Double Trouble

Facing Calarasi was never something that Savannah and her family ever wanted to deal with. He was supposed to be dead, gone from this world for thirteen years. “How?” Savannah yelled angrily as her nephew went to deal with Jason and Justin, just as her dream predicted he would. “How the hell were you capable of cheating death and coming after us?” Since Eli first suggested that Calarasi was still alive, it was this question that bothered Savannah how was it possible for something like that to happen. They spent thirteen years thinking that he was gone, out of their lives forever. Now, after all this time, it turned out that they jumped to conclusions and basically caused all of this to happen. “Answer me! I want to know how you were capable of cheating death, despite having no immortality.”

Calarasi eyed Thomas. “I have my ways.”

“How?” Thomas asked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Calarasi snickered.

“If I knew, I wouldn’t be asking,” Thomas retorted.

Savannah groaned. Calarasi truly was an idiot. Nothing much had changed in thirteen years. But now; there seemed to something more, something far more serious than what occurred over a decade ago. “You’re hiding something!” Savannah realized. “Tell us what’s going on?”

“I don’t think you want to know,” Calarasi mused.

“Of course we do!” Toby yelled. “Why else are we here?”

Calarasi’s attention shifted once more to Thomas, his eyes dark eyes gleaming with malice. Based on that, Savannah was sure that whatever Calarasi was hiding had to do with her older brother. Unfortunately, she could think of nothing that might be going on, anything that Calarasi was hiding from them. Savannah elbowed her brother. “Thomas, there is something very wrong here. Calarasi seems way too interested in you; I don’t exactly know what his interest in you is, nor why, but we can bet that it is nothing good.”

“It was like that thirteen years ago,” Thomas replied.

“Why?” Savannah asked.

“Not a clue,” her brother shrugged.

Calarasi smirked. “Unbeknownst to anyone, Jason Evermore sired a child. On August 12th, 1896, his son, Henry Parker was born. His grandchild, James, came into the world on May 13th, 1920. The line continued with his great-granddaughter: Molly—my mother—on October 15th, 1947. I followed as Jason’s twice great-grandson on August 18th, 1965 after her marriage to Mark Clearly. My daughter, Iyana—whom I know to be your wife—arrived on June 17th, 1982. This would make me your father-in-law and Eli my grandson. It also makes Eli related to Toby and his brothers, something I’m sure you’ll take offense to.”

“No!” Thomas yelled.

Savannah groaned looked between her brother and husband. “I always knew there was something I didn’t like about that woman. I couldn’t tell what it was; I just knew that I didn’t like her. Subconsciously, I must have realized that Iyana was the thrice great-grandchild of one of the men that killed our parents; she’ related to my husband. Thomas! What have you done?”

“Me?” Thomas asked. “I had no idea about any of this. Iyana told me that her father was dead. Not once in all our years of marriage was I ever informed of the fact that I had a confrontation with my father-in-law thirteen years ago. So, Savannah, don’t blame all of this on me. I never had an inkling of what was going on. I will admit I’m responsible for bringing Iyana into all of this, but I never realized the full scope of what was going on.”

Savannah clenched her fists. Toby wrapped his arms around her in comfort. “This is exactly why I never wanted Iyana to learn the truth about Toby. Turns out she knew the whole time; Iyana was probably in contact with Jason and Justin from the day she was born, aware of our secret and patiently wait for the day she could come after us for her relatives.” Her thoughts turned to her nephew and how he might be affected by this. “And, Eli? The fact that his mother is trying to ruin our lives; this is going to destroy him.”

“This makes no sense though,” Toby stated.

“How do you mean?” Savannah asked.

“Think about it, Savannah; why the hell would my great, great grand-nephew need either mine, Jason’s, or Justin’s immortality? And, why does he want this anyway? Why does he want to be like his great, great grandfather and two great, great-uncles who lived forever? Take it from me; I hated my immortality and that was the reason I got rid of it. I watched people die, relatives even. Watching that happen is never something I want to see; it’s part of the reason I never started a family until I was returned to the mortal state I left so long ago,” Toby reminded her. “Savannah, this whole thing has spun out of control, especially now that I’ve uncovered the fact that Iyana, and subsequently Eli, are related to me.”

“That’s just too weird,” Thomas noted.

“Obviously,” Toby replied. “This is exactly what happens when immortality comes into play; familial relationships get thrown out of whack. Eli, Reuben, Keith, and Dawn are doubly related because I was once immortal and my brothers still are. Somewhere out there, there are other people related to me; whether it be through Jason or Justin.”

“And we somehow run into your thrice great granddaughter due to the fact that she married my older brother?” Savannah asked him. “That just seems a little too weird, a little too convenient. Plus, it occurred too close to my first encounter with your brothers for me to believe that the two incidents are unrelated.” Savannah was positively pissed about this new development. For years, Savannah continually warned her older brother that she despised his wife; there was never any reason for it, but she knew there was something wrong. And now Savannah finally understood why she hated the woman so much; it was her connection to the Evermore twins, something she could only sense by being near her.

Between the two, it was always Jason that Savannah had the bigger issue with. Jason was the dominant twin, the more vicious of the two. It was no wonder then that Savannah despised Iyana with such a fierce passion. Savannah groaned. Things are never normal in this family. Why would they? Otherwise, my parents might be alive and I wouldn’t be involved in a vampire family feud that has been going on for a hundred and sixty-five years, which is exactly how long Toby has been alive. While Thomas and Toby were both reeling over the revelation that Iyana and Calarasi were related to Jason, Justin, and Toby, Savannah looked over at Eli. He seemed rather disturbed by something. They told him!

So long as Eli knew that Jason, Justin, and Toby were related to him, Savannah was quite sure of the fact that things would never return to normal. The same was true if Reuben, Keith, and Dawn were made aware of the fact that Jason and Justin were their uncles, which Savannah knew would be long. Complications were sure to arise because of what was revealed. “Damn it!” she muttered under her breath. “How the hell is this going to end?”