Page 95 of Sunsets & Other Dangerous Things

“Friends? Not another human.” The way he drew out the U in human had her cringing. “Or is it that witch you’ve been seen with?”

Instinctively, Ashley wanted to defend her friends. To speak of their quality, but she knew, despite his puritan upbringing, moral appeals wouldn’t reach John.

“They’re good people. In fact, Esther is talking about becoming a vampire as well.” She blushed, knowing how intimate transforming a human was and the significance of the gesture.

John scoffed. “Pray tell. How does she expect to accomplish this?”

Ashley took a deep breath. She’d meant to wait until Hannah was there to have this discussion, but Esther was a sure thing. “I offered to change her.” Her cheeks heated, excitement coursing through her veins, as she finally said the words aloud. “I plan on being with her forever.”

John stood, setting his book down on the seat he vacated and drifting toward her. “You told a human about us and offered tomake her a vampire? Without consulting us first, the Family you hope to be a part of?”

“Well, I figured it wasn’t really your business,” said Ashley. “It’s something personal, and we don’t really have that share-personal-things kind of relationship.”

John closed his eyes and sighed the sigh of fathomless weariness. “An initiate creating another vampire in the town where we strive to keep our presence relatively unnoticed is most certainlymy business,as you say.”

“Oh.” Ashley wasn’t sure what else to say. She hadn’t considered the issue from this angle.

“And so, to clarify any misgivings, you will not be transforming your human companion. No matter howfamiliarthe two of you have become. Furthermore, you should be made aware that your acquaintance with such unsavory characters has been noticed and is not seen in a favorable light. You would do well to remember your precarious state in this household and the image you are meant to portray if you hope to become a member.”

“Do you have a problem with my friends?”

“You are meant to bebreakingyour human ties, not creating new ones.”

“Why did you send me to school if I’m not supposed to talk to anyone?”

“That was precisely the point. The objective of this exercise was to demonstrate your ability to engage with humans without drawing attention. To live amongst while maintaining your life apart.”

She didn’t have time for this. While they discussed her failures as a vampire, her friends were waiting for her. Esther’s question mark of doubt continued to haunt her. “I need to go. I can talk later when I get back.”

“Leave now, and there will be no need for you to return.”

“Is that a threat? You’re kicking me out?”

“That’s up to you. But know that if you leave now, there will be repercussions, should you return.” His hand curled like claws around the banister.

Ashley paused with her hand on the doorknob, reeling at another person so casually throwing her away.

And now she had to choose.

Everything she’d worked toward for years—everything she was so close to having—or the people who had grown closest to her. The people who had stood up for her and shown they cared.

“Fine.” She opened the door and left.

Ashley was still a hopeless romantic after all.

33

Esther

Esther stepped from the rideshare directly into a puddle and scanned the beach parking lot. A soft mist shaped the gentle waves of her hair into serpentine ringlets, but at least she didn’t need her hood anymore. Only one eyesore, Uther’s electric-blue Nissan LEAF, occupied the lot, but Uther himself was nowhere to be seen.

“Maybe his battery died,” Esther suggested as August waved the driver off. “Or he ran out of gas and called a ride home.”

“How could he call a ride if his phone’s dead?” His soaked hair was starting to dry, curling the small hairs by his ears. He shook his head disapprovingly at the lone car. “There’re too many coincidences for my liking.”

“Well, what do you want to do?”

The plan was to ask people at the beach if they’d seen anyone matching Uther’s description, but with no one to ask, that plan flew out the window. The rain had done its job of clearing out any beachgoers.

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