by Laura Marie
His words whipped around me along with the wind and the leaves and the dust.
“That will never change.”
“The only monster here,” I said, and I hit Dmitri with a bolt of lightning that cracked through the trees, “is you.”
Dmitri screamed and fell to his knees. I hadn’t killed him. A bolt of lightning apparently hadn’t been enough.
But the Fog disappeared, and his eyes turned back to normal. His face was twisted in pain.
“Have mercy, little witch,” Dmitri said in a strained voice.
“Mercy?” I asked with a bitter laugh. “The only mercy you deserve is the same mercy you bestow on others.”
Dmitri’s eyes widened. Yeah, he understood what I was saying. If it were up to me, he deserved to die. But it wasn’t up to me. I was a witch, not a judge. And even though I hated the guy, I wouldn’t kill like he did. We were all better than that.
“Debilitus et impeditus,” I said, using a spell I had learned. Paralyzed and powerless. Dmitri couldn’t move.
He struggled against the magic bounds, grunting and screaming.
“Let me go!” he shouted. “I’ll leave, I’ll never come back. Just let me leave.”
His anger turned to fear, and he started begging and pleading.
Pathetic.
“I think I’ll let your people decide what to do with you,” I said.
Dmitri’s eyes widened in fear, and I could see the strain on his face as he tried to fight my magic. But there was nothing he could do. I was furious about what he had done to Chloe, and it was my anger and hatred that held him down, not just the spell.
When I turned around, Chloe had fallen to her knees, and tears ran down her cheeks. Reece was in human form again. He had salvaged his jeans that were ripped but possible to wear. They covered up just enough.
“Hey, Chlo,” I said gently, walking to my friend.
When she looked up at me, her cheeks stained with tears, hair matted and cheeks hollowed out, her eyes were the pale blue that I knew.
“Emily,” she whimpered.
When I kneeled in front of her, she grabbed me and hugged me tightly.
“It’s over,” I said, rubbing her back, rocking back and forth while she cried.
“It’s all over, now. Reece is going to call your parents and I’m staying right here until it’s all taken care of, okay?”
Chloe nodded and buried her face in my shoulder. She was a mess, falling apart. But the worst was over.
And Chloe wasn’t a killer. Relief washed through me, hot and cleansing.
When I looked at Reece, he smiled at me, his green eyes shining. He was as relieved and happy about the news as I was.
“I’m a monster,” Chloe said when her tears started drying up.
“No, Chloe. You’re golden,” I said. “You didn’t do anything. You stopped yourself from killing, even when Dmitri stuck it under your nose to tempt you.”
“Thank you for saving me,” Chloe said.
She finally let go of me and sat back. She looked at Reece and held out her hand. He hesitated before taking it.
“Both of you.”
Reece shook his head. “It’s nothing,” he said.
Chloe smiled at him and Reece practically beamed. I wished they would kiss already.
But he was a wolf, and she was a vampire, and maybe it was a good idea to take things one step at a time.
Sirens wailed in the distance. Reece had called Chloe’s parents and the police.
It took them a long time to make their way up Colemeda Mountain and eventually reach us on The Bluff. But we had time. The three of us had been reunited, and Dmitri, still struggling and pleading, was going nowhere.
When Mr. and Mrs. Gardner burst through the trees, Reece and I stepped back as they were reunited with their daughter. More vampires arrived, taking Dmitri away before the police arrived.
By the time the police appeared through the trees, they had nothing more to go by than that Dmitri had done it and there was one final dead body to take care of.
They would never find the culprit. The vampires had taken Dmitri away to take care of him in the vampire way.
It was only right. Justice came in many forms.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The next day after school, Reece and I walked to Chloe’s house to see her. I looked up at the sky. The weather had returned to normal, the sun was shining, and it was the perfect temperature for a beautiful summer’s day. When I glanced toward Colemeda Bluff, I knew I wanted to go back there sometime.
Chloe was back at home, she had been reluctant to go. She’d wanted to go back to the abandoned house.
Chloe’s parents understood now that she had been a victim, and apologized that they had been so blind about Dmitri.
I knew that Chloe still wanted to stay at the abandoned house because she hadn’t told her parents about her bloodlust and how far it had spun out of control. But we could handle that in steps.
“How are you feeling?” I asked when Reece and I were I her bedroom. She sat on the bed looking lost.
Even though she was much better, she still had circles under her eyes, and she looked worn out and tired.
“I’m okay,” she said and smiled. And this time, I believed her.
It made a world of difference that she didn’t believe she was a killer.
“What happened to Dmitri?” Reece asked.
Chloe pulled up her shoulders. “I don’t know. The vampires took care of him, but my parents wouldn’t tell me how. My mom said there are some things I don’t have to know yet.”
It sounded ominous. And like the perfect way to deal with a rogue vampire; let his own take care of him.
“Well, I’m glad it’s over,” I said.
Chloe chuckled. It was so good to see her smiling again.
“You and me both.”
Reece was quiet, standing by the window, looking out. I wasn’t sure why he wasn’t jumping in on the conversation more. Then again, we were all a little rattled, and Chloe was very distant and switched off.
It was understandable. She had believed she was a killer. We had all believed that even if just for a second. It wasn’t something you just recovered from overnight.
Someone knocked on the door, and Mrs. Gardner popped her head into the room.
“Oh, your friends are here,” she said with a smile. “It's so good of you to come by.”
I smiled. “Hi, Mrs. Gardner.”
“Please, call me Claudia,” she said. “You don’t have to stand on formalities anymore. What you have done for my daughter,” she looked at Reece, “both of you…”
Her eyes welled up with tears. “You’re always welcome here.”
She looked at Reece. He was a werewolf. But the vampire would always be in his debt. And rightfully so. He had put the differences between the wolves and the vampires aside, and he had done the right thing, fighting for Chloe because of who she was to him.
“Mom, you’re getting all emotional,” Chloe said.
I caught a glimpse of the old Chloe and laughed.
“You’re right, I’m going, I’m going,” Claudia said, and she disappeared again.
“I’m tired of them fussing about me,” Chloe said with a sigh when her mom was gone. “I know it’s a big deal and everything, but I wish everyone would just leave me alone or treat me the way they used to, and not like some victim.”
“Give them time,” Reece said.
Chloe looked at him. “I’m upset, you know,” she said.
“Why?” Reece asked.
“I didn’t want you to know what was going on.”
She looked at me, and I knew she blamed me for telling him.
“He had to know, Chlo,” I said. “He cares.”
Chloe nodded. I knew why she hadn’t wanted him to know about what she was going through, though. It was because she cared, too. She hadn’t wanted Reece to see her that way.
But he had been the one to keep faith in her, even whe
n I hadn’t. Maybe one day I would tell her about that; tell her that he was the one that had kept believing in her when I had failed her, too.
“I’m glad you told him,” Chloe added. “I mean, I’m mad. But I get it. And I don’t think I would have been able to do this without you. Both of you.”
I smiled. I wanted to hug her, but Chloe didn’t like physical contact, and no matter what we’ve been through, or how many times she’d hugged me, it was reserved for very special occasions.
“Are you sure you’re going to be okay about this?” I asked. I was worried she needed help, like therapy or something.
What was the protocol with vampires and werewolves? How was trauma defined when bloodlust and killing were second nature? I had no idea.
“I’m glad you’re back home,” I said.
Chloe nodded. “Yeah, me too. It’s great to sleep in a real bed.” She chuckled. “But that abandoned house is awesome.”
“It is,” I said with a smile. “Maybe one day I’ll give it a spin, too.”
We laughed.
“We can do a haunted sleepover there next Halloween or something,” Chloe said. “And Reece should join us.”
When she looked at Reece, he grinned at her, and she flushed. It was cute to see. I didn’t know what was going on between them, but after Reece had fought for her, I was sure that it was so much more than friendship.
Maybe one day more would come of it, too.
Until then, they would blush when they looked at each other, and we would all know that Reece had sacrificed himself by attacking the Master Vampire to save Chloe.
“Listen, we need to talk about something serious,” I said.
I glanced at Reece, who nodded. We had discussed this before we had come.
Chloe frowned.
“We want you to go talk to someone about your issues.”
Chloe got upset. “Is this an intervention or something?”
I nodded, not bothering to disguise it. “Yeah, it is. You need help, Chloe. And that’s not a bad thing.”
“We just want you to take care of yourself. And sometimes you need to reach out to someone else to do that.” Reece hesitated.
“Trust me, I know what it can be like.”
We both looked at Reece, and I wanted to know what he was talking about. But that was a story for another time, if he ever told us. Right now our focus was on Chloe.
“You have to talk to your parents about what you’re struggling with—the anxiety attacks, the blackouts. They need to know so that they can help you.”
Chloe chuckled without expression.
“It’s funny, because I’m avoiding something, not addicted to something.”
“That can be just as bad,” I said.
Chloe nodded and sighed. “Yeah, I guess so. I don’t know. I really don’t want to talk to anyone about this.”
“You can’t just leave it,” I said. “It was shitty timing with Dmitri being an ass about this, but what if something goes wrong?”
“You mean, what if I turn into the next killer?” Chloe snapped.
Reece shook his head and walked to Chloe, standing in front of her. “You know that’s not what we think. We just want you to be safe.”
Chloe sighed and nodded. “Yeah, I know. It’s a touchy subject, though. I have to accept that I’m a vampire, then. I have to drink blood.”
“But you won’t lose control,” I said. “You proved that when you were all but gone but still held back instead of attacking the hikers.”
Reece and I told Chloe about what happened, how we had seen her resist the urge to rip into the hiker. She had wanted to eat him so badly.
“There is more goodness in you than you know,” I said. “You have to trust yourself to get through this. You are stronger than you think you are.”
Chloe laughed. “You sound like a fortune cookie.”
I laughed, too. When I looked at Reece, he was smiling, and he nodded at me. Chloe was fighting this a little, but she would come around. We both knew she would.
How did we know? Because in losing herself, Chloe had become the person she really was. And maybe it had been raw and unrefined, and it had looked a lot like a monster. But she was one of the good ones.
“Fine,” Chloe finally said. “I’ll talk to my parents about it. But you guys are not allowed to make a fuss and keep asking me how I am and stuff. Just, you know, be there for me.”
“Got it,” I said.
Reece nodded and agreed, too.
We started talking about other things. I was happy that Chloe had agreed to get help. It was another step in the right direction, and she deserved so much to be happy.
“I have to go,” Reece said after a while. “I still have a test to study for, and I’m not taking the weekend to do that.”
We both nodded, and Chloe walked Reece to the door. I waited in her room, just in case they wanted privacy. Even though I knew that they wouldn’t do anything. Not now, not yet, if ever.
When Chloe returned, she collapsed on her bed with a sigh.
“Can you believe how crazy the past couple of weeks have been?” she asked.
I shook my head. “The craziest,” I said.
She turned her head to me. “Thank you, Em.”
“For what?”
Chloe pulled up her shoulders. “Everything. You’ve always been there for me. And you took care of me and put me up in the house and took on my mom.”
“You know about that?” I asked.
Chloe giggled. “Yeah, she couldn’t stop about how arrogant you can be, after she pointed out that you saved me.”
I pulled up my shoulders. “I was upset that Dmitri came to see me.”
“Yeah, the guy is a creeper, for sure,” Chloe said.
“And far away. Who decides who the next Master Vampire will be?”
Chloe thought about it. “They’ll have to fight it out for the position—it’s a powerplay. But Josephine is the strongest in the clan. Chances are, she’ll win.”
“Josephine? It’s an old-lady name.”
Chloe nodded. “She’s older. But you don’t underestimate her. She is strong as hell. Real strength, too. Dmitri cheated, taking life force to keep him at the top.”
I thought about it. I didn’t know vampires could cheat. It was the same as everything else in life; wherever there were leaders, they were corrupt.
“What are you going to do now?” I asked Chloe.
Chloe shrugged. “I guess I’m going to catch up my school work, study for that damn test on Tuesday, go back to class, and send notes to you all day.”
We laughed. “I’d like that.”
I had missed my friend. Not only because she hadn’t been around, but because I had been sure I’d lost her forever.
“I have to get back home,” I said. “Technically, I’m still grounded.”
“I’m sorry,” Chloe said.
“Don’t be. I got locked up. My mom is over you being a bad influence now that the real killer has been made known.”
“I can’t believe you got locked up,” Chloe laughed.
I laughed, too. “Hey, it’s an adventure here in Safety Beach. Every day.”
“Understatement of the century,” Chloe said.
She walked me to the door. When I walked to the door, I turned to Chloe.
“No hugging,” she said. “I’ve had enough of that.”
I laughed. “No hugging,” I said. “I’ll see you at school on Monday.”
“You bet,” Chloe said.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Two weeks later, life was back to normal. Chloe and I were back to being best friends again, talking shit in class when we should be paying attention to schoolwork, spending time together during break times, and hanging out on weekends.
It had been such a short time where things had gone wrong, but it had nearly changed both our lives forever.
I was relieved it was over.
Chloe was slowly getting better. It took time. She had
pushed away her bloodlust for much longer than anyone had realized, and it took a while for her to figure things out and understand who she was. She had to make peace with the fact that she was a vampire.
But she was getting there.
As far as I knew, Chloe talked to a vampire counselor now. She had told her parents about her issues with her uncontrollable thirst and how she was blacking out. Mr. and Mrs. Gardner had been upset and sad that Chloe had thought she couldn’t talk to them about it.
I wasn’t allowed to check in with Chloe and ask her how she’d been doing. It was her condition for seeking help.
But I had never promised that I wouldn’t phone her mom every now and then and ask her how Chloe was doing.
Somehow, with everything that had happened since I had been invited along to Chloe’s initiation, I had been unofficially accepted by the vampire clan.
I was the only witch that had gotten in with them. I didn’t care so much about that. All I wanted was for Chloe to be okay again.
“What are you doing this weekend?” I asked Chloe on Friday morning.
“I have to go the chapel with my dad,” she said. “I need to see Josephine.”
The new Master Vampire was much better than Dmitri, as far as I’d heard. I had yet to meet her in person, but from what I heard from Chloe, she was the grandmotherly type, and she could also take your head off with one bite if she wanted to.
That was the kind of leader I liked.
“Is she happy with your progress?” I asked.
Chloe nodded. “Yeah. I’ve been drinking blood in moderation. I still hate it.” She shuddered. “But it’s a necessary evil. I see it as an insulin shot for a diabetic, I guess.”
“I’m glad,” I said. “Not that you hate it, I mean. But that you’re managing to do what you have to.”
Chloe nodded. “I haven’t been blacking out or anything, either.”
“That’s great, Chlo.” ‘
I had noticed that Chloe wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable in large crowds as she had been before, either. She still didn’t like it, and I didn’t touch her. She hated physical contact just as before. The bloodlust was all but gone, even though she managed it. But she was okay in crowds now, and that strange motion she made with her mouth, swallowing repeatedly and freaking out when she was trapped in the middle of a group, was a thing of the past.
