He didn’t want to say it, but he needed to get through to her. He was sick of having to hide, having to lie. If it was going to be out there, let it all be out there.
“I asked to be bitten,” he said. “I wanted it.”
She froze like he’d cut her strings. His mother stared at him, red eyes wide with shock.
“That’s not true,” She said, shaking her head. Her expression was pinched, pained. “They said–I didn’t want to believe them–”
“It’s true,” Luis said. “That’s where I was. There was no crime, and I wasn’t hurt. The person who bit me is a friend. It’s–it’s helping with my condition Mama; it heals better than a needle and–”
“No,”his mother spat it, spittle hitting Luis’s face. Her cheeks were ruddy with emotion, eyes glossy with anger. “You were attacked,” she said, as if she could make it true just by saying it enough.
“I wasn’t,” Luis repeated. He needed her to hear him. To understand. “Mama, I asked him to–”
The slap came so fast Luis didn’t know what had happened at first. There was pain, a loud and sharp sound.
She’d struck him. Smacked him with the back of her hand, clean-cutting the words from his mouth, moving his head with the force of it. One of the chunky gold rings she always wore must have cut his cheek, because a hard sting settled in a second later.
She’d been generous with physical punishment growing up, but she’d never struck him across the face like that before. With rage and hatred.
The shock and shame of it rippled through him.
Then, stupid, childish tears welled up.
“I won’t listen to that.” She snapped. “No God-fearing Christian would let themselves be defiled like that. If you asked to be bitten, there’s something wrong with you.”
Luis’s stomach roiled at her words. His hands were shaking, and he kept blinking to try and not let the tears fall.
“You’re wrong.” His voice was thick and wobbly. He hated how young it made him sound. “There’s nothing wrong with me.”
“Cállate.” She stepped away, disgust on her face. “How long has this been going on? How long have you been athrall?” She threw the last word at him as though its very presence in her mouth made her sick.
It struck like a knife. “Mama,” Luis tried again, “it’s for my condition.”
But she wasn’t listening. “They tried to tell me, but I didn’t want to see it. You wanted so badly to move out, and I convinced myself that it would be good for you, that maybe this was the step you and your girlfriend needed. But I see the Devil’s work here. I spent so many years praying for your soul, but you’ve let the evil in. You’ve let them make you their bloodbag.” She laughed hollowly, viciously. “This is the thanks I get for raising you. A disgustingthrallof a son.”
He felt stupid and small and ashamed at her words. He knew,knewwhat she thought about vampires, what she thought about all the things that made him, him. But somewhere along the line he’d convinced a tiny part of him that maybe she would hear him. That he could make her understand, somehow.
That if she loved him, she’d at least–at least–
But no. That was impossible. She loved a version of him that didn’t exist. Would never exist. Anything outside of that wasn’t acceptable.
“Mama–”He was shamed by the wet plea that fell from his mouth, but he couldn’t help it. He just wanted her to understand.To accept him.
She held out her hand. “Give me my phone,” she demanded.
In that moment, Luis was eleven years old again, getting the guitar ripped out of his hands. He was thirteen being forbidden from the boys sleepover. He was fifteen, trying so, so hard to be who she wanted him to be and failing, failing, failing.
What else could he do? He’d tried everything.
He dropped the phone into her hand, dejected.
His mother stepped around him like he was a virus, grabbing her purse on the way to the door.
“Do not call me, do not come to the house,” she said. Her expression was unadulterated loathing. “Until you have repented and cut off this pact with the Devil, you are no son of mine.”
Each word was a barb. He couldn’t speak around the pain.
A second later the door slammed shut behind her. The framed photo of him and Cassie on the wall rattled from the impact.
