“Not wolves, Miss Fiori. Vampires.”
“Whatever. Same difference.” He opened his mouth to contradict me, so I rushed on. “The point is, what you’re asking is impossible, and it will probably put my life in jeopardy.”
“Miss Fiori,” his condescending tone grated me, “the truce between vampires and the House of Keys is up for forfeit. This investigation is primarily the coven’s concern, and now they’re making it ours. If these deaths continue, I’m afraid the truce will eventually have no choice but to dissolve.”
I twisted my hands in my lap. “What happens if the truce dissolves?”
“Your kind will be hunted.”
***
I walked out of Castle Rushen in a daze. The sky had a predawn glow to it, bathing the stone buildings around me in shades of violet. I could smell the ocean in the air, and I could hear the sounds of fishermen setting out for a day.
Castletown was almost unbearably beautiful, and it seemed wrong that I could only feel bleak.
I had no options. I might be putting my life in danger by interacting with my coven, but if I didn’t at least try to find the killer, my life and the lives of other vampires could be at stake.
A shiver passed over me. Was that long ago prophecy now coming true? Was my existence heralding the extermination of vampires?
It was too much. The blame, the guilt, the fear I now carried. I worked for the Politia, but it wouldn’t protect me from the community’s backlash, nor would it exempt me from persecution, if the truce dissolved.
And then what? What did that mean exactly? That I and others like me would be imprisoned? Killed?
No amount of action on my part could forgive my genetics. I kicked a nearby trashcan. It’s aluminum shell crumpled in on my foot.
“Damnit!” I shouted, yanking my foot out.
A droplet of water hit the ground in front of me. At first I thought it might be rain, but then I noticed the wetness on my face.
I swiped away my tears. Rosy teardrops smeared along my hand. Why would anyone worry about a girl who cried bloody tears?
I pulled out my phone, the set of my mouth grim. I scrolled down until I saw the contact I wished to call, the two emoticon hearts still next to his name.
Screw the Politia. I wasn’t doing this for them. I was doing it for myself and for the other lost souls who called themselves vampires. Because good and evil weren’t inborn traits. They were choices we made.
I stared at the contact only for a second before clicking Send. And then, for the first time in almost two months, I heard my soulmate’s voice.
Chapter 4
“Gabrielle?”
For a moment I couldn’t speak at all. I wasn’t sure he’d even pick up since the sun had almost risen. His voice sounded hopeful, worried, and reluctant all at once.
And hearing it undid every stupid, idiotic barrier I’d built over the last two months.
“Andre.” My voice broke in the middle of his name. Thank goodness he couldn’t see me because I could feel more hot tears snake down my face, and the world turned pink.
I meant to say, I need your help. But my traitorous mouth formed different words. “I miss you.”
My face flushed. If only I could snatch back words.
I waited a beat. The silence must’ve been only a second or two, but to me, I felt I’d lived a lifetime in that pause. Then he spoke, his voice rough. “I’ve missed you since the moment you slid out of my arms.”
I pressed the palm of my hand to my mouth to hold back a choked sob. More tears slipped down my cheeks. Since when was I this way? I couldn’t believe people enjoyed this—love. It hurt worse than my gun shot wounds had.
“Can we meet up?” I asked.
“Of course.” Who was this Andre, this open, agreeable man? How was I supposed to reconcile him with the emotionless killer I saw that evening at Bishopcourt? Or the frustrating, bossy vampire I met two months ago?
He was probably wondering the same thing about me. Who the broken girl on the phone was. I cringed at the thought.
“Listen Gabrielle,” my heart fluttered at the way he said my name, “the sun’s coming up, so I have to go. You’ll hear from me again this evening. But until then—stay safe.”
“You too.”
The call ended just as the first rays of the sun rose on the horizon. I stared at my phone. There was at least one person who worried about the girl with the bloody tears.
***
School that day started off rough, and it only got worse as the day drew on. By the time I walked into my history class, I expected the whispered and suspicious looks I received.
The entire school was wondering whether I was the killer.