Too Close | Rosalie Hale

Chapter 3

Lex's clearest thoughts happened right after she fed. Slowly, with each hunt that Riley permitted her to go on, she was piecing together the inconsistencies in his stories. 

He claimed that vampires couldn't survive in the sunlight, but he was often gone for days at a time. It was entirely possible that he was just spending time in a different basement or other dark place during his days away from them. Honestly, Lex wouldn't blame him for wanting space from them, it was obvious that he hated being in all of those basements with them as much as they all hated being there. And, she had known vampires who had died from the sunlight— or at least she thought that she had. Once she thought about it, she realized that Riley was the only one who had ever found the ashes of those who had perished in the sunlight, and everyone just always took his word for it. No one could think of a reason why he would lie about that. But Lex couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with that picture— she had seen vampires get burned after all. It was a definite fact that vampires could turn to ash, but the only vampires she had ever seen get burned came into direct contact with a flame. Lex didn't understand the logic of how the sun was capable of killing them. She was starting to question whether or not the sun was truly capable of doing what Riley had always claimed it could.

Plus, Riley was constantly bringing human street kids back to the house so that she could turn them or bringing back newly turned vampires. Why did they need so many new vampires? It was obvious that they didn't like any of the vampires they were creating— they had never seen her  beyond when she had bitten them, and even then, none of them could remember what she looked like because they had been in excruciating pain. Riley spent most of his time yelling at them or ripping off their limbs. Plus, they were all stuck in a crowded basement all day. It just didn't make sense to Lex that they would continue to bring new vampires into that environment if they weren't planning something.

 Lex was reaching a point where simply surviving wasn't going to be enough for her. The constant fighting, limb tearing, looming threat of death, and endless bad days was finally getting to her.

She needed something to change— she needed answers. 

Lex recalled that when she first got there, Riley had said that wooden stakes could kill vampires, but a few days ago, one of the others had tried to hit her with a wooden, and it had merely shattered upon contact with her body. Considering what Riley had told them, that had seemed so off to her. 

So tonight, if Riley allowed her to hunt, she was going to stake herself. 

She wasn't doing it because she wanted to die— it was really quite the opposite. She wanted a chance to truly live.

If she could prove that Riley was lying to them, then she would know for sure whether or not he had their best interest at heart. If it turned out that he was right, then she was probably better off dead. But if her instincts were right, then she would finally be free.

"Lex," Riley called out. Her eyes met his, but she was careful to keep her face neutral. "Your eyes are getting pretty dark. Join that group tonight."

Every time that she eyed him suspiciously, he waited longer to let her feed. He distracted her with her thirst when she asked questions. It was like he didn't want any of them to know what was actually going on. That's what made it all the more important that she figured it all out.

She looked at the group he had pointed at— perfect. They would be easy to persuade if she found that it was needed. If everything went according to plan, she would use them to convince Riley that she was dead. She didn't want to risk him coming after her.