Chapter 36: The Truth Can Taste Like Poison

The air swirled around them, and the breeze that before felt like an appreciated caress was now beginning to sting against their skin.

"Say something," Lola begged after Jax had stood stoic for over a minute.

"You're a Doe," he whispered into the wind.

"So you've heard of them?" she asked.

"Only in fairytales as a child. Nobody ever spoke of them as something in existence," he replied.

Lola chuckled. "You mean like werewolves and vampires?" she said jokingly and raised a brow, but Jax was not amused.

"Lola, do the vampires know?"

She gulped and nodded. "Yes."

He ran a hand over his face. "That's why they're here, why they're after you."

She nodded again.

"How?" he asked, and his hands fell to his side.

Lola took a deep breath and prepared herself. She would tell him everything now, the whole truth and leave nothing out. After she was done, he would do with the information as he pleased, and the control would be out of her hands. She was quite literally putting her fate in his hands.

"It began five years ago when I was sixteen. My family and I didn't have much, no money, and the little we did have went to food for seven people. We all lived in this worn-out house that belonged to my grandparents before they died. When they died, my cousins and my uncle and aunt moved in. We were already living there. We couldn't afford to fix everything that was broken, which was basically everything," Lola laughed. "We had each other but were never very close. Everyone just kind of lived in their own little world. I worked a summer job at a farm close by, and my mom worked as a nurse."

Jax leaned his head down. "How could you have had no money if your mom worked as a nurse?"

Lola forced a crooked smile. "My parents were avid drug users."

Jax's face shifted in realization. "I'm sorry," he said.

Lola shrugged her shoulders. "They weren't bad people. Their priorities were just messed up. My uncle was a drunk, and my aunt was abused by her ex-husband to the point where she couldn't work anymore. One day, my dad told me that we were going on a trip, that he had come across some extra money and that the whole family was going to a cabin by a beautiful lake. It felt like things were beginning to look up. Maybe it was just because they were paying attention to me or that he seemed so happy. A car picked my dad and me up and drove us out into the woods to a cabin." Lola paused for a beat.

"She's in pain," Jax's wolf growled.

"She needs to tell us. We need to know."

"Yes, but at what cost?" Landon asked.

"I don't think this is new to her, reliving the past. I think she relives it every day. At least now she's not alone in it," Jax said and focused on Lola.

"There were these men there waiting for us. My dad said that Mom and the others would come with another car, and I trusted him. He went out to talk to them and then told me to come out as well. I refused at first, but it was no use. My dad was sweating, and I could tell he was scared, but we went into the cabin where they were waiting. My father wanted to leave, but they wouldn't let him. Instead, one of the men dug his teeth into my father's neck, and as he screamed I just stood there and watched. There were a few of them in there. All looked pale and oddly beautiful. The same man that bit my father took my hand and carved with his knife into my wrist." Her eyes turned dull from the memory. "He said that he needed proof before he called on their master. He moved his finger around in my blood and brought it to his lips. Once he tasted it, he changed. He became almost manic. He pulled my wrist to his mouth and bit down, sucking my blood as I screamed, and my father watched with his hand pressed over his wound. When the vampire pulled away, he relished in the feeling, and everyone was watching with caution."

Jax's face fell. She knew about vampires.

Lola saw the disappointment in his eyes and slowly raised her shoulder to her ear. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

He stayed quiet and waited for her to continue. Lola drew a deep breath.

"He then forced my father to drink from my blood. As he drank, it was like magic... His wound closed up, it healed itself, and after a few seconds, it was like it had never been there at all. They were all so happy. It was crazy to see the joy on their faces when they realized that I was the girl they thought I was...or the thing they thought I was. He called on their master, who showed up in less than an hour. I sat there alone. My dad had taken off to the house, driven back by the driver, and left me. When the master came, he, too, tasted my blood. Then, he took out vials, many vials, and filled them with my blood. He had his own little supply."

Jax was at a loss for words.

"Do you want me to stop?" she asked him.

He furrowed his brows and shook his head, so she continued.

"The master gave me an option. He told me how he'd paid my family five hundred thousand dollars for me. He told me that if I wanted to, I could take revenge on the people who sold me." Lola stopped. The rest of the words were stuck in her throat-words that, if spoken, would mean it was true, more so than the faces that haunted her in her dreams.

"What happened to your family?" Jax asked.

Lola raised her head and looked down on the ground. She slowly raised her gaze, and her eyes were shifting into an obsidian darkness. "I killed them. All of them," she said. There it was. The truth was out, and there was no going back. She waited, watching every little movement of the muscles in his face. Soon, the judgment would glow in his eyes, and he would take off, leaving her to wallow in her own pain on her own. His eyes narrowed, and he slowly bowed his head.

"Good," he said with such a simplicity to his voice.

"They helped me," she said, waiting for a reaction that never came.

"What happened afterward?"

Lola was confused by the lack of reaction from Jax after having told him that she had killed her entire family.

"I-I told them that I wanted to get rid of the bodies. Their master told me that the driver would give me a ride back to the house once I was done. I dragged their bodies to the river and threw them in. The poison in their lungs would eat the flesh before anyone found them, and the river led to a big lake where their bones wouldn't be found. After I was done, I ran, and I didn't stop until I came here."

"Sixteen," Jax said as though that was the only thing he'd heard from the story.

"Listen, I understand that you want to protect me and help me and that it's important to your family business," Lola said and rolled her eyes. "But I promise that I come with more problems than I'm worth. They'll never stop, and you'll only put yourself and everyone else at risk."

She had been lying to herself ever since the attack outside the café with Melissa. She didn't want to leave her only friend, and by doing so, by choosing to stay, she had just made it harder for herself. Now there were two people she didn't want to leave.

Jax rushed over and cupped her face in his hands. He walked them back until her back was pressed against a tree. "You listen to me, and you listen real good. I'm never letting you go. Let them come. We're stronger than they are, and we can protect this town. You're not going anywhere. I'm not letting you."

Lola put her hands over Jax's. "Then the blood of any innocent people that spills will be on your hands," she whispered in hopes that he would understand.

Jax didn't answer. Instead, he leaned in and claimed her lips with a passion so strong that Lola's knees buckled beneath her. He pressed her against the tree and grabbed the back of her head to deepen the kiss.

His tongue slid in between her lips, and his hands ripped apart her shirt.

Lola's hands went down his back. She lifted his shirt over his head and dragged her fingers down his chest.

"You're mine, Lola. I'm never letting go," he whispered against her lips. At that moment, everything else vanished, and she drowned in the heat she felt as his hands roamed her body.

He kissed down her neck and pulled down her bra. His tongue slid over her nipple, and as it stiffened, he took it between his teeth.

Her head fell back, and she moaned as he kissed down her front.