by Holly Hook
Her eyes widen just as a dark figure—Jeremy—appears beside me.
“Do you know who I am?” he asks, more forceful than I've ever heard him. “And Ember. Why are you running away from me? I did not say that you could go.” Despite trying to sound cruel, Jeremy's act is breaking.
Silvia--
I've got to--
“We can't allow vampires in here after nightfall,” she says, holding her palm up to us. Then she shakes her head at us as if we're both five years old.
“Yes, you can,” Nathan says. “And I must accompany Jeremy inside.”
I've had it with this bitch. If there's ever any good time to go Karen, it's now. “Clearly, you do. I'm going to get the attention of everyone on the street and everyone who's inside if you don't open that door right now and let the three of us inside!”
The woman pales. She flicks her gaze to the upper floors, to where some other panelists from other groups must try to sleep or relax for the weekend. Yes. She does not want the other panelists to know about this. Then she moves the chair from under the handles to allow us to enter.
We pour inside. The lobby's empty and the place is quiet. I'm going to pass out. What if—no, I don't want to see this, but my legs carry me up the steps, because the elevators all have Closed signs. I don't even pay attention to what the receptionist lady does. She's probably in on this roping deal.
I run to the third floor.
Room 304. Silvia's room.
She never got moved away from alley-facing windows, unlike me.
Pleasepleaseplease…
And guards stand outside her open door, along with two human police officers.
“Silvia!” I shout, leaving Jeremy behind as I bolt to them.
“Ma'am. You can't enter,” a guard says. It's Peters, who was so helpful on that other horrible night. “We're handling this.”
I stop. The air shifts and Jeremy comes up behind me. I’m just feet from the guards.
“Where is my friend?” I regain my fury and push past Peters, and he doesn't stop me as I reach the doorway.
Shag carpet.
Blood droplets on the floor, trailing from the kitchen to the living room.
Police.
And a sterile white sheet over a slumped figure on the floor.
A scream of rage escapes from me, and powerful arms wrap around me from behind. People shout. Jeremy yells something about me breaking away. My purse falls, and Nathan catches it as he stares down the guards and the cops who failed to protect Silvia. They're in on it. None of them care. They all know what this program is.
“Let me go!” I shout as Jeremy pulls me back.
The world blurs. My ears ring as the sound taunts me. A door opens, and Jeremy and Nathan pull me back into my apartment. Colors flash and morph into demon faces. The door closes. I have to get to her. “Put me down!”
“No,” Jeremy says. “She's gone. I could smell it from her window as soon as we pulled up.” Then he defies his own words and places me on the floor, but Nathan rushes to the door and stands in front of us, keeping me inside.
Someone--
They got in--
This happened because--
I collapse onto the carpet. “They can't get to me anymore, so they got to her.” A laughing mountain collapses on my chest and I can't breathe.
“Ember.” Jeremy slides his hands under me and I'm rising. He straightens me.
Babybabybaby--
“I'm sorry.”
Jeremy's green eyes lock with mine as he glares. “Do not apologize for your emotions again. You are right to feel like this.”
And then he pulls me close, wrapping me, holding me upright as he trembles. He rests his chin on my head as I let out unnatural noises. Weakness. Blubbering. But Jeremy says nothing as I let my head rest against his strong, suited chest. He's cold. But it's a different type of cold than the type I'm used to.
The universe becomes Jeremy.
Or Justin.
Don't utter that name.
I take another burning breath. Outside my door, voices mutter.
The cops won't do shit about this.
And the guards are helpless.
Time has no meaning.
Silvia—
“You need to lie down.”
Jeremy carries me across the apartment and into my secure bedroom. I'm on my bed a moment later, and he kneels beside my bed, holding my hand. This is a dream. A nightmare. My chest hurts and I'm going to die, but Jeremy holds my hand.
“Breathe, Ember. You have a right to feel like this.” Rage quakes underneath his words, and I know he wants to give in to his vampire instincts and kill. “We will find who did this.”
My words fail me. I lie there, and time passes. The authorities keep the muttering outside, and I know without asking that they're probably useless.
Silvia--
She's--
They decided she wasn't good enough--
No. It was to punish me.
How long have I been lying here with Jeremy holding my hand?
“Nathan,” he says.
The agent walks into the room, and he's a shadow as he stands in my doorway. “Yes? Do we need to take care of the receptionist?”
“Immediately. She had a part in this. She knows full well what the fuck happens here. Tell the agency that she looked at me wrong. An enemy of mine must have conspired with her.”
“I will contact them right away.” Nathan sweeps out of the room.
I suck in a breath, this time with slightly less pain. “You're going to kill her?” The storm has calmed enough for me to form a complete thought. How much time has passed?
“As much as I want to tear her head off myself, I can’t or I’ll become like the others.” Jeremy's eyes go dark as he tightens his grip on my hand. “This is not your fault. They would have done something, regardless of what choice you made at the restaurant. If I hadn't claimed you, then you probably would have died, instead, as a gold digger.”
“I consented,” I remind him, which brings another twist of the knife. I should have thought about the effects on Silvia, who Beatrice knows hangs out with me. I should have begged Peters to get her another apartment, or told her to stay in mine. But I didn't use my brain.
Death. Death. It's all death and backstabbing here. That, and power. The muttering quiets outside, and someone rolls a cart down the hallway outside my door. A fresh pang of agony stabs into my heart, and I know what that cart is for. They're going to take--
“Don't listen,” Jeremy says, tightening his grasp on my hand. “We will take revenge for this. I promise you that.”
Revenge.
It was all I had when I arrived in this city, and now it's all I have again.
Or is it?
Though I realize for the first time that my room is semi-dark, Jeremy's green eyes flash with his promise.
“It was Beatrice,” I say. “She wasn't around when we left the party.”
Jeremy nods. “She will be more difficult to eliminate, but we will get to her.”
* * * * *
No one else visits my apartment, but Jeremy gets up on the bed to lie beside me.
The police don't care. Peters doesn't knock to check on me, though I think he wants to. Jeremy might have to do with that, or someone forbade Peters.
I close my eyes, wanting to escape, but wanting to stay at the same time. Jeremy lies beside me, keeping my hand interlocked with his, and his silence is comforting. There are no words for this.
Silvia.
My friend.
She helped me more than I knew, and now the ground's ripped out from under me. Reality has turned dark red.
The guards return to their posts under my window, and there's no happy sports talk tonight. Just silence. An occasional lighter flick is the only sound.
And at last, the gray of the early morning arrives, peeking through my curtains.
I jolt, unsure whether I've slept. “Jeremy.”
He blinks. “Ember, I'm staying
with you.”
“But the daylight. You'll be weak. And someone could break in here and kill you.” I cannot be stronger than Jeremy. I won't be able to protect us both. Even Nathan will be too weak to defend his charge. Soon, they'll both get sick and be down until nightfall again.
Jeremy screws up his face, almost as if he'd welcome that, but then he faces me. “Someone could come in here and hurt you, Ember. This apartment complex is a prison, not a safe space.”
I roll over and face him. “I thought you claiming me would stop them from coming after me.”
“Only from physical harm,” he admits after a pause. “I still don't know how to protect anyone from the other weapons they have at their disposal. Guilt is one of the most powerful weapons in the world. Guilt, right along with fear.” He leans close, and something pained flashes in the darkness of his eyes. “Don't let them destroy you.”
“How the hell do I do that?” Is he taking advantage of me after all?
“I'll be honest. Whoever manages that is a god.” Jeremy sits up, and he stares at the wall.
“Mr. Haywood,” Nathan says from my doorway.
“I am not leaving.”
“If you stay during daylight, you will blow your cover. Ed needs to leave soon, and they expect you at your quarters before the sun rises.”
“Go,” I tell him as a fresh wave of pain surges through my chest. I won't have another person die because of me, even if he acts like an asshole in public. “Get out of here. I'll just stay with--”
She's not here anymore, remember?
How dense can you be?
“My door shut and locked,” I finish. “Or I'll hang out with Colleen and Ariana or something. I'm sure they'll do something for Sunday.”
Jeremy rises, flicking his gaze back and forth. I've put him into a dangerous position, but it's necessary.
“Go,” I yell at him. “You can't stay here another minute.”
He pauses in my doorway, but then he turns and whispers something to Nathan, who nods.
And without another word, the two of them leave me alone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
All that shining hope I had at the start of this all has evaporated into screaming darkness. Time loses its meaning. I can barely pay attention as I hang out a bit with Colleen and Ariana the following day, who let me tag along to a couple of cafe's. But I don't dare to get too close to them. And they speak little to me and don’t ask me why Silvia has left. We’re just shameless blood bags, after all. And I’m pretty sure they just have me here because I’ve offered to pay for food.
While they discuss meetings and fashion, I sit there and stare into my drinks.
I am claimed.
I am cursed.
And to them, I must be using Jeremy to meet my end.
I doubt the other apartment dwellers even know that our numbers have reduced by one. Or more. The authorities kept things quiet, and I might not have noticed right away if Jeremy hadn't brought me home early from the party. How many others have died that I just haven't heard about yet? There are other groups living in that glass tower, and though we rarely run into them, I know that they're around.
The only upside? That receptionist has vanished, and a new woman is working in her place.
But other than that, the world has turned gray. Jeremy doesn’t return that night.
I’m left alone, and when I’m home, I sleep. Even texting Mike isn’t helping. I can’t share a damn important thing with him anymore. My relationship with him has been taken by the vampires, too.
I can barely drag myself to my cab at the start of Monday night. But I get inside.
We're in our final two weeks of this program, and I'll never have the heart for it again.
President Haywood is going to let Acton's money determine what he does, and that means he won't light that fire under Goodman's ass. It's done and sealed. His stockholders are more important than me.
Maybe I'm not worth anything. Best case, I’m a resource. Worst case, I’m just an eyesore.
And when I get to our meeting room in the Senate building, where we'll work out the plans for the day, Jeremy motions me over to the vampires' table with a cocky grin.
My heart stops. I’m not even in the mood for his act, but I walk past Becky, who has a new, corked wine bottle under her podium. She says nothing to me as I walk past, dragging my feet towards Jeremy. Beatrice sits at the end of that long table, and William and Asha already sit between her and Jeremy. All three of them watch me as I shuffle over.
Beatrice's eyes narrow.
She must have done it.
I wait for her to smile, but she's getting smarter. Beatrice hides it, and I sit beside Jeremy, drawing stares from Victor, Colleen, and Ariana at the other table.
Four of us left.
“I see you've learned your lesson,” Jeremy whispers. “By the way, you owe me a drink at lunch today.”
I say nothing. Part of being claimed must mean that a vampire gets to drink from you. I should feel something from that, but I don’t.
Becky walks to the front of the room with her shoulders slumped, but she carries herself as if a missing panelist is nothing unusual. Ariana and Colleen watch her and whisper amongst themselves, then look at me as if I'm a freak who had something to do with it. Seeing me with Jeremy is going to guarantee they'll never let me hang out with them again.
“Please,” I say to Jeremy. “Just be quiet.”
Becky’s words float over my head as I sit there and listen to something about yet another meeting. I don't see the point. Goodman will do what the hell he wants. One guy has way too much power, and Haywood won't do shit, either.
I can't even finish what Silvia started.
And Steve and Maisy are at home right now, rooting for me and not knowing that I'm just an insect splattered on the glass of a moving car.
Becky doesn't call on me to say anything, as if she knows that I'm deflated and crushed. We parade around and talk to some more reps and foundations. A few Senators. Meals rotate as if all is well, and I can barely choke down my food. I barely even react when Jeremy sinks his fangs into me at lunch, in front of everyone in the cafeteria, and takes a few sips.
Food has no taste. The air has no smell. And even Jeremy’s touch has no sensation. His attitude bounces off me. There’s nothing left inside of me to hurt.
By the time that week wraps, my dress pants are threatening to fall down with every step I take.
“You are losing weight,” Jeremy dares to say when he marches me out of the Senate building and pretends to nibble on my neck.
“Has it been that long already?” I ask. I just want this to be over. It’s not from the two small bites he’s given me this week, but due to me not eating.
“Ember, it's been a full week. Eat.” Jeremy pauses as some vampire staffers exit the building, probably to go pay some blood bags in a downtown bar. Then he snarls, “The blood of an anorexic is thin. I may have claimed you, but I can toss you aside, and then you forfeit my protection.”
“I'm not anorexic.” Can Jeremy really toss me aside? The vampires walking past don't bat an eyebrow.
“Then I'll make you eat.” He motions for the SUV, driven by another agent, to pick us up as Nathan takes up the rear.
I know Jeremy's trying, and he's the only reason I'm still getting up every day. Him, and Mike's encouraging texts.
Jeremy makes me go to dinner at some place, and I choke down a bland toasted cheese sandwich as he fakes disapproval. Worry swims in his eyes, and for a moment, I can breathe through my pain. Someone's still here, with me, right now, who might not die from this nightmare.
“Hang on, Ember,” he says. “Be strong. It sucks, but you can survive. I know you can. Do it for Silvia.”
“I have no purpose anymore.”
Do it for Silvia. But what the hell can I do? There's no guarantee I'll make it out of here. I could be dead in a week, when the budget vote happens. And if I live?
Someone will w
ant to turn me.
And then they'll force me to kill.
And then, after all this pain, I'll just get sucked into the system and become what I hate.
Jeremy takes me home afterwards, and he and Nathan can't dare to walk me up to my apartment. Not with the new receptionist, who takes even less shit than the last one. And since a strange agent is driving his SUV today, he can't even dare to kiss me. We haven't shared a single kiss or even a passionate hug since that horrible night almost a week ago, a night that keeps playing behind my eyelids whenever I'm alone.
I don't want to go up there and be alone.
But the first of dawn's rays tease the horizon, promising to take Jeremy away from me for good. And something wakes up inside of me.
“Go up to your apartment,” he orders. “I see you are learning, finally. Appreciate my protection from now on, and by all means, get back up to a normal weight for me.”
“Yes, sir,” I force, studying Jeremy's face. Pain flashes there, and I know he wants to come up with me and spend the day at my place. But if he does that, suspicion and hellfire will rain down, and neither of us wants that.
He's all I have right now.
Him, and my brother who is across the country. Just like with Silvia, I can't help him without screwing up, either.
I get out of the SUV and enter the apartment, not daring to look back.
I hate this entire system.
It's designed to destroy people, in more ways than one.
Once I'm up in my room, and I look around the area to make sure no one is there, I collapse on the couch, face down, as if the world is pulling me into a void. I'll take it. I couldn't keep Silvia safe. I can't even warn Mike about the danger, and now I will not change anything for those of us trapped by Dream Developers. I've done nothing great. I don't amount to anything.
Just maybe, what I was told all my life is the truth.
And just as twisted images swim behind my eyes, my phone rings.
I jump, jarred out of my exhausted state. I check my phone, praying it's not Dad or even Mom calling to bitch about something. I won't be able to take it.
Emmy Jackson.
Emmy?
What is she calling for? I haven't heard from her in weeks.
