Chapter 58

Chapter 58

Ren felt his heart drop into the pit of his stomach. He stared at his mom, lost for words. When he could finally take his eyes off of her to look around the room, he wasn't the only one that had been slammed by the weight of her words. It wasn't just the weight either that had Ashton and Kai looking at her like she'd grown a second hand. She knew the Mantels before any of them were born and her family had known them as well.

She folded her hands into her lap. "My dad had been part of an organization founded by witches. Our clan was the last of their kind. I'm the sole surviver of the original."

She turned to look over at Ren. "And in turn, you are the last generation."

Ren furrowed his brows. "What clan?"

"We don't have a name," she shook her head. "We spoke a different language, one that isn't documented. For the most part, we were invisible."

"What were you hunting my grandfather for?" Ashton scooted to the edge of the couch.

Renin seemed once again amused. "Who wasn't hunting that old man?"

His face darkened in the next second. He seemed to think about something and it stole all the amusement he had.

Margret looked over at him. She seemed to know what he was thinking about.

"Ryling Mantel was a hard ass that believed in vampire supremacy. Above all supernaturals and races. He was in cahoots with the Vampire Royalty in a scheme to start a major human trafficking route."

Ren thought he was going to be sick. He guessed it didn't matter which side he looked at, there were always going to be vile people that didn't care about others.

Margret paused for a moment. The room was silent as all of them let the words settle. Ren didn't know of Ashton or Kai knew about this, but he assumed they didn't. When he looked at the two of them, the looks on their faces didn't give anything away.

"That was the reason why my parents were going to kill him. It wasn't a matter about whether they liked him or not. It was a matter about whether they wanted innocent people to be slaughtered."

Renin leaned forward. "You're not telling the entire truth."

She sent him an annoyed look. "I'm not finished."

She took a long took at the room. She let out a sigh. "This place hasn't changed since the day I first came here. It's awful."

"She won't let me change a thing," Renin grumbled.

He must have been talking about his wife.

Margret hummed. "I'm sure. She's always been a stickler for traditional things."

She continued to look around. "What I was getting at was that I somehow ended up in the same mess my parents were in. Ryling had opened a portal to the Underworld and had made a deal with a demon. In the end, I helped stop it and so did Renin and Antinette."

Her face hardened. Ren could sense that she still wasn't telling the entire truth. There was something hidden in her words that Ren couldn't decipher through. And when her eyes turned to him, he didn't know if he wanted to know that truth. But in some way, he already knew.

She knew who exactly his father was. He hadn't been some estranged vampire that had been crossing through town and he held a lot more importance than she had ever let on before.

He didn't know he was holding his breath until his chest tightened and his lungs began to burn. He forced himself to take a shuttering breath, but it wasn't enough to quench the horrible feeling that was going through him. He wasn't having a panic attack but he might as well have been.

Margret grabbed his hand. She turned her eyes away, no longer looking at him as if it pained her to, but she held tightly to his hand like she thought he was going to run away. He was thinking about it. Suddenly, the room was too small and everyone was looking at him. He was a bug trapped on a piece of glass and people were prodding at him to get a reaction. It was all in his head—paranoia—yet, it felt so real.

"That's how I know the Mantels and that's how they know me. The Hunters we fought today, they are the underlings of the true horrors out there." She looked over at Renin as if she'd just seen the most horrific thing in the world.

Ren could see then that he wouldn't ever truly know what had happened durring his mom's and Renin's time together. They were bonded by the horrors of their past, even if they didn't like each other.

"This has been nice and all, hearing about how you met and all that, but I think we're missing the point here."

Everyone looked over at Kai.

His bored eyes scanned over each of them. "What the hell are we going to do now?"

Renin stood up and opened his mouth to speak.

But before he could get a word out, another voice interrupted.

"Margret and her son are going to stay here."

Renin whipped around to face his wife. "Excuse me?"

Antinette was dressed like she was about to go out to an expensive dinner. Her hair was pulled up into a tight bun and she was wearing an emerald satin dress that stopped right above her ankles. She wore no makeup, but she didn't need to. Her beauty was evident without the assistance.

"Ashton and the boy are still bonded. Until we can break it, I will not have my son at risk. Especially now that the Hunter Society has a target on the ha—"

"Don't you fucking say it." Margret rose to her feet.

Ren rose to his as well. He didn't feel confident at all, but with the energy of his first kills still coursing through him, he felt like he could tear the Mantels a new one if he needed to.

Antinette waved her hand at Margret. "Sorry. The hybrid."

"They are not staying here," Renin bit out.

"It's not safe for Ashton." Antinette crossed the room. She pointed her finger at Renin. "This all started with you. If you hadn't dragged her into your father's mess then that little thing wouldn't have ever been—"

"Shut up!"

Ren couldn't take it anymore. Their yells were too much, too loud, and they wouldn't shut up. His head was pounding and it was only getting worse the longer he stayed here. He grabbed onto his mom's arm and tugged on it.

"Can we leave?" His voice was too small. He was closing in on himself. He didn't feel scary enough. He didn't even feel like he was there at all.

But everyone was staring at him. They were looking at him like a freak. Because he was.

He knew what they were getting at. If Renin hadn't brought his mom into whatever happened to them when they were teens, he wouldn't have been born. If he hadn't been born, they wouldn't be the current situation they were in.

It was too much for him the process. How was he ever going to be able to process that? How was he ever going to be able to come to terms with the fact that he'd ruined so many people's lives?

He didn't think he could.

Margret wrapped her arm around his shoulder. "Yeah. Let's go."

Antinette stepped in front of them as they tried to walk around the couch. She was fast, blurring into nothing before she was standing in front of them. Ren barred his teeth, but she was unfazed.

"You can't."

Margret snorted. "Are you threatening me right now?"

Antinette's eyes turned red. "They're already at your house. They'll kill you right on the spot."

Margret frowned. "You don't know that."

"And you don't know if it's not true." Antinette crossed her arms. "The best thing for now is to lay low. They won't be back here until they've gathered more people."

"What then? Are we supposed to hide out here until the next time they try to kill us?"

The two of them stared each other down. As much as Ren wanted to get far away from the Mantels, Antinette was right. Darrien was one of the few that got away and he couldn't see him coming back for revenge just yet. They might have a few days to think about what they were going to do next. But if the stragglers of the Society were going to do anything, they would try to ambush him and his mom at their house.

Margret sighed. "Fine. We'll stay until we figure something out."

Behind them, Renin stomped out of the room. Antinette didn't bat an eyelash. A scary smile stretched over her face.

"Perfect. Pick a free room upstairs. We've got plenty."

Margret rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you do."

Antinette crossed the room and walked up the stairs. She stopped before she completely disappeared. "And Margret?"

Margret looked up. "What?"

Antinette's face turned cold. "This doesn't mean I like you."

Margret simply stared. "Likewise."

Then, Antinette was gone.

Margret groaned. "I hate this."

"Me too," Ren replied under his breath. Kai and Ashton were still in the room after all.

Kai silently followed Antinette. He didn't look happy that Ren and Margret would be staying here just as Renin had. Ren slightly understood. He wouldn't have like it either if the Mantels stayed at his house. Though, at least the Mantels house was big enough for all of them. They probably had more rooms than they knew what to do with.

Ren finally let himself look at Ashton.

He was shocked to find Ashton looking back at him.

"I'll go find us a room," Margret said, leaning into his ear.

He glanced over at her and as hard as she tried to hide the small grin on her lips, he saw it.

She was gone in a flash and the two left in the room were him and Ashton.

Great.