by Willow Rose
"And…Carina?"
Kipp grabbed her hands in his. "I didn't kill her; why should I?"
"I…because she saw you?"
"Hardly a reason to kill someone. Besides, I told you; she got away from me before I could even talk to her. She ran into the road and was picked up by a car."
"She was picked up by a car? Why didn't you mention that before?" Amy asked.
He shrugged. "I didn't know it was important."
"You should have told that to the police," Amy said.
"And risk them asking me what I was doing at the lake in the first place? You're the one who told me the spider-men have completely infiltrated the police, according to Jayden's dad. I hardly think we can trust them."
"True, but…but…who was in the car?"
He shrugged. "I don't know."
Chapter Thirty-Six
I was as tired when I got up the next morning as I had been when going to bed. While looking at my pale face in the bathroom mirror, I wondered if I had slept at all. Probably not.
Why, Jayden, why?
I sighed and took a shower, trying to get rid of the feeling I had been left with ever since Jayden had decided to leave us in the park. I couldn't stand the thought of having to go to school and face him again. What would I say? The day before, he had kissed me, and I had truly felt like he wanted me. Now what? Would he ignore me? Would he even talk to me? Had I lost him for good?
The thought terrified me.
I walked out of the shower and put a towel around my hair, then returned to my room. Loud noises were coming from inside Veronika's room, and I wondered if she was traveling again. Had she seen more from the day I was supposed to die? I wasn't sure I wanted to know any more details. I was bummed out about it enough as it was.
I got dressed, then looked at my phone. I don't know what I expected, but part of me wanted there to be a Snapchat from Jayden. Just a picture or a stupid GIF, anything.
Just tell me you still know I exist. Do you even think about me at all?
I put the phone down and took the towel off of my hair, then brushed it and put on some makeup to cover the dark circles under my eyes, revealing the fact that I hadn't slept much.
I looked at the finished product in the mirror, then grimaced. I still looked terrible.
"Robyn. Breakfast."
It was my mom. She wasn't yelling from the bottom of the stairs like normal mothers would; no, she swooshed inside of my bedroom so fast I didn't even realize it till she stood in front of me, towering above me on her high heels and long, slim perfect legs.
Why didn't I inherit her legs? Maybe Jayden would have chosen me instead.
She smiled her phony smile while her eyes scrutinized me.
"You look sick; are you sick?"
I shook my head. "No, Mom. Just sad. Remember I told you I found a body in the park yesterday? Kind of hard to sleep after seeing something like that."
My mom scoffed. "Pah. Death is nothing to be sad about."
Not if you're a vampire, no, but for everyone else, it is kind of a big deal!
I gave her a look.
"What?" she said.
I shook my head. "Nothing. You'd never understand anyway."
She threw out her arms. "Why do you do that?"
"Do what?"
"The thing you just did, when you just tell me I won't understand. What if I do understand?"
I gave her a puzzled look. Was my mother genuinely interested in me? In how I felt?
"Yeah, well maybe we could…talk," she said. "About things."
"Like what, Mom?"
"How you feel and…stuff."
"You want to know how I feel?"
"Maybe."
Wow. That was new. I wasn't even sure she knew I had feelings or what feelings were.
"I was once a hu…teenager too, you know," she said. "My mom was never there. She was always gone, out doing…whatever it was she did. She hardly cared if I was dead or alive. That's why I am so on top of you and everything you do, Robyn. I never wanted to turn into my own mother. You might think I am being overly protective, but that's just because I love you, Robyn. I want you to have the life I never did."
I stared at her in awe, my jaw literally open. Did my mom just tell me she loved me? My mom, the ice-cold vampire? She loved me? She was capable of love?
I was startled, to put it mildly.
She corrected her skirt and looked away like she had just realized she had done something wrong, then walked past me with a slight sniffle. "Anyway. Food is on the table. I made radish chips for your lunch. I know how much you like them."
I stared at my mother as she regained her composure and walked out of my room. I was about to say something when there was a hard and rapid ra-ta-ta knock on our front door, and someone yelled.
"Police. Open up."
Chapter Thirty-Seven
I followed my mother down the stairs, but my grams had already opened the door and was discussing something with whoever was out there.
"You can't just come here…"
"Ma'am, we need you to come with us."
"I’m not going anywhere with you."
"You really don't want us to…not here…"
My mom rushed in front of Grams. "What's going on here?"
It was that woman again, the one with the red hourglass-shaped birthmark on her neck. Her narrow-set eyes stared at my mother. She showed my mom her badge.
"Police, ma'am."
"They're here for me," my grandmother said.
"You? But…?"
"They say they have evidence," my grandmother said.
My mom looked flustered. "Evidence? Of what?"
"Supernatural activity in the presence of humans," Agent Mactans said. "At the hospital."
My mom scoffed. "Well…I have never…"
"We don't want to do it here if you know what I mean," Agent Mactans said and looked at me. It wasn't until now that I realized she was holding one of those nasty vacuum cleaner-thingies, hiding it in her long black coat. "Not in front of the family."
My heart literally stopped. They were going to take down Grams?
"Now, listen to me," my mom said and pointed her finger at Agent Mactans. "We have a truce, remember? We have rules. At least let her get a trial in front of the council."
Agent Mactans shook her round head. "No can do. There is no truce anymore. It's been revoked."
My mom's eyes grew wide. She stood in front of Grams. "Well, you're not getting her. I will not let you."
Agent Mactans' two agents came up behind her, lifted their vacuum cleaner thingies, and turned them on. The sound itself made everything inside of me jump.
"Then we'll just have to take the both of you," Agent Mactans said, lifting her own machine up and turning it on.
I couldn't breathe. They were going to take both my mom and my grandmother?
I glanced at my mother, who had now turned full-blood vampire. Her teeth were poking out, and she was hissing at the spiders. My grams followed along and changed as well, reaching out her long claw-like nails toward the spiders. But the spiders didn't seem to be intimidated. They lifted their vacuum machines toward my mom and Grams and, as they walked closer, everything inside of me screamed.
Agent Mactans held out her vacuum machine toward my grams, and it grabbed onto her jeans. That was when I started to scream.
I stared at my grandmother's leg, completely terrified, just as a strong wind blew in from the north, at least that was what I thought it was. It whirled so strongly it almost made me fall. As I finally got my composure back, I realized both Grams and my mom were gone. At first, I thought they had been sucked into those nasty machines, but then I remembered when it happened to Jazmine's dad, his body was still there, lying lifeless on the ground. It was only his soul that they took.
Agent Mactans, who had been pushed backward from the strong force of wind, looked around her, puzzled.
"Where did they go?"
Her two other ag
ents looked just as startled, and that was when I heard the shriek coming from above. I lifted my gaze and spotted a huge bat above us, holding both my grams and mother in its claws.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
The spiders left in a hurry. I don't know if they tried to follow the bat, but even I knew they wouldn't be able to get them. They were too far gone. Probably going to the mountains or maybe somewhere else. As long as it was a safe place. I felt a huge sigh of relief as the spiders left and I was all alone on the doorstep once again. Veronika came rushing down, still flickering slightly from her traveling last night.
"What happened?"
"I’m not sure," I said and looked toward the mountains where the bat had disappeared. "Let's get back inside."
I closed the door, and we went to the kitchen. My dad and cousins had left early in the morning. They were trying to find an apartment for them to stay in, and he had found one they needed to look at about an hour away, closer to where their mother lived. I prayed they would get it and get out of my life for good. Having them in the house was a nuisance but also a constant threat to Veronika. I hated the way they looked at her, especially after they had been forbidden to go hunting at night anymore. I knew they had stocked up on blood in the basement, so they got what they needed, but they also loved the hunt, and I knew it wasn't the same. Drinking from a live person was a rush that no old blood in a bag could give them. Duncan had once explained that to me. They needed the hunt. They craved the fresh blood. And, apparently, the blood of another super was even better than human blood, like a treat. It was a miracle that my brother, Adrian, hadn't tried to suck Jazmine's blood yet. How those two managed still to be dating was a mystery to me.
I made pancakes for Veronika and me, and we ate greedily. She seemed a little out of sorts and very quiet.
"You saw something again, didn't you?" I asked. "Last night when you traveled?"
She took a bite, then nodded.
I sighed. I wasn't in the mood for any more bad news. "Did you go back to the Halloween party?"
She nodded again while chewing.
"All right. Lay it on me. You might as well. What did you see?"
She swallowed, then drank her juice that I had freshly squeezed for us. "I saw your mom."
"My mom this time, huh? That's new."
She nodded and drank again.
"And what did my mom do?"
Veronika sighed. She glanced at her food quickly before she lifted her gaze again to meet mine. I could tell she didn't feel good about having to tell me this news.
"She told Duncan to kill you."
My eyes grew wide. "Excuse me?"
"She told him to kill you. Caleb was there too. They were standing in the house when she told them to do it."
I cleared my throat, feeling like I was suffocating. "My mom said that?"
Veronika nodded.
"And, by the way, he's outside your door now," she added.
"What? Who is?"
There was a knock on our door, and I rushed to open it. Before I did, I peeked out the window next to it and spotted Duncan standing out there, the limo parked in the background. He looked dashing in his suit and tie. Almost too perfect.
"Duncan?" I said when I opened the door. "What…why…what on Earth are you doing here at this time?"
He signaled for me to be quiet, then walked in and closed the door behind him. He leaned over and whispered.
"I took them to the castle."
"Them…? Who…oh!" I opened my eyes wide and pointed at him. "You…you were…"
"My bus is here," Veronika said as she grabbed her backpack and lunchbox, then walked up to me. "I have to go." Her big eyes rested on me, and I realized she was worried about leaving me alone with Duncan after what she had seen.
"Have a great day. I’ll be fine," I said reassuringly, even if I had to admit I felt quite shaken up and slightly afraid of the man in front of me, who I knew would soon kill me on my mother's command.
I kissed her forehead, and she left. As I closed the door behind her, I stood with my back leaned against it. I stared at Duncan, who nodded. He came close to me, pinning me up against the door, then spoke in a very low voice, placing his lips close to my ear. My body was shivering in fear but also delight. He had that effect on me. I never knew if I was supposed to be afraid him or want him.
"Yes. That was me."
"But…but…how did you know?"
He shrugged. "Intuition or luck, I guess. Call it what you want. I was in the neighborhood."
I wrinkled my forehead. "Why were you in the neighborhood? You usually never come out here unless you’re visiting me?"
He shrugged. "Today, I was. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know. I don't know if they might be tracking your phone and reading your texts, so I had to tell you in person that they are safe. They'll stay with us till it's safe for them to come home."
Duncan pulled back a little. His eyes were fixated on me, and his lips curled up into a smirk. Then, he leaned back over and kissed my lips.
"Thank you," I whispered as our lips parted. Our eyes locked and I felt my knees go soft. Duncan's eyes had that effect on me. "For saving them."
He smiled, then walked to the door. "No problem. I gotta get to the office. You want me to give you a lift to school?"
I shook my head. I didn't want to arrive in a limousine and have the entire school talk about me, nor did I want Jayden to see me get out of Duncan's car. "I'll drive my own car. But thanks. For everything."
He smiled and winked at me. "Anytime."
Chapter Thirty-Nine
I skipped school, again. It was becoming a slippery slope, and I was already lagging behind. I knew it was bad, but I simply couldn't get myself to go and face all those people, and especially not Jayden.
I went to the hospital instead and sat by Jazmine's bedside. She looked so peaceful as she lay there. I sighed and felt so sad inside.
"I’m sorry I haven't been here for a few days," I said, feeling guilty.
Amy and I had promised one another to come, if not every day, then every other day, but the past week or so had been so exhausting that neither of us had made it. But that wasn't all there was to it. It was also something else. Sitting there in the chair, staring at her lifeless body, filled me with such deep sadness that I wasn't exactly crazy about coming. I missed Jazmine so much and seeing her like this was devastating.
But since I had heard her voice out in the barn, I knew I had to face her. I told her everything about my mom and grandma, about Duncan saving them, and about how much I felt doubt about him and about Jayden. I told her the entire ordeal about Ruelle and about Jayden leaving the park after we found the body of poor Carina Robinson.
I leaned forward in the chair and studied her face. I grabbed her limp hand in mine and stroked it gently.
"I heard you," I said with a low voice. "Out in the barn. I heard you call for my help."
I sighed and looked up at her face. The monitor next to her beeped monotonously.
"You led me there; didn't you? You wanted me to go to the abandoned farm. Somehow, you managed to make me. I still don't understand how. But that was how I knew where to find the place. I mean I had no idea where Jayden had been kept, but somehow, I just had to go there. I didn't understand why I felt so compelled to go, but I have a feeling you had something to do with it. Am I right? Or am I just going crazy? Could you possibly have known that the skin was there, and could you have helped me find it?"
I felt a tear escape my eye and wiped it away with a sniffle. Two nurses were chatting loudly in the hallway.
"Are you awake, Jazmine?" I said, speaking louder so I was certain she would hear me over their chatter. "I have a feeling you’re trapped in there somewhere. Or maybe I’m just losing it. I don't know. It's so hard."
I sniffled and stroked her cheek gently. As I did, a tear escaped the corner of Jazmine's eye and landed on my finger. I chuckled and felt it, then laughed. I stared at her face, sobbing and la
ughing at the same time when she wiggled her nose again.
I gasped and clasped my mouth. "Did you do that on purpose? Oh, dear Lord, help me."
As I watched it happen, someone came into the room. I turned my head and spotted Jazmine's Aunt Tina as she came in, holding BamBam the cat in her hands. She smiled when she saw me.
"They say I’m not really allowed to bring him, but I wanted him to at least say goodbye."
My eyes grew double in size. "Say…goodbye?"
Aunt Tina nodded, her eyes filling with tears.
"The doctor says it's time. To shut her off."
"What? I thought she was just in a coma?" I said.
Aunt Tina sniffled. "I’m afraid not. The doctor has declared her brain dead. There is no activity in her brain or brain stem. No response to external stimuli. It's no use. She's already dead, he said."
I shook my head violently. "No. No. You can't do that. What if she's awake? I mean she could be, couldn't she? I think…I was…I just saw her shed a tear and then wiggle her nose. What if she's trying to signal us?"
Aunt Tina let go of a deep-felt sigh. "I’ve seen her do that too, but they say it's just a reflex. It's just her body. Her brain is dead, Robyn. You need to realize that too. I have. I know it's hard, but this is the only answer. It has to be done. Soon."
"W-when?" I asked, my heart throbbing in my chest.
"Probably in a couple of days. We're hoping to get Briana out of prison for a few hours, so she can say goodbye too."
Chapter Forty
Turn me off? What are they talking about? They can't do that to me. How can they even think about it? No!!!
Jazmine was screaming inside her body. Having Robyn visit her had filled her with such profound joy that she had managed to cry. Having her see it and question whether she was awake had filled her with so much hope it had been overwhelming since she couldn’t express it properly. Jazmine couldn't believe she had actually succeeded in making Robyn feel compelled to go to the abandoned farm and find the skin.
