“So why am I stuckhere while she’s off trying t’take down an entire species?”
“I dare say she wantst’be out there on her own.” She pushed herself off the bench. “Noneof this is t’be taken lightly, Elle.”
“Christ, Ma, give mesome credit.” I stopped, my hands coming to rest on my hips. “I’venever been foolish enough t’believe I’m indestructible or t’wantmore than anything to run into the United Colony with mymetaphorical guns blazing, but that’s not t’say Heather won’t dothat. I can’t imagine her head’s in a good place at themoment.”
“She sounded fine.”Uncertainty flashed in her eyes, her expression less convincingthan her words.
“Saying you’re okaydoesn’t mean you actually are, Ma. Regardless of what she thinks,what she has been made to think, she needs all the help she canget, and I can’t sit back and expect her t’do what we have bothbeen trained t’do.”
My mother pointed atherself and then me. “What we have all been trained t’do.”
“She could have a lifetoo. I know she has always believed that t’be impossibleconsidering her ... mutation, but I think she could. I think weboth could, and as easy as it would be for me t’hide here inIreland... It’s not fair of me t’let her sacrifice that possibilityjust so I can get on with my own life.”
For all the speechesmy father gave about getting out there and fighting the good fight,he had chosen a strange location to set up house. Don’t get mewrong—my home was lovely, and our land was beautiful,breath-taking, so much so it could be quite easy to hide here inbetween the forest, loch, and mountains. We were snuggled away innature, a purposeful choice as we were safe and cut off from ourneighbours so when trouble did come knocking and it had ... ourland was private, but still, you could easily forget about the restof the world in this safe haven. Forget that there were bad thingslurking out there in the dark.
“Something’s brewing,Ma. It has t’be for Sofia t’ask a Werewolf t’help out.”
She walked over to me,placing her hands on my upper arms. “I know, sweet. That’s what I’mworried about, especially as Heather mentioned that Sofia had seenLuca in London.”
And she wasworried—I could see it swirling in her eyes, that beautiful mix ofolive and hazel. My mother had kind eyes, caring eyes. Not the eyesof someone who had killed monsters, but I had seen for myself howhandy she was, how her fire had died a little once my father hadlost his legs.
My father wanted me tocontinue the good fight whereas the appeal had vanished a long timeago for my mother, and she was quite content in this sanctuary,hidden away behind walls and shrubbery. I hated to admit it, butperhaps I was more like my father than I wanted to be, because Icouldn’t live like this, not any longer.
Especially not now.Not when my cousin was out there looking for a second-generationVampire who had a direct link to Marko. It was foolish of me toleave it to Heather and this stranger. I should have gonesooner.
“I can’t just continuet’sit here. I’m restless. I need t’go to her. Regardless of if shesays no, I think it’s the right thing t’do.”
“I’ll give her a callnow and see if she’s home.” She leant forward and pressed a kissagainst my hairline, released me, and started to make her waytoward the door. “You may have t’go to work and quit, seeing as youdon’t know how long you will be with Heather.”
“Well—” I walked backto the punch bag. “—at least Da will be happy.”
Chapter Three
~ Nathan ~
Tuesday13th October, 2015
8:49pm
It was crazy how goingback to a place after years brought a dream-like haze with it, howit seemed and felt as though you had stepped back in time, or intoa memory. The odd sensation that stirred in your stomach becausethe scents in the air were the same and you remembered every stepdown the road and every house or tree as if you had only seen themyesterday. A large dose of nostalgia had swamped me the moment I’dpassed the ‘Welcome to Wicklow’ sign, and even though it was night,I could recall every walk I had taken with Elle along the streetsof our hometown.
Nothing seemed to havechanged except me—a fact that I had spent the last two nightstrying to wrap my head around. On reading through the rest of myfile, I had learnt that something named VV had been injected intomy heart, which was what had both killed me and kept me in thisundead state. The rest was records of my appetite and the types ofblood I’d been fed. There were more details about my balls—theVampires had put my sperm on ice for some crazy reason.
The rest of it, well,I didn’t really understand. Why did Vampires have a facility forexperimenting? I thought they just liked to stalk graveyards andnightclubs, drink blood, and depending on which era and stereotypeyou wanted to roll with, have a lot of sex.
A lot of the factsthat I already knew about Vampires had become more evident now Iwas out in the open. My sight was insane; it was almost as if I hada built-in telescope because if I looked long enough, I could seethe details of a leaf, I could see the bug that was currentlywalking along the side of the wall even though he was as black asthe night sky and I was five feet and eight inches taller than him.My hearing was what I imagined dogs’ to be—I could hear peoplesnoring in the houses I passed ... and I could run incredibly fast,even when shackled with silver, which was actually a blessing whenyou were running through a strange forest in the middle of thenight trying to get away from Vampires and Wolves. Not to mention alittle voice telling you that you had to get somewhere safe beforesunrise otherwise you would be dust—a worrying thought especiallybecause I had no idea at the time if there was anywhere safe for meto go.
“There had been noneed for you to panic.” Elle walked alongside
