can’t seem to shut out the world and drift off into lala land. My head is pounding like a pressure cooker about to explode. I toss and turn for hours watching the night tick by on my bedside clock. I can’t get Philips betrayal or the surveillance footage out of my head. The idiosyncrasy from the video continues to tease my brain, just out of reach. I try burying my face in the pillow, hoping to drown out the tormenting thoughts. It doesn’t work.
With dawn approaching I finally drift off to sleep. I dream and my head is filled with decadent thoughts. Chocolate truffles dance through my mind like a sinful indulgence. One of many.
“Katia, wake up!” Shaye yells, shaking me awake. “You’re going to be late for class if you don’t get up soon!”
“What else is new?” I grumble, rolling over as I shake off the vestiges of sleep. I must have forgotten to set my alarm again. I am so not a morning person.
“How’d you sleep?” Shaye asks as I throw back the covers and drop my feet to the floor. She’s already dressed and is busy applying make-up. It doesn’t mask the exhaustion on her face. Seeing her like that, the events of the prior day come flooding back to me and I want to crawl back into bed and pull the covers over my head. Only that won’t solve anything.
“Crappy,” I respond, contemplating the covers again. Knowing what we know, how are we supposed to just sit in class like nothing is wrong? “Weird dreams…” And then it hits me like a Mack truck. I bolt across the room and grab Shaye by the elbow.
“Shaye, I know what it was that was bothering me about that video.”
She stops mid-application. Only one of her lips is glossed, but she’s abandoned the effort entirely.
“By his own admission, Philips was a purist. I offered him a truffle at the New Year’s Eve party last year. You should have seen his reaction. I might as well have offered him a rotting corpse for how he reacted. I remember his exact words: I only put into the body what it needs to survive: blood ,” I tell her. “ He was eating on the video, not feeding .”
“So, what do you think it means?” she asks.
“I don’t know. I just…” I trail off. This whole thing is so frustrating. How could Philips do this? He hasn’t just betrayed Shaye, he’s betrayed all of the vamps who were counting on that research for survival.
“It doesn’t add up. Philips didn’t even try to hide his identity. He just sits there stuffing his face at the scene of the crime. No nerves, no fear, nothing. Knowing he’d be caught. Knowing the whole thing was being filmed. Something isn’t right,” I say for what seems like the millionth time. “I wish we could talk to him, but he’s probably being tortured at the hands of the Linkuri by now.”
“Assuming they found him, you mean,” Shaye responds. She finishes applying the lip gloss and checks her reflection in the mirror. Her lips are now a deep shade of purple and sparkle like they’re made of diamonds. Only Shaye could pull off that look outside of Halloween. She really should have been a child of the 80’s. Satisfied, she recaps the tube and tosses it in a drawer. “Listen, we still have some time before class. I want to talk to Keegan.”
“Why?” I ask.
“What if it’s not Philips?” she counters. “Keegan’s been around. Maybe he’ll see something on the video that we missed.”
By ‘around’ I’m pretty sure she’s hinting at criminal ties. I decide not to ask. I don’t know a lot about Keegan, but I know he’s had a difficult life. “I just don’t want you to get your hopes up. You heard Blaine. Their security is top notch. Besides, we saw Philips with our own eyes.”
“Can I borrow it or not?” she asks, eyeing the flash drive lying on my desk. Blaine copied all of the footage for us, and while I’d like to believe he did it out of the goodness of his heart, I’m more inclined to believe he just didn’t want us coming back.
“If we skip
With dawn approaching I finally drift off to sleep. I dream and my head is filled with decadent thoughts. Chocolate truffles dance through my mind like a sinful indulgence. One of many.
“Katia, wake up!” Shaye yells, shaking me awake. “You’re going to be late for class if you don’t get up soon!”
“What else is new?” I grumble, rolling over as I shake off the vestiges of sleep. I must have forgotten to set my alarm again. I am so not a morning person.
“How’d you sleep?” Shaye asks as I throw back the covers and drop my feet to the floor. She’s already dressed and is busy applying make-up. It doesn’t mask the exhaustion on her face. Seeing her like that, the events of the prior day come flooding back to me and I want to crawl back into bed and pull the covers over my head. Only that won’t solve anything.
“Crappy,” I respond, contemplating the covers again. Knowing what we know, how are we supposed to just sit in class like nothing is wrong? “Weird dreams…” And then it hits me like a Mack truck. I bolt across the room and grab Shaye by the elbow.
“Shaye, I know what it was that was bothering me about that video.”
She stops mid-application. Only one of her lips is glossed, but she’s abandoned the effort entirely.
“By his own admission, Philips was a purist. I offered him a truffle at the New Year’s Eve party last year. You should have seen his reaction. I might as well have offered him a rotting corpse for how he reacted. I remember his exact words: I only put into the body what it needs to survive: blood ,” I tell her. “ He was eating on the video, not feeding .”
“So, what do you think it means?” she asks.
“I don’t know. I just…” I trail off. This whole thing is so frustrating. How could Philips do this? He hasn’t just betrayed Shaye, he’s betrayed all of the vamps who were counting on that research for survival.
“It doesn’t add up. Philips didn’t even try to hide his identity. He just sits there stuffing his face at the scene of the crime. No nerves, no fear, nothing. Knowing he’d be caught. Knowing the whole thing was being filmed. Something isn’t right,” I say for what seems like the millionth time. “I wish we could talk to him, but he’s probably being tortured at the hands of the Linkuri by now.”
“Assuming they found him, you mean,” Shaye responds. She finishes applying the lip gloss and checks her reflection in the mirror. Her lips are now a deep shade of purple and sparkle like they’re made of diamonds. Only Shaye could pull off that look outside of Halloween. She really should have been a child of the 80’s. Satisfied, she recaps the tube and tosses it in a drawer. “Listen, we still have some time before class. I want to talk to Keegan.”
“Why?” I ask.
“What if it’s not Philips?” she counters. “Keegan’s been around. Maybe he’ll see something on the video that we missed.”
By ‘around’ I’m pretty sure she’s hinting at criminal ties. I decide not to ask. I don’t know a lot about Keegan, but I know he’s had a difficult life. “I just don’t want you to get your hopes up. You heard Blaine. Their security is top notch. Besides, we saw Philips with our own eyes.”
“Can I borrow it or not?” she asks, eyeing the flash drive lying on my desk. Blaine copied all of the footage for us, and while I’d like to believe he did it out of the goodness of his heart, I’m more inclined to believe he just didn’t want us coming back.
“If we skip
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