His eyes were closed and I didn't get a response from him. I put my ear to his chest and I couldn't hear him breathing. I grabbed the arrow and went to pull it out when I heard someone call out my name.
"Don't do that!" Brendan was running towards us and he sat down across from me. "Feed him your blood."
"What?" I asked bewildered as tears ran down my cheeks.
"Just do it!" he demanded with a wild look.
I bit into my wrist and winced at the pain. Brendan opened Ethan's mouth and I put pressure on his mouth with my wrist, the blood flowing in. His mouth overflowed with blood and I took my wrist away, looking at him desperately. I heard a ripping sound and Brendan handed me a piece of his clothing to put around my wound. I quickly wrapped the material around my wrist and waited.
"Because you're a half blood, your blood is special, it heals humans from almost anything," Brendan said.
"Almost?" I asked my eyes widening. "How do you know this?"
"He will be fine!" Brendan tried to sound confident. "I've heard rumours …" he mumbled, now trying to convince himself. Brendan reached over and pulled out the arrow quickly. I looked away, it was too difficult to watch. Brendan guided Ethan's head up with the blood still in his mouth, closing it to force it down his throat. I saw a slight movement in his jaw and then he swallowed.
I started to breathe unevenly, ripping Ethan's shirt where the wound was. Slowly, I saw the wound stitching itself up, like magic. I gasped in awe and stared at Ethan's face. Brendan put Ethan's head back down and then his body jumped. He began gasping for air like he hadn't breathed in years. Ethan's eyes opened and he stared wide eyed at Brendan and me.
"Oh Ethan!" I whispered and I threw my arms around him.
Ethan grunted and wrapped his arms around me. "I thought I was-"
"You were but Tatiana brought you back to life," Brendan interrupted.
Ethan sat up and looked at me with admiration.
"Brendan helped too!" I exclaimed and smiled at both of them. "Thank you Brendan," I said with tears in my eyes again.
"Come on we need to get you to a safer place," Brendan urged us to get up and start moving.
We made our way towards Julian's house, making sure none of the vampires saw us and we climbed in through the window. I went in first, the house was pitch black. I was scared and jumpy. While Ethan came through the window I felt my way to the door, slamming into a hard figure. Suddenly a small light flickered in the room. The figure's eyes opened and they were pitch black. I gasped in fear and saw it smile. Why were her eyes black? She grabbed me by the forearms and I struggled in its strong hold. "Let go of me!" I gasped.
"Tatiana!" Ethan shouted and I heard something break behind me.
My heart hammered in my chest and I couldn't hear anything else other than my ragged breathing.
"It's over, Tatiana. You're mine!" the vampire hissed. Then suddenly her eyes rolled back and her hold on me loosened as she stumbled and fell to the floor. Brad was standing behind her, a stake had been plunged into her back. He had saved my life. I smiled and wrapped my arms around him and saw the vampire turn to ash.
"Thank you," I whispered.
I let go of him and turned around to find Ethan. Ethan took my arm, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," I whispered and grasped his hand in mine.
There were candles lit everywhere as we made our way deeper into the house. The floor boards creaked under our weight and I made sure to listen to any sound in the house. Outside, people were screaming and we could hear the clash of metal against metal as everyone fought. When we came into the hallway, we heard voices and we paused to listen.
"Where is she?" a voice snarled.
"I'm not telling you." It was Julian who answered.
"Tell me. Now!" the voice demanded.
Ethan and Brendan took a step forward, but I stopped them and shook my head. I pointed to the next room and we all moved in there.
"We can't just leave him there," Brendan pointed out.
"Is it just me or do these vampires seem different to you?" Ethan whispered looking at all of us.
I nodded, "They have black eyes and they're stronger than the others."
"Well what're we going to do?" Brendan asked impatiently.
"I have a plan," I announced proudly.
They all stopped and listened to my plan with interest. Brendan looked impressed and smirked, "Ethan, if she wasn't your girlfriend, I would be kissing her right now."
Ethan laughed, not the slightest bit worried. I smiled enjoying the brotherly teasing. Meanwhile Brad stayed silent and I rolled my eyes, he was always overly dramatic. Brendan tied up my wrists, loosely, so I could get out of it easily, and then he pushed me forward into the hallway and towards the room where Julian was.
Julian was tied to a chair and the vampire was looming over him.
"Let's make a deal shall we?" Brendan asked and Julian and the vampire jumped in surprise. "The half blood for Julian."
The vampire turned around to reveal his face, the one and only Jacob Summers, also known as Bradley's brother. I tried to stifle my gasp as I looked at him.
"Brother, nice to see you," said Jacob. Bradley nodded in response, but didn't show any other signs of emotion. "What no hug or hello?" his arms spread out wide for a hug, his fierce look replaced by a smirk. Jacob had always seemed like a down to earth person, he was always sweet and kind and wouldn't hurt a fly. Well at least I thought he wouldn't, until now. His gaze turned on me, "Hey there. I've missed you Tat." I flinched at the mention of my nickname and then his attention turned back to Brendan, "How about you just hand me the girl?"
"How about I let her loose and make her bite you?" Brendan negotiated calmly.
I forced myself not to laugh, "Just let me go!" I tried to struggle a little.
"Shut up!" Brendan said and I could tell he was rather enjoying this.
Jacob looked at me for a moment and considered the trade. He nodded once, untied Julian, and pushed him towards us. Brendan pushed me towards Jacob and I clung to him with fake relief. "I thought they were going to kill me," I sighed. Jacob was stiff and I tightened my hold on him. "Thank you for saving my life," I said quietly. Then I bit into his flesh. I tasted foul blood but forced myself not to spit it out.
He howled in pain, but I managed to cling to him even when he tried to shake me off. I ripped the chunk of flesh from his body before pulling back and stepping away from him. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. I felt a smile tugging at my lips and I let it take over.
He seemed weaker and then he stumbled a little. After regaining his balance he charged towards me. I swung my leg up high in the air and hit him square in the jaw making his head snap to the side like a twig.
"Oh no you don't!" All of a sudden another vampire came charging towards me from out of nowhere, tackling me to the floor and knocking the breath out of me.
"Remember me?" his eyes were black and I recognised him. He was the vampire that tried to kill me on the beach because I'd killed his brother.
I heard other vampires come in and everyone started to shout. I saw two vampires going Ethan's way and I hoped he wouldn't get hurt. I struggled under the vampire, managing to twist and turn my way on top of him. I landed in a few punches, my knuckles protesting every time. The vampire's nose ended up broken and blood poured out. I went to make another punch, but then suddenly I was on the floor again and he was hovering over me. My heart stopped and I felt his hand bash into my face. My eye felt numb and my vision blurred a little. I felt the pain and I couldn't open my right eye fully.
He grabbed a wooden stake beside him and went to plunge it into my heart. I braced myself and waited, and waited. After a few seconds, I peeked a look and saw the vampire's face, his eyes rolled back before he collapsed on top of me. I struggled to get him off me but when I did I saw Ethan standing there with a stake in his hand. He lifted me up in relief and I tried to smile, even though my eye protested. I looked around and found that all the v
ampires were dead … well deader only to see them turn to ash a moment later.
Brendan, Julian, and Brad were looking at Jacob. He was lying on the floor, his mouth hanging open and drool starting to come out. His wound hadn't healed and the blood was still gushing out making me want to puke.
"Come on, we've got to get out of here," Ethan urged all of us.
We all walked to the front door of the house and opened it expecting chaos, but there was no one there. Some people lay on the ground, those that hadn't survived.
Camille was running towards us, "Sir, sixteen hunters are dead."
"What happened to all the vampires?" Ethan asked frowning.
"They just disappeared."
Ethan
W
hy would they just disappear?" Tatiana asked wanting answers.
We were in her house in Michigan. Everything was back to normal, well mostly. Tatiana and I were allowed to see each other and Elena and Tatiana were on good terms. Tatiana decided to forgive Elena as long as she could meet her real parents and that Elena would have to stop killing hunters which I thought was fair. Brad and Tatiana were now on speaking terms. She told him that they could only be friends and he agreed after a bit of convincing. He went back to Chicago, but often visited on the weekends. I didn't mind if they hung out by themselves since I had complete trust in her.
Nate and Daniel were worried and thought that we'd eloped and Tatiana and I laughed at them. People stared for a while wondering where we were for the past few weeks, but I didn't care. We were supposed to be studying for the Maths test on the next day, but we were getting distracted.
"I don't know," I whispered into her ear softly as we lay down on her bed our legs locked together.
"Let's not worry about it now …" I whispered, kissing her. She kissed me back but she seemed distracted. "Now what?"
She sighed, "I just think it's weird that they disappeared like that."
I groaned and rolled my eyes. "My dad will figure it out."
"But I'm dying to know right now," she complained like a little girl.
I chuckled, "You are incapable of patience aren't you?"
"Not one of my good traits," she smiled brightly.
"I'll tell you what, we'll go to school tomorrow and act like we're normal teenagers then after school we will go back to the camp and see if there are any clues," I touched her cheek affectionately.
She nodded and I kissed her forehead and tucked her head under my chin. "Do you think Elena would let me stay the night?" I asked with a smirk.
She laughed softly against my chest. "Who said you need permission?" she said, looking up with a cheeky grin. "Besides we could always say we just fell asleep," she whispered and traced her index finger along my jaw seductively.
I let out a shaky sigh and we both quickly stripped off our clothes. We were left standing in front of each other, she was just wearing her bra and underwear and I was wearing my boxer shorts. We both looked each other up and down, only to jump in surprise when my phone rang.
I quickly searched for it in my jeans pockets. "Hello?"
"What time will you be home?" My father's voice sounded worried on the other end.
"Uh … well I was gonna spend the night," I hesitated and waited for his reaction.
"Okay, that's fine, just let me know when you get to school."
I doubled over in shock that he didn't have a problem with me staying over. Usually he would ask if the parents were home, to be safe and use protection, but he didn't do anything except hang up. Humph. I put my phone on the bedside table and found Tatiana already in bed under the covers. She was looking at me with hunger in her eyes. I saw a flash of gold for a moment, but then it disappeared. I got in bed and tucked her against my warmth.
"Can I ask you something?" she whispered.
I nodded and she continued, "Do you want to have sex with me? I'm asking because you seem like you don't."
"Tatiana, of course I do! How does it seem that way when we're making out? I don't push you because I don't want to make you do something you don't want to. I want to wait because I want it to be special, it's important to me."
"I thought you didn't want to."
"Trust me, I want too."
She stayed silent and I smiled to myself. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight," she whispered lazily.
I drummed to the beat of the music as I drove Tatiana to school the next day. I knew she couldn't wait until school finished so we could find out what really happened that day.
Elena hadn't seemed bothered by the idea that I stayed the night, actually she was quite happy to see Tatiana happy. It still felt like a dream to wake up with Tatiana in my arms and I wondered how I got so lucky. Elena had warmed up to me and I think she considered me like a son from the way she looked at me affectionately. The weirdest, but yet amazing, thing was that I felt like she was the mother I didn't have anymore.
I parked in my usual parking space at the school and both Tatiana and I walked hand in hand, bags on our backs, towards our lockers. I opened my locker and grabbed the books I needed for the day and shoved them in my bag, knowing I wouldn't be bothered to grab them later in between classes.
"Hey man!" Nate called out and waved while Daniel rolled his eyes.
A wide smile spread across my face and I walked towards them with Tatiana beside me. Nate and Daniel hugged Tatiana and I slapped them both on the back which was my way of saying hello … and back off.
Meredith walked past us, staring. She was wearing her usual heels with a short skirt and a blouse that hardly covered her stomach. I shook my head and looked over at Tatiana who was looking at Meredith. I knew what she was thinking.
"She's nothing compared to you," I whispered in her ear as I held her hand in mine.
She smiled shyly and kissed my cheek making me want to kiss her back, on the lips. "Get a room!" Nate half shouted. I groaned and I looked up to see Daniel slap Nate across the back of the head. "Ow!" Nate yelped and we all laughed at him, including Tatiana.
Tatiana and I then walked away from those idiots towards English. We were quiet the whole way, but I didn't mind the silence, "What no questions?"
"Does my curious mind bother you?" she asked raising her eyebrows.
I laughed. Even with our hands clasped, people hardly stared anymore. They were getting over the fact that we were a couple. They just walked past us like they had better things to do and, hey, I wasn't complaining.
English was boring, as it always was. I had no idea why I thought today would be different. We were to write an essay on the book we were reading, To Kill a Mockingbird. The question was, 'What was the message the author wanted to get across?'
I heard pens scraping against paper and I stared at my sheet blankly. I tapped my pen lightly against my knuckles and I finally wrote down a page and a half essay, gathering information as I went. Before the bell rang the teacher asked if anyone would summarise their essay and answer the question. Hardly anybody put their hands up and I didn't blame them.
"Yes, Ms … Cruz?" the teacher asked.
"I think that the author's message was to not judge people so easily. No one is innocent and no one is guilty unless proven otherwise with the right methods. Just because of their race or colour or what house you live in or what you look like, in the end we are all the same, scared and fragile beings, but yet different too," she said with a confident voice.
"Wonderful!" the teacher said with enthusiasm.
Tatiana looked at me with a smile and I put my hand on her thigh and squeezed it reassuringly. I looked up at the clock and found we still had five minutes left of class until lunch break. I tapped my foot against the carpet lightly, trying to pass the time. Then, all of a sudden, an announcement was made through the speaker phone.
"Tatiana Cruz and Ethan Chase, please report to the office."
"Well you heard what it said, go on," our English teacher urged us to get out, so she could move on with her class.
Ta
tiana and I packed our bags, giving each other worried looks as we walked towards the office. We sat down and waited at the office counter, when a lady came towards us wearing the usual black skirt and blouse with low heels and handed us a note each.
"Your parents both want you home as soon as possible."
I sighed in relief and wondered what was going on, when we got into my car I heard my phone go off. It was my dad.
Don't go home, come 2 camp & bring Tatiana. Need 2 talk asap.
I handed Tatiana my phone to look at the message, "Talk about what?"
"I have no idea."
The drive was over an hour. Tatiana got comfy, pulling her legs up to her chin and leaning against the window, staring at the horizon. She didn't speak for a long time, until halfway through the trip. I knew something had been bothering her since I showed her the message on my phone.
"Do you think he found out any information about my … parents?"
I looked over at her and I saw that she was struggling not to lose it. I pulled the car over to the side of the road and stopped the car. I turned in my seat and pulled her into my lap gently, rubbing my hand up and down her back to comfort her. It took that one embrace and then she lost it. Her shoulders started to shake and her lower lip trembled and the tears came tumbling down. Her head leaned against my shoulder and I whispered comforting words to her.
"What if they don't want me anymore?" she sobbed. "Or if something happened to them and that's why they can't be found?"
I pushed her back, but softly. She stared at me blankly clearly confused why I did that. "They've been looking for you ever since you were taken from them. Why on earth would they decide that they don't want you now, after all this time?"
She sniffled and then gave me a small smile, "Thanks Eth."
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