“Dana, why are you out here?” I asked.
“I heard what you said to Cora.”
I groaned. I wanted to disappear without a trace. “That wasn’t meant for you.”
“I know.” Dana rubbed her hands against each elbow to keep warm. “But if you think you can make me forget, you’re wrong.”
“I will if you try to stop me.”
Her expression never changed. “Giving yourself over won’t change anything. The danger won’t go away.”
“We made a deal. If I surrender and give myself to him, he’ll leave you all alone.”
“And you actually believed him?”
“What reason would he have to come after you without me? It’s me he wants.”
Dana shook her head as her bottom lip fell. “So that’s it?” she asked with a shrug. “You just surrender and die?”
“I’m already dead.”
“You’re no more dead than I am a monster.”
I knew she believed it, and it pissed me off. She wouldn’t make it easy for me to walk away. “Dana, you can hide in plain sight and no one will ever know what you are. You look like everyone else. My skin, my touch…I’ll always be an outsider. I have no place here. No future.”
“You do.” Dana stepped toward me, and her shoes kicked the snow into my footprints. “With me.”
My hands were shaking, and it wasn’t until that moment that I realized it.
Dana forced a smile as she pushed her way through the snow. “You don’t need to give up or lose your life to keep anyone safe. We could run away.”
“We?”
“We’re both losers,” she said with a laugh. If I hadn’t been so scared, I would have smiled too, because I knew she meant it lovingly. “We have no real attachments anymore. We could pack up our things and go right now. They could chase us until I’m old and gray, and we’d be so far away from Cora they’d never hurt her again.”
I dropped my head and breathed inward. I wanted so much to say yes, but it was unrealistic and naïve.
“No,” I said.
Her eyes glistened. “Why not?”
“It’s not just Cora I’m trying to protect,” I admitted. “I’d be trading Cora for you, and I can’t do that. Not to you. You deserve better than that.”
“But it’s what I want.”
“No.”
“Please, Melanie. Don’t go. Don’t let them hurt you.” She sounded so goddamn sad and it was breaking my heart. Marching to my death was never something she was meant to know about. She was supposed to be oblivious and forget all about me.
“This is what I want. Okay?”
Dana’s gaze landed on my hands at my side. “Then why are you shaking?”
I had hoped she wouldn’t notice, and I lifted my right hand and placed it into the palm of my left. I squeezed to calm the shaking. It didn’t work.
“Maybe your voice can lie to me, but your body can’t,” she said. “People who are sure of what they’re doing don’t quake when they’re doing it. You’re scared.”
“Of course I’m scared.”
“Then what does that tell you?”
“Being terrified of something doesn’t mean it’s wrong.” She was close to me, so I brushed a strand of her brown hair out of her eyes. The winter breeze kept tossing it all over her face. “Having someone care whether I live or die means so much more than you know. I’ll hold it with me when I go.”
Tears poured down her cheeks. “Melanie,” she quivered.
I couldn’t handle seeing her sad face anymore and turned to leave, but I only moved one step before her fingers wrapped around my upper arm and whipped my body toward her. Our chests bumped, and with my face inches from hers, she took the opportunity to impulsively press her lips to mine.
My flesh was like ice and hers was like fire, and when they collided, it melted away every wall I had built up. I felt the warmth not only take over my skin but bubble through my entire body. It felt… good. More than good. It completely shook me. She wasn’t even through with kissing me and I wanted her to do it again.
Her lips slowly peeled off of mine, and when her eyes flickered up at me, all I saw was a loving gaze. I wanted to kiss her again, but I couldn’t. It wasn’t right. I got as close as I could to her and she let her guard down, expecting another embrace, only I locked her into my hypnosis. “Go back to the cabin,” I said. “Grab a blanket, sit by the fireplace, and let yourself fall asleep. Dream of nothing but beauty and peace. Be happy.”
When I let go of her, Dana had the same vacant expression on her face that Cora did. She was in an absolute fog as she slowly turned around and walked back to the cabin through the snow. I stood there for a moment watching her get further and further away from me. As I turned to leave, I felt a tear roll down my cheek.
I didn’t want to say goodbye, but I had to. I had to.
Twenty feet from where I left Dana, I eventually broke down. I wept for everything I was leaving behind and for the future I would never have. It was the first time in my life I felt like I had something to lose. Life could be so cruel.
Just as I was ready to continue my journey, I felt the ground slightly quake beneath me, followed by fast animalistic steps running toward me. Something heavy, hairy and hot bashed into my lower back, and it sent me soaring through the air until I collided with a nearby tree. I was knocked for a loop, but I
