Chapter 2
Elaine's POV
"What are you talking about?"
Everett frowns, impatient. "Don't need it? You've spent your whole life competing with Rosalie for everything, and now that we're offering it to you, you want to play it cool?"
Dad jumps in. "Exactly. Stop with the games. We said you'd get your share, so you'll get it. No need for the act."
Mom sighs. "You've always been like this."
I look at the three of them. Every face the same — not a shred of trust.
Memories surface, unbidden.
When I was young, I felt my Blood Core awaken for the first time. The clan elders praised me publicly, called me a rare pureblood talent. I came home to find Rosalie in tears, saying she felt nothing from hers. That night, Dad carried every gift the elders had sent straight into Rosalie's room. "It's just a gift," he said. "She needs the encouragement more than you do."
After Everett and I got together, Rosalie started fainting in front of him every other day. Mom and Dad said, "Look how much she needs someone. Don't be so selfish."
After that, Everett stopped looking at me.
I was never the one who liked to fight for things. I just wanted something of my own. But in this family, whatever I had, I was always going to lose.
Rosalie meets my eyes. No weakness there. Just open, naked gloating.
I turn and head upstairs. Their laughter follows me, but it has nothing to do with me.
The next few days are surprisingly quiet.
I signed the form. They stop coming at me.
To keep Rosalie comfortable before her "surgery," Everett clears his entire schedule and stays by her side. I hear them laughing downstairs. Sometimes I stand on the balcony and watch them walk through the garden below. He drapes my favorite white fox coat over her shoulders — the one he personally bid for at auction, for me. Around her neck is the ruby necklace Mom always said would go to her eldest daughter.
I keep out of their way. Spend most of my time in my room.
One afternoon I'm on my phone and Rosalie's latest post comes up.
[Having the person I love most by my side makes even the surgery feel less scary. Ready for a new beginning.]
The photo is her hand laced through Everett's, white roses blooming behind them in the estate garden.
I stare at it for a long time. Then I close the app.
My heartbeat is getting slower. I probably won't make it to next week's surgery. Maybe in the next day or two, I'll just quietly go in my sleep, like ash dissolving in the dark.
I tell myself that's fine.
The quiet doesn't last.
On the fourth night, Rosalie comes running through the front door, clothes half pulled together, face white with panic. The smell of blood clings to her.
"Everett! Help me!" She throws herself into his arms, shaking. "I was drunk, I couldn't stop myself — I fed on three humans out there. The Elder Council has to know by now."
The color drains from my parents' faces.
Vampire law is absolute: feeding on humans without sanction is forbidden. Anyone who breaks it goes to the Disciplinary House. What happens there is not quick and it is not clean.
Everett's jaw tightens. Then he goes still, and looks at me.
"Elaine. Put on Rosalie's clothes. I'll contact the Enforcement Unit and tell them it was you. You're twins — they won't be able to tell the difference."
I knew something like this was coming. It still lands cold and strange.
"You want me to take the fall for her."
"You're a pureblood. Your body can handle a few days in the Disciplinary House. Rosalie's got surgery coming up — she can't take that kind of punishment." He says it like it's obvious.
"He's right." Mom cuts in fast. "Elaine, just this once. You were already going to give everything for Rosalie anyway. What's one more thing?"
I almost say it. I almost tell them I have days left, not weeks.
But I look at their faces — that easy, unquestioning certainty — and I swallow it back down.
What would be the point? They wouldn't believe me. They wouldn't care.
"Fine. I'll go."
I change into Rosalie's bloodstained clothes and go back up to my room.
There are still things I haven't dealt with. I pull out a bag and start filling it — photos, keepsakes. Our wedding portrait, family pictures, the gifts Everett gave me over the years. All of it goes in.
I'm halfway through when the room tilts.
I go down hard, one knee hitting the floor, and then a mouthful of black blood comes up before I can stop it.
I'm still sitting there wiping my mouth on my sleeve when the door opens.
Everett stands in the doorway. His eyes drop to the blood at the corner of my mouth and go still for a second.
"What happened?"
"Nothing. I bumped into something." I push myself up against the bed frame.
He stares at me for a moment, then lets it go.
"The Enforcement Unit's been notified. It's just a few days, all right? I'll work the Elder Council, get you out as soon as I can. Then we'll schedule the surgery."
He leaves. His footsteps fade down the hall.
I sink back to the floor. The half-packed bag sits next to me. The black blood on the floor doesn't move.
Get you out as soon as I can.
Everett. I'm not walking out of that place.
