in school tomorrow. I would send you today, but I want you to contact Anthony."
There's good parenting for you – make sure you go to school, but remember killing your boyfriend is your highest priority. My mother was barely out of the room when Nicole and Olivia came bounding in.
"Well," Olivia demanded, "What happened?"
Nicole elbowed her in the ribs. "Shut up," she muttered. She took a napkin and handed it to me. "Are you okay, Evy?"
I dabbed the tears, but it was useless. More kept coming. I nodded mechanically in response to her question. "I'll tell you about it later," I said.
I half ran up to my room, locked the door, and curled up into a ball in my bed. I wanted to wallow in self pity. I felt like a failure, and all I could think about was everything that had gone wrong since I'd met Anthony.
I replayed the conversation with my mother over and over again in my head. I forced myself to come to one conclusion: she was right. My relationship with Anthony was the reason for every single problem I had at this moment, and I was determined to fix everything right again.
I got out of bed and fished through my closet for a nice outfit. I found a denim mini skirt I'd bought months ago, the tags still on it, and one of my prettier shirts. It was pink and lacey, not my usual style, but my plan was to dress to impress. I washed my face and carefully applied some makeup.
When I felt satisfied with my appearance I moved to part two of the plan, calling Anthony.
"Hello," he answered.
"Hey," I put some effort into making my tone casual. I would not let him know I'd just spent the last hour sobbing. "Can we meet up at your house? The hunters checked your place last night, but they're gone now. We need to talk, just the two of us."
"Sure," he said, immediately. "When?"
"Now."
"Okay, I can be there in five minutes." He sounded confused, but I was happy that he was willing to going along with me.
"Good, see you in a few minutes." With that, I hung up and headed downstairs.
My sisters were talking to my mother again, this time in the living room. Again, everyone stopped talking when I walked in. "Mom, I need to teleport."
She'd been expecting this because she pointed to a glass on the coffee table with an orange liquid ready for me to drink. I held the glass to my lips and didn't stop drinking until it was empty. It was a thick drink, sweet. I liked it.
"I'm leaving," I announced. "I should be home for dinner."
My mother nodded, while Cheryl and Olivia sat looking confused. Only Nicole appeared worried.
I didn't wait to hear the questions my sisters would have. I teleported to the foyer in Anthony's house. There, I took a deep breath to calm my nerves before walking into the living room.
There he was, in all his perfection. His beautiful, blue eyes lit up when he saw me, the way they always did.
"Evelyn, what's all this about? How are you? You look great." He took a step back to look at me, admiration in his eyes.
He was about to speak again, but I put a finger over his lips. I grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him down for a kiss.
I hadn't kissed him like this in long time. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pressed my body close to his to feel as much of him as possible. His lips were soft, just the way I remembered them, and his taste was delicious. He'd wrapped one arm around my waist, while his other hand caressed the side of my face. I let him break away first, and then I placed soft kisses along his jaw.
When I looked back into his eyes, they were happy and hopeful. He thought that I'd forgiven him for not telling me that Lucas was his uncle, that I'd managed to get out of trouble with the Administratio, and that I was willing to move forward together with him. At that moment, he was gently stroking my hair, probably thinking that this was my passionate way of showing that I still wanted to be with him.
That was a good thing. I wanted him to think that. After all, I couldn't let him know I was planning to kill him.
Don't hate me.
