After listening to Carlos talk about how Janek had beaten my sister so badly, it was hard to care about him being carried off by an angry werewolf. But for some reason, David thought I should give a shit.
"What do you want to do?" David asked.
I drew my hands through my hair.
"What do I want to do? Janek attacked my sister and her boyfriend. 600 years before that, he stood by and watched me get tortured and didn't help me. Instead, he killed my sire for stopping my torture and saving me. So pardon me if I don't feel too worried that he may have been carried off by a rogue werewolf."
David raised an eyebrow at me. "Really?"
"Really. I couldn't give a shit if he dies, just so long as it's slow and painful," I said coldly.
Jadwiga stood up.
"He's my twin," she said angrily. "And he's
your brother
too."
"No, he's not my brother. Not anymore," I said, with so much emotion I surprised myself.
Jadwiga looked like I'd slapped her. The pain of Janek's betrayal was written across her face, and yet she didn't want to hear any angry words about him. I tried to understand, but I couldn't because he had betrayed me, too.
"You don't understand, Stosh. He's my twin. He's half of my soul. He's -- " then she broke down, sobbing. "He's my twin brother! How could he do that to me, Stosh? How?"
I didn't know what to say to her, I just held her and started to tear up myself.
Everyone was silent for a time, then David spoke up.
"He's the man who betrayed your sacred bond because he thought you'd betrayed him. He didn't give you a chance to speak for yourself. He didn't even ask you what was going on before beating you half to death. The fact that he's your twin makes what he did worse, but it would have been horrible anyway," David said.
Jadwiga looked at him, startled that he'd intruded on our conversation.
"You don't know what you're talking about," Jadwiga said angrily.
David smiled gently at her and spoke in a soft tone. "I do know what I'm talking about. I saw what your brother did to you. Stosh and I both had to give you blood because of how he treated you. If you had been human, he would have killed you. So, I'm going to give you my opinion, whether you like it or not. I've earned that right, at least."
We were quiet for a moment, and Carlos looked at Elizabeth. "What's happening? Can you understand what they're saying?"
Elizabeth shook her head. "I don't know. David?"
David smiled. "Jadwiga and Stosh are having a disagreement about their brother. And I'm giving my opinion because I'm a nosey nelly and I don't know when to shut up."
Jadwiga and I both chuckled uncomfortably, and Angus muttered, "That's for damn sure."
Carlos seemed to absorb David's words for a moment. Then he stood up and pulled Jadwiga into a strong embrace. "Baby, I agree with your brother, and with David, I think. If Yanet ever touches you again, I'll kill him myself."
"You're a good man, Carlos," Angus said.
Jadwiga smiled. "His name is JANEK, with a K, and I doubt you could kill a vampire."
Carlos smiled and locked eyes with me. "No, but I think I can get Sta -- no, STOSH, to help me."
I smiled at Carlos. "Absolutely."
"And you got his nickname right!" Elizabeth said.
"Oh. That's a nickname? You mean there's more to your name?" he said, a look of panic crossing his face.
"Oh my, yes," David said. "His full name is Zdzisław Wawryniec Szymanski."
The color left Carlos's face as David gave the least pronounceable name he could come up with. I had to turn my head to keep from laughing, while David continued with a straight face. Carlos sat back down with a thud.
"It's spelled just like it sounds, Z d z I s ł a w W a w r y n i e c S z y m a n s k i."
While he was spelling it out, my eyes caught Jadwiga's and we both collapsed in laughter.
Elizabeth smiled at Carlos. "You know he's fucking with you, right?"
Carlos caught his breath and started to laugh as well.
"Okay, okay, so that's not really your name."
Jadwiga kissed him. "God, you're so cute!"
"No, that's not my name, my full name is Stanislav Szymanski. And our names really aren't that complicated. For instance, Wawryniec is just Polish for 'Lawrence,'" I said, trying to be helpful.
His eyebrows shot up. "Oh shit! You're Polish! All this time I thought you were Russian!"
For some reason, that made all of us laugh even harder.
David had tears coming out of his eyes as he said, "And for the record, Angus is Scottish, not Irish."
"Well I knew
that
," Carlos said.
Angus, still chuckling, said, "And how did you know that, laddie?"
"Because you sound like Shrek," Carlos said.
Everybody collapsed into gales of laughter again.
After we finished laughing, Angus' face grew serious.
"To be blunt, your brother may be a right bellend, but a rogue werewolf is a danger to everybody, and we need to take action."
I sighed, knowing he was right.
"We should call Alpha Collier, the head of the local pack. He needs to know what's going on in his territory and he may be able to help us." Laura said from the dining room, where she had sat down with the plate Elizabeth made for her.