Page 15 of Born Reckless

Elena nods. "You bled out on the sidewalk. I could have tried calling an ambulance, maybe they could have stopped the bleeding in time. Probably not, though. But yes, you died."

"You said…" I shake my head, going back to that night. "You said you could handle yourself. Your eyes… I saw them flash red. Did you… Ugh. Did you rip his throat out?"

A small smile curls in one corner of Elena's mouth. "He had just stabbed my best friend. He's lucky that I didn't have the time or privacy to slowly rip him apart, bit by bit."

Mason chuckles, and I glance over to see him shake his head. He’s so calm about all of this. As if his sister isn't talking about killing people.

"Are you two actually siblings?" I ask the first question that comes to mind. "How come you're a vampire and he's not?"

I can't believe that question just came off my lips. I just asked someone about being a vampire like I believe any of this is real.

Vampires aren't real.

They can't be real. They can't.

Yet there is still blood staining my face.

"Yes, we are actually biological siblings," Mason answers.

"Mason and I are twins," Elena admits. In the eighteen months that we've known each other, I always believed that Elena's brother was older than her.

"My sister was in more of a hurry than I was to make the transition," Mason says. "We always said we would wait until we were thirty. Elena changed her mind when she was twenty-six. That was three years ago."

"You're talking about all this time, hundreds, thousands of years—saying you’re immortal, and you're telling me that you've actually only been a vampire for three years?" Somehow, it just doesn't sound right, considering everything else we're speaking about.

"Our father was eighty-two years old when we were born, and I promise, he didn’t look a day over twenty-six," Elena says. "It seemed he was going to be an eternal bachelor, until he met our mother. They were in a relationship for three months before he told her the truth about what he was. She loved him anyway. They got married. And lo and behold, just two months after they said their vows, our mother found out she was pregnant with us. They raised us, and we were almost like any other happy family. Until four years ago."

“You said they died in that horrible car accident,” I say, recalling the night Elena told me about her parents. It was obvious how much she loved them. But with this new information, something doesn’t feel right. “Does that mean your dad was decapitated in the accident?”

The very second the words leave my mouth, I know I should have said them differently. I’m not the most sensitive when it comes to stuff like this.

Elena swallows once and looks away. “I couldn’t tell you the truth at the time,” she says. She picks at a non-existent piece of lint on her pants. “Our parents were actually assassinated. Sometimes gaining the power and money our family has earns you enemies.”

I sit back in my seat, and I can’t find words.

Assassinated.

“The man was caught and taken care of just an hour later,” Mason fills in. His face looks marginally paler, and there’s just as much grief in his expression as his sister’s. “But the damage was done. Godfrey Industries fell onto our shoulders. We’d been working at the company before they died. But we took over after.”

“I’m…” I stutter. “I’m so sorry.”

Elena clears her throat and I watch as she seems to push aside the pain and she sits just a little taller. “We all have our tragedies, right? With our father out of the picture, I felt like the both of us couldn’t keep waiting another five years to Resurrect. It’s why I decided it was time a little less than a year after they died.”

I glance over at Mason, for now, ignoring that weight. "So, you’re going to keep waiting until that magical thirtieth birthday?” I ask.

And then it hits me. To make the transition, it means he has to die.

Shit. You have todiebefore you become a vampire.

"Maybe,” Mason says. Weight settles between us all, and I suddenly remember what we talked about, about the expectation on him to have kids.

Those kids will be immortal if he conceives them after he turns. At least, according to the madness they’re spouting.

As I look over at Elena, it's obvious there's an entire unspoken conversation happening. Elena knows his reasonings. Something in her eyes makes me think she's unhappy about something.

I close my eyes and take in a deep breath.

Thatwas a mistake. The scent of what is running through Mason's veins flares my throat hot once again. "I'll take that drink now," I say without opening my eyes.