It didn't matter. Sebastian would make his intentions known for her one way or another. As if he hadn't already. He planned it all out as he tuned in on the rest of the conversations going on around the fire. Pick her up and take her out for the night of her life. More formal and proper than the last time they had gone out. Tomorrow would be perfect. They would kiss, and she would finally admit that she loved him to his face.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Tabitha had the best weekend since her dad died. That was until Sunday morning rolled around and she ended up sitting at the kitchen table with her mom and Derrick.
She slumped in her seat and tapped out a steady beat on the table.
“So, I just wanted you two to know that last night the Carters were organizing a bunch of hunters all over the place to track down Alistair and get their files back. They have everyone on high alert and are informing those who are aware of being in our databases of the potential danger. They’re even moving some of the Soothsayers…” her mom was saying.
Derrick nodded, his face going serious, but Tabitha didn't buy it. She knew of course that the Carters were doing all they could to stop Alistair, but Tabitha also knew for a fact that feeble hunters couldn't stop Alistair. They couldn't track him either. Not even Sebastian could find whatever rock he had crawled under after their little encounter. “Do they have anyone even looking for him? What about his flat?”
Both her mom and Derrick turned to look at her, eyes widened in surprise. Tabitha rolled her eyes, tapping a finger against the table surface. “Yes, I was listening. So, do they know about the flat he has in the city?”
“Yeah, we had a few people check it out when you and Sebastian got back but he had already cleared out of there,” Derrick said, grimacing.
Tabitha didn't say anything. She was relieved Derrick had decided to stay and help but... he gave himself a bit too much credit. If he couldn't even take down Sebastian, how was he supposed to stop Alistair? He couldn't protect anyone. He might be able to turn the tide and protect Tabitha from some things but... Tabitha was stronger than him. Which made it her responsibility. Whether she wanted it or not. Sebastian had told her that maybe she had been born as a too powerful hunter for a reason. So, she could stop Alistair before he destroyed everything. Ruined the hunter world. Tabitha just nodded and slipped her hand free from his, giving them both a tight smile to try and dispel their worried looks.
“I'm fine... I just... don't want anyone to get hurt. Alistair's a murderer and I just... I want him caught.”
Her mom nodded, clutching her phone. “He will be caught Tabitha, I promise. He'll pay for what he's done, and we won't let him get away with anything else.”
She spoke of him as if he were a rabid dog that could be easily put down. A bullet in the head wouldn't kill him. Tabitha nodded and was about to turn around and go upstairs when someone knocked on the door. “Must be Sebastian,” Derrick said, his grim expression suddenly lifting. Her mom smiled a cheeky smile too, and Tabitha narrowed her eyes, her body half turned toward the door. “What did you two do?”
Derrick smirked and got up, patting her on the shoulder. “Go get dressed. Wear something nice. Sebastian's taking you out.”
“What?”
He nodded, his grin turning teasing. “Yep. This weekend Sebastian got me alone and asked my permission to take you out on a date. He's old school, huh?”
Tabitha's face turned bright red, and she wished she could sink through the floor. She felt like dying. “No, he did not.”
Derrick nodded, a hand on the doorknob. “Yes he did. You have my permission now Tabitha.”
He winked at her, and she rolled her eyes, shoving him and ran up the stairs. “He's so dead,” she shouted.
“He already is dead,” Derrick shouted back, his laughter following her up the stairs. Tabitha shut the door and grinned to herself, going to her closet. What to wear... on a real date. A real date. Not an evening out or a date with some extra-ordinary teenage boy in high school but a real date with an eight-hundred-year-old vampire. The person that knew Tabitha better than anyone else in a mere two weeks. She pulled out her neon yellow dress that almost looked green and grinned, glancing down at the matching neon heels. She'd gotten the dress and shoes together a few years ago and were one of her favorite outfits.
She stripped off her casual clothes and pulled on the dress, trying to imagine what Sebastian had planned for the night. Though she'd rather not get her dress bloodied. She sat down at her desk and strapped her heels on, grabbed her purse and went to the bathroom flicking her strawberry blond hair over a shoulder. Good enough. She was good enough for Sebastian whether she wore dresses and heels or yellow combat boots and leather jackets.
Her pulse quickened as she made her way to the stairs at the thought of spending an entire evening out with Sebastian. No vampire hunting or talk of Alistair. Just her and him and... maybe a few stolen kisses. Her skin shivered with the thought of his lips on hers, his hands in her hair. She bit her lower lip, a huge grin on her face that she couldn't wipe away. Sebastian stood at the door a smile on his face and Derrick beside him, watching Sebastian like he was a ticking time bomb.
“Nice shoes,” Sebastian teased with a wink, holding his hand out to her.
Tabitha made a face at him and took his hand, letting him help her down the last two stairs and to his side. “I wasn't expecting this.”
He shrugged, his eyes dancing with the smoldering light of happiness. “I'm full of surprises.”
Tabitha squeezed his hand, and Derrick opened the door for them, his face a mask of displeasure. “I'm starting to regret this idea, I think,” he murmured.
Tabitha laughed which coaxed a smile onto his lips. “Alright well I'll make sure to be home in a few hours. Tell Mom bye.”
Just then her mom's phone rang, splitting the happy silence. “Hello?”
Sebastian smiled down at her as he held the door open while Tabitha hesitated, sharing a questioning glance with her brother and waiting for her mom to come in and say everything was fine. Instead, she heard an urgent, “Alright... I'll tell her.”
Tabitha's grip on Sebastian's hand tightened, her heartbeat hitched with panic. It couldn't be anything. Everything was fine. Everything had to be fine. Alistair had just put them through hell. What could he possibly do next?
“Mom? Is everything Ok? Sebastian and I were just about to leave...” she trailed off as her mom came into view, her face pale and shock ridden. Tabitha's heartbeat spurred into a gallop and she let go of Sebastian's hand, leaving him behind. “Mom, what's wrong? What happened?”
She heard the door shut faintly behind her but all she could think of was what had Alistair done now? What was next? Could she possibly deal with another kidnapping? Another problem to solve? And so soon after dealing with him last time?
Her mom's wide eyes flickered up to meet hers and the look in them terrified Tabitha. Something bad had happened.
“It's the Collins. Mrs. and Mr. Collin came home to find their house destroyed and... Chelsea gone.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
A hand touched Tabitha's shoulder, but she barely registered it. Chelsea... gone? “What do you mean... gone?”
Her mom shook her head, squeezing her phone in her hand as if it might give her answers if she squeezed hard enough. “She was kidnapped. As if there was any doubt of who took her, he left a note. For Tabitha.” Her mom met her eyes. “It says, ready or not, here I come.”
Tabitha gripped the banister and sat down hard on the second step of the stairs. Her thoughts raced. “No... he couldn't do that,” she whispered, rubbing her hands over her face. “He didn't even know about Chelsea.”
Sebastian sat down beside her, making it known he was there for her and ready to help in any way. Ready to take orders. But... what could she do? Chelsea was taken. She wasn't even a part of this. She had no idea of the hunters that lived in the town or the vampires. Chelsea was just one of the normal–so blissfully normal–
citizens of Rosewood, oblivious and beyond happy.
She had just seen her best friend last night. Smiling and laughing and getting chocolate all over her face. And... now she was just gone. Because of Alistair. For all she knew Chelsea could be... dead right now. Her heart dropped into her stomach and she shut her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose.
Sebastian’s hand squeezed her shoulder. “We're going to get her back. Just say the word and I'll find her.”
Tabitha shook her head. Her friend was kidnapped and in the hands of a centuries-old vampire. A bloodthirsty murderer. How could she let someone else find her? “No... we're going to find her,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper as she glanced up at him.
Sebastian nodded, his eyes determined. “We're going to get her back and stop Alistair together. With Derrick's help, of course,” he looked up at her brother.
Tabitha's eyes flickered up at him, trying to convey how much she needed him at that moment. Maybe it was sibling telepathy, or he just knew her too well because he nodded without hesitation and held his hand out to her. Tabitha took it and he pulled her up, his grip tight and stubborn. “You guys track Alistair, and I'll call the Carters and the Gonzalez's to help search.”
A moment of silence, of stillness passed between all of them, huddled in the corridor near the door. One minute happy and smiling and the next solemn and grim. Had this really become Tabitha's life?
Before she met Sebastian, everything had been so simple. See vampire, kill vampire. Go to school and deal with normal teenage drama. Have a best friend and an ex-boyfriend and study and get a job at the Carter's during the summer. Now... now she had been pulled into another world entirely. She had been skimming the surface of this world of vampires and now she was being forced to go in head first and deeper than she ever wanted to.
Sebastian not only made her question her logic of see vampire, kill vampire but he had brought with him something that tested Tabitha. Tested her values and her morals and she had a feeling, a terrifying feeling deep in her gut that by the end of the night she would have chosen which side she was on. Choose which side of herself she wanted to be. The girl who cared if people thought she was a freak, a bloodthirsty hunter with too much power for her to handle. The girl who cared about having an ex-boyfriend. The girl who could get a job and live a normal life. A life where stakes and fanged men didn't exist.
Or the side of the huntress inside her. The side that tugged and pleaded with her to surrender herself to her instincts and let herself be free. The side that enjoyed, craved, thirsted for the hunt and the kill. To have a stake in both hands and craved danger. The side that not only promised danger, and possible death but a life of passion with a man–a vampire–she may just love too much, the chance to let her wild side out. A side that gave her, not only bloodshed and mayhem but excitement, adventure and purpose in life.
She couldn't stand on the fence anymore. Not with Chelsea out there. Not with so much at stake. She couldn't dip her toes into the wild, dark side of herself and then pull free. Alistair and Sebastian would make sure of that. She had to choose, and that choice terrified her. It had to be all or nothing. No more wishy washy.
A hand on her shoulder snapped her from her shock-induced trance, of what leaving right now and going after her best friend meant for her and she looked up, eyes wide and startled. Sebastian's eyebrows creased together, and he cocked his head. “Are you ok?”
Tabitha took a deep breath and got to her feet, rubbing her face. There wasn't any time for an existential crisis. Just time to change and find her best friend before it was too late. She forced a confident smile and touched his hand on her shoulder. “I'm good. Just worried for Chelsea. I'll be right back down.”
She slid her hand from his and rushed up the stairs, her shoulder cold without his touch. Beneath the floorboards of her bedroom, she could hear her mom and Derrick talking on the phone in rushed tones. Probably to the Carters and the Gonzalez's, filling them in.
Swallowing the lump of fear in her throat, Tabitha unzipped the back of her dress, kicked off her heels and pulled on her skinny jeans and black t-shirt. Her fingers shook with adrenaline and fear at the thought of what she might find tonight, in herself and out in the world as she pulled on her yellow boots and zipped her leather jacket up. Shoving her yellow gloves into her pocket, she rushed across her room and grabbed the gym bag full of weapons from her closet.
For a second, she hesitated her hand on the bag and terror racked through her. Pure undiluted terror of what could be happening to Chelsea and what she was getting herself into. And then she remembered what was at stake and that she didn't have time to be scared and she gripped the handles of her gym bag with renewed determination. She didn't have time to freak out. Just time to get her stuff and leave and save her best friend before it was too late. And maybe kill Alistair along the way. She grinned savagely at the thought.
“You ready to go?” Sebastian asked as she made her way down the stairs.
She nodded and didn't bother saying goodbye to Derrick and her mom as she followed Sebastian out. There would be time to hug and kiss later. She would see them again. She had to see them again. Sebastian slid into the driver's seat and Tabitha threw her bag in the back, buckling up as he started the engine and hit the gas, zooming at full speed out of her neighborhood.
Find Chelsea... find Chelsea... she's fine... she's fine... Tabitha chanted to herself, syncing the words with her breaths. Sebastian turned and headed away from the cluster of neighborhoods toward town. “Where do we start?” she asked.
His hands clutched the steering wheel, his knuckles white and his green eyes no longer looked the murky green of a swamp but the hard-determined green of two raw malachite gems. Gorgeous but dangerous, red seeping in at the edges. “We start at her house, so I might be able to catch their scent. Unless you have an idea of where they would take her?”
Tabitha racked her mind. There were plenty of abandoned spots in Rosewoods. The old Toll Bridge that everyone called the Troll Bridge. The old plantation homes. But maybe it was her instincts guiding her or just a hunch, but her mind kept coming back to the Haunted House. It wasn't really haunted, but it was abandoned. Before Tabitha was born, a family had lived there. They had all died in a tragic fire. Two years later, a new house was built on top of the new one, but no one stayed for very long, claiming to hear wailing spirits and see ghostly figures.
Then there was the sudden death. They were all headed out three weeks after moving into the airport to go to the annual Berkley family vacation. A storm raged that morning and knocked them over the Troll Bridge. They all died instantly but people say that the Berkley's spirits returned to the house and that when a Berkley dies, they are all cast into the house.
Derrick had once told her on a Halloween when she'd begged him to take her to the Haunted House with him that every Berkley ever born since they were cursed by a witch in the 1600's lived there, dead or alive.
And now Tabitha felt a strong pulling to that place, right past the Troll Bridge and next to the Rosewood Cemetery. If she was wrong, if her instincts were leading her astray, they would have lost precious time and maybe even Chelsea's life. “The Berkley house. That’s our best bet I think,” she said.
“Alright, I trust your instincts,” Sebastian murmured under his breath as he turned away from town and toward the Berkley house.
Tabitha swallowed, gripping the armrests as her heart pounded. Please, please, help her to be right. She had to be right. It was isolated enough where no one would hear a girl like Chelsea scream and even if someone did happen by, they would run away, blaming the sound on the ghosts.
Tabitha only broke the silence to give Sebastian directions and even then, he didn't need them often. He knew Rosewood as well as any local. Had probably even knew the first Berkley's who had started the ghost stories to begin with. The road had turned to dirt, and the Troll Bridge was up ahead, as old and crumbly and lifeless looking as ever when Tabitha's phone rang. He
r heart did a weird leap of hope as she answered. “Mom? Did you find Chelsea?”
The line cracked, probably from being so far from town and then her mom's voice came through, grave and shocked and raw as if she had been crying. “It's the Carters... something terrible has happened.”
Sebastian hit the break, and the car went screeching to a halt halfway across the bridge. Tabitha squeezed her eyes shut. What else could possibly go wrong? Alistair had the files, knew where the Soothsayers and vampires and Loup Garou lived. He had Chelsea. What else could he possibly want?
Mustering up strength and her voice she whispered, “What happened?”
“The Carters were... they were on the way to our house. Derrick had already left to help the Gonzalez's comb through Chelsea's house, and they were passing through town when... when a car came out of nowhere and...” her mom sobbed, and something snapped inside of Tabitha. Tears welled in her eyes. She dreaded what her mom had to say next. “They were killed on impact. The Carters are dead, Tabitha. They're dead.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Her hands shook, and she squeezed her eyes shut as memories came flooding in. So many memories.
The Carters had not only been the center of the hunter community and the Moirai but also the center of the Rosewood community. They held weddings of close friends at their inn. Tabitha couldn't remember a birthday that she didn't spend there. She'd kissed her first boy there and had had her sweet sixteen there. Got her first car as a birthday present in their driveway and laughed and hugged them as she blew out her candles. Jonas was two years younger than her, but she had grown up with him. And now he was... alone. Parentless. Tabitha at least had her mom. He didn't have anyone now. And despite reading the journal entries Mr. Carter kept on her she still... felt like he was family. Had been family. And now he was just... gone. Gone like the wind.
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