I don’t remember moving.
I don’t remember doing anything at all.
But suddenly, Sebastian’s hands fall away. His body hits the ground with a heavy thud, and by the time I turn, he’swrithing in the grass. Despite the poor lighting, I can see it. A dark stain blossoms in the center of his chest, growing larger and brighter, until finally I realize…
Blood.
Something tore open his chest, and I feel inexplicably certain it wasme.
“Wait,” I say. I crouch to his side, hands fluttering over his chest, but not touching him. “Wait, no. Undo. Undo that! No, I did not mean that.”
I’m talking nonsense and babbling, tears streaming down my cheeks. There’s no way I just killed a man by wishing for it, right? I look over each shoulder. We’re still alone. He’s still dying.
There’s no other explanation. Somehow, thishadto be me.
I touch his chest, reeling back when my skin meets damp warmth. Blood. There’s literal blood on my hands.
“I didn’t…”
I should put pressure on this. Or call an ambulance or…something. I’ve got to do something.
But doesn’t he deserve to die?something dark within me whispers.Wasn’t he going to hurt me?
I shove the thoughts away and dig my phone out of his pants pocket. A piece of paper comes with it. My fingers stain the edges with blood, and I shine my phone light over it.
It’s a folded copy of my drivers license. My name and South Carolina address, my weight from two years ago and a grainy picture from when I dyed my hair brown.
My hand shakes.
Sebastian stares blankly up at the night sky. Dead, I realize. He’s dead, and whether or not it was my fault, there’s no way to save him now.
I shove my phone and the scrap of paper into my purse. Sebastian’s opposite pocket is empty.
I get to my feet. I don’t let myself check my clothes for blood. I don’t let myself hesitate a moment longer.
Instead, I do what I should have the moment I saw Sebastian at Barco’s.
I run.
5
NOT IF YOU’RE INVOLVED
SEBASTIAN
Fucking witch. If I didn’t need her, I’d kill her. I’d follow her hideously delicious scent to her apartment complex, drag her out by her ankles, and remove her head from her body. I’d drink every addictive drop of her blood, and I’d never have to think about her again.
I peel off my shirt.
No. I am not some infant vampire without an ounce of self-control. I am Sebastian Fucking Vulce, and I will not be destroyed by an inexperienced witch who doesn’t know how to work her powers.
I clench the blood-stained shirt in my fist. Not bad for an inexperienced witch.
I use the clean side of the shirt to wipe the remaining blood from my chest. Some of it has already dried to my skin, but there’s nothing to do about that. I walk through the park with only the earliest tinge of sunlight on the horizon. If I wasn’t a sunwalker, I’d be dead.
Dead at the hands of an oblivious witch.
How embarrassing.
