To Kill a Vampire - A.K. Koonce Page 0,3

the dirt with my arms flung across my knees as I watch Fallon snack on something. She munches cheerily while she speaks to Luca as if it’s popcorn.

An orange hue casts across the dry land, dancing and toying with the skyline, the rays of the sun threatening us with each passing second. I’m more tired than I’ve ever been in my life. The sedation of the compound would almost be welcoming at this point. I don’t even know where she’s been staying. All I can do is give her space and hope she sees me for the husband she married less than a month ago.

“It’s carcass bones.” Declan walks up next to us, watching the charming vampire as well. His black boots are dirty and unlaced, a careless and distracting appearance that holds my attention for a moment too long.

“What?”

I push my head back and glare up at the hybrid that threw us all into this downward spiral in the first place.

“She came to me the other night and said she needed something to steady the hunger. Something other than blood.” He shrugs his shoulders, not meeting my eyes. “Bones help with the hunger. I boiled them to remove the blood, but the scent’s still there. It helps – it … helped the others.”

My jaw tics; a throbbing need to murder the traitor where he stands burns through me. She went to him instead of me.

“That’s … disgusting,” Gabriel says, nudging me with his elbow until I turn away from Declan.

Instinctively, I begin to stand as Fallon waves to Luca and starts to walk into the woods. Desperation claws at my lungs, my chest growing tighter as I watch her walk away.

One destructive step is as far as I make it.

“Don’t do it, Ash.”

Gabriel pushes his hands through his short red hair and then down his face, his tired white eyes meeting mine for an instant. Then, the forest pulls my attention back to it.

“Just give her time. Luca says she needs time. I think she’s right.”

The thick and dry terrain is all I can focus on; the spot where she was just moments ago. Her quiet footsteps can still be heard as she hikes far into the woods. I close my eyes for a long moment knowing he’s right. Her whole world’s been flipped upside down. She just needs time to adjust. It’ll be fine. We’ll be fine …

“I think we should make a trip to the Capitol.”

Declan’s irritating voice snaps through my thoughts. I turn to him and realize he, too, is staring off into the woods just as I was.

My blood boils looking at him. The hazy morning sunlight clings to his pale blonde hair. It emphasizes his youth, his light features, and the recklessness that glints in his silver eyes.

“That sounds like the worst idea I’ve ever heard.”

“Ayden’s here.”

I try to follow his circling statements. “Her friend’s here? Why?”

With his bionic hand, Gabriel dusts the dirt off of his dark jeans and stands to join us, seemingly curious as well.

“He wanted to speak with Fallon. Probably to make sure her new husband hasn’t ruined her life yet.”

As I clench my fists at my sides, my jaw tics. I impatiently wait for the moment I can rip this mystic apart.

“Choose your words carefully, hybrid,” Gabriel warns him, taking a step closer, his head tilting to the side as he waits for more information. Gabriel has always had more sensibility than me.

“I think we should capitalize on his love for her. I think we should use it. There are too many people who care about her not to use it to our advantage.”

I shake my head at him. My arms tense with anger as he spews on with his master plan. A similar plan I had not too long ago.

“Lord Raske thought we could make them see us as one of their own. I think we should make them see us as something else. If they’re not with us —“

“Stop,” I cut him off. My feet carry me toward him, step by step, until I’m right up in his face breathing down on the despicable little creature who single handedly ruined her life. The force I use to lift him from the ground by his white shirt startles even myself.

“Don’t ever say her name again. Don’t ever think of her life as something to be used to your advantage. You already did that once, and look where it got her.”

His jaw clenches as he stares back at me,