The Reborn (The Reborn trilogy book 1)

Chapter 17

Truth is out

"You were born 24th February 1950 to parents Rose and Ralph Walker. Younger brother Timmy. In 1967 dear mom and dad reported you missing to the police, who proceeded to deem you a runaway." Naomi says with unabashed glee.

I grit my teeth. How has she gotten this information?

"Got no funny quip now. I'll continue, shall I? Now obviously you didn't run away. A good student, from a loving family. No. Of course you didn't run away, you were changed into a vampire. Now over fifty years later you become human again. Condensing the last fifty years of your life into seventeen with a few modifications as your new backstory."

Lola starts looking between the two of us, doubt starting to form in her eyes. "What proof do you have to this claim?" She asks. A slight tremble in her voice. All the holes in my stories seeming to stretch wide open.

Damn. I knew it would be hard for her when the truth came out but the look on her face was killing me. I fight to keep my face neutral, while inside I'm screaming.

"Just a little something that they didn't have back when Connie was born. DNA testing. You see little Timmy has held out hope that big sister here would one day be found, so he submitted his DNA to the national registry. Guess what results came back when I compared it to your DNA Connie."

My eyes harden, throat tightening. I don't want Lola to look at me differently but that will be guaranteed in the next minute. It doesn't even matter in this moment that she got a DNA sample from me without my knowledge.

"Full. Blood. Siblings." Naomi ends with a flourish.

Lola takes a moment to process, turning to me. "Is it true?"

I try to speak but my throat is burning. All I can manage is a nod. The resulting look harder to take than anything I suffered under compulsion. I'd take any beatings from my old master to prevent the look on her face. Tears form in her eyes before she turns away from me.

"Right, you got your confession, now untie me." I say, anger takes over as a defence.

Naomi spins back to me so fast that I get whiplash. The sneer on her face is extremely unpleasant. "What makes you think that you're going anywhere. You just admitted to being a vampire."

"Was. I'm human now. I'm as much a victim here." I say in outrage. My heart starts pounding. Does she mean to kill me or even send me to that compound? I haven't done anything but try to live my life. Yet the supernatural world keeps butting in and trying to take control of me. Vampires didn't succeed and now some pumped up human wants to try.

"Victim? I don't see a victim; I see a killer."

I shut my eyes tight, biting my tongue. Deep breath, keep your cool. Try reasoning instead of coming off as the enemy. "I haven't killed anyone in over thirty years and even then, I only did it under compulsion."

"LIAR." Naomi roars.

"I'm not lying." I say heatedly. "I only ever killed while under compulsion."

"Oh really. Explain, how you fed for the last thirty years if you didn't kill? What changed thirty years ago that stopped you killing?"

Lola slowly turns to face me, her eyes red from crying. I look to her when I talk, praying she can see the truth in my words. "I never wanted to be a vampire. My life was perfect, amazing parents, annoying but lovable little brother." I smile thinking of them. "I was walking home from work when it happened. One minute, life was simple; next it was a nightmare. The Masters use compulsion on the new vampires, forcing us to do ... things." I shake away the memories. "Let's just say it wasn't pleasant. This room looks like a child's play room compared to the Masters. The intension was to break us, get us to follow their commands without complaint. Only I refused to be broken. Forcing them to keep me under compulsion for longer. Only the more I was under compulsion the more I could keep my own mind. I used that time to plan my escape."