Two days later, a body was found behind a dumpster, burned to a crisp. The dental records were a ‘strong’ match, so I was proclaimed dead. It was a closed casket ceremony, for obvious reasons.
I didn’t know if I had been burned alive, or mutilated in some horrible way before I was killed. I also didn’t know how I had gotten into that dress – the pink dress I used to love so much. The one I had woken up in my grave wearing and had naturally assumed my parents had chosen to bury me in it.
And why couldn’t I remember anything leading up to it? I could understand my mind blocking such a horrific event, but surely I should be able to at least remember the party?
The truth was I didn’t really want to remember. Even though it might help solve the mystery, I wasn’t sure I could handle knowing the details of what happened.
And now it seemed that Henry was about to tell me, whether I was ready or not.
Chapter 10
“Did you have something to do with it?” I whispered. It was a terrible question to ask, but it would explain a lot.
I expected him to shoot me down right away, laugh in my face and tell me I was an idiot. Instead he said, “Not exactly.”
‘What does that mean?” I demanded.
Henry sighed. It was a long, sad, drawn-out sigh.
“I promised I wouldn’t get mad,” I said gently. “And I won’t. We just have to be honest with each other.” Except when it comes to your dad.
“Days before you died you were acting strange. Really standoffish with me. Barely acknowledging me at school, didn’t want to eat lunch with me.”
“That doesn’t sound like me,” I said.
“No! That’s exactly what I thought. You wouldn’t even agree to let my dad give you a ride to and from the party.”
“What reason did I give you?” I asked.
“You just brushed me off like you’d been doing for days. I didn’t know what the hell was going on with you.”
“And then at the party,” Henry continued, “it got even worse. There was alcohol there, and you started slamming back shots of goldschlager.”
“There’s no way I did that!” I said defensively. “I had a sip of that shit once for a dare and it burned my throat. It doesn’t even taste good!”
“You don’t have to tell me,” Henry said glumly. “You wanna hear the rest?”
I didn’t, but I had to, so I nodded.
“You were flirting with every guy who accidentally looked your way. Sitting on their laps, kissing some of them, giving them massages; just basically throwing yourself at every male at the party!”
I buried my head in my hands. “I feel mortified!” I exclaimed.
“No, please don’t feel embarrassed. It doesn’t sound like you and it really wasn’t you.”
I looked up at Henry quizzically.
“I’ll get to that part; let me finish this.”
“So anyway,” Henry continued, “even though you wouldn’t speak to me, I had been keeping an eye on you all night. I didn’t want you to get into any trouble that you couldn’t handle.”
“Thanks,” I whispered.
“Don’t thank me yet.” Henry shook his head in disgust. “I thought I’d been doing this great job of keeping tabs on you, but then you just disappeared. And most of the people were wasted and hadn’t paid a bit of attention to who was coming and going from the party.”
“So my dad was going to pick me up at 11, and my plan was to drag you with me, get you the hell out of there. I was still looking for you when he arrived. I told my father what was going on – well, part of it at least. I said that you were a little tipsy and I wanted him to drive you home and you could cancel the ride from your dad.”
“Usually my father’s so easygoing,” Henry continued, “but that night he was in a real hurry. Said he had a client meeting first thing in the morning, didn’t have time to wait around while I searched the party for you. He even said you’d probably gotten a ride home from someone else.”
“Is that why you’ve been weird about the subject of my death?” I asked Henry. “Do you feel guilty or something? You shouldn’t! You didn’t do anything wrong. I obviously brought my fate upon myself.”
Henry looked relieved. “I’ve gone over it in my head so many times, how I should have insisted I at least stay at the party if my dad wasn’t willing to help find you. Or gotten your parents to come up there. I was calling your phone over and over but you’d turned it off by that point. I just keep thinking, maybe this could have been avoided?” Henry looked at me helplessly.
“Maybe,” I said slowly. “But what if you had found me still alive that night? I wasn’t myself. I might not have listened to you; the outcome could have easily been the same.”
“That’s the other thing I need to tell you, the thing that finally made me brave enough to give you the details of that night.”
I leaned forward and placed my hand on Henry’s arm. “There’s more?” I asked. My head was already swimming.
“Yes,” Henry said excitedly. “Emmett called me up a few days ago. He asked me a very odd and specific question: Were you acting like a different person leading up to your accident?”
“Really?” I asked in surprise. “Did he have a feeling?” I still didn’t understand Emmett’s explanation of his psychic ability, which he fondly referred to as having a feeling about something.
“He told me-“ Henry stopped midsentence. “This is gonna sound nuts, I have to warn you.”
“Tell me.” I was gripping Henry’s arm so tightly that it was starting to turn white.
“Emmett said you were possessed before your, um, murder.”
Chapter 11
“Possessed?” I echoed. “What does that mean?” I had leaned in so close to Henry that our faces were almost touching. I couldn’t comprehend what he was saying.
“Am I interrupting something?” I heard a voice ask.
I spun around. I would know that voice anywhere. Lucas!
He was standing in the doorway of the balcony, looking at Henry and me with an odd expression on his face.
Great, he thinks he interrupted some romantic moment. I’d set that straight.
Pushing back my chair I hopped up and wrapped Lucas in a hug. “Miss me?” he whispered in my ear. “Or is lover boy keeping you company?”
I pulled back to look at Lucas. Apart from his eyes, which looked heavy, tired, he was exactly the same as I remembered him. Except tonight he didn’t have on the black hooded coat. He was wearing a white button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up and black dress pants. He looked like he’d just come from a long day at the office!
“This is the closest I had that could pass for black tie,” he explained, noticing me checking out his clothes.
Henry stood up and walked over. He and Lucas shook hands. “Nice to see you again, Lucas,” Henry said politely. It was obvious Lucas was the last person Henry wanted to see.
“Yes,” Lucas chimed in, “it’s great to see you, too!” He sounded more genuine than Henry, but his enthusiasm was a bit over the top.
I didn’t want Lucas to think he’d interrupted a romantic tryst so before Lucas could explain why he was there I quickly said, “Henry was just telling me about the night I died. I’ll spare you the details.” Like me acting like a drunk whore.
“What you need to know is that Emmett said I was possessed,” I continued. “That would explain the weird behavior Henry was telling me about, and me missing days leading up to my death.”
Lucas looked confused.
“Aurora hadn’t been acting like herself,” Henry explained.
“Are you back for good?” I asked Lucas, changing the subject. I didn’t want to have to elaborate on my strange behavior.
“I don’t know yet.” Lucas still had a funny expression on his face.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. Something had to be up, for him to suddenly appear at this party. Lucas hated people seeing him, knowing about his existence.
&n
bsp; “I need to talk to you,” Lucas said grimly. We had all been awkwardly standing on the balcony. Lucas motioned for us to sit down.
“Has anyone seen you here?” Henry asked him.
“I don’t think so,” Lucas replied. “But I had to warn you.”
“Oh, no, what’s happened now?” I asked despondently.
“Nothing yet, and I’m trying to keep it that way. I’m afraid Thomas and Bartholomew may be here.”
“Here?” Henry echoed.
“Yes, here. As in at this party.”
“What!” Henry stood up, knocking his chair backwards.
“Calm down!” Lucas commanded. “I don’t know for sure. I’ve been trying to catch up with them since I left town. They’re taunting me, keeping me on my toes. I don’t really think they’d be dumb enough to show their faces at this party, but those two are unbalanced. There’s no telling what they’re capable of.”
“If they are here,” I said, “is it for me?”
“I can’t imagine they’ve got all the stuff for the spell. So unless they have another reason to take you…” Lucas’ voice trailed off.
Unless they have another way to kill me.
“I still have Max,” Henry said. “So the twins definitely don’t have everything they need.”
Why did he have to mention my stuffed elephant? I was trying to get away from seeming like a child!
“Even if they are here, they can’t do anything in a crowd. If you two don’t spend the party holed away in deserted areas of the house, that is.” Lucas looked at us pointedly.
“Henry had to tell me about being possessed. That’s the only reason we came up here,” I said defensively.
“There wasn’t a better time? Aren’t you two usually joined at the hip?” Lucas asked lightly.
I shot a look at Lucas that clearly said shut up. Surprise briefly registered on his face.
He can’t believe I haven’t talked to Henry almost all summer, I thought sadly.
“What about you?” I asked him. “Did you clear your name?”
“Clear his name?” Henry questioned.
“The twins set me up,” Lucas explained. “When they killed someone and forced me to take blood through the IV.”
“How did you prove that you were innocent?” I asked.
“I tracked down the creature who claimed it was me and made him realize that he needed to tell the truth.”
“Did you torture him?” I blurted out before I could stop myself.
“You two need to get back to the party,” Lucas said, ignoring my question.
“There you are!” All three of us swung around. My mom, dad, and Kayla were standing in the doorway.
“Your father is about to give a speech,” my mom said to Henry. “He wants you to come up on stage.”
“Aurora, aren’t you going to introduce us to your friend?” my father asked.
“Oh yes, where are my manners?” Lucas commented before I could reply. He stood up and shook Dad’s hand. “My name is Lucas. Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Stone.” He nodded politely to my mom. “Mrs. Stone.”
Mom looked at me. “Is this the friend who helped you out with the, uh, paperwork?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said. It felt surreal, standing there with Henry, Lucas and my family all in one place.
“I’m Kayla.” My sister moved over to where Lucas was standing. “It’s nice to meet you,” she said demurely, placing one hand on his arm. “Aurora didn’t tell me how tall you were.” Kayla giggled.
Aurora didn’t tell you anything because you barely talk to her, I thought angrily.
“Nice to meet you, too,” Lucas replied.
Kayla still had her hand on his arm.
“Do you go to school around here?” she was asking Lucas, batting her mascaraed eyelashes.
“No, I’m from out of town.” Lucas looked bemused.
“We need to get back downstairs,” my mom was saying.
“Yeah,” Henry said. “I don’t want to keep Dad waiting.”
“But I was just getting to know Lucas!” Kayla protested.
“You can talk to him later, at the party,” my dad said.
“No,” Lucas said sharply. He laughed, softening his voice. “I’m not going to the party. I just stopped by to visit Aurora and Henry.”
“You’re leaving already?” I couldn’t keep the hurt out of my voice.
“Yes, need to hit the road. Don’t want to get back home too late,” he explained for my parent’s benefit.
“You can stay with us tonight, if that would help,” my mom offered.
Ha! Lucas will shoot that idea down in two seconds flat.
But to my surprise, Lucas said, “That’s very kind of you, Mrs. Stone. If it’s not an inconvenience, I will take you up on the offer.”
“Please, call me Audrey,” my mom said. “It’s no inconvenience at all. We don’t have a guest room so I’m afraid you’ll have to sleep on the couch,” she added apologetically.
“That’s fine,” Lucas said quickly.
I looked at Lucas, trying to figure out what game he was playing. Why in the hell would he want to stay at my house? But he was expressionless. I guess he’s mastered the poker face after all these years.
“How exciting!” Kayla squealed. I shot her a look, which was supposed to say, “You’re not 14 for another month and he’s too old for you anyway,” but her eyes were fixated on Lucas.
“You guys can stay up here but I’ve got to get back to the party.” Henry turned to leave.
“You should go,” Lucas said to me.
But I wanted to talk to you, I felt like screaming.
“There’s plenty of time to catch up later,” Lucas said, as though reading my mind.
“Okay,” I said reluctantly. I’d have to corner him at home.
Kayla tried to pull Lucas towards the door.
“No.” He managed to extricate his arm from her grasp.
“You’re not coming to the party?” my mom asked Lucas in surprise.
“No,” he repeated. “I’m not much of the party type. I’ll meet you at your house later. Thank you again for the offer, Audrey.”
My mom smiled. “After everything you’ve done for my daughter, you don’t have to thank me. I don’t think we can ever repay you.”
Lucas looked slightly bewildered but didn’t comment.
Yeah, I didn’t tell them that you were originally trying to kill me!
Henry seemed exasperated. “You guys do what you like! My dad needs me.”
All of us – except for Lucas – followed him out.
I was on edge the rest of the evening. Henry’s dad gave (what seemed to be) a heartfelt speech about how much Valerie meant to him. Henry was on stage with them, beaming the whole time. I wanted to gag.
I kept thinking about Lucas. Was he still up on the fourth floor balcony? Or had he left? Was he trying to find out if the twins were at the party?
I was dying to talk to him. I had a million questions! Unfortunately, knowing Lucas, I’d be lucky if he answered even one of them.
But he’d opened up to me before, so maybe he would tonight. I had to corner him, find a way to talk to him, after everyone had gone to bed.
As much as I had enjoyed the party, I couldn’t wait for it to be over. Lucas was back, and it was time to find out why.
Chapter 12
When we arrived home, Lucas was already waiting in his car in the driveway.
My mom got the extra sheets and made the living room couch into as much of a bed as possible. Always the perfect hostess, she offered Lucas food and drink – which he politely declined – and then told him he was welcome to help himself to anything in the kitchen if he got hungry or thirsty.
If Lucas didn’t know if I had told them about him being a vampire, he sure did now.
Lucas just smiled, again thanking my parents for their hospitality.
I was literally dying to talk to him, but it would probably be a few hours before ev
eryone settled down for the night. I went to my room to wait.
Around midnight, I opened my door and peered out into the hallway. Silence.
Carefully, I tiptoed down the stairs and into the living room. Lucas was lying on his back on the couch, eyes closed.
I resisted the urge to laugh. He was so tall that his legs were hanging off the end of the couch. I crept towards him and was just about to say his name when Lucas opened his eyes.
“Ah, it’s you,” he said. “Finally.”
“What do you mean?” I demanded in a stage whisper.
Lucas sat up on the couch and I plopped down next to him. “I mean,” he said wryly, “that your sister has been by to visit me five times now, and each time I kept hoping it was you.”
You were hoping it was me! I tried to play it cool. “Kayla’s bugging you? You know she’s thirteen, right?” I asked pointedly.
Lucas gave me a strange look. “I’m not hard up for female companionship,” he said. “Don’t worry, I’m not about to deflower your sister.”
“That’s not what I meant!” I said defensively. But truthfully, I didn’t know what I meant. Of course I didn’t think Lucas was going to fall for my little sister, but I didn’t like the sight of her hanging all over him, either.
Lucas smiled. “Sorry. I’m a bit on edge myself. Kayla just has a teenage crush. I can handle it. Trust me, I sent her away each time she tried to talk to me.”
“I trust you,” I whispered. I wasn’t talking just about my sister. I was talking about everything.
“I know you do.” Lucas raked his hands through his hair and looked around. “I wanted to talk to you about something else, but I couldn’t at the party.”
“Okay,” I said slowly.
“I know it’s late, but can we go for a walk? You don’t think your parents will wake up and check on me, do you?” he asked.
“We don’t have many houseguests,” I admitted. “But I think we can duck out for a few.” I got up and walked over to the door, pressing in the code to disarm the alarm system.
Immortal After All (Vampire Hunter Book 3) Page 3