To Kill a Vampire - A.K. Koonce Page 0,21
lips. “They’re waiting for me. For us.”
“For all of us?”
“No. Just you and me.”
My stomach twists, and I take a minimal breath as I try to pull more information from the reluctant hybrid.
“What do they want with us?”
He shakes his head hard and continuously for several seconds before finally walking away.
More secrets just crept into my life.
A breeze plays with the long locks of my hair, skimming familiarly over my skin until goose bumps trail across my flesh. The night settles in around me, cold and eerie, just a few miles from the vampires who are waiting for me
Eleven
Helping You Forget
Asher
Every step I take feels like a weighted walk to my death. Following Declan to the most dangerous creatures our world has ever known feels like seconds ticking down to our fated end.
An uncomfortable silence wedges itself into my chest. The tension breeds within me, making it impossible to even breathe.
We’re close, maybe just a few hours from them. Something in the way the hybrid’s eyes shift over the bluffs and treetops tells me, as if he’s waiting for something to drop down on us at any moment. The Crimson Sword hasn’t left my hand for hours. The pace we’re keeping to accommodate the human is unbearable.
“We’re almost there,” Declan announces, halting to address our scowling group. “Let’s take a final break. Check your weaponry? Prepare yourself.”
Without a word Fallon walks away from us, weaving through the endless trees, disappearing into the dangerous forest alone.
Gabriel quirks an eyebrow at me and shakes his head, as if he knows what I’m about to do before I do it.
In a flash of quick steps, I’m running after her.
In the distance I hear Kaino’s deep voice as he whispers in a menacing growl to who I can only assume is Declan. “If you put us in danger …” A pause drifts through the breeze. ”I’ll kill you.”
A smirk tilts my lips at his words, but it’s all forgotten the moment I see her.
Against the dry leaves, she kneels with her head lowered, her body shaking as she takes deep and empty sounding breaths.
My heart free falls and lands painfully at the pit of my stomach. I kneel beside her, my palm running up her back to try to pull her from her anxious behavior. I want to fix this, but I don’t know how. If she’d just tell me how, I’d do it.
“Can I just have a moment alone?”
Her clipped and muffled words strike against my chest, slamming into my heart. I raise my hand away from her, holding it in midair, unsure of my every move.
How long will she want to be alone? If we break the curse tonight … will she still want solitude over my affection? Over our relationship? Over us?
“I feel like I don’t know you anymore,” I say in a crackling whisper.
“I just want to be left alone, Asher.”
In a flash, she’s storming away from me. Moving so fast I barely see her blurred movements through the thick forest.
Again.
This time I won’t let her. I refuse to let her walk away from me – from us.
I push myself to keep up with her immortal pace, thin tree limbs snap against my flesh as I follow after her, gripping her wrist and pulling her to a stop as soon as she’s within my reach.
“Don’t!” She screams at me in a trembling voice, her hands fisting at her sides.
“Don’t what?” I take a daring step closer until I’m chest to chest with her, staring down into her glistening red eyes filled with sadness. She gasps at my closeness like my body touching hers causes her searing pain. “Don’t touch you? I’m not allowed to touch you now?”
If she hates me, then I want her to just say it. Rip my heart out in one quick motion; don’t drag it out piece by tattered piece. My blazing glare isn’t a match for her fiery eyes. Her breaths come in unsteady heaps, a mixture of anger and fear and something else filling her features as her chest brushes mine with every heavy breath she takes.
In one quick movement she seals her lips to mine, her fingers tangling through my hair and pulling me closer. She pulls me in in an instant with just a hint of her emotions.
For mere seconds I’m stunned before I close my eyes and attempt to fade into a past memory of us. My anger diminishes against her soft lips, vanishing away into another emotion entirely. My hands