by Morgan Rice
Holly tried to glare but even through her cold expression, her terror still shone through. “You’re such a fr—”
But she didn’t get the chance to finish. Kate had put her finger on Holly’s lip and was shaking her head.
“Don’t. Tempt. Me,” she said, enunciating each syllable.
She moved her fingers away. Holly bared her teeth and narrowed her eyes, then she swirled off, following her friends.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The date had been a disaster. Kate felt like an idiot for even thinking she could live a normal life. Going back to plain old Kate Roswell was impossible. She had to accept that as some kind of vampire-human-hybrid freak, she’d probably never be normal again.
The last thing Kate wanted to do was go home. But she also didn’t want to be surrounded by people and traffic. The patty she’d eaten may have been undercooked, but it hadn’t been as raw or bloody as her body needed it to be, and her senses were starting to heighten again, making the sounds around her excruciatingly painful. She headed to Honda Valley Park, where at the very least she’d be able to hide in the shadows of the trees.
She ended up walking for far longer than she’d intended too, all the way through the park and up through Elings Park, just south of the Bel Air neighborhood her mom would’ve sold her firstborn to get a house in. She ended up walking all the way through, then under the subway and into Oak Park. Before she knew it she’d crossed through that neighborhood and emerged at the bottom of Rocky Nook Park, where Elijah’s mansion was situated.
She hadn’t even been thinking of going there; she’d just let her feet lead her where they wanted. She was surprised to have found herself here—she must have been walking for almost two hours.
The trees here were dense, making the shadows as dark as night. Kate got the sudden feeling that she wasn’t alone.
She froze and listened. Something was moving in the undergrowth. Somehow she understood by the tread that it was an animal. She turned slowly and saw, just a little ways from her, a family of three mule deer standing on the path. Once she would have gazed upon the beauty of them in awe. But now, post-accident, post–Elijah’s bite, she felt instead an overwhelming instinct to hunt them. After nearly a week, her body had finally found something it wanted to consume.
She turned and ran, chasing the deer through the forest. They hopped over roots and rock, leaping out of danger. But Kate wasn’t stopping. The need to feed inside of her was too strong.
The two adult deer were faster than the foal. It started lagging behind so Kate focused all her attention on following it.
Suddenly, something loomed up from the rocks just as the two older deer raced past. It was the silhouette of a person. The smaller deer had no chance. It ran straight into the person and began to squeal. A second later, Kate heard a snapping sound, and the squealing stopped.
Silence fell. The figure emerged from the shadows. It was Elijah.
Kate felt her breath catch in her lungs as he walked toward her, the dead deer in his arms, its head flopping from where he’d broken its neck in one quick motion.
“Elijah?” she whispered as he drew up before her.
“Kate,” he replied. “You were… you were hunting?”
She nodded.
He looked away guiltily. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know you were craving. I didn’t realize I’d turned you that much.” He reached up and touched her cheek. “If I had, I would have stayed to teach you how to hunt. You must be starving.”
“I am,” she replied.
Elijah looked back over his shoulder, glancing in the direction of Ackerman House. “Come on,” he said. “We can eat. Then I’ll teach you everything you need to know.”
*
In the kitchen of his house there was a large wooden block, upon which Elijah slung the dead deer. He got a butcher’s knife from a drawer and began chopping it up with expert precision. Once, Kate would have felt squeamish, but now it looked like the most natural thing in the world. She licked her lips in anticipation.
Kate noticed then that the chopping block had a gully in the middle, specifically designed for the blood to run along. At the end was a bottle, collecting it.
“Take a sip,” Elijah said when he saw her looking. “You must be so thirsty.”
Hesitantly, Kate took the bottle. It was already a quarter filled with warm blood. She took her first sip and felt power seep into her veins. Her eyes widened at the sensation of a sudden energy burst, then supped more on the blood, drinking deeper, harder, until there was nothing left.
She took a deep breath and wiped the blood from her lips, embarrassed to have gorged herself in front of Elijah.
“Don’t be,” Elijah said as though reading her mind. “I don’t know how you went so long without feasting.”
Kate just shrugged. “Maybe because I’m not a proper vampire like you are.”
Elijah paused, the butcher’s knife hovering above the deer’s thigh. “You found the book.”
“Yes.”
“You read it?”
“Most of it.”
“Then you should know not to say that word aloud.” He went back to hacking.
Kate felt a little deflated. “Is there a law against it?” From what she’d read, there were a million vampire laws prohibiting them from all kinds of things.
“Not a law as such,” he said. “But our existence must remain hidden. Any possibility of being discovered is punishable.”
“There’s only the two of us here,” Kate reasoned.
“I know,” Elijah said, “I’m just on edge.”
“Because of your parents?” Kate asked.
He nodded. “They’re not my parents though, not exactly. When you live a thousand years, those kinds of relationships don’t quite work anymore. But yes, they raised me many, many years ago.”
Kate’s curiosity got the better of her. “How old are you?”
He paused, taking a deep breath, as though weighing whether or not to tell Kate. Finally, he decided to divulge.
“I’ve lived for nearly one thousand years.”
She shook her head in disbelief. It was so incredible to her, that this secret vampire race could exist, living in small pockets across the globe, without anyone noticing. “How long have you been alone?” she asked.
“Only the last few hundred years or so.”
“Only?” Kate cried. “Aren’t you lonely? Bored?”
Elijah shrugged. “Not really. It’s just how I am.”
Kate suddenly cast her eyes to the floor. It wasn’t in her DNA; she hadn’t been born a vampire, she’d been turned into one, or part of one, or an eighth of one or something. What did that make her?
“Elijah,” she said. “What am I?”
He shook his head. “Let’s not talk of that. Not yet. First, let’s eat and drink. Once you’re strong we can try to figure out what you’ve become.” He looked downcast. “What I’ve made you.”
They took their plates of raw deer meat and wine glasses filled with blood in through to a large living room. Once again, the place was overcrowded with ancient artifacts. The floorboards and ceiling were caving in. There was a huge fireplace which had been lit, casting a warm, yellow glow across the room.
Kate put a forkful of meat into her mouth.
“That’s so good,” she murmured, feeling instantly rejuvenated.
Elijah nodded and studied her, as though trying to work out how much of her had actually become a vampire.
Once their meal was finished, Kate felt more alive than she ever had. She didn’t just feel like herself again, she felt like a better version of herself, an almost superhuman version. She was filled with energy, buzzing with it. Thanks to her home life, Kate had never really been one for enthusiasm, but right now she was bursting with it.
“Will you tell me everything?” she asked Elijah. “I want to know all about you. Your history. Your coven.”
“The book didn’t tell you enough?” he said.
She shook her head. “Not really. I mean, I get what’s going on with the census and the life partner and breeding thing, but what I don’t get is why your parents took you out of school and said you were moving to New York.”
“My coven wanted me to migrate with them. It was time for The Breeding. But I slipped away and ran back here.”
Kate stared at him in disbelief.
“Won’t they be coming for you?”
“When they realize I’m gone, yes. But I could never go now, even if I wanted to. I need to stay here, to help you.”
Kate couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He’d help her, even though he knew that if he didn’t complete the breeding ritual he would die.
“You can help me by not dying, Elijah!” she said, suddenly furious. “I mean, all you have to do is breed and you can come back, right?”
“You don’t understand,” Elijah said sadly, turning his head away. “I feel like I’m eighteen. I think like I’m eighteen. The idea of being with someone I don’t love horrifies me. Especially now.”
Kate looked at him and frowned. “What do you mean, ‘especially now’?”
Elijah shook his head. “It doesn’t matter.”
Silence fell, and the only sound in the room was the crackling of the fire.
“So,” Kate said, piecing everything together in her mind. “This must be your first time. Mating, I mean.”
“Yes,” Elijah replied. “In my world, one thousand is an important milestone. It’s when you’re considered a man. And once you’re a man, you’re ready to become a father.”
“Even if you don’t feel ready?” Kate asked.
He nodded, then looked up. “We should go somewhere else now that we’ve eaten. If they’re coming for me, this is the first place they’ll look.”
“Okay,” Kate said.
She followed Elijah. They left his house on the back of his motorcycle and went up into the mountains. Kate had been here so many times alone, but being here with Elijah felt amazing.
Once he stopped the bike and they’d leaped off, he asked: “Ready to hunt?”
Kate widened her eyes with excitement. “Yes.”
Elijah got to work showing her how to track animals by following their prints and droppings, then how to conceal herself using the natural environment as camouflage. He taught her an ancient method of slowing the breath so as not make a sound, and how to remain still for a long time.
“The best success you will have,” he said, “is if you let the creature come to you. Like the deer in the forest earlier. It leaped right into my arms.”
Kate didn’t know how much time passed while they hunted on the mountainside. Time had lost all meaning to her. All she knew was that spending time with Elijah made her feel more alive than she ever had before. Even when they were standing silently, side by side, letting the wind gently rush through their hair, listening to the sound of deer prints a mile in the distance, she felt a greater connection to him than she ever had to anyone before. She could imagine herself happily spending a whole day standing silently beside Elijah waiting for a creature to hunt.
Her eyes were closed when she heard the cracking sound that told her a creature was nearby. Elijah had taught her not to react and so she stayed still and silent, her breath so slow it had almost stopped in her lungs. She could sense exactly where the animal was, and knew, instinctively, that it was a deer.
Its hoof steps drew closer. Now it was up to Kate to know when to strike. Elijah had told her it was a skill that may take time to perfect, but that her body would know what to do once she’d become more in tune with it.
Then suddenly, she knew that the time had come, that the creature was where it needed to be. She knew how quickly she had to move to catch it in her arms and how much strength she’d need to snap its neck cleanly. She did it all, perfectly, first try.
Elijah opened his eyes and looked at the dead deer in her arms.
“You catch on quickly,” he said. “That’s good. You’ll need to be able to fend for yourself once I’m…” His voice trailed away.
Kate looked at him sadly. “Dead. You mean once you’re dead.” Suddenly, the triumph of her first hunt seemed tarnished by the circumstances surrounding them. “You’d really rather die than mate?”
“Kate,” Elijah began, “you don’t understand. Not fully.”
“Then tell me,” Kate demanded, anger starting to rise through her, making the volume rise. “Tell me what I need to do. You made me, Elijah, and now you’re going to leave me!” She was shouting passionately now. “You’d rather die and leave me alone than breed with a woman you don’t love?”
“Because I love you!” Elijah cried.
His voice echoed through the forest. The words hit Kate like a knife in the heart. She froze on the spot.
“You love me?” she gasped.
“Yes,” he replied in one long exhalation. “And it’s forbidden. If they find out I’ll be punished forever.”
Kate grabbed his arm, more desperate than ever.
“Can’t you go, breed, and come back to me?” she pleaded.
He looked back at her sadly and shook his head.
“Once she’d read in my mind that I loved you, she would kill you.”
Kate felt heavy, defeated. Elijah had chosen to die because he knew that if he went through with the mating ceremony, Kate would be killed by his new wife. He was going to sacrifice himself for her. The pain was too much to bear.
“I wish there were another way,” Kate said, resting in the crook of Elijah’s arm.
The moon as high above them and the view over the ocean seemed endless.
“This is the only time we have together,” Elijah replied. “We should just enjoy it.”
She nodded, but a silver tear wound its way down her cheek.
“I never told you that I love you too,” Kate replied.
“You did,” Elijah said, “I read it in your mind.”
Kate nuzzled into him and his arms tightened around her. “Let me stay with you, Elijah, until it happens. Will you let me have that much at least?”
“Of course,” he said.
Kate tipped her head up so they were level and slowly, gently, pressed her lips against Elijah’s. His mouth was warm and soft against hers. A sensation like a thousand fireworks going off erupted inside of her. She closed her eyes, leaning into the kiss, deepening it, wanting nothing in the world but this one moment.
But when she opened her eyes, Elijah was gone.
And she was lying in her bed.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Kate could still feel Elijah’s kiss against her skin, making it tingle, making her yearn for him more than she ever had for blood, and she leaped out of bed, filled with frustration. He’d sent her back here to try and save her, again, so that she wouldn’t have to witness his death. He didn’t seem to understand that she was stronger than that, that she wanted to be with him to the bitter end.
It was night—she could see the moon from her window—but she didn’t know which one. She could have been up on that mountain with Elijah for a whole week for all she knew. But when she checked her cell, she saw that it was the same day as it had been before she’d met up with Elijah. Time, she realized, was malleable for Elijah and his kind. Time and space. The thought made her even more frustrated. If one evening could feel like several, why had he sent her away from him? He could have stretched time out for them so they could build more precious memories together.
Just then, she heard a clattering noise from downstairs. She ran to her bedroom door and opened it. The house was filled with noise. Shouts and screams emanated from downstairs.
Fear spiked in Kate’s stomach. She ran onto the landing and down the stairs.
When she reached the living room, she saw her dad in a full-on alcoholic rage, pinning Max against the wall. Max was crying furiously. Madison was screaming at their dad, telling him to let go. She had a deep red handprint across her cheek. Her mom was standing
in the door, flapping, not sure what to do, worrying that the noise would wake the neighbors.
Kate wasn’t going to stand for it anymore. All the mixed up emotions of the last few days fueled her. Knowing that the fresh deer meat had rejuvenated her and made her strong gave Kate the confidence to barge into the room, grab her dad, and yank him backwards.
Madison gasped at the sight of her sister. When they’d last seen each other, she’d been sneering at her, bullying her, stealing Tony from under her nose just because she couldn’t bear the thought of Kate getting one single thing up on her, even if it was for just once in her life. Now, Kate was here, playing the hero, rescuing them from the wrath of their father.
With her hands on each of Robert’s shoulders, Kate picked him clean off the ground and threw him across the room. He landed on a heap on the floor.
“Take Max somewhere safe,” she said to Madison.
Madison hesitated, stunned. She looked like she was on the verge of saying something.
“Just do it!” Kate cried.
She hated Max seeing the violence. She much more hated him being at the receiving end of it.
Whatever Madison had been thinking of saying, she changed her mind. Instead she grabbed her car keys and together she and Max rushed out of the house to her car. Kate heard it squeal off down the driveway and breathed a sigh of relief. Max was safe. That was the main thing.
Her dad lumbered to standing. His face was bright red, from the alcohol, from the rage, from the pain of being flung across the room. He thundered toward Kate. But this time she wasn’t letting him get away with it. The red mist had descended across her vision and she was going to make sure her dad never hurt anyone ever again.
She bared her teeth and pounced, using her newfound hunting skills to calculate the distance, speed, and strength with which she would need to bring him down. He fell immediately and as easily as a bowling pin.
