Forbidden (Fallen 2)

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, of course,” I said in a rushed tone, trying to cover my tracks.

“Kylie, I’m not stupid. What’s really wrong?” she said, rolling her eyes when she spoke the first part.

“I can’t tell you right now,” I said jumping on the balls of my feet in a nervous dance.

“Why not?” she demanded her stone brow creasing in frustration.

“The whole family needs to hear this,” I said looking down at my feet.

“Oh?” she asked.

“Do you think you can get everyone gathered in the family room?”

“Of course, but Jonathon isn’t back yet.”

“We’ll wait until he gets back then,” I said discreetly putting the piece of paper in my pocket.

“I’ll go tell the others,” she said, walking way with a model’s grace, her long blond hair swishing around her waist.

I let out a sigh. My stress level was at its maximum limit.

I stood out in the hall way gathering my thoughts again because there was no way I was setting foot in that room again. Never ever again was I going to go in there.

I went down to the kitchen and drank a soda hoping the sugar would help my nerves and I wouldn’t go into shock.

I emptied the can and threw it away in the mostly empty trash can.

The others were already gathered in the family room but Jonathon still hadn’t arrived. While the others were seated at the couch I stood against the wall. My nerves were a live wire and there was no way I could sit still long enough to tell them what was happening; I was better off standing.

It wasn’t long before Jonathon came in. He didn’t have any blood with him and now that I thought about it I had never seen any of them drink any or where they kept it. I guessed they didn’t want to freak me out.

Jonathon glanced around, noticing the formal gathering, his family’s confused expressions, and my own scared one.

He spouted off something in Italian to Patrick who just shrugged his shoulders. Jonathon the turned to me, “What is going on?” he asked addressing me.

Patrick answered for me. “We’re waiting for you to find out,” Patrick said, his eyes flickering from Jonathon to me. Jonathon gave me a panicked look. I wanted to comfort him but there was no good news coming from my mouth. He sat down next to his brother, Joseph.

I moved to stand by the new coffee table; Jonathon had broken the old one when he brought me in from saving me from Selena, so that I was in front of them but at a formal distance. This was not going to be a pleasant conversation. But at least I had had time to think out what I was going to say and some arguments to fight back with.

I met their confused glances with my own ‘dear in headlights’ one. I cleared my throat several times. Mason muttered something under his breath that I couldn’t hear and Amelia smacked him in the back of the head, it sounded loud in the silent room.

I cleared my throat again and decided to just take a leap and tell them before they got any more impatient with me.

“Well, you see,” I began, starting to sweat bullets, “There’s something I haven’t told you guys. I should have told you as soon as I found out but I was dumb and reckless and thought if I ignored it that this problem would go away. And it hasn’t.” I cleared my throat again. All seven pairs of silver eyes were glued to me. Not even Mason interrupted. I guess he sensed that this was a serious matter and not a joking one and therefore should keep his jokes to himself. Jonathon looked hurt that I hadn’t told him before the others. I felt ashamed of myself.

“I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you guys sooner. Please don’t be mad. I thought I was doing the right thing by keeping this to myself but I was obviously wrong.” I glanced at Jonathon. He looked stressed, obviously trying to figure out what was going on, I put a block up in my mind so he couldn’t read my thoughts and the action zapped most of my energy. His look turned frustrated.

“I wish I had told you this earlier but I didn’t. So now I have to tell you before it escalates,” I said looking at Jonathon who was becoming increasingly irritated. I took a deep breath and plunged. “Selena isn’t dead. She is alive and well and continuing to send me her cryptic little messages,” I choked out, pulling the newest piece of paper out of my pocket and setting it down in front of them on the coffee table. Something pale and fast shot out in front of me smacking against the new coffee table, leaving a dent in it. The piece of paper was gone and held aloft by Jonathon. He read it quickly and then his stone hand closed over it. When he opened his fist again the paper had turned to dust and sprinkled down on top of the immaculate floor.

For only the second time, Jonathon looked like a true vampire. His eyes had an angry glow to them, his skin was stretched tight over the tendons in his hands, and his canine teeth had elongated to sharp, predatory, points.

“Damn it, Kylie,” he said along with a few other Italian curse words. His words came out in a hiss around his pointed teeth. His fist smashed into the coffee table, again, breaking it for the third time in only a few months.

I flinched away. His anger was what I feared the most. I didn’t want him to be upset with me; to stop trusting me.

“How could you be so stupid?” he snarled through his elongated teeth, his face now only centimeters from my own. I stood stock still; I couldn’t breathe. His breath was coming out in ragged gasps; the sweet scent of his breath making me dizzy. It took most of my remaining will to not fall to the ground. For a moment, the look that was in Jonathon’s eyes made me scared, not scared for my life, but scared that maybe, just maybe, he didn’t love me. The very thought of Jonathon not loving me