“Faith, just listen. I wanted to talk to you so that I could warn you. That guy on Gould who attacked you was right. The vampires are coming for you.”
“I know that! You don’t think I know that? That I couldn’t figure it out after what they did to Heather? After what you did! I’m sure you helped them, after the way you talked to me on the phone.”
“Faith, they can hear through the phone, I had to say those th—”
“No. No more lies. No more wheedling your way around my heart. I’m done. I came here to say good-bye to you, and that’s what I’m doing. I’m saying good-bye.”
Derek’s face fell, and he stepped back from me.
“What are you talking about?” he asked.
I just stared at him, making my face convey the word I couldn’t bear to say again. Good-bye.
“But . . . no,” he whispered. “You’re all I have.” He reached for me, draping his hands over my arms.
I wriggled away, but it was like his hands took away a piece of me when they parted from my skin. Something inside me wrenched. “Derek, I can’t be here for you anymore. I know I said I always would be, but I can’t anymore. Not if you can’t get over me.”
“Yes, you can, you can.” He reached for me again and I withdrew. “I won’t try anymore, I won’t—”
“Derek, I’m the reason you’re like this!” I exploded, unable to hold the truth in any longer. “I made Lucas bite you back in December.”
Silence for a beat.
“Made him?” Derek finally asked. “How could you—?”
“That’s not important,” I cut him off. “The point is that I forced Lucas to bite you after Vincent did. I made you this way.”
Derek faltered, gaping. “But . . . Lucas said he lost control.” Then he blinked, and it was as though he was seeing me for the first time. “You? You made him?”
Tears bit at my cheeks. “Yes. I’m the one you should be blaming for this. Not the werewolves. Not Lucas. He was crazed at the time, and he didn’t even know what he was doing. It was me. I did this to you. And I’m so sorry.”
I started to reach for him, but he recoiled, his face a wild mess of emotions I couldn’t begin to read or understand. When, at last, he turned to look at me, he was furious. “So, this is all your fault. I mean, when you think about it, if I hadn’t followed you to the barn ... if you hadn’t started dating Lucas.” His eyes flared. “If you had just listened to me and let yourself love me instead of him! None of this would have happened!”
An erratic, volatile energy began to flow in Derek’s vibe, but there was nothing I could do to stop it.
“And now you’ve chosen him again!” he raged. “After everything you’ve done, after all the pain I’ve had to suffer because of you—you can’t even try being with me.”
“I did try,” I choked. “I—I tried as hard as I could but I—”
“Shut up! Just shut up, Faith. God, you know, I came out here to warn you. I can’t believe what an idiot I am!” He let out a loud half-roar, half-howling sound that jarred my bones. He slammed his fists into the turf, making humongous holes in the dirt. I almost screamed, but it happened too quickly.
“You know what? You’re right,” he said, straightening slowly. “You’re right about one thing. You and me. Never gonna happen. This is good-bye, Faith. You think you’re the one who’s done? You don’t even know the meaning of the word. I. Am. Done.”
With that, he sped off in a blur of gray, and was gone.
Forever, this time.
28
MURDER
Lucas and I spent Sunday morning in bed, unable to get enough of each other. I didn’t have a problem with this. In fact, those were the happiest hours of my life.
Things took a deadly turn for the worse when we left the room that afternoon.
As Lucas and I walked across the courtyard to my building, it was immediately apparent that something was up. There was an intense collective vibe of anxiety and fear rippling through the air, making me antsy. Students milled about in the courtyard, talking in hushed tones, as if exchanging information.
And that wasn’t the worst part. There were about five news vans in the driveway outside my building; police cars, paramedics, people in suits with plastic name tags bustled by. Some girl from my building was being interviewed by a reporter. She was crying.
“What’s going on?” I asked slowly.
He shrugged, glancing around the courtyard. “We should—”
Then I heard my name being shouted from a small group of people right outside my building. It was Ashley and Courtney and some other people from my floor. I walked over, somewhat embarrassed at my attire. I’d put on Lucas’s leather jacket because my bra had been ruined by his ... enthusiasm, and I felt weird without one.
“Hey,” I said. “What’s going on?” I eyed the yellow CAUTION tape blocking off our doorway. This was definitely bad.
“Oh, God!” Ashley gushed. “You didn’t hear?”
“No,” I said.
“She was probably too busy bed hopping,” Courtney jibed.
Ashley giggled, and I flushed dark red.
Lucas slung his arm over my shoulder looking totally at ease, even smug. Courtney glared at me viciously. At first, I was slightly confused by the intensity of her hate. She was so insignificant to me that I wondered how she could despise me so much.
And then I remembered.
I was dating her ex-boyfriend.
I had to smother a chuckle. Ohhhh, the irony. The beautiful, beautiful irony.
I smiled and turned to Ashley, completely ignoring Courtney.
“Yeah, I was busy last night,” I said, hugging Lucas closer. “Tell me what happened.”
Ashley, who’d experienced my post-break-up depression firsthand, looked from me to Lucas several times and then gave me an I’m-so-happy-for-you smile.
Then she lowered the boom.
“You won’t believe it,” she hissed. “You know Kira Wilcox? From the room next to ours?”
“Uh-huh,” I said warily.
“She was killed last night! In her room!”
My mouth dropped to the floor. I felt Lucas stiffen next to me.
“No,” I gasped.
“Yes!” Ashley practically sang. “They think it was him. The serial killer!”
“But, how did he get in?”
“Kira let him in,” Ashley said. “They have it all on the security camera. It’s the first look they’ve got at the guy.”
My mind was reeling. If someone had let a vampire into my building, there was no way I could ever go in there again after dark. If he had been in my building, could he get into my room, too? Did it work like that? Or what if it had been a blood bitch that killed Kira? If it had been a vampire, the body would be exsanguinated, but if it was a blood bitch it would be killed in a different way. Stabbed. Choked. Beaten, or whatever. If it was a blood bitch, then the daylight hours were no longer safe. I needed to know which it had been, but figuring that out was something of a problem.
“Did they see what he looked like?” Lucas asked calmly.
“It’s all on the news,” Ashley said, sounding slightly annoyed. “But they’re not letting anyone in the building until the investigation is done with, so it’s not like we can watch it on TV. We’re gonna be stuck out here all freaking day.”
I couldn’t hide my disgust at her selfishness.
“A girl died here last night,” I said sharply. “Do you know how easily it could have been you?”
Ashley fell silent and Lucas massaged my shoulders gently, murmuring soothingly in my ear. As nice as that was, sweet nothings and a back massage weren’t going to solve this problem.
“Here, look,” Courtney said thrusting her phone at us. “I have Wi-Fi. You can see the news report.”
I took her glitter-encrusted phone and held it between Lucas and me. The newscast was several hours old, but it showed a clip from the security camera. I saw Kira standing just inside the doorw
ay, her long blond hair tied into a braid and a smile on her face. I watched in silent horror as she held the door open for her murderer. From the angle of the camera, it was close to impossible to see who it was, though my instincts said it was a woman. Something in the willowy grace of her walk tipped me off. My immediate thought was that it was Melissa, since she had been here last night. But then again, all vampires were graceful and some were small. It easily could have been a man. The clothing, too, was wrong—dark pants and a sweatshirt covering most of the features. Melissa had been wearing a miniskirt and Manolos.
There was something else I noticed. As Kira let the murderer in, someone else slipped past them—a girl. She seemed oddly familiar, but she was facing away from the camera too, so it was hard to tell.
“Who’s that coming in with them?” I asked, handing back the phone.
“Dunno,” Ashley said. “The police asked the whole building—well, except you, I guess—and nobody identified her.”
She’d seemed really familiar, but maybe it was just someone from our building. Or someone I’d seen around campus. It annoyed me that I couldn’t place her, since whoever it was might have details on the killer.
“We gotta go,” Lucas said, pulling on my hand.
Courtney sniffed a mocking laugh. “You can’t go anywhere. The campus is on lockdown. There are police guarding all of the exits.”
“Did I ask you for permission?” Lucas sneered and towed me away into a secluded spot next to his building.
“So, what do you think?” I asked, hugging my arms around myself. “Was it a vampire?”
“Hard to tell. If it was, he was acting human for the cameras. Or trying to fool the girl, I don’t know.”
I took notice of his use of pronouns. “It looked like a woman to me.”
“Does it matter?”
“It could have been Melissa. She knows where I live. She ah . . .” I hadn’t told him this yet. “She kind of attacked me. Last night.”
“What?” Lucas half yelled.
I glanced around, embarrassed. “Don’t have a heart attack. Listen—” And I told him about Melissa’s appearance last night. How she had orders to take me back to the lair, but got distracted when I started bleeding. I even told him about the heather-gray wolf, and that it seemed to be following me. I looked up at his irate expression when I finished and mumbled, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
Lucas rubbed his temples, muttering profanities to himself. “This is ... a lot, Faith. How could you not tell me about this werewolf thing?”
I shrugged. “At first I thought it was nothing. And then when I decided it was actually following me, I don’t know. Every time I tried to tell you, something else was in the way or more important.”
“There’s nothing more important to me than you,” Lucas hissed fiercely. “You should have told me.”
“I know.” I looked tentatively up at him. “Do you know any wolves that are that color?”
“Gray? Tons of them.”
“So you couldn’t identify him?”
“Sure I could,” Lucas said. “If I saw him. Or smelled him, maybe. But you telling me it was a gray wolf is like me telling you I saw a human with brown hair. It could be anyone.”
“Well, it’s not important now anyway. We need to focus on the vampires.”
Lucas glowered away from me, shaking his head. His vibe was still livid, but he was trying to calm it for my sake.
“Can you smell her?” I asked. “The one who was here?”
“No, there’s too many bodies obscuring the scent. I wonder how the Kira girl died. Did the report say?”
“It just said that she was murdered. I guess they’re keeping that part to themselves until they know more.”
“People will assume it’s the same guy who’s been exsan-guinating girls,” Lucas observed. “But if the body’s not drained, then it might not have been a vampire.”
“That’s what I was thinking, but who is it, then? A blood bitch?”
“Maybe. Someone sent to get you. It was sheer dumb luck you chose last night to come to me. If you’d gone back to your room after the attack, instead of coming to mine. . . . God, they could have had you.” Lucas’s eyes burned into mine with a fervency that took me aback. I hugged myself closer. “Sorry,” Lucas said. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m just trying to examine all the angles.” He took my arms and dragged them away from my body. “Look, I’m gonna go call Rolf and tell him about this. Go up to my room and change. I kept your clothes where you left them.”
I blinked. “What? Why didn’t you tell me that before?” I asked like this was the most important thing happening.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I didn’t want you to think I was creepy for keeping your bras and stuff lying around.”
I smiled, rolling my eyes at him.
“Okay,” I said. “Then what do we do?”
“We gotta get off of this campus before dark. It’s not safe here anymore, even if it was just a blood bitch who killed Kira. It’s only a matter of time before they come for you again.”
I shivered.
“The thing I don’t get though,” he said slowly, “is if they want you so they can blackmail Derek into helping them, then why are they still trying to get you? He already joined up with them, right?”
I nodded stiffly.
“So what do they want you for?”
I shrugged. “Turn me for the army? That’s what Silas and Vincent said when they attacked me.”
Lucas nodded, but made a face that led me to believe he doubted me.
“Where will we go?” I managed croakily.
“Gould,” he said. “That’s the only place I know you’ll be safe. Now go upstairs and get changed. We have a long drive, and I wanna get there before dark.”
“It’ll be close,” I said, looking at my watch.
“I can make it.”
“How are we even going to get off campus? It’s on lockdown, remember?”
“Let me worry about that.” He thrust his keys into my hand. “Meet me at the driveway in fifteen minutes. Try not to talk to anyone.”
“Why not?”
“That girl who came in with them ... you never know. She might be a blood bitch, and if so, she’s probably hanging around.”
I nodded shakily and started to turn when he caught my arm.
“Hey,” he said, voice tender and low now. “I love you. I promise you’ll be safe, all right? I won’t let them find you.”
“Why does every vampire in Colorado seem to have it out for me?” I said, only half joking.
“Because you’re so damn sweet.” He kissed me briefly and slapped my butt as I walked away. I gave him a playful glare.
I changed clothes and tried to call Heather again, even though it was pointless. She didn’t answer, but I stuck my phone in my back pocket just in case a miracle occurred.
At the door, I gave the reddish room one last look, praying like hell that I’d live long enough to see it again.
29
ACCIDENT
It was dusk and we still had an hour to go until we made it to Gould. Lucas had talked to one of the cops on the scene, who just happened to be a member of the pack, and we got through the barricade without an issue.
The problem now was time.
We were running low on daylight. Fast. And that meant nobody was safe anymore.
I didn’t realize how tightly I was squeezing the sides of the seat until Lucas’s hand drifted over mine.
“Calm down,” he said gently. “We’ve got plenty of time. Gould’s just an hour away.”
I flipped my hand over and squeezed Lucas’s instead, suddenly filled with an uncomfortable blend of happiness and dread. I grimaced, facing the window. It would have been nice to think that our time apart had solved all of our issues, but now I could see that it hadn’t. Not even a little bit. And our problems were largely my fault, given the secrets I’d been keeping from him. I loathed the idea of ruining
the moment, but if I was going to die—and it looked like I might with the way things were going lately—then I wanted to at least die knowing that I was open and honest with the boy I loved. I still had secrets, things I hadn’t wanted to tell him for fear that he would leave me. Now, there was no excuse. Lucas was with me for good, and I owed it to him—and to myself—to be honest from now on.
But, damn, this was going to suck.
“I have a confession to make,” I said loudly.
“Stop it,” Lucas chided. “Don’t act like you’re gonna die.”
“I might. And I have to get this off of my chest. I don’t want to die a slut.”
“Okay. . . .”
I drew in a deep breath and said, “I kissed Derek. While we were dating.”
The loudest silence in the history of the world filled Lucas’s car.
“I know,” he said.
“You know?” I gasped, turning to him. “How on earth could you know that? Did Derek tell you?”
“No. That night, when he bit you, I smelled him on you stronger than ever ... all over you. I could taste him on your tongue.”
I winced. “I did it to try and distract him; I didn’t want to kiss him, I swear.”
Lucas moved his thumb over my knuckles. “I know, baby. I’m not mad.”
Why did those words feel like knives in my lungs? “I’m sorry,” I whispered hoarsely.
“Stop, saying that. It’s done with. I don’t wanna talk about it anymore, okay?” He shot me a small smile as he drove. “That’s all done with.”
I shook my head, still hating myself. “That night,” I said. “When you stopped Derek from biting me, how did you even know to come? Did you hear us?”
“Kind of. I heard you in my head. It wasn’t so much your voice, as it was an instinctual thing. Like I could feel you asking for help. So I went upstairs and then I heard you yelling at him, smelled the blood.... It wasn’t rocket science.”
“Well, thank you,” I said. “I don’t know how you knew—it doesn’t make sense—but I’m glad you did.”
For a long time, I stared at the dense, green forest rolling by on the edges of the highway. The setting sun colored the leaves in varying, auburn tones. Dew sparkled on the window, marbleizing the view, while my breath made mist over the glass. It was dreamlike, whizzing through life in silence. Lucas by my side, finally. “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” played over the radio, which I thought was morbidly fitting.
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