“Oh thank God,” Lacey said, rushing toward us. I was shocked at her concern until I realized she was looking past me to Chance. “I thought you were dead.”
“We’re fine,” Chance said. Lacey threw her arms around his neck and he pulled her into a hug.
“Glad you’re okay,” Erik said, moving in behind me. Even after kind of dumping me, he still managed to get to me.
“Thanks,” I said, turning to face him. “Ditto.”
He smiled, and for a split second, all the problems in my life disappeared, leaving behind just him and me and a welcome peace. “Did he follow you?”
And there was reality, crashing through my fantasy utopia.
“I don’t think so,” I said, tossing a quick glance over my shoulder. No vampire. And even better, I was glad to see that Chance no longer had his arms around Lacey, the two of them instead standing side by side. Though I never would have admitted it—to anyone—they made a beautiful couple. Far more beautiful than Chance and I ever did. The day just kept getting better.
“So, now will someone tell me what the hell’s going on?” Lacey asked. “And don’t try that ‘we can’t’ crap anymore. I just saw the two of you get tossed like rag dolls by a really big, really bad guy.” Chance and I both stayed quiet. “And you got up like it was nothing.” More silence. “I want the truth this time.” She crossed her arms over her chest again, like somehow that would make us cave.
“We don’t have time for this,” Erik said, moving to the center of the group. “We have to get moving if we’re gonna make it to New York by midnight.”
“New York?” Lacey said. “What’s in New York?”
“Kayla,” Erik answered. “That’s where they have her.”
“They who?” Boy, she just didn’t give up.
“We can’t get into all of it right now,” I said. “We need to go.” I moved past her and headed back toward campus.
“What are you doing?” Chance asked, grabbing my arm to stop me.
“I’m going to save my friend.” I pulled my arm from his grasp. “Are you coming?”
“I’m not going anywhere until you all tell me who—or what—you really are,” Lacey said.
That got my attention. “What we are?” I couldn’t swallow the massive lump in my throat. “What do you mean?” My voice was strained, a sure sign I was guilty.
“You know what I mean,” Lacey said, her voice strong, knowing. I stared hard at her, trying to see if she was bluffing. Unfortunately, I didn’t think so.
“Look,” I finally said. “I don’t know what you think you saw, but—”
“—I saw Chance get knocked down like a piñata at a kid’s birthday party, and you being attacked by a lunatic.” Okay, she didn’t see anything. We were in the clear. “Oh, and that guy’s fangs.”
Crap.
I did my best to fake a laugh. “Fangs? That’s ridiculous. Who’s the freak now?” Even I didn’t believe what I was saying. It was Kayla seeing me that day in the locker room all over again; Lacey knew.
She knew everything.
“Oh, you’re still the reigning champ,” she snapped. I opened my mouth for more useless protests. “Deny it all you want,” she interrupted. “I know what I saw.”
“Lacey—”
“—I saw them, Ava.” She walked toward me, fear and nerves evident on her face. “And I saw yours, too.”
“Oh God.” There was no more denying it, no more trying to act like I was just an ordinary girl. My secret was out. “Fine,” I said, giving up. I crumpled with defeat onto a jagged stump behind me. “You saw.”
“Yeah,” Lacey said, crouching down in front of me. “I saw.”
“So, I guess you’re gonna run back and tell everybody now?” I thought I would be in a state of panic. Or at least scared. But I wasn’t. I was too worried about Kayla to think of myself.
“She’s not telling anybody anything,” Erik said, coming to stand beside me. He put his hand on my shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. His eyes were deadlocked on Lacey. “Right?”
Lacey slowly stood up, staring at him. Her fear was practically oozing from her crystal-clear pores. “Right,” she muttered, her eyes looking from me to Erik. “I won’t tell anybody.”
“Good.” Erik took a deep breath and forced the air from his lungs. “Now,” he said, letting my shoulder go and stepping away; I instantly missed his touch. “We need to get moving. Sun’s almost down, so we don’t have much time.”
I slowly stood up. “You’re right,” I said. “I wanna go get my friend back.” Erik smiled at me, and though I couldn’t be farther from happy, I smiled back.
“Are you okay?” Chance’s voice caught me off guard. I hadn’t expected him to be so nice to me anymore, not after dumping me. But I had to admit, it felt good to hear his concern.
But he wasn’t asking me. He wasn’t concerned about me. He didn’t care if I was okay.
I watched with sadness as he crossed the woods and took Lacey’s hand into his. It was heartbreaking to see him care for someone else—especially Lacey. I knew, deep down, that he still cared for me, still loved me...but it didn’t feel like it at the moment.
“I’m fine,” Lacey said, almost cooing. Ugh, she was thick. “Thanks.”
“You just got a shock,” Chance said, and I actually had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing at the absurdity of such a statement. “You sure you’re okay?” I heard Chance’s words, but my eyes were focused on his hands—or, more importantly, his fingers—which were slowly caressing Lacey’s. Tendrils of fire burned up my spine.
“She said she’s fine,” I snapped. “We need to get moving.”
“Okay,” Chance said, still holding Lacey’s hand. “Let’s go.” He looked at her and smiled before letting go of her hand and moving through the woods behind Erik. I had expected her to stay latched onto him like a designer leech, but she didn’t. She lagged behind, obviously scared.
“Were you just saying that?” I asked her.
“What?” She slowly started to follow Chance and Erik, who were several yards ahead of us.
“That you’re okay. Were you just telling Chance that so he’d drop it?” I fell in behind her, the two of us closer than I cared to be.
“No, I really am fine with it.” I couldn’t see her face since she was walking in front of me, but somehow I doubted she was being completely honest.
“It’s okay if you’re not, Lacey. It’s a lot to be scared of.”
She stopped walking and spun on her heels. “I’m not scared,” she said, half-smiling. “But just to be on the safe side, keep your nasty fangs away from me, got it? The thought of your lips on my neck grosses me out.” She full-on smiled, tilted her head like a curious puppy, and spun back around, her blonde ponytail swinging behind her head as she bounced through the woods. After the initial shock of what she’d said wore off, I started walking again. The closer I got to her and the others, the more I realized that it grossed me out, too.
TAKEN
You’re gonna have to take the Holland Tunnel over to Jersey unless we’re gonna swim out to Ellis Island,” Erik piped up from next to me in the back seat once we were in the heart of New York City. The drive from Boston went relatively smoothly, considering I was packed into Mrs. Harper’s Volvo like a sardine with two guys I sort-of-used-to be with and a girl I sort-of-no-really despised.
“Gee, I hadn’t thought of that,” Chance said, keeping a close eye on the haphazard drivers as we wound through Hell’s Kitchen and the Meatpacking District, both of which sounded so fitting for vampires that I almost laughed out loud.
“He’s just trying to help.” I felt adding my two cents would somehow diffuse the obvious and long-winded tension between the two of them; I couldn’t have been more wrong.
“Take up for your new boyfriend some other time,” Chance sna
pped at me, his eyes catching mine in the rearview mirror. You know the saying, If Looks Could Kill? Yeah, well, I should be dead.
“I’m not her boyfriend,” Erik answered before I even had the chance. Sure, I was gonna say the same thing, but somehow it hurt a bit more coming from him. I slid a bit closer to my side of the car. “And I don’t need her or anybody else to take up for me when it comes to you, Dead Boy.”
Chance laughed. “You know, Erik, if Lacey were not in this car right now, I’d drive us into the Hudson River.”
“Gee, um, thanks?” Lacey said from the passenger seat, giving her seatbelt a tight grip.
“Sorry,” Chance said with a quick glance in her direction. I guess he was totally done with me now.
“That’s gotta make you feel good, Ava, hearing that the guy you love would kill you if not for his new girl.” Erik had a knack for saying exactly what I was thinking—and at the worst possible time.
“I don’t mind pulling the car over and kicking your ass, Little Bit,” Chance said, slowing the car as traffic thickened.
“God, will you two just knock it off already?” I snapped. “Chance, just get us to wherever it is we need to go, okay? It’s almost midnight, so no stopping.” I turned to Erik sitting beside me. “And you, keep your mouth shut until we get there.” I crossed my arms over my chest and glared out the window as the lights of the city rolled past, until all was shrouded by the large, concrete walls of Holland Tunnel.
Traffic came to a near stop just before we cleared the tunnel into Jersey, the red of stalled tail lights creating a hellish glow that bounced around the claustrophobic stone of the domed wall encasing us. I had hoped we would make it out to Ellis Island early enough to prepare for an ambush or attack by whoever had Kayla, but no such luck. At the rate we were moving, we’d be lucky to make it in time.
We were able to reclaim some of that lost time on the New Jersey Turnpike (well, except when we had to stop to pay the toll), and before I knew it, Chance was pulling the Volvo into the parking lot at Liberty State Park, killing the lights as we drove in.
The park was massive, taking up about ten city blocks squared, which was bigger than the entire city of Wellesley (or so it seemed to me, anyway). Even at night, the view was stunning. The southern tip of Manhattan was to our left, the endless array of lights giving everything an eerie, yellowish hue. Towering skyscrapers stood like blackened mammoths against the night sky, dotted with said lights in sporadic yet pronounced patterns. To the far right of our view was Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty, which looked beautiful all lit up from its base. I completely understood why people flocked to it daily. Just out front of the park, as impressive but not as lit up as Liberty Island, was our destination.
“That’s Ellis Island?” I asked no one in particular. I had to admit, not as impressive as I had thought it would be. Of course, I wasn’t visiting it as a tourist on vacation, so my perception was most likely a bit off.
“Duh,” Lacey said, ever the snob.
“Like I’ve ever been here before,” I snapped back.
She smirked. “I thought vampires were older than dirt and traveled the world.” She looked me up and down as the four of us cut through the grass toward the shoreline on our way to the bridge connecting Jersey to the island. “Guess you can’t even do that right.”
“For your information, I’m not a vampire.” She cut her eyes at me in surprise. “Well, not exactly. And I’ve only been here a few months. I think.”
“Um, could someone please translate?” Lacey asked.
“She’s half human,” Erik offered, “has amnesia, doesn’t remember anything before he pulled her out of the ground.”
My life. Summed up in one broken sentence. Lovely.
“Geez,” Lacey said, stretching the word out longer than necessary. “You really are a weirdo, huh?”
I decided not to keep up the fight. “Guilty.” Apparently letting her win was the right choice, since she shut up the rest of the way to the bridge.
“I think maybe you and Lacey should stay here, Erik,” I said once the four of us were at the base of the bridge jutting out across the pitch-black water of the Hudson. “I don’t think it’s safe for you guys to go over with us. Plus, we’ll make it faster if we run.” And by run, I meant “vampire run.”
“No way,” Lacey protested, jutting out her slender thumb toward Erik. “I’m not staying here with him.” She actually answered me, instead of directing her words to Chance like she normally did when I spoke. “What if one of you vampires shows up?”
“I’ll use you to distract them and run for help.” Erik was almost full-on laughing as he said it, doing his best to cover it by coughing. I couldn’t help but smile at the thought.
“Nothing’s gonna happen to you, Lacey,” I said. “You’ll be fine. Erik’s an expert vampire hunter.”
“A vampire hunter?” I could almost see her stomach coil. “You want me to stay here with a useless hunter while the only two of us who can actually fight them off go to save the day?” Erik curled his fists and shook off Lacey’s jab with a strained laugh. I glared at her, but didn’t give an answer. “No way, not happening.”
I opened my mouth to tell her too bad, but Chance cut in. “We don’t have time for this,” he snapped at all of us. “Kayla needs us. Let’s just get this over with.” And with that, he stepped onto the bridge and began the long walk out to Ellis Island. Without a word, and though I wished otherwise, Erik, Lacey and I followed.
Darkness filled the space all around us as we walked, a cold wind shooting off the icy water and swirling around the metal of the bridge beneath my feet. Even with enhanced vision, I couldn’t make out anything thanks to the overpowering glow of the cities to our left and behind us, except for the large water tower sitting high above the main building on the island at the other end of the bridge.
“Talk about a cliché,” Lacey said. She was walking next to me, close enough that I could feel heat emanating from her bare arm. I could also smell her blood, which was enticing, even though she herself made me gag.
“What?” I asked, fighting to ignore her scent.
“This.” She lifted her hands to showcase our surroundings. “This whole ‘prisoner on an island’ thing. It’s like a bad movie.”
“Really, Lacey? Now?”
“What? I’m scared, okay. Humor’s how I cope.” She crossed her arms over her chest as we walked, rubbing her shoulders. The fact that she had just admitted something to me—to anyone—was shocking to say the least.
“I can’t believe you didn’t bring a coat or anything,” I said, shaking my head at her.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting to be stranded in the middle of the night with a bunch of vampires. Next time I’ll try to be more prepared.”
I opened my mouth to smart off at her, but Erik stopped me. “I have a really bad feeling about all this,” he whispered in my ear as we slowly crept forward. His hand brushed the small of my back, sending shivers over my skin—the good kind.
“I know,” I said, savoring his warm, electric touch, which so wasn’t helping me focus. Though I didn’t want to, I reluctantly moved away from his hand. “I just wanna know where Kayla is.” I was becoming frantic, desperate just to see her face, to know that she was okay, that she was alive.
“She’s here,” Chance said, still walking next to me. We had just about made it across the bridge.
“How do you know?” I asked.
“I can smell her.” His voice was soft and low, but the words pounded my ears like pistons. He’d smelled her blood, probably before we’d even started walking. Why hadn’t I? Was something wrong with me? “Didn’t you?” he asked.
I gave a reluctant “no.”
“Try and focus. You’ll pick it up. You can’t miss it, really.” Apparently I could, since I hadn’t noticed it at all.
�
�I can’t believe this place isn’t guarded at night,” I said, hoping to shift focus from my failing nose as we slowly made our way across the bridge.
“It is,” Chance said, still leading our effort. “Well, it was. Sebastian took care of it.”
Oh, I hoped that wasn’t what it sounded like. “I hope he didn’t—”
“—no idea,” Chance interrupted. “I just told him to do one thing right and help us get over the bridge. I didn’t have time to worry about the ‘how.’”
“Crap.” Just what I needed, one more death on my conscience. Lila’s had been plenty, and if something happened to Erik (or yes, even Lacey) I’d have more than enough death to last my eternity. I prayed that Sebastian’s “taking care of it” meant compulsion and not fangs to the throat.
“Listen up,” Chance said, turning to face us as we came to a stop on the other side of the bridge. “There’s no point in trying to hide the fact that you two are here,” he continued, pointing to Lacey and Erik. “I’m sure they smelled you the second we got out of the car.” I felt them both tense up. “Just be careful and stay next to us, got it?” They nodded their heads in unison, and Chance took a few large, quick strides as we stepped onto the actual island, putting a bit of distance between him and us. A few seconds passed before he called out to me.
“If something happens, you get them out of here, okay?” he said once I was walking next to him. Just the thought of something bad happening to him, or to any of us, was almost too much.
“Nothing’s gonna happen, Chance,” I said, doing my best to sound unaffected by his words.
“If it does, save them.” I nodded, unable to speak, because all I could hear were his unspoken words: Like you didn’t save my mom.
As we moved across the island, I tried to center my mind on the memory of Kayla’s scent, hoping it would cut through the overpowering stench of death controlling my senses. No such luck.
“She’s here, trust me,” Chance said. Somehow he always knew what I was thinking or doing. That was one of the things I missed most about him.
Blood Awakening (Blood Prophecy Trilogy) Page 19