The Original: Book 5

Chapter 3

"Rebekah, it's me. Again. Please call," I heard Elijah say as I made myself a sandwich. I could tell he was worried, I was too. Rebekah should have been here by now.

"Cami, what exactly are you doing?" I questioned, watching her search the cabinets of the kitchen.

"If there's one thing I've learned about you people, it's that there's always a bottle of booze around," she commented, finally finding one. "You guys want one?"

"Sounds delightful," Elijah replied. "And after that, Camille, then what? Will we have another? Then another? Another after that, and another after that? Before long, I find myself opening up to you or 'baring my damaged soul', as it were. It's an old trick, Camille." I raised a brow at him, glancing over at Cami, who had sat down with the bottle, three glasses, and a board game. "Not a particularly clever one."

"Your mother really did a number on you boys, didn't she? Has it ever occurred to you I'm less interested in fixing your problems and more interested in forgetting my own? I'm basically in a supernatural protection program because your psychotic brother, who I practically had to seduce, wants me dead. So, yeah."

I let out a chuckle as I joined them in the living room, "our lives are just great, aren't they?"

"Booze and board games is pretty much where I'm at right now," Cami declared, opening the game and pulling out a trivia card. "Here's a question: what's the name of Don Quixote's horse?"

"This is absurd," Elijah stated.

"Fine, dumb idea." Cami threw the card down on the table, picking up her glass. "How's Hayley? You two seemed close." Glancing over at Elijah, I smirked, knowing their events from the previous night.

"Rocinante. The horse's name is Rocinante."

"What three European countries begin with the letter 'A'?" Cami questioned, reading a new card.

"Albania, Austria, Andorra," Elijah replied easily. I chuckled as Cami flipped through the cards.

"Who was the only U.S. president to earn a Ph.D.?"

"The tedious Woodrow Wilson."

"Who rode Secretariat to the Triple Crown in 1973?"

"Ron Turcotte."

"No! I refuse to believe that you just happen to know that," Cami yelled, knocking Elijah's glass over. "I'm sorry, Elijah. Here." She handed him a paper towel, going back to the game cards. I watched as Elijah began to wipe furiously at his sleeve.

"Elijah?" Cami reached out to touch him, but he caught her wrist, staring at her for a moment.

"I'm not as fragile as my brother suggests," he finally spoke, gently laying her arm down. His phone began to ring, so he picked it up, standing from his seat. "Rebekah, where on Earth are you?" A confused crossed his face. "I see. No, I must have been dialing the wrong number. Forgive me." Now it was my turn to be confused.

"Elijah, what's going on?" He dialed a number on his phone, ignoring me.

"Rebekah's gone," he spoke when the person on the other end answered. "I just received a call from Angelica Barker, who is still very much herself."

***

"Elijah, would you mind filling this for me? Warm water, eight ounces," I asked, handing him a baby bottle. He took it and began filling it as I grabbed the baby formula from the cupboard. Elijah had just gone back to making breakfast when there was the sound of something shattering, followed by Hope's cries. Leaving the bottle behind, I rushed over to Cami, who had been watching Hope play.

"She yanked the tablecloth and that knickknack fell on her," Cami explained, handing her over to me.

"Oh, come here, my little love," I muttered softly, examining the cut on her forehead. Elijah reached out to touch it, but froze, staring at Hope as she continued to cry. "Elijah? Elijah!"

"Yes," he blinked, looking over at me. "Forgive me." Cradling Hope to my chest, I slowly began to rock her, trying to calm her cries.

"You're okay, my darling," I whispered, going into the kitchen to finish her bottle.

***

Handing the money to the owner, I thanked her before grabbing the box of fruit and going over to the payphone where Cami and Hope were waiting. "Huh," I heard Cami comment as she looked down at Hope.

"What?"

"Her scratch is gone." Furrowing my eyebrows, I moved so I could see Hope. Cami had taken the Band-Aid off, the cut gone.

"Well, would you look at that?"

"I don't know if the Pediatric Board would approve of Uncle Elijah using vampire blood to heal boo-boos."

"Are you sure it was vampire blood?" I asked, an eyebrow raised. Cami put Hope back in the car as I worked on folding up the stroller, sliding it into the trunk next to the box of fruit.

"What do you mean?" She asked as we got closer to the house.

I shrugged, "how can you be so sure he used vampire blood to heal her?"

"How else would it have healed so quickly?"

"Well, both of her parents are half werewolf. And werewolves heal faster than a normal human."

"Wait, so you think she has the werewolf gene?" She glanced over at me.

"Who knows? Maybe." We had just turned the corner and were in view of the house when the car started to slow, then stop. "What just happened?"

"I don't know. It just died," Cami reported, pressing the start button. All of a sudden, the house blew up, flames bursting into the air. "Oh my god."

My eyes widened, "Elijah."    

Kind of a long chapter for you guys. Just FYI, there will be a lot of short 'scenes' in here. There were just certain things that I wanted to be included, but they didn't really fit with some of the longer 'scenes'.

Hope all is well. I've just finished my second week of new classes and I am already stressing out. There's A LOT of academic (boring) reading for both and it's going to keep me very busy. 

My character and her story are of my own imagination. They belong to me and nobody else. Please do not steal. Copyright 2018.