Brother’s Best Friends Are My Mates novel Chapter 50

Rain

I felt like I was sneaking around, but it wasn’t like I needed an excuse to visit my mother. She was my mother! No one needed an excuse to visit their mother.

The two of us were sitting across from each other at a café across from where she lived. Dad couldn’t be with us so it was just the two of us. I squirmed in my seat, staring down at my coffee that was full of sugar. And when I say it was filled with a lot of sugar, I mean it was filled with a lot of sugar and cream.

Most of my coffee was half cream and sugar with just a bit of coffee. 1

“So, Mom, can you explain this whole vampire thing?”

She smiled softly. “Well, it comes from your dad’s side. He is half vampire from his grandfather.”

“A vampire and a werewolf had a baby?” I asked in disbelief. “It sounds like the beginning of a really bad joke.”

“Well, it’s the truth,” Mom said, giving me a look. “Don’t make jokes at a time like this, Rain. This is a serious situation. You are a vampire.’

I groaned. “What the hell does a vampire-werewolf even do?”

“You live your life. It doesn’t mean you can’t go out in the sunlight and you also won’t be driven to drink blood daily. You’ll get a craving so a little bit now and then should help.”

I sighed, looking down at my coffee. “I haven’t told the pack yet.”

“Rain, are you serious right now?”

“Nope,” I said, grinning.

Mom gave me a look. “Rain you need to tell them. They are your pack so they have a right to know what is going on with you. Trust that they will understand.”

“Lia is going to feel guilty because of the curse that hit me and I don’t want her to feel guilty.”

“So?” she asked, shaking her head. “That has nothing to do with you. If Lia feels guilty then let her feel guilty. She is your future mate and can handle yourself.”

Everything Mom was telling me was making sense. The two of us spoke for a while and while things weren’t perfect, I was feeling better about the situation. The vampiric blood that had simply been sleeping within me was now awoken, which was going to make me go through some changes.

It was like going through puberty again.

Yeah, I didn’t want to say that ever again.

“Call me if you need anything,” Mom told me, pulling me into a hug. “And make sure you tell them soon. The longer you wait the more difficult it’s going to be.”

So a few days later I gathered them around the living room, determined to tell them my truth. My new truth.

Yeah, I could do it.

I took a deep breath and started talking.

“Okay, I need to tell you guys something,” I said, standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, hands stuffed deep into my hoodie pockets.

Jesse muted the TV with a dramatic sigh. “Finally! Is this about why you’ve been acting like a total weirdo all week?”

“I haven’t been acting weird,” I protested, shifting my weight.

Lia arched an eyebrow. “You stared at Matt’s finger for, like, five full minutes during dinner the other day.”

“It was closer to ten,” Matt added, holding up the finger in question. “Seriously, you were giving it serial killer vibes. Or like, I don’t know, are you secretly a cannibal or something?”

I winced. “Not a cannibal. Not that. But… it is kind of related. Sort of.”

Colby finally looked up from his phone, frowning. “What do you mean, ‘sort of’? Rain, you’re being weird again.”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “Okay, so… I’m half vampire.”

Jesse snorted. “Good one. Seriously, though, what’s up?”

“I’m serious.” I pointed to my teeth, baring them just a little. “Look closer.”

Lia leaned forward, squinting. “They… they do look sharper. I thought you were just using that weird whitening kit.”

Matt tilted his head, peering closer. “Yeah, but that’s not like ‘good dental hygiene’ sharp. That’s, like, a horror movie sharp. Holy shit. You’re not lying, are you?”

“Nope.” I shook my head. “It’s real.”

Colby blinked slowly. “Okay, but… how? How does that even happen? People don’t just turn into vampires.”

“My mom says it’s from my dad’s side,” I explained quickly. “It’s been dormant or something. Until now.”

Jesse’s eyes narrowed. “Wait, wait, wait. So you’re saying the witch’s curse woke up your vampire DNA?” “Pretty much.”

“Shit.” Matt shook his head. “I knew that whole spell was bad news. So what now? Do you, like, crave blood or something?”

Rain’s a vampire now. It’s my fault. The witches cursed her. It was meant for me and my family. -L

Lia, stop. This isn’t your fault. Don’t blame yourself. -S

But it IS. I led them right to us. Now Rain’s life is ruined. -L

Listen to me. Use that anger. We’ll find a way to get back at the Rosewater Coven. -S

How? They’re so powerful. I don’t even know where to begin. -L

We’ll figure it out. Together. You’re not alone in this. -S

I just feel so guilty. I should’ve seen this coming, noticed the signs or something. -L

You couldn’t have known. None of us did. The important thing now is to focus on fixing it, not blaming yourself. -S

You’re right. But where do we even start? What if there’s no way to reverse this? -L

We’ll do some research. There has to be a way. No curse is permanent. Remember, we’re stronger together. -S

You’re right. I’m just scared. I don’t want to lose Rain completely. -L

You won’t. We’re going to save her. I’m with you every step of the way. -S

…Okay. I trust you. Thank you for being here, Simone. -L

Always, Lia. We’ve got this. -S

To think that Rain was now a vampire. It felt like it was partly my fault because he wouldn’t have gotten hit with that if it weren’t for me. The curse was meant for me or Michael. They were trying to send a message to us for not bowing to their whims or agreeing to go live the rest of our days with them.

I hated them. Why did they have to do this to us? All I wanted was to live my life with the mates I had finally accepted. Tomorrow I was going to have to look more into taking care of this coven. I needed to immerse myself in witchcraft and understand the magical world, a world I had never known before. But it was time for me to explore this side of myself.

Rain had expressed that he wanted to go ahead and learn more about his vampiric side. I found that admirable, to be honest. It was interesting for him to go ahead to try to discover everything there was to be about a vampire. However, unlike Rain, I had a coven after me for a debt I didn’t want to pay.

The stakes were bigger now with Michael and Gabi having a baby. They would try to get their hands on the baby like this was some twisted fairy tale. But jokes on them because I wasn’t going to let them lay one hand on my niece or nephew!

It was going to be difficult to figure out what we were going to do. I hoped that I would be able to figure it out sooner rather than later because who knows when they would attempt to throw another curse at us or attack the house.