“Because she was his sister.” She hopped from the bed and quickly threw on some clothes, using the towel to finish drying her hair. “I don’t think we should be telling him how to act when it comes to Lila. And we definitely shouldn’t be telling him how to honor her. That’s up to him.”
“Oh.” I fell silent, wishing I could take back what I had said to him. Kayla was right. It wasn’t up to me how Erik dealt with Lila’s death, or how he didn’t. I felt like such a fool. “Should I apologize?”
“Uh, yeah,” she said, forcing a brush through her tangled hair. She moved to the sink again to finish getting dressed just as Erik came out of the bathroom. I could tell by the look on his face that what I had said hurt him, and I hated myself for causing him more pain. I sat quietly as he pulled a shirt and jeans from the makeshift closet, doing my best not to look at him standing there in his boxers (I mean really, couldn’t he have gone in the bathroom?), my heart thumping loudly in my chest. Once he was dressed, I found the nerve to speak again.
“Wanna go for a walk?” I stood up slowly, my eyes never leaving him. Erik scooped his wallet and watch from the nightstand between the beds before looking at me.
“Sure,” he answered, almost in a whisper. I caught Kayla’s reflection in the giant mirror at the back of the room as he and I made our way to the door; her eyes were full of hope that I would make up for being so insensitive.
“Listen,” I began once we were safely out of the room, “I’m sorry for what I said.” Erik shifted his weight as he leaned against the railing. A brisk wind swirled around the parking lot, ruffling my unkempt hair. I realized I was nervously picking at my fingernails, and dropped my hands by my sides before I ended up needing a manicure.
“I know,” he finally responded, turning slightly to look at me. A tiny smile threatened exposure. “I know you’d never say something to hurt me.” I was surprised that he was so sure of what I would and wouldn’t do. Especially since I wasn’t.
“I don’t think before I speak sometimes.” I suddenly felt nervous and shy, like it was my first time being around him. “I had no right telling you what to do.”
“It’s cool, really. And you’re right. I should show a little respect, you know?” He turned completely to face me, placing his elbow on the balcony railing. “It’s just that if I don’t talk about it, it’s almost like it didn’t happen. Like she’s just gone on a trip or something, and she’ll be back one day.” The pain dripping from his words swam over me, and I had to choke back tears as he spoke. I knew how bad Lila’s death was to me (we weren’t exactly friends, but she did die helping me); I couldn’t begin to imagine the pain and torture Erik lived with every day.
“I understand,” I answered, getting lost in flashes of memory: A woman, young and beautiful and happy, smiling at me and hugging me. Was it my mother? I didn’t know. But the feelings of peace and warmth the memory exposed were intoxicating, my head swimming in a sea of pleasantness.
“You do?” Erik’s voice yanked me back to cold reality. I turned and looked at him, wide-eyed with surprise. The early morning light fell on his face with natural ease, only heightening his pristine features.
“I do,” I said, looking away for fear of blushing. “I think that about my mom.” It was the first time I had ever said anything about the woman who gave me away as an infant. I barely remembered her, so I felt I had no right to form an opinion. I had never even told Chance of my distorted feelings toward my mother. But something was urging me to share them with Erik, so I did. “Well, I used to. I used to pretend that she was gone on some sort of adventure, saving the world or curing cancer or something. That she hadn’t abandoned me and gone on with her life like I never existed.” The pain of those memories—along with the actual memories themselves—came rushing back to me like a swollen river, and I had to fight off the urge to turn and run.
“So when did you stop believing that?” Erik asked. I took a deep, cleansing breath, ready to completely expose my feelings about my mother, when the undeniable stench of cold, dead blood slapped me in the face. We had company—and not the good kind.
VISITORS
I frantically began looking around for the source—the vampire—when Erik caught on.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, a hint of nervous fear spiking his heart rate. I didn’t answer. I was too focused on a lurking figure that had just vanished into the thick woods across the street.
“Stay here,” I snapped, using my super speed to run the length of the balcony and bolt down the stairs.
“Ava!” I heard him shout my name but I didn’t stop. I had to find the vampire that made the mistake of spying on us. That was the only thing my mind could focus on, the only thing that mattered. The rest of the world could have fallen away in an apocalyptic spectacle and I wouldn’t have cared. I shot across the virtually deserted highway and into the dense foliage blanketing the forest’s edge, the hazy morning light making the trees and brush seem almost fantastical. The memory of my first training session with Aldric came roaring back to me as my arms and legs were sliced by jagged limbs and prickly vines cut into my bare feet. And just as I had then, I completely ignored the superficial wounds as I sped through the woods in search of the undead interloper.
Just as I cleared the thick brush that skirted the highway, I saw him. He was standing eerily still in the middle of a cluster of towering pine trees about fifty yards away, his glowing yellow eyes fixated on me. He was larger than me—much larger—his frame wide and ominous. He wore simple black, looking more like a preacher than an undead monster; I guess he could have been both. I stopped running, my body locking with tension and anticipation. I was ready for anything, a surprising feat considering I never would have been only a few months ago. But ever since the fight with Sebastian’s coven, I had learned to always be prepared. Like a Girl Scout. A half-dead, bloodsucking Girl Scout.
“You’re fast.” The vampire’s words were gritty as they spewed forth through his gnarled, clenched teeth. A normal human wouldn’t have been able to notice that at such a distance, but my vampire eyes were like binoculars. I could even make out the tiny drops of venom lying in wait on the tips of his fangs.
“Thanks. You too.” Yes, being a smart-ass was my best line of defense.
“Stronger than we originally thought.” He dared not move as he spoke, his arms rigid at his sides, his fingers curled into fists. He was a warrior, a hunter—and I was his prey.
“Well that’s no fair. I didn’t know we could invite someone to this party.” I was impressed with how calm I sounded, considering I was a live wire on the inside. “Who’s we?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.” He smiled after that comment, a wicked flash of something sinister passing through his eyes. “I’m just here to warn you.”
“Warn me?” Now I was totally confused. “About what? How did you even know I was here?”
“I could smell you the minute you stepped into our city. You reek of human.” He tried to sound unimpressed by the half-human blood pumping throughout my body, but the lust in his eyes betrayed his words.
“And you reek of rot. Guess we both have things to work on, huh?”
“You’re on dangerous ground here, little girl. You need to go back where you came from.” I watched the muscles lining his jaw roll beneath his pale dead skin; he was getting angry.
“Why? Why am I in danger here? From who?” The questions were piling up in my head faster than he was giving answers, and my level of fear was piling up with them.
“Like I said, you will know soon enough.” He stopped talking as a sweet scent wafted through the trees. The scent of human blood.
“Mmm,” he moaned with clenched eyes. “Smells like breakfast.” He opened his eyes and smiled wickedly at me. I wasted no time. As Erik and Kayla pushed through the brush behind me, I flashed over to them, putting my body between my friends and my new enemy. Erik’s muscles pushe
d against me, but I wouldn’t budge.
“What’s your deal?” he argued as he tried to get around me.
“He smells you.” I stared at him, the golden glow of my eyes reflected in the soft blue of his.
“‘He’ who?” Erik looked away from me toward the woods behind us. I turned to follow his gaze; the vampire I had just been talking to was gone. I slowly lowered my arms and relaxed my muscles as I scanned the area, but he had disappeared. Erik and Kayla moved around me and into the trampled grass.
“Who were you talking about?” Kayla asked, nervous excitement pulsing through her veins. Her eyes darted around, always on the lookout for trouble.
“No one,” I said, my shoulders slumping. My fangs slid back into my gums, the incisions healing immediately. I had wanted to find out who that vampire was working for and what his cryptic warning had meant—I had also wanted to add him to the body count I needed to get my life back—but a quick sniff with my super-nose told me he was far away. Out of smelling distance, anyway.
“No one my ass,” Erik interjected. “Vampire?” His eyes burned with energy—and anger? I couldn’t be sure—and I could sense that he absolutely didn’t believe me. His broad shoulders and puffed-out chest made him appear more menacing than normal. I shuddered.
“Yes,” I said. “If you must know, it was a vampire.” Disgust swam across their faces. “And I was digging the truth out of him when you two decided to show up.”
“Hey!” Kayla said. “The last time I showed up, I saved your life, remember?” She had me there. The vampire in the mall that day would have easily killed me had Kayla not stepped in and saved the day—and, like she said, my life.
“Sorry.” I glared at her in anger, partly because she’d risked her life to come into the woods, and partly because she was right and I was wrong.
“We’re not going anywhere, Ava,” she went on. “You should know that by now.” Her words were softer than before, more sincere. “We’re in this with you.” I couldn’t protest, so I half-smiled in agreement. Thankfully, she smiled back.
“And we’ve been doing it a lot longer than you have.” Erik had to add his two cents, which always seemed to be about boosting his pride. “We’re better at it, too.” His wicked little crooked smile drove me crazy…and he knew it. I smirked and turned to the overgrown brush behind me.
“You’re crazy if you think that,” I said as he and Kayla fell in behind me, the three of us trampling the trail I had cut in the thicket of vines and shrubs and overgrown plants. “I’m stronger and faster.” I broke through the brush and crossed the highway back to our hotel, Kayla and Erik on my heels.
“You may be faster,” Erik finally responded once we were safely across the street, “but stronger? Come on.”
“I’m half vampire, remember?” I smiled up at him.
Sadness darkened his face before disappearing on the cool wind. “How could I forget?” His words were riddled with emotion, and I knew instantly I shouldn’t have said it. Great. Now I had two guys in my life who hated the word vampire. Well, only one right now. Chance was still treating me like I had the plague, so the fact that he was uncomfortable hearing the word was irrelevant. Just the thought of him made me anxious, almost uncomfortable. I wanted so desperately to see him. I just wished that he would at least let me talk to him. I wanted to hear his voice, to know that he was okay.
“So I’m stronger,” I said, trying to ignore Erik’s brief-but-pained expression and my thoughts of Chance, and steer our conversation back to lighthearted ground. Erik paused just outside our room, a wide smile suddenly filling his face.
“Yeah,” he said, opening the door. “But I’m better looking.” I smacked his arm as the three of us went inside.
“So are you gonna tell us what happened back there?” Kayla asked as she plopped onto one of the beds and curled her legs beneath her body. Her blood was near-boiling in her veins and her face was practically glowing with anticipation, and I smiled at how childlike and innocent she looked. A nagging feeling in the back of my mind was telling me that I had to do whatever I could to keep her that way, so I decided to limit the amount of info I gave them.
“It was a vampire,” I started. “That’s it.” My friends glared at me with knowing eyes. “I’m serious, you guys, just a random vampire. I could smell him when we were outside. I went after him just to see why he was standing there watching us. Honest.” I could tell by the looks on their faces that they were only half-convinced.
“And?” Kayla asked, some of that anticipation fading from her features.
“And nothing. He said the same thing about me. That he was passing through and caught my scent. So he stopped to see who I was.” I was surprising myself with every word at the ease with which I was lying. “Once he saw I wasn’t a threat, he moved on.”
“And that’s it?” Erik spoke this time, standing tall and firm at the foot of the bed, glaring down at me in the tiny chair by the window. “That’s all he said?”
I fought the urge to blurt the truth, almost biting my tongue in half. “That’s it,” I lied. “He was leaving when you two showed up. I know he smelled you, so I had to protect you.”
“Well, uh, we appreciate you looking out for us,” Kayla went on, faking contentment with my explanation. “But you don’t have to protect us, Ava. We can protect ourselves.”
“I know you can, but you’re my friends. Both of you.” I looked up at Erik, who seemed calmer, thankfully. “I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you because of me.”
“We were hunting vampires before you showed up,” Erik said. “If one of them gets one or both of us, it won’t be because of you.”
“Right,” Kayla added. “It’ll be because Erik and I are a couple of badass vampire hunters and we got them running scared!” The two of them broke out in a deep, rooted laughter that instantly lifted my spirits. The sound bounced around our tiny room, and I knew right then that I wanted that sound around me always.
“And you’re both so modest, too,” I added, laughing a little myself, reveling in the normalcy of the moment. This was the type of life I longed for: typical, ordinary, boring.
“Watch it!” Kayla interjected between laughs. “I’m proud of myself, that’s all. I’m proud of all of us. We’ve been through a lot.” She kept looking from me to Erik, the three of us connected by an unseen but very powerful force: Death. Death connected all life, I supposed. But we were bringers of death, in a sense; we stood out from the norm.
“I know, I know,” I laughed. “I am, too.” And I truly was. Though killing anything (vampires or not, they were once human) bothered me to no end, I was glad that I wasn’t going through everything alone. At first, I hadn’t wanted Kayla involved in the whole “gotta kill vampires to survive” thing. Now, I couldn’t imagine her not being in my life. Or Erik, either, for that matter, though admittedly for different reasons. I felt myself blush and moved around the room. “So are we gonna get moving or what?” I asked, stepping over to the sink to pretend to brush my hair so my crimson cheeks could return to a normal pallor.
“Ready when you guys are,” Kayla quipped, hopping from the bed. “I’ll go turn in our keys and check out. Don’t forget the suitcase, Ava. Meet you at the car.” The realization that Erik and I were once again alone began pressing down on me. I took a few more seconds staring into the mirror, my reflection throwing fear back at me; why was I so scared to be alone with him?
Because he’s not Chance. And you so want him to be.
My internal voice was dead-on sometimes.
“So,” I said, stepping away from the sink and finishing up packing the suitcase. “Ready?” Erik still sat on his bed, his rather small suitcase resting beside him. I crossed the room to the door before he stopped me.
“Wait a minute,” he said, his words falling sweetly on my ears. I closed my eyes for a moment before turning
to face him. He had risen from the bed, statuesque in the middle of the room. “I wanted to apologize for earlier,” he went on, nervous tension evident on his face. “I was out of line.”
My heart caught in my throat. Did I want him to apologize? The word No flashed in my mind, brilliant and all-consuming. I suddenly realized that I liked him touching me, talking to me, flirting with me. “It’s fine,” I said, shrugging off our late-night encounter on the balcony like its meaning was irrelevant.
“I promise it won’t happen again.”
Six simple words that stung when I heard them.
I had been pushing Erik away ever since I felt the connection between us growing stronger after Lila’s death, not wanting him to get close to me. And now I had gotten what I wanted; Erik vowed to stay away—or at least at a respectable distance. So why did I feel like my stomach had fallen to my knees?
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” I added. Unfortunately Erik didn’t hear me, having already left the room. Though I couldn’t be certain, I had a feeling that he wouldn’t be keeping that promise for long.
The drive to Boston University was a quiet one. Erik was busy paying attention to the thick traffic littering the roadway, while Kayla made mental and physical notes of visual landmarks in case we needed to find our way back. Kayla had asked Erik to drive since he had more experience (though I doubted much), so I sat quietly in the back of the car, my mind spinning with all my problems: Erik, and the fact that somehow he had wormed his way into my heart; Chance, who I loved more than anything, keeping his distance; and the fact that I still had a long way to go before reaching that horrible yet necessary goal of killing a hundred vampires. My life pretty much sucked.
“That’s it!” I heard Kayla practically squeal as we drove down Commonwealth Avenue. The university was split into two parts by the Charles River, and the air coming off the water was near freezing—if not below—once we parked and climbed out of the car. The campus looked massive even from the road, so I could only imagine what it must be like to navigate as a student. A quick flash of memory invaded my mind again, this time of me and several other children playing together in a park that looked eerily similar to the area I was now standing in. Though I desperately wanted to get all of my memories back, these tiny snippets of my past life were really annoying. What did this one mean? Had I been here before? Was my family here? The possible answers were endless, and I didn’t have the time or energy to focus on finding the right one just now. This was Kayla’s time, and I was determined to be there for her if it killed me.
Blood Awakening Page 4