Chapter 76-Can I count on you?

Chapter 76: 76-Can I count on you?

’My hands are stained with her blood!’

Maisa’s stomach twisted. It was uncomfortable to the point that it became unbearable. The candle nearly slipped from her hand.

"Maisa?" Zolani called out, seeing her dazed and out of it.

Maisa forced herself to look away. Zolani hadn’t noticed the strange emotion in her eyes. She was still looking at the photograph, gazing lovingly at her fallen sister.

"She was the youngest in my family," Zolani continued quietly. "Everyone spoiled her. Especially me."

Her voice trembled with affection. The love oozing out of her every word was enough to show Maisa that Zolani had truly cared for Zoe while the young vampire was still alive.

"She used to follow me everywhere. She thought I was the coolest person in the world."

Maisa swallowed hard. The words were like sharp blades being shoved forcefully down her throat. They made deep cuts into her inner throat and even though there were no visible wound or blood, it didn’t make it hurt less.

Zolani smiled sadly. "She wanted to be just like me when she grew up."

Every word felt like another weight settling over Maisa’s shoulders. She couldn’t move, speak or even bring herself to look at Zolani.

Because suddenly, everything made horrifying sense. Lumi’s father, Zolani’s sister, the two people who mattered deeply to two of her mates had already been destroyed by the same family that had raised her, the Everhearts.

Her family, her legacy, and her blood were things she couldn’t outrun no matter where she went or what she became.

Maisa stared down at the candle trembling between her fingers. What am I supposed to do with that?

She had spent years believing that vampires were the enemy. Her parents had taught her that hunters protected humanity. They had given her weapons, trained her to recognize weaknesses, taught her to move without hesitation when faced with danger.

She had believed them, trusted them and now she was discovering that the people she had been taught to hate had families, they knew love and loss just like humans do and aren’t the heartless monsters she was raised to believe them to be.

They had sisters, fathers, mothers and friends. They had little girls who thought their older sisters were the greatest people in the world. And heartless monsters weren’t supposed to look and feel so human.

She glanced at Zolani. The mixedblood vampire who had defended her, she had followed her into danger and the girl who had shielded her from a hunter’s arrow without hesitation.

The girl who had sat beside her when everyone else wanted her gone and comforted her when she was down.

Zolani had many identities by her side, she was her mate, her friend, her shield, her safe zone and now Maisa knew that one day Zolani might look at her and see only the person responsible for Zoe’s death.

The thought hurt more than she could explain. ’She’ll hate me.’

There was no way around it. How could she expect anything else? If someone told Maisa that the person standing beside her had killed one of her siblings, could she simply ignore it because some supernatural bond told them they belonged together? She didn’t think so.

The bond might pull them to be together, it might ache when there’s distance between them and it might demand they accept each other and be there for each other but grief had its own power and so did betrayal.

Maisa’s eyes burned. She lowered herself slowly beside Zolani and placed her candle at the base of Zoe’s grave. Her hand shook as she did.

"I’m sorry," she whispered.

Zolani looked at her. "For what?"

Maisa’s heart stopped. ’For killing your little sister,’ she thought, biting her lip. She quickly lowered her head. She was scared that her eyes might spill her secrets.

"For...for your loss," she quickly covered up before Zolani could see through her guilty grief.

Zolani’s expression softened and lowered to place the framed photo back in place. "Thank you," she said, feeling grateful that Maisa was there with her.

It would’ve hurt more if she had come alone. She turned back toward the grave. "She deserved to live longer. I don’t know what the deal with hunters are but I hope each and every last one of them dies a tragic death...especially the Everhearts!"

Maisa closed her eyes. In the past, all she’d heard were praises for her family. Human glorifying every victory and kill her family made and now, all she could hear were curses.

The bubble around her collapsed. She realized that she had stepped over the line where her family were heroes and walked onto the side where her family were villains.

’Yes!’ The word screamed inside her.

She wanted to tell Zolani everything and give Zolani a place to vent her grief. She wanted to confess right there beneath the moonlight, to tell her that she knew Zoe, that she knew exactly what had happened, that the person responsible wasn’t some faceless monster from an ancient story, it was her.

But the confession died before it reached her lips, not because Maisa wanted to deceive Zolani but because she was terrified.

Terrified that the moment she spoke, the only person who had made her new existence bearable would disappear.

She looked at Zolani again. The girl’s eyes were still fixed on her sister’s photograph. There was so much love in them, so much grief.

Maisa felt something inside her collapse. How am I supposed to become her mate when I’ve already become her family’s enemy?

The thought expanded until it seemed to consume everything around her. Her lungs felt stuffy and suddenly immortality felt too long for her.

Lumi’s father and now Zolani’s sister, soon, it might be Varitreya and Addessa. She didn’t even know what her family had done to them yet but after everything she had learned, she was almost afraid to discover it.

What if there were more graves? More names? More families? What if every step she took toward her mates only brought her closer to people her family had hurt?

The bond had tied four vampires to her but her family’s history had already placed a wall between them.

A wall Maisa couldn’t simply climb over because it was bloody and filled with wounds. She pressed her hands together to stop them from shaking.

Beside her, Zolani quietly lit another candle. The small flame flickered between them and it made Zoe’s eyes inside the photo to glow as though they were alive.

Maisa stared at it. One tiny light against the darkness and it seemed to bring Zolani some peace. She wondered if that was all she had left; a little hope, a little warmth and a little time before the truth came out.

And when it did, she feared she would lose Zolani just as surely as Zoe had been lost years ago.

Zolani reached over and gently touched her shoulder. "You’re quiet."

Maisa forced a smile. "It’s beautiful here."

Zolani followed her gaze toward the rows of candles glowing beneath the moonlight. "It is," she said and leaned slightly against Maisa’s shoulder. "I think Zoe would have liked you."

Maisa’s heart nearly broke. She stared at the little framed photograph, at the girl who had once been alive who she could never bring back and for the first time since becoming a vampire, Maisa understood that immortality didn’t mean living forever.

Sometimes it meant carrying the things you could never change for far longer than you deserved. She blinked rapidly, refusing to let the tears fall.

"I think," she whispered, "I would have liked her too."

Beside her, completely unaware of the secret tearing Maisa apart from within, Zolani smiled. She leaned her head on Maisa’s shoulder and let her head rest there as she watched the candle burn for her sister.

"I once promised Zoe that I would kill the hunter who killed her," she whispered, then she raised her eyes and locked tightly onto Maisa’s eyes. "When the time comes and we find the hunter who did this... will you help me get revenge?"

Maisa’s eyes widened, more tears welled up in her eyes. She lifted her face and glanced up at the moon, biting her lip. Why is fate testing me like this? She wondered.

"Tell me, Maisa. Can I count on you to help me kill the hunter who killed my sister?" Zolani repeated after not getting an answer the first time.

"I...I..." Maisa couldn’t breath. She choked. "I will support you in all your endeavours," she forced out.