“I didn’t,” Erik said, smiling. He turned to face me, kicking the door closed with his foot. “They’re for you.” He extended the flowers and the pink box toward me, but all I could do was stare at him.
“W-What?” I stammered. “Why?” I was trying not to sound totally confused.
“Well,” Kayla interjected, stepping around Erik and taking the box from his hand, “we decided that since no one really knows when your birthday is, we thought we’d pick a day.” She was smiling from ear to ear, practically bouncing in place.
“And that day’s today,” Erik said over her shoulder. “So happy birthday, Ava.”
My birthday?
They planned a surprise birthday party? For me? The word overwhelming didn’t cover it. “Wow,” I finally said, the words caught in my throat. “I-I don’t know what to say.”
“Say you like chocolate cake.” Kayla stepped past me and back into the kitchen, placing the cake box on the counter where she had just inhaled her lunch.
“So that’s why you ate your sandwich like you’d been starved for six weeks? Because of this?”
“Bingo,” she said, pulling a large knife from the dishwasher. She flipped the top of the cake box, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Cute,” I said, staring down at my very first birthday cake (that I could remember)—a set of realistic-looking fangs tipped in red.
“I thought you’d like it.” Erik had moved in behind me, so close I could feel his breath on my bare shoulder. I was really liking this birthday.
“Did you?” I said, trying to ignore the scent of his blood that was blending oh-so-well with the smell of sugary cake icing and flooding my senses. “You picked this out?”
“Guilty.” Erik reached an arm around me and lifted the cake from the box. Kayla stabbed a dark red question-mark candle into the top and lit it with one of those long lighters. “Make a wish,” he added, barely a whisper in my ear, as he brought the cake up to my face. I slowly closed my eyes, taking in the scent and feel of his body so close to mine, and thought painfully hard about what I would wish for most in the world. With Erik practically wrapped around me, and my best friend eagerly waiting to slice into the cake, I could only think of one thing.
As I opened my eyes and blew out the candles, I hoped they couldn’t see Chance’s name written all over my face.
UNINVITED GUEST
This cake is awesome,” Kayla said as she cut into her second piece. “Seriously, you guys, is there anything better than cake?”
“I think there is,” Erik said. He had finally moved from behind me and was now leaning on the end of the bar. I was so glad I was sitting down, because he was making my head spin.
“Ha ha,” Kayla said, picking up her plate and heading to the living room. “Any clue when Chance will be back?” she asked. “I thought we were heading out tonight?”
“Um, he didn’t say.” I followed her and Erik into the next room, biting my tongue to keep from spilling details about the conversation Chance and I had on the porch; details they didn’t need. “But hopefully soon. I guess we could pack while we wait?”
“Already done,” Kayla said, cake and icing muffling her words.
“When?” She had been around me every second since we ditched school.
“Well, technically I never unpacked from our last trip,” she said, stuffing more cake into her mouth. “We’ll just toss in our bathroom stuff, and we’re good to go.”
If only it were that easy to take a road trip with Chance and Erik.
“So, uh, what do we do while we wait?” I asked.
“I say we don’t wait,” Erik chimed in. “Let’s hit the road now, leave Dead Boy to wallow in his self-loathing.”
I cut my eyes at him. “Erik, stop calling him that.”
“What?” He looked at me like I had just scolded him for smacking a newborn on the behind. “It’s not like I’m making it up. He is dead, and he is a boy, right?”
“Cut it out, seriously. I’m stressed out enough without having to worry about you two ripping each other apart.” Of course, the fight wouldn’t exactly be fair, seeing as how Chance was now a teenage boy with super-human strength; he’d tear Erik to pieces in seconds.
“Fine, fine,” Erik said, throwing his hands up in surrender. “He stays away from me, I stay away from him. Will that make you happy?”
Though I detected a bit of sarcasm behind his words, I took what I could get. “Yes,” I said, “very.” He smiled. “So again, what do we do while we wait?”
“How about a movie?” Kayla asked, hopping up and heading to the large entertainment center against the far wall. She opened one of the cabinets flanking the television and began rummaging through rows and rows of DVDs.
“Awesome,” Erik said, raising his voice for her to hear, but not moving his eyes from my face. I had no idea what was going on between the two of us, but he was definitely upping the ante. I wanted to ask him what he felt for me, just get it out in the open, but I was terrified of what his answer might be. I was even more terrified, because I didn’t know which answer I was most hoping to hear.
“Any requests?” she asked, her back to us.
“How about this one?” Erik said, standing up from the couch. He took off his jacket, revealing a perfect-fitting black T-shirt stretched tight over muscles I couldn’t stop thinking about, and fished in the inside pocket for a moment before pulling out a red plastic case. He tossed it across the room to Kayla before sitting down on the couch.
“Perfect!” she said, opening the case and popping the movie into the player. “You’re gonna love this one, Ava.” She sat in the only other chair in the room, so my choice was to either stand, or sit next to Erik. Judging by the grin on his face as I took a seat on the couch with him, this little arrangement had been preplanned right along with the party. Friends could be so devious sometimes.
“What is it?” I asked as the movie started up. I tried to not look completely uncomfortable sitting next to Erik, which wasn’t easy considering how great he smelled.
“From Dusk till Dawn,” he said, his voice low next to me. “It’s about a bunch of badass vampire killers.”
I glared at him, his smile even wider now. “How original.”
“Hey, I just thought you’d wanna see how it’s done, you know.” He laughed and leaned back on the couch. “You may learn a thing or two.”
“Ignore him, Ava.” Kayla turned up the volume as the movie got started. “He’s such a boy.” She curled her legs beneath her in the chair and focused on the movie.
Erik slowly leaned over to me, his mouth next to my ear. “All the time.” His breath was hot and sweet on my skin, driving me crazy.
Though I really didn’t want to, I put a hand against his chest and pushed him away. “Down, boy.” He smirked and turned to watch the movie, while I did my best to do the same.
Halfway through, I actually found myself enjoying it. Every time someone killed a vampire, Kayla and Erik would both cheer or clap or yell out “hell yeah!,” and I would laugh at them, happier than I had been since Chance and I danced together at the Valentine’s dance. Since that night, nothing in my life had been happy or good, the pain of what I had done too heavy for anything light and cheerful to push through. But now, tonight, these two had managed to lift that darkness just a bit, letting some joy sneak in and lift my spirits. I should’ve known it was too good to last.
Just as the humans began shooting holes through the blacked-out windows of a desert bar so sunlight could pour through and kill all the vampires (totally fiction, by the way), my nose filled with the scent of something other than Erik and icing.
“Crap.” I stood up from the couch, my senses instantly on high alert.
“What?” Erik jumped up, too, followed by Kayla. “What is it?”
“Three guesses,” I said, doing my best to k
eep from vamping out in Kayla’s living room. I could feel my fangs itching to be released, their razor-sharp points stinging my gums.
“Where is it?” Kayla asked, her voice low and almost primal. She lived for this stuff.
“Not sure,” I said, closing my eyes to let my sense of smell take over, just like Aldric had taught me. “Out back,” I finally said, and Erik and Kayla immediately ran to the large French doors in the kitchen that led to the backyard. I hadn’t even realized the sun had gone down until Erik flung the doors open and frigid night air invaded the room, spilling in with the scent of death and chilling my skin. The feeling was electric, filling me with a nervous energy that fueled the vampire inside of me until it was desperate to escape. I felt my fangs unsheathe and drop into place, the acrid taste of venom on my tongue. I was ready to kill.
“I don’t see anything,” Kayla said, her blood boiling with fear and excitement.
“You won’t,” I snarled, stepping past her and onto the deck. A hazy fog hung in the air, cloaking the snow-tipped trees lining the back of the property. The smell was much stronger now, overpowering everything else, calling out to me to find it. I leapt over the railing of the balcony and sprinted to the middle of the yard, the dewy grass crushing beneath my feet.
“Ava!” Erik’s whispered cry fell on deaf ears; I was too focused on the hunt to care what he had to say.
I slowly turned back toward the house. “Stay here.” I flashed through the trees in the back, feeling more at home in the forest than ever before. It was like I was born to be there, born to hunt. I knew, somewhere in the back of my mind, that the euphoria I was feeling wasn’t real, wasn’t me; but it was me. The vampire me. I was a vampire. In that moment, and possibly always, I was a vampire.
The scent of dead blood was weakening, growing fainter. Whatever the source, it was moving away from me, which didn’t make since. Why come to the house, only to turn and leave? That question came from the logical, human side of my brain. The monster inside didn’t care for reasoning; it just wanted to feed. So I gave in and let it lead me, guide me, take me to whatever vampire had found the nerve to show up here. I cared about nothing else, no one else…only the hunger and the blood and the kill.
I sped through the foggy night with vampire speed and precision, the earthy scent of the pines and brush giving way to decay and rot. The smell was growing again—I was gaining on the runaway vampire. I leapt over fallen trees and holes dug by wild animals. I ripped through spider webs and hanging branches unfazed—which was a huge accomplishment, seeing as how spiders scared me more than almost anything. My vampire side was completely in control.
The rotting odor was close, so close I could feel it. The smell was wildly intense, flooding my mind, making me insane with desire. I knew that I needed to kill, but I also wanted to, and that’s what fueled my rage. I wanted to kill the vampire, feed from it, though I already knew the taste would be horrid. I wanted to drink the unlife from the walking monster I knew was growing closer with each second. My fangs dripped venom in anticipation of what was coming, my mind euphoric. I was going to enjoy this.
I spotted a shadowy figure through the fog and darkness, lurking behind a large, mossy pine. I was thankful that the light snowfall from earlier had already been trampled by forest animals and my prey; the bare earth would help silence my approach. I crouched near the ground, my primal instincts taking over. I crept forward stealthily, allowing my sense of smell to fall away, no longer needed. With each silent step, I grew more and more hungry for the impending kill. Nothing else mattered, nothing else existed. Only me and the monster.
I was only a few feet away now, the desire becoming almost too painful to bear. I slowly stood, my body shaking it was so ready. One more step forward, and I would be close enough to do it.
“Ava, don’t.” I heard the voice just as my body sailed through the air, the shadowy figure stepping out from behind the tree. As I descended, the human inside of me sprang forward and took control, and I forced my fangs into retreat just as I slammed into Chance and the two of us toppled to the ground.
My entire body shook when I hit the cold earth, tiny bursts of light clouding my vision. A sharp pain shot up my back, blending with the throbbing in my head. Great, because I don’t get hurt enough.
“What the hell?!” I heard Chance’s voice, tinted with pain. I opened and closed my eyes over and over, trying to get my vision to clear. After several seconds, I was finally able to make out the towering trees above me.
“Ditto,” I said, forcing my body to an upright position. “Lurk much?”
“Attack much?”
“What are you doing out here?” I was finally able to stand, immediately wishing I hadn’t. “Were you spying on me?”
“What? No, I wasn’t spying on you.” Chance busily brushed dirt and debris from his clothes, a telltale sign he was lying.
“So you normally just hang out in Kayla’s backyard?” I, too, brushed myself clean, trying to ignore the painful throbbing in my back.
“I wasn’t ‘hanging out,’” Chance said, a bit more convincing this time. “I was tracking a vampire.” Hearing him say the word surprised me. Before, he hated hearing anyone say ‘vampire.’ He was different in every respect.
“Tracking?”
“Yeah, tracking.” He finished cleaning himself off and came to stand next to me. “I told you I had some stuff to do before we left for Boston, remember? I went out to the old house again, just to make sure it was locked up and no one had been messing with anything.”
“And?”
“And, I found it wasn’t so empty anymore.”
“You mean, a vampire was there? Like, living there?”
“Don’t think so, but he was snooping around, obviously looking for something. He knew I was there and took off. I chased him.”
“All the way here?” The run-down Caldon mansion was more than a few miles from here. I was slightly impressed.
“I thought so. Once he made it into town, he wasn’t as easy to find. I lost the scent for a while, but thought I had picked it up again.” A slight pause, then, “I guess it was—”
“—me,” I interjected. “You smelled me.”
“Yeah, guess so.” Awkward tension fell from the trees and into the open space between us, making me really uncomfortable.
“Sorry,” I finally said, not really knowing the right words. Gee, surprise.
“Yeah, me too.” Chance shuffled his feet, one of the most human-like things he had done since letting me back into his life. “Didn’t mean to interrupt your date.”
The words slapped me in the face, raw and stinging. “What?!” I fought to keep my anger at bay. “I wasn’t on a date.” Was I? Is that what Chance really thought? Is that what Erik thought?
“Could’ve fooled me.” He turned away from me then, heading out of the woods, back toward Kayla’s house.
“I wasn’t trying to fool anybody,” I spouted, falling in behind him. “I didn’t know I had an audience.”
“So if you had known, that would’ve made a difference? You would’ve what? Sat across the room from him? Pushed him away when he was all over you?”
“That’s not fair, Chance.” I was paying special attention to the ground, careful not to trip and break anything. Funny how when I was all Vamp Girl, I could run through anything, but Human Girl was a scaredy-cat. “And he wasn’t all over me.”
“Whatever. And you wanna talk about fair?” He stopped walking and turned around to face me. I had to stop so abruptly, I almost face-planted into a patch of mud. “I lost everything, Ava. My life. My mom. You. How’s that fair?”
“Me?” I was genuinely shocked to hear him say that. “You lost me? Is that what you think?”
A long pause, then, “I did.” Though a thick blanket of trees hovered above us, the moon was full, wiping out some of the darkness so I could at
least see his face. Heavy pain weighed down his features.
“No, Chance. You haven’t lost me. I’m right here.” I did my best to move closer to him, my bare feet sinking into the thick mud. “I thought I had lost you.”
He looked beyond me, beyond this moment, into something inside himself, his chest rising and falling, the weight of his unwanted life pressing down on him. My heart ached desperately to take it away. “I will never leave you, Ava.”
I wanted so badly to believe him, but something kept me from giving in to his words. “What I did to you—”
“Don’t.” He moved against me, his body crashing into mine, his now cold but safe and familiar arms closing around my back. “We’ve been through this already. You didn’t do anything to me. You really need to get that, Ava.”
“I don’t see it that way.”
“I know you don’t. But I do. I see it that way. I don’t blame you. Not anymore.”
“You did blame me, though?” I almost sounded like I wanted him to say yes, to say I was the reason he was hurting so much. Somewhere inside, I think I did.
“I don’t wanna get into all that. I’m over it. You need to be, too.” His large hands cupped my neck, tilting my face up to his. “I want us to move forward, not just sit here and fall apart.”
“I want that, too.”
“Then let all this go. Stop worrying about who did what or who didn’t. Just forget about it and come be with me.” His jade eyes were glowing in the moonlight, alive with possibility. My inner voice was begging me to say yes, to tell the boy I loved that I would go through anything to be with him. Up until he had asked me to stay a vampire, I thought I would have. Now, a tiny piece of me, a piece slowly growing larger, wasn’t as eager.
“I want to, Chance. Please believe me, I want to.” I placed my fingers on his wrists, moving his hands away from my face. My voice was just a whisper. “But I can’t. Not yet.”
He lowered his arms and stepped away from me. “I know.” Sadness dripped from his words like acid, searing holes through my heart.
Blood Awakening (Blood Prophecy Trilogy) Page 12