by Unknown
“It’s that boy, Todd. Isn’t it?” she asked, wringing her hands. “She’s with him doing God knows what. She didn’t leave in her car, or even take her phone. As far as I know, all her clothes are at home.” She shook her head. “Where are they, Julia? Her text said to call you. You were the last to talk to her. Is she in trouble?”
My heart floundered in my chest. “I…I don’t know,” I stuttered out, unsure what else to say. “We didn’t talk about anything important. She didn’t say she was leaving. She was—home.” My voice teetered up, hinting my lie.
Dad’s curiosity spiked.
“Well, I’m going to Todd’s parents after this. He took her somewhere and when I find out where, heaven help him.”
Visions of the interrogation at school with Principal Brewster and the fliers littering the halls when Phil was missing came back in a rush. I wanted to bury my head in a hole until the hysteria passed.
Mrs. King’s agitation erupted. We didn’t have the answers she came to find.
“Sorry to bother you. If she calls, please have her call me.” She clutched her purse to her chest while she darted out of the door.
“Of course,” Dad said, chasing after her and helping her into her car.
I watched from the doorway as she screeched her tires and tore off down the street. Dad returned, his brows pulled down, shadowing his eyes—what Luke and I called the infamous sleeper-wave eyebrows of death. “Do you have your pen?”
“Yeah.” I snapped to attention at the directness of his question. “It’s upstairs.”
“When you see Sam, use it.”
“Dad!” I gasped, amazed he’d ask me to zap her, no questions asked.
“And if she’s okay, nothing will happen.”
“And if she’s not, it’ll kill her.”
“Yes.” Dad looked grim.
“NO!”
I turned to run upstairs as he grabbed my arm. “You have to. I know you can’t imagine this as a possibility, but if she’s been turned, she won’t be able to control herself. And honestly, Sam won’t really be Sam anymore. The creature will look like her, but it will only want one thing from you and you’ll have to protect yourself.” He loosened his grip and pursed his lips, composing himself. “I’m sorry. I hope I’m wrong.”
His exact interpretation of what really happened sent a quiver through my gut. In spite of all his warnings, without the talisman, I would have died yesterday. And instead of Sam’s mom coming to our door, police would have informed him of my demise just now.
But the talisman did change everything. I’d been able to give Sam a second chance along with the rest of my vamp friends to choose a different life. The fact Dad would have zapped them on sight hurt. How could he be so cruel, especially since he knew civil vamps existed?
“You’re wrong.” I pulled my arm away. “You shouldn’t be so quick to judge. You had good vampires that you worked with.”
Dad laughed, the sound sadistic and mean. “Very few are civil, at best. And that’s only after years of practice. They still need blood to survive and will do anything to get it. They don’t keep humans as pets, just like you don’t buy ice cream to admire it in the freezer.”
He was misinformed. Vamps didn’t need blood, they only craved it, and once they abstained the bloodlust decreased drastically and they could lead bloodless lives. “If my eating ice cream killed people, I’d quit.”
“I’m not joking. For them it’s not an option. They don’t care if you were once friends. They kill to satisfy their overwhelming appetite. It’s a simple fact.”
They can if they’re given a chance.
“But still,” he said, “No going out after dark until we get a location on Sam. If she’s been changed, she’ll be lethal.”
I rolled my eyes and huffed. “Hardly.”
“Julia, this isn’t something to mess with. She’ll find you. You’re familiar. She won’t be able to help herself.”
I wanted to scream that I had a vampire-warding talisman and that she couldn’t harm me, but I wasn’t sure if that was wise.
“So you’re going to lock me up?”
“It’s for your safety.”
“Phil found me and nothing happened.”
He pressed his lips together. “You were lucky.”
“Lucky?” I snorted. “I thought you said I was brave.”
“That too. You’re just like your mother,” he said, almost as an afterthought.
My throat hiccupped. “What do you mean?”
Grief hit hard as Dad sat on the chair in the foyer. He stared down at the floor. “Mom had an ability to sense the emotions of others. She once asked me what kind of person would ever crave blood. I thought she was joking and didn’t take her comment seriously until it was too late.”
I sat down on the stairs opposite him. “Why didn’t you ever tell me Mom was an empath?”
Dad looked up, startled. “I—I don’t know.” His mouth froze, partly open as his skin paled. “Are you … are you one too?”
I looked away.
“That makes sense.” He touched my arm. “I should have known; you’ve always been so aware.”
“Freakishly so.”
“Oh, don’t think that,” he said and stood up, pulling me into a hug. “You’re special.”
Who would have thought a vampire sighting would bring out everything I’ve ever wanted to talk about with my father, but couldn’t? Well, almost everything. I peered deeply into his eyes, begging. He couldn’t lock me up.
“So, since I sense them, they can’t sneak up on me. That’s how I knew Phil was around. So, I’m fine.”
“I trust you, Julia. It’s the vamps I don’t trust. Do you not remember what happened to your mother? Your friendship with Sam might stop you from doing the right thing.”
I sucked in a quick breath, tempted to challenge him. Could he kill his best friend? Luckily, the talisman saved me from ever having to make that choice. “I’m armed now, so I’ll be careful. I promise.”
“Even still, I’m taking your keys.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry, pumpkin. I don’t want you to be tempted.”
There wasn’t anywhere I needed to go, but handing them over seemed completely unfair. They hung on the wall in the kitchen and I couldn’t snag them now without him knowing.
“This sucks.”
“Just until we can locate her.”
“Fine, whatever.” I turned on my heels and marched upstairs, slamming my door.
Chapter Twelve
Once Dad disappeared into his basement office, I escaped outside to clear my head. He might have my keys, but a walk in pure daylight surely wasn’t forbidden.
The ache inside for Nicholas and uncertainty with Phil and Sam drove daggers into my stomach. But Scarlett’s disappearance angered me most. This wasn’t the first time she’d gone missing in action. And now when I needed her most, she’d disappeared.
The giant redwoods creaked in time with the blue jays’ happy song, as if they played a symphony together. I padded down the winding path with Nicholas’ journal tucked under my arm. My destination: the place where fate had brought me and Nicholas together—our sacred spot.
I sat on the old familiar stump. Sunlight fought through the trees to illuminate the plants that needed the light, just like the depths of my heart, dying from the absence of everything I held dear. I didn’t know what to do, where to turn, or how to cope.
A blast of overwhelming curiosity drew my attention away. I peered down the trail, meeting a pair of green effervescent eyes. His eyes. I gasped and stood. My hands instinctively wrapped around the talisman to protect it. The journal flopped open onto the trail.
“It’s okay,” Nicholas said, putting out his hand. “Don’t be afraid.”
“I’ll scream,” I said, retreating away, knowing his mother sent him here to find me and retrieve the necklace, far away from Preston’s interference.
As I blinked, his shape blurred. Then
his hand cupped over my mouth and his arm fastened my torso; his body pressing into me from behind.
“Shhh,” he whispered in my ear. “I promise. I just want to talk.”
Sincerity emanated from his being. Unable to help it, I melted into his arms, welcoming his touch. He smelled amazing and though he was there to take back what was his, all I wanted to do was kiss him.
“You won’t scream?”
I nodded my head, tempted to jump into his arms. My body went slack as he loosened his grip.
“Here.” He picked up the journal and handed it to me. “You dropped this.”
I looked down at the journal and then back into his mesmerizing eyes. Our hands touched as I received the book. He gestured for us to sit down.
“I’m sorry I snuck up on you. I wasn’t sure …”
He stopped and studied me, fascination lighting up his face, as if he admired what he saw. I looked away with a blush, my stomach dancing with butterflies.
“How did you find me?”
“After you left, I couldn’t stop thinking about you. Preston and Alora wouldn’t tell me much as usual, so I got in my car and drove. Once I arrived in town, I followed your scent.”
“Oh,” I covered my mouth with my hand and then let it drop down to touch the talisman. Though it warmed, I wondered again why it wasn’t masking my scent. But because it didn’t work, he found me. Were his memories still there, just locked up somehow?
“You’re calling your parents by their first names. Why?”
“They don’t feel like my parents actually.”
Maybe not.
He scooted a little closer. I fought back the urge to grab his neck and lay one on his lips.
“So, what do you want to know?”
“Everything, anything. How we met? The events that led to my memory being erased?”
“You don’t remember anything?”
He shrugged.
“But you knew to come here?”
“You told me at the house.”
“Oh, right.” Darn it.
I looked away from his inquiring stare and my gaze ironically focused to the object on my lap. Everything he could possibly want to know was documented here, in his own words. A far better recollection than I could do. I gripped the leather bound book tighter, afraid of the consequences. What if he read what was inside and rejected me? But I couldn’t keep it from him either.
My fingers trembled as I held out the journal. “You should start with this.”
He touched the dagger cross on the cover, then the tattoo on his bicep.
My cheeks burned. “Yeah. It’s yours and I took it. I’m sorry.”
He opened the front cover and the photo he’d secretly taken of me slipped out onto his lap. The viridian flecks in his eyes sparkled as he picked it up and read the back. “I took this?”
“We have a long history, Nicholas. The only reason we are sitting here today, the only reason I’m alive, actually, is because of you.”
His brow knitted together. “I’m all ears.”
I sighed and touched his hand. “I don’t even know where to begin.”
He flipped his hand around and interlaced his fingers with mine. I squeezed back, his touch the lifesaving water I’d been dying to drink.
“Start at the beginning.”
For several hours I breezed through the Cliff Notes of our crazy journey. I had to start with the significance of where we sat, the fact he’d pulled me off the cliff in front of us and staked the vamp he’d lied about, calling it a mountain lion, right on this spot. The details came out effortlessly from my mother to his mother and everything in between, except, of course, for the embarrassing parts of our relationship. I wouldn’t dare tell him anything, for fear he might not feel the same for me again. Though he cared, his feelings were still platonic.
“What I don’t understand is if Preston and Alora wouldn’t tell you anything, why didn’t you just talk to Harry?”
Nicholas’ countenance dropped. “Harry died.”
“He what?” My throat constricted as fat tears welled in my eyes. “When?”
“He had a heart attack shortly after my amnesia began.”
“No,” I whispered and felt the world sway.
Nicholas put his arm over my shoulder and shushed me. I wasn’t sure what upset me more: the fact Nicholas wasn’t more saddened or that Alora quite possibly murdered him. A tear slipped down my cheek as the grief washed over me. Not only for Harry, but everyone who’d been victimized over the vampire curse. If only there was a way to stop it without having to hurt anyone I loved.
Everything boiled down to Alora’s never-ending quest to possess the talisman. She’d finally found the Achilles heel. By removing Harry and inciting amnesia on Nicholas, she could easily ask him to retrieve her heirloom.
“Why are you really here?” I gulped down the painful betrayal.
He clenched his jaw, hurt. “I told you already. For answers.”
“Not to get the necklace?” My voice came out harder than I wanted.
“No.” He pursed his lips and attempted to wipe a wayward tear from my cheek. I jerked away.
“I promise you, Julia. I’m here to find out about my past, which involves the necklace. There’s obviously a good reason why I gave it to you and not her. And why you and Preston are so indignant she doesn’t get it back.”
My heart fluttered in surprise, melting my anger. “Yes, there is.” The stone warmed, as if happy of that fact. “It wards off vampires. But in her hands, she’d become a day-walker and be invincible.”
He clenched his jaw. “Then I made a good decision.”
I studied his beautiful, kissable lips, yearning for him to just lean forward. “I think so.”
An awkward pause filled the space as his fury and frustration flared then subsided. I’d indirectly told him his mother was a lying, conniving witch and he apparently connected the dots. His amnesia wasn’t a mistake at all and now he finally knew it.
He shrugged off his anger and sighed. “So what do we normally do on days like these?”
A chuckle bounced out of my lips. Nothing about us was normal. “We could go to your house.”
“I have a house?”
I laughed a little harder until I remembered Phil and I had turned it into a detox center for Sam. “Did you say you drove?”
He nodded. “Good. I have some people I want you to meet.”
Chapter Thirteen
The summer sun hung in the sky amongst a mound of soft fluffy clouds. I closed my eyes, basking in its warmth, happy I didn’t have to get home quite yet. But just to be safe, I clicked my phone completely off to keep Dad’s suspicions down. Hopefully he’d spent all afternoon worrying about locating Sam instead of my whereabouts.
As we drove, Nicholas remained quiet, his emotions flickering around like a pinwheel. And once he’d digested all the info I’d told him, the journal that lay on the console between us was ready to add more sustenance to his information overload.
I fidgeted, anxious to know what Phil and Sam were up to and wondered if popping in unexpectedly would be such a good idea. I’d also hoped Scarlett would be there to help unblock Nicholas’ memories. One positive thing about the amnesia, Nicholas didn’t remember he and Phil were sworn enemies. Otherwise, this reunion would have gone in a completely different direction.
“This is it,” I said.
He hummed in acceptance, admiring his digs.
As we exited the car, I appraised the interior. A thick plume of bloodlust with a hint of desire exuded from inside. My body flushed as jealousy tangled its green fingers around my heart and squeezed. Was there something brewing between Phil and Sam? I trusted him to take care of Sam, not hook up with her, especially after he’d pretty much fallen in love with me.
“Ummm,” I said, not sure exactly how to gauge what might be happening inside. “I hope you’re not upset, but one of my friends was recently changed and she needed a place to hide until she could ge
t a grip on her appetite. I didn’t have anywhere for them to go, and your place was vacant, so ...”
“Okay.” He shrugged. “Let’s go meet ‘em then.”
“Door!” I yelled, hoping not to singe someone who didn’t move fast enough.
I braced myself as we entered the house, unsure of what I’d find. Nicholas’ gaze trailed the claw marks Katie had left in the floor seconds before her untimely demise.
“Oh.” I bit my lip, the guilt behind her death coming back to me in a big gust of remorse. “There was an accident. It’s a long story. I’m sure we can fix it.”
“Julia, you’re here.” Phil came around the corner, his hands firmly gripped onto Sam’s shoulders as her bloodlust spiked. “And, Nick—”
Sam’s screech startled everyone as she darted behind Phil.
I held up my hand and backed up against the door. “I didn’t mean to interrupt,” I said, as her pitch escalated. “I just wanted to see how things were going.”
Phil tried unsuccessfully to pry her away from his back. “This is embarrassing. I swear we were doing much better than this.” He grabbed Sam’s hands and removed her nails from his shirt. “Sam. Chill.”
“He’s here to get me,” she squealed.
Phil screwed up his face and followed her fearful gaze to Nicholas. “You two know each other?”
She started to hyperventilate. “I promise. I won’t hurt anyone, please...”
Her reaction donned on me. She must have put two and two together from our talks at school and then at her house just now. That Nicholas hunted vampires for a living and not human criminals. “It’s okay, Sam. Nicholas is not going to hurt you.”
Phil mouthed an “O” and put his hand over her mouth. “Shhh …”
She yelped and wiggled, but he successfully calmed her down.
Taken aback, Nicholas took in the sight, his face darkened in concern. “Why is she acting like that?”
“Sorry,” I said under my breath. “She thinks you’re going to kill her.”