They Rise at Dusk (Book #1) ✔️

Chapter 10: Down the Memory Lane

"They went out one night, and I guess Elena wanted to prove to him she could be fun enough to be with him, so she decided to attack two guys outside of the club here in Brooklyn."

"Where were you?" Lucia whispered, like she knew exactly what I was about to say.

I closed my eyes, a few tears escaping.

"Home. It was my father's birthday, and he requested all of us to stay in, but Elena rebelled because of Dorian."

Lucia said nothing, waiting for me to continue.

"I knew something would go terribly wrong." I choked. "I felt it in my bones; the night was too cold, and it had been raining for hours. I told Dorian to watch after her, I knew-"

I took in a deep breath and swallowed the lump in my throat, pushing down all the unresolved emotions that threatened to burst out.

"She attacked the two guys outside of the club." I continued. "Dorian was still in the club, or at least that's what he claims. It would have been fine if he had been with her, but he stayed inside. And Elena was weak – she hadn't been feeding on humans at that point."

"What happened?" Lucia whispered.

"One of them had a gun." I breathed out. "He shot her, straight in the head. She died on the spot."

I felt the hole in my heart stronger than usually as memories resurfaced. The anger, pain, hatred. While everyone else hated those two guys, I hated us. I hated vampires for making her behave in a way that wasn't natural to her.

"What happened to the two guys?" Lucia asked.

"Dorian happened." I spat. "He snapped their necks when he found her."

I chugged more whiskey, hoping the awful taste would burn through the resentment. But nothing helped; nothing made me feel better. I hated us for what happened. Both Dorian and myself.

"The next few months were a complete mess." I said, "Dorian wouldn't talk to anyone, and I hated him too much to be in the same room with him."

I wanted to punish him, turn his life into living hell, destroy him completely like he had destroyed me. The anger grew instead of passing, and twisted into something nasty, and vengeful, and unstoppable.

"My father had already made plans-" My face distorted into a grimace. "He had already made plans for Dorian to simply marry Libby instead-"

"Jesus Christ." Lucia interrupted, her own anger now surfacing. "What the fuck is wrong with you people? Don't any of you have feelings? She was his daughter!"

I was now crying, tears sliding down my cheeks without brakes. In desperation, I put the whiskey bottle down and buried my face in my hands.

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know!"

"I'm- I'm sorry." Lucia gathered herself quickly. "It's not your fault, your family is shitty, but you're fine. I promise."

I wiped the tears with the back of my palm, sniffled, swallowed, and continued.

"He didn't want to lose the Darascu line. And Dorian's brother and sister already had their own arrangements. Dorian was his last chance to get some of their blood into our family tree."

"That's fucking messed up."

"No shit." A bitter laugh left my lips.

Lucia caught my gaze, and squinted, "Isn't Libby... older than you?"

"Libby was thirty at the time." I answered. "But you know how we are, we spend most of our lives looking like we're in our twenties-"

"I know, I know." Lucia cut in. "But still, why not you?"