Page 54 of Stalked

Not sure how I was going to get out of this one. We had been planning my birthday dinner for months.

CHAPTER 16

I FELT NUMBby everything that had happened in the last few weeks. I should have been excited when I awoke in the morning—after all, it was my birthday—but I wasn’t.

The day was filled with long discussions with Lily about how to prepare for my Awakening. I also shared with her my newfound knowledge of hunting vampires.

Lily swore she had no idea that the creatures I fought in my past life were the undead. In fact, vampires were only legends in our history books, at least the parts her own parents shared with her.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the man I had killed, and the woman Caleb threw into the pile of bodies in my memories. It all made sense now. They were vampires.

Fucking vampires!My God.

My mind had a hard time wrapping around the fact that vampires existed.I could barely accept that I had magic and lived an entirely different life hundreds of years ago.

It didn’t matter how many times I ignored Caleb’s text messages to explain himself and his need to be with me tonight as I transitioned. If I faced him about my discovery of being a vampire hunter—letting him know what I saw; everything would change. It would no longer be a memory. It would be my life, and Caleb would take full advantage of that knowledge. This is what he wanted all along.

I hurried downstairs and into the kitchen, watching Lily place her dinner plate in the sink. When I turned, Joel was leaning up against the wall with a massive smirk on his face.

“Joel!” I cried out, leaping into his arms for a tight hug. “I didn’t think you’d be able to come back out. I thought you had the opening for Derek’s recent work this weekend.”

“And miss my niece’s ascension?” We released our hug and looked at each other at arm’s length. “Derek understands.”

I pressed my lips together and gave him a nod. “Did Lily fill you in?” I asked.

“Yeah, it seems like we’re learning new things about you by the day now,” he said, folding his arms across his chest and leaning his back against the counter. “I don’t know how to kill the undead, Mercy, but I can teach you how to control your powers if you feel overwhelmed.”

I glanced at the clock. “I told Riley everything—well, almost everything,” I said to Joel. “He wants to be here tonight, too, to see it happen. Thankfully, whatever made him sick a few days ago has passed.”

“Mercy told Shannon he was still sick, and she caught it too,” Lily added. “So, if she shows up here with soup and cold meds—”

“We play along,” Joel said, giving my hand a tight squeeze. “How’s Cami doing?”

I swallowed as he released my hand. “Still in a coma, or what the doctors think is a coma.”

“There are spells that might break whatever the witch did to her. I’ll try to swing by the hospital and see what I can do in the next day or so.”

That hope for Cami pulled at my heart.

Could he really help her?

“Joel, Lily?” I started. “What should I expect tonight?”

“I won’t lie, Mercy. It’ll be overwhelming,” Joel explained. “But not as big of an ordeal as you think it’ll be. You could literally sit on the couch with your feet propped up while it happens. The sensation mostly feels like a stream of water entering your body, but you can breathe it in without drowning.”

“But they’re not here,” I reminded her.

“And that’s a good thing,” Lily said. “It’s your choice what you plan to do after this, Mercy. Let’s focus on getting your powers back to you first.”

“We’ll be right by your side, though. Okay?” Joel’s assurance brought me a tiny amount of comfort, but the fear of what I’d be experiencing still lingered within me.

Lily and I had an extensive conversation this morning about Caleb’s need to be the one holding my hand through the Awakening. So much so that he had threatened through text messages that he would track me down tonight, and the immortal spell would happen right after, whether I wanted it to or not.

So much for not bringing it up again, fucking liar.

To him, it was my duty to the world to live in immortality to protect the mortal world.

To me, he could fuck right off.

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