Chapter 34 — What Now?
Vanessa’s POV:
Rylie stood there looking saddened, “Including Byron?”
“Including Byron. He can’t live like this. My parents wouldn’t have wanted that for us. So, I’m giving him a mercy killing.” Vanessa shrugged indifferently as she tugged on a bra and panties.
“Oh no, that is where I put my foot down.” Rylie said as she stepped closer to Vanessa. “If you kill Byron, you’ll have to go through me.”
Vanessa chuckled, “Through you? Didn’t my family invent you?”
“No, they didn’t.” Rylie sneered as she shook her head. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but I’m not going to sit here and listen to you plot the deaths of everyone you and I care about. I suggested a shower to clear your head, not congest it with this bullshit.”
“First of all, they’re not people; they’re vampires. Second, I have cleared my head and now I know what I need to do. Malik took everything from me.”
“And just what are you going to do when you kill Byron and Malik? You really think Alec and Alfred are going to buddy up with you? Because I promise that if you kill Byron, we will not be friends anymore. I will hate you, and you don’t want me to hate you, Vanessa Owens. And Malik? What’s killing him going to do? It’s not going to bring your parents back and it certainly isn’t going to bring Byron back to what he used to be. All you have is a dead man and a cold, lonely corner to burrow into when it’s all over.”
“Well, that sounds just perfect for my introverted ass now, doesn’t it?”
“Don’t forget I was the one who was with you when you lost Byron. I heard you crying yourself to sleep every night. You don’t want to be alone. If you did, you wouldn’t have had me come with you. You wouldn’t have fallen for Malik. Stop spouting your bullshit and tell me what’s really pissing you off.”
“I don’t want this! I don’t want any of this! None of this is fair, Rylie! It’s not right!”
“Oh BOO-HOO Vanessa! All I hear is boo-hoo my parents died, and I lost my brother and now I love the man who wanted to kill him! At least you got to know your parents! My aunt raised me, and you were there when she died! All I had was you, and when I didn’t have you, I had Byron. Every day we waste listening to you whine; he loses a piece of his mind. And if Malik really did kill your parents, which I honestly doubt by the way, it wasn’t like he did it to get after you. You forget he lost his family at the hands of YOUR ancestor. Whatever beef you two have, you need to talk to each other.”
Vanessa’s throat formed a lump as she tried to swallow that humble pill Rylie just shoved down her. Dammit, she was right. Vanessa had been so focused on herself and her problems that nobody else mattered. That’s what she loved about Rylie. Vanessa was one who spent so much time with herself that’s all she ever worried about. Rylie was there to reel her into the real world where everyone around her had problems and no one was worse than the other; just different. “You’re right…” she sat down, and tears welled up in her eyes. “It doesn’t matter what kind of mess this is, it all just is right now and all I can do is decide how I move forward, but now I’m questioning myself.”
“You should be after that little psychotic break you just had. Welcome back to the Vanessa that I know.”
Vanessa looked at her friend, her eyes pleading with nothing but truth to come from Rylie. Truth she could handle. “Why did I save Byron?”
Rylie sighed and sat down with her, “You’re not a selfish person V. I mean you can be. But the day you knocked my ass out and ran to save your brother, that’s who you really are. But if you’re doubting that, then don’t think, just answer. What were your intentions that day?”
“I know Byron did so much for me and saved me from myself when our parents died. I wasn’t going to let him die for saving me again. He deserved his little sister to do something for him. I did the only thing I could think of. But yeah, I was a little selfish in I didn’t want to lose him.”
“That’s not selfish. You love him and you wanted to save him. There’s nothing selfish in that. And there’s nothing selfish in loving Malik either. You may not know this, but since you came into the picture, Byron pointed out how Malik was nicer, more merciful.”
“Really?”
Rylie nodded, “I don’t know him personally, but I know love struck eyes when I see them. And you and Malik definitely have them for each other. You should’ve seen the way your faces lit up when you saw each other last night. Tell me how that’s a man that’s playing you. The eyes don’t lie, V.”
“Say he did kill my parents; is it sick of me to love him then?”
“People can change, V. You’re not the same person you were when you were 15, Malik may be immortal, but he’s not the same vampire he was back then.”
“So, what you’re saying is this is something I can look past?”
“I believe we can forgive anything we want to forgive. If he did kill them, remember what could’ve driven his motive. You two falling in love could be what breaks the cycle of killing generations of people to punish them for their ancestors.”
Vanessa chuckled softly, “You know why he called me his white rose?”
“Why?”
“He said that I was like a rose planted in a bunch of crap, and somehow I came out of it all this pure soul.”
Rylie smiled, “You are a pure soul, and a strong one to boot.”
Vanessa smiled and put a tee shirt and jeans on, “So…how do we save them both?”