step back. My brother is at university and waiting for me, not in flames or wherever the boy thinks I should go. “If you know my parents, then you should know they wouldn’t want me or Arlo hurt. So tell your friends to go.”
“As you wish. We came to invite you, and our keeper came to warn you,” the boy replies and turns around. The flame-covered children all look at him, and at the same time, they all disappear.
“For a vampire prince, you are too easy to beat!” I hear the man shout right before Reign is thrown over my head and into the far distance. As his body crashes down somewhere, I turn back to see the man walking right up to me.
Knowing running is pointless, I dig my hands into my pockets and walk to meet him in the middle of the driveway.
“Why did you refuse to come into the flames?”
“What are the flames?” I question.
He cocks his head to the side, his long blond hair moving with him. He is really pretty, too much for a man, and I struggle to see a single flaw. “You live a half-life.”
“The boy said he knew my parents and brother. Is that true?” I ask. The man doesn’t reply to me, stepping closer and breathing in a long and dramatic way. “I see why they hid you now. Your twin brother is not the one.”
“You’re not making any sense,” I reply.
“It is not time for you to come with us, Riona Dark, but it is time for your death,” he replies. I step back as he roughly grabs my throat, lifting me off my feet. I scream, the noise never leaving my lips, and I dig my nails into his hand. Nothing works, he is so strong against me, and I gasp for air.
All I think of is Maddox, how I want him here. How I want him to save me.
The man jolts suddenly, and I scream as he throws me into the air. The whistling air only lasts a second before I slam harshly onto the car roof, hearing a cracking noise in my chest. Pain shoots through me as I roll onto my back and touch the side of my chest where the pain is from. Hot, sticky blood drips down my left eye as I struggle to sit up as Katy jumps on the hood of the car and looks at me.
“You alright?” she asks with a frown. She lifts her wrist to her mouth, but I hold up my palm.
“No vamp blood. It’s a broken rib at the worst and a cut. Check Arlo and Reign,” I mutter. Katy is gone instantly, and I climb to the edge of the car roof, looking down to see the man’s head on the floor and his body a good distance away. Blood pours around his body, and it seems to move, making the shape of a flame for a second just before I feel myself pass out.
Chapter Thirty-Five
I wake up feeling fingers brushing something against my forehead, and I open my eyes to see a woman I don’t know leaning over me. She backs up, taking a white cloth away from my head that is dotted with my blood. The woman is human, with a short grey bob of shiny hair and bright blue eyes that look paler than her skin. Her clothes are nothing more than a dark brown sari dress that has seen better days.
“Who are you?” I groggily question. My chest hurts instantly, and I reach down, picking up the small blanket I’m covered in to see I’m wearing my bra and leggings, and my chest is wrapped tightly in a white bandage.
“I was a doctor before I was taken,” the woman explains to me. “Turns out the people on this island needed my medical skills far more than the hospital I worked at before. A lot of people die out here from lack of modern medicine, did you know that?”
“I guessed. I’m still confused about why you are here, and did you do this?” I question, pointing at my chest. The doctor helps me sit up on the bed, and she starts putting things into a leather bag at the end of my bed as Arlo comes into the room, followed by Reign.
“You’re okay!” I exclaim to them both. Arlo smiles, a little tense considering how we left things, but Reign just looks pissed off.
“Katy made sure to force me to understand your desire