He feels her guilt hitting him, along with his own. He never intended for April to kill Lana, along with Derrick. He wanted her to suffer, but he never imagined that Lana would also pay the price for what he implanted in her head. Not in a million years.
“Go,” I tell him, and within a blink, he is gone. He is a ticking time bomb on the brink of exploding.
Ryland looks to the stairs, Evelyn’s despair hitting us like a tidal wave as it crashes into us. I race upstairs only to see that she has locked the door. I twist the door handle until it snaps, falling apart in my hand, and we find Evelyn on the floor, broken.
She is screaming inside; you can see it on her face as she breaks. Tears roll down her face, her face turning red and blotchy as she wails, her hands rip out her hair as she loses it. She has completely lost the plot.
Ryland grabs her hands, stopping her from pulling chunks of hair out, her nails dig into her delicate skin, leaving scratch marks as she claws at herself, like she thinks she can claw away the pain she is feeling inside.
“Orion, do something!” Ryland yells to me as she loses control.
Ryland pulls her onto his lap, restraining her hands which are now digging into his leg above the knee. He rocks her, trying to soothe her while she weeps. Kneeling beside her, I grip her face, forcing her to look at me. Her eyes are red and puffy, dead, as she stares back at me. She is completely distraught. I let the fog slip over her, her breathing evens out, her tears slow, yet she still tries to fight against it as her body slowly relaxes and her hands unclench. Ryland’s leg is bleeding with the little half-moon shapes of her nails.
“Sleep, Evelyn,” I tell her, as Ryland brushes back the hair sticking to her face from her tears. She shakes her head, trying to fight off the compulsion. “Sleep, Evelyn,” I repeat, and she goes out like a light.
Her eyes shut as I force her to sleep, her body goes limp in Ryland’s arms, and her head rolls back against his arm. He stands, clutching her to his chest and lays on the bed with her. I sit beside him, trying to think, but come up blank. Death is something we are used to; eventually, when you live as long as we do, you lose everyone you have ever known, which is the downside to the curse of immortality.
Everyone you have ever known will eventually die around you, but Evelyn has never experienced that; she never had a family, never stayed any place long enough to grow close to someone, so this is new to her; this is devastating. The closest thing she ever had to family is now gone. Even Derrick couldn’t break her after what he did. Thaddeus couldn’t break her. Lana’s death, however, did. This broke her. I’ve never seen her look so frail. This is going to haunt her even more than that vile man.
Evelyn
I wake early to my phone ringing next to my bed. It is on silent, and I can just make out the vibrating sound. I ignore it, not feeling like talking, and figure it must be one of Thaddeus’ family members.
Stretching, I sit upright. The events of the past twenty-four hours hit me almost instantly. Thaddeus sits in the armchair at the end of the bed, staring off into space. Ryland is asleep beside Orion and me; I have no idea where his mind is, but he isn’t in the room.
Lana is dead. My only family is now gone, and I just can’t wrap my head around it; it is like a bad dream. Thaddeus is still as a statue; he doesn’t move as I stand up, completely lost in his thoughts. I take my phone and look at the screen. Five missed calls from Lana. At the sight, my heart clenches. She will never call me again. I will never hear her voice again. I still can’t believe April killed her, killed her own daughter. I quickly go to the bathroom, needing to pee. As I walk past Thaddeus, all he does is stare at the same spot on the ceiling; the look on his face is vacant.
After using the bathroom, I quickly wash my hands and walk out. I wave my hand in front of Thaddeus’ face, but he doesn’t react. What is wrong with him? I touch his arm with no reaction, he is awake because his eyes are open, yet the look on his face is like he isn’t aware of me touching him.
“Vampires do that sometimes; he is stuck in his head,” Orion says, making me notice he is now leaning against the door. He comes over, wrapping his arms around me, and I wrap mine around his waist. Sparks move over my cheek where it rests on his bare chest.
“When will he come back?” I ask, looking up at him.
“When he figures out how to come back, or one of us pulls him from it,” Orion tells me. “Are you okay?” he asks, and I nod.
I will be fine, unlike Lana. I’m still alive and breathing, guilt hits me at what happened.
“Hungry?” he asks. I shake my head. “Well, you should eat anyway. I will go make something,” he says, letting me.
Orion glances at Thaddeus, and I can see the worry etched on his face for his mate. Orion walks out, and I am about to follow when I decide to sit with Thaddeus for a while. Ryland is still fast asleep, snoring softly. Climbing on the armchair, I sit on his lap, draping my legs over the armrest and grabbing his arm to wrap it around me.
Thaddeus being gone for so long was horrible; now he is back and stuck like this. His skin is warm as I lean against him. Using my fingers, I trace the lines of his face. His face feels rough with stubble, but he feels warm, like home. My phone starts vibrating again; I can’t ignore it this time.
I grab it and sit back down on Thaddeus’s lap. Looking at the screen, my heart skips a beat. Lana? I shake my head. I know she is dead already. I must be losing it; there is no way she can be ringing.
The news anchor confirmed three people are dead -they even put up her photo- so I have no doubt she is truly gone. My mind must be trying to find ways to cope. As I try to rationalize, I drop the phone on my lap and I nestle back into Thaddeus. My head is resting on his shoulder, my hand strokes his rough cheek. I love the way they smell, the smell of their skin, and how warm they are.
Suddenly, I feel movement; Thaddeus moves, making me look up at him. His big arms envelop me, crushing me against him and letting go slightly. Sitting up, I straddle him, wrapping my arms around his neck. His face goes to the crook of my neck.
“You’re back,” I mumble against his shoulder and kiss the side of his neck.
He growls softly, almost a purr. “You don’t hate me?” he whispers, making me furrow my eyebrows.
“Why would I hate you?” I ask, confused, wrapping my arms around his neck tighter and pressing against him.
“Because of Lana,” he says, rubbing a hand down his face.
“You didn’t kill Lana. April did,” I tell him, and he shakes his head. “Nothing you did killed Lana. That is on April. She pulled the trigger, not you. But I am fairly sure I am losing my mind,” I tell him, and he pulls back, grabbing my face and looking at me. I hear my phone vibrate again.
“Why do you say that?” he asks, curious.
“Because I keep thinking I can hear my phone ringing and see her name pop up,” I tell him. He kisses me softly and pulls away.
“Please don’t keep punishing Ryland; it isn’t his fault,” I tell him, and I see his eyes dart to Ryland behind me. After a moment, his eyes settle back on me. He pulls me against him, resting his chin on my head.
My phone vibrates again, and I retrieve it from where it fell between us. Looking at the screen, Lana’s name pops up again. Sighing, I drop the phone on my lap when Thaddeus picks it up.
“Ah, Evelyn, you’re not imagining it, unless I have gone crazy with you,” he says, looking at the screen.
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