Touch Me ✔

Chapter Thirty-Eight

"So Desmond... he was one of you?" I asked quietly.

I was seated cross-legged on one of my armchairs within my bedroom. My heart was thudding loudly in my throat as the others gathered around me. Sebastian was the only absent one, that being his nature. I had asked everyone else to come to me, if only for some divulgence of information and now they looked at each other in response to my question secretively.

"He was the last to join our family," Jax was the first to answer. I looked up at him briefly before looking away just as quickly, feeling shyer than usual. I twisted my hands together nervously.

"Yeah, he was a new vampire. With us for only about twenty years before he was kicked out," Miles clicked his tongue, gesturing his hand in such a way to illustrate Desmond's banishment from the group. I winced at the gesture, a flash of that horrible night invading my thoughts only momentarily before I pushed it away. It wasn't me Miles had harmed. It was me he declared he loved. I had to separate the memories of the witches from mine own.

"He was from Genesis," I stated, remembering the last image of that night. "He was the son of the Elder; the leader."

"The First Elder," Levi corrected me, though I already knew the term. The information was excessive enough that some things were harder to grasp in my thoughts than others, but as he said it I knew it to be true. I nodded. "We never talked to each other much about who we were before turning. If he was the son of the First Elder, that would explain why Seb and he got along quite well."

"They had that same alpha-male syndrome," Oliver scoffed knowingly.

"Because Sebastian was the First Elder at some point as well," I said quietly. The others blinked in surprise and I frowned. "You didn't know?"

"Seb doesn't tell anyone anything about himself. I don't even know how old he is," Oliver continued with interest.

"I'm guessing he's in his five thousands. Old bastard," Miles sneered, amused. "A First Elder; no wonder he's always got a stick up his ass."

"A First Elder turning is unheard of," Theo chimed in abruptly, his voice low with thought. "He would have had a lot of hunters after him for the longest time. It explains a lot of things..."

"Enough about Seb," Jax demanded respectfully, him being obviously uncomfortable with sharing their leader's background.

"Brown-noser," Oliver teased.

"Desmond got attacked by Genesis hunters and was hurt really bad," Theo said quietly, causing me to turn my gaze to him with interest. Theo watched me carefully, a frown deep on his features. "I'm sorry you had to see what we did. We didn't... care back then. We didn't feel much of anything until you came around."

"Yeah, Desmond said they followed him and knew where we were. At that point, we were done with Genesis," Miles explained further with a shrug, "It seemed like a good idea at the time. Wipe 'em all out."

Kill 'em all...

I winced again.

"I must've been particularly nasty that night," Miles muttered unhappily. My pulse spiked uncomfortably and I pushed myself from my chair, forcing myself to approach Miles where he sat easily on the adjacent sofa next to Oliver and Levi. I crawled onto the sofa, taking up what small room was left and situating myself comfortably against Miles.

"You were," I whispered with a frown, "But I still love you." Miles looked both uncertain and pleased simultaneously, obviously conflicted about the entire thing. I smiled at him until I could feel him relax against me.