Page 18 of To Kill a Vampire
The space that separates us feels like miles, but it also feels too close.
I shouldn’t have come here.
“You’re staying here?” I ask.
It’s easy to know what Fallon sees when she looks at the Infinity witch. The comfort she finds in the witch is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. Never once have I seen an Infinity witch befriend another mystic the way this one has. She’s different. But so is Fallon.
I can only hope the witch doesn’t make an appearance tonight. I can’t handle seeing my brother right now.
Trinkets are tacked to the walls. Endless amounts of ancient pottery litters the available space on all of the tables. Unrecognizable objects hang from the ceiling, creating a messy essence of the past all around the room.
“Kenzent offered to let me stay here. She … I don’t even realize she’s here most of the time. And she disappears so quickly I – I’ll never have to worry about hurting her.”
Does she worry she’ll hurt me?
A long and ceaseless breath leaves my tired lungs. The heavy winds of the ocean seem to pull it right from me. The breeze twists the loose strands of her long hair across her pretty face. Her hair is longer than I remember; damp locks dip down around her shoulders and arms. The usually tight curls are loose waves, demanding me to feel them between my fingertips.
“Her name’s Kenzent?” It’s the only normal thing I can think to ask.
With a small and genuine smile that ignites my heart, Fallon nods. My lips turn up with the sight of her beautiful happiness.
She’s happy here … Good.
My hands push deep into my pockets as I rehearse once more what I intended to say. “I think we should start searching for Atticus.”
Sharp, white teeth bite into her lower lip as her attention hits the floor again. I lick my lips slowly as I wait for her reply, my focus a little too attentive to the lip she’s toying with.
“We can leave tomorrow at dusk. Declan says he has an idea of where the vampires will be hiding while they regain their strength.”
She spoke to Declan?
I push aside the irrational spike of jealously that seems to invade my mind more and more lately. I nod, concentrating on the fact that tomorrow we’ll finally be leaving.
Tomorrow is the start of something I’m fully prepared for. Something deadly.
* * *
After the months I’ve spent with Declan, I’d assume I still wouldn’t want to rip out his flirting tongue and shove it up his own ass. And yet the urge still boils under my skin every time he so much as sends Fallon an overly pleasant smile.
Kaino and Shane lead our group south east through the moonlit forest, while Ayden and Declan keep my wife company. She seems to keep her distance from Ayden as much as possible as she chomps on the bones Declan supplies her with. As for myself, I retreat to the back of the group, sulking with a childish demeanor at how ridiculous my life has become.
I can tell Gabriel and Luca don’t want to hang around with me behind everyone else, but for some odd reason they do, matching my lethargic and pouting pace step-for-step.
“You’re overreacting,” Gabriel whispers to me.
I’m not an idiot. I’m fully aware I’m overreacting. It doesn’t change my behavior in the slightest.
Fallon glances back at us, her eyes locking on mine, her lips pulling down faintly. Rage burns through me as Declan skims his fingers up the inside of her wrist, catching her attention once more.
“We’ve got another twenty miles. Let’s take a break here and start back up in ten minutes,” he tells us as if we’re all just touring the countryside.
I close my eyes, dropping my backpack to the ground and walking away from them all, putting space between me and everyone else for the time being.
I don’t stop moving until I can’t hear his annoyingly instructing voice any longer. It feels like the forest is quiet for the first time in a long time. My mind is quiet as well.
A large tree trunk supports my weight as I slide against it, the bark biting into my back as I settle tiredly onto the dry ground. Leaves crunch beneath my boots as they skim across the dirt, my legs stretching as much as possible.
“What are you doing out here?”
