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Tristan was eager to drop me off to free himself to go after Aiden. So, there hadn’t been any time to confront him about what I’d learned. At least, not a time that my mind was together enough for that talk right now. Tonight had been so utterly terrible, it was all I could do not to burst into tears. I couldn’t bear to hear any more bad news.
I knocked only once before Taylor opened the door. Despite my feeling out of sorts, my story must have been convincing because she hugged me on sight. She brought me inside and sat me down on her living room sofa, insisting I tell her everything. I stretched out the quick lie I’d given her on the payphone; I told her how my grandmother and I had had a big argument, and that my mother had taken her side, which made me feel so alone that I had to get out of there.
“Well, Daddy’s got some conference this weekend so you can stay here for the next two days. Just try not to go outside too much during the day. We’ve got nosy neighbors.”
“Thanks, I really appreciate this Taylor. You have no idea.”
Having left to get something out of the kitchen, she popped her head back into the living room. “Don’t you worry a bit, that’s what best friends are for, right? Besides, you have to hear what happened at Applebee’s…. Oh, and Darren called just after you did, I told him you were on your way over. You weren’t avoiding him or anything were you?”
“No, that’s fine.” His coming over here meant that he would be safe.
I kept seeing London’s face in my head. It had all happened so fast. My hands were still shaking. What had she remembered? I shook my head and looked around the room for a distraction.
“Hey? You rode bulls?”
She popped her head back into the living room again, beaming. “Yeah. I used to race horses, too.”
She deserted whatever she’d been doing in the kitchen and disappeared into the hallway, reappearing after a minute with a photo album in hand. She plopped down beside me and opened it up. We laughed at shots of her tiny frame on top of such large horses. She paused for a moment on a photograph in which she was standing next to an older version of herself, smiling a gap-toothed smile and tugging at her overalls. Taylor smiled as she ran her finger around the woman’s face.
“Is that your mother?”
“Yeah, she’s so awesome. She’s the one that got me started with riding. I miss her something awful. She would do these magic tricks—she could make fire dance in her hands or she’d leave a little snowman on my dresser in the middle of summer. I would beg her to show me how she did them so I could show off at school, but all she would ever say was, “When you’re old enough, I’ll show you.” Taylor laughed. “So every year on my birthday, til I was like twelve, I’d ask her if I was old enough and she’d just be like, “Nope not yet.” I think when I turn sixteen this December, I’m gonna call and ask her again as a joke.”
Taylor’s mom is a witch. It hit me so suddenly that I was surprised I didn’t say it out loud. Her father’s moving her up here didn’t seem like such a coincidence anymore. Was he a warlock? My mind raced with possibilities and I wondered why they hadn’t told her. I just smiled. “I have a feeling she might say yes this year.”
She gave me an odd look. “You think so?”
There was a knock at the door and Taylor jumped up to answer. She took a quick look through the peephole and then waved me over. She opened the door and I heard Darren asking for me. Hearing his voice brought me back to the reality of what had transpired tonight.
“She’s right here. Aww, look at you all concerned about her.”
She pulled me in front of her and Darren hugged me in the doorway. “How are you? I know it’s been a… rough night.”
“I’m dealing.”
“Taylor, do you mind if we have some privacy?” he asked. “We need to talk.”
She eyed him skeptically. “You guys can have the front room. But make sure that talking is all you guys do. We watch TV on that couch.”
As soon as she was gone, Darren set in on me with questions.
“Why in the world did you come here? You didn’t even tell anyone.”
“I just thought that Aiden might be looking for me. I didn’t think that he would guess to look for me here.”
“Did you know? What he was, I mean.”
I started to lie, but stopped myself. “You shouldn’t be so quick to judge her.”
“You can’t be serious! Ana, she brought a vampire to our school. She’s always been wild but this is just too far. I defended her, but honestly, she brought this all on herself. Being a conjurer isn’t something that you can help, but to go and fall in love with one of those monsters on top of that? It’s indefensible.”
I could only stare, stunned that he could be thinking about all of that now. “Darren she’s dead! How can you just sit there— I want you to leave.”
Now he was stunned. “What?”
“Just leave!” I shouted at him.
This brought Taylor back into the living room. “Is everything alright?”
Another knock sounded on the door. “That was fast,” Taylor said. “Normally the pizza guy takes forever.” She dug some money out of her pocket and then pulled the door open. “Aiden?”
Before I could react, Taylor had been thrown backwards into the living room, crashing into a bookcase and landing on the floor, where she remained. Darren sent a streak of fire toward the front door and, taking my waist, he rushed me into the hallway, then into what appeared to be a spare bedroom.
“Get down!” he shouted. I ducked down on the other side of the bed and Darren took up a defensive position between the doorway and me. His hands were on fire.
Aiden came through the window from outside, catching both of us completely off guard. I rolled underneath the bed; where, for a few minutes, I was taken back to the first time a vampire had come after me.
I could hear things crashing. I could see the light given off from the bright blazes Darren was producing. And for a while, I thought Darren might be winning, until I saw him slam into the floor in front of me. The sight made me yelp and I tried to pull him under the bed with me.
Aiden turned the entire bed over.
“Ana? Are you still here?” It was Tristan.
“I’m in here,” I called desperately. “Aiden’s got us trapped.”
Aiden bared his fangs and lunged for my neck but was knocked out of the air by Tristan. They fought, moving so impossibly fast that I had no idea what was happening. Only when I saw Aiden fall did they ever stop. Over and over again, Tristan seemed to get the best of him, and I could begin to see bruises on Aiden’s face. He was getting frustrated and it was taking longer for him to get back to his feet.
As Darren began to stir on the other side of the room, the two of them came to a stop again, although this time it seemed as though Aiden had struck out after me, only to be cut off by Tristan. Still, he was only an arm’s length away and I had to drop down to the floor, out of his reach, to avoid being snatched up.
Darren got to his feet and for a moment, he seemed confused by what was happening, but then I saw his jaw set. I understood too late, what Darren must be seeing; two vampires only inches away from me. His eyes took up a determined stare and he streaked a fiery inferno toward us. It was high enough that I, still on my knees, had no chance of being struck but I knew it was meant for both vampires, not just Aiden.
Aiden didn’t move at first and I had a moment’s hope that maybe he would bear the worst of Darren’s attack, but at the last possible moment, he dropped to the floor. Before I had enough time to form a warning in my throat, Tristan, who had had his view of the blast, blocked by Aiden, took the full force of it into his chest. It exploded upon impact, and sent him backwards, head first, into the wall, leaving a large dent.
I c
rawled over to him and did my best to put out the flames on his charred clothing. His chest was black and smoking and his eyes were vacant.
“No,” I breathed.
“Ana, what are you doing? Get away from that thing!” Darren shouted. But he should have been more concerned about the vampire he’d missed. Aiden appeared in front of him and slammed his fist into Darren’s stomach. He fell over in a heap, and began to groan loudly. I’d seen enough doctor shows to know that from the force of that blow he had to be bleeding internally.
Aiden relaxed now, even offering me a smile as he turned around. Again, it wasn’t anything reassuring. The anger and aggression that always swam near the surface of his features had taken over now, and there was no trace of anything human in Aiden. He was a predator and I his prey, and there was nothing now to keep him from me.
Oddly, he spoke casually when he addressed me. “Move away from him.”
“No,” I replied. “If I do, you’ll just keep hurting him.”
That made him lose his cool. “Do it now!” he shouted, baring his fangs.
Trembling, I shifted over a few inches. Suddenly, he was there in front of me. He grabbed a handful of my shirt and I screamed. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed me up over his shoulder and I landed awkwardly on my side, pain exploding in my left arm.
This was it. I was about to die. I waited for him to appear, and I imagined how he might taunt me before going through with it. I prayed it would be quick. If there were some of the old Aiden left inside him, then maybe he wouldn’t make me suffer.
But the attack never came. Confused, I let myself roll onto my back and then turned my head to find him. Terror ripped through my body. I saw now why he hadn’t attacked. Darren, Tristan, and Taylor all lay at his feet, and he glared at me with such hatred that I found myself trembling again.
“I resisted killing you,” he seethed, barely keeping himself together. “London would be so proud of me. In fact, I’ve decided to let you live—but these two,” he said pointing at Darren and Tristan. “One of them will die tonight.”
“Aiden please… Please don’t do this.”
“Then you should have brought her back!” he shouted. “You should have saved her. That’s why she stayed. We had decided to leave days ago, but she insisted that she could help you. She just knew the answer would be inside one of those old books.” He smiled angrily. “Well now you get to live my pain. You will choose who lives.”
I couldn’t breathe. “No…”
He continued. “This one led me to you. I remembered seeing the two of you sitting together at lunch, so when I saw his car speeding away from the mansion I had a hunch as to where he was headed. When I saw the two of you embrace, I knew you cared about him.” He laughed again. “We both know how Tristan feels about you. How soft he has become because of you. So…choose.”
I shook my head, refusing to answer.
“Choose!” he screamed, a snarl in his voice now.
“I can’t. I won’t. Please Aiden, I tried. I really did. I wanted to save her. I kept trying and trying—Please,” I begged. “Don’t make me do this.”
I don’t think he heard a word I said. He was looking at Taylor now, his lips forming an even more sickening smile. “I was going to save her for my other appetites now that London is gone, but it seems you need a little push. If you do not choose immediately, I will suck her dry, and ask again. If you still choose not to answer, then I will simply kill them both and then you. Choose.”
“K-kill me instead,” I squeaked. I’m the one you’re angry with.”
Ignoring my plea, he dropped to the floor and tilted back Taylor’s head. He eyed me as he reared back his head and I knew it was now or never. Time stopped, and I had to choose between my past and my future, guaranteeing at least one of them a certain death.
“Darren.”
He looked surprised. “To live or die?”
“To live. Darren has to live.”
He laughed so loudly it echoed in the hallway. “Don’t you see Tristan?” he said to his friend’s motionless body. “No matter how much we love them, they will always choose their own kind over us. If London had chosen to leave with me, instead of trying to help her, then she would be alive today.”
I covered my face. I was so helpless.
“You have chosen Darren, and for that you get to watch him die.” He started to laugh. “And look, he’s still conscious. You’ll get to hear him scream too.”
He appeared beside Darren in a flash and I shouted the first thing I could think of. “Kora Mortae!”
Shock crept over Aiden’s face and he lifted his eyes to me. He seemed to regard me differently now, possibly sensing me as a threat. He lunged from across the room, landing on top of me. Pinning my arms down, his eyes bore into my neck and his canines extended. I could feel his heart beating into my stomach. I closed my eyes and shouted the same two words, over and over again, bracing for the pain of his teeth piercing my flesh—bracing for death.
“Ana?” he spoke.
My eyes opened, and I saw Aiden for the first time. Not Aiden the predator, or even the Aiden I’d come to know prior to London’s death. The monster was gone—there was only a broken-hearted boy staring back at me.
“Thank you,” he breathed, and his eyes looked off into someplace I couldn’t see. I realized that I could no longer feel his heart beat.
With a shove, he fell away from me. And I cried for him. For London. And what I’d just done.