"You brought a vampire into my house!?"

"Alright," Reyna began as she held up her hand. Her other hand rubbed her forehead to try and soothe the pounding sensation. An entire gaggle of children was playing the drums in her skull. "First, it's technically my house. My name is on the lease. Cause you're supposed to be dead and all."

"Two," Reyna continued. She took six painkillers and finished off a glass of water before struggling to get another. "I was drunk. I wasn't even sure if this was the right house."

"Okay," Hylla relented. She took a deep breath and held both hands up. "Couldn't you just go back to his place?"

"He's technically homeless. Well, staying with Chiron. I don't know," Reyna muttered. She rubbed her forehead again and hung her head. "Here was closer."

Hylla grunted. Reyna slowly looked up and saw her older sister crossing her arms and glaring, "You're just being dramatic now. Nico didn't bite you while you were sleeping. He isn't going to do anything."

"I'm not driving him home," Hylla declared adamantly.

"I never asked you to," Reyna countered. She drained her glass again. Then, she rested her head on the cool counter. "Fuck."

"Are you even old enough to get drunk anyway?" Hylla asked. Reyna snorted because she knew Hylla's training covered that. "Why did you even go out for a drink?"

"Talking about shit from the past," Reyna answered. She grunted and lifted her head with some effort. Hylla studied her. "What?"

"What kind of shit?" Hylla questioned in a soft voice.

"The kind of shit I don't want to share," Reyna clarified with more force than she meant to.

"Yet, you can share it with a stranger," Hylla commented as she crossed her arms.

"I never said I did."

"Which is why you were brooding all night instead of sleeping?" Hylla countered back. Reyna crossed her arms and remained silent. "You... you know you can talk to me about that, right?"

"So you can blame yourself for it?" Reyna muttered. Hylla sighed and opened her mouth. "I told you I just want to leave that shit in the past."

"But you tell a stranger," Hylla iterated again through gritted teeth.

"Why does it fucking matter?" Reyna snapped, glaring at Hylla. They had been through this song and dance before over the past few weeks. It wasn't that Hylla wanted to know; she needed to know. She had to know what happened to Reyna that fucked her up so badly.

Reyna had danced around the topic before. It wasn't something she liked to think about, let alone talk about. Reyna had taken all the shit, compartmentalized it, and shoved it deep down inside where it could only come out on really bad days or in her nightmares.

The only time she opened up was when Hylla asked about the mark on her face. That was the most she opened up, but Hylla just wanted her to release all of these pent-up emotions. Reyna didn't understand why her sister wouldn't just let it be.

"You don't tell me anything!" Hylla complained. Reyna closed her eyes tight. It was like Hylla was desperate to be mad at herself. She wanted to blame herself for everything that happened to Reyna. Was it to make herself feel better? To punish herself? What the hell was it?

Hylla did tell their father about Reyna, but if the roles were reversed, Reyna would have done the same. They were kids who had been brainwashed their whole lives. Reyna being a werewolf wasn't a miracle or something great; it was a disease. All those creatures in the world were wrong. They shouldn't have been born, and something went really wrong when they were.

Those words had been repeated day after day when they were in their lessons. And werewolves were the evilest of all. On top of that, their father truly did care for them. He pushed them to their limits and overloaded them with work, but when they broke down or got hurt, he took care of them.

He was the only source of love they knew through their lives, and while his brand of love was fucked up and wrong, they thought it was how every family was. He always had what they thought were their best interest at heart, so Hylla knew he would take care of Reyna if she told him. And he would have. Just not the way Hylla thought he would.

Reyna didn't have to run, though. She could have waited to see what Exterminata would have done to her. She could have waited after killing their father to try and explain it to Hylla. But, she didn't. She ran. It might have saved her life. It might not have.

Hylla just wanted to blame herself. She wasn't the one who led Reyna to that woman. She wasn't the one who signed that fucking contract. Reyna slowly looked at her sister, and Hylla studied her.

"Why do you want to know so much?" Reyna finally asked in a quiet voice.

"I just want you to know that you can talk to me about anything," Hylla confessed.

"But why do you have to know about that in particular?" Reyna questioned. Hylla looked down in response. Reyna pushed herself off of the counter. "Is it going to make you feel better? Will it make you feel closer to me? Why the hell do you want to know so badly?!"

"I don't know!" Hylla finally retorted. A deep sigh left her. "I really don't know."

Reyna sat on the counter and exhaled deeply. She hung her head, while Hylla slowly sat by her, "I have to know. I don't know why, but I just have to. When I can't sleep, I think about all the shit you went through while I sat in Exterminata's cozy little base. All the shit you had to go through to survive. I just want to make it up to you."

"There's nothing to make up, Hylla. We've been over this," Reyna vetoed as she threw her hands up in exasperation. "Why do you want me to hate you so much? I don't fucking hate you!"

"But you should!" Hylla insisted. Reyna stood from the counter and shook her head as emotions boiled in her chest. "You should hate me. You should have killed me when you had the chance or left me to Exterminata."

"Why?" Reyna demanded as she looked back at Hylla. She stared at her sister and felt tears of frustration in her eyes. "Why do I have to hate you? Why can't I just forgive you?"

"Why don't you hate me?" Hylla asked. Tears brimmed in her eyes, and she blinked them away.

"Why should I?" Reyna countered. She was tired of going around in circles.

"Because I hate myself!" Hylla cried out as a few tears finally slipped out of her eyes. "I hate myself for what happened to you, and I just can't forgive myself. I don't..."

Hylla turned away as a sob wracked her body. Reyna closed the distance between the two and pulled her sister into a hug. Her sister hugged her tightly, causing her to wince as pain ran across her back. Reyna rubbed Hylla's back and held her as she sobbed.

"Hylla, I'm never going to hate you," Reyna whispered. "Fuck, I hate myself more than you."

"It's my fault…" Hylla cried. Reyna felt pain in her heart, and it became hard to swallow. She realized that all the times Hylla was quiet and staring into nothing was because she was lost in her guilt. She kept getting into arguments with Reyna because she felt like she needed to be yelled at.

"It's not," Reyna argued. Hylla's cries only got worse, and Reyna continued to rub her back. "Hylla, please stop trying to blame yourself for everything bad that has happened to me. I just..."

Reyna trailed off as Hylla's cries got worse and worse. She just held her sister close, not sure how to comfort her. This was beyond her expertise. So, Reyna just held her sister and felt a whirlwind of emotions in her chest. Tears stung her eyes as well.

"I'm here for you, too," Reyna finally whispered as she closed her eyes and rested her head against Hylla's. "I love you, Hylla."