“What the what?” she whispers to me.
“Nobody minds if I get some sun, do you?” Helena glances around, waiting for someone to say something. I do not know what to say, nor does anyone else.
“I usually do this naked, but not in a group.”
Ava's face goes red and she looks at the grass. So modest, my girl.
“We will leave you to talk,” Rasha says, taking Kamir's hand.
They vanish into the woods. I hope they stick to their word about not feeding from anyone in Sussex, for Ava's sake.
Helena looks around at us. “So, Di.”
Ava glances at me.
“Are you going to talk about her, or...” Ava says.
“Oh yeah. I've got lots of Di stories.” Helena strips her shirt off and slides her shorts down, revealing a hot pink bathing suit that does not quite fit her and I'm sure is stolen. She lies on her back and speaks to the sky.
“Di is older than me, but not by much. She turned two years before me, I think. She was actually the one that found me and brought me to Akash. That's our father. He used his children as scouts to find more. Told them he was building an army, but really he just wanted more noctali because he was losing so many so quickly. He was insane.
“I was sitting outside with my mother; I think we were spinning wool. I remember the sun on my face and the soft ocean breeze. I remember I was thinking about the boy who lived up the road and how much my youngest sister annoyed me. Somehow I remember so much from that day.” She puts her arms under her head.
I glance at Ava, who is watching Helena, hanging on every word.
“Di came up to us, pretending to admire our work. My mother was friendly, asking her what her name was and where she was from. Her Greek was flawless; we couldn't tell she wasn't a native speaker. She told us a story about traveling with her family, not giving us much information, and asked me if I would take a walk with her. I was eager to get out of my mother's sight and dazzled by my new friend. Her hair was such a rare color. I watched it glitter in the sun. Di took my hand and we walked down the road. I chattered at her, telling her about my family and our small school. I asked her if she would attend. She said she would.
“Di smiled at me, and I couldn't help but smile back. There was something about her eyes. I had never seen someone with two different-colored eyes. I thought she had been blessed by the gods. She started laughing at nothing in particular and I couldn't help but join in. She pulled me into the bushes and started kissing me. I had never kissed anyone before, but I couldn't help myself. Di was strong and pulled me to the ground, kissing me harder. It was only then that I felt the bite on the back of my neck.” Helena pauses.
I think back to my own transformation, and what a confusing time that was. I did not want to remember it.
“I woke up three days later like this,” she says, gesturing to herself. “Except I had a mermaid tail.”
“No freaking way,” Texas says.
“Way. I'll show you sometime. I have to get naked from the waist down to do it, and it's more impressive if I do it in the water.”
Texas' jaw hangs open.
“So there I was. It was dark and I was alone, or so I thought. The first face I saw when I woke up was Di's. She smiled at me and called me sister. It wasn't until three days later that I met Akash. We were in Romania, I believe.”
Texas snorts a laugh. “What? Vampires, Romania? Oh, come on.”
“We understand the reference, Tex,” Ava says, turning her attention back to Helena.
“Anyway, we went on a killing rampage and had a lot of sex and caused mayhem,” Helena says.
“Wait, you didn't tell us about your bind,” Ava says. We all knew Helena had left it out on purpose.
“You're right, I didn't. The bind is irrelevant now, because my father is dead. But I made a bind to someone else, and I will not tell you about that, because part of the bind is that I never talk about it. So don't ask me.”
“Okay, point taken,” Tex says, glancing at Ava. Many noctali are hesitant to talk about their binds.
“So, back to Di. The one thing you need to know about Di is that she'll do anything to get what she wants, and once she decides that she wants something, she won't stop until she gets it. I'm sure you know that already. The thing you probably don't know about Di is that what she wants more than anything else is to be loved. She just goes about it in the wrong way.”
“Obviously,” Ava says. Helena looks away from her.
“When I was first changed, Di and I were inseparable. We did everything together. We even shared our meals.” Ava shudders next to me. “She loved me. I loved her, too, in a way. She was the first face I saw when I changed, and I think that affected me. Di was sweet and caring and she adored me. We were both young and wild, and there are stories I could tell you that would probably make your ears burn. Di and I were happy, crazy and stupid. Akash let us run wild. I didn't see him much and I didn't care. Di consumed my world. It wasn't until I went back to Greece that things changed.
“I found the boy I had a crush on as a human. His name was Theo, and he had been searching for me. Di found him and brought him to me to feed on. She didn't know that he was the Theo I had told her about. The minute he saw me, he told me how much he loved me and missed me. Di bent his head back to feed, but I stopped her. We fought and she broke his neck, tossing his body over the garden wall. I threw myself at her and we fought. I told her I never wanted to see her again, and that I didn't love her like I loved Theo. She ran down the hill and into my house. She was always faster than I was. Before I could stop her, she killed my whole family. I was so angry that I attacked her. We couldn't do any damage, but I got a few punches in. She said she hated me and wished I would die. I stayed with the bodies of my family and she left. I didn't see her again for many years. By then she had made you and had become the noctalis you know today.”
No one says anything for several moments.
“Holy shit,” Ava says finally. “So you're the reason Di is the way she is?”
Helena doesn't shy away from Ava's accusing gaze. “You could say that.”
“Shit... Shit,” Ava says.
“Is that all you can say?” Texas asks. Her eyes widen as something new occurs to her. “Shut the front door, so you guys were like, together, together.”
“Yes. Like the song, I kissed a girl and I liked it.”
Ava and Texas burst out laughing. It must be a pop culture reference I have not learned yet. Viktor also seems puzzled.