“See you later, Cessie.” She put on her massive sunglasses and began to walk out of the sliding doors.
“You know it’s winter. I don’t think you need those ridiculous glasses.” I couldn’t resist getting my own back and poking some fun.
She turned and faced me, lifting the glasses from her eyes.
“I don’t wear them for fashion.”
Her expression was serious.
“Then why do you wear them?” I shot back, washing my glass in the sink.
“Old habits die hard. When I was human, well, I always wore a pair. I couldn’t see. Later!”
I stood, paralyzed, and watched her leave. The glass slid out of my hand and shattered in the sink. Brooke had been blind. She was the girl in the house, the night Ruadhan and Gabriel found Jonah. Ruadhan said she had died and she had, but Jonah brought her back; he turned her into a Vampire.
The terrible things I had said to him flew through my mind. Ruadhan said she reminded Jonah of his sister. A sister he hadn’t been able to save. So he’d saved Brooke instead. It all made sense, the way he treated her so delicately, catering to her requests and protecting her from a life of hardship.
I darted to the doors, but she was already gone.
I sped back to my room and threw on some sneakers and grabbed my phone. I needed to find Jonah. I had to apologize.
I ran and ran, shouting his name. I tried his cell repeatedly, but his phone was switched off. I hadn’t the first clue where he’d be, or if he would even want to talk to me if I did find him, but I had to try.
* * *
I’D WALKED AN HOUR away from the house; green fields spread out as far as the eye could see. Finally a stream with a small brick bridge caught my attention. The sky was overcast and the chill in the air made the hair along the bare skin of my arms stand on end. It was so quiet out here.
So few people; so few anything.
I made my way to the bridge. The air grew damp, making me cold and uncomfortable. I called Jonah’s name once more and then, like magic, a figure appeared next to the stream. I was too far away to make out his face, but I decided it had to be him. “Jonah!”
The figure dissolved and reappeared with his back to me at the center of the bridge. I ran toward him, thinking of what I might say. I hoped he would forgive my unkind words; I hoped he would accept my apology.
As I neared, he disappeared again.
“Jonah?”
I peered down at the water. A thin layer of ice had formed on the top of the stream and I hesitated as I urged my feet to move forward. The side of the bridge was only as high as my knee. A bramble snapped on the other end and I knew he must be waiting. As I made my way across, the wind suddenly whipped at my cheeks and in a blink he stood directly in front of me.
Only it wasn’t Jonah.
“Ethan?”
He was still wearing dated clothing, and his dirty-blond hair was swept away from his face, tied in a loose ponytail behind his neck. He studied my expression, before he raised his finger to my lips and made a low shushing noise.
“Lailah … you’re alive.”
He used my name, my first name, my only name.
I nodded, his finger still pressed against my chapped lips.
“You should be long dead and so should I.”
He spoke in the smoothest and most elegant South East accent I had ever heard; even the wealthiest men I had met from London sounded common by comparison. His black pupils were dilated and I couldn’t tell if he meant me harm or not.
I should have been scared, standing nose-to-nose with a Vampire, but instead I felt sadness. The images I had seen flickered through my mind, of a time when he was just a boy, and I was just a girl. When we were both someone else, and something to each other. I was able to see beyond his deadly exterior now, to the friend I had once known.
“You owe me some retribution.” He forced an unhappy smile.
So he did mean me harm.
I spared a second to peek down at the icy stream below as the thought of jumping crossed my mind. His eyes flashed from mine to over my shoulder. The rickety bridge wobbled underneath us with the slamming of heavy feet, and I was thrown to the side as another body launched over me, knocking Ethan onto his back. I regained my balance just in time to see Jonah glance at me, while Ethan, growling, pulled him down by his ankles.
As Jonah’s body fell to the ground, his tremendous weight knocked into me and before I could grab onto him—grab onto anything—I tripped and fell over the ledge.
Jonah’s hand reached out for me but, trapped by Ethan’s grasp, he wasn’t nearly close enough as I slammed chest-first into the icy water.
The sound of the world around me gave way to an inaudible force of nature as the undercurrent swept me downstream. The fall had winded me and now water filled my lungs as I gasped for air. The sheer pain of the freezing cold ate its way to my core, as though it were stripping me of my skin.
The ice formed a thick covering here, and I desperately hit it, as my body traveled against my will, to no avail. My eyes were open but the water was murky. I realized with heavy dread I was going to die and I would be right back to square one: a blank page in an unfinished novel.
I clung to my fragile life. As the impossible task of staying alive raced through my mind, so too did an image of Gabriel’s face, imprinted in my memory till the true end of my days.
First my arms failed me and then I could no longer feel my legs. I became unable to hold off the darkness that was filling me. As the water slowly suffocated me, static pulsed in and out of my mind like an old, broken TV failing to pick up reception.
But then something—someone—grabbed my arms and propelled my body out of the water, breaking through the white seal. I couldn’t open my eyes, I couldn’t breathe; I was barely aware of anything around me.
“Cessie! Cessie!”
The voice was distant; I thought I might be underwater still. Only the superhuman strength of a Vampire shaking me violently could break through my semiconsciousness. I might be immortal, but I was cursed with a delicate human form.
Fresh air traveled through me as I felt lips parting mine. The water in my lungs was heavy, and I choked, leaning to the side and coughing up the dirty liquid. My rescuer rubbed my back painfully hard, helping me expel it.
Eyelids twitching, the blur in my vision began to refocus. The bridge looked far away, covered by fog. Now sitting on the bank of the stream, I began to tremble uncontrollably.
“You’re okay, beautiful, I’m here.… Just breathe.”