What Matters
There was another flurry of confusion inside of me.
Another mythical creature was brought into the conversation we were having. I knew Elizabeth King was anything but normal, having had conversations with her through our brains and all — but this was still over the top.
My eyes searched for the already identified mythical creature in the room.
Liam looked a hundred times worse than I felt. But he stood there, staring anxiously at me.
"Theo, say something…" He said.
"Right." Nothing was right anymore — but it was all I had to say.
He ignored me. "We wanted you to live a normal life, you were the only one that had that option, everything was going exactly as we had planned…" He stopped when we heard a musical chuckle, we both looked over to see Elizabeth's patronizing smile. She was truly heartless. She moved to sit on the couch, facing us. She wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.
Liam ignored her this time as well, he dropped his head down and started talking, he was clearly about to have one of his monologues.
"I brought you here where dad asked me to…I can show you the note he left now... now that you know the truth we protected you from for so long…" He glanced at me and stopped once he saw the look I had on my face.
I had enough of his excuses.
"let's sum up." I felt a bit crazy, listing the events of the ongoing nightmare on my fingers. "Liam is an Alpha werewolf." That was the thumb event, "Mother and father are still alive, somewhere..." my heart thumped fast as I said it out loud and held the finger in the air. I looked at the beautiful girl sitting comfortably in my living room, crossing her legs like it was any other day.
She was an event worthy of listing.
"She's a vampire, and so am I…" I intended to list events seriously but ended up laughing out loud at the absurdity of what I was saying. My laugh had an edge to it, even to my ears.
No one questioned my mental breakdown. But my hysterical laugh ended abruptly.
"He's not my father…" I trailed off, daydreaming for a few seconds.
The image of my mother in another man's arms, smiling that 100watt smile at him. Her loyalty, and her unconditional love... I imagined another man having those.
And I was the fruit of her adultery.
Shame and animosity towards the other man overwhelmed me. And if I was feeling that way, I didn't want to imagine what dad must've felt like.
I looked at Liam, his face was red, and his eyes were swollen with more of his unshed tears.
I slammed a fist into the wall. Immediately regretting it again. Since when was I this angry teenager that punched holes in different places?
That wasn't me. I needed to stop myself from becoming that.
Liam hurried to the kitchen and picked up a towel that Olivia had left, he rinsed it with tap water then came closer, and he dabbed it at my knuckles.
"…The other man." It didn't sound like a question to me. "How could she…" I thought my parents loved each other.
Liam wiped his nose with the back of his hand and then shook my shoulder twice, reassuring or reprimanding me.
"Listen to me carefully, Theo. I had the same conversation with dad." Liam's eyes looked away; they did that when he tried to remember something unpleasant. "You know how your father is and how he gets when it's about mom; he wouldn't even hear of it."
Elizabeth interrupted him.
"You're the direct descendent of the two kings, the tabooed world's most ancient creatures," Elizabeth added quickly. But her words meant nothing to me. I wasn't the least bit interested in finding out the identity of that stranger, He'll never have anything to do with me.
"Your father is the one who held your mother's hand while she gave birth to you, the one who raised and loved you, the one who trained you and cheered for you during all your football matches..." Liam's sentences were long, his voice was filled with emotions, and I swallowed back my feelings. Not wanting to feel sorry for my brother right now. I didn't need to hear what he had to say about the subject.
My father will always be the same man, my best friend.
When I didn't comment on what he had to say, my brother shifted his attention back to Elizabeth.
"Stay out of the rest of this conversation," he demanded, sounding annoyed. His eyes looked strange to me. I could have sworn they flashed red for a second.
His hostility didn't intimidate her one bit. And I wondered again what type of a monster she was.
"She owes me a full explanation," I said to him.
"I can leave this second if I wanted to — I don't owe anybody anything."
Resentment filled her voice, and I couldn't be the only one responsible for it.
"Yes, you do. if we are one of the same just like you're saying, you shouldn't have taken a part in their grand charade." I reminded her of the fact that she lied to me. Even if the directors behind that were none other than my own parents.
She rolled her eyes again then and got up, looking like she was about to leave.
My temper flared and I glared menacingly at her, not wanting to part ways with her yet. "How come you know this much about me anyhow?"
She glared back. "Your ignorance is what you need to be angry at right now, not me."
"Do you think any of this is easy?" I snapped.
Her response came out in a rush.
"While you were out there living the life a human teenager only dreamed of, I was carrying the entire load of the third-generation pureblood vampires by myself, so don't tell me you had things bad! You have been protected your entire life while I was bombarded with responsibilities, you waltz back in here — as if you never left this place to begin with. And unclaimed vampires start flocking in masses to the last place they should, the mutual territory! And then what do you know? Elizabeth had the sudden sacred duty of protecting you — not to mention keeping an eye on the werewolves who had already staked a claim on you, it was not enough for the elders to coordinate, no, it had to be everybody." She took a breath, then continued.
"So what happened after all that? huh? A few insisting young bloods slipped through our defenses… and now she comes here…" I could barely keep up with everything she went on about, but I heard how frustrated she sounded.
She looked at me intensely and didn't continue after, though she was obviously not done yet. She was so upset; her doe eyes shook helplessly; My heart skipped a beat in response. I tried to push away the disturbing feeling I had when I sensed her vulnerability, I needed to think only with my brain right now.
The obscure feelings I had for the girl had to wait in line. My fisted hand shook, so she looked at it, then she looked back at me.
"Can you try not to bleed too much by any chance? That would make things incredibly hard on everybody." Elizabeth spoke coldly, back to her professional mode. Her voice was remarkably appealing, and she didn't look like she was having a hard time at all around my blood.
"What kind of a vampire bleeds," I was referring to myself, "or have no problem around blood…" now I was referring to her.
I could at least still challenge the incredible vampire theory.
"Cinematic reality exaggerates details; they just want to make exciting movies." She rolled her eyes.
Liam lifted a hand to stop us.
"That's enough for one day," he said, throwing the towel he still had in his hands sideways.
'That is not his decision to make.'
She spoke to me in my brain again. Not wanting to let my brother in on the conversation. I didn't want to side with her either, so I nodded once to let her know I had enough, my jaw was tight.
She looked surprised. "Why are you giving him control over the situation? After everything you learned about yourself today?"
As if all that made any sense to me.
"It doesn't matter," I insisted. "I won't let anything come between my brother and me — What we are or what we aren't, it doesn't change the fact that he's my family."
"Can't you just be upset for at least one day?" She looked appalled.
"Thank you for your concern," I said mockingly, I knew she didn't like me.
"You're not going to ask me anything else?"
"No." I was done for the day.
"So the werewolf has the pureblood on a leash…again." She tilted her head to the right.
We scowled at each other for a moment. It was not easy to keep an attitude when my heart picked up the pace whenever I looked too long at her. Her ice-cold expression was remarkable.
I did not affect her whatsoever.
"Why did you insist on being here for this?" I asked curiously.
She didn't answer immediately, looking helpless again, upsetting me.
"I wanted to be there for the parts that had to do with me," her voice was soft.
She got up and passed me by, then she was out of the door without bothering with goodbyes. Leaving a room full of jasmine scent behind her.
I was numb again right after, there was nothing I wanted to say or do. When I finally moved, I made my way slowly to the stairs.
Liam rushed to stand next to me; I stopped him with a hard look.
"I need some time alone," I said to him sullenly. I was agitated, and I was in no way able to act considerately for his sake.