a few days I simply ran out of things to say and resorted to reading aloud to him.
One thing I was not going to do was leave him alone as he’d demanded.
In my opinion, solitary confinement was the worst thing for him, but the medical staff wouldn’t let him out until he improved, and he couldn’t improve until he allowed someone to enter his room and give him injections of vampire blood.
So I kept coming, reading, sometimes commenting on the book’s content. Whatever I could think of to try to snap Reece out of this state of despair and show him he was not alone.
One day about a week into our routine, I arrived at the clinic as usual, Dr. Coppa unlocked the heavy door to Reece’s room, and I dragged my chair in front of it.
When the door opened, I got a surprise.
Reece sat in a chair on the other side of the bars, facing the doorway. He looked lucid, and much healthier, and well... good.
“Hi.” I let out a nervous giggle. “How are you?”
He didn’t answer my question. Instead he leaned toward the barred doorway. “Did you bring the Mars fantasy book?”
I nodded and pulled it from my bag, offering it to him through the opening between the bars. “Do you want to finish it?”
Reece leaned back in his chair. He folded his arms over his chest and answered gruffly. “You finish it. I like the way you read.”
“Oh. Okay, sure.” I took my seat, wondering if he noticed the blush working its way up my face from neck to forehead.
As a vampire it was sort of hard to miss those things—blood on the move got your attention.
Opening the book to the bookmark, I resumed the story from where I’d left off the day before.
With him sitting so close, I felt much more nervous about reading aloud, but Reece seemed to enjoy it. Gradually his posture relaxed. He even closed his eyes while he listened.
I was reading a line about a full moon when he interrupted.
“I always liked your voice. I remember that.”
“I remember too,” I whispered, my mind going back to the night that had begun so magically and ended so horribly. “Are other things coming back to you?”
Reece nodded. “There was a blood moon. And horseshoes. And we sat on the hood of my car and talked. I was kicking myself after you left for not finding out the name of your village.”
His expression of pleasant remembrance transformed into a mask of horror as other memories returned.
“I was in an accident. My car was on fire. I think I remember you being there. Did someone call you to come? Or... wait... you don’t have a phone. I was so tired. I kept nodding off, and then there was something in front of the car—a black buggy. Oh—”
His eyes flew open, and he got to his feet abruptly.
“It’s okay,” I said automatically.
“Oh my God.... it was all my fault. Abbi...you’re here because of me.”
“Don’t say that. It was no one’s fault. It was an accident. You said you’d gotten up early that morning for practice, and you probably stayed at the party too late because of me. Anyway, it’s done now. We can’t change the past. All we can do is move forward.”
Reece didn’t seem the least bit cheered by my assurances. He nearly collapsed back into the chair behind him, burying his face in his hands.
“How long have you been here? How did you get here?” he asked without looking at me.
“It’s been nearly three months. I went back to my village after, well, after.” I opted not to go into any great detail. I didn’t like thinking about those horrible first few days, and Reece really didn’t need to hear about it right now.
Wrapping my fingers around the locket I’d worn every day since then, I chose my words carefully.
“It didn’t go so well. My friend Josiah—you remember him from the party? He was turned too. He couldn’t handle it. He killed his parents... and then he daylighted himself out of remorse. That’s when I came here. I had nowhere else to go.”
“I’m sorry,” he repeated.
“Do you remember what happened after the accident? Where you went? Where you were for so long?”
He shook his head. “It’s all a blank. I remember the car being on fire... and then waking up here and seeing you when the door opened.”
“It’s okay,” I assured him again. “I’m sure it’ll come back to you. And if it doesn’t... maybe