A gust of wind blasted through the desert and a small tumbleweed brushed by Ruby’s legs, but she was unaware, stewing in grim realization. And then after a few moments, her body softened, her eyes pooling with unshed tears.
“What have I become?” she breathed, her gaze lighting on mine as though I had all of the answers. I didn’t. I knew nothing other than how to kill vampires and werewolves. But still, she pleaded with her eyes.
And God, there it was again, that deep aching sympathy I felt for her. It leaked through my body like an illness. Damn it, why was she making me feel this way? I released the grip on my gun, hanging my arms at my sides, pondering over the fact that she hadn’t exploded like I’d expected. She hadn’t lunged at me or attacked me, nor shown any signs of threat to me as a normal Newborn vampire would. Instead, she caved inwards, her body slumping forward in sadness. She fell to her knees and sobbed.
“Why did this happen to me? I didn’t want this. This wasn’t my choice.” Tears flooded her cheeks like Niagara Falls during a heavy rain storm.
I struggled to find a single word that could soothe her broken heart, but found myself coming up short. The need to comfort her overwhelmed me and I found myself stepping forward.
“You’re right.” My voice sounded hollow, distant. “You did not choose this.”
She didn’t look up at me, but I knew she was listening. I found myself battling with my conscience, thinking I should just take her to the old vampire and get this whole thing over with. But the overwhelming need to be there for her consumed me. I didn’t like it and didn’t understand it, but there it was. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding and knelt down beside her.
“You were taken advantage of and turned against your will. It isn’t fair. Life isn’t fair. But what are you going to do about it? Are you going to let your anger tear the world apart? Or are you going to take what has been dealt to you and accept it, control it, and use it to your advantage?”
Her shoulders trembled and the breeze took strands of her hair and lifted them from her face. Her anger fled, leaving in its place sadness. I inched in closer.
“This could be a blessing, Faith.” The words left my mouth before I’d even realized and I found myself laying a hand on her shoulder. I was done questioning myself, done fighting between the rights and the wrongs, done worrying about what I’d done. There was no going back now. “This could be your path to right every wrong. Listen, I know a lot about vampires, but I don’t know it all. This could be your redemption.”
Her body softened and she leaned into me, her head resting against my chest. My body tensed at her closeness. She was like a frightened animal, one I did not want to scare away. God knows why, but she trusted me— she shouldn’t, but damn it if she did. She nestled further into my shirt, her body cool like a vampire’s should be, and I had the sudden urge to wrap my arms around her, to warm her cold skin. But I didn’t.
“What would you do?” she whispered, her words floating off into the breeze.
Her question hit me hard and I tried to imagine what it would be like in her shoes. What it would be like if one day I woke up and found myself eternally trapped in the body of an Unfortunate Soul with my entire life gone. Everything I’d worked for, vanished into thin air. But then I realized my life was forever changed, because of her. I would never be the same after the decision I’d made to save her. Ruby and I were not all that different.
But I was still left with her question. What would I do?
“I don’t know,” I replied honestly. She looked up into my face, my heart clenching in response. “The question is what do you want to do?”
She considered my words, letting herself fall silent. A patch of clouds drifted over the moon, casting her profile into darkness.
“I want to be happy,” she said. “But most of all, I don’t want to be alone anymore. I feel so alone.”
My muscles went lax, my heart squeezing inside of my chest. I sighed, reaching into my pocket to pull out a key. I took her arm and carefully unlocked the remaining silver cuff, letting it slide from her wrist and fall to the ground. Her eyes found mine and I tried on an encouraging smile.
“You aren’t alone. And believe me, Faith, once we get this all worked out and find you a place to call home, you’ll never be alone again.”
THIRTEEN: RUBY
The earlier events of the night occupied my mind like elderly people at a Friday night fish fry. I could hardly believe I’d killed that vampire, and something like guilt washed through me over the notion. But Guy’s life had been in danger and I’d had no other choice.
I also recalled the rage that’d boiled my veins, causing me to melt down like a tempered child in front of Guy, and how he’d stayed calm and brought me down from my fury. A heated blush feathered my cheeks as I thought back on the embarrassing moment. It was as if my vampire self was fighting to claim my body and mind, and I wasn’t ready to let go yet.
But as soon as we left the mission that night, his temporary warmth fled. The comfort he’d given me melted, leaving behind the hardheaded man I’d first met. Back in war-mode, his movements were sharp and cautious, like we’d be caught any minute.
We hustled our way on foot toward the city and stopped in front of a lone drug store on an empty stretch of freeway. I zipped in through the door with lightning speed and shot into the bathroom to wait for Guy, as he’d instructed. It wouldn’t be in our best interest if someone saw me in my white altar boy robe, looking like a bloody vampire bride. I went to shut the door softly behind me, but it slammed under the command of my hand and I nearly jumped a mile. My newfound strength was constantly jarring. I went to the mirror and looked up, sucking in a startled breath at the sight that greeted me.
The first thing I noticed were my eyes; where they had once been a soft brown, they were now so light they looked purple, my violet irises a bright ring around the black.
And my skin… it had been fair and freckled before, but was now white as cream and smooth as silk, flawless— except for the dried blood from killing that nasty vampire, of course. I touched my cheek and there, brushing the back of my hand, was my hair. It had been dishwater blonde in life, but was now so pale —aside from the golden sheen— it could’ve been mistaken for pure white. My long mane hung in waving curls around my shoulders, much longer than it had been only forty-eight hours ago.
I turned on the water, unable to take my eyes off my reflection. In life, I’d never considered myself very attractive and in all honesty, I had been downright plain to look at. Nothing special, nothing stood out about me. But now, I could see the beauty there, every feature accentuated under the newness of my vampire façade.
My eyelashes were longer and darker, my lips a cherry red, and my cheekbones even seemed sharper. I splashed water onto my face, cleaning off the blood, hoping to clean away my guilt and shame as well. A soft knock sounded at the door and I went to open it, but in my effort, ripped the silver handle off in my hand. Crap. I grimaced, remembering doing the same thing at the mission, and made a mental note to be careful of knobs from now on.
The door creaked open of its own accord, revealing Guy’s astonished expression at seeing me with the knob in hand, an empty hole in the door where it should be. I shrugged and Guy sighed, rolling his eyes as if to say, “What am I going to do with you?”
He grabbed the handle from me and, in exchange, gave me a bundle of clothes. He fixed the knob back into place, and before closing the door, shot me a dubious, sideways glance. I laughed at the expression on his face and, what’s more, the absurdity of my situation.
Here I stood in a drug store bathroom —a vicious freaking vampire— slipping into an oversized Arizona T-shirt, black stretch pants, and flip flops with sunglass-wearing lizards on the soles. I looked ridiculous, but I inhaled a deep breath, deeming my touristy wardrobe would have to do for now.
This time when I opened the door, I made a conscious effort to do so gingerly. Guy waited outside, leaning
up against the wall and, despite his dashing good looks that made me weak in the knees, he appeared sullen and tired. Dark circles crested his under-eyes and his cheeks looked hollow.
“Have you eaten?” I asked, joining him.
“I’m fine.” He latched onto my arm and abrasively guided me through the store as though on a mission.
“You’re not fine.” I frowned at him. “I can tell. You need to eat.”
Guy flashed me a look that only a man like him could— headstrong and stubborn. “I’ve got more important things to worry about. I can eat once I get you someplace safe.”
“No.” I ripped my arm from his grasp and he stopped, shock taking over his expression. “You can’t help me if you aren’t well.” I headed to the refrigerated section to grab him some food, Guy tight on my heels. My flip-flops clapped across the tile floor and I laid my hand on the glass door’s handle, but he stopped me with a firm grasp.
“Wait,” he growled and I turned to look at him in surprise. His lips curled into a smile and his grip on my arm loosened. “Gentle, this time.”
I blushed as his fingers trailed down my arm, causing a warmth to pool in my belly. Flustered, I turned my attention to the premade sandwiches, pretending I was more interested in processed meat than Guy’s smile. I carefully creaked open the glass door. “Are you a ham or turkey kind of guy?”
He shook his head at my obstinacy and I could tell he was trying not to roll his eyes. He chuckled. “Turkey.”
The cashier rang up our purchases and I glanced out the glass storefront, noticing a group of men approaching. Soldiers. My heart hammered as I spotted the same patch on their shoulders as the one Guy wore. Double Crap, FUSE. My body stiffened and I shuffled my feet, causing Guy to glance over and follow my eyes to the group outside. His jaw clenched at the sight of them.
The cashier handed him his change and a bag. He leaned into me. “Just act normal.”
Normal? I held back a nervous laugh. A vampire who could barely control her own body, not to mention had just killed someone, acting normal in front of her arch enemies? Piece of cake.
I followed Guy toward the exit, but the soldiers met us there as they entered the store. They stopped when they saw him and made some sort of salute, three fingers frozen to their left shoulders. A tall, lanky soldier addressed him.
“Captain Stone.”
Guy nodded. “At ease.” The sharp tone of his voice made me want to drop to the ground and give him twenty pushups. At his words, the men dropped their arms to their sides.
Guy had told me before that he was a captain, but the information didn’t ease my shock at seeing him in his natural position of leadership. For one so young, he adopted the command of an older man in front of the soldiers, freezing them with his presence.
He took my arm, but before we could make our escape, the tall man spoke again. “Were you at the …” his eyes shifted to me warily, “the gathering the other night?”
Guy turned to me, his voice low and raw. “Will you excuse us for a moment?”
It took a moment for me to realize they wanted privacy, away from me. “Oh, yes. Of course.” I awkwardly strolled to the greeting cards and pretended to flip through them.
“Were you at the stakeout at the old warehouse last night?” the soldier continued his question, thinking I was too far away to hear. Little did he know I had super-sonic vampire hearing and I studied them both from the corner of my eye.
“We heard it was a bloodbath,” another soldier added, as though passing on a scandalous secret. “Thirty some-odd vamps and four witches, all blown to smithereens.”
A dreadful heat rushed through me at his words, my fingers and toes burning with unease. I didn’t want to go back to that night, to remember the torture I’d gone through. And I didn’t even want to think about all the others who had suffered as well.
The tall soldier shifted his gaze to me, his eyes taking me in from head to toe and landing on my butt, before he chuckled. “They said the unholy bastards squealed like dying pigs when they caught fire.”
Maybe it was fear or anger urging my body to react, but either way my vampire senses climbed my body like an elevator in a thirty story building. I could smell the soldiers’ blood coursing through their veins and I caught a glimpse of the big purple vein throbbing in the tall man’s neck. He smelled terrible. I clenched my fists as if it would help me stay calm but the jerk continued on, his voice slimy, exactly like his personality.
“It’s too bad the fangers explode or I’d have at least a dozen mounted on my wall as we speak.”
And like a crimson veil being placed before my eyes, I saw red. It’s not like I had an attachment to my kind or anything, seeing as I’d only been a vampire for twenty-four hours, but the way the man spoke enraged me and I wanted to hurt him, kill him. A hiss sizzled from my mouth and before I knew what I was doing, I rushed him, my body acting of its own accord.
Only steps away from the jerk, my fangs extended in my mouth, ready to rip into his soft flesh. But I was stopped mid-run by Guy’s fast reflexes and to my surprise, he dipped me backwards in a provocative embrace, his lips crushing against mine, hiding away my fangs. Shocked, my breath caught in my chest and my fury melted away like a warm snow cone on hot pavement. The touch of his mouth on mine sent shivers through my body. Every hair follicle on my flesh stood out and my skin pebbled with the intensity of the kiss. My fangs retracted when his tongue slipped into my mouth, warm pleasure coursing through me. He had taken me breathless right there in front of the gaping soldiers and I wasn’t sure how to feel about it.
“Go Captain!” The men cheered and prodded him on.
His mouth parted from mine, leaving me panting and my lips swollen and tingling. He whispered in my ear. “Stay calm and keep your mouth closed, unless you want us both to die before leaving this store.” He brought me back up to standing and turned to the ogling men.
“We’re leaving,” he said, the tone of his voice sharp and commanding. The soldiers saluted again and he whipped me around them and out the door. The cool night air blasted me in the face, soothing my flushed skin, and it was then that I started to realize just how much I’d screwed up. And Guy certainly looked peeved over me nearly blowing our cover. Unable to ignore the urge to lighten the mood, I turned to him and smiled sweetly.
“You know Captain Stone, I don’t usually kiss on the first date.”
Guy froze, his ears turning red, and for a moment I thought he might implode with anger, embarrassment, or a combination of the two. But instead, he slid me a glare and grunted. He yanked me off the concrete onto the dirt ground and headed out into the desolate landscape.
Yeah, so much for a romantic first kiss.
“That is why you need to do what I say.” Guy shook the sandwich bag in front of me, his brows drawn together in a flat line. “That was too close.”
Ashamed of my impulsive reaction to the nasty soldier, I blushed with embarrassment. And then I blushed even more when realizing that vampires actually can blush and Guy could probably see the stain on my cheeks. But I couldn’t help my shame. What had just happened with me in the drug store wasn’t much different from my tantrum at the mission, an uncontrollable ferocious side of me rearing its ugly head.
And I figured the only reason Guy had kissed me was to hide my fangs. But I touched my swollen lips, wondering if there was more to it. I couldn’t ignore the warm pleasure still coursing through me from his kiss and part of me wondered if maybe he felt the same. Whether he did or not, he was highly on edge, his shoulders tense under the dim light of the moon. I shook my head as if trying to shake off the lust I had for him, but it didn’t help much.
We continued hiking through the desert with nothing to guide us other than the light of the rising moon. I watched as little creatures dodged in and out of hiding as we went, something I knew Guy couldn’t see.
“Why can’t we take a car again?” I asked.
“There will be many check points because of
last night’s battle. We can’t chance it. Not yet.”
The sound of shrill cricket chirps pierced my ears but I was growing more used to my intensified hearing. I glanced to my side, watching Guy’s muscles move beneath his clothes while he walked. Yet again blushing, I quickly lifted my eyes to his face.
“Where are we going?”
“There’s a blood bank not far from here. You will need to feed before long.”
My attraction to Guy was momentarily forgotten when my stomach twisted at his words. The idea of drinking blood immediately gave me the urge to dry heave. But I could not ignore the hunger growing inside of me. Guy was right; I would eventually have to feed. We crossed through an old, dried-up riverbed, a washed-up car sitting there, abandoned. Guy pulled out a flashlight and peered inside. He shook his head before trudging on.
I wondered about him and how he felt about our predicament, how he felt about me. The fear I’d sensed on him before wasn’t there anymore. And seeing as the silver handcuffs hadn’t worked on me before, he hadn’t taken any precautions to keep me from flat-out attacking him. I knew I would never hurt him, but did he know that? We swerved around a cluster of barrel cactus.
“Why aren’t you afraid of me anymore?” I wondered aloud.
His jaw twitched in response like he wondered if I was reading his mind, but his surprised expression fled in the matter of a millisecond, returning to its normal, hard stoicism. “If you were going to kill me, you’d already have done it by now.”
I dropped my head at his cold response, thinking that maybe his recent comfortability in me had something more to do with the fact I hadn’t killed him yet, but apparently it did not. I kept my eyes on the rocky terrain ahead of us and, after a few moments, sensed Guy’s eyes on me. He released a heavy sigh and spoke barely above a whisper.
“Plus… you saved my life.” I smiled, knowing it was hard for him to admit a vampire had saved his life— a teenaged-girl vampire at that.
Unfortunate Souls (Book 1): Unfortunate Souls Series (The Unfortunate Souls Series) Page 8
