Slicing My Flesh

59

My maman ordered the vampires to inform her where the barrier currently was. She turned to pick me up, but Naomi insisted on carrying me. I looked past Naomi's shoulder to see Acacia at a distance. When our eyes connected, she quickly looked away. I felt sullen at the sight of her distancing herself. My maman picked up on my mood, so she glanced at Acacia. She then gave me a sympathetic smile.

We walked through the barrier and arrived in the human realm. I think we landed somewhere in Asia. Acacia immediately teleported away. My maman shook her head before focusing on Naomi.

"Can you teleport us all to Italy?"

"Yea." Naomi tightened her grip on me.

I closed my eyes to shield myself from the bright light. When I opened them, I recognized the villa. Naomi followed my maman to my room. Naomi propped me up on the bed, so my maman could properly examine me.

"Hold her hand." My maman spoke without looking at Naomi.

Naomi immediately complied. My maman then softly apologized before digging her fingers into my wounds. I screamed and accidentally broke Naomi's hand. My maman kept apologizing as her fingers explored the inside of my arm. I felt my eyes darken and I growled at her. My maman chuckled before pulling out a silver fleck.

"That would hamper your healing." She placed the speck down. "Now, I'm gonna do something that's a little more painful."

"Great." I rolled my eyes.

My maman held her hand over my body. Then, like a magnet, she did a spell so that the silver would rise out of my body. It was incredibly painful since the silver broke through my skin. I clenched my jaw and tried to refrain from squirming. Naomi held me down while my maman kept pulling silver out my body. Finally, all the silver exited my body.

"No more silver, little one." My maman softly smiled. "Right now, you need to recover from your wounds... they are really deep." She titled my head to the side. "The healing may be slowed down due to the silver inflicted weapons."

"It shouldn't take too long, right?" Naomi turned to my maman.

"Let's hope not... I can only tolerate your presence for so long." My maman glared at her. "Don't think you're off my shit list." She stood up and left me with Naomi.

"Sorry about her." I sighed and got comfier.

"I deserve it." She looked down and sat next to me. "I should've never left you like that. I should've stayed and worked through everything with you. I left because I was a coward."

"I don't hate you." She met my eyes. "I understand why you ran. Your parents wanted me dead and you were going through an internal war with yourself." I humorlessly chuckled. "It hurt, but it's in the past." I smiled.

"That's because you love Acacia." I could see the pain on her face. "You love her more than me."

"Nao-"

"It's her, isn't it?" There were tears in her eyes.

"I-I never said that!"

"Then tell me you want me." My breath hitched at her command. I-I couldn't say that. She bitterly smiled at my reaction. "That's what I thought." She whispered. "I'll be around the compound, but I need to clear my head."

"Nao-" I tried calling out to her, but she had already left.

X

This week has been beyond weird. I had called my friends the day after I returned to Italy. They quickly arrived and were ecstatic to see me. Their demeanor changed when they saw Naomi was with me. It took a while for me to convince them not to kill Naomi. Ellio and I had to hold Vera back from punching Naomi.