“I’ll see you guys later,” Lexie said.”
“Yup,” Jade said.
“Later.”
I eyed Jade, but didn’t ask her about Lexie. I figured she wouldn’t want to talk about it at school where anyone could hear.
“What?” she asked.
I shrugged. “Nothing.”
“We should get inside.”
She walked by me and was already on her way in. She grumbled something as she went.
“Sure.”
* * *
After school let out instead of going to the library, Jade just came to the house. It was different being able to invite someone over to where I lived to work on homework. I didn’t ever get the chance to invite anyone over before, let alone feel comfortable even asking one of my foster parents.
I texted Gemma to make sure it was cool, even though I knew it would be. Gemma was cool with most things.
She said she was going to pick up pizza on the way home if Jade wanted to stay for dinner.
“My aunt’s on her way home. And she said you can stay for pizza if you want.”
“Yeah, sure. Sounds good. You’re aunt’s really nice.”
I tilted my head and looked at her. “You already know my aunt?”
“Oh, yeah. She set my arm when I was eleven. She’s cool.”
I smiled. “Yeah, she is.”
I was getting to know more and more about Gemma and opening more of myself to her. Little by little, I was starting to feel like I could tell Gemma anything. I liked having an aunt. It just made me sad that my mom wasn’t here too.
“Do you want anything to drink?” I asked her.
“No thanks.”
“Okay. So, I figured we could get our physics homework done first since we have that together.”
She made a face.
“What?”
“Sorry. I already got most of that done in study hall.”
I looked over the problems and they were kind of difficult. Jade was seriously smart. It was nice having a friend that liked science as much as I did. “And you say I’m the one with a good memory.”
“I didn’t say I memorized it. I’m just really good at math.”
“Me too. It’s always been my favorite subject.”
“Ditto.” She smiled. “We have so much in common. It’s like we were written in the stars.”
“Sorry?”
“What? You don’t believe in astrology?”
I shook my head. “No. Not usually.”
“Well you should. And warning, never date a Gemini. They’re insane.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
She smiled deviously. “You know who isn’t a Gemini?”
“No. Who?”
“Knight.”
I felt heat flowing to my cheeks. I may have been blushing. Just hearing Knight’s name made me have butterflies in my stomach. “Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh.” She looked at me and waited for me to go on. When I didn’t she waved her hand for me to continue. “Go on.”
“There’s nothing to go on about. Knight and I are friends.”
“Girl come on. You’re totally into him.”
Great. Everyone could tell I liked Knight. Even Hayden. I really needed to work on my poker face. “I don’t know. I do really like him. But he’s become a really good friend of mine. I don’t want to ruin that.”
She looked at me like I was crazy. “Screw that. You’ve only known him for two weeks. You should ask him out.”
She was right. It wasn’t like we were permanently in the friend zone after two weeks. I had the feeling Knight felt the same way about me too. “I’ll think about it.”
“Unless, you like someone else.” She looked at me suggestively.
I had a feeling I knew who she was talking about, but I pretended I didn’t. “No. No one else.”
I would never admit it out loud, but I did kind of feel something happening between Christian and me now that he wasn’t being such an ass anymore. He was actually kind of sweet.
But the connection I had with Knight was something else. It was strange. It felt like I knew him my whole life. Like a part of him had always been with me and now I finally discovered what that part was.
“Anyway, you’re one to talk,” I said, trying to get the attention off of my love life.
She looked taken back. “What are you talking about?”
I looked at her pointedly. “Lexie.”
“Lexie?” She laughed. “You’re on crack.”
No, I was not. I saw something there. She was definitely into her. Maybe she didn’t realize it herself yet. I thought it best not to pressure her.
“Yeah, okay. Whatever you say. We should get to work.”
She groaned in frustration. “No, seriously. I don’t like her.”
I nodded my head. “I know. Seriously, I believe you.”
I didn’t believe her for a second.
Chapter 28: Hope
The rest of the week flew by. I still wasn’t sure about asking Knight out, but I was thinking about it and leaning towards doing it.
I liked him and he liked me. It should be a piece of cake. No big deal.
Only every time I tried to talk to him about it I lost my nerve. Boys didn’t usually make me nervous. But Knight wasn’t just some boy. He was the boy.
“I cannot believe you are making me do this.”
I smiled at Jade. We were arriving at the party in the woods that Lexie invited me to. I had to practically drag Jade here. She wasn’t much of a socializer. Neither was I usually, but I was turning over a new leaf in Salem Point and trying to be someone new.
I could hear the music blasting from out in the parking lot. Gemma told me that kids had been having parties out in the woods since before she was even born. It was the perfect secluded place. What was funny was that they thought that it was so far out that no one knew about it, but everyone knew.
I tried to picture my mother at one of these parties. Young and surrounded by her friends. It sounded like she had a lot of them. A lot of the people I talked to in Salem Point knew her. She was quite the social butterfly. She had changed so much. She barely even spoke to our neighbors back home let alone had any friends.
“It’s going to be fun,” I said to her. “I promise.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep Hope.”
“Lexie’s going to be there.”
I saw the small smile appear on her lips before she pursed them and furrowed her eyebrows. “So? Why would I care about that?”
“No reason. You guys used to be friends. Maybe there’s a chance you could rekindle that.”
“Hmm. We’ll see.”
We got to the area in the woods where everyone was. There was a fire in the middle of the area where some students were gathered around it.
Pretty much everyone had a red cup or a beer in their hand.
I looked at Jade and she didn’t look very impressed. “Yay, underage drinking and a fire hazard.”
“You’re so blah.”
“I am not blah. I’m just careful. Cautious. I like structure and rules.”
I gave her a duh look and she sighed. “I guess I could lighten up a bit.”
“A bit? Try a lot.”
“Fine. Let’s get a beer.”
“I don’t like beer.”
“Now who’s blah.”
“I’m just not much of a drinker. It smells gross.”
She nodded in agreement. “Cool. Then you can be the DID.”
I followed her to where we could get drinks. When we got there, we ran into Lexie and some other girl. “You made it,” she said. She smiled at me, then her eyes drifted to Jade’s. “And you got Jade to come. You must have superpowers.”
I laughed. Jade did too, but it didn’t sound like her usual laugh.
“Oh, Lexie, you are hilarious. So funny.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. She glared at me before smiling back at Lexie.
“I see Clif
f,” the girl with Lexie said. “I’ll catch you later.”
“Later.” She waved at her friend before looking back at us. “She’s had a crush on him since the fifth grade.”
“You don’t say,” I said. I smirked at Jade, who refused to look at me.
“Yeah. I was going to grab a drink.”
“Jade too. You two should go ahead. I think I see Christian over there.”
It wasn’t a lie. I did catch a glimpse of his perfect chestnut locks.
“Okay,” Lexie said bubbly. “Come on.” I think she was excited that she was getting a moment alone with Jade. Maybe this was her plan all along. Get me to go to the party so that I would bring Jade along with me. She was pretty much my only friend aside from Knight.
Jade on the other hand looked mortified. She got closer to me and whispered so only I could hear her. “I’m going to kill you later.”
I laughed as I walked off and she went with Lexie.
I walked back to where I thought I saw Christian. But I couldn’t find him. I was suddenly regretting sending Jade off with Lexie. I didn’t talk to many of the people here. They were all just acquaintances.
I finally saw the perfect hair again. Only he was walking off further into the woods. I tilted my head in confusion before following after him.
He was walking fast, but I managed to catch up with him.
“Hey Christian.”
He kept walking. Maybe he didn’t hear me.
“Christian.”
He still didn’t turn around.
I was getting a bad feeling in my stomach. I stopped and looked at the figure walking. He stopped too.
He didn’t turn around. He just stood there, waiting. If it was Christian, he would have turned around and smiled at me. I was close enough for him to hear me. Which could only mean one thing and that one thing made my stomach turn.
This man wasn’t Christian.
I felt the urge to run, but before I could the man turned around. Sure enough, it wasn’t Christian.
“Hello Hope. It’s great to finally meet you.”
I wanted to run, but my feet wouldn’t move. I think I was frozen in fear.
“How do you know my name?”
“You don’t know? You’re famous.”
Not that I was aware of. I gulped as the man’s eyes roamed my body. There was a look in his eyes that sent chills down my spine.
Suddenly his eyes started turning black. He opened his mouth and I could see fangs protruding from his teeth. Holy fuck!
If I didn’t know any better, I’d say the guy was a vampire. But that was ridiculous. Vampires weren’t real.
I managed to get my feet going. I turned around and started running back towards the others. That’s when I saw him. The real him this time.
Christian was running towards me.
“Christian, run!”
He ran right by me and lunged at the guy. They were rolling around on the ground. I looked around, desperate for help. I didn’t want Christian to get hurt because of me.
“Christian stop!”
Christian punched the man so hard that I thought he would have broken his neck. The man just laughed. “That actually hurt a little.”
Christian punched him again, and again. He punched him over and over until the man managed to get out from under him. He moved with such swiftness. There was no way he was human. Noone could move that fast. Noone human.
The man snarled before running off. More like zooming off. Blink and you would have missed him.
I ran over to Christian. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“What the hell was he?”
Christian turned around and faced me and what I saw made my blood run cold. His face looked just like that man’s face. “Oh my God. What the hell are you?”
Before he could answer someone appeared next to him and twisted his neck. I let out a scream and my hand went to my mouth in shock.
He killed him. Oh my God, he killed him!
I was about to hit the man and take off but he grabbed me.
“No! Don’t hurt me! No!”
“Stop! Stop Hope. It’s me.”
I looked at the man. “Kane?”
“Hi Hope.”
I looked down at Christian. “You killed him.”
“Oh, he’ll be fine. Give it a half hour or so.”
“What the hell is happening?”
He smirked and put his hand out to me. “Come with me if you want to live.”
Chapter 29: Hope
I followed Kane to a house just outside of town. It had a foreclosure sign in the front.
I had no idea what the hell was going on. I don’t know what Kane was doing here or what just happened with Christian.
I had so many questions going through my mind. What was that man that attacked me? How did he know my name? Why was he after me? What was Christian? And why was Kane involved?
Kane went over to the fireplace and started lighting a fire. “It’s cold tonight. Are you cold?”
“No. Can you tell me what the hell is happening now?”
He turned the fire on anyway. He looked back at me and put his hands in his pockets.
“Kane! You said when we got somewhere else you’d tell me what was going on. We’re somewhere else now. Talk.”
He smiled. “I don’t remember you being so forceful. Salem Point has been good for you.”
“Kane, tell me now.”
“You might need a drink first, honestly.” I noticed he was speaking with an English accent now.
“When did you become British?”
He chuckled. “More like when did I become American. I figured the English accent would be a giveaway that I wasn’t from around these parts.” He went further into the house. I followed him into a dining hall. There was a grand piano in the corner. He sat down on the bench. “Alright, what do you want to know?”
“Everything, but let’s start with what that man was back there. And Christian.” I looked at him suspiciously. “And you.”
I saw how he moved. He was just like them.
“They were vampires, Hope. The both of them. I am too.”
“Vampires.”
What the fuck?
This was not happening. This could not be real. Vampires existed and Christian, the guy I was crushing on, was one of them.
There was no way this was real. I had to have hit my head back there. That or I was just going completely insane.
“Hope? You okay?”
“No, I’m not okay! This is fucking crazy and so messed up.”
“I know. It’s a lot to take in.”
I looked at him. I missed him. He was the only good part of my last home. My only friend. So what was he doing here? “What are you even doing in Salem Point?”
“I followed you here.”
“That’s not at all creepy.”
“I know. Let me explain.”
“What are you like obsessed with me or something?”
He chuckled and flashed a grin. “Someone’s confident in themselves.”
“Then why are you here?”
He took a deep breath as he walked around the dining hall. “I’ve been watching you since I found you when you were twelve. The last time was the first time I introduced myself.”
I felt completely creeped out. Kane had been watching me for years. How much did he watch exactly? What did he see? The guy I looked at as my best friend was actually my stalker.
“Why?”
“Well, I wanted to get you to trust me. I figured being your friend would…”
“No. Why have you been stalking me?”
He opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again. “I was sent to find you. To kill you.”
I felt the blood drain from my face. “What?”
“It’s okay,” he said. “I’m not going to.”
He moved towards me. I took a few steps away from him and put my hand out in front of me to get him to stay away from me
. I mean he was a vampire so it’s not like I could do much against him, but I was sure as hell going to try. “Stay away from me.”
“Hope, you can trust me. I’ve had plenty of chances to kill you and I haven’t.”
“That’s comforting.”
He stopped advancing and put his hands up. He smiled. “I promise. I’m not a threat to you.”
“Who sent you to kill me?”
“A league of purist vampires that are pissed off at your family. They’re headed by my family, unfortunately. I was supposed to kill you because of who you come from.”
“Which is who exactly?”
He looked troubled. “I shouldn’t be the one to tell you all this.”
“Just tell me.”
He looked into my eyes. “You come from a long line of witches. Vampire hunting witches. My family views you as a huge threat. They’re very scared of what you can do.”
What could I do? I couldn’t do anything against a vampire. I was no witch and I definitely wasn’t some vampire hunter.
“I don’t even know anything about any of this.”
“I know, which is why I couldn’t go through with it. Killing you. You were twelve and innocent. But now I think they’ve sent someone else in my place. I went off the grid and I made sure you kept bouncing from foster home to foster home to prevent this from happening.”
“Wait, what?”
“I made sure you kept moving around.”
He said it like it was no big deal. Like he wasn’t responsible for me never feeling like I had a home.
“Are you freaking kidding me?”
He looked at me carefully. “You’re mad. Why are you mad?”
“I’m not mad. I’m furious!”
“Hope…”
“You fucked up my life!”
“No, I saved you. You should be thanking me.”
I wanted to punch him. “Oh, thank you for making my childhood miserable.”
He looked angry now. “You had a childhood because of me. You’re still alive because of me. You should be grateful my father sent me and not one of my other siblings. They wouldn’t have given a damn how young or innocent you were.”
“You want a medal for not killing a child?”
He scoffed. “I’m the reason you ended up here in Salem Point. I found your aunt, which was not easy I might add.”
Protecting Hope: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (Bloodmoon Series Book 1) Page 9