Blood Awakening (24 page)

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.

“I do.” And I meant it.

“Did you wait until the last minute for added drama?” Sebastian’s voice caught me off guard; he practically leapt from a small cluster of trees like a, well…blood-sucking monster.

“What the hell’s he doing here?” Erik asked, stepping out from our group and moving toward Sebastian.

“Stop.” Chance quickly grabbed Erik’s arm. I expected Erik to pull away and keep going, but he stayed put, staring Sebastian down.

“Erik.” I walked over to him. “You can’t.”

“He killed my sister, Ava.” His voice was tight in his throat, his mouth clenched almost completely shut. “He killed her.”

“I know.” I wound my fingers into his and squeezed his hand. His skin was on fire with heat and his blood was doing somersaults in his veins, the anger inside him pulsing through his entire body. My heart ached over his pain. “Not now, Erik.” He finally looked down at me. “We can’t. Not now.” Several seconds passed before he took another breath, before he gave my hand a reassuring squeeze back.

“Are we done?” Sebastian asked, his golden eyes piercing the darkness between us.

“Let’s go,” I said, keeping Erik’s hand locked tightly in mine. The last thing I needed was him lunging for Sebastian and getting himself killed.

“Yes, let’s.” Sebastian smiled as we passed, and it took every ounce of self-control I had to keep from attacking him.

Even though I hated him more than anything—even more than Aldric, which was saying a lot after all he had put me through—I was glad to have Sebastian with us as we made our way deeper onto the island. I couldn’t explain why, I just felt safer knowing someone with such power was on our side, even if only temporarily; once Kayla was out of danger, Sebastian would no doubt be an enemy again. No matter what, I couldn’t forget that.

As we passed empty building after empty building, empty parking lot after empty parking lot, that paralyzing panic I felt earlier came rushing back, hitting my chest with the weight of a thousand bricks, making it hard for me to breathe. I felt as though I would black out at any moment, my nerves sending my stomach on a roller-coaster ride of anxiety and guilt. Kayla was here because of me. Everyone was here because of me, their lives in danger because I climbed out of the ground and into the middle of their world. I didn’t belong here. Not like this, not as a vampire. I had to kill the monster growing stronger inside of me, before I destroyed everyone I cared about.

“Relax,” Erik said. I felt his reassuring squeeze of my hand, telling me it would all be okay. I only wished I believed it.

“I’m trying,” I said, gripping him back. “I’m just scared.” I sounded like Lacey, which sickened me.

“I know. Me too.” He looked at me and smiled, and somehow, it made things a little bit better.

“We’re here.” Sebastian’s commanding voice carried on the wind and swept through the open waters before us. I glanced at our surroundings, which were pretty much nonexistent.

“This is it?” I asked, surprised at the location Kayla’s abductors had chosen. The entire inner eastern point of Ellis Island was basically a giant patch of dirt, skirted on two sides by water and by more empty buildings to our right. Large metal dumpsters and a few pieces of construction equipment littered the landscape.

“I do believe they chose it for its… seclusion,” Sebastian said, a peculiar smile on his face. “I actually quite like it, don’t you?”

“Who cares,” I threw back. “I just want to find Kayla and get the hell out of here.” A nervous energy pulsed throughout our tiny group, a shared sense of fear and dread. I had no idea what everyone else was scared of, but for me, nothing terrified me more than not saving Kayla. I had to get her out of here, no matter what.

Several minutes passed before shadows emerged from the dark and headed toward us. Vampire eyes came in handy in situations like this; I could clearly make out three of them, the shortest leading the trio directly toward us. They were still too far away to make out any features, but I got the sense that the one in front was female. A few seconds later, I was proven right.

The female vampire was much shorter than the two men flanking her. Petite and beautiful, she demanded attention. And she got it—from all of us. Large curls of golden hair lifted and twisted in the wind, flailing in the air like sunny snakes. Her ivory skin practically glowed in the dim moonlight, making her seem more like a ghost than a vampire. Large, round eyes of an almost purple blue sat just below those curls, soft yet powerful at the same time. All in all, she really creeped me out.

“Hello, everyone. Welcome.” Her voice was assertive, determined, like she had rehearsed a thousand times what she would say—or had said it as many. “I trust you found us with little or no trouble?” Her smile was infectious, drawing me in with charisma and charm. I forced my eyes to look away, to break whatever connection she possessed. I looked to Erik, then Chance and Lacey; all three of them were spellbound. Was this woman a vampire, or a witch? Or both? Only Sebastian seemed unaffected, smiling and gazing at her like a smitten little boy. Maybe he wasn’t as unaffected as I had thought.

“I assume we all would prefer avoiding small talk, opting instead to get to the matter at hand?” The tone of her voice pulled my eyes back to her, that smile once again drawing me in. Though I had never used it, I knew then what compulsion was, and I hated it.

“Of course,” Sebastian said. I was furious at him for speaking, for assuming that he had the right to offer any words on my or anyone else’s behalf. But I was glad he did, because I couldn’t seem to find my voice.

“Excellent,” the woman said, clasping her hands in front of her. Everything about her—the voice, the look, the gestures—screamed old. And for vampires, old meant powerful. Which really sucked for me.

“I assume you have the human they are looking for?” Sebastian stayed perfectly calm as he spoke, as if he were having a conversation with a friend or someone he met in line at the grocery store. The entire exchange was giving me chills.

“Of course.” Lady Vamp smiled again, but this time I forced myself to look away. “But first, I simply must apologize for my rudeness.” She stepped toward us, sending my senses into overdrive. My body tensed, the vampire inside screaming to be let out. I fought to quell the monster…for now. I watched intently as she moved through the darkness like an apparition, seemingly floating over the ground and coming to a stop mere feet away. “My name is Zyris.” She extended a dainty hand toward me, its long, slender fingers tipped with manicured nails. With a bit of reluctance, I reached out and gripped it tightly. “Such a pleasure to meet you, Ava.” At such a close range, Zyris’s face was beyond striking. It was like looking at perfection, only better.