To Love a Vampire - A.K. Koonce Page 0,46

rejection, he’s used to it, he anticipates it. My emotions cloud my chest as I look at him.

“They won’t,” I tell him. “They’re trusting us. We have to trust them, too.” I touch his arm and he looks at me, his silver eyes catching the light and holding it in his gaze. He stares at me for a long curious moment before nodding slowly and walking away, back into the shadows.

Footsteps echo through the high rafters—hundreds of footsteps—so many my heart begins to race faster with the sound of each new person walking into the room. Asher squeezes my hands once more before stepping away from me and joining the other three mystics behind me.

Mrs. Hollis stands at the front of the overflowing crowd. They’re a mass of black clothing, dignified clothing assigned by the government to keep them cool in the ever rising heat. I glance back at the shirtless men and the cropped shirt that Luca wears that matches my own.

I cross my arms nervously over my stomach, hiding the exposed skin there, feeling more different than these people I grew up with than ever before. I can feel myself beginning to sink to my own self-doubt.

What if we’re too different? What if they don’t want to work side by side with the mystics? What if they really do just want to burn this place to the ground?

A palm brushes my elbow, I turn, almost expecting Asher but I’m met with the warm eyes of a wolf. Luca smiles at me as she subtly shifts our stance toward the crowd again.

“Thank you all for joining us tonight,” she says in a smooth and confident tone. Her capturing voice and assured movements reminding me of her father in this moment. “Fallon appreciates your support and we’ll start by hearing her journey. A journey that many of you, in a strange way, might find you relate to.”

I stare out at the watchful eyes of the audience that I asked to come here. And I can’t think of a single word to say.

Why didn’t I write something down? I can physically feel the labor my lungs are putting into guiding air through my chest. Heat begins to flame my face, creeping slowly up my neck and cheeks.

I swallow as I rack my mind for what to say.

“My-” A pause fills my mind as I begin speaking without thought. “My mother was just like you. Just like all of you. She obeyed when she wanted nothing more than to run away. She wasted her life away in the confines of this camp. She watched the one man she loved from a distance, never actually feeling love the way you should.” I glance back at Asher as my nerves wash away.

“For those of you who don’t know, Charlotte died last year.” My voice catches, still echoing around us, and I realize it’s the first time I’ve admitted that she’s dead… “She died trying to save me from the life she led. A life that isn’t really a life at all. Is it really living if you’re emotions are scheduled by the government? Love and family and employment are all dictated to us like animals. We’re not animals. The mystics behind me are not animals. We’re the same, them and us.”

I scan the crowd for an instant. “Except they’re free. Hidden but free.”

Whispers crawl through the room. Shifting eyes try to decide if I’m lying or not.

“I was raised by mortals, two of the nicest people you’ll ever meet,” Asher says as he walks to my side. “My mother was human. I’m half human. My friends,” He hesitates, the word friend seeming odd in his tone. “they’re half human. They’re from a society that your government created. A nice little community where people live as they please without magic and without shifting. Kaino is a strong warrior but he hasn’t turned into his natural wolf form since he was a child. Because that was the condition of the agreement between the mortals and the mystics. They aren’t raging beasts. They can control it. Just like humans can control their temper.”

“Until they can’t and someone dies!” an unseen voice shouts. The man’s anger and hatred carries through the room and gains nods and glares from the others.

Asher shifts on his feet, his arms crossing for an instant. “I could say the same for you. Anyone can lose their temper, man or mystic. The government is breeding hostility among us all.”

“If you joined with us, if