She sits beside me, drawing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. She watches me, those once-human, assessing eyes now sharper, dissecting my every move.
“Just ask it,” I prompt, giving her a sidelong glance.
“Oh, thank god. What the hell happened between you and Lilith?” she blurts.
I look down at the label, picking at its corner with my thumb. “She dated my brother. I liked her. She liked him. It ended badly, and here we are.” I shrug.
“She dated Morbius?” Evelynn asks, disbelief thick in her tone.
My jaw tightens, like it does every time someone says his name. Seeing him again ignited a rage I thought I’d buried decades ago.
“You’ll have to ask her the rest,” I mutter, shutting the door on the topic.
“Why is she so angry with you?” she presses.
I stand and look out through the trees. “Because he is my brother, and she believes I’ve known all this time where he went and where he is. That I’ve been covering for him,” I grit out, hurling the bottle into the forest. Glass shatters somewhere in the dark. “Tell Lucian I’m going to feed,” I mutter over my shoulder before leaping off the roof.
I run at full speed through the forest, twigs snapping underfoot, cold air cutting into my lungs even though I don’t need to breathe. I stop in front of the old bird-watching shed, now run down and barely standing.
I carefully open the door and step inside. Memories of Lilith flash through my mind; her laugh, her eyes, the gift she gave me.
I sit in the darkness, surrounded by spiders and the creatures of the night.
The door creaks, and my gaze snaps to it. Lilith stands there, surprise flickering across her face at seeing me.
I stand, moving towards the doorway, towards her. “I will go,” I mutter.
“It’s seeing him again. After all these years.” Her words waver, her emotional restraint cracking.
I open my mouth to say something, to agree, but quickly close it. It’s better that way. I move to walk past her.
“Walk away just like him,” she seethes.
I halt. My back to her, fists clenched at my sides. “He chose to leave, and he chose them,” I grit.
“And you knew!” she explodes.
I whirl around, jaw tight. “It’s easier to blame me because I’m fucking here, still having to deal with his fucking mess,” I bite out.
Tears sting her eyes. “You’ve done nothing but ignore it. Brushed it aside. I lost my entire family that night. I watched the Dominion slaughter my entire family before my eyes and then slit my throat. If it weren’t for him changing me, I’d be dead too.” She chokes on the words, swallowing them back. The hard exterior she’s built around herself is starting to crumble.
My fingers twitch with the urge to touch her, to hold her. I force myself to stay still.
“I’m sorry,” I murmur, watching a single tear slide along her freckled cheek.
She angrily wipes it away. “I’ve told you before, your sorrys mean nothing to me. You mean nothing to me.”
Every muscle in my body tenses. Each word cuts deeper than the last.
“You done?” I ask.
She lets out a bitter little laugh. “Maybe I could almost forgive your brother for disappearing; for leaving me to deal with the loss of my family, for changing me. But for finding outhe became one of them—the very thing that destroyed my life—I will never forgive him that.” Her voice drips venom at the word Dominion. “And you are just as bad, protecting him. Hiding him.”
She steps closer, leaning up until her face is an inch from mine, her murderous gaze slicing through me. “So no, I will never be done. I want you to feel bad. I want you to feel the pain, the suffering I do each day.”
The sheer hatred and raw, agonising pain in her voice nearly breaks me. I force myself to remain a statue.
She slams her fist into my chest. “You feel nothing! Nothing!”
