by Wendi Wilson
True and I stared, realizing that by simply talking to us, Levi was risking his life. He was putting his fate, and the fate of the others, in our hands. I stared at his handsome face, highlighted by soft moonlight, and realized how much he was risking.
“What about shutting the camp down?” True asked. “I mean, I don’t want to go home, but those kids…”
“We’ve talked about it,” Levi answered. “But the Dean says it’s not completely up to him. There’s a group of powerful vampires not far away that want this camp open, and they are willing to help to keep Sarah and the others in check.”
True and I nodded, though it all seemed so overwhelming. A group of powerful vampires nearby? What in the hell?
“Why tell us?” I asked. “You could have made up a more believable story and kept us totally in the dark. You have some way to keep humans from finding out about you, right?”
Levi’s gray-green eyes locked onto mine before he spoke. “You know why, Piper. You’ve seen it before. You know what we can do. You’re already a part of this. You have been for over a year.”
My jaw dropped, and my heart began to pound at what he was implying.
True glanced between us before throwing up her hands. “Guys, fill a girl in. What does that mean?”
I had to swallow twice before the words would come. “He means... my dad. He means there was no bear. Just like I said.” My eyes met Levi’s, and he didn’t look away. “A vampire killed my father.”
Chapter Seventeen
It was a dream. A wild, crazy, head-injury-induced dream that my mind created to explain all the weirdness around me at Camp Shadow Lake. To explain the weird scene I witnessed during dinner and the death of my father.
There was no way Levi had shown up, moved like something out of a superhero movie, and told us secrets we had little right to know. I’d read too many damned vampire romance novels, and my hormone-addled brain was trying to turn him into the romantic version of a legend-born monster.
I stayed in my bunk, my head buried beneath the covers as sounds of the girls getting ready for the day bounced around me. They’d be headed to the bathrooms, then on to breakfast. They were thirteen and could handle that without me holding their hands. I was going to stay snug in my bed until I’d convinced myself none of what happened last night had really happened. That it was all a dream.
“Wake up, Piper.”
True’s hands ripped the covers away, the bright morning sunshine burning my sleep-deprived eyes. I tried to yank my blanket back up, but True held it in an iron fist.
“Rise and shine, lazy bones,” she said, smiling at me like it was just another day at summer camp and everything we knew about the world hadn’t been ripped to shreds last night.
I blinked a few times, and her sunny expression didn’t falter. I sat up slowly, rubbing my eyes with a yawn. A heavy weight lifted from my shoulders, and I hopped out of bed and hugged True.
“Well, good morning to you, too,” she said, grinning with one dark brow arching up.
“I had the craziest dream last night,” I started, and True’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head.
With tight lips and a meaningful glare, she cut her eyes toward the open front door. I followed her gaze, seeing nothing but the last few stragglers exiting the cabin to start their day. As soon as they cleared the doorway, my breath caught in my throat, and my eyes widened with fear.
Sarah stood on the dirt path only a few yards from Saka’am’s porch, staring into the trees. My gaze ricocheted back to True. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed thickly. Discreetly, she wagged a finger at me from beside her thigh and pointed toward Sarah, then at her ear.
“Hurry up, Piper. I want to get to the mess before those hungry little brats eat all the bacon,” she said, her tone still bright and sunny.
Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Son of a…
It wasn’t a dream.
Sarah was a vampire, and she could hear us talking from where she stood outside. The other counselors, too. Dean Purty. Sasha, Barbara, and Chef Chloe. Levi.
All of them were freaking vampires, and two of them had tried to suck the blood of a small child yesterday. I’d stopped them, and they knew. They knew I’d seen something, and now Sarah was waiting outside my cabin.
She was going to kill me. I knew too much, and now I was going to die. Just like my fath—
“Come on, Piper, seriously. I’m not waiting all day for your lazy ass.”
True’s chipper voice cut through my panic, and my wildly rolling eyes stopped moving to focus on her face. Her expression ordered me to get it together. I nodded shakily, climbing from the bed and grabbing a pair of shorts and a tank top from my cubby.
She gave me her back, though modesty was the last thing I was worried about at the moment. By the time I was dressed, and we walked to the front door, Sarah was gone. We still didn’t speak freely for fear that she was hiding somewhere nearby, spying on us.
“How are you handling this early morning stuff so easily?” I asked, hoping she’d catch my meaning.
I really needed to know how she was not freaking out right now. Vampires were real… and we were literally surrounded by them.
True shrugged, saying, “I told you I spent the summers with my aunties down south. They always made me get up early, so I’m used to it. It’s nothing new to me.”
I understood her point. Her aunts were basically witches who had visions of the future. When True was telling me about them, she’d mentioned that they’d believed in demons, ghosts, and other supernatural beings.
Of course, this was no shock to her system. She’d grown up surrounded by women who believed in the unbelievable. I was lucky she was in this with me. I didn’t know if I could handle any of it on my own. I’d probably just faint again.
I shook my head at my own weakness. No. No more. I was officially letting Badass Piper take over, and she’d carry the reins until this whole mess was finished… whenever that would be.
“Yeah, that makes sense,” I said, letting her know I understood what she was saying.
“Oh, look, there’s Levi,” she said, her voice slightly higher and a little wobbly.
My head snapped up, and I spotted him standing near the trees between the girls’ and boys’ bathrooms. He was wearing dark shades, but somehow, I knew he was watching us. Or watching over us. He nodded in our direction as we shuffled up the steps and into the bathroom.
I locked myself in a stall and sat on the toilet, then froze. Swallowing hard, I hissed at True, who was in the stall right next to mine.
“What?” she whispered back.
“Do you think Levi can hear us peeing from out there?”
“I don’t know,” she replied, “but I’m pretty sure he can hear you asking about it.”
Her toilet flushed, and she left the stall. I finished up my business and met her by the sinks, my face hot with embarrassment. True shot me a look in the mirror and shook her head.
“You’re ridiculous, you know that?” she whispered, her voice barely audible over the sound of running water. “With everything you learned, that’s what you’re worried about?”
“I know,” I said, blushing.
When we left the building, Levi was in the same spot, a small smile playing on his lips. Heat rose to my face again as I walked toward him, but I ignored it. Badass Piper didn’t cower in the face of a little embarrassment.
“Hey,” I said when we reached him, the word sounding lame to my own ears.
“Hey,” he replied. “Ready to go to breakfast?”
My first instinct was to ask him if he meant in the mess hall or the barn, but I bit my tongue and simply nodded. The wound I saw on the cow’s neck that day made total sense, now.
And I hated that it made sense.
The entire world had been turned on its head, and I had no choice but to accept my new reality. A reality where vampires were real, and I was walking to breakfast with one on a regular Tuesday morning.
“Did
you sleep well?” Levi asked as he fell into step beside me.
I barked out a laugh, then slapped a hand across my mouth. This whole situation was surreal, the conversation, absurd. I found out monsters were real, and one of them killed my dad. I stopped two others from feeding on a child, and now they probably wanted me dead.
Oh, and the hot guy I’ve been crushing on could crush me with one hand tied behind his back and drain every ounce of blood from my dying body.
Did I sleep well? Funny.
“Yep,” I said, giving him a fake grin. I brushed a hand over the lump on the back of my head, adding, “Like a baby with a concussion.”
I knew this ridiculous conversation was for the benefit of anyone who might be spying on us, trying to figure out how much I saw and what I knew, so I tried to play along. Levi’s expression told me I wasn’t fooling anyone.
“Hey, True,” he said, craning his neck to see around me, “do you mind covering for Piper for a little while? I want to show her something.”
“Does that ‘something’ require you to get naked? Because if so, I’m coming,” she said, waggling her eyebrows.
“Oh my God, True,” I groaned.
Levi laughed, and the sound sent a shiver racing up my spine. His laugh was deep and husky, tinted with real humor—the first I’d heard from the serious boy who just so happened to be a creature of the night. Why the sudden change in his normal, brooding behavior?
Plus, how was he out in the daytime? Shouldn’t he be a pile of ash blowing in the wind the second a single ray of sun touched his body? I’d seen all of the counselors in the sunshine at one time or another, pale skin glowing under the bright rays, and none of them exploded or burst into flames.
Also, why was he now being so nice to me?
True shot me a questioning look as if to ask, Are you sure you want to go with him? I nodded to reassure her, and she took a deep breath before returning the gesture.
“I got you covered,” she said. “You guys can go suck face somewhere private.”
She spun and darted down the path toward the mess hall, her laughter trailing behind her. She thought she was so hilarious. And I was going to murder her next time we were alone.
“Let’s go,” Levi said, folding his hand around mine.
What the what?
My heart stopped as a flash of electricity zipped through me. I sucked in a broken breath, and my poor heart pounded back to life as it worked triple-time to keep my body moving. I was sure I’d been struck by lightning, though there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Why was he being so nice to me?
“Are you okay?” he murmured as we walked. “Your heart is pounding like crazy.”
“You can hear that?” I squeaked, then cleared my throat and repeated the question in a deeper, calmer voice. “You can hear that?”
“Only if I’m within about twenty feet,” he said, nodding. “I can’t hear the beating of a bird’s heart from a mile away, no matter what the storybooks say.”
As he talked, my heart rate slowed, but little sparks of warmth continued to shoot up my arm from our joined hands. I tried to regulate my breathing, hoping that would slow my heartbeat.
It’s fine. You’re fine, Piper. You’re holding hands with a friend. You do it with True all the time. No big deal.
Only Levi hadn’t been my friend. Not really. Only until last night on the platform had he seemed friendlier. This was taking it to a whole new level.
“It’s safe to talk here,” Levi said, snapping me out of my internal monologue. “The others are at breakfast, and Dean Purty will text me if any of them leave.”
“The dean knows I know? Is he angry? Wait, you have your phone?”
The questions popped from my mouth, one after another without giving him time to answer. He pulled to a stop and released his grip on my hand. The loss of it felt surprisingly devastating, but I ignored the sensation and focused on where we were.
“Are these the forbidden woods on the west side of the camp?”
“Which question do you want me to answer?” he asked with a small smirk as he pushed his sunglasses up on top of his head.
My mind blanked out for a second at the sight of his gorgeous eyes, but I shook it off and propped my fists on my hips.
“All of them.”
“Yes, the dean knows. No, he’s not angry. He expected you to find out eventually and is grateful you’ve decided to keep our secret. I’m allowed to keep my phone because I’m working for the dean, and he needs to be able to contact me at all times. And yes, these are the woods on the west side, but you’re safe here with me.”
“What would happen to me if I didn’t agree to keep this secret?” I asked in a shaky voice, my mind snagging on the word “grateful.”
Grateful for what? That he doesn’t have to kill me before I blab to the world?
“Jesus, Piper. You think he’d kill you?”
“Do you read minds?” I asked as I gazed at him incredulously.
“No,” he replied. “It was written all over your face.” He paused for a minute to stare into my eyes, and I couldn’t look away. “If you couldn’t handle the truth, I’d compel you to forget it.”
“Compel?”
He nodded. “It’s a type of… persuasion. Vampires can use it to control their victims, take away memories, and plant new ones. For those that drink from humans, the skill is invaluable.”
“Have you used it on me?” I asked, still unable to break away from his steely gaze.
“No,” he said, the word sounding like a solemn vow. “I would never use it on you, Piper Williams.”
“I don’t get it,” I said, shaking my head.
“Don’t get what?”
I blinked up, scanning his face for answers. “All of it, but mainly why are you suddenly being so nice to me? Like, you seemed to hate me before.”
Well, there it was. The cat had been let out of the bag. I waited for him to glower or storm off, but he just sighed deeply before answering.
“I’m just sick of pretending. For a while, I was trying to get you to leave because I thought it was unsafe. I felt like there was no way I could protect you. I didn’t… I didn’t want anything to happen to you.”
His eyes traced my face with a tenderness that turned my knees to mush. I suddenly felt an unexplainable and inescapable urge to kiss him. I needed to feel his lips on mine like I needed air. My body swayed forward, my eyes half-closed, as my heart thumped even faster than before.
“You’re not going to faint again, are you?” he asked, lifting his hands as if to steady me.
I jerked back, my eyes widening as I silently cursed myself. What was I thinking? Levi Kass was a God-knows-how-old vampire who could have anyone he wanted. Why on earth would I think it would be okay to kiss him? That he’d want to kiss me?
“How old are you?” I blurted, steering the conversation away from my humiliating near-blunder.
“I’m eighteen,” he said, brushing a palm down his chest before lifting his chin and showing me his profile. “Why? Do I look older?”
Was he making jokes? I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, so I settled for staring at him with narrowed eyes.
He sighed, saying, “I turned eighteen in nineteen ninety-eight. I’m not that old.”
I nodded, doing some quick math in my head. It was weird that he was more than twice my age, but looked like a regular teenager. And he’d be eighteen forever.
“What happened to you?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
“I got tickets for my birthday to go see NSYNC in concert.”
“Shut. Up.” My eyes widened with disbelief as I said the words.
“Don’t judge me,” he shot back, waving a hand in the air with a sad smile. “My sister was a huge fan, and she got me the tickets. So, of course, I had to take her with me.”
“Of course,” I replied when he fell silent.
“We stayed until the end, then hung out in the stadium until the crowds thinned out. B
y the time we hit the parking lot, it was mostly deserted. As soon as we reached my car, we were attacked.”
My hand flew to my mouth, and I was unsure I wanted to hear the rest. But I didn’t stop him, and he kept talking. Each word was like a blow to the face. Or to the heart.
“He got my sister first. We were on opposite sides of the car when she screamed. I looked up at the sound, and she was gone. I yelled her name and ran around the car, but she wasn’t there.”
He paused to compose himself as his voice cracked on the words. I reached out and grabbed his forearm, giving it a light squeeze.
“You don’t have to tell me,” I said, but he shook off the emotion and continued, though his gaze was haunted.
“I found her about thirty yards away in a spot where the stadium lot lights didn’t reach. A man was straddling her body, his mouth on her throat. I thought he was raping her. I ran forward and kicked him off of her, but it was too late. She was gone.”
He swallowed hard. Clearly, the memory of it, though it had been some time, still plagued him. I knew the feeling.
“As I stared at her lifeless body, the vampire jumped onto my back and bit my neck. I tried to throw him off of me, but he was too strong.
“A car came around the corner of the building, and the headlights scared the man off. I remember feeling really sick, like a sudden fever ravaged through me, and I passed out. I woke up in the morgue, lying under a white sheet on a gurney next to my dead sister. She was gone; I wasn’t. And I didn’t know why.”
“Levi, I’m so sorry.”
He dipped his head. “It was a long time ago.”
“What happened? How did you get to where you are now?”
“Charles Purty saved me. He keeps tabs on the news outlets, and as soon as he heard about the attack, he came to get me… but he was a little too late.”
“What do you mean?”
“I... killed the mortician,” he said, his voice filled with anguish and self-loathing. “When a vampire is reborn, the thirst is uncontrollable. The man walked in, and I attacked him. It was... instinct. He was gone when Charles walked in and pulled me off him.”