by K. A. Last
“I said I don’t know anything about her.”
“I don’t believe you,” Lilith said.
“And I don’t believe you don’t know anything about her either.”
She moved to slap me, but I was too quick, catching her wrist in my hand before it could connect with my cheek. I yanked her to me and pressed my other hand into her back.
“I know that girl from somewhere. She’s from my past, and I want answers.” I leant forward and whispered in her ear, “And I’ll be damned if I let you, or anyone else, stand in my way.”
Lilith lowered her face and tried to pull away from my grasp, but I held her firm. The scarlet streak in her hair fell across her cheek.
“So what will it be?”
“What do you mean?” Lilith tried to pull away again.
“Are you going to tell me what you know? Because you do know her, don’t you?”
She didn’t reply, not with words anyway. Lilith stopped resisting and leant into me. She raised her head and her eyes glistened under the artificial glow of the lamp. I released her wrist, holding her tight with my other hand, and brushed the hair from her face. She flicked her tongue, licking my lip, before pressing her lips to mine. I was powerless to resist her.
Lilith’s kisses were hard and eager. She slipped her hands under my shirt and raked her nails down my back. I pulled her closer. Tilting her head back, I kissed the skin at her neck and ran my fingers up her bare arm. She had such smooth, perfect skin, and I relished the feel of it.
Something flickered in my thoughts, but when I tried to hold onto it, it was gone. The suggestion of a memory angered me and I pulled away from Lilith. I felt more impatient than I ever had; I needed to find the girl who’d shown up on our doorstep. I released Lilith and walked across the room to distance myself.
“We search for her tonight,” I said.
“Who? The blonde girl? What makes you think you can find her?”
I studied Lilith for a moment, certain she was keeping something from me. “Jealousy doesn’t really suit you.” I smirked. My shoulder brushed hers as I walked to the door.
“I’m not jealous.” Lilith laughed, but it was strained.
“Lead the way, then.” I opened the door and motioned with my hand.
“Fine,” she said through clenched teeth. “But we’re probably wasting our time. Who says she’ll even be out tonight?”
“This is Wide Island City, Lilith. Anyone worth finding comes out at night.”
SIX
Grace
The rain hadn’t let up for most of the day, covering the ground in a soggy blanket. I’d spent every moment of it thinking about Josh, running all the possible scenarios through my head. Most of them I didn’t like.
Now that the sun had gone down, his twenty-four hours were up, and I wasn’t sure what to do.
My knees sank into the dirt at the foot of Emma’s grave. I didn’t care that I was soaked to the bone. I’d dry. All I wanted was someone to tell me everything was going to be okay—even if that someone was dead.
“I don’t think I can keep doing this,” I whispered to Emma. “It’s been too long since you left. One day without you is too long … I miss you so bad. I want things back the way they were before Charlotte showed up … I want Josh … I want to find Seth. But how do I do all of that and stay sane? How do I keep going, Emma?” I reached out and touched the marble slab that lay on top of her.
After she’d died, Emma had come to me in the small family cemetery on our property. The memory of holding her in my arms for the last time was so overwhelming, I stifled a sob. She’d told me she hoped one day she’d be able to help me. I wanted that day to be now.
“Please, Emma. If you can hear me … do something.”
The rain trickled down my cheeks and mingled with my tears. I stared at Emma’s headstone, and at the butterfly engraved above the inscription. Its wings glowed and peeled away from the marble. At first I thought I was seeing things. Then the butterfly detached itself from the headstone and flittered towards me. I held out my hand and it landed on my palm.
I smiled.
The butterfly moved its wings up and down slowly, and the rain formed little droplets on their shimmery, white surface.
“What do I do?” I whispered.
The butterfly’s wings stopped on the downbeat.
I waited.
Nothing happened.
The butterfly left my hand and headed back towards the headstone, melting into the stone where it became an engraving again. I sighed. There was no point getting angry. It was the best Emma could do, and at least she’d heard me; that had to mean something. If I knew my best friend like I thought I did, there’d be no way she’d let something as trivial as dying come between us.
“I wanted to show you something.” I reached into my top and pulled out the chain that hung around my neck. “I finally had it made into a pendant.” I held it up, watching the tear-shaped diamond glimmer in the dim light.
“This is all I have left of him.” I tucked it back inside my top. “I need him back, Emma … He has to come back.”
And I wasn’t only thinking of myself. The rain ran over my hands as I opened a small, red velvet pouch. Seth had given me Annie’s ring not long before Angelica took him. I wanted to free her, but I wasn’t sure how.
At one point, my existence had been simple. I longed for that again, but I had to fix the mess I was in.
Emma and Pa had told me to follow my heart. To do the one thing that had gotten me into trouble in the first place. But which part of my heart did I follow? Did I want to know what had happened to Josh? Or would it be easier to do nothing? I had no leads on Seth’s whereabouts, but I wasn’t prepared to give up hope of finding him. Still, I couldn’t turn my back on Josh again. If I wanted to find peace with anything that had happened, I had to start somewhere.
With a shaky hand I pocketed Annie’s ring, and wiped the rain from my face. I pulled my phone from my jacket pocket. Josh’s time was up. I hadn’t had a missed call or a message from him all day. I stared at the screen and willed my phone to ring.
Nothing.
I had powers, but making people use their phones was not one of them.
It took a few attempts to swipe my wet fingers over the screen and get it to work, and when the ringtone echoed into my ear, my fingers ached from holding the phone so tightly.
After ten rings it went to voicemail—again.
“Josh, it’s Grace.” I paused and took a deep breath, sucking the raindrops off my lips. “I know you’re probably sick of hearing from me, but I’m worried about you. Please call me back. I … want to hear your voice. I need to know you’re okay. Your dad’s worried. I’m worried. School let out today, so I’m going to come for a visit. I hope you’ll be home when I get there. Whatever it is that’s happened … I … I miss you.”
I ended the call before I could say anymore. I’d probably already said too much. Now he knew I was coming, and I hoped he loved me like he’d said he did and wouldn’t run.
“Okay, Emma. I’m following my heart. I hope you’re happy.” I stood up.
After bumping into Mr Chase and seeing Josh’s face on the flyers, finding him was something I had to do. He was in danger, and I couldn’t go on the way I had been. Going through the motions was not helping any. Now that he’d been reported missing, I was sick with worry. When I’d gone to see him soon after he’d left, I’d been searching for closure. I didn’t get it back then, and I was hoping I would this time. I’d never told him I loved him.
Maybe I had to tell him.
Black mist swirled around me, and a second later I landed in the shed, next to the couch. Archer jumped in his seat at the kitchen table, and threw his butter knife at me. I caught it before it could stab me in the shoulder.
“You didn’t go for the kill shot,” I said.
“Gracie, you scared the crap outta me.”
“Who else can get inside this shed that travels like I do?”
I raised my eyebrows.
“Seth.” Archer stared at me. “And every other angel I’ve ever met.”
“In case you’ve forgotten, Angelica locked him in his ring. And you can’t kill Seth with a butter knife.”
“No, but I can hurt him.” Archer smiled.
I took my jacket off and threw it on the old church pew that sat against the wall of the shed, shaking the rain from my hair. Archer grabbed another knife from the drawer and buttered his bread roll. I snatched it on my way past. He grunted but didn’t protest.
Ryan walked down the stairs from the loft and flopped onto the couch. “Have you heard anything?”
“I left another message before leaving the cemetery,” I said. “You’re not heading home for the holidays?”
“I convinced Mum to let me stay for the first week. Then I have to grace her with my awesome presence.”
Archer chuckled and I shook my head.
“How’s Emma?” Archer asked.
“You’re itching for me to say ‘still dead’, aren’t you?”
“You know me so well.”
I took a bite of the bread roll and leant against the bench. “I saw the butterfly again.”
“Like the one at the funeral?” Archer asked.
I nodded.
Silence fell between the three of us, and I chewed the bread roll. “I’m going to the city.”
“You mean we’re going to the city.” Archer put his butter knife in the centre of his plate. It clinked against the ceramic.
Ryan ran a hand down his face and rested his head against the back of the couch. “This can’t be good. You’re looking for trouble. But at least you’ve already fallen. That can’t happen again.”
“Ha ha. Funny.” I threw a piece of bread at him.
Archer jumped up from the table and put his plate in the sink. “Your dinner’s in the fridge,” he said when he caught me eyeing it.
I pulled out a plate filled with honey mustard chicken, rice, and steamed vegetables. “Did you cook, Ryan?”
He rolled his head to the side and looked at me. “Is that a stupid question?”
“You’re right, sorry. There’s no way Arch could cook something like this.”
“I will stab you,” Archer said, his mouth pinching to hide a smile. “Now, when are we leaving?”
Ryan stared blankly ahead and sighed.
“We won’t be gone long. I’m hoping only a few days,” I said. Ryan didn’t respond, and the air was thick with uncomfortable silence. “You know why I don’t want you to come.”
“Yes, Grace. Mortal danger, and all that. I get it. I’m the only one who’s still human.”
Archer cleared his throat loudly, and put his hand up. “Hey. Human over here, too.”
“Yeah, with super powers,” Ryan said.
“Aha! But still human.”
Ryan chuckled and shook his head.
“Really, Ryan, we’ll be home as soon as we find him,” I said. “I have to know he’s okay.”
“And what am I supposed to do while you’re gone?”
“Stay out of trouble?” I shrugged.
Apart from Archer, Ryan was the only one who hadn’t deserted me, or been taken from me. Now, looking into his deep mocha eyes, I felt racked with guilt that I was the one about to leave him. He rose from the couch and ran his hands through his dark honey-brown hair. Usually it was a lighter shade, but a combination of the cooler weather and spending more time indoors had deepened its colour.
I set my plate on the bench and went to him. Ryan wrapped me in his arms and gave me a tight hug. Being this close to him, touching him, made it easier to hear what he was thinking. Ryan didn’t want me to leave because he didn’t trust Josh, not after what he’d done in the forest. I couldn’t blame him, really; if my best friend turned into a vampire and then tried to eat me I’d be pretty pissed, too.
Ryan let go. “I’m coming with you,” he said, not meeting my eyes.
“No. I won’t let you.”
“You’re not his mum, Gracie,” Archer said.
“He could get hurt.”
“We could all get hurt.” Archer shrugged.
“I don’t want to put anyone else in danger,” I said.
“Hey, guys. I’m right here. Stop talking as if I’m not in the room.” Ryan met my stare. “I want to help. I admit, Josh isn’t my favourite person right now, but helping you find him beats sitting around here all by myself.”
I turned towards my brother. I don’t like this, Arch.
He crossed his arms. Ryan is a big boy. And have you ever considered that maybe he can help?
How? We haven’t taught him to fight.
He’s seen us do it plenty of times, Archer thought.
That was true. Ryan had snuck out of the dorm at school on several nights to come hunting with us. The first few times I’d been against it, but after a while he’d proved he could stay out of trouble.
We’ll be on unfamiliar ground, I thought. And watching it and doing it are two different things.
Let it go, already, Gracie. Let him come.
Ryan coughed. “I know what you two are doing, and can you not? I hate that you’re talking about me in your heads.”
“She cares about you, dude,” Archer said.
“He’s right. I do.” I smiled.
Ryan sighed.
Maybe having him with us wouldn’t be such a bad thing. He was loyal, and he’d fight for the right reasons. I didn’t want him getting hurt, but Ryan was old enough to make his own decisions.
“Fine, you can come. But you do what I say.” I poked him in the chest.
“Yes, boss.” Ryan saluted me. “You know, wherever Josh is, Charlotte won’t be too far behind.” Ryan glanced at Archer and he furrowed his brow.
“I can handle Charlotte,” Archer said. But I still think we should call her first, he added silently.
I glared at him. We don’t need her help.
Archer needed closure with Charlotte as much as I needed it with Josh, but I didn’t want her to know we were coming.
“We need to pack,” I said.
The sooner we left, the better.
SEVEN
Josh
The bolt clicked as I pushed it closed on the inside of the trap door. Lilith was already below me at the bottom of the metal ladder. I descended quickly, missing the last few rungs, and dropped to the moist ground. A few steps forward and we were in a room like a bunker. Lilith reached above her head and pulled the light cord, switching on a naked bulb.
Wooden shelves filled with rusty tin cans lined one wall. Most of the cans had lost their labels or were decayed beyond recognition. A stack of crates sat in the corner under an old timber table. Lilith had said her father built the bunker himself not long after The First World War began. Her family had reason to be afraid. Even though they’d all been naturalised and her brothers fought in the Australian army, they were still of German descent.
We passed through the room and walked a little way until Lilith’s tunnel came to a door, meeting up with the sewer network. I hated the sewers; they were the most disgusting way to travel, but they were also a necessity when you wanted to move around undetected. I was glad when we reached the manhole that opened onto a deserted city laneway. To avoid being followed we tried to pick a different spot each time, and this one brought us out north of the city’s main train station.
“Josh, baby, would you slow down? People will start to notice you,” Lilith said.
She was right. A vampire walking really fast looked like a sprinter. A vampire running was a blur.
“Sorry.” I slowed to a more human walking pace. Lilith gently stroked my arm. Running her fingertips down to my wrist, she slipped her hand in mine. Swinging my arm, she skipped around and faced me, forcing me to stop. We were on our way through the small park across the road from the station, and I glanced at my surroundings for the first time since coming out of the sewer. I liked the parks that dotted the city. Each was l
ike a tiny oasis in a barren desert. They made me feel better, and I much preferred the open spaces to the confined concrete jungle.
Lilith leaned towards me and pressed her hips to mine. She stroked my cheek then grabbed my face and turned my head, making me look at her. Forcing her heart-shaped lips to mine she kissed me, and I wrapped my arms around her waist, giving in. Lilith had a crazed look in her eyes, the one she got when she was ready to feed, and they sparkled like diamonds.
I eventually pulled away. “When are you going to stop stalling and tell me what you know?”
Lilith pouted. “I don’t know what you mean.” She stroked my cheek again and I grabbed her wrist, squeezing it.
My patience was wearing thin. “Stop playing games, and tell me what you know about the blonde girl.”
“Josh, you’re hurting me.” Lilith gritted her teeth.
“This is nothing compared to what I will do to you if you don’t start talking,” I said.
Lilith yanked her hand from my grip and stepped back, her eyes burning with unleashed anger.
“Trust me, it’s better you don’t know. There’s a whole world out there you know nothing about. Get mixed up in it and you could die.”
Laughter welled in my chest, so strong it felt like I would burst. “Do you have any idea what it’s like not knowing who I am?”
“It’s better than being dead.”
“I’m already dead!” I said.
“But you still exist. I need you to exist.” A crimson tear trickled down Lilith’s face. “I can’t lose you as well.”
My hands curled into fists and I had the urge to punch something. Breaking things always seemed to make me feel better. I yelled and slammed my fist into the nearest thing I could find that wasn’t Lilith. The park table shattered on impact, sending splinters of wood flying in every direction. A group of girls quickened their steps as they walked past, staring at their feet and avoiding our eyes.
“You want me to trust you?” I asked, wiping the blood from my knuckles onto my shirt. “Then start acting like I can.”