Page 62 of Afflicted

But they found a pulse at the clinic. They brought her back from the cold brink of death, dragging her back into this hell she found herself in. Her skin went from dull grey to pale pink again, her body slowly taking in oxygen that she so desperately wanted to force out of it.

I told anyone who would listen that it had been an accident. If I said it often enough, I’d convince myself of it. Admitting to myself that she wanted to die, that her life was so hollow and barren that she no longer saw any value in it, was too much to bear.

“You’d better wake up, Jules,” I whisper, brushing the backs of my fingers along her motionless hand. “I’m not losing you too.”

There’s movement behind me, footsteps in the hallway. Someone stops in the doorway, and sighs.

“I gotta stop catching the two of you like this,” Sam says.

I don’t turn around and look at her, I just keep holding Juliet’s hand.

Sam walks into the room and sits down on the other side of Juliet’s bed. She casts a cursory glance at the monitors telling me Juliet’s heart is beating, that oxygen is flowing through her body.

“Lucky you found her, again.” Sam’s eyes narrow a little as she looks at me. “You OK?”

“I’m fine. Just brought back some memories.”

“You wanna talk about it?”

“No,” I say, shaking my head.

“OK, then I’ll talk about it.” Sam leans back in her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. “I remember reading about an attack, back when vamps first became public knowledge. It was all over the news, back in, what ’96?”

My stomach twists, and uneasiness snakes down my back.

“An attack in London,” Sam goes on. “Four friends, high school buddies, meeting up for a reunion. They were murdered right out the front of the pub as they left.”

“People get murdered every day,” I mutter. “It’s a big city, it happens.”

“They sure do, most of them don’t have their heads torn off though. Most of them don’t have their guts spilled all over the street while black cabs drive past.” Sam crosses one leg over the other. “It stirred up a whole lot of fear. Humans had just found out that we existed, and then this attack happened.”

“Bad timing I guess.”

Sam snorts. “You can say that again. The media used it as a reason not to trust us. All the covens were furious.”

I huff out a breath and meet her eyes. “What does this have to do with her?”

Sam raises her eyebrows. “I don’t know, what does it have to do with her?” She taps a finger on her arm as she waits for me to respond. When all I do is glare at her, she goes on. “I had a look at your file.”

“Good for you.”

“Silas,” she snaps. “I’m here as your friend. I’m here because I care about you. I know what it is to try and make the past right, trust me. My parents fucking ownedpeopleand I grew up thinking that was normal.” She takes a deep breath, leaning her elbows on her knees. “What happened to that girl wasn’t your fault.”

“It was an accident.”

“I don’t mean her.” Sam raises her joined hands to gesture to Juliet, and her eyes soften. “You can talk to me.”

Memory crashes over me, and I feel sick. The numbness of those days washes over me, the same helplessness I feel now as I stroke Juliet’s hand, trying to anchor myself in her softness and her warmth.

“Harriet,” I finally murmur.

“That was her?”

I sigh heavily. “I’ve never really talked about this. Only to my maker. It’s… not easy.”

Sam sits and waits patiently. My tongue feels heavy in my mouth, trying to find the words to describe all the pain I’ve been carrying for all these years. I press the heel of my hand to my eye, and inhale sharply.

“Harriet and I grew up together,” I begin. “She was my neighbor, we were like two weeks apart in age. We were both weird kids, she was always dancing with these streamer ribbon things, and I was the awkward arty one. Hands always covered in paint, hiding in oversized jumpers.”

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