The blackness around me began to shift, a scene forming all around me. Within several jarring seconds, I found myself riding in a car. It wasn't just any car, as I soon realized. I was riding in the car my parents had owned when they were alive. I was sitting in the backseat, and my younger brother Aiden was riding next to me, staring at the passing scenery out the window and listening to music with his headphones. My mother and father were in the front seat talking casually as my father drove.
I gasped in astonishment as I looked at them, studying their faces. I reached for Aiden, trying to touch his arm to get his attention. To my great disappointment, my hand went right through his as if I weren't a solid being. I opened my mouth to speak, calling out his name, but he just continued to look out the window as if he couldn't hear me.
In another futile attempt I tried to tap my mother's shoulder in front of me. Again, my hand passed right through her as if I were a ghost. I sat back, resigned to watch them since I could do no more than that. I studied Aiden, finding comfort in seeing his face again. I missed him so much that it had almost shattered me to lose him. In that moment, it was easy to believe that he was here with me ... that they all were. I listened to the rich sound of my father's voice as he spoke to my mother in the front seat. I observed the way she gazed adoringly back at him.
Then I made the mistake of following Aiden's gaze out the window, and I recognized our surroundings. We were in Chicago, but we weren't just anywhere in Chicago. We were on the same street the accident had occurred on. Panic set in as I looked ahead, seeing the familiar buildings towering on both sides of us in a city I had once loved but had desperately tried to forget since. I tried again to get Aiden's attention, to warn him of what was surely about to take place. When that didn't work, I desperately reached for my father, leaning forward between the driver and front passenger seats.
"Dad," I called out. "You have to listen to me. A drunk driver is coming from the other direction. You have to turn, or pull over. Just do something!" But no matter how hard I tried to make contact, my efforts were futile. I knew why, of course. I hadn't been in the car when the other driver had hit them. I'd been out with friends after arguing with my parents about having to go to dinner together as a family. My father had eventually given in and let me see a movie with my friends instead. I'd returned home just before midnight to find police at the house. They were, of course, there to break the news that I'd just lost my entire family.
Now here I was, riding along in the car with them as they headed toward their demise, and I could do nothing about it.
I was completely aware of the drunk driver as he swerved out of his lane ahead and veered toward us. The sound of my mother's shout was drowned out by the deafening volume of my own scream. I felt the impact, but it wasn't jarring like I'd expected. Instead I felt myself slipping away as the car spun out of control, careening toward oncoming traffic. I was already rejoining the wisps of fog and the empty void of blackness that was determined to reclaim me.
Chapter 40
Trey
I MADE MY WAY into the bedroom and saw Aurora’s unmoving form on the bed. I braced myself for the scene and stepped forward, sitting carefully on the edge of the bed. She was still covered in blood, her shirt stained red. But the hole in the material where the spindle had impaled her now revealed smooth skin instead of a gaping hole. I felt a brief sense of relief that was shattered by the knowledge that beneath the surface, she was not okay. Not even close. A line of tubing ran from the inside of her right elbow and up to some bags hanging on an IV stand, one of which was full of Mark’s blood. There was also a monitor of some kind with some digital readings that might as well have been Chinese, for all I understood about them. I bent over Aurora, ignoring the protest my sore ribs asserted. Her face was serene, almost normal, if not for the bluish veins that were showing around her eyes. I brushed a strand of hair away and kissed her cheek.
“Aurora,” I breathed. “I’m here now.” That didn’t seem like nearly enough. I lifted her hand to my chest, holding it in place over my heart, hoping the familiar gesture would bring her comfort. I sat there for a while, wishing I could find the words to express how I was feeling. The silence was quickly suffocating, and I got to my feet again. I managed to get a button-up shirt on with some difficulty, and I picked up the acoustic guitar I’d brought to the beach house and started playing “You Only Live Twice.” It was the first song that came to mind and the best way I could think of to let Aurora know I was there for her.
“The mirror’s cracked but the image clear
There isn’t much that I can say.
I wish you’d stop pretending
That it can’t be this way
“You paint a picture of my life
Though it won’t be carved in stone
You’ll take me to my grave
So we won’t be alone
“I’ll forgo all that I am
Don’t want to face the night alone
I know it won’t be easy
Seeing you … feels like coming home.”
As I sang, I thought about how I wrote the song right after I had learned that my mortal days were numbered. As I watched Aurora lay unmoving on the bed, I realized with chilling clarity how fitting the words were now, despite everything that had happened since.
“And I can tell you’ll never change
The black of night you love is sure
Don’t let me fade away
and leave me standing here
“I’ll forgo all that I am
Don’t want to face the night alone
I know it won’t be easy
Seeing you … feels like coming home
“I know that it’s a sacrifice
The way to you now is clear
I’ll take a breath and take a chance
Push aside my every fear
“I’ll forgo all that I am
Don’t want to face the night alone
I know it won’t be easy
Seeing you … feels like coming home.”
When I finished the song, I started right into another, pausing only when Hana opened the door a few minutes later. She was carrying a bowl of water, some towels and a pair of scissors.
“I thought it would be good to clean her up a little,” Hana said. I moved to set my guitar down so I could help, but she touched my arm to stop me. “I’ll do it,” she said softly. “You keep singing.”
I hesitated, but Hana nodded for me to continue playing as she began cutting Aurora’s ruined shirt off of her. I picked out another melody on the guitar and sang softly as Hana worked to clean the blood from Aurora’s skin. Three songs later, nearly all traces of the gruesome incident were gone. Hana had carefully put a fresh shirt on Aurora, and she looked deceivingly okay lying in the big bed.
“Thank you,” I told Hana in between song lines as she gathered up the dirty towels. She smiled and let herself back out of the room. I’d been singing to Aurora for over an hour all together before I realized that the hint of strain I’d normally be feeling in my throat by then wouldn’t come in this new version of my body. “You have to wake up,” I said to Aurora, willing her to hear me. Just then a series of beeps sounded from the monitor next to the bed. Mark and I were standing at Aurora’s side in an instant. “What’s going on?” I demanded.
“Her blood pressure is dropping,” Mark said, his voice betraying the underlying panic. “Her vitals aren’t stable. My blood isn’t helping her. We’re out of options.” He put his hand on her forehead and closed his eyes, and I felt a brief hum of power as he used his moon-given talent to give her a healing burst. After a moment, the monitor was silent again. “Anything I can do from this point is only temporary.”
“So we just watch her die?” My heart was pounding now. “This is my wife we’re talking about! It’s not good enough. If you’d told me a few months ago I’d be a vampire now, I wouldn’t have believed it possible, but here I am. You’re a doctor, Mark. And a vampire. There has to be somethin
g else we can try.”
He shook his head. “I was afraid of this ... I ... I can’t do it. I can’t save her. It would take blood with the power of centuries to reverse this kind of damage. I’m not strong enough.”
I kneeled and took Aurora’s hand in my own before looking up at him. “Then find someone who is.”
Mark turned away from me. “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice just above a whisper. He slowly backed up to the door and disappeared from the room.
“I can’t do this without you,” I said to Aurora, pressing my lips to the back of her hand for a long moment. “Everything’s falling apart.... We’ve been through so much together in such a short time ... it can’t end like this. I’m not letting you go.” Silent tears streamed down my face. “If you can hear me, you have to hold on.”
I reached out with my mind, desperately searching for a way to get through to her. What I encountered was enough to add a new layer of worry to the pile of nerves I was becoming. It was like a fog; a dark hazy mist so suffocating that I couldn’t navigate it. I tried to push through, but it was no use. Aurora hadn’t put up her mental block with me since she changed me. She’d been unusually open in order to help me learn how to communicate mentally. As green as I was, I knew better than to believe the fortified mental wall she’s so well-known for would look and feel like this fog. The other vampires I’d encountered at Club Sanguin, including the giant vampire Tytus, had mental barriers that more closely resembled a brick wall. Compared to those, I imagined Aurora’s would have more in common with a medieval castle built from stone that could withstand even the strongest battering ram. But this fog? Something was terribly wrong.
Aurora had suffered a head wound in the fall, and although I didn’t want to believe that it could result in a mental fog like that, nothing else really explained it. A soft knock sounded on the bedroom door, and Mark stepped inside. I looked up at him, surprised by the fresh resolve I saw in his incandescent eyes.
“I have an idea,” he said. “But you’re not going to like it.”
“She’s dying, Mark,” I said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to save her.”
Mark nodded, his eyes falling on Aurora’s unmoving form. “Stay with her. Hana is staying, too. I’m taking Beck with me. We’ll be back soon.”
I wanted to ask for specifics, but I knew there wasn’t time. He left the room without another word.
Chapter 41
Aurora
THE GREY MIST WAS more like a thick fog now as I drifted around in it. I had thought the darkness was bad, but having to witness the car accident that took my family from me was far, far worse. It was relieving to find myself in the dark again. Even if it had been wonderful at first, to see Aiden's face again, to see my parents, the joy from it had shattered into jagged, broken pieces along with the car windshield.
Surely my family was in a place better than this. They deserved the pearly white gates and the streets paved in gold, even if I didn't. If this was death, I hoped they at least had obtained something more. I had to believe that.
A familiar voice pulled me from my thoughts and I spun around, trying to see the source of it. It was Trey's voice, but I couldn't see him anywhere. That didn't stop me from looking. I wanted to walk toward his voice, but it seemed to be flowing in from all around me, making it impossible to choose any one direction to search. His voice grew louder, and for the first time my mind was able to comprehend exactly what I was hearing. Trey was singing. The realization both devastated and gave me hope all at once. I wanted to see him, to have him wrap his arms around me again, but I didn't want him to be anywhere near this all-encompassing fog.
“And I can tell you’ll never change
The black of night you love is sure
Don’t let me fade away
and leave me standing here.”
Then, as if a door had opened, Trey's voice became focused behind me. I turned around and moved toward it. Just as before, I was suddenly whisked out of the fog and transported to another realm. I found myself sitting alone at a table in the middle of a small crowd. Trey's voice was still flowing around me, but now the source of the sound was obvious. Trey was on a small stage in front of me, standing alone with his guitar. I was at Carlie's, the music lounge where I'd first met Trey. Everything seemed the same except the song Trey was singing. He strummed his guitar and poured his heart out into the microphone. I couldn't take my eyes off of him. Even as a human, he was magnificent, and I loved watching him in his element like this. His voice was warm, with that sandpaper-like quality that just makes me melt. I wanted to catch his eye, to have him look at me, but I realized with a pang that none of it was real. Just as I hadn't been able to affect Aiden and my parents, Trey wouldn't be able to see me here.
The thought crossed my mind that if this was what death was like, maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all. If I couldn't touch Trey, couldn't talk to him, at least I could sit here and take comfort in his voice as it wrapped around me like a soft blanket.
Trey finished the song, but instead of the usual applause and whistling, the crowd sat silent, menacing. I looked around, and, in a sickening twist, realized the other people in the crowd weren't human. They were vampires.
They got to their feet and fear threatened to close off my throat as I tried to shout to warn Trey. The first row of vampires were already taking the stage, forcing him back against the wall without a way to escape. I ran forward, fighting past a few of them, but not before Trey was completely surrounded. I shouted out his name, and was surprised when he looked up and met my gaze, his eyes full of terror.
"Aurora," he said. "I can't do this without you."
"Trey!" I screamed.
"Everything's falling apart," he continued without pausing. His voice was unusually soft for the situation. "We've been through so much together in such a short time ... it can't end like this. I'm not letting you go."
I grabbed the nearest vampire by the throat and threw her aside, still forcing my way forward to reach him. "Trey, I'm coming," I yelled desperately. But I was severely outnumbered. There was no way to reach him. One of the vampires that had him trapped opened his mouth and clamped down on Trey's neck. "No!" I screamed, my body locking up. With bated breath, I watched in terror as the vampire began draining him. Trey's eyes met mine again, and I saw that silent tears were streaming down his face. He opened his mouth again and said, "If you can hear me, you have to hold on."
The scene faded to black, and I found myself surrounded by darkness and grey mist again. I tried to wrap my head around what I had just witnessed. This place I was trapped in was a place of nightmares, but something more had happened just now. Trey had been here, even if he was forced to play a role in a terrible delusion. He saw me. His cool blue eyes had locked with mine and he actually saw me. He spoke to me. I didn't know why this time was different than before, but I could only hope it was because Trey was still alive.
He found a way to reach me through the blackness. I was sure of it. And from that moment nothing mattered more than getting back to him. One way or another, we would be together.
Chapter 42
Trey
I DIDN’T KNOW IF Aurora could hear me, but I talked to her anyway. It was the only thing I could think to do that would keep me from losing my mind as I waited impatiently for the next part of Mark’s plan, whatever it was. Eventually, I heard the front door open, and three sets of footsteps coming inside. Mark and Beck were back, and they weren’t alone.
“Mark,” I called, getting to my feet. He opened the bedroom door almost immediately. Another vampire stepped up behind Mark, peering into the room over his shoulder. I was speechless when I realized I was looking at Damir Vidic. Damir’s eyes glowed in true vampire fashion, unlike the last time we’d met. He looked even more conceited for it somehow. Damir took another step, pushing past Mark to walk into the bedroom. He gazed at Aurora, but I couldn’t read his expression. I glared at Mark, incredulous. “This guy is your plan?” Mark ignored me
and watched Damir instead.
“There is no rogue fledgling,” Damir said. “You lied to me.” Anger flashed in his eyes.
“I had to get you here,” Mark said, unflinching.
“I could have you brought before the Elders for this,” Damir added, but the anger in his gaze was already dissipating as he stared at Aurora. “Who did this to her?” he asked after a moment.
I hesitated. It went against everything in me to share anything with Damir, but Mark nodded for me to respond. “Her name is Malena,” I stated. “Maybe you’ve heard of her. She is obsessed with you, after all.” I wasn’t sure what Mark’s motivation was for bringing the head of the Emissary here, but I had to trust that he had a plan and that it was a good one.
The series of beeps sounded from the monitor again, and Mark stepped forward in response. He touched Aurora’s forehead again, and after a moment, the monitor’s alarm quieted. The relief I felt was short-lived, however, knowing that everything Mark could do was only a temporary solution for her.
“Whatever your plan is, we have to hurry. We’re losing her,” I said, feeling the icy truth grip my heart like an iron fist.
Damir cursed under his breath, and although he looked at me, I knew his words were meant for Mark when he spoke. “I can’t guarantee that he’ll help you, but I’ll make a phone call.” Mark nodded, and Damir pulled his phone from his pocket and left the room.
“What was that about?” I asked.
“I’ll explain on the way,” Mark said. “We have to get Aurora in the car. Now.” I did as he said, gently lifting Aurora, along with a blanket, into my arms and following him out of the room. Damir Vidic was nowhere to be seen, but I heard the sound of a car speeding away. “We’ll take my car,” Mark said. “There are supplies in back.” I nodded. “I’ll call you,” Mark said to Hana. “Get somewhere safe. This storm is getting worse.”
Immortals And Melodies (Blood And Guitars #2) Page 21