“I love you Shay,” Melina was able to get out a laugh through her sobs, “And, as long as you don’t try to drink my blood, I will always be here for you, and will help you anyway I can.”
They pulled into the Grand Traverse Mall’s parking lot, and Shayna took and squeezed Melina’s hand.
“Mel, I will tell you everything I possibly can, after the formal,” she said to her, “But for the rest of the day, let’s just try to have a good time.”
She hoped Melina would be able to pull herself together enough to enjoy the rest of the day, so they could have fun together.
“I would like that,” Melina said and hugged Shayna.
They got out of the car, and walked inside toward Regis Salon.
Shayna added, ‘You’re going to tell Noah, aren’t you?”
“Yep,” Melina answered right away, “Unless you want to.”
Shayna rolled her eyes, “Go ahead,” she said, “You probably already told him anyway.”
With a proud smile, Melina said, “Yep.”
Chapter 19
The waters of Lake Michigan weren’t quite freezing, but they were colder than his unbeating heart. He could feel the sun shining down on his face, and could hear the slushie water splashing around him. Cain slowly opened his eyes.
Everything was a little blurry at first, but it all slowly came into focus. He was staring up at the bluff, that he had been thrown from, the sun blinding him. He looked at his chest. The platinum dagger remained protruding there. He reached for the blade, his arm stiff as he moved it, and pulled it out with a quick jerk. He yelled out in agonizing pain, and pushed himself up into a sitting position, ripping his shirt open. The wound from the blade healed right before his eyes. He examined the dagger. It is definatly platinum, but how am not fully dead? He wondered.
Many things could kill a Changeling a lot easier that a full blood. But a blessed platinum blade of any style should do the job immediately, and without fail.
“How is this possible?”
Cain managed to stand up. He looked around him. He was stuck where he was, surrounded by towering bluffs. The only way out was up or through the water. He would go up. Cain looked at the blade on the dagger again. Everything about it looked perfect, he didn’t understand.
Suddenly an image of a face appeared in his mind. She was perfect, and looked like a Princess.
“Shayna,” he whispered her name, “I have to get out of here.”
Cain felt a surge of what felt like adrenaline, rush through his body. He had to get to Shayna, and fast. He frantically looked around for another way to get to the top of the bluff. He had no other option. He stuck the dagger in his boot, and began to climb the sandy wall.
The girl staring back at Shayna looked like a goddess. Shayna couldn’t believe that she was looking at herself.
Melina had the stylist, put most of Shayna’s thick curly hair, into a french twist, leaving the rest of her dark curls falling around her face and onto her shoulders.
“Your not a little girl anymore,” she said to her reflection.
Melina had talked Shayna into wearing a little mascara, and a soft pink lip gloss. When Shayna hadn’t been looking, Melina threw a handful of silver glitter on her. Shayna noticed the glitter later, but didn’t mind. She liked the effect it added, and she didn’t want to fight with Melina over glitter.
Sarah had gotten called into work, and Shayna was upset that she wasn’t going to get to see her. She wasn’t even sure if she had told her mom that she was going to the formal. She was anxious to get the evening over with. She didn’t know when Aiden was going to pick her up, or what he would be driving. She hadn’t seen him since the night that they had made their plans, and she was starting to wonder if he was still coming.
When Noah had picked Melina up, his jaw about hit the ground, when he saw Shayna. Shayna was glad to see Noah and Melina together. She would have never, in a million years, have thought of the two of them together, but once she saw it she thought they kind of fit.
Melina had not wanted to leave Shayna behind, but Shayna insisted that they go, since they had dinner plans. She promised to catch up with them at the formal.
She stood examining herself in the mirrow. She was proud of the young woman she had turned into. She looked amazing. She wanted to stop in so that Aunt Mill could see her, but she was pretty sure taking Aiden over, would not be acceptable. She smiled at the girl looking back at her in the mirror. Her eyes sparkled. More blue than ever.
A horn honked outside, and Shayna made her way to the window, and looked down at the street. Aiden was climbing out of a little silver sportscar, wearing an all black tuxedo. He was headed toward the front porch.
Shayna looked at herself one last time, and said, “Here I go,” to herself.
She started downstairs to the door, taking a deep breath. She stepped off of the bottom stair, and pulled the heavy cherrywood door open. Aiden stood there grinning, with a bouquet of beautiful red roses in one hand, and a purple and silver corsage, in the other. His eyes lit up when he saw Shayna, the smile on his lips grew larger.
“I’m speechless,” he said, “You look magnificent.” he breathed her in, and licked his lips, “Are you ready?” he asked her.
Shayna returned the smile. “Thank you,” she said softly, “Yes.”
“Shall we then?” Aiden said, and extended his arm out to her.
Shayna stepped onto the porch, and shut the door behind her, and Aiden took her wrist and put the corsage on it. They walked down the stoop together. Aiden put his arm around her, and handed her the bouquet.
“They don’t compare to your beauty, but they smell as wonderful as you do,” he told her.
“Thank you Aiden.”
“Smell them,” he insisted, moving her hand that was holding the roses, to her face.
Shayna leaned her face down towards the bouquet, and smelled the flowers. They did smell wonderful.
“You didn’t have to do all of this Aiden.” Shayna said, and then stumbled a little.
Aiden caught her, and held her up by her arm, and said, “Yes I did.”
Shayna stumbled again, but Aiden had a firm grasp on her, and continued to hold her up. Everything began to spin around her. Faster and faster. Just breathe. She told herself. The only thing she was able to focus on, was Aiden’s smiling face and his red eyes.
He opened the passenger door, “Don’t be scared,” he told her.
Shayna was paralyzed, she couldn’t even open her mouth. Aiden was the only thing keeping her standing. He sat her down in the car, and gently leaned her back onto the seat. He was still smiling. A metallic taste began forming in Shayna’s mouth, and her ears began to ring. Every part of her body was numb, and her eyes became heavy. Aiden shut the door, and walked around the car to the drivers side. Her were eyes comlpetely closed when he climbed in, and there was a single tear falling down her cheek.
The bluff had proven to be more difficult of an obsticle, than Cain had anticipated. He was only able to get about halfway up, before he lost his grip, and fell back to the rocky shore below. He repeated his attempt, but he kept falling and hitting the ground, landing on his feet. This gave him an idea. He started back up the wall of the bluff, and when he got as far as he knew he could go, he let go. When he was about to hit the ground, he bent his knees, and when he felt the earth beneath him, he immediately sprang up. He was in the air, soaring up along side the bluff. He used his legs to help him run up the side of the wall. His plan worked. About twenty feet from the top of the bluff, he was able to grab on to the roots of the growth below the sand, that were dangling down, and pull himself up.
Shayna’s face in his mind, he made it to the top, and pulled himself over the ledge. He stood on his feet, and he heard Aunt Mill’s voice in his head immediatly.
“The Winter formal. Hurry.”
Everything came back to Cain all at once, in a whirlwind of memories and emotion. He had to get to Shayna. She was in more danger, tha
n Cain had been to her. He started to run east, he couldn’t waste any time.
Cain burst through the doors of the grand hall at the art academy. He had to find Shayna before it was too late. It took him no time at all to get to the Center For The Arts, once the panther took over. He scanned the great room for Shayna, but could not see her. He tried to find her scent, amongst her dancing classmates, but he found nothing. They’re not here. He thought to himself. He was eager to find her, and frustrated that he had let this happen.
Suddenly Melina was in his line of vision and was walking right towards him, with Noah by her side. Cain was amused that Melina’s thoughts of him were so scrambled, and he was relieved that she already knew about Shayna.
“Where is my sister?” Melina asked him, leaning in close to him, so he could hear her over the music. She didn’t realize it was unecessary. The look on Cain’s face, made Melina instanly worry. “What?” she asked him.
“I don’t know,” he looked at both Melina and Noah, “But we need to find her.”
“Wait, what?” Noah interrupted. He couldn’t hear them.
Melina began to shake, “What is going on Cain? Where is my sister?”
Cain looked at Noah, and leaned close to him, so Noah could hear him, “Do you have a car?”
Noah nodded.
“Cain?” Melina said, “Answer me.”
“We have to go now, we have to get to my place. I’ll explain in the car.”
Cain turned and walked toward the exit, he wasn’t about to wait for Melina and Noah. Although it would be helpful, he didn’t need Noah’s car. He would find Shayna on his own, if he had to.
Cain walked out of the school building, into the parking lot, followed by Noah and Melina. He hadn’t been surprised when they had joined him in the hallway.
They arrived to Cain’s house, and Cain effortlessy carried Melina into the house. Noah and Aunt Mill moved the coffee table out of the way, so that Cain could lay her down on the couch.
“Oh dear,” Aunt Mill said. “Poor thing,” she felt Melina’s head, “She’ll be fine, I’ll go whip something together, that will wake her right up,” the sweet woman smiled politly at Cain and Noah, and excused herself to the kitchen.
Melina had fainted in the car. Cain had been explaining everything to her and Noah, and apparently, him killing her father, and Shayna agreeing to exchange blood with him, had been too much for Melina to handle, and she lost consciousness.
Noah hadn’t taken his eyes off the road, or said a word, while they drove to Cain’s house. He just drove and absorbed everything that Cain was telling them.
With Aunt Mill out of the room, Noah looked at Cain, and asked, “So, what does all of this mean? What does Aiden want with Shayna?”
Cain shook his head, and looked at the ground. He was ashamed that he had allowed Aiden to fool him the way he had.
“I don’t even know how I am alive right now,” Cain told Noah, “I’m pretty sure that I changed, but I don’t know how,” he gestured to the empty chairs in the livingroom. “You can sit down.
Noah wasn’t sure what to do. Although he felt oddly comfortable around Cain, the only other vampire he had known, was Shayna and Melina’s father. But he hadn’t known then,that he was a vampire. He was a nice man. Noah thought about Marcus Verona. Maybe I don’t have to be scared.
“Never underestimate a vampire,” Cain told him immediately, looking staight into his eyes and catching him off guard, “You should always be afraid.”
“Holy crap!” Noahs mouth gaped wide open, “You just read my mind. How the hell?”
Cain nodded, and Aunt Mill returned with a small silver cup, that was steaming from the top.
“Cain dear. She said. “Sit her up.”
Cain rushed to Melina, and sat her up, like Aunt Mill had instructed. The fragile looking woman put the cup under Melina’s nose, so that the steam would fill her nostrils. Almost instantaneously, Melina’s eyes popped wide open. She looked around at the faces surrounding her. When she saw Noah, the tears started to flow.
“This is a nightmare,” she cried, “It can’t be real,” she put her face in her hands, and sobbed harder.
Noah sat down next to her and put his arm around her to console her, and Aunt Mill looked Cain up and down suspiciously.
“Well, look at you,” she was smiling from ear to ear, “No wonder I couldn’t find you. I wasn’t looking for you.”
“How did it happen?” Cain said, desperate for a logical answer.
Aunt Mill went to an old victorian style desk that was in the foyer, and brought back a book, and handed it to Cain. The book was old, and bound in ancient leather. Cain tried, but he couldn’t make out the Italian name that was on the cover.
Sitting with Melina on the couch, Noah watched their every move.
“An old friend out in California, was able to track it down. He had it overnighted to me. It arrived just today,” Aunt Mill knew Cain didn’t have time to read it, but she had already gotten through most of it herself, “You fell in love with her Cain. You would do anything in the world for her, except take her blood. But the most important part is, that she loved you in return,” Aunt Mill turned and looked at Melina, and Melina lifted her head off of Noahs shoulder returning the gaze, “That’s how you changed,” Aunt Mill said turning back to Cain.
“You really do love her? Don’t you?” Melina said.
Cain nodded his head to Melina. “I do, yes,” he said, but quickly turned his attention back to Aunt Mill, “Where is she? Can you find her?”
Aunt Mill closed her eyes, at least a minute passed, until she began to speak, “I see water, and I see white,” Aunt Mill said. “White velvet. I can feel it in my hand.”
Cain was confused, and getting impatient, time was running out.
“I know where she is,” Melina said unexpectedly. Everyone turned and looked at her, “She’s on the island, Mackinac Island,” Melina tried to stand up, but felt dizzy, and quiclkly sat back down. “She told mom and I all about it. Everything in her room was white and the bed was white velvet,” Melina looked at Cain, “It’s surrounded by water. She’s on the island, in that room.”
Cain turned for the door, and Noah stood up.
“I’m going with you,” he told Cain.
Cain stopped and turned around, “No,” he said to Noah as firm as he could.
“Melina, you stay here with…with…uh,” Noah looked at the old woman.
“You can call me Aunt Mill.”
Noah gave Aunt Mill an embarassed smile, and looked back to Melina.
“With Aunt Mill,” he looked back to Cain, who was opening the front door, “I’m going with you.”
“No, we don’t have enough time,” Cain said, turning around to face Noah. “It’s almost nine already, and it will take close to three hours to get there driving.”
“Not the way Noah drives,” Melina interjected.
Noah looked at Cain and smiled. Melina was right.
“Let’s go,” Cain said to Noah. He knew Melina wasn’t lying about the kid’s driving, and he didn’t have time to stay and argue.
They walked out the door, and Noah felt safe leaving Melina with Aunt Mill. Cain sent Noah to the car, and then rushed to the barn, he desperatly needed to feed, before they left.
Cain and Noah arrived in Mackinaw City right before eleven o’clock. Noah found a ferry line, Shephler’s Ferry, and turned into the parking lot.
“How are we going to get out there?” Noah asked, looking out at the lights of the Grand Hotel, “None of the ferry’s are running, this late.”
Cain climbed out of the car.
“We’re not taking a ferry,” he said.
Cain walked to the marina and began examining the different boats, and Noah walked up behind him.
“Well?’ Noah huffed, “What are we taking?”
“That,” Cain said, pointing at a large boat named Gilly-ga-loo.
Noah looked at the boat suspiciously. It was about forty
feet long, about the length of one of the ferry’s, but not as big, “Is it yours?”
Cain walked out onto the dock, “No,” he said.
“Who’s is it?” Noah said, running catching up to him on the dock.
“I don’t know,” Cain shrugged his shoulders, and jumped onto the deck of the boat. “Can you make it?” he asked Noah.
“I think I got it,” Noah said, and jumped onto the boat alongside Cain.
Noah walked to the bow, and Cain went to the helm. Noah wasn’t surprised, when Cain had the motor running within seconds. The boat was fast, taking only about ten minutes to bring them to the west side of the island, where the Grand Hotel was. Cain was able to bring the boat close enough to the island, that when they jumped into the freezing waters of Lake Huron, the were only waist deep.
They walked out of the water, onto the beach that Cain and Shayna had just been walking on the week before.
“There is a door on the east side of the hotel that leads to the kitchen,” he told Noah, “If it’s not open, it is unlocked. If she is in that room, the room number is 334.” they walked toward the hotel together, “Go,” Cain said. “If you get to the stables, you’ve gone too far.”
“What are you going to do?” Noah wasn’t sure what he would do if he got to Shayna first.
“Don’t worry about me. Just go,” Cain said, and he started to sprint toward the back of the hotel, and out of Noah’s sight.
Noah wasn’t sure exactly what he had gotten himself into. He was on a mission for a vampire, to save a vampire, from a vampire. Maybe it is all a dream. He thought.
Chapter 20
The dull red glow, surrounded by bright white was blinding to Shayna. Her eyes fluttered open, and slowly started to adjust to the light. She looked around, barely able to move her head. Oh my God. She thought.Unbelievably, she was back on the island. This time instead of roses, there were white candles, burning throughout the room. She realized that the candles were the red glow. Everything had gone horribly wrong. Her head was pounding, and she hopelessly wondered where Aiden was. He was supposed to protect her from Cain, to stop this from happening, and make sure it didn’t happen at all.
Midnight Blood (Born Immortal) Page 18
