Page 10 of This Blood That Binds Us
Once we sat, my brothers broke into conversation, but my mind wandered. That girl was all I could think about. I’d been constantly checking the local news station but no mention of an attack. More importantly, no deaths.
I had to picture the girl alive. It was the only way I could get through every day. I imagined her as a traveler. A young backpacker, just passing through the area on a soul-searching voyage. She had a large loving family and definitely a protective dad who was worried sick when she turned up at the hospital, but they’d flown out to be with her and took her back home. The memory of what happened would be a distant one, maybe an interesting one she’d tell her kids. She wasn’t dead. She couldn’t be.
We’d only been in Blackheart for two months, and things were calming down. My brothers seemed happier—relaxed, even. Somehow, I’d ruined everything in the span of a couple of minutes just a few days beforehand. I expected the cops to come through the doors at any minute and arrest me.
Maybe that was why I looked over my shoulder. A strange sensation tickled my spine. Someone was watching me. I scanned the room with no luck. No one was looking at us, and no cops were around.
“Aaron, how are your classes?” Luke’s voice snapped me out of my own inner turmoil.
“Fine.” I shrugged. I moved around the pieces of bacon on my plate, breaking them off into little pieces.
Luke sighed, and guilt bubbled in my stomach like old soda. Luke was trying his best to keep us all together—and happy. But it didn’t change anything that had happened.
We weren’t some normal, lucky group of brothers who’d decided it would be a great idea to go to college together. Back in Brooklyn, my older brothers never planned on going to college. But they spent all their time trying to ensure Presley and I did. From a young age, they “worked” and helped my mom keep afloat. They never explained what they were actually doing. I wasn’t the only one who had a secret. My older brothers had kept the biggest one of all that led to my current plight. A vampire who couldn’t eat food, sitting in the cafeteria thousands of miles away from a home I could never return to. We were on the run, and I didn’t even fully understand why.
I had no idea how they dealt with the guilt or if they even had any. Judging by the smiles on Zach and Luke’s face, I assumed everything was easier for them. I was just too soft.
A flash of red caught my attention in my peripheral vision, and I looked toward the line of students walking in and going toward the food bar. I don’t know what I’d expected to see, but I never expected to see her.
Cascading red hair fell from her shoulders. Her cheeks were full of life again, and I identified the sound of her heartbeat. Loud and strong in her chest. With my mouth agape, she scanned her card, grabbed a tray, and walked toward the cafeteria line. She looked healthy—happy, even—in her workout attire. A black two-piece gym set and earphones draped across her neck.
My chest expanded with relief. She was alive. I drew a small, quiet breath to expel the erratic excitement that had bottled itself in my chest.
“What’s up with you?” Zach said, his dark hair falling into his face. He pulled it behind his ears.
“Nothing. Nothing,” I said quickly, stealing another glance in her direction. “I think I just need to go get Presley some more napkins.”
She was almost done and heading toward the silverware area in the middle of the room. My body moved before my brain, and I snapped up and out of my chair. I had to talk to her. Just for a minute, to make sure she really was okay.
“Thanks, brother!” Presley chimed.
But I was already halfway to the center island. The girl and I reached it at the same time. She hadn’t seen me at first. Her attention was on the silverware.
My heart was in my throat as I struggled to keep my voice calm and soft. “Hi.”
She turned to me, and her eyes grew wide. Her heart stuttered, and she lost her grip on her food tray. It clattered to the floor in a mess of scrambled eggs and hash browns.
We both went for her tray at the same time.
“Hey, let me help you!” I grabbed napkins and furiously wiped the floor.
“Come closer to me, and I’ll scream.” Her hands were shaking, her blue eyes filled with determination. “I know who you are, and I knowwhatyou are.”
She picked up pieces of egg from the floor, and the cafeteria went back to its usual dull roar.
“I’m not going to hurt you! I-I’m so happy you’re alive. Are you okay? Like, really okay?”
By talking to her, I knew what danger I was putting myself and my family into. She could belt out my identity at any time and have a mob full of people come to her aid. But at that moment, I didn’t care. I had to know she was going to be okay and that I hadn’t completely ruined her life like mine.
“What kind of question is that?” She stared at me for a moment, looking me up and down. “I’m sure this is a surprise to you, considering you tried to kill me!”
“No. No, I wasn’t trying to kill you. I can see why you would think that. But that’s why I called 911, to save you.” Smearingmashed hash browns all over the floor, I attempted to clean up. “I didn’t want you to die.”
She dropped her fork onto her tray. “You...called 911? That was you?”
“Yes! Yes! It was an accident. This is all a big misunderstanding.”
Her eyes lit up with rage. “Misunderstanding? You attacked me!”
