Anita:
"Calm down, Kade, and tell me everything again," I said. Everything he was saying was completely incomprehensible because he was talking so fast.
He took a deep breath. "Is it possible for another of my kind to read the mind of another vampire?"
"I don't know. I don't have the resources of the Council."
"Don't you have family that still resides there?"
"Yes, but only Richard knows how to get in touch with them."
He sighed in frustration. "Get in touch with Richard and then get here immediately."
"So the youngling is a threat?"
"No. She is far from it. Just get here. I'll tell you everything—again—when you do."
She? "Fine. I'll be there tomorrow; daylight." I hung up the phone. He made me so angry all of the time. Always dragging me around and making me do all of the work for him. However, who was I to complain? His parents saved my pack. They are the reason my family survived so long… I sighed. It did not matter how angry Kade made me or if I had to be the one doing all of the work, I still enjoyed his company and I loved being the one he turned to. I wondered how hard it must be to have a sibling kill your parents but could never completely understand. A group of rogue vampires attacked my pack. If the Council leaders had not have stepped in when they did, I do not think we would have survived.
Knocking that thought to the back of my mind, I thought of how long and hard Kade has searched. He was already a hundred years old by the time I’d met him—I had just been considered a full-grown werewolf at this time—and by the time his parents had been killed. When he and his sister Brooke were asked to take the place of their parents, both of them fled. Richard and I followed them to make sure they stayed safe as our alpha at the time ordered.
My phone rang again; the number was unknown. “Hello?”
“Anita,” Cody’s voice said. The way he sounded gave me butterflies in my stomach.
“Yes?”
“Has Kade finally decided to stop running yet?”
I sighed. I so hopeful yet again. “No.”
He was the one to sigh this time. “I wish he would hurry and realize it was stupid to continue this. I miss you so.”
My heart stopped. The words I have always wanted to hear! I was speechless. So many things were running through my mind.
"Anita?"
"I—I miss you, too."
He sighed. "I'm glad. I want you h—“ There were voices in the background that interrupted him. Other pack members, obviously. "I have to go, dear," he said when the voices stopped. "Keep in touch." He hung up the phone.
“Goodbye,” I whispered to no one. Everyone wanted the alpha. Cody was just irresistible. His dark green eyes could hold you in their gaze and keep you there for the rest of your life if you let them. His tan skin made you yearn to touch it and the way he presented himself was of pure confidence and power. He was also the biggest of our pack—which is one of the many reasons why he is our alpha. What female wouldn't want her offspring to be born of that?
I began packing my things. I decided I would leave early so I could try to help Kade figure out his newest problem so I could talk him into going back to the Council. I wanted to be with Cody, and he wasn’t leaving any time soon. As an alpha, he had a duty—lead and protect the pack. I couldn’t ask him to leave that because of me. However, could I really ask Kade to turn himself in to the one thing he was trying to escape? I thought about that and decided I could possibly make it seem as if he’d died. It would keep the Council from searching for him and it would allow me to go back to Cody.
I stopped what I was doing at that thought. What if Cody didn’t really want to be with me? What if he was only saying that because he was tired of the other females and he never saw me? What if...? I shook my head. I wasn’t going to think about it anymore. I just wanted to get my things packed so I could leave and get to Kade. I’d worry about the rest when the time got here.
Skyler:
“Stop fretting over something you can’t change. It’s getting really old,” I said to Emily.
“I’m sorry, Sky…” she said.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah; I know. It’s always on your mind and you really want to be with him and you’re just really scared… blah, blah, blah. I’ve heard it all before.”
“But there’s more.”
“I don’t think there’s anything from your thoughts on Darien that could be more.” She hesitated and looked away from me. “Emily? What’s wrong? What happened?”
“Nothing happened…” she said.
“What is it, Em? You can’t look at me that way and say nothing’s wrong.”
“Well… There’s this new guy in town—“
Excitement rushed through me. “Another vampire?” I interrupted.
She sighed. “Yes, another vampire. But you can’t tell anyone! Only Darien knows. He was there when the guy showed up. He says that you guys aren’t even supposed to know that I’m a vampire. Something about rules…” she trailed off.
“What did he look like? How many times have you seen him? Are you planning on seeing him again?” I didn’t care about the rules. I only cared about the guy. If they spent more time together then Emily could finally get over Darien and we would all be happy. Except maybe that loser, but who cares? Not me!
“Why don’t I just introduce you to him? I’m sure he’ll be out tonight.”
“Well, why are we sitting here? Let’s go!” I rushed her out of the door and to the car.
“Why don’t we walk?” she asked.
“Are you serious? I walk every day after school. Something you’re lucky to have gotten out of.”
“I miss doing that,” she said wistfully.
“We’ll talk about that later. Let’s just walk. Whatever makes you happy and whatever gets me to meeting this guy.”
“Are you sure Adam won’t get upset about you meeting a new guy without him? You know how touchy he gets.”
“Yes, I know how touchy he gets. We’ve dated for three years now. I put up with him more than you do. But I’m not meeting him because I want to date him.”
A look of comprehension passed across her face. “Oh, no!” she exclaimed, shaking her head like a crazy person. “You are not going to try and get us together.”
“Why not?” I pouted. “It would be very good for you. And it’ll help you get over stupid Darien. Something you should have done a long time ago. I want a change of conversation. I want to hear about what makes you happy not sad.”
“If my talking about Darien bothered you so much, you should have said something before.”
“It wouldn’t have stopped you from slipping every now and then.” I sighed. I didn’t want to get in an argument with her tonight. “Let’s just go find the guy.”
“What guy?” a deep, sexy voice said behind me.
Emily:
Oh, this is so not what I was looking for. I knew my face was turning all sorts of red because of the way Kade kept staring at me. It was so uncomfortable. Yeah, Darien's overheard Skyler and me talking about him occasionally, but he already knew I would be so that didn't bother me—much. The fact that I didn't know this guy and he didn't know me is what bothered me. He just met me and I still haven't had all of my questions answered. I was scared it would run him off. That and the fact that he was very attractive didn't help anything at all.
"Who are you?" Skyler asked with a raised eyebrow.
Kade looked at me but said nothing.
"Uh, Sky..." She looked at me. "This is Kade." I cleared my throat. "The, um, guy I was telling you about."
Her eyes got huge and she looked at Kade and back to me. "He's totally gorgeous!" she exclaimed not caring that he was standing right there.
"Uh... Yeah..." I didn't know what to say. I've never be the one to say what I was really thinking unless intoxicated (yes I used to drink—what teenager doesn’t? Especially in little old’ Greenville—but that was before this strange vampire metabolism thing kept me from getting drunk anymore. Seriously, do vampires ever have any fun?) or really, really angry. In this case I wasn't either so I kept my mouth shut and chose my words carefully.
Kade laughed. "Your friend is amusing to me. Is she always so open with her thoughts?"
I sighed. "Always. She never thinks before she speaks."
Skyler playfully punched my arm. "If I didn't speak my mind no one in this world would ever know the truth because I know you wouldn't be the one to tell them."
"Well someone has to be nice to everyone and lie to them when you won't."
She looked at Kade ignoring my remark. "So how did you meet Emily?"
He glanced at me and looked back at Skyler. "I'm staying at a hotel here and I decided to go for a walk. I walked a little further than I realized because everything looked old-fashioned and I bumped into her. Her guy friend didn't seem to like me too much." He had a smug expression.
Skyler laughed. "Oh, this is even better!" she exclaimed. "He's already met Darien! I'm loving this even more by the second!" She and Kade exchanged a few more things after that but I wasn't paying any attention. Was Skyler really that tired of Darien that she was trying to make me replace him? I had told him I would never do that and I meant it. Let alone replace him with someone I have only know for two days. I honestly didn't think I would ever feel the same way about anyone the way I did for Darien ever again. He was one of those things that was impossible for me to forget and I know that centuries later (if I'm still living, if that is what you want to call it) I'll still be thinking of him as much as I am now. No. There was no possible way I would ever give anyone else a chance or let anyone else in my heart—not that I could, anyway. Darien had the whole thing; or at least what was left of it—and I'm sure he kept really good care of it. He had to.
"Emily?"
I blinked quickly a few times and looked down a bit. "Sorry. I zoned out."
"Yeah, we could tell," Skyler said.
"It is okay though," Kade said. "Our minds are powerful and it is sometimes okay to let them wander."
"With the direction her thoughts wander, it's so not a very good thing," Skyler murmured.
"Where do your thoughts take you, Emily?" Kade asked, sincerely curious.
"Some place that I'm hoping you'll make her forget," Skyler said when I refused to say anything.
Kade laughed. "I cannot make her forget what she chooses not to. Only she can do that."
"Well you could at least make her want to forget them."
Kade tilted his head. "How would one do such a thing?"
"You're a vampire, aren't you? Can't you just play with her mind a bit?"
"Vampires can't do that to other vampires," I said, ignoring the shocked look on Kade's face. He still wasn't used to the fact that my human friends knew about us.
"But you can do that to us, so why not another vampire?"
Kade found his voice again and said, "It is because our minds are different than yours. I've have only heard of one exception, but that was only recently." His eyes found mine as he said it and I quickly looked away. I had almost forgotten about last night's incident. I didn't know how it happened. It just did and it was somewhat freaky because I couldn't move until he looked away. It was almost as if his mind drew me to him. I sighed. I didn't know how to explain it even to myself so how was I going to explain it to Kade when he asked me how I had done it? Isn't that why he was here, anyway?
"I'll never understand you vampires," Skyler said. "Em, why don't you go walking with your friend? It's only eight now and my curfew is twelve. If you're staying with me, be back then."
"Why don't you just call my cell when you decide you're ready to come home so it doesn't look bad to your mom?"
"Do you really think she's going to be awake?"
"No, but if she and your step dad hear the door open at different times of the night they might freak."
"Good point; we'll do that."
"What are you going to do, anyway?"
She grinned. "I'm going to see Adam."
I sighed and sarcastically rolled my eyes. "Of course."
"Later!" she said as she got in her car and closed the door. When she drove off it was just Kade and me standing in her drive way. I didn't want to look in his direction. I could already feel that he was watching me and it was making me nervous.
"Why does your friend raise the hairs on the back of my neck?" he asked after a moment.
I stiffened. "What do you mean?"
"It could be nothing."
I relaxed a little. "Yeah; nothing." I sighed. "Let's go. I don't want to look like an idiot standing in front of Skyler's house."
He chuckled. “Do you always care about your appearance?”
“Nope. It’s more of a suspicion thing.” I glanced at him. “What would you think if two strange people were standing in your neighbor’s front yard without moving?”
“I would think they were up to something scandalous,” he said whispered in my ear.
I shook my head and started walking. “Who says scandalous anymore?”
“Is that word not popular anymore?” he asked once in step beside me.
I laughed. “No, it’s not.”
“Well what is proper?”
“You’ve seriously got to work on your speech, dude.”
He stopped walking. “What is wrong with my speech?”
“You’re too proper—too nineteenth-century-meets-early-twentieth-century. I think that’s what I’m looking for.” I shrugged. “Your speech changes, actually. One minute you’re talking strange and the next you’re talking like a normal teen.”
“I don’t see why I should have to change the way I talk.”
“It’s annoying,” I said.
“Annoying?”
“Yes, annoying. Or do you even know what that word means?” I started walking again but stopped when he was suddenly in front of me.
He opened his mouth as if he were to speak but closed it quickly, took a deep breath, and moved to stand by my side. We walked in silence for a few blocks and then he sighed. “What?” I asked.
“I’m not sure,” he said quietly.
“You’re not sure of what?”
“I’m not sure why it feels so nice to walk with you. I’ve always wanted to be on my own.”
I grinned. “Maybe it’s because of my charming personality?” He looked at me and my grin faded. “It was just a joke.”
He smiled. “Of course.”
“You really have no sense of humor, do you?”
"It's odd because that is what I thought of you when I first met you," he mused, "but I do have a sense of humor. I’m really just trying to figure you out."
“No comment.”
Kade:
I walked in silence with Emily trying to get passed the confusion I felt. Why was I so attracted to her so quickly? I knew nothing about her and she obviously didn’t seem all that interested in me. She’d even called me annoying of all things!
I started counting off what I didn’t like about her in my head: she had blonde in her hair—the blonde didn’t fit, but the brown seemed perfect. She was too quiet—but what was so wrong with that? She was short—but I wasn’t exactly the tallest person myself. She kept to herself too much—but I did it too, so why was I criticizing her for it? She hardly ever smiled—what exactly was her problem? I definitely didn’t like the fact that she could read my mind either—but could she help that she was different, unique?
Then I started counting off what I liked: she was pretty; her blue eyes were intriguing; when she did smile it was beautiful; she didn’t like to argue—though from what I could tell she would if someone started something with her she wouldn’t hesitate to try and finish it; she seemed to care a lot for people; the fact that she could read vampire minds—or maybe it was just mine after all; and there were so many other things I could have gone on with that it was unordinary—for me anyway.
“Usually I would enjoy the quiet,” she said breaking through my thoughts with that child-like voice of hers, “but tonight it bothers me. Why are you so quiet?”
I smiled at her. “I was just thinking. Is that too much of a problem?”
She smiled back. “No, not really. As you said before, our minds are powerful; they should be allowed to wander every now and then. We need the escape from reality every so often.”
“This isn’t an escape, as you call it. I’m very much thinking about reality.”
She shrugged. “Whatever suits you.”
I glanced at her from the corner of my eye and noticed for the first time what kind of shirt she was wearing. It was strangely humorous. It was a tight-fitting purple one with a skeleton that’s right leg from the knee down is detached and it said, “Oh! Snap!” I laughed.
“What’s so funny?” she asked.
“Your shirt.”
She frowned. “What about it?”
“Have you not seen the humor in it?”
She looked at me. “I guess not.” She glanced down at her shirt and laughed a little herself. “I guess it is a little funny.”
“Why are you not wearing a jacket tonight?” I asked.
“I forgot to grab one before I left home. Why?”
“The humans would find it a little strange that you’re walking around in this weather without one.”
“I guess I never thought of that,” she murmured.
I pulled my coat off and handed it to her. “You can keep it. I’ve got plenty.”
“Uh, thank you,” she said as she put it on. It was a little big on her and it made me laugh.
“What now?” she asked.
“Nothing other than the fact that my jacket looks huge on you,” I said.
“Well you’re bigger than I am, so what else did you expect?” she asked.
“Do you have a sense of humor at all?”
“Of course I do,” she answered a little defensively.
“Well I haven’t seen it,” I mocked.
“Because I’m not sure if I should let myself be so open with you. I hardly know you.”
“That’s fair.”
“Of course it is. But I have a question for you.”
“Oh? And what is that?” I asked curiously.
“How are you able to be so carefree and trusting of people?”
“I’ve lived a long time. Things tend to not bother me as much as they do others. I can be carefree and still be as guarded as you are now.”
"Am I really that bad?" she asked quietly.
"What are you talking about?"
She stopped walking and kept her eyes on the ground. "Everyone is always telling me that. ’You're too closed up, Em. You need to open up and live a little,' they always say." She laughed. "Live a little,”—she shook her head—“I have an eternity to live."
"That's true. You do have that time, but how many chances will you actually have the time to spend with the wonderful people you have now?" She continued to look down at the ground and I put my finger under her chin and lifted her head up so I could look her in the eyes. "Open up enough to enjoy that time you have with those people now. You may have all of that time but they don't. Make it something worth remembering when they're gone."
She took a step away from me and sighed. "You're right. Maybe they're right too."
"You said yourself that they know what you are."
She nodded. Suddenly she grinned. "There's something I want to show you." She grabbed my hand and we started running.
After a few minutes we'd left the town and were in residential areas that were spaced apart. We'd come to stop on a barn. On the outside it looked as if it were about to fall apart and I'd wanted to ask her what we were doing here, but on the inside it was amazing. The walls and roof were done nicely, painted different shades of neon colors. She flicked a light switch and black lights came on as well as strobe lights and a disco ball. She went to a radio and played some music. With this theme you would expect techno or something, but that's not what she played. It was something I'd never heard before—a mixture between rock and rap. "Who is this?" I asked.
"Hollywood Undead. I could change it if you like," she said.
"No it's fine. I like it."
She smiled. "So what do you think?"
"I think it's wonderful. You and your friends must have a lot of fun on the weekends."
"Actually, my friends have never seen this. You're the first."
"Really? Why haven't your friends seen this? This is spectacular."
She laughed. "I just finished the inside a couple of weeks ago, and I’m fixing to start on the outside. Besides, if you were human would you want to be in some place that looked like the outside in here?"
"No, I guess not."
Emily:
I watched Kade closely as he looked around the little barn I'd fixed up. He seemed completely interested and that made me feel really good about myself. I couldn't wait to show it to my friends. I could only hope that they would be as intrigued in this as he was.
Kade was an interesting person too—now that I really thought about it. I'd thought I was feeling the beginning of an attraction but I wasn't completely sure. I still didn't know how much I could trust him. And what about Darien? I'd realized that this was the first time I'd thought about him since I'd been with Kade tonight. Maybe this is what Skyler wanted. Maybe this would make her happy—no, I knew it would make her happy. For once, I actually felt like myself again. I wasn’t worried about running into Darien or what I was going to say to him the next time I saw him. Right now, I was only thinking about how lucky I was to have a good looking guy like him in this rusty, old, and broken down barn that I had made my own personal project.
"Do you have anything classical?" he asked, breaking into my thoughts.
"No. I never could actually sit through more than thirty seconds of a classical song."
"Hm." He started walking around again, looking at every little thing. It made me want to know what he was thinking.
…just like a teenager to want some kind of rave scene, but this looks well done. I would have paid someone to come and do it for me, but she took the time to add her own style to it. It makes it unique. Quite amazing. I know it didn’t take her too long, but I wonder just how long…
“One month,” I said.
“What?” he asked. His eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head.
“You wanted to know how long it took me.”
“I never said anything.”
“But I heard you…”
“I never said anything,” he said again.
“But I swear I heard you. You were talking about paying someone to do this, but you liked how I’d put my style in it and made it unique. Then you asked how long it must have taken me.” I wasn’t lying. I did hear him.
“Emily, I don’t know how you did it, but I think you read my thoughts again.”
“But I didn’t. I—I couldn’t have.”
“You did, Emily, because I didn’t say anything of that aloud.”
“All I wanted to know was what you thought of the place. I didn’t… I didn’t want to read your mind. I’m so very sorry!”
He smiled. “It’s okay.”
I shook my head. “No it’s not. You said vampires can’t read each other’s minds, and I can read yours. There must be something wrong with me…” I trailed off.
He walked toward me and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Nothing is wrong with you, Emily. You’re just more talented than the other’s that I have met in my lifetime.” I looked at his face and his eyes lit up. “You know… I have a sister, and I’d like to see if you could read her thoughts too. If you can’t, then…” he trailed off and then spoke slowly as he said this: “then I’m sure there’s some other explanation.”
“Why does it sound like you don’t like the ‘other explanation’?” I asked.
“I’ll explain at a later time,” he said. He took his hand off my shoulder and stood there with his head to the ground. He wouldn’t look me in the eyes. “Let’s go.”
“You could go if you need to. I’ll stay—“
“You have to come, too,” he said, interrupting me.
“But I have to be at Skyler’s—“
“You’ll be there by the twelve o’clock curfew.”
“So where are we going, exactly?” I asked.
“We’re going to meet my sister.”
“She’s here, too?”
“No, but she will be as soon as I call her.”
“But that could take a while!” I exclaimed.
He chuckled. “Not for my sister.”
Brooke:
I was in the small town of Greenville, Alabama in less than an hour. My brother was at the place he said to meet on time, just as I expected him to be. But what I saw with him was something I never expected; a girl. She was short, no taller than five-three. She had shoulder-length brown hair with blonde highlights (or was it blonde with brown highlights?) and had the face of a child. She was wearing a tight-fitting purple shirt and—humorously so—it had a skeleton on it that's foot was disconnected from the knee down with "Oh! Snap!" written in big letters. I sat inside the car for a moment so I could get myself under control again so the girl wouldn't see that I was amused. When I was finally composed and made myself seem emotionless—an easy task once you've done so for as long as I have—I got out of the car. "What is it that you needed? And why is she here?" I asked motioning to the girl.
"That's actually why I called you here," he said. "Brooke, meet Emily."
"Hi," she said nervously.
I narrowed my eyes on Kade. "Is this what you've been doing with your time? Wasting it on a girl while you were supposed to be finding him?"
"I wasn't wasting my time."
"Oh, really? Then why am I to be meeting this girl, Kade?"
"Because she actually read my mind, Brooke."
I gasped in surprise. "That's not possible..."
"Apparently so."
"Oh, Kade! Imagine what we could do with her! And she's only a human!"
"I—I’m not human," the girl said in a small voice.
I felt my eyes get big. "Kade! How could you—“
"I didn't," he interrupted. "I came here on my own trying to find a place the Council wouldn't find; a place where you, Anita, Richard, and I could live peacefully without ever having to worry about them again. She was here when I arrived, though."
"Then who is her sire?"
"She won't tell me."
I looked at her. "Who is your sire, little girl?"
"I—I won't tell you who he is."
"I do not have time for you games," I growled impatiently. "Who. Is. Your. Sire?"
"H—His name is Ayden." When she said the name my blood went cold, and my heart seemed to have stopped beating.
"W—what did you say his name was?" Kade asked.
"Ayden," she said almost to quiet for me to hear. Kade jumped away from her as if she had snuck up on him and scared him half to death. His eyes were wide with shock and anger.
"Why didn't you tell me that before?" he asked coldly.
"Maybe because you don't scare me as much as she does," she snapped at him.
"Kade," I said when I could talk again. "We could use her."
"Use me for what?"
"We've been trying to track Ayden down for fifty years now," Kade said through gritted teeth, "and you're his fledgling and never thought to tell me."
"You make it seem like I was supposed to know that," she shot back.
"You read my mind!" he yelled. "You could have picked it up!"
"I wasn't trying to read your mind, idiot. I don't even know how I did it!" she yelled back.
"Of course you do! It's just like a human mind!"
"How would you know what it's like? You can't even do it! If you could I wouldn't be such a big deal and you wouldn't have called your stupid sister down here!" she shot a look at me. "No offense."
"I'm sure there's someone else—“
"Shut up, Kade," I all but yelled. "There is no one else out there like her, and you know it." He glared at me, but he didn't speak again. Smart boy. "Now," I said calmly to the girl. "Do as you did with Kade and try and read my mind."
Her brows furrowed as she tried concentrating and I could see the struggle to read my thoughts on her face. I tried to think of funny things of Kade when he was younger; things that would actually make her laugh, but she never once smiled. "I can't," she said after a moment.
"What do you mean you can't?!" Kade shouted.
"Just what I said," she snapped. "I. Can't."
Kade's face seemed to go paler than usual. "Kade, what's wrong?" I asked.
"Nothing," he said quickly.
"Oh, no! I've got to go!" the girl exclaimed. Before either of us could ask where she was going, she disappeared.
Kade:
I watched as Emily left. I knew where she was going, but I didn’t want to go after her. I had no reason to. I slowly turned away from Brooke and began walking toward the hotel I was staying in. I knew she was calling my name, but I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t speak at all. She could only read my mind. Or at least that was all I could tell. I’d hoped that Emily’s being able to read my mind didn’t mean this. I’d hoped with everything I had. But then again, I’d only thought that it was an old myth. At least until I met Emily. She just proved to me that it wasn’t a myth.
Before Ayden killed my parents, I wanted to know why their relationship was so perfect; how they knew when something was wrong with the other. They rarely argued and when they did the argument was over as quickly as it started. I’d always wanted to ask them about it but they were always so busy with the Council that they never had time for me. So I decided to do the research on my own. I grabbed any and every book one the subject I could find in the Council’s library. One book I found that I remember the most vividly talked about a telepathic bond that occurs to one vampire couple—unexpectedly, of course—every century. You never knew when you would find someone who would share a telepathic bond with you. You could also find that bond with a human if fate willed it so, but it was hard to do as such since you could read every human’s mind—if you didn’t know the other signs, anyway. It didn’t matter how long you’d lived.
When I was younger, I wanted what my parents had. I wanted to be head of the Council once they were living no longer. I wanted to find someone I could share a telepathic bond with. I wanted children who would be as strong—if not stronger—than my siblings and me. But then my parents were killed and Brooke and I were asked—more like forced, really—to take their place. It was a responsibility neither Brooke nor I were ready for and it reminded me so much of my parents that I just didn't want it anymore. So Brooke and I ran. Anita and Richard followed us and they've helped us stay in touch with some of the Council's resources. Only Anita and Richard’s mother, father, younger sister, and alpha male have contact with them.
I paused on my thoughts. Where was Anita? She was supposed to be here during the day today, but she was nowhere to be found when I woke up tonight. Could her flight have been canceled? Did she oversleep and miss her flight and have to wait on the next one? I raced back to my hotel to see if she'd made it there. When I opened the door to the room, she was sleeping on the bed beside mine. I sighed. Well at least I know she's okay now... I thought to myself. I could have woken her up, but I decided she needed the sleep. I could fill her in on everything tomorrow. Well... If I had everything figured out by then, anyway.
I decided that I didn't want to sit around the hotel room and wait for the sunrise. I wanted to roam around a little more. I wanted to see a few more things. This town may be small but it fascinated me. How the downtown area and the city looked was quite amazing—how they blended so well together, anyway.
While walking through downtown and looking at all of the closed stores—except for The Pub that seemed to be full—I saw Emily's guy friend. He was with two other friends that looked about the same age. One was a little shorter than the boy—Darien, I think his name was—with short brown hair and blue eyes that looked very similar to Emily’s (I wonder if that’s what they looked like before her change). He was wearing a Bullet For My Valentine t-shirt (I was really going to have to get me one of those) with jeans. He had on worn out Vans that looked like they were coming apart, and though it looked really stupid, I'd bet they were a very comfortable pair of shoes. Then my gaze moved on to the other guy. He was taller than the two boys and he had long brown hair that went a little passed his shoulders. His face was long and bony and his eyes were green. He was wearing a Misfits shirt with ripped jeans and a pair of blue DC's. I was about to walk the other direction when I heard the subject of their conversation. "She's just been acting to weird, Chris," Darien said.
"Maybe you're just thinking things," the short boy said.
"I'm not thinking things. You haven't seen her in a week, Damien."
"D, she's only acting weird around you," the tall one—Chris, I think—said.
"How would you know?"
"Because I went to see her. I told you that."
"Oh. I forgot."
"So, how is she acting weird?" Damien asked.
"She just... You guys know how she would have gone out of her way to spend as much time with me as possible?"
"Yeah. We do, so you don’t have to remind us," Chris said.
"How could we possibly forget? It was all both of you ever talked about," Damien said.
"Anyway, on with your story," Chris said.
Darien sighed. "Lately she's been avoiding me, coming up with the lamest excuses ever to stay away, but I know why she's doing it. Ever since that new guy came into town she's been spending every ounce of her time with him."
Chris sighed this time. "D, you've got to look at it from Emily's perspective. This new guy knows about other vampires. You said so yourself that's what he was. She's probably got millions of questions that he most likely knows every answer to, and you know as well as Damien and I do that she's put herself down ever since Ayden left because she thinks she's not good enough."
"But she is good enough..." Darien said quietly.
Damien put his hand on Darien's shoulder. "You've got to let her go, D. This is messing both of you up."
"That's the second time I've heard it's bothering her too, but if it was bothering her as much as it is me then she wouldn't have nearly bitten my head off when I tried talking to her about it."
"Maybe she just doesn't want to go back to that, D. She probably still feels really horrible about what happened."
"And maybe it's really good that she's got this other guy. Maybe then she can have someone that will still be around after we're..." Chris paused like he didn't really like what he was about to say.
"After we're gone," Damien finished for him.
"But I don't want her to go for the guy! I just want him to leave so we can go back to the way things were!"
"Back to what, D? She wasn't going to give you another chance. She's doing what's best for you—“
"What's best for me? That's not her place to choose what's best for me!" Darien shouted, cutting Damien off.
"It's what's best for her, too," Chris said calmly.
Darien opened his mouth and started to say something but closed it. "You guys are probably right," he said softly. I'd had enough of standing where they couldn't see me and walked right by them without glancing. "Hey!" Darien called. "Where's Emily?"
I turned my head a little so I could see him. "Why would I know where she is? I'm not her babysitter."
"I just thought she'd be with you."
"Oh? Why is that?"
"Because that's where she's been ever since you showed up two days ago."
"Well obviously not tonight." I didn't say anything more and I didn't give him any other chance to talk. I just kept walking. I didn't want to worry myself with human problems, even though it did amuse me greatly to make the human jealous.
An hour after my walk, I decided to go back to the hotel. I kicked myself a little because I still hadn’t had anything figured out. The only thing I could really think about was Emily. So what if I’d found the person fate had me paired up with? Why did I have to wait so long? Why couldn’t I have found her when my parents were still alive, when I still really wanted this? Why did it have to happen now that I didn’t want it? It made no sense.
“Kade?” Anita said when I opened the door.
“No, it’s house keeping,” I said sarcastically.
“Someone seemed to have had a bad night.”
“Oh, really?”
“Why is my brother here, Kade? What is going on?”
“It’s nothing. I just called Brooke in to help me figure out something and then…” I trailed.
“And then…?”
“And then my little ‘experiment’ “—I used finger quotes around the word—“backfired on me.”
“What experiment?”
I sighed. “Do you remember that girl I told you about?”
“The young one?”
“Yes.”
“Yes…” she said slowly.
I ran my hands through my hair. “Apparently she can read minds. Well, my mind, anyway.”
“I got that on the phone, Kade, but what does that have to do with anything.”
“Do you know of a thing called a ‘telepathic bond’ between vampires?”
“Yes. I’ve read them in the archives while my pack and I were studying your kind as your parents so wished.”
“Well then you know what I’m getting at. Anyway, I didn’t want to believe that it was happening to me. Not right now, anyway, so I called Brooke. She and Richard raced down here and I tried to get Emily to read Brooke’s mind, but she couldn’t and…” I let the sentence die.
“So you’ve finally found your ‘other half’?”
“In the sense of the word.”
She stared at me with unblinking eyes.
“Will you stop that? You’re making me feel even weirder than I already do.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “But this is just a little too convenient.”
“Convenient? You can’t be serious! This is far from convenient.”
“Kade, you keep talking about how you want to just stop running and settle down.”
“But I didn’t mean right now.”
“What’s the difference between now and later?”
“Because I still want to find Ayden!” I yelled.
“If you haven’t found him in this amount of time, you probably never will,” she said bluntly.
“Oh, but that is where you are so wrong, Anita.”
“How so?”
"Ayden is Emily's sire."
"What?!" she shouted.
"Shhh! Keep your voice down!"
"I'm sorry, but... what?"
"Yeah; I was really going to give up on it and stay here, but then I found out who her sire was and then I realized that I could find him so easily!"
"Does he still come here?"
I thought about that and remembered that Emily said he left her after two weeks and called her useless. My excitement turned to hopelessness. I sighed. "He changed her and left her."
"Then how is that going to help you?"
I ran my hands through my hair. "I don't know. I just don't know."
Anita:
I watched as Kade paced back and forth, but I didn’t say anything. I was lost in my own thought. He was so close to Ayden. There was no way I could make him change his mind. Would Cody be willing to wait a little longer? Would Cody even understand?
“What do you suggest I do, Anita?” Kade’s voice cut through my thoughts and I blinked.
“I—I don’t know, Kade.”
He sighed and sat down on the edge of his bed. “What if she really is the one fate has paired me with?”
“I thought we were talking about going after Ayden?”
“I want to, I really do, but I want to talk more about Emily at the moment.”
“Then stay here and get to know her.” Maybe Cody wouldn’t have to wait on me after all.
“But she’s got this strange relationship with a human.”
“You know as well as I do that it won’t last very long.”
“It probably goes deeper than what you and I would think, Anita.”
“How would it?” How could a human have a greater effect on a vampire, especially one with their bond? Does she even realize that they have a bond? Surely she does… She has to.
“You haven’t seen her around him. You haven’t seen her at all. You wouldn’t really catch the pain in her eyes. I barely do.”
“You’ve caught it when you’ve read her mind?”
“I haven’t read her mind yet. I’m not sure how to do it, but she sometimes hears my thoughts. She says she doesn’t know how she does it.”
“She doesn’t know how she does it?” He shook his head. “That’s odd.”
He shrugged. “Maybe it is, but she doesn’t really know anything about our kind or our rules.”
“Kade, I don’t believe the rules matter anymore.”
“How could you say that? Of course they matter!”
“Have you not paid any attention to the places we’ve been to with all of the vampire residents?”
“They just don’t know what to think about not having people to lead the Council.”
“Kade, they don’t care! They know that they’re spending most of their time trying to find the two of you. Do you remember the vampire that fed off the humans openly and practically owned the town?”
“Yes, we had to block the town off so no new people came in and no one left until we erased everyone’s minds of the vampire.”
“Exactly. And do you think he really cared?”
He thought for a moment. “No, I don’t guess so.”
“He didn’t care about anything until the moment before I staked him. He begged me to spare him, but I told him I could not.”
“But what you said after that was completely uncalled for.”
“You are Donovan Hazard’s son, are you not?”
“I do not deny that he was my father, but when you speak that aloud anyone who overhears will tell the Council anything. I’m beginning to think that the Council has a spy on us, anyway, which is why I’m hoping you turned your cell phone off.”
Turn my cell phone off? What if Cody called me while it was off? Would he think I was avoiding him? Then it hit me. Could it have been Cody who was spying on us? Each time Kade and I moved into a new city, Cody would call and talk long enough for someone to trace a call. He’d even asked me this last time if Kade had decided to stop running. Could he have only said those things to throw me off? Knowing Cody, that was a yes. He somehow knew that I wanted him, but how?
“I think I know who the spy is. I just can’t believe I didn’t see it before,” I said quietly with my head down.
“Who, Anita?”
“My alpha, Cody.”
“Are you sure?”
“Why else would he be calling me every time we moved? It was always after the Council did a sweep of the last town we had stayed in and each time they always checked the last location we were at. He would always make the conversations long enough to trace the call and then something would ‘come up’ “—I did little finger quotes around the words—“and he would have to end the call.”
As Kade took in the words I saw betrayal flicker in his eyes. Cody’s father had been the one to make the deal with Kade’s parents and now it is Cody who may break those ties between him and Kade. Kade's gaze moved to me and he opened his mouth as if he was going to say something but he must have seen something on my face because he quickly closed it and said, "Let's just get some sleep."
"But it's only one-thirty," I said.
"I know, but I'm tired. Going to bed early sounds like a good idea, and you need some sleep too."
Once we'd crawled into our separate beds and turned off the lights, I closed my eyes. Kade was right, I needed sleep. But even with my eyes closed, I couldn't even find it. I wondered how things could have gone from perfect to disappointing in just a few short hours.
