Mixed Worlds

Chapter Twenty Five - Answer The Question

    “What is your name?” I ask.

    “Christian.” He winces, and grabs at his chest. “What the f**k?!” He cries.

    “Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that if you don’t say the full truth, the rune will burn.” I smirk. “So, it’s in your best interest to think of your answers wisely.” He goes blank, and I can see him gulp. This, this is going to be fun. 

    “I’ll ask again. What is your name? Titles and all.” 

    “Christian Blackwell, King of the Vampires.” The rune goes back to blue, and Christian relaxes.

    “How old are you?” 

    He raises an eyebrow. “I am nine-hundred-and-fifty-three years old.” No reaction. 

    “How did you know my father, Martin Clark?” I take a deep breath and calm my nerves and threatening tears as I wait for his answer. 

    “We first met back in 1991 when he was hunting my nest. His wife got injured in the fight, and he begged me to give some of my blood to help heal her, and in exchange he would stop hunting me.” His rune stays blue, and he continues. “We had run into each other over the years, and at one point we were sort of friends. Then, in 2010, he had partnered up with another group of hunters, and helped them track down a vampire that was feeding without caution. They ended up killing him, and his mate. That vampire was my brother, Marco.” It stays blue.

    “Did he know that Marco was your brother?” Athena asks.

    “I don’t think so.” He answers.

    “Is that the reason you killed him?” I ask quietly.

    “One of them, yes. My nest was starting to become angry that I was keeping peace with a hunter, and demanded that I step up and act like a King, or they would all begin to leave. I enjoyed the power, so I agreed. I showed up that night to take Martin back to the nest, and kill him in front of my people. He began to struggle, and that’s when a young woman threw a chair at me. I got angry and pushed her out a window, and then when the fight broke out.” I take a sharp breath, and feel like I’m going to pass out.

    “Jamie…” I say with a croak. My throat is dry, and I feel tears finally getting ready to fall. 

    “Then when I turned back around and saw that Martin was gone, I took off looking for him and breaking down anyone who was in my way. There were a lot of hunters there that night, and my nest began to defend me so I could find him. While I was running throughout the house, I found a hidden door propped open, and followed it down the stairs. That is where I found his wife, and his son. I snuck up on him, and ripped his throat out.” My tears are silently flowing at this point, but I keep listening. “His wife screamed, so I snapped her neck, and took off running back up the stairs. I began looking all throughout the house again, and then I found you. After I knocked you out, your father and I began to struggle against one another despite the blood oozing from his neck, and I finally snapped it, killing him. You smelled so good… I couldn’t leave without a taste…” a growl from Alex caused him to stop his train of thought, so he cleared his throat and continued the story.

     “Then I left the house, and that was that.” His rune is a deep blue, and for some reason that makes me mad. Suddenly, Athena stands up and moves to stand right in front of Christian. She back-hands him as hard as I think she can, and I hear a loud crack. Blood sprays out of Christians mouth, and he hangs his head.

     “I must leave. He has said all I need to hear. Call upon me later and we will talk about what to do next.” My mother doesn’t make eye contact with me, but I can tell she is crying almost as hard as I am. Before she leaves, I pull her arm back and spin her around into a hug. She is a couple inches taller than me, but I pull her head onto my shoulder and give her a hard squeeze. 

    “I promise I will do what is right by our family.” I pull back and hold her face as I rest my forehead against hers, and she quickly gives a kiss to my hands before she turns and leaves the room. I wipe my face and turn back only to see Alex pick up Christians head, and it fall right back down.

     “He’s knocked out.” Alex smacks his face a bit, and Christian groans.

    “f**k, that lady hits hard.” He rubs the blood off of his mouth, and looks at me.

    “That lady? My MOTHER had her heart broken not just once when she found out my father died, but twice when her child was killed. She was Marcus’ mother too.” I wipe my face, and stand beside Alex. Christians eyes go wide, and his mouth hangs open. I grab his chin and hold him close to my face, making the vervain chains rip into his skin. “You are lucky we still have more questions, or I would have finished you off my self.” I throw his head back, and wipe his blood off of my hand and onto his shirt. 

     “I-I’m so-” I slap him hard, cutting him off. 

    “Don’t bother. Next question.” I pull up a chair, and sit right in front of him. “Where is Alex’s mother? Where is Jane Blackwell?”

    “I don’t know.” The rune starts to glow red. He winces. “The last I knew she was somewhere south.” He cries in pain as the rune is starting to glow white.

     “Answer the question!” Alex grabs him by the collar of his shirt. “Where is my mother!?” He demands. I can see that his eyes are black, and I scoot my chair back to give him some space.

    Christian looks terrified, and begins to tear up. “She’s dead.” The rune returns to blue. “She died six years ago.” Alex drops him, and stumbles backwards and looks angrier than he did before.

    “You’re lying. Tell me where she is!” He cries.

     “Alex,” I stand up and walk in front of him. “The rune is blue. He’s telling the truth. I’m so sorry.” He drops to his knees, and cries out in agony. I kiss his head, and look back at Christian. “What happened to her? How did she die?” Alex turns his face into my thigh, and the now muffled sobs continue. Christian hangs his head as tears spill over his eyes. Silence looms in the air. “Have you no heart at all? Your son, your only, son, just finds out his mother that he has searched for for almost a decade, just found out that his efforts were next to useless. He deserves to know, and you deserve to face the fact that you didn’t save her!” I spat. Alex’s anger and sadness is flowing through me, and I feel the need to rip the answers out of Christian if it’s the last thing I do.

     “I happened.” He lifts his head up and looks at his son. “I had found out that she was planning to reject me, take Alex, and leave the nest. Rejection after you have marked your mate, can be extremely painful and can sometimes cause the rejected mate to die. I was starving for power, and flew into a rage. Once Alex left for school, I took her out, and travelled to a forest in Vermont, and rejected her. Because I was the one who turned her, she was stronger than your average vampire, and survived the rejection. Before she could challenge me, I panicked and snapped her neck.” At his confession, Alex jerks up to his knees and stares his father in the eye. “I couldn’t bare to lose my son, and the nest couldn’t lose its rightful heir.”

    My mouth hung open in shock, and Alex dropped his head into his hands and curled up on the ground tucking his head between his knees. I took a few steps closer to Christian, and bent down to his level. “So you killed your mate in fear of losing rank? Because you didn’t want to lose your power over your people?” My voice rose in volume. “I may be new to this whole mate thing, but I would do anything, anything, for Alex no matter the consequences. I couldn’t even imagine losing him, let alone him dying by my hands! I would give up my birthright, as the daughter of the Goddess Athena if it meant we could live and be together. You are disgusting excuse of a man. A monster. A coward.” I stand up straight and take a deep breath.

    “Your trial is done. Your punishment will be decided upon tomorrow.” I place my hand over the rune, and seal it up. I tighten the chains above his head so he can’t move his arms, and I stab him in the thigh with my blade. He screams, and curses at me. I twist the blade a bit, and lean in to his ear. “This is nothing compared to the pain you will receive. I give you my word on that.” I rip the blade out, and toss it onto the table. 

    I pick up a still sobbing Alex, and we walk out of the room. Once we reach the hallway, we run into Lucas and Anna, and I see that Jack is down the hall brushing his teeth in the bathroom. I raise my hand and ask them to wait, and I walk Alex to my room. 

     I sit him down on my bed and help pull off his shoes, socks, and I unbuckle his belt and slide it off. He doesn’t move at all, and silently sobs. I go into my closet and take out a pair of my dads old basketball shorts, and set them on the bed next to him. “Come on, get changed and crawl into bed.” He looks up at me, and begins to cry again. I pull him in to me, and rub his head. “I am so, so sorry Alex. I am so sorry about your mother.” I begin to cry too, as I can feel his heart hurting. “I have to go talk to Anna and Lucas, and I’ll be right back. I won’t be long.” He pulls back, and begins to unbutton his shirt. I kiss his cheek, and walk out of my room pulling the door shut behind me. Anna and Lucas are still in the same spot, talking to Jack. I walk up behind them and clear my throat. 

     “Hey, we saw your mom leave, and then we heard a scream so we came to check up on you. What happened in there?” Anna gives me a quick hug, and holds my hand. I wipe my face with my free hand and shake my head.

     “I just heard Christian explain in very specific detail on how he killed my family, and then he admitted that Alex’s mom is dead. He killed her a few years back. Alex broke down when he realized that Christian was telling the truth, and couldn’t calm down. He’s still sobbing in my room, and can barely move.” I clench my chest, and take a deep breath. “I can feel his pain. I can feel his heart ache. I don’t know what to do!” Anna pulls me in as I begin to sob, and she rubs circles on my back. I feel another hand on my shoulder, and I look up and see that Lucas’ eyes are starting to water.

     “I’m so sorry.” He says softy. “I wish there was something I could do.” 

    I stand back and wipe my face yet again, and look at them both, still not acknowledging that Jack is there. “I need you two to try and get him to tell you where she’s buried. Or at least a general area. I know that Alex is going to want to say goodbye. Feel free to ask him however you wish, but don’t kill him. How it will happen will be decided on tomorrow.” I look at Jack, and cross my arms. “What do you want?” I ask him.

    “I came to make sure you were okay. Is there anything I can do?” He puts his hands into his pockets, and I swallow my tears back.

     “You can stay away from Christian, and you can start being nicer to Alex. He just found out his mom died, and he’s spent the last decade trying to track her down only to find out she isn’t even alive anymore.” Suddenly, my head is pounding, and I take a deep breath. “He hasn’t even done anything wrong to you, and you’ve been nothing but a jackass. He didn’t choose who he’s destined to be with, and you need to accept that.” I turn and begin to walk back to my room. “Goodnight.” I say as I open my door.

     Alex is sitting up on my bed, leaning up against the wall. He looks over at me, and tries to smile. “Hey, is everything okay?” He asks as he tries to catch his breath.

    “Don’t worry about me, I’m more worried about you right now.” I walk into my closet and change into a t-shirt. I climb into bed beside him, and he lays down next to me. “Come here.” I open my arms, and Alex cuddles into me and rests his head on my stomach. “I promise the pain gets easier to handle.” I stroke his hair, and he sobs softly. 

     “I just can’t believe she’s actually gone. She died and I never even knew about it. I don’t even know where her body is.” He wraps his arm around me, and holds me tight.

     “Don’t worry about that, it’s being taken care of. Hopefully we have an answer when we wake up. For now, sleep.” He tries to steady his breath, but has no luck.

     “I don’t think I can. There’s a million things going on in my head and I can’t calm down. This hurts so much.”  I pull his chin up so I can look at his face. He’s all red and puffy, and his eyes are a very dark, dark blue. I stroke his cheek, and sniffle.

     “I can help with that if you want? I can kind of push my emotions to you to help calm you down.” He sniffles. 

    “Do you think it will help?” He whispers.

    “I hope so.” I rub his cheek again. “If not then I’ll stay up with you until you fall asleep.” 

    “Okay.” He shifts himself so he’s laying beside me, and scoops me into his arms. “I’ll sleep better if can hold you.” I snuggle into him and place my hand on his temple. He looks down at me, and smiles. “You are an amazing woman.” I blush. 

      “Shh, I’m trying to focus.” I giggle. I begin to think about Alex falling asleep, and dreaming of peace. I use my thumb to stroke his hair out from his sad face. He tries to keep his eyes open, but he’s not doing very well. His eyes close, and his head sinks further into the pillow. “Sleep.” I whisper. His breathing becomes steady, and his face softens. I slowly pull my hand back, and rest it on his chest. His soft snores are soothing, and I feel my breath fall in to pace with his. I hold him a little tighter, and I fall asleep.