Shadow Lake Vampire Society - Wendi Wilson Page 0,42

I murmured.

“The man driving was drunk as a skunk. If I’d stayed on that road ten seconds longer, I would have been right in his path.” She paused for a moment to let that sink in. “I would have been dead.”

“So you had a vision of the future,” I said, my voice taking on a dream-like timbre as I envisioned myself in her shoes. “A vision that saved your life.”

“Yes,” she said, swallowing thickly. “The one and only vision I’ve ever had.”

“And you think that’s what happened to me?” I asked.

“I think your description of what you experienced sounds a hell of a lot like mine. I think everything happens for a reason, and maybe we became friends, at this exact moment in time, so I could tell you my story. Because right now, it’s what you need—something to help you see the truth.”

I didn’t know what to think. I believed her, or at least, that she believed that’s what happened to her. Maybe it was some kind of coincidence. Maybe she heard the truck coming and jumped out of the road, and her brain fabricated the whole “vision” because she wanted so badly for her aunts to be right. She wanted to have a special gift. An ability.

But what if she was right? What if she actually had a vision that saved her life, and what I experienced was the same thing?

That meant… someone was going to kill me.

“As for the rest,” True said, jerking me out of my morbid thoughts, “I don’t know what to tell you. I could totally see Sarah, and even that French bitch, Chef Chloe, terrorizing a kid. But the fact that Johnny doesn’t remember anything poses a problem. Are you sure it was him you saw? Not some other kid that looks like him?”

I considered it for a moment, picturing the scene I saw through that window. Chloe murmuring something, Johnny’s little face, Sarah growling and leaping forward. No. I wasn’t wrong. And I didn’t dream it.

“It was him,” I replied. “It was definitely Johnny, and they did something to him. Maybe drugs? It looked like he was falling asleep or something just before Sarah jumped on him.”

“And you said he didn’t have a mark on him when Dean Purty brought him into the office?”

“Not a scratch,” I said. “But True, you have to believe me. It was him, and the growl that came out of Sarah’s mouth… it didn’t sound human.”

I knew what I was saying sounded insane. And I probably wouldn’t have been as honest about it with anyone other than the girl in front of me. True had seen enough weird shit in her life that believing my unbelievable story was no big deal. She took me for my word, and I loved her for it.

She shrugged, and in an overly flippant tone said the four words that changed my life forever.

“I bet they’re vampires.”

My mouth fell open. Maybe to laugh. Maybe to scold her for making such a ridiculous suggestion when I was being totally serious. Maybe to call her crazy, even though she’d listened to all of my claims and hadn’t even insinuated that I was a few cards short of a full deck.

But I’d never know what I was going to say, because before I could react, movement in the forest caught my attention. Levi burst from the trees, moving faster than I’d ever seen anyone move. Impossibly fast. He skidded to a halt in front of us, his body suddenly and unnaturally frozen.

My heart jumped up into my throat and lodged there, cutting off my air supply. Black dots swam in front of my vision, and I silently begged myself not to pass out again. My eyes cut to True, whose expression of shock and fear mirrored my own.

I looked back at Levi, his sage eyes almost glowing as they reflected the light of the full moon above us. Something about him screamed at me to run. To leave this place and never look back.

And something else—something equally compelling—implored me to stay. To move in close and wrap my arms around him. To never let go.

The two impulses warred inside me, freezing me on the spot. Time stood still as we stared at each other in silence. Then he spoke, shattering the moment and everything I thought I knew about the world.

“Piper, I can explain.”

Chapter Sixteen

My gaze darted between Levi and True as the night air hung heavy between us. Levi watched us as intently as