Crimson Born - Amy Patrick Page 0,7

whispered.

His breath on my face was hot, scented with mint chewing gum and a hint of cherry cola, and I was possessed by a sudden wild thought.

What would it be like to kiss him?

“Abigail?” A new voice entered the conversation. Josiah’s voice. “Abigail, is that you?”

Moving quickly, I slid from the hood of Reece’s car, my boots stumbling on the uneven ground. For no reason at all, I straightened the top of my dress and smoothed the skirts.

“Hi. Yes. It’s me. What are you doing?”

Josiah’s penetrating stare moved from me to Reece then back to me. “Looking for you. What are you doing?”

“Nothing. Talking. To Reece. Reece, this is my friend Josiah. Josiah, this is Reece...” My face heated in mortification. “I don’t actually know your last name.”

Reece got off the car and planted his feet on the ground, rising to his full height—which was considerably more than Josiah’s. He stretched out a hand toward my friend, though his facial expression didn’t match the friendly gesture.

“Reece Hendrix. Nice to meet you Josiah.”

Josiah gripped his hand for the briefest moment then turned to me. “It’s time to go. Hannah and Aaron are already at the buggy.”

“Oh. Okay.”

I looked back at Reece, feeling suddenly bereft. This was it. The unexpected magical night was ending.

“Well, goodbye then. It was... nice meeting you.”

And then I fell into step with Josiah, heading for the buggy where Aaron and Hannah stood waiting. She’d already changed back into her dress and apron, the picture of Amish propriety.

“Wait.”

I turned around to see Reece had followed us.

“Do you want to maybe go for a ride or something?” He held his hands out in front of him. “Just drive around—that’s all, I promise. I just... I’m not ready to say goodnight.”

My heart leapt then sank just as quickly. I stepped away from Josiah and spoke quietly to Reece.

“I can’t. I... have to go. My friends... you understand. And I’m sure it’s late. I don’t even know what time it is. My parents will be worried.”

Reece’s hopeful expression fell. He nodded. “Of course. Okay, well, can I call you?”

“I don’t have a phone.” I giggled, embarrassed.

“Oh. Right.” He snapped his fingers and twisted his mouth to the side. “You know what? That’s okay.”

“It is?”

“Yeah. You know why?”

“Why?” I asked, baffled at the abrupt change in his demeanor.

“Destiny. Do you believe in destiny, Abbi?”

Slowly, I shook my head back and forth. “Not really.”

“Well, I do. And I believe we’ll see each other again.” He took my hand in his. “You wait and see. I believe things happen for a reason, and I think the reason I came here tonight... was to meet you.”

I had no idea what to say. No one had ever said anything like that to me before. Frankly it sort of scared me.

There was no room in my life for someone like Reece, and I highly doubted I’d fit into his very well.

“Okay,” I said, like an idiot, and extracted my hand from his.

Then like a bigger fool, I turned and walked away as fast as my securely tied shoes could carry me.

4

Unholy Creatures

The eerily beautiful woman stared at my face for a long moment before lowering me to the blood-soaked pavement again.

“You want me to spare his life, even after he’s taken yours? You surprise me, little one... which isn’t an easy thing to do. What is your name?”

“Abi... Abigail,” I whispered.

“How would you like to come with us, Abigail?”

I had no idea what she was talking about. I wouldn’t be going anywhere with anyone ever again. The life was ebbing from my body faster with each passing second. In fact, I didn’t have the energy to even respond to her odd question.

The woman bent her head and placed a kiss on my palm that I could not feel.

Rising, she walked over to the ruined car and squatted to peer inside at Reece. “Looks like this is your lucky night. You can thank the little good Samaritan over there that you didn’t wind up cooked alive.”

Then she lifted his hand and brought it to her mouth as well.

“Hey,” he yelled out. “Why’d you do that?”

She didn’t answer him but stood and addressed her unseen companions. “I’ve claimed these two. All the others you can drink.”

What? What was happening? Claimed? Drink?

There was movement all around me. Apparently she had not two companions but many. People were filtering through the accident site, laughing and chatting as if they were at a church social instead of at the scene of a