by Hailey Storm
“You’re right, it wasn’t.”
Silence built between us as Gabe continued to wrap the tree in tiny white lights and I rummaged through the box of familiar ornaments, searching for the star we used to put at the top and trying to forget what he was making me feel. It was easier said than done.
When I finally found the star, I held it in my hands and marveled at the way the flecks of silver glitter it was made of captured the light in the room. It was beautiful.
“I forgot how pretty this thing was,” I said.
“I’ll never forget the moment we found it in that cheap dollar store.” Gabe reached for a tray of tiny red glittery balls and plucked one out to hang on the tree. “You let out one of the most god-awful squeals I’ve ever heard.” A slow grin spread across his face as the old memory replayed through his mind.
“I told you it was because I always wanted a silver star at the top of my tree. All my dad ever had was a nasty, filthy angel. The bottom part of her face had melted off from the candle she held when I was little and he always refused to buy a new one. She was like something out of nightmares.”
“Says the girl who enjoys the darkest shit I’ve ever seen.”
“Maybe that’s where it stemmed from,” I grinned and reached for one of the red balls in the tray he was holding. I placed it on a low branch and watched as it twinkled while reflecting the white lights around the tree.
“That’s the one thing that always fascinated me most about you,” Gabe said. I could feel his gaze on me, but I couldn’t look at him. “The way you’re so damn dark all year round, but when it comes to Christmas you always turn into a holiday fever fool.”
I shrugged. “There’s something to be said about this time of year. It’s the one time when no matter how ugly the world has become you can still look around and see beauty. The ugliness gets to hide beneath white lights and decorations.”
“True.” His gaze intensified, and I felt as though he was able to see right through me. Directly to my soul. It was dark, but not as dark as I claimed it to be.
Could he see that it was because of him? That he was my light? My warmth? He always had been. Even now.
I reached inside the cardboard box to grab another tray of ornaments, but instead felt smooth plastic touch my fingertips. It was a DVD case. My eyes widened when I realized which one.
“Oh my God, I can’t believe you still have this.” I flashed him the cover.
“Tim Burton,” Gabe nodded. “He’s one of my favorites.”
I laughed. “No he’s not. He’s my favorite.”
“That too,”
“We have to watch this.”
“No.” He shook his head. “We don’t have time.”
“You don’t know that. No one’s found us yet and the sun will be up in a few hours anyway.”
He lifted his brows. “Yet being the key word there, and since when does sunlight affect the Midnight pack tracking something?”
“They might not find us. At least not tonight, you were careful on our way here. No one followed us.”
“I don’t want to take any chances. I can’t. Not this time.”
“I know, neither do I,” I insisted more for his benefit than anything, and then wiggled the movie in my hands. “But I love this movie. You know how long it’s been since I’ve seen it?”
“No, but I bet you’re about to tell me.” He reached inside the box for another tray of ornaments.
“Since the night we got this tree. Let’s relive the entire memory of that night and watch this movie too.”
A crooked grin formed on his face. “We did watch it that night, didn’t we?”
“Yes, and you loved every second of it.”
“Only because it reminded me of Halloween.”
“But it’s about Christmas. How could it remind you of Halloween?”
“Hello, Jack the pumpkin King. They live in Halloween Town.”
“Yeah, but it’s called The Nightmare Before Christmas.”
“Doesn’t matter, it’s still about Halloween,” he snarled. He was getting worked up. My little confrontational wolf’s temper was starting to trickle out.
“So, what’s the verdict? Are we going to watch it again or what?” I batted my lashes and stuck out my bottom lip again, knowing he wouldn’t be able to deny me what I wanted.
He exhaled a long breath. “You’re not going to let this one go, are you?”
“Nope.”
When he set the tray of ornaments on the coffee table and stood, I knew I’d won this battle too. He patrolled the room, moving from window to window checking to make sure Cole and wolves weren’t lurking in the shadows.
“Fine, but we have to leave right after.” He stepped to his bedside and bent at the waist. When he came back up he had a machete in his hand. “Just in case.”
“Thank you.” I crawled to his entertainment stand and popped in the movie.
Tonight was going better than I’d planed. It was snowing outside. Gabe and I had decorated our tree together. And now we were about to watch one of my favorite movies while curled up with one another on the couch. My skin was saturated with his scent and my lips were tainted with his taste.
Everything was perfect.
Chapter Five
Gabe
I woke to the sound of my TV being switched off. Apparently, I’d fallen asleep while watching Ava’s favorite movie. She was sitting beside me with a half smirk twisting her lips as she stared at me while I stretched.
“Every time,” she muttered.
“What?”
“Every time we watch this movie together you fall asleep.”
I yawned and wiped the sleep from my eyes. “Not true. I’ve made it through this one once or twice.”
“I don’t know about that,” she grinned. “Hey, do you have any hot chocolate?”
“No, and we don’t have time for it. We’ve been lucky so far.”
“But it’s the last part of that night. We put the tree up. We had sex. We watched The Nightmare Before Christmas. And we drank hot chocolate while sitting outside underneath the stars, wrapped in that old tattered blue blanket you used to have.”
I rubbed my palms down my face. “I still have it. It’s in the closet, but I don’t have any hot chocolate.”
“I wish you did.”
“We can take the blanket with us. I know a small coffee shop on the outskirts of the city. I’m sure they’ll have hot chocolate. If not, we can pick some up from a grocery store or someplace once we make it out of the city.”
Ava’s gaze dipped to her hands. Her bottom lip trembled and I knew she was about to say something I didn’t want to hear. “I don’t want to run, Gabe.”
“I’m sure you don’t—hell, I don’t want to either—but you don’t have a choice. Not unless you want Cole to find you.”
“I don’t want to go back with him. I can’t stand him,” she insisted. Her gaze lifted to lock with mine. Determination drifted through their bright color, but then shifted to something else quickly. “But when I found you, I didn’t plan on running any longer.”
What? Did she think I’d be able to protect her from Cole and the others? That once she found me all would be well? That wasn’t going to happen. “I’m flattered by your unwavering confidence in my ability to protect you from them, but unless we stay on the run or at least get the hell out of this city I can’t make any promises to keep you safe.”
A soft sigh pushed its way past her plump lips, but she didn’t speak. I took her silence as a form of submission to my reasoning and stood to retrieve the blue blanket from in the closet as well as my duffel bag. It was time to pack. We needed to get on the road. Ava had her Christmas fun. It was time to go.
“I don’t know if you want to change clothes or anything before we leave, but now be a good time. I’d like to head out in the next ten minutes.” I tossed my duffel bag on my bed and began emptying my dresser into it. “I’m not sure if the cold affects you as much as it us
ed to, but we have to take my bike since we left my truck behind.”
“I’ll be fine in this,” she said as she pulled out a thin black sweater from inside her bag and slipped it on.
Her entire demeanor had changed and I hated it. I wished I could have let her ride out her Christmas-induced high longer, but it wasn’t possible. We’d been stupid enough waiting as long as we had to leave the city. If Cole or someone from the Midnight pack got their hands on her again I wasn’t sure what would happen to either of us. Cole and his Coven were more like a cult than a family. There was no telling how he’d punish Ava for running away or me for fighting one of his guards. He was the definition of wicked. Ava was right to hate him as much as she did. I loathed him myself. In fact, there wasn’t one member of his Coven I cared for. It was my main reason for refusing a position in the Midnight pack as a guard.
I shoved a couple more pairs of socks into my bag before heading to the bathroom for my toothbrush and a few toiletries. When I came back out Ava was still on the couch, staring at the Christmas tree on my coffee table. She looked so small and fragile. So broken. A swift pang of guilt swept through me because the bulk of what she was feeling was my fault. It was because of me she’d been Turned.
“We can take it with us, if you want?”
She shook her head. “We can’t take the tree, Gabe. Especially on your bike. Where would we put it?”
She had a point. “Okay, well do you at least want to take an ornament with you?” I hated to leave it behind when it symbolized such good times for us, but was glad it had finally gotten to see some light again after so many years.
Ava plucked one red and one silver ornament from the tree. “There, now we’ll at least have something from that night and this one.”
Relief traveled through my body and I realized I was more of a sentimental fool than I’d thought.
A hard knock sounded at my front door. My eyes locked with Ava’s as I mouthed the words for her to come to me. There was no way in hell anyone I knew would be coming to my house at two o’clock in the morning. It had to be Cole or one of the wolves from the Midnight pack.
Adrenaline simmered through my veins. Once Ava was at my side I moved us to the window at my left. There was a fire escape I’d never used right outside. I grabbed a long-sleeved shirt and tugged it on along the way. Ava grabbed my shoes for me and I pulled them on next, hating how much we’d been caught off guard.
Another knock sounded, this one louder than the first. Something wasn’t right. If I knew the Midnight wolves as well as I thought I did, knocking at the door was all part of their strategy. Maybe I was stupid for playing right into their little game, but I figured getting out of the apartment building was the number one priority, even if it meant they would be waiting for us outside.
Ava slid the window open and hoisted her leg out the window. I took her bag and slung it over my shoulder with my own just as my front door burst open. Cole stood in the threshold. His dark eyes glistened with amusement when they spotted us. He tugged at the fingers of his black leather gloves, pulling them off, his gaze never wavering from us. A slow smile spread across his face that had the fine hairs along the back of my neck rising on end.
“Trying to sneak out the back way, I see,” he said.
“Which is probably the way you wanted us to go,” I muttered as I gave Ava a gentle push, hoping she’d move faster. Even if wolves from the Midnight pack waited for us at the bottom of the metal stairs they’d be easier to take on than Cole would be.
Cole was an original vampire. He was stronger than most because of his age. Anyone opting to go against him in combat would be stupid. I didn’t have any intentions of fighting him. All I wanted was to get Ava as far away from him as I could.
“Ava, dear, don’t run,” Cole insisted. He continued slowly making his way into my apartment. Two wolves from the Midnight pack entered behind him. “You’ve had your fun, now it’s time to go home.”
I recognized both of the wolves. One was Tex, all healed up and ready to beat my ass for beating his, and the other was a female wolf named April I’d only met a couple of times. She was new to the pack when I left, having been Changed recently by one of the Midnight wolves who’d wanted to claim her for a mate. She was the first human turned wolf I’d ever met. She’d been my inspiration for the fantasies I’d crafted of changing Ava. I’d watched her to see if she could handle the transition well for weeks before all the shit hit the fan.
April’s upper lip quivered as she growled at me from across my apartment. It looked as though she’d been adjusting well.
“I’m not going back with you, Cole,” Ava insisted. “We both know I’d rather die.”
“Aw, love. Things weren’t that bad,” Cole sneered. He paused once he reached my couch. My wolf growled and snapped viciously at his close proximity.
I glanced at the machete on the couch. There was too much space between it and me to try going for it. Cole would have his hands wrapped around my throat before I would be able to take a swipe at him with it. There was no element of surprise when someone was looking right at you.
“For you, no,” Ava ground the words out. Her hands clenched into fists at her sides as a venomous look twisted its way across her face. “But for me, yes. You treated me like a slave. Like I was dirt beneath your fingernails. I will not go back with you. I can’t.”
He’d treated her as a slave? What type of slave? My blood boiled as I thought each possibility through. If he’d used her as a Blood Slave I’d kill him. I didn’t give a shit how strong he was being used as a Blood Slave was the lowest of the low. It was reserved for vampire criminals and to show dominance and authority over someone. Basically it was for vampire trash.
Ava was none of those things, and if Cole had treated her as such…
My body tensed as my wolf made his thoughts on the situation known. He was just as eager to see Cole’s blood spill as I was.
“How about I make a deal with you,” Cole offered. He rubbed his hands together as though the prospect of what he was about to say excited him. “If you come back with me and bring your little wolf boy with you, you will no longer be my slave.”
Satisfaction saturated the air around him. This offer would give him exactly what he’d wanted from the beginning—me. Not only that, but he would still have Ava under his thumb.
“No. Gabe will never work for you.” Ava grabbed my arm and tugged me through the open window. Her strength amazed me. I was used to being the strong one out of the two of us.
We made it down one flight of metal stairs before Cole sent his wolves after us. April was out the window before Tex. They were on our heels in a matter of seconds. Two flights below us I spotted two more wolves from the Midnight Pack. It didn’t look like this situation was going to end in our favor.
“Screw this,” Ava muttered. She wrapped her arms around me and in the next instant I was being swept away by a cold fog and a dozen bats.
Ava deposited us three streets away in an alley. While I was impressed by what she’d done, I couldn’t help thinking it was a stupid move. She’d exerted too much energy. If it had just been her it would have been okay, but because she’d taken me along with her she could barely stand. She slumped against the exposed brick walls of one of the buildings we were hiding between and struggled to catch her breath.
What the hell were we supposed to do now? Anyone of the Midnight wolves could sniff us out in just a few minutes. She was in no position to outrun them, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to carry her while trying to fight them off.
We were screwed.
“We should’ve left sooner,” I growled.
“I know. I’m sorry, I just wanted to re-create that special night with you one last time.”
“Why are you acting like this is your final night on earth? You’re immortal for Christ’s sake!”
“Because,” she heaved. “I can’t do this anymore, Gabe.”
I’d never heard her sound so defeated bef
ore. “What do you mean?”
She released a long breath and tipped her head to the sky. Soft snowflakes fell, touching her creamy skin without melting. “I can’t be a vampire anymore. I refuse to go back with Cole and that Coven of mindless followers. They all hate him too, I know they do, but they’re too afraid to stand up to him. And I can’t run anymore. I’m done with it all.”
“What do you mean you can’t be a vampire anymore? It’s not like you can flip a switch and turn it off, Ava.” I scoffed.
“Don’t you think I know that? I’ve been a freaking vampire for ten years.” Something dark shifted through her eyes.
“What are you trying to tell me?” I knew what she was hinting at, I could see the desire for it all to end burning through her eyes now, but I didn’t want it to be true. I didn’t want to believe that she was so broken she was ready to end herself.
“I love you, Gabe, I do, and I’m sorry for dragging you into this mess. It was selfish of me, I can see that now, but all I wanted was to see you one last time.”
I swallowed hard. “One last time?”
“I was only supposed to be with you until the sun. After that…”
She didn’t have to finish what she was going to say, because I knew. Sunlight was deadly to vampires. It was one of the three ways they could die—removing their heart, decapitation, or sunlight.
I held her stare, knowing without a doubt what she’d meant—Ava had planned to turn herself to ash come Christmas morning.
Chapter Six
Ava
It hurt my heart to look at him. If I had known coming to visit with him would lead to this mess I never would have sought him out.
“Say something,”
“Like what?” he scoffed.
“Anything.”
Gabe paced back and forth where he stood, running his fingers through his hair and staring at the cracked asphalt of the alleyway. Snowflakes fell around us creating a fine blanket of snow, but it couldn’t make this moment beautiful.