off to hand to him.
“You won’t be long?” I asked. He shook his head.
“Less than an hour. Please don’t worry, Lucinda. You’re safe here, for now. There’s no chance of them being able to track you yet. Just stay put. I’d hate to come back and find that I’ve spent all this time informing you about vampires, only to find you’ve been killed by one of your own kind instead.” He meant for it to be a joke, as the outskirts of Glover were on the dangerous side, and so I smiled.
“Well, that would be just my luck, ” I added, and his smile was a sad one. I wanted to feel his arms around me—just briefly, out of fear that he would never return and I would never again have the chance. But I restrained myself, telling myself to stop being silly. “Go on, ” I urged. “I’ll be fine here.”
As soon as the door closed behind him, I was suddenly struck by how silent the room was. I busied myself for the first several minutes with drinking several glasses of water, pondering over all of the information I’d just received. I wondered for what seemed like the millionth time why none of this bothered me.
Why was I not afraid? Why was I not surprised?
I thought once more of Darren’s eyes, just moments ago, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing something.
An image from ten years ago danced into my mind—not just the blood and the dank alley…but something else. There was something there—something I was overlooking.
I drudged up as much detail about that night as I could—but I’d worked so hard to forget about it, I was afraid it was gone forever. It had been a difficult time in my life, being so young, and suddenly so alone. My mother had been such a life-force—it had been difficult for my dad and I to carry on without her.
The Masons had stepped in then, taking care not only of me, but my dad as well. Images of Ellie bringing over meals—of Phe holding my hand every day—of Ryan and my dad coming back after a long day of golf, both looking relaxed and calm—even of Brayden , Phe’s older brother, threatening someone for having picked on me—danced through my mind and a heady wave of grief washed over me.
Longing to distract myself, I picked up the remote and turned on the TV, idly flipping through the channels. A rerun of a hospital drama was the first thing I saw and I quickly flipped the channel, memories of monitors and tubes flashing across my mind. The pain from that loss had just been starting to fade—and now this.
I wondered how much a person could take before it all became too much.
My dad’s death had been expected, though his illness had come up suddenly. I remembered his last days, the hours in the hospital—and I shuddered, knowing I needed to push them away.
After finding nothing worthwhile of distracting me on the limited cable, I rose to my feet and began walking around the room. There was only one bed, and I wondered briefly if Darren even needed sleep. I recalled the bed at his apartment and realized it may have been used only for leisure. I added this question to the list of stupid questions I wanted to ask, mentally chiding myself.
He was the one who was going to be entirely too irritated with me by the time all of this was over with.
My thoughts turned briefly in that direction, wondering what would happen once all of this was done—if we even survived.
Would he disappear, never to be seen again? I recalled his words, remembering the certainty with which he had asserted that we wouldn’t be friends. He didn’t even want me to remember him.
I rolled my eyes at the thought. How could I forget? All of this was going to stay with me the rest of my life—especially if it was only a few short days longer. Because the more I thought about it, the less likely it seemed I would escape this with my life intact. I
“You won’t be long?” I asked. He shook his head.
“Less than an hour. Please don’t worry, Lucinda. You’re safe here, for now. There’s no chance of them being able to track you yet. Just stay put. I’d hate to come back and find that I’ve spent all this time informing you about vampires, only to find you’ve been killed by one of your own kind instead.” He meant for it to be a joke, as the outskirts of Glover were on the dangerous side, and so I smiled.
“Well, that would be just my luck, ” I added, and his smile was a sad one. I wanted to feel his arms around me—just briefly, out of fear that he would never return and I would never again have the chance. But I restrained myself, telling myself to stop being silly. “Go on, ” I urged. “I’ll be fine here.”
As soon as the door closed behind him, I was suddenly struck by how silent the room was. I busied myself for the first several minutes with drinking several glasses of water, pondering over all of the information I’d just received. I wondered for what seemed like the millionth time why none of this bothered me.
Why was I not afraid? Why was I not surprised?
I thought once more of Darren’s eyes, just moments ago, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing something.
An image from ten years ago danced into my mind—not just the blood and the dank alley…but something else. There was something there—something I was overlooking.
I drudged up as much detail about that night as I could—but I’d worked so hard to forget about it, I was afraid it was gone forever. It had been a difficult time in my life, being so young, and suddenly so alone. My mother had been such a life-force—it had been difficult for my dad and I to carry on without her.
The Masons had stepped in then, taking care not only of me, but my dad as well. Images of Ellie bringing over meals—of Phe holding my hand every day—of Ryan and my dad coming back after a long day of golf, both looking relaxed and calm—even of Brayden , Phe’s older brother, threatening someone for having picked on me—danced through my mind and a heady wave of grief washed over me.
Longing to distract myself, I picked up the remote and turned on the TV, idly flipping through the channels. A rerun of a hospital drama was the first thing I saw and I quickly flipped the channel, memories of monitors and tubes flashing across my mind. The pain from that loss had just been starting to fade—and now this.
I wondered how much a person could take before it all became too much.
My dad’s death had been expected, though his illness had come up suddenly. I remembered his last days, the hours in the hospital—and I shuddered, knowing I needed to push them away.
After finding nothing worthwhile of distracting me on the limited cable, I rose to my feet and began walking around the room. There was only one bed, and I wondered briefly if Darren even needed sleep. I recalled the bed at his apartment and realized it may have been used only for leisure. I added this question to the list of stupid questions I wanted to ask, mentally chiding myself.
He was the one who was going to be entirely too irritated with me by the time all of this was over with.
My thoughts turned briefly in that direction, wondering what would happen once all of this was done—if we even survived.
Would he disappear, never to be seen again? I recalled his words, remembering the certainty with which he had asserted that we wouldn’t be friends. He didn’t even want me to remember him.
I rolled my eyes at the thought. How could I forget? All of this was going to stay with me the rest of my life—especially if it was only a few short days longer. Because the more I thought about it, the less likely it seemed I would escape this with my life intact. I
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