"Gisselle got mated today." Silence came over the table after the sentence left Soren's mouth. Usually when Soren announced that another of his friends got mated, no one cared. Gisselle was different.
"Are you sure?" Soren's younger brother, Micah asked.
Soren nodded. "I went to check up on her afterwards. Her parents were crying, they gave me these." He pulled out three cards from underneath the table and distributed them to his parents and brother. They read the card.
It was an invitation to a leaving ritual. This was basically an early funeral but no one liked to admit it. They didn't want to admit that they allowed their child to get snatched away by a vampire only to have them die.
Only the sound of Soren absentmindedly scraping his fork against the plate could be heard. He glanced up and glanced at everyone's face. They were all confused, confused by the situation.
"I thought you gu-"
"Poor child." His mother Coralline, interrupted. She softly cleared her throat and gently placed her fork on the plate and glanced at Soren with a pleading look in her eyes. "Don't worry my dear, no one in our family had ever been mated. We are blessed by the moon goddess, our gift won't allow it."
Soren glanced down at his gloved hands, his family had a similar fashion. "More like a curse." He muttered.
"What was that dear?"
He sighed, "Nothing."
Everyone continued eating their dinner. The table fell into an uncomfortable silence. The news of Gisselle getting mated still hung on everyone's mind. To humans, getting mated was like death as it was inevitable that the vampire mate would one day drain them of their blood. In other words, kill them.
Gifted families were the only families that were exempted from having mates.
"Gisselle had a gift." Soren voiced the thought of everyone. Glass shattered against the floor. Everyone glanced at the head of the table where Thomas sat.
"Enough of this." He ordered. He glanced at Soren sternly, "Finish your meal."
"No!" Soren stood abruptly, his chair scraped noisily against the floor. "Every single one of my friends got mated, I thought Gisselle and I was safe. But Gisselle's gone." Tears threatened to fall from his eyes. His voice cracked, "What if I'm next? Or Micah?"
"You're not." Coralline sounded unsure. "You're not." It sounded as if she was trying to convince herself. Micah gave Soren a look as if to say stop. Soren saw tears pricking at the edge of his mother's eyes and fell silent. He picked at his food, until he'd completely lost his appetite.
"I'm heading to bed." Coralline opened her mouth to stop him but Thomas shook his head and she closed her mouth and looked down. Soren headed to his room, immediately picking up his phone to see of Gisselle had replied to his earlier message.
She had not.
Someone knocked on his door, a sound so sudden he dropped his phone. He bent to pick it up. With a sigh he said, "Come in." The door slowly opened and a head peeped in. His brother.
Micah entered the room and flopped himself down on the bed beside Soren. "You feeling any better?"
Soren nodded. "I guess." That was a lie but he didn't want Micah to stress himself over it any more than he needed to.
"If this makes you feel any better. If any of us find a mate, we can always run away." Micah suggested with a bright smile.
"Then what would happen to our parents?" Soren didn't add that Gisselle chose to go with her mate, despite knowing the dangers. Flashes of him begging Gisselle not to go as she followed behind the red-haired male as if in a trance crossed his mind.
"Well, we're gifted. Gifted families don't get mates. We don't get fated loved ones."
Fated love, it sounded romantic.
Micah looked as if there was something he wanted to get off his mind. "Say it." Soren ordered with a sigh.
Micah smiled sheepishly before he asked. "Have you ever wondered if it's really bad to be mated to someone?" Soren frowned and gave Micah a confused stare. Micah shook his head. "Never mind, I'm just tired." He stood up. "I'm heading to bed."
Soren nodded at watched as Micah left, locking the door behind him. With one last string of hope that Gisselle was still alive, Soren sent a message.
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Gixxy
Soren: Hey, you okay?
Soren: Call me when you get this, K?
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When his other friends left, Soren had felt sad. But Gisselle's absence hit harder, she was his best friend, his sister, his anchor. Soren curled up into a ball and cried himself f to sleep.
The familiar ring tone of his phone woke Soren from his slumber. He moved his hand across the bed hitting and rubbing in search of his ringing phone. Soon the ringing stopped, and Soren found the phone. He sighed in frustration and opened it to see who had called.
A gasp left his lips and a look of disbelief crossed his face as he saw who called. He sprung into a sitting position and immediately redialed the number. The line picked up. "Hello?" The familiar soft voice of his best friend answered. "Soren?"
Gisselle wasn't dead.