“Don’t worry. Before you know it you’re going to be the best witch and hunter in Salem Point and no vampire will even want to go near you.”
I didn’t want that completely. There were still two vampires that I wanted to stick around for a while.
“Thanks. You’ve been an amazing teacher.”
She smiled. “No thanks necessary. And your mother would be very proud of you.”
I wasn’t so sure about that. She didn’t want this life for me. I found myself constantly wondering if Mom was upset that I was following in her footsteps and learning the family business.
I didn’t want to disappoint her. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a choice in the matter.
I couldn’t admit it out loud, but I was kind of mad at my mom. She should have at least told me about who I was. I was left completely in the dark. If Kane hadn’t found my aunt and had me moved here, I could have been found by a vampire and I wouldn’t have known the first thing about them. She left me as a sitting duck.
I know it wasn’t her intention and she wasn’t around to explain her reasoning, so I felt guilty for being mad at her.
I just wished things could have been different. I wished I could have found out who I was when I was younger, so I could have started my training earlier. I wished I wasn’t a werewolf hybrid, so I wouldn’t have this target on my back. And most of all, I wished my mother was alive to help me through all of this.
* * *
Aunt Gemma drove me to school today. It was really cold out today, so I didn’t even bother trying to tell her I was good without a ride.
I found Jade at her locker when I got to the junior hallway. “Hey Jade.”
“Hope! How are you?”
I tried to hide the surprise I felt from her. She wasn’t acting like herself. “Good. How are you?”
“Wonderful! I’m so glad to be back at school.”
Said no teenager ever.
Maybe her new mood had something to do with the new girl in her life. “Where’s your new friend?”
“She had to go to guidance. You’ll meet her later. Promise.”
“Great. I can’t wait.”
“I should go. I’m going to go meet her at guidance and help her find her locker and show her around.”
“Okay. I’ll let you do that. I’ll see you later?”
“Of course! Bye.”
She rushed down the hall towards the guidance office. That was so bizarre. Jade didn’t act like that. Not even over Lexie and I could tell she was seriously in love with her. She wasn’t a bubbly girl, which was one of the reasons she and I got along so well. It didn’t make much sense, but Jade seemed happy and I didn’t want to ruin that.
I grabbed my things from my locker before going to the bathroom. When I walked out of the stall, my shoulders dropped.
Hayden was looking at herself in the mirror. Her eyes met mine in the mirror, but she looked away quickly and went back to making sure she looked perfect.
I washed my hands at the sink next to her. She wouldn’t look at me. The air between us felt so awkward.
I couldn’t take it anymore. We lived in the same town. We went to the same school. We had to find a way to deal with each other.
“Hayden, I think we have to eventually talk.”
“No, we don’t.” She finally looked at me. “So my dad is a lying cheat. So are a lot of men. We share a lying cheat as a father. That doesn’t mean we have to be sisters or friends or anything, Hope.”
Okay. Talking to Hayden, bad idea. I understood why she was upset about this whole thing, but it’s not like this was my fault. I didn’t make her dad sleep with my mom. Eww. Terrible thoughts in my head.
“Okay, if that’s what you want.”
“It is.” She turned back to the mirror. The conversation was over.
I walked out of the bathroom and ran into Christian and Elizabeth.
“Hello, Hope,” Elizabeth said. “I trust you’re well rested and ready for the next semester.”
“Yup.”
Christian looked at me in concern. “Hey, are you okay?”
The younger Hale brother was extremely perceptive. I couldn’t hide my emotions from him even if I tried.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just issues with Hayden.”
“Ah, your sister,” Elizabeth said. “Yes, I hear sisters can be a real problem.”
It was so weird to even hear her refer to Hayden as my sister. Thinking it felt weird, but hearing it out loud was a total mind fuck. Hayden was my sister. My sister! It was so crazy.
“I can attest to that,” Christian said, glaring at her.
She smiled to herself. “I love you too brother.”
“Anyway, she doesn’t want to even acknowledge me as a person, let alone as her sister.”
Elizabeth smiled tenderly at me. “Siblings are everything. I’m sure you’ll work through your issues and become true sisters.”
“Hopefully.”
I didn’t think that was ever going to happen, but it was a nice thought. Too bad this was the real world and nice things didn’t usually happen to me.
Chapter 8: Knight
I was standing down the hall watching the vampires talk to Hope. I wondered what they were talking about.
I saw Christian place his hand on Hope’s shoulder. It took everything in me to not run over there and push him away from her.
She likes him. Don’t do anything stupid.
“The staring is creepy.” Lexie was standing right beside me. I wasn’t sure when she even appeared. I was too preoccupied.
I looked back at Hope, but then looked back at Lexie to do a double take. She was dressed way nicer than usual and her hair was curled pristinely. “You look, nice.”
“Do I not always look nice?”
“No, you do. It’s just you look nicer than nice today. The skirt. You usually wear jeans.”
“Oh, this. It’s nothing. Just something I threw on.” She looked around. “You haven’t seen Jade have you?”
I knitted my eyebrows together. “No, I haven’t.”
“Oh.” She looked disappointed by my response. “You should just go talk to her.”
“To Jade?”
“No. To Hope.”
“I will. I’m just not in the mood to play nice with the undead.”
I crossed my arms across my chest and looked at Hope. She was smiling at him. She had such a beautiful smile.
“Just so you know, I’m totally team Knight.”
“Team Knight?”
“You know. In this whole love triangle. Or, square maybe. I never know with Wyatt.”
“Please, don’t mention Wyatt.”
“Sorry.”
“I just don’t want to pressure her. I know me and her are meant to be together.”
Her eyes went wide. “I wouldn’t tell her that. She wants to be with you because you guys like each other and you want to be together. Not because some dated mating ritual put you together.”
“That makes sense. It’s just hard when I feel so drawn to her, you know?”
She sighed. There was a longing look in her eyes. “Yeah, believe me I know.”
I wanted to ask her about it, but she seemed kind of upset. I wasn’t always the best with emotions. I didn’t want to say the wrong thing and upset her even more.
“I should go. I have to find Tegan.” She rolled her eyes.
“You don’t seem very happy about that.”
“She can be annoying.”
“Excuse my bluntness, but then why the hell are you with her?”
“I ask myself that sometimes.” She shrugged. “See you around.”
“Yeah, good luck with Tegan.”
She smirked. “Yeah, thanks. I’ll need it.”
Lexie walked down the hall and I walked toward Hope and the vampires. I smiled as I approached them. “Hey.”
“Hey Knight,” Hope said.
I looked at Christian. He nodded his head in my direction. He was a man of many w
ords.
“Sup.”
“Knight, it’s so lovely to see you. I trust your break went wonderfully. You look well rested.”
“It was good.” I paused. I was trying to be nicer to the vampires. “Thank you.”
The vampire smiled at me. It looked genuine, but who knew with vampires.
The warning bell rang. We had five minutes to get to our first period classes.
“I’m so glad we’re starting new classes,” Elizabeth said. “Statistics was dreadful.”
Dreadful. God, you could tell this girl was from a different time period.
“What do you have first period Hope?” Christian asked.
“AP physics. What about you guys?”
“Chemistry,” both Christian and I said.
I groaned and shared a look with him. He looked just as peeved about it as I was. Great. This semester was already turning into shit.
Chapter 9: Hope
I didn’t see Jade all day and this semester we didn’t have any classes together. Not even lunch. I still had yet to meet this Franccesca chick. I was beginning to think she was just a figment of Jade’s imagination. Crazier things have happened in my life, that was for sure.
When school ended I found Jade outside about to walk home. And she wasn’t alone. Standing next to her was one of the most beautiful girls I’d ever seen. She looked like a Greek Goddess. She had long silky dark brown hair and emerald eyes. Her skin was lightly tanned, which I assumed was her natural complexion since it was winter.
“Jade.”
Jade smiled at me. “Here she is.”
“Hi. You must be Hope.” She held out her perfect hand to me. “I’m Francesca.”
I shook her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“You as well. I feel like I know you already. Jade has told me so much about you.”
“Good stuff, I hope.”
“The best stuff. Jade here thinks the world of you.”
“I think the world of her too.”
Jade and I smiled at each other. “We were just about to go to the diner to get a coffee,” she said. “Want to come with?”
“I don’t want to intrude.”
“Oh, nonsense,” Francesca said. “We have so much to talk about.”
“Okay, yeah. I could use some coffee.”
“Wonderful. Shall we go?”
“We shall,” Jade said.
We shall? Who was this girl and what did she do with Jade? Something didn’t feel right. Jade wasn’t acting like herself and this new thing she had going on with Francesca was completely out of character for her.
Francesca was wigging me out too. She kept looking at me weird. And there was something oddly familiar about her. I was getting some bad vibes from her and starting to question who she was.
I wasn’t an idiot. Something wasn’t right here and I was going to figure out what it was. Before my friend got hurt in the process.
* * *
When we got to the diner we grabbed a table and placed our orders. We were talking while we waited. Actually, Jade was talking. Again, so weird. Getting Jade to talk was like pulling teeth. Now she wouldn’t seem to shut up. I could barely even get a word in. It was Francesca this and Francesca that. I was starting to get annoyed.
“Hope, Jade tells me you moved here three months ago.”
“Yeah. Thanks, by the way. I don’t have to be ‘new girl’ anymore.”
“I’m sure that must be awful. Always being the new girl.”
I tilted my head and looked at her seriously. She raised her eyebrows. There was a certain look in her eyes that sent a shiver down my spine.
Just how much did Jade tell her about me? She would never have betrayed my trust like that.
“Yes, it can be difficult.” Our eyes met. There was a secret communication going on between us and Jade was completely oblivious to it.
“And losing your mother so young. That must have been devastating. I lost my mother too. It was a tremendous heartache. There’s no greater pain. Wouldn’t you agree, Hope?”
I glared at her. I was about to answer, but Wyatt came storming into the diner. He looked so angry. I’d never seen him like that before. He looked like he was on the verge of killing someone. Not someone. Francesca. He was looking right at her. She looked up at him and smiled.
“Hey Wyatt,” Jade said.
“Jade.”
Francesca chuckled and turned to Jade. She looked her in the eyes. “Jade, sweetheart, I think it’s time you use the bathroom.”
Jade smiled. “Okay.” She got up from the table and went straight for the bathroom.
I furrowed my eyebrows. “What just happened?”
“She compelled her,” Wyatt said.
I knew it. I so knew it. “You’re a…”
“Vampire?” Francesca said. She grinned. “You are a very smart girl aren’t you?”
I didn’t like how condescending she sounded. She should chill. She was pissing me off and things tended to catch fire when I got pissed these days.
“What are you doing here Francesca?” Wyatt said.
She crossed her arms and sat back in her chair. “I thought you would be happy to see me. And what a coincidence it is that you happen to be friends with Hope here. Or, are we more than friends?”
“You two know each other?”
“Wyatt and I go way back.”
“Francesca.”
“We used to date,” she continued. “Although, I don’t know if you can really call what we had dating. What would you call it Wyatt?”
“I’ll ask again, what are you doing here?”
“I’m here to see my brother. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to be around much anymore.” She glared between the two of us. “Where is he?”
Wyatt scoffed. “I don’t know your damn brother.”
“Kane!” She slammed her hand down on the table.
She was Kane’s sister. No wonder she seemed familiar. They did resemble each other. Even down to the mannerisms.
“That dick is your brother?”
I glared daggers at Wyatt. Now wasn’t the time for his animosity.
“Yes, and it’s odd that he’s suddenly disappeared just as I came to town.”
“Well there you go,” he said. “Maybe he left to get away from you. He’s smarter than I thought he was.”
“Wyatt, I want to know where he is.”
“We don’t know,” I said. “Honestly. He left town and he didn’t say where he was going.”
She looked at Wyatt suspiciously, but didn’t press him further.
“Hope, it was very nice meeting you. Please, do tell Jade to call me. I have to go now.”
She placed a hundred dollar bill on the table and swiftly left the diner. She was a very good tipper. Tim, the waiter, was going to be thrilled.
I looked at Wyatt. “I don’t want her hanging out with Jade.”
This was exactly what I didn’t want to happen. Jade was getting targeted because of me. They were using mind control on her for God’s sake. This was all my fault and I had no idea how to fix it.
“Jade is the least of our problems right now. Do you have any idea how crazy that chick is? Our entire relationship I was abused by her.”
I raised an eyebrow and looked at him in disbelief.
“Men can be abused too, Hope. It’s sexist that you’d think otherwise.”
“Whatever, Wyatt! We need to keep Jade away from Francesca.”
“Why?” Jade looked at us both in question. “Where did Francesca go?”
Shit. “She had to go,” I said.
“Why do you want to keep her away from me?”
“We just think she’s…” I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to hurt Jade. She seemed to really like Francesca. I knew it was because she was being compelled to like her, but she didn’t know she was being compelled. I couldn’t explain that to her without telling her who I was and opening her up to even more enemies.
“Too mu
ch like Hayden,” Wyatt finished for me. “I actually used to know her. Awful girl. Not someone you’d want around.”
She narrowed her eyes at us and pursed her lips. “She said you’d say that. And she said I should tell you to go to hell. I can be friends with whoever I want.” She grabbed her bag and stormed out of the diner.
“She didn’t mean it,” Wyatt said to me. “She’s been compelled.”
“Obviously. Wyatt, we have to fix this. If something happens to Jade because of me I…”
“It won’t, okay,” he said. He sat down next to me and held my hand in his. “Hey, we’re going to fix this. I promise.”
I couldn’t even focus on his gentle touch around my hand. Jade was in danger.
I think I just lost my best friend. I had to get her back. I just didn’t know how.
Chapter 10: Wyatt
The last thing I expected was to see her. I never thought I would see Francesca again. She looked so different. And yet still so much the same. She certainly had the same attitude. Unfortunately, that was one of the things I liked about her. But not anymore.
Today her attitude was hurting Hope. I cared about Hope a lot more than I ever cared about Francesca. Hope was so many things that Francesca could never be. She had the biggest heart out of anyone I’d ever encountered. She didn’t let the terrible things that happened to her turn her into a bitter human. She was so much better than me.
I walked into the house. Christian and Elizabeth were out, so it was quiet. Quiet enough for me to hear the other person in the house without even trying.
I placed two glasses onto the table and grabbed the gin. Francesca’s favorite. I filled both glasses half way.
“I had a feeling you’d show up.”
“I always was rather predictable.”
I grabbed both glasses and turned around to face Francesca. I handed her one of the drinks. We looked into each other’s eyes as we drank. Yup. That devious look was still there.
When she finished her glass she dropped it onto the floor. It shattered on impact.
Saving Hope: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (Bloodmoon Series Book 2) Page 3
