26 - Trust Issues

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"Mother?" I felt tears fill up my eyes even more. The voice came from behind me. With a deep breath, I stood up and turned around.

The woman who stood in front of me now looked nothing like the drug-abuse, good for nothing woman who ignored my sister and I for the duration of our lives. For my entire life, she had just been a part of the background. Mother never made any dramatic contribution to our lives after our father left. She was just...nothing to me anymore. Well, until this point.

Mother wore a black blouse with frills with a matching pencil skirt. The blue eyes Flora and I both inherited stared back at me. The bags under her eyes were gone, replaced with flawless skin that almost looked too perfect to be real. She was wearing deep red lipstick and black framed glasses. Her dirty blonde hair was brushed and pinned back into a Professor Stinklehoffen bun. Her pasty skin blended in with the bleary background. Mother looked strict, professional, and nothing like the woman I had known. Whether that was a good thing or not, I didn't know.

Confusion was my strongest dilemma. The day I walked into our apartment and she was nowhere to be found was the day I forgot about my mother. Why was she here? Why did she look like that? And how did she ever find me? Did Lucian know about all this? I swallowed my tears and stayed my distance. Mother could just have been a figment of my overworked imagination.

"Oh, Victoria." Mother breathed. There was tears in her eyes which I did not understand. After all these neglected years, why would she want to talk to me again? There was so many times I had needed my mother and she had not been there. "My sweet girl. How have you been?"

"Mum, what are you doing here?" I choked through the lump in my throat. She wiped a fallen tear from her cheek and gave me a sad smile. I didn't understand why my heart felt like it was breaking to pieces. Out of everything that has happened, I should have been angry. Angry because she left me to raise Flora all on my own, angry because she had been so neglectful. Angry at how she could have allowed drugs and cigars to take over her life. Yet all I could feel was relief.

"I can explain everything." There was a slight tremble to her voice. "Sweetheart, I can tell you what has happened so we can move past this. I need my daughter back in my life. You and Flora are all I have, bab-" She promptly stopped speaking and glanced behind me.

I followed her eyes and found a glaring Lucian staring back at me. His eyes were a lucid yellow and his sharp fangs were bared at Mother. Lucian's hands were trembling. I expected my mother to freak out any second now, but that moment never came. More confusion tumbled through me when I looked back at her. Her face was blank, like this was the daily norm. Like creatures from the dead did not surprise her. Lucian's eyes trailed to me.

"Come here, Victoria." he growled so low that I was sure no one else heard it. His voice was filled with the utmost hatred and it scared me.

"Lucian, stop." I whispered. "She's my mother. It's okay-"

"Do not question what I tell you, Victoria." he spat. "Come to me this instant. I don't care who she is. Who she says she is." He gritted his teeth. "Please, Victoria. Do not go to her."

"Victoria," Mother cut in. "I'm home, sweetheart. Don't listen to that man. Hasn't he been the one you've always been trying to escape? Hasn't he controlled your life enough? I know my daughter and I know she does not let a man tell her what to do. He's abusing you, Victoria. Maybe not physically, but it is still hurting you until it is too late to escape, baby. Come to your mother. I can take care of you. I will protect you."

"Victoria, don't you fucking dare! She's not your mother. She's playing you, love." Lucian roared at the exact moment the sky thundered. It frightened me so much that I stumbled back towards Mother, which angered him further. His eyes were glowing brightly with demented rage, the color of flames. And I realized who exactly was the real monster here was. It had been under my nose all along but I had been to blind to see it. But now I did, and it scared me so much. All the times I needed my mom, she hadn't been there. But now she was, and I was determined to make her stay.

"Mother-" I gasped.

"No, Victoria!" Lucian growled.

"Mum!" I cried, running into her arms before Lucian could grab me. Her arms were a comforting beacon, like the light at the end of the tunnel. I had been denied of family for so long. It was good to be back into the arms of my family. It soothed my aching heart until it felt like nothing had been broken inside me in the first place. It gave me a comfort that words could not express. I did not care what Lucian was feeling right now. I felt his anger, but I just didn't care anymore.

Mother smelled a bit strange, like something metal. Almost like sulfur. It wasn't just a scent in the air. It felt like it was actually emitting from her body. Her arms tightened around my neck. When I glanced back, the blue eyes that looked at me held not a single drop of emotion. They were darker, more vicious-looking.

"Victoria..." she smiled at me. "You are simply too trusting, my dear. Wasn't Flora an example of this?"

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