Chapter 23: Chapter Twenty-Three

Ethan

Her eyes were green.

Just like mine.

I felt her emotions like they were my own—relived the entire thing as if I was killing Ara all over again.

She'd done the unthinkable. She'd not only lied to her mate but cheated on him and produced a child with that lie. I knew Genesis wouldn’t understand.

But I also knew trying to get her to understand while she was still trembling from shock wouldn’t do any good.

“You didn’t have to kill her.” Genesis’s voice was hollow, her eyes still blazing green.

“I did.” I touched my forehead to hers. “Because if I didn’t, Cassius would have.”

“She slept with Cassius?”

“He never said.” I sighed. “He never admitted it. The child was—not normal.”

“Not normal?”

“She wasn’t a vampire.”

“What was she?”

“I don’t know,” I whispered.

“Perhaps I’ll never know—maybe that was Cassius’s way of protecting me, of protecting my bloodline, my reputation, though it hardly mattered once everyone discovered my mate was suddenly dead.”

“But…” The green of her eyes started to fade. “Is that what would happen to me if I left you?”

“No.” My hands shook holding her down; from showing her the memory, my strength had been depleted. If I didn’t feed, I was going to sleep for the next fifteen hours.

“Humans are turned immortal after they produce a child, a gift we bestow upon them.”

“So she should have lived.”

“I killed her before she could accept the gift because Cassius was right. She was going mad with a lust for power. Had I given her immortality, I would have created a monster.”

“You still killed her.”

“I loved her too much to let Cassius do it—loved her too much to turn her into a monster. She wasn’t made for it. She was one of the first humans to start… showing effects of the imbalance.

“A part of me believes it’s my fault that the humans keep dying.”

“What are you saying?”

“No human mate had died—until I killed my own mate.”

“And then?”

“Every human after… has died—not right away. Most live past a hundred having not aged at all. We think the immortality takes, and they simply don’t wake up.”

“You did something,” she whispered, “to the natural order.”

“Possibly.”

“So it’s your fault.”

Heaviness descended like a fog. “It was my fault… for loving her too much.”

“Your love for her destroyed everything.”

“So now you know.” I moved away from Genesis and laid my head down on the pillow next to her. “Loving again will take everything I have left.”

“You can’t love again? Or you won’t?”

“It’s already too late…” I slurred my words, darkness overtaking me. I needed blood and sleep. “It’s too late for me now… but not for you.”

“What?” Genesis shook my body. “What do you mean?”

“If you don’t love back, the final step never completes itself. You’ll be free. I’m setting you free.”

“Ethan.” Her voice was distant. “Ethan, what’s happening?”

“Exhausted.” I barely got the word past my lips.

Something soft hit one of my fangs. And then blood was trickling into my mouth.

Memories flashed.

“Now it’s your turn to dream,” Genesis whispered. “Dream of me.”

~Blackness overcame me and then, in an instant, I was sitting in a desk with other humans listening to the instructor drone on and on about immortals.~

~“Never look an immortal in the eye!” the teacher snapped. “You are nothing. Remember that.”~

~I cringed.~

~A bell rang in the distance. I watched as Genesis stood and walked out by herself.~

~Her mother was waiting for her at the end of the hallway, hands on hips. “Where’s your backpack?”~

~“Oh…” Genesis covered her mouth. She couldn’t have been older than seventeen. “I totally forgot. I’ll go back to my locker and—”~

~“Do you really think any immortal will want you? If you can’t even remember something as silly as a textbook?”~

~Genesis shook her head, tears welling in her eyes.~

~“Useless.” Her mother gripped Genesis’s arm and shoved her the rest of the way down the hall. “Good thing your number will never be called—you’re too ugly.”~

~“Yes, Mother.”~

~I wanted to scream in outrage. She was gorgeous! Even in the dream, I could see the purity of the blood, taste the goodness on my lips.~

~A house appeared in the distance.~

~It was poorly lit. The shutters were falling from the windows, and the porch steps had seen better days. The foundation crumbled beneath the heaviness of the home, making it appear depressing.~

~I took the steps two at a time and found myself in Genesis’s room.~

~She had books everywhere. Books about vampires, werewolves, and sirens. Then finally, Dark Ones.~

~“Are you studying?” Her mother’s voice sounded from the other side of the house.~

~“Yes!” Genesis yelled, tugging a piece of licorice through her teeth. “Almost done for the night.”~

~Her mother appeared at the door, took one look at Genesis, and scowled. “Candy makes you fat.”~

~The licorice fell from her lips as tears welled in her eyes. “I thought you said I could have licorice if I skipped breakfast?”~

~“Ugly.” Her mother sighed. “And now you’ll be fat for them.”~

~“But a number hasn’t been called in years!” Genesis argued.~

~Her mother stilled. “Are you challenging my authority?”~

~“No.” Genesis hung her head. “I’m sorry.”~

~“I do this because I love you.”~

~Bullshit!~

~Instead of staying in Genesis’s room, I followed her mother to the other room where she sat down at a kitchen table and started pouring over bills.~

~Most of them were overdue.~

~“Stupid girl,” she said under her breath. Her hands shook.~

~I glanced harder into the mother’s eyes.~

~Jealousy stared right back.~

~“My number wasn’t called,” her mother sniffed, still talking to herself. “Of course hers won’t ever be called. It’s all because of that stupid bitch.”~

~She wasn’t talking about Genesis.~

~Confused, I moved away from the mother and made my way down the hall again. Pictures lined the walls.~

~I smiled at the pictures of Genesis as a child.~

~Something about her struck me as familiar. Almost oddly so.~

~Her mother was in one picture.~

~And then another elderly woman. She had pretty, almond-shaped eyes.~

~The pictures went on, years and years of pictures. The color turned to black and white.~

~When I reached the end of the hallway, there was one final picture.~

~It was ancient. I leaned in.~

~My knees buckled as I braced myself against the wall.~

~“Ara,” I breathed.~