Struck (A Vampire Novel) ✔

Twenty-Eight

 

When I was younger, my mother and I used to move around a lot. It wasn’t like we moved far. We mostly moved around the same areas: New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maryland, and possibly some other neighbor states. She never explained exactly why we moved, though I began to suspect it had something to do with my father. We’d live our lives normally. I’d go to school, make friends, study, and occasionally stay the night over at someone’s place. Then one day or night, we’d be packing and in a car on our way to a new place.

For some reason, as I followed Aveline I felt like I was reliving one of our moves. The confusion was familiar, so I didn’t ask too many questions. Only this time everybody was dressed formally and I was being led to certain danger. When we approached the front lobby area, a woman was standing in wait with clear impatience. She turned her form as we approached and I was greeted by Corentine’s angry eyes.

Corentine was stunning. Her dress was to the floor, silky and the color of shimmering gold. She looked beautiful. Normally, I would have thought her type of beauty to be an innocent, sweet kind. The hatred ruined her profile, though. Instead, she looked dangerous and unpleasant.

“Why is she here?” Corentine hissed viciously.

Aveline narrowed her eyes in response. “She’s mine. I’ll do with her as I please.” I shifted uncomfortably between them, wondering if I should inch slowly away from Corentine or if that would be a sign of weakness. I’d heard if you ran from a predator, their instinct was to attack you. I wasn’t sure why I was so afraid of her especially now that I was claimed and unable to be harmed by her. But then, what if she only wanted to leave the coterie so she could specifically be able to kill me again?

“Ladies, our ride awaits. Let’s save the bitch fight for later,” Wyatt appeared, wrapping his arm around a very pissed Corentine with a smirk. He looked down at Corentine with very devious intentions in his eyes. “How about you ride with me so we can get a little friendly before you leave us, Cor?”

Corentine smacked his arm away in annoyance. “Not. Interested.”

“Oh right, I forget I’m not your type,” Wyatt chuckled teasingly. As Corentine rolled her eyes, he grasped her hand lightly, his expression softening sincerely. “While I understand your reasoning, I wish you’d reconsider.” At first, I thought he meant her lack of wanting to become “friendly” with him. But then I realized he meant for her to reconsider her wish to leave the coterie. Corentine blinked at him, her rage dissipating quickly to be replaced by vulnerable sadness. I quickly looked away, knowing she wouldn’t appreciate me witnessing anything other than her anger.

“Let’s go,” She answered sharply. When I looked up, she was already gone from the lobby. Wyatt glanced at me only for a moment before following her out the doors. I waited for Aveline to move ahead of me before I followed her. As I walked into the darkness, the memory of the last night I had been outside crept into my thoughts. I recalled Jacobi’s hand aligned with mine, his spirit touching me for the first time. I remembered the statues of the dead next to the lake and the haunting beauty that had spoken to me in my dreams multiple times.

My eyes moved over the front of the Headquarters, where an oval driveway circling a fountain was just a few feet from the end of the stairs that led to where I was now standing. In the driveway were multiple vehicles, all as black as the night around us. Aveline moved towards the vehicle at the back, gesturing for me to follow. It was a small limo; the larger one being in the front. I considered that the reason I wasn’t being led to that one was because that would probably be where they held the human “gifts”. For a moment, I wondered just who those humans were. Were they abducted like me, being held against their will and considered slaves? Were they bad people, unwanted by their human society? Were they vampire-worshippers who reveled in the drug that was a vampire’s bite? Or did they wish to become one of the night? I’d probably never know.