Evelyn
Thaddeus pulls me on his lap. My legs are straddling him, his hands run up the outside of my thighs. I grip his face, my palms on his cheeks, running my thumb underneath his eyes as they darken; veins sliver under my touch. I trace the lines of his face and down his neck. Thaddeus is letting me touch him. My fingers brush his neck when I notice where I bit him had healed, and my mark is gone.
“Where I bit you, it healed?” I ask, confused.
“Yes, you’re human, Evelyn. You can still mark us, but it will only stay temporarily until we change you,” he says, and I pull back.
Change me? Change me how? Turn me into one of them? The thought alone is enough to make my heart skip a beat. I don’t want to live forever or feed on people, and I sure as hell don’t want to turn into a furry creature and howl at the moon and shit.
“But…” I glance toward Ryland and Orion.
“It will happen eventually, Evelyn,” Orion tells me.
“So, I don’t get a choice? I don’t want to live forever,” I tell them, and Thaddeus’ grip tightens.
“No one said right now, Evelyn. When you decide,” Ryland tells me.
“No, I won’t. It’s not natural; I don’t want to be a monster,” I tell them before I realize what I have said. “I didn’t mean….”
“It’s fine, Evelyn. No offense taken,” Thaddeus says, brushing my cheek with his thumb. “You still have plenty of time; no one will do anything until you say so,” he says.
“What if I never want to change?” I ask, and I see Thaddeus’ eyes darken.
His jaw clenches. “Then I will make a choice for you.”
I shake my head and try to climb off his lap. “No. I won’t agree to this, Thaddeus. You don’t get to decide that for me,” I argue, but his eyes go completely black as I am ripped off his lap. Thaddeus growls, and a shiver runs up my spine as I lean further away from him.
“And why the fuck not, Evelyn? Clearly, you can’t make decisions for yourself,” he snaps as he turns to glare at me. I know he is talking about me nearly getting myself killed, but he can’t blame that on me. How am I supposed to know what others’ intentions are?
“Because I don’t want this life, I want a normal human life,” I tell him, and he laughs.
“That went out the window the day you met us, Evelyn,” he tells me.
“When you say human life, what do you mean?” Ryland asks, sitting forward and staring at me.
Thaddeus’ head snaps toward him. “Don’t even entertain the idea, Ryland,” Thaddeus tells him, but I answer anyway.
“I don’t know, just normal.”
“You want kids?” Ryland asks, and Thaddeus and Orion both growl at him. Do I want kids? I’m not sure, but I don’t want them now; I know that much.
“Maybe,” I tell him, not knowing how I actually feel about that particular question. Ryland sits back, resting his head on the back of the armchair, looking up at the ceiling. “Why?” I ask.
“Because that’s not possible,” Thaddeus answers, though I can tell he is irritated that Ryland mentioned it.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re human, Evelyn. Bearing one of our children could kill you.”
“I don’t understand.”
“When a human gets pregnant with their mate or mates, the child isn’t human.”
“So?” I ask, not understanding.
“One of us can’t knock you up. If you get pregnant, it won’t just be one of our kids; it will be all.”
“You have lost me,” I admit, trying to understand what he tells me.
Thaddeus puts his head in his hands, trying to figure out what to say next. Orion steps in for him.
“If we were all vampires, it would work, but Thaddeus is a Tribrid, and Ryland werewolf. If you get pregnant, the baby will be a tribrid. When a mate falls pregnant, the baby is a mix of its parents. You have more than one mate because Thaddeus is a tribrid, so therefore the baby would have all our DNA.”
“Why does it matter what it is?”
“Because humans can’t carry a Lycan baby, Evelyn. It would kill them,” he answers.
“But your mother is part human.”
Thaddeus shakes his head. “No, my mother is a witch and has Vampire DNA. They thought she was human, but she isn’t, and she did die having me. Her vampire DNA brought her back.”
“So, if I have a baby, would it be all your child? And it would kill me?”
“Yes,” Thaddeus answers.
I say nothing; what can I say? But suddenly, having that option taken away from me makes me want it. Getting up, I head for the stairs. Orion tries reaching for me, but I brush his hand off. I am just about to go up the first step when I hear the news anchor on TV mention the Parse hospital where Lana is. “Breaking News, we are outside the Parse Hospital, reporting on a domestic situation.”
I stop, glancing at the TV, and everyone else also does, too. They go to a live stream inside the hospital, and my stomach drops as I see April come on the screen.
Evelyn
The stream shows April, walking through the hospital corridors with a gun in her hand. April walks up the corridors and into a ward out of sight. The live stream continues to play when we hear a bang.
Ryland switches the TV off, and all eyes go to me as I walk over, grab the remote from Ryland, and turn the TV back on. My heart thumps against my chest as I flick through the channels to find the news report again. Ryland tries to take the remote from me, but I snatch it away from him.
I need to know; I need to know what happened. Where is Lana? My mind is racing, the cold tendrils of fear creep into me, my stomach drops as I instantly break out in a cold sweat. My hands are shaking as I clutch the remote and frantically flick past the channel. I press the back button, and a news anchor stands out the front of the hospital. Police block the entry to the hospital behind her.
The flashing of police lights flicker against the building as cops run around, trying to secure the hospital. People run from the building in complete chaos.
“What you saw on screen is the wife of the well-respected Sergeant Derrick Tanner. According to insiders, there has been a double murder and suicide. We believe the youngest victim of the double homicide is their adopted daughter, fourteen-year-old Lana Tanner. The girl resided with Mrs. Tanner while her husband recovered in hospital. It is unknown what caused these sudden events to unfold, but it is a tragedy we may never understand.”
Three images come on the screen, a picture of April, one of Derrick in his uniform before the fire-ravaged him, and lastly, a picture of Lana. Her beautiful face is full of light, the picture-perfect girl next door.
My lungs restrict and my legs buckle underneath me as I stare at the screen. I can see the news lady talk, but there’s no volume as I go completely dead to my surroundings. I can’t hear a thing going on around me; can’t think straight as I stare blankly into space.