Blood Awakening (10 page)

The ride home was worse than the ride to the cemetery, though this time I was the one who refused to speak. I couldn’t, really, too afraid of what I might say:

Sure, Chance, I’ll stay a vampire for you!

Hell no, I wanna be human again!

Curtain Number One was eternity with the guy I loved. Curtain Number Two was, well, curtains. Yeah, some choice. I couldn’t wait to get home to Kayla so I could fill her in on everything.

Unfortunately, Kayla had a different plan. She was sitting on the front porch waiting for us when we pulled in, a pile of folders and papers stacked in her lap. She looked frantic, like she would burst if she didn’t spill some government secrets.

“I found something.” She was at my door before I could even climb from Chance’s truck. Judging by her tone, she was excited, so at least it wasn’t bad news. I was relieved; I didn’t think I could handle anything else bad today. “Erik’s on his way over.”

Cue bad news.

Kayla rambled on about whatever it was that had her so hyped up, but all I heard was “blah blah blah Erik is coming blah blah blah.”

Erik.

And Chance.

At the same time.

I was screwed. The minute I saw Erik, Chance would see me see him, and he would know. What he would know, I had no clue. But he would know.

“So, um, why’s he coming?” I tried my best to sound uninterested, like it didn’t matter if it was Erik or The Pope who was on his way to cause me more problems.

“Because he wants to help, duh.” Kayla never looked up from her paperwork, just blurted the words like it was common knowledge. My stomach was kicking my ribs so hard I had to lean against Chance’s truck to keep from passing out, and she sounded like she was reciting her mom’s grocery list. This so couldn’t be happening.

“Help with what?” Chance came around the front of his truck, suddenly interested in my life. Perfect timing, Chance.

“Finding my dad,” Kayla said. “Ava’s gonna help me look for him. Now Erik’s offered to help. You want in?” Like it was a card game. Or a bank heist. Lucky for me, Chance was still pissed about what happened—what I had done to him—so I could count on him to bow out gracefully.

“Of course I’ll help.”

I was batting a thousand today.

“Are you sure?” I hadn’t meant to sound so skeptical, but I was truly surprised that he was willing to be around me. I mean, he had sort of told me only a few minutes ago that he still loved me, but that he also wanted me to stay a vampire. It wasn’t like we were in a good place.

“She’s my friend, too.” He cut his eyes at me for a second before looking at Kayla and smiling. She was smiling, too, obviously happy that Chance was back in her life. I wished I could feel the same. “And if it has anything to do with tracking down Sebastian or his coven, I wouldn’t wanna be anywhere else.”

“Well, we don’t know if Sebastian is responsible,” Kayla said, clutching her folders next to her chest. “But I’m not counting him out.”

“He’s responsible,” Chance said, his words dripping anger. “He’s responsible for all of it.”

Kayla’s lips curled into an eerie grin. “I think so, too,” she said, climbing the porch steps and heading into the house. I couldn’t decide which was more unsettling, the fact that Chance was dead-set on believing that Sebastian was behind Mr. Harper’s disappearance, or Kayla agreeing with him.

“So, um, what did you find out?” I asked once we were inside. Chance and I followed her into the living room, where several Diet Coke cans littered the coffee table.

“Well, it turns out my dad did make it to Boston.” Kayla fished a paper out of one of her folders and handed it to me.

“This looks like Greek to me.” I couldn’t make out anything on the paper—a bunch of numbers and prices and businesses listed one after the other.

“It’s a credit card bill.” Kayla came and sat on the couch next to me; Chance took her place in the chair across the coffee table. “All these are places my dad used his credit card.” She pointed to the businesses listed on the paper. “Down here, at the bottom”—she singled out a place called JP Licks—“is where my dad took me the last time we were in Boston. It’s an ice cream shop. We have one here in town, but the one in Boston is nicer. First time I ever had pistachio ice cream. Which is awesome, by the way.” She kept her eyes glued to the paper, a memory marring her face with sadness.

“I’m new to the whole credit card thing…what does this prove?”

“That he was in Boston. See the date?” More pointing, this time to the far left. “It’s the day of his lecture. He must’ve stopped by there on his way to the university. He was an ice cream nerd.” A slight pause, then, “Is. He is an ice cream nerd.” She stood and walked to the large window looking out over the front yard. “Can’t believe I said that.”

“It’s okay, Kayla.” I dropped the paper onto the coffee table and crossed the room to her. “You found something. This is good.”

“I just miss him, you know?”

I wrapped my arms around her, laying my head on her shoulder. “Yeah, I know.”

“What if something bad’s happened, Ava? What if I’m too late?” Her tiny hand wrapped around mine, gripping hard.

“Don’t say that. You’re not too late. We’ll find him.”

“From your lips.” I had no clue what that meant, but it sounded ominous. I was about to ask her, when movement on the front porch caught my attention.

“Crap.”

“What?” Kayla turned to look at me, following my gaze out the window. “Yay, he’s here!” She released my hand. My arm fell from her shoulder as she bolted toward the front door. “It took you long enough,” she said, closing the door behind them.

“Sorry,” Erik said, stepping into the room. He looked really good (okay, hot) and I had to stop myself from running over and hugging him—which made no sense, given our last conversation.

“No problem.” Kayla closed the door and sat down on the couch. Erik didn’t move, standing just inside the entryway.

“Why’s he here?” Chance’s voice caught me off guard; I actually jumped.

“To help,” Kayla said. The scent of her blood spiked; she was nervous, too.

“Better question is, what the hell are you doing here?” Erik kept his eyes locked on Chance. “You should be in the ground somewhere.”

Chance was on his feet now. “Wanna try to put me there?”

Erik finally moved into the room. “Ready when you are.”

“Stop it!” Three heads whipped around to stare at me. “Save your macho crap for somebody else.” I was fuming, my vampire side fighting to get out. Heat clawed at my skin, pricking the hairs on my arms. “We’re here for Kayla, nothing else.” I looked at both Erik and Chance, praying neither of them would fight me on this.

“Sorry.” Erik spoke first, dropping his puffed-out chest and lowering his shoulders. “Sorry, Kayla.” He touched his friend on the arm before crossing the room to me. The overpowering scent of his blood was nauseatingly good.

“Stop,” I said, holding my hand out at him. He didn’t listen, moving closer to me. “Erik, don’t.” I wouldn’t be able to control myself if he didn’t.

“You won’t hurt me.” And then he was next to me, inches away, his scent and heat and warmth swirling around me like a magnetic blanket. I was drawn to him, wanting nothing more than to wrap myself up with him and never let go.

“Get the hell away from her!” Chance lunged at Erik, pulling him away from me and tossing him across the room like a rag doll. When he turned back to me, his eyes were glowing and his fangs were exposed.

Judging by the look on his face, mine were, too.

S
EEING DOUBLE

W
hat are you doing?!” I heard Kayla’s voice but couldn’t see her. I was enraged, and all my focus was on Chance. I wanted to jump him—and not in a good way.

“Kayla, get back.” The words spewed from my mouth amid the venom dripping from my fangs.

“No,” she said, stepping between Chance and me. “I won’t let you two do this.” I looked past her (and the sweet scent of her blood) to Chance. His eyes were crazy, frantic. I knew what he was thinking: Kayla was lunch.

“Move!” I didn’t wait for her to respond, pushing her hard across the room. She slammed into the wall next to Erik as Chance inched toward me, his eyes enraged, pulsing with his undead blood. I didn’t want us to fight—ever—but I couldn’t let him hurt Kayla. Or Erik. It was the monster inside him that was in control now; the real Chance would never harm anyone.

But maybe this was the real Chance. Maybe this was his true self, a monster whose only goal was to feed.

I couldn’t believe that. I wouldn’t. I knew him, and he wasn’t a monster. He was kind and considerate and forgiving. I just needed him to remember that.

“Chance,” I said, forcing the monster inside me to back off. “Chance, look at me.” Those glowing yellow eyes, fiery and manic, swirled in my direction. Could he even see me? Could he understand who I was, what I was doing? I had no clue, but I wouldn’t give up. “I love you.” He didn’t seem to react, though he didn’t try to attack me—or anyone else. Erik, however, had obviously heard what I said. I could see him across the room, shifting uneasily on his feet. Was he bothered by me saying that, telling Chance I love him? Surely not. Erik and I weren’t together. Yes, there was something between us, but it wasn’t like we had those kinds of feelings for each other. At least, I didn’t think so.

“I know you hear me,” I went on, doing my best to ignore Erik and focus on Chance. “And I know you love me, too. You told me you do. People who love each other don’t hurt each other.” My heart was beating wildly in my chest. I knew by his twisted features that he could hear it, too. “That’s my heart you hear, Chance. You once told me that as long as it was beating, I was still human. Remember that?” A quick pause to gauge his reaction; still nothing. “You also said you would never let anything bad happen to me.”

He stepped forward then, slowly and methodically. My first instinct was to attack, to defend myself. He kept coming, inch by inch, until he was standing as close as possible to me. Even though his eyes were still erratic, they had returned to their normal green, and I could see bits of him in there, fighting to get out. He slowly lifted his hand and brought it to my chest. It felt like a lifetime before he spoke.

“I’ll never have that again,” he said, his words faint, forced through clenched teeth and pain.

What did he mean? That he would never have me again? Us? The thought made me sick.

“Yes, you will, Chance. I’m not going anywhere.” I placed my hand over his, the two of us one again, always. He closed his eyes, and I could feel the anger and desire for blood leave his body—at least, for now. His entire frame relaxed and his breathing returned to normal before he finally opened his eyes.

“That’s not what I meant,” he said, slowly taking his hand away from my chest. From my heart. He turned and walked away from me, disappearing into another room. Kayla was frantic, practically bowling me over with her approach.

“Wow,” she said, taking me in her arms and giving me a warm hug. “Are you okay?”

“Am I okay? What about you?” I forced a smile, terrified that she would be freaked out by what had just happened. Luckily, she didn’t even seem to notice.

“I’m fine,” she said. “Why wouldn’t I be?” Confusion filled her face. Sometimes, she was oblivious.

“Someone wanna tell me what the hell that was?” Erik this time, puffed up and ready to fight. “Or are we gonna pretend that Lover Boy isn’t a crazed vampire who could rip our throats out?”

“‘Lover Boy’ is still in the room.” We all turned and stared at Chance, who had sneaked back into the living room like a stealthy undead ninja. “Kayla.” He crossed the room and took Kayla’s hand, pulling her away from me. “I’m so, so sorry,” he said, still holding her hand. I was admittedly a little jealous that he was showing a girl he never much liked more affection than me. I was pathetic.

“I’m fine,” Kayla said again, though this time, not so confidently. “Really.”

“Okay.” Chance let her go then, and she timidly moved away from him. The four of us stood motionless, spread out across the expanse of the room like sworn enemies. My eyes kept darting from Chance to Erik and back, just waiting for one or both of them to start something. “I’m sorry,” Chance said to the entire room. “I would never hurt you guys.” He cut his eyes toward Erik. “Well, most of you.”

“Bring it on, corpse.” Erik was fuming, that was obvious. But I also noticed the tiniest bit of fear lurking behind that bad-boy facade. He wasn’t as confident with his vampire-hunting skills as he pretended to be.

“Enough, you two,” Kayla said, crossing the room and taking a seat on the sofa. She began rummaging through the papers she had been so eager to show me when we arrived. “That’s not what we’re here for.”

“She’s right,” I added, joining her on the couch. “We need to find her dad.”

“We?” Erik asked, pointing across the room at Chance, who hadn’t moved.

“Yes, Erik, we.” I was so over the tension and machismo he was tossing out. “We all care about Kayla. We all wanna help her.”

“Well, you’re right about that.” Erik came and sat down across from us, leaning forward with interest, his elbows on his knees. Even now, in the worst of situations, he looked sinfully good.

“So, where did you get this?” I asked Kayla as I picked up the credit card invoice she had shown me earlier.

“It was in a big stack of my dad’s mail that never got opened. I was digging through his things last night, looking for anything that could maybe help us, when I found it.”

“Okay,” Erik said. “We know he made it to Boston. We know he had ice cream. We know anything else?”

“Not really,” Kayla said. “Just what the lady at the university told us. That he never made it to his lecture.”

“You guys went to Boston?” Chance’s voice actually startled me. He had stood quietly in the corner while the three of us went over where we stood with our search, so to hear him speak was unexpected. He took a couple steps in our direction, but still kept a respectable distance.

“Sure did,” Erik said, a smug tone and sly smile carrying his words. “We had a great time at the hotel.” He leaned back in the chair, crossing his arms behind his head. “Too bad you couldn’t join us.” I cut my eyes at him, begging him like a silent movie damsel in distress to shut the hell up. He didn’t. “Of course, our room was probably too small for such a big…ego.”