Chapter 28

When our nails were finished, my stomach growled and my mouth felt dry. I didn’t say anything to Alizya but as soon as we got back to the house she was pulling out food. We ate together, though I was powering through a lot more than she was, and eventually, she cleared her throat.

“Now that you are allowed to be in witch territory, we need to move out of the safehouse. It will be better for you to live with us like a normal person and it will be closer for you to get to work from the house than from here.”

I blinked at her, processing the surprise information she had just given me.

“What about Kris and Leo?” I asked after I swallowed the food I had been shoveling into my mouth before she spoke.

“You’re not a vampire anymore,” she returned darkly.

I looked her over. She wanted to separate me from them. I didn’t know why but that part wasn’t half as important as the fact that she knew how I felt about Leo.
While I tired to come up with a response, her expression softened. “Listen, sweetie, it will be better for you if you can join our community without contacting them. The more you assimilate, the longer they’ll let you stay.”

“I understand that,” I sighed, “but I still–.”

A knock on the door interrupted my complaint about how I still wanted to be with Leo.

“I’ll get it. You keep eating,” Alizya said standing and hurrying away before I could even process what had happened

“T.J. I’m so glad you came.” I heard Alizya chime.

I froze. She had invited my brother to the safe house and I was defenseless. I looked around the kitchen for a knife at least but there weren’t any out to grab so I was left with the fork in my hand, sitting there looking ridiculous when he walked in.

“Raven, I’m not here to hurt you,” he said carefully as he paused in the kitchen doorway.

“What changed that?” I retorted from my chair at the table.

“Calm down, this meeting is about putting the family back together. T.J. has agreed to meet to see that you aren’t a vampire anymore as the first step toward that.”

My heart was pounding in my chest but I had waited too long to escape and T.J. was already sitting next to me. If I moved at that point all he would have to do was put out an arm to catch me. So we just stared at each other until Alizya spoke.

“How are your parents, T.J.? I know that she misses them and you.”

“They’ve been through a lot. They argue about having let her travel in the first place.”

He didn’t take his eyes off me when he answered Alizya. I stared back but bit back the comments I wanted to throw at him. There would be time later for snark, but right now I was supposed to be playing nice, for Alizya.

“They should have told you both everything before any of this happened,” Alizya added. “If your mom hadn’t left the coven, we could have protected both of you, but that’s not why we’re here today. We need to put the past behind us and start over. So stop staring at each other like you’re two caged animals and share what’s on your mind.”

I bit my lip. I suspected that T.J. wasn’t there for any kind of reconciliation. I was pretty sure that I was watching a dark plan play out behind the mask of civility. He wouldn’t have stopped hating me so suddenly, no matter what Alizya told him.

“How are you not a vampire?” he spat at me.

“The witches did something,” I replied running my fingers along the silver collar,

“We contained the transformation in the necklace. As long as she wears it she is human,” Alizya provided. “Can I get either of you something to drink?”
I shook my head, not taking my eyes off of my brother.

“No thank you,” T.J. began. “I’m not thirsty. I just came to look at the thing that used to be my sister.”

“Trenton James!” Alizya reprimanded. “That is your sister. She is not a thing. She’s a human being of flesh and blood, just like you. Apologize this instant!”
“For what?!” he complained. “I didn’t do anything.”

Alizya was fuming at his insolence. I could see that she was fumbling for something to say to my brother and a way to make him see that I wasn’t a vampire. I knew it wouldn’t work but for her sake I sighed and stood slowly with T.J. mirroring defensively incase I attacked him.

For a moment we stood there in silence, long enough for me to realize that he was trying to hide a syringe in his pocket and know exactly what I was getting into. He was here to kill me. I was pretty sure of that and oddly enough, I was okay with it.

Time froze around us. Alizya still watching frozen in her seat.

“What the hell is this?” T.J. demanded.

“I don’t want her to see you do it,” I said firmly. “If this is the moment I’m supposed to die then so be it but don’t ruin the relationship with your grandmother for it. Tell her whatever you want to cover it but don’t let her find out that you did this.”

“How did you know?” he asked as he pulled the syringe from his pocket.

I huffed out a little laugh, “You never were good at hiding things. Why do you think that mom and dad didn’t tell you about the surprise party for my 16th birthday? I saw your face when we opened the door. Honestly, I’m surprised that you got it past her as far as you did.”

He smiled a little at the memory then quickly composed his expression again.

“I can’t hold this much longer so you need to do this,” I spoke carefully.

I watched him set his jaw and took the plastic cover off the needle while I held out my arm. When he took my arm he was more gentle than I expected and injected me so carefully that I barely had any pain at all. Curious for someone who wanted to kill me to be so gentle about actually doing it.

“Hide the needle then get out of here,” I instructed as he finished and I sat back in the chair, watching my veins turn black, crawling up my arm. I was in pain but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of seeing it.

Once the needle was back in his pocket, I let go of the frozen time.

Alizya looked around in confusion but neither T.J. nor I said anything to help her understand what had just happened. I thought it was better if she didn’t know. She wouldn’t have enough time to do anything anyway.

“Raven, what is on your arm?!” she shrieked.

“I’m done with this circus,” T.J. sighed, putting on an act to hide the his conflicted feelings on what he had just done. He couldn’t hide them from me, though. I knew him too well for that to happen.

“What’s going on here?” she demanded.

“He’s leaving. He doesn’t want anything to do with me. I’m not the sister that he wants,” I replied in a cool disconnected tone.

He looked back at me over his shoulder for a quick second, possibly about to say something but he shook his head and left as quickly as he could.

“Raven, that looks like poison. What did he do to you?” Alizya insisted as she took my arm to inspect it more closely.

“I’m fine. He didn’t do anything,” I breathed beginning to feel weak and dizzy.

“Raven honey, if you fight this I can get it out of you.” she tried desperately.

I gave her a smile. “It’s too late for that, grandma. Thank you for everything you have done for me.”