Cross My Heart

by Elizabeth Morgan

  “For sure.” I took a seat at the breakfast bar. “If she had died—”

  “I’m sure she’s fine.”

  “Well, we would know if she had.”

  “How?”

  “Heather is special, remember. I’m sure the Vampires would be screaming about killing the born Infected. They’ve been after her for years, so I can only presume they’d want us t’know.”

  “So, she’s alive?” His expression lightened. “That’s good.”

  “Of course it is.”

  “You might want t’tell your face.”

  “Why hasn’t she checked in? Why hasn’t she told us what happened with Luca, what she found out?”

  “Maybe she hasn’t had the chance to?”

  That would be an easy solution, but considering it had been three weeks since the date on the note … how can someone go three weeks without getting to a phone?

  “Or she can’t.”

  “Okay.” He placed the note on the end of the breakfast bar. “So, she’s alive and unable to tell her loved ones she’s okay because she can’t get to a phone.”

  My temples began to throb. I pressed my fingertips against the pulsing points and rubbed. “Who can’t get to a phone nowadays?”

  He was silent for a long moment. “People who are lost in remote areas with no connections. Jungles, mountains … forests.”

  “I hardly think they will be up a mountain or in a jungle, Than.”

  “A forest, then? I had to run through one.” He moved back to the fridge, opening the door. “Prisoners!”

  I dropped my hands to my lap. “What?”

  “Prisoners can’t use phones. Well, normal prisoners get at least one phone call, but Vampire prisoners don’t. I would have loved t’have called t’check in with my mum, tell her I’m fine, knowing it would be the last time I ever spoke to her, but it would have been easier than what she must be going through now.”

  Time stopped, Nathan’s voice fading into the background as my tired brain fought to process everything he had just said.

  Nathan had been kidnapped in London and taken to a facility where he was turned and experimented on. That facility was hidden in a forest which was located somewhere in Scotland which he’d discovered after escaping and making it to the nearest town. It was all still very confusing, but Heather was out in London hunting Luca. She was the only born Infected and the Leeches had wanted to kill or change her for years…

  “Some will want to use you.” Sofia’s voice echoed in my mind.

  There are no coincidences. That’s what my aunt had always said. No matter how shit things were and how much you hated hearing it, she believed that everything in life happened for a reason. That life had a pattern and reason to it. That fate was real.

  I jumped off the stool, throwing the blanket on the counter. “You’re a freaking genius.”

  “Uh, thanks. I mean—” His expression turned smug. “—obviously.”

  “They must have taken her. Think about what Sofia said. “Some will want t’kill you.”

  “And as you said, if they had done that … well, after three weeks, you’d probably know by now.” Bottle of mixture in hand, he shut the fridge door. “But Sofia also said, “some will want t’change you.”

  “Heather would rather die than be turned into a Leech.”

  “Which we know isn’t the case because of point one, but say she did get changed, would she tell you, considering how you’ve been brought up and what your family believe?”

  Honestly, I wasn’t sure. Maybe she would feel ashamed. Like she had failed Sofia, her mother and father. Well, everyone. Could I tell my parents if I’d been turned? How would they react? I knew how they would. My father would be ready to kill me while my mother tried to talk him out of it in the hope that I would be different or that I could be cured.

  No, I wouldn’t blame Heather if she had been changed and hadn’t told us.

  “Okay.” I turned and began to walk the stretch of the kitchen. “She could have possibly been changed, and if so, there’s the smallest chance she would have contacted us.”

  “Very small chance.” He unscrewed the lid of the bottle. “Leaving the “some will want t’use you” comment.”

  “If you want to use someone, someone who wouldn’t want to help you, you’d take them, right?”

  “Which explains why she wouldn’t have contacted you, because she would technically be a prisoner of sorts,” he agreed, before taking a mouthful of the mixture.

  “Okay. So, Heather and Brendan go and find Luca and whatever happens, one way or another, they get taken.”

  “Taken where?”

  “The UK Colony Nest?”

  “In Scotland?”

  “What? No.” I moved back to the counter and leant against it. “No, the Nest is in London, or at least it should still be in London. There’s no information on its location in any of the archive files, but I had to presume that she would be taken to the Colony Leader.”

  He moved to the opposite counter and leant against the sink, facing me. “Then why was I held hostage and experimented on in Scotland?”

  Yet again, that was a great question. Why did the Vampires have a very important facility so far away from their Nest? It was a question that Nathan needed answering more than I did, and unfortunately, I had no answer for him.

  “I-I’m not sure, but I think the best bet we have t’find Heather is t’find the UK Nest.”

  What would the Vampires do with her? Would the Leader, Michael, contact Marko? Would Marko come to the UK for Heather, or wasn’t he bothered about a trivial little Infected who happened to be born that way and be a Vampire Slayer?

  Shit, what if Marko was in the UK?

  My mind was racing. Marko was an Ancient. The only one we knew of and the only one who really mattered to my family. He would slaughter Heather.

  “Where do we start?”

  Nathan’s question pulled me from my thoughts.

  “I have no idea.”

  “Right.” He took another swig. “Well then, I propose you go and get some rest and then we will—”

  Again with the rest.

  “I can’t,” I ground out, irritation creeping up my back as he yet again stated that I needed to rest, to get out of the way.

  There was too much to figure out. Too much to do. Why did he keep trying to get me out of the way?

  “Elle, it’s been three weeks since the note. Three weeks you haven’t heard from her. One more night won’t make a difference.”

  Wouldn’t it? A second could mean the difference between life and death, and it had been three weeks. That was a hell of a lot of seconds that had been and gone.

  My hands began shaking as the weight of time and the guilt of not being here with Heather began to crush down on me.

  “You don’t know that,” I snapped, walking to the fridge and collecting the pizza box. “Why are you so eager for me t’go t’sleep all the time?” I threw the box on the counter and batted the door shut. “What are you up to while I’m out of the way?”

  He almost choked on another mouthful of mixture. “Woah, Little Miss Paranoid.”

  “Seriously, I—?”

  “Apart from watching the news—” He placed the bottle on the counter. “—I’ve been reading all those big scary books that are down in your cousin’s little lair.”

  I itched to grab my dagger, to stab something. I had been sat on my arse for three weeks, and my cousin was on a suicide mission. I’d been working at a stupid pub when the Vampire who had destroyed my family could be swanning around the UK … could be torturing my cousin. Three weeks of me doing nothing, and I now stood in a kitchen arguing with a new-born Vampire.

  “I’m supposed t’believe that?”

  “It’s the truth, Elle. Jesus.” He moved over to the breakfast bar and took a seat.

  I gripped the edge of the counter to stop myself from reaching for the comforting weight at my hip. I shouldn’t stab him. He’d not don
e anything wrong.

  He’s a Vampire. No other reason is needed.

  I couldn’t stab him. It wasn’t his fault.

  How do you know? He just happens to show up back in your life as a Vampire in the same time frame as Heather goes missing. Is that a coincidence?

  “Who sent you?”

  “What?” His eyebrows crashed at the bridge of his nose. “No one sent me. Look, I get that you don’t trust me, and you have so many reasons not to, but I’m really trying here.”

  “Trying what, exactly?” My nails bit into the underside of the counter. “Lull me into believing you’re harmless so you can kill me when your Master gives you permission?”

  “What the— Are you jokin’?” His left fist landed on the countertop, index finger jabbing the marble. “I’m trying hard t’show you that you can trust me. That I have no interest in hurting you or sucking your blood.”

  “Actions speak louder than words.”

  “Have I tried to hurt you?” He stared at me, wide-eyed. “Well, have I?”

  Despite the occasions I had drifted off, I still remained in one piece, unbitten. The weight of the blanket hanging from my arms was another reminder that the weirdo had even tucked me up while I slept on the computer chair downstairs.

  “All I want t’do is figure out what’s happened t’me and what I’m going t’do next.”

  “What d’you mean, do next?”

  “Well, what am I supposed t’do?” His shoulders slouched as he counted his problems on his fingers. “I can’t see my family. I can’t go home. I can’t go out during the day … I highly doubt there is a rehab for getting over being human.”

  “You go to the Colony.”

  His eyes widened, back straightened. “You want me to go and live with the monsters that did this t’me? The monsters you hate so much?”

  The level of hurt that rippled across his face caused me to wince. He was genuinely offended at the suggestion.

  The tension eased from my shoulders. I relaxed my grip.

  “I don’t know what you’re supposed t’do.” I slumped against the counter. “This is all new t’me.”

  “New t’you?” He laughed.

  “New t’both of us.” My limps suddenly felt heavy as my frayed nerves tangoed with my ongoing exhaustion. “You’re a Vampire—”

  “I know.” He pushed off the seat and moved away from me. “Jesus, I know. You keep reminding me. Every damn day, you point it out as if this was a decision I made and should now be punished for.”

  “I just mean—” I sighed, reaching inside of the pizza box. needing fuel. “I kill Vampires, so I don’t know what the alternative is.”

  Where did good Vampires go?

  Presuming he is good.

  Does he look bad?

  He looked so far from what a Vampire was supposed to look like. Nothing about him matched any of the Vampires I had ever fought. Nothing about him matched what we were taught or what we read.

  He kept his back to me. Hands pressed on the counter tops, his voice was soft. “All I thought about for those six weeks was … you.”

  The air caught in my throat, along with the chunk of pizza I had just swallowed, his whispered confession catching me off guard.

  I coughed, patting my chest.

  “What?” The word was strained as I tried to dislodge the bread from my gullet.

  “I was alone, tied up in the darkness for hours on end with nothing but my thoughts t’distract me. So, I thought about everything you had ever told me about Vampires and how I always laughed. I thought about how you were the only one I could trust t’believe me when I told you that the craziest thing in the world has happened t’me.”

  He turned, lower back resting against the counter, arms folded, though his head remained down.

  “All I did was think of you, of us, our childhood. Talking out loud t’you—” He looked up at me, thick, black blood crawling from the corner of his eyes. “—you are the only thing that kept me sane in that place. Thinking about how I owed you an apology. A million apologies. How you would no doubt say, ‘I told you so’.”

  He laughed, hugging himself tighter. “Thinking about the fact that I needed t’get out of there and find you because you’re the only one who could tell me what t’do … you’re the only reason I’m still here, Elle.”

  My heart was pounding so hard in my chest. I felt so conflicted, so confused. I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t know what to say or do. I’d had no training for this. No training on what to do with an emotional Vampire.

  Vampire equalled kill. Vampire didn’t equal friendship, but the friendship came before the fangs.

  Did he have an ulterior motive? Was this all just a trick?

  The sight of him standing there crying, it was damn near heart-breaking. The fact he was admitting he was lost and scared and confused …

  He’s a Vampire.

  Yes, Nathan was a Vampire, but he was the softest most pathetic and useless Vampire I had ever met. He was clueless, and he was all alone. He no longer had anyone, family or Colony. The fact that he was created rather than turned, I wasn’t sure if he had a Master or Mistress, and if he did, well, they had currently abandoned him. And although his ignorance and rejection had hurt all these years, my duty was to protect people from Vampires even if that person was a Vampire themselves.

  My training had never covered this, and although I had been trained to distrust all Vampires, somewhere deep inside, I believed he was telling the truth, about everything. He didn’t know what was going on, and he didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t going to hurt me. I could see it in his eyes, the despair. It was what had stopped me from killing him back in Wicklow.

  He was still Nathan, and he needed my help. I was the only one who could help him. What kind of Vampire Slayer would I be if I ignored what had happened to him, what his survival and existence stood for? What kind of friend would I be?

  After everything, I couldn’t turn my back on him. It would make me as bad a friend as he had been, and I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of us being equally bad.

  I dropped the slice of pizza on the top of the box and slid off the stool. “Is this your way of apologising for being the worst friend in the world?”

  A laugh scraped his throat. He wiped his eyes, smearing the black blood all over his pale skin, making him look like a panda.

  “And for breaking your promise of keeping in touch?” I held my hand up, cutting him off. “Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas aren’t keeping in contact.”

  “You’re right.” He folded his arms once more. “I have been a bollocks friend. I don’t deserve your help.”

  “You don’t.” Taking hold of the nearby kitchen roll, I pulled off a few sheets and walked to the sink. “And you would have remained a stranger if you hadn’t been turned and therefore desperate.”

  It was both a question and a statement that I needed him to confirm.

  “I’m so sorry, Elle.”

  I turned the tap on in order to wet the paper towel. “Sorry isn’t good enough.”

  “I know.”

  Moving closer to him so we stood face to face, I lifted his chin and began to dab the blood from his eyes. “But it’s a start.”

  The relief that washed over him almost broke me. He was like a helpless child.

  “Elle—”

  “I’m going t’trust you, for old times’ sake.”

  His skin was cool as his fingertips slid across my palm and he took my left hand in his. “I know that goes against everything you believe.”

  “You’re the most clueless Vampire I’ve ever met.”

  He laughed, shoulders bobbing as his head dropped. “Yeah, guess it serves me right for never paying attention t’you.”

  “I trust that you won’t hurt me, or my family.”

  “I’d never hurt you, Elle.” He squeezed my hand and glanced at me from under his ridiculously long eyelashes. “I cross my heart.”

  And hope to die.
He didn’t speak the words, but they were a whispered understanding between us.

  “You should be careful what you wish for.” At the feel of tears gathering in my own eyes, I moved my attention back to the task. “And I believe you won’t drink or hurt innocent people.”

  “I swear it.”

  Untangling my hand from his, I threw the bloodied damp paper in the sink and grabbed a couple of dry sheets. “I’m going to help you figure this out, okay?”

  “I believe you.”

  His hands found my hips as I moved back in front of him, the gesture causing me to freeze on the spot. I was torn between making a joke and scolding him, asking him what he was doing, but the way he was looking at me made me bite my tongue. His blue eyes were full of questions as they wandered over my face, so focused, as if he were reading something of great importance on my skin.

  Ignoring the rapid beat of my heart and the fact that heat was pulsing through my clothes in the places his hands rested, I continued wiping at his cheeks, trying my hardest to clean away his dark tears, ignoring the flush I could feel crawling up my neck and the fact that I appeared momentarily dumbstruck by his closeness.

  “I’m going t’help you find Heather.”

  I moved the towel down his cheek, following the trail that stopped at the corner of his lips. “I know.”

  Unlike that night in the graveyard, he looked healthy, his features still boyish, but in an appealing way. My focus fixated on the tips of his fangs that rested on his lower lip. “Your fangs are so small.”

  So unlike normal Vampires. Vampires’ fangs only appeared when they transformed, and even then, they were long and sharp. So similar to the fangs of a snake.

  “It’s because they’re scared. You should see them when I get excited. They’re huge.”

  An unexpected laugh bubbled up and broke free, his comment thankfully breaking this strange moment. “You’re such an idiot.”

  “At least I make you laugh.” He smiled, chuckling at my reaction. “Am I all cleaned up?”

  Looking at his face only caused me to laugh harder. “You currently look like your zebra face paint has been spoilt by the rain.”

  He quipped an eyebrow. “So, sexy?”