There’s a note of steel in her voice, but it makes him smile.
“Of course, my love.” He brushes his lips across her forehead, somehow kissing her while never taking his eyes off Aiden. “I’ll be near if you need me.”
It’s a warning for us as much as a promise to her.
“I think I can handle these boys,” she tells him, sounding frustrated with us all, but teasing too. “I always have.”
Abel jerks his head in a nod and walks toward the house.
The four guys face her, weapons in hand.
“Come on,” she says, leading us toward the house. “Normally, I ask guests to take off their shoes and leave their weapons in the coat closet, but today I’ll make an exception.”
“Cute,” Aiden mutters to Reid as we follow her.
“Sure sounds like Layla,” Reid says back, his voice quiet.
“When I came out of the grave, Abel was there.” She looks toward Abel as he enters the house, her eyes adoring, and I don’t know what to make of that. “He told me I could never go back. I could never have my old life again. You know how well humans do understanding the supernatural.”
“No.” Aiden squeezes his eyes shut. “You’re dead. I killed you.”
“Fuck.”
I jerk when I hear Reid swear.
Anger glistens in his eyes. “You let Aiden think he killed you all these years? Do you know what that did to him? Do you know how that destroyed him?”
Layla starts to cry. “I glamour myself when I go in town, but I’ve seen you guys. You seemed to be doing well.”
“We weren’t!” Reid roars. “We thought our sister was dead!”
“I’m sorry,” she says, and her voice hitches.
Tension sings between us all, and I get the sickening feeling that this moment will change our lives forever. I want to reach out and smack Layla for hurting them. Hell, I want to see what my godly powers can really do. But in my heart, I know it isn’t revenge that will repair their broken hearts.
“We became gods recently,” I say, lifting the volume of my voice and meeting her teary eyes. “It hasn’t been easy, but we also haven’t told our families. We knew this was dangerous, and we knew this was too much for them.”
She nods slowly. “The supernatural world isn’t a place for humans.”
“It’s not,” I say, then can’t help but add, “but you owe them one hell of an apology after all they’ve gone through, and you need to understand if it takes them time to forgive you.”
Layla brushes the tears from her cheeks and looks at her brothers. “I am sorry. You have no idea how sorry. I didn’t want any of this. I didn’t want to lose you.”
Aiden doesn’t answer. He just squeezes his eyes shut and looks away.
Reid moves to his brother and grips his shoulder until Aiden looks at him. Something passes between them, and I think they might hug, but they just stand together. Some of the tension eases from Aiden’s face.
“You’ve grown into men,” she says, so softly. “I saw you from a distance, but you’ve even changed since then.”
“It’s the whole ‘god thing’.” Van’s voice holds a protective edge.
“Gods?” Layla repeats, and there’s an edge of disbelief in her voice.
“Vampires?” Van repeats back, a sneer in his voice.
She draws herself up taller. “Good point.” Then looks back at her brothers. “Want to…come in? We can…talk?”
I answer for them. “Yes.” They have so many questions. They deserve to have them answered, even if they’re upset.
Layla leads us across the lawn, up the steps to a wide front porch made homey with hanging pots of flowers and benches with throw pillows. It’s hard to imagine vampires sitting on their front porch, enjoying the sunshine or watching the rain, but then, there’s so much I don’t understand about the human world.
I notice that Van and Wilder walk in front of us, as if their massive bodies might protect Reid and Aiden from the heartache they’re experiencing.
As terrible of a situation as we’re in, I smile. No matter what we’re going through, there’s something amazing about the fact that we all have each other's backs. Especially knowing that Wilder and Van are one wrong word away from destroying this entire damn place, if it could give the twins even a moment of peace.
Following her through a two-story entryway, we enter a room modernly decorated, with a sitting room of pure white couches, a sleek black table, and a bar to one side.
She moves to the couches, then gestures for us to sit. “Would you guys like something to drink?”
“No blood for me, thanks,” Van says, that same protective note to his voice.
“We have more than just blood.”
He shrugs his big shoulders. “I think we’re okay.”
I sit in the middle of the twins on the big couch, and Wilder and Van sit on the arms of the couch. Layla lowers herself into the white, highbacked chair, and smoothes down the skirt of her short, red dress.
“So, what would you like to know?”
Aiden’s eyes hold an unmeasurable pain. “Everything, Layla. Every reason that you ruined my life.”
Chapter Twenty
Layla tells us her own story, about how the man who turned her and rescued her from her grave kept her trapped in this house--Aiden sits forward on the edge of his seat as if he might kill him--until she came to terms with the change, until she’d let go of her family. She tells us about the war between vampire clans that changed both of them.
“He’s sorry he didn’t get my consent before he turned me, but you know, it’s true he saved my life. He turned me because he loved me, because he wanted to be with me,” Layla promises us all, her eyes flooding with tears. “And people change, you know.”
“He’s not people,” Reid says dryly.
“Well, neither are you, apparently!” She brushes tears from the corners of her eyes. “Gods? What’s this about my geeky little brothers turning into gods?”
“Don’t make fun of Reid after everything you did,” Aiden says.
“I’m making fun of you too,” she returns, reaching out to shove his leg. “You might play it cool at school, but I know about your Magic Card obsession and your Star Wars novel collection.”
Aiden side-eyes her, and I’m worried she’s pushed him too far, too fast. Then he gives in and smiles faintly.
“Shush,” he tells her. “Don’t make me look bad in front of the bloodsuckers.”
“This is great and all,” Van says, “but I’d like to remind you all that everyone who worked on my parents’ staff was slaughtered today.”
“What?” Layla gasps. “Oh, Van...”
She leans forward, her first impulse obviously to comfort him, reminding me of how well the two of them used to know each other too. When we all were kids, we were often at Aiden and Reid’s house, playing basketball in their driveway or raiding the kitchen while Layla did her homework at the kitchen island.
Van pulls away from her, his face wary, and hurt flashes through her expression.