Rapid Pulse (Violet Memory Book 1)

by Odette Michael

  The dial tone rang in my ear for maybe a second before the phone was snatched from my hand.

  “Out of curiosity,” Inola began quietly, “just who were you planning on calling? The police? Were you going to tell them you’ve been kidnapped and taken to a mansion that’s nestled deep in the woods only for a bunch of vampires to Control them away?”

  I stared at her coldly, hating her despite what she’d done for Grandma.

  “Or were you planning on calling your friends? They can be easily Controlled. And worse, you would be putting them in danger by telling them what you have discovered. Violet Memory uses discretion and has a wide hunting range, but them going anywhere near our home would not be wise, Kara.”

  My fingers interlocked together so tightly they went numb.

  She put her hand on my shoulder. “Elias would kill them to hurt you, as your pain would hurt Gabriel. Please, listen to my words. For now, your friends are better off not being a part of your life.”

  “Elias is supposed to be gone!” I hissed, trying not to remember the flash of silver I’d seen when I’d run out of the greenhouse.

  “You and I both know that is not the case.”

  “But what about Grandma? Am I putting her in danger by being here?”

  Inola hung up the phone. “Yes. But you so desperately wanted to see her, and Gabriel wanted to make you happy. . . .”

  I was suddenly very cold, like my bones were made of ice. I looked to Grandma’s sleeping form with dread.

  “Then I need to leave. I’m going to the car now.” The words were stones in my throat, and I forced my legs to move. Almost blindly, I walked through the building and emerged outside.

  Could I live with never seeing Grandma again? Any of them again? Grandma was being cared for. Lila would be leaving for Europe soon. Miles would go to college, graduate, and with his genius brain, discover a cure for cancer. They were safe and well. Safe being away from me.

  But could I even survive this black hole that was now my life? A black hole that only deepened with every passing second . . .

  Perhaps it was because of the black hole that I didn’t allow room for thought when a ray of sunshine burst through the clouds.

  I ran.

  The trio of alarmed voices called me from the shadows and not the car. I smiled; they wouldn’t be able to use it to follow me just yet.

  I ran down the road toward Lystelle, staying away from the thick greenery lining the sides, the trees that sheltered the monsters. My heart pumped hard; every beat threatened to make my veins explode. No cars were coming, and I heard no cars behind me. My legs didn’t tire, familiar with the memory of years of cross country, but my fear was using up too much of my energy.

  I looked desperately at the sky. Waves of gray wavered around the sun almost mockingly.

  I wasn’t going to make it to the city.

  I heard an engine behind me. Alarmed, I glanced back, scared one of them had made it to the car despite the sun.

  But it wasn’t their car. I threw up my hands and signaled like a madman.

  The red truck slowed down at my frantic waves. An elderly man rolled down the window as I gasped for breath.

  “You all right there?” he asked.

  “Sir, please! I need a ride to Lystelle!”

  “That all? You looked like you were running from a ghost.”

  The sunlight disappeared. My blood froze, and the man’s eyebrows rose in alarm as he studied the horror on my face.

  “No need to freak out, now. Go ahead and get in.”

  My fingers clumsily clasped the door handle, and I jumped inside.

  “Thank you,” I said in a shaking voice.

  “You’re welcome. You know, hitchhiking isn’t safe these days. You’re lucky you got me instead of some pervert. Promise me you won’t do this again.”

  I nodded, turning around to see if their car was following. I saw a speck in the distance that was most likely them. . . .

  Without warning, blood flooded the interior of the truck. Warm droplets splashed all over me. I screamed a sound so piercing it could have broken glass as the old man’s heart was literally yanked from his chest. The man fell out of the now-open door and dropped to the pavement, revealing Elias.

  Elias smiled his eerily calm smile and casually tossed the heart onto the seat.

  “Oh, my little hummingbird. So reckless and stupid. Now, will you be a good girl and go back to Gabriel, or do I need to kill someone else to get you to run back into his arms?”

  I couldn’t breathe. My hands clawed at the door and I half-fell out. The world shifted before my eyes as I ran.

  There was nothing but fear. The black hole had deepened once again, threatening to swallow my very essence. Wet leaves slapped against my body as I sprinted through the woods. I tripped, falling down a steep, slick hill. As I tumbled, flashes of red cut my eyes.

  My head hit a rock. There was a cracking sound, and darkness swallowed me whole.

  But amidst the dark flitted faint echoes of life. A piercing scream that finally stopped. Worried voices. The scent of pine needles. A glowing sensation that started in my mouth and filled my body.

  I knew it was him. The one I hated. The one I would never get away from. The one who made me feel irrepressible things.

  Distantly, I knew it was his blood. He was there, inside my head.

  “I won’t run again.” The wordless words I spoke were faint.

  His emotions were too strong; they nearly overtook me. Anger, relief, sadness, worry. Too strong to process.

  “I’m sorry,” he replied inside my mind. And he was. He was so full of regret, enough that I couldn’t bear to feel his guilt a second longer.

  Our words faded and were replaced by pictures. Pictures of my past.

  I was a toddler at a petting zoo at the local Lystelle fair. I was smiling and screeching with laughter. The smallest spark of serenity bled through Gabriel as he watched me, but no more than just a spark—he was too concerned with my head injury.

  Then I was maybe four years old. The memory to me was familiar because I had lived it so many times.

  Nighttime . . . I screamed and cried in my bed. My mother insisted from the doorway that it was time for me to grow out of my fear of the dark. My father had more pity and plugged in a nightlight. Mom rolled her eyes and left the room. Dad sat on the edge of the bed and smoothed my hair.

  “It’s all right, darling. It’s ok. It’s just the blink of an eye, and you’ll be awake again.”

  “Ok, Daddy.” I hugged and kissed him. As soon as he left the room, I climbed out of bed and turned the overhead light back on.

  Waves of memories revealed themselves. Baking cookies with Grandma. Grandpa’s funeral. Eating all the candy in Lila’s pantry after her parents went to bed. Beating Miles in a race. Falling off my bike, crying in my mother’s arms.

  I could feel Gabriel trying to distant himself from me, trying not to frighten me with our growing connection after what I’d just witnessed, but it was impossible. Not only did my memories fascinate him, but every picture was clearer than the one before. I was healing, and Gabriel’s relief was overwhelming. He was all around me.

  And then I was there inside his past, experiencing it as if I had been there. Now I finally felt Gabriel go completely cold.

  He was so small, maybe three years old. His eyes were a regular green, and his hair was still too long. Beneath his dirty feet was a broken cup. He looked so frightened as a big man screamed at him.

  “You stupid brat! Can’t you sit still and not cause trouble? Next time this happens, I’ll beat you until—”

  The girl with black curls and Gabriel’s eyes came out of the kitchen. She looked around eight years old, her dress plain and stained. She wiped her hands on her apron and ran to the now-crying toddler, scooping him up into her arms and holding him close.

  “Papa, please! It was just an accident!” Lucy pleaded.

  Gabriel’s father pointed a meaty finger at hi
m. “I told you to keep that thing under control! It’s harvest time! Your brothers and I have a lot on our hands, too much to be looking after it!”

  Lucy’s eyes filled with tears. “I was trying to get dinner going, and the stove ran out of wood. He was in there with me, but I had to go outside to fetch wood, and he was gone when I got back.”

  “Just keep him away from me. Use him instead of wood for the stove—at least then we can get some use outta him.”

  Her tears fell, and she held Gabriel tighter. “How can you say such things about your own son?”

  “He’s not my son. He killed your mother, Lucy!”

  “It was not his fault. . . .”

  The picture faded and warped. Gabriel looked at least five now. He smiled sleepily as Lucy hummed to him in a small bed. She kissed his forehead sadly.

  Then another one appeared. Lucy was bringing a small tart to Gabriel behind a barn.

  “Happy Birthday, Gab. I can’t believe you are six already!”

  Gabriel beamed up at her. “Is this really all for me?”

  She ruffled his hair. “Of course it is!” Then she put her finger to her lips. “But you can’t tell your brothers or Papa, ok? I used the last of the sugar making it.”

  Gabriel broke the dessert in half and handed one of the halves to her. “I want to share with you. I love you so much, Lucy.”

  “Gab, I love you, too. But the tart is yours. You so rarely ever . . .”

  Gabriel’s eyes fell. Lucy immediately got down on her knees.

  “How about this? Instead, we’ll make a promise. A promise that we will always do what is in the best interest for the other, no matter the cost.”

  “Ok. I promise, Lucy.” The vow was sealed with a hug.

  Regret seeped from Gabriel, so potent I was sure my heart stopped briefly.

  A darker picture formed. Gabriel looked around eight. A trio of boys resembling Gabriel’s father were in a field kicking Gabriel. Punching him. Throwing him to the ground. Gabriel tried to fight back, but his eyes were swollen shut.

  I felt the blows as if they were happening to me.

  I ran to try to stop the cruelty, but the memory faded and was replaced before I could. It was of Lucy trying not to cry as she bandaged an unconscious, bleeding Gabriel. She knelt by the bed and prayed, bursting into tears.

  “Merciful God, forgive my brothers for their terrible sin. Forgive them and Papa for their hatred! Please let Gabriel live! Please don’t take him from me! And dearest Father, please send Gabriel happiness. One day please . . .”

  Like turning the pages of a book, another memory surfaced. And I froze with fear. A boy Lucy’s age, around thirteen, approached her with a covered basket in front of the farmhouse. She smiled shyly and accepted it. The boy with the gray eyes whispered something into her ear. Lucy laughed and looked away, blushing. Gabriel watched them from the front porch, his eyes half-hopeful, half-wary.

  “Elias!” I seethed. “You knew him as a child!”

  But my anger and fear were thrown aside as the warmth built. My physical body was coming back to me. I could feel wetness on my back and dirt on my skin. There was no pain.

  But there was intensity. Indescribable intensity, like sunshine flowing through my veins instead of blood. And it wasn’t tasteless like it had been before—it was almost sweet.

  Something was happening. I could feel Gabriel slipping away. Mixed memories ran together and blurred.

  “Gabriel, wait! I need to see what happened!” And that was not the only reason, and I couldn’t hide it. I didn’t want the sensation to stop, and it was a struggle for him as well. It was taking all of his willpower to pull away.

  He was nearly gone. A few last droplets of his blood dripped down my throat.

  “Sleep. Sleep until you are ready to wake. . . .”

  I had no choice but to obey him. As darkness beckoned to me, my eyes opened briefly. I reached for Gabriel. Sleep swallowed my mind just as my fingertips touched his face.

  Chapter 11 Lucy And Elias

  I knew I was in Gabriel’s room before I opened my eyes. His scent clung to everything, and it almost felt like my sense of smell was stronger than usual.

  I sat up carefully on the bed and felt my head even though I knew there would be no injury.

  There was too much to process. The old man who had been kind enough to try to help me was dead. I didn’t even know his name. . . . It was all my fault. Elias pulling his heart from his chest would forever be burned into my memory.

  Bile rose in my throat, and I knew I wasn’t going to make it to the bathroom. I leaned over the side of the bed, almost too upset to notice that Thomas was there. He reacted just in time, holding a small trashcan out to me. Hardly anything came out except for a small amount of thick, reddish liquid.

  I wiped my mouth and began to sob, holding myself and rocking back and forth. Thomas seemed at a loss at what to do. He would reach out a hand and almost touch me, but pull back as if afraid he would frighten me. He would open his mouth to speak, but no words would come out. Finally, he just sat down on the bed beside me.

  I didn’t know how long I cried. It felt like hours. And throughout the crying jag, I was undeniably not alone, and it wasn’t just because of Thomas. The blood connection had deepened significantly; Gabriel was trying to give me as much space as he could, but it was impossible. He was still inside my mind, and nothing could be done to make it go away except for time, and there was no telling how long that would take. He was trying not to think, but failing.

  He worried for me.

  I even knew where he was. He was out in the woods standing against a tree, looking up at the night sky.

  Anger surpassed all my other emotions. “Your guilt doesn’t make this right!” I screamed at Gabriel even though he was miles away from me. “I blamed myself, but this is your fault! Do you hear me? Your fault! Had you just left me alone that night . . .” I shook my head madly. “Everything would have turned out ok.”

  Thomas finally spoke, but his words were hushed. “I take it you are not talking to me?”

  “I know he can hear me,” I hissed. “And now I have to deal with him inside my head for who knows how long!”

  Thomas folded his hands. “He saved your life.”

  I actually snarled. “He wouldn’t have needed to had it not been for his own actions in the first place! And he doesn’t even have the balls to be here when I wake up!”

  “Gabriel knew you would be angry when you awoke. And that’s why Inola is not here as well. You seem to feel most comfortable with me, so I was the lucky winner to bear your wrath,” he joked softly before his face turned serious. “We are trying to not frighten you anymore than you already are. You feel safe with me, right?”

  I looked at him out of the corner of my eye. His eyes were the same color as my Labrador, Tassy.

  “I guess,” I mumbled, the anger draining from me as other memories replaced the old man. Like little Gabriel getting almost beaten to death by his own brothers.

  Thomas handed me a tray from the bedside table. “I made a chocolate soufflé. It’s already fallen, but it’ll still taste good.”

  “Dessert for breakfast?” I asked blankly.

  He shrugged. “I figured with everything you have gone through, why not live a little?”

  “I’m not hungry. I’m sorry.”

  “Please just eat a little. It’ll be easy on your stomach, I promise.”

  I ate a bite. “I’ve never had a soufflé before. Can you cook anything?”

  He flashed a grin. “Everything I have made has turned out fantastic.”

  I ate another bite, remembering that chocolate was Gabriel’s favorite. His thoughts in tune with mine, he started thinking about all the times he’d eaten Thomas’s food and not thanked him for thinking of him. I put the tray aside.

  “Something wrong? Is it making you nauseous?” Thomas asked.

  I tapped the side of my head. “Gabriel was just recalling how he never t
hanked you for baking chocolate goods for him.”

  Thomas looked surprised. “Really? That’s not like him at all. . . .” He reached into his jacket and pulled out a wooden stake. I froze at the sight of it.

  He tossed it back and forth between his hands. “Before you get any ideas, yes, this is yours. But there are conditions. Will you listen to them?”

  I nodded, my eyes never leaving the stake.

  “I need to teach you some pointers before I give it to you. I’m also going to teach you how to use a stake gun, a device that you will have more success with because your human reflexes will most likely be too slow with a regular stake if you do need to fight a vampire. And when dawn breaks, you return these weapons to me or Inola, as you will be in Gabriel’s care when you sleep. Most importantly, your stake privileges will be revoked if you try to kill Gabriel; Inola and I established that rule, so be mad at us for that one.”

  I stared at him coldly.

  He cracked an amused smile. “Looking at me like that will not change a thing, Red. It was Gabriel who suggested you have access to a weapon in the first place.”

  I got up off the bed. “Yeah, well, I am in no hurry to thank Gabriel for anything.” I reached eagerly for the stake.

  Thomas rolled his eyes and got up as well. “Not in here. You have destroyed enough antiques already. Freshen up, and then come outside with me. Make sure you drink some water; you’ve been asleep for a good while.”

  After I showered and drank what must have been a half gallon of water, I followed Thomas through the mansion, reluctantly meeting the bright eyes of vampires along the way. Thomas greeted them all cheerfully and exchanged brief pleasantries with all we came into contact with. I swallowed uncomfortably and shifted away from them as they studied me curiously, disdainfully, and cautiously.

  I was grateful we didn’t come across Emma. Maybe she had left after all.

  Thomas led me outside into the cool night air. The moon was bright, yet I still kept so close to Thomas I practically walked on the backs of his shoes. I was surprised when Gabriel slid down the tree trunk to the ground in helplessness. He hated how my fear of the dark twisted my insides and made my heart beat even faster.