by J.J. Bonds
**********
I skip the lights as I let myself into the garage. I don’t plan to be here long, and I don’t need them anyway. I can see well enough. I turn into the row where the Audi is parked and stop short. Blaine is sitting on the hood of my car.
“I knew you’d run,” he says, crossing his arms.
“Get the hell off my car,” I demand, refusing to let him impede my escape. I approach slowly and unlock the doors. I open the drivers’ side and throw my bag on the passenger seat.
“Where are you going to go, Kate? He’ll never stop searching for you.”
My blood runs cold. It was Blaine. He’s the one who stole my computer. I’ve heard he’s a computer whiz. He could’ve easily hacked my security. It wouldn’t have taken him long. He probably only returned it to avoid being caught with the evidence. It’s a sickening feeling, but I can’t deny that my situation has just gone from bad to worse.
“What’s wrong, Kate?” He spits my name with contempt. Just hearing it roll off his lips pisses me off. “Cat got your tongue? Did you really think you could fool everyone? Did you really think you could fool him?”
“Is that what this is really about?” I ask. “Your stupid little crush on Nikolai? This is so much bigger than you or me or Nik. People are dying!”
“Don’t you dare try to put this on me!” he shouts jumping to his feet. We stand toe to toe. I will not back down. Not to him. “This is your fault! You’re the liar! You brought this mess down on all of us.”
“No, Blaine. It was you. You led him here, didn’t you?” Rage boils up within me. I can’t believe this is happening.
“That was never my intent. I just wanted to get the truth. To expose you for what you really are: a half-breed.”
The lights burst on and we both freeze. Nik and Anya have come to join the party. Great, just what I need.
“What the hell is going on?” Nik demands as he storms toward us. He’s got confusion written all over his face. Anya, on the other hand, looks relieved. She’s probably gotten orders from Aldo to keep me at the school.
“Why don’t you ask your half-breed girlfriend?” Blaine snickers. “I’m sure she’d love to tell you all about it.”
“What is he talking about?” Nik asks, turning to me. Anya puts her hand on his arm. I shake my head in disbelief. She can try all she wants, but there’s no amount of comfort in the world that’s going to soften this blow.
“It’s true,” I tell him. There’s no point in denying it anymore. Blaine has the evidence.
“What’s true?” He looks at Blaine and then back at me. He’s not following. It sucks being the last one to know.
“I’m de sange amestecat,” I tell him. “I’m of mixed-blood.”
“I don’t believe you,” he argues shaking off Anya’s touch. God, he’s stubborn. I’m pretty sure there’s not a vampire on the planet that would lie about being of impure blood. It’s not exactly a desirable status.
“Believe it or don’t. It doesn’t matter to me, but I have no reason to lie.” I might as well show him the proof. I have nothing left to lose. I push up my sleeves and remove the cuff bracelets on my wrists, revealing my scars. They’re faint, but I know he’ll see them. No pureblood would have such marks. “I was born a human.”
“I don’t understand. None of this is making sense.” Anya touches his arm again, trying to console the brother she loves so much. It backfires though and Nik turns on her. “You knew? You knew, and you didn’t tell me?”
I empathize with him. I know what it’s like to have your whole world wrenched out from under you and turned upside down.
“Don’t be angry with Anya. It wasn’t her secret to tell.”
“But Aldo vouched for you,” he reasons, his conviction wavering as the truth sinks in. “You’re his niece.”
“No,” I say shaking my head sadly. “My name was Kate Osborne. I grew up in White Plains, New York. I had two wonderful parents and played forward on my high school soccer team. I was on the Homecoming court. I was the girl next door. Then my parents died, and I threw it all away.” I hold up my wrists again to make my point. I can’t say the words. They’re too painful.
“I didn’t ask for this, to be a vampire, to be part of this world,” I tell him. “It was forced upon me. I’ve never even seen my sire’s face. But he’s here now looking for me. Thanks to Blaine.”
Blaine snarls at the mention of his name.
Anya steps forward. “You can’t leave, Katia.” Does she really think she’ll be able to keep me here against my will? I won’t let that happen.
“I have to go. More people will die if I stay.”
“You don’t know that,” she argues. “Stay. We can help.”
“No, Anya, you can’t. No one was there to help when he did this to me. No one was there to help when he haunted my dreams using the Vampiric Nexus. He was stalking me, and you knew it. You and Aldo both knew, and you didn’t tell me.” I’m on a roll now. It’s all coming together, and I don’t care who knows. I feel as light as air. Getting the weight of this secret off my chest is liberating. I’m tired of hiding, of lying.
“He took Damian because of me. He saw Damian in my dreams and he knew it would hurt me. He turned that boy and let him loose on Rutland to draw me out from behind the gates of the school. It’s exactly what he did with me. And still you did nothing.”
“We didn’t know at first,” she pleads. “I’ve been trying to track him. Just give me more time.” It’s the same argument she gave Aldo earlier, but it holds no sway over me.
“I’ve made up my mind.”
“Pratt has the school on lock down. You’ll never get past the gate.” I know she’s telling the truth. It’s the only card she has left to play.
“I’ll find a way.”
“Let her go. We’ll all be safer if she goes. It’s Kate he wants. If she leaves, he’ll pack up that little devil child and go.”
“You brought this monster here?” Nik turns on Blaine. His eyes have gone dark, shifting to a fierce shade of blue. Anger rolls off of him in waves. I’ve never seen Nik like this. It’s actually kind of frightening.
“I told you. It was an accident,” Blaine explains, shuffling his feet nervously.
“How do you accidentally unleash a monster like this?” Nik’s tone is dangerous now, his entire body fraught with tension. Blaine senses his precarious position and does his best to diffuse the situation.
“I didn’t really know what I was doing. I was angry that you were spending so much time with her. I just wanted you to see that she wasn’t who she claimed to be. I wanted you to see that she’s a liar.” He shoves his hands into the pockets of his jeans, looking appropriately ashamed of his next words.
“I got my opportunity when she left her laptop in the library. I took it, I hacked it, and I found the proof.” He looks to Nik for understanding but gets only disgust. He ducks his head and continues.
“There were family pictures on her computer and links to old newspaper articles. I did a little research and put two and two together. I went to White Plains to see for myself. It wasn’t hard to figure out, but I wanted to be sure before I said anything. I never should have bothered. The proof was right there on her laptop.”
“You went to White Plains? You went to my house?” I can’t believe it. I haven’t been back there once. It’s too dangerous for me.
“Yeah. I guess that’s how he found me. He was having the place watched. He said they always come back.”
“Who?” I ask. I want to know his name.
“Your sire. Luka. He contacted me after I got back to Crossroads. He was looking for confirmation of your location. I didn’t know who he was at first. I swear. I didn’t know what would happen.”
“You went off campus to meet him, didn’t you? That’s why Pratt called you into his office today? He wanted to find out why you left campus the day of Damian’s disappearance.” His story just gets better and better. Un-freaking-believable!
Blaine’s an even bigger douche than I thought. “What did you tell him?”
“Nothing. I lied. Pratt thinks I was at the mall buying a new pair of jeans.”
Just goes to show how much Pratt knows about his students. If he knew anything about their fashion tastes, he’d know, as I do, that there is nothing in that pathetic mall Blaine would deem worthy of wearing.
“I’ve heard enough. I have to go.”
Anya looks around helplessly, as I slide into the drivers’ seat. I’m sure she’s trying to figure out what Aldo would want her to do at this point. She knows he would never approve of violence against me. I don’t care if they help me escape, as long as they don’t stand in my way.
“By all means,” smiles Blaine, moving away from the front of the vehicle. He’d be thrilled to see me go, even if it means my death. I wonder if it’s so that he can have Nik all to himself again or if it’s to save his own skin. It won’t be easy to explain his role in all of this.
“Wait.” Nik grabs the car door, preventing me from shutting it. “If you run now, you’ll always be running. Don’t let him do that do you, Katia. You’re a fighter. Stay here and face him.”
“I can’t.” I can’t do it. I know I can’t. He always wins in the dreams. I’m not strong enough. Maybe some day; but not today. The very thought of facing those beady red eyes in real life terrifies me.
“You can do this. I’ll help you,” Nik promises. His voice is steady as are his eyes. It’s not his fight, but he’ll throw himself into the fire without a second thought because it’s the right thing to do. If only I were as courageous.
“No.”
“We need you here, Katia. We need to find Damian and stop him. It’s the only way to protect the school. It’s the only way to protect the others.”
Our eyes meet, but I remain silent as I consider his words.
“You need to see this through to the end. This is what you’ve been training for, isn’t it? You won’t be able to live with yourself if you walk away now.”
Damn him! I know he’s right, but I don’t want to admit it. Not to myself, not to any of them. They’re all staring at me expectantly.
“I’ll help you find Damian. But that’s it.”