“Wait!” she let out before catching up with him.
It was getting light. The sky began to turn to pink, red and purple paints. Violette continued to raise her eyes to the sky, sometimes shifting her gaze to Dante walking along.
The first rays of sunlight finally began to touch the earth's surface, awakening its nature.
“Maybe we can find another place? The sun has almost risen,” she gasped out as they passed two pain trees. She looked much more worried than him, as if the one who really was in danger was actually her.
“Vampires don't die because of the sun,” he finally said, his voice sounded quite derisive as if it was a stupid assumption to think the other way around. But then he added, “Not immediately. It's just painful to be under the sun, but I am not scared of a little pain. The longer you are in the sun, the more it hurts. It's tolerable for now.”
Violette looked at him – his face painted in serious colors, not a sign of worry or fear, though she assumed he could just hide it. Or he was indeed cold-hearted even to himself. It was hard to say. All she could do is just follow him through the woods.
Chapter 23
EVEN VAMPIRES HAVE A WEAKNESS
Bare tree branches let in the dull rays of the sun as they were trudging through the tall dense forest. Violette exhaled warm breath in the fresh morning air. The ground beneath became wetter from the melting snow, the drops of water sparkled on the surface of the tip of her boots.
She kept returning her gaze to Dante. The higher the sun was – the more dispirited he looked. His head bowed downward, however he remained speechless. Violette seemed to think he wasn't in a really good state: since the day she'd met him she saw many versions of him, he could be serious and untalkative, sometimes he was shamelessly bothersome, sometimes carefree but never lacking energy like now. He looked like a kid who was tired of walking after a long day spent outside.
“Dante,” she called him.
“Yes?” His attention seemed dull, but he answered her almost immediately, without raising his head or eyes.
“Are you okay?” Violette bent her head to the side.
“Concerned about me, Little Witch?” He smiled under his breath, though his voice came out rather raspy.
A shadow of worry crossed her features.
“So sweet of you,” Dante said softly, almost like his words weren't intended to rag on her.
“I need you alive not less than you need me,” she pointed out.
He lazily glanced at her from the corners of his eyes.
They walked some miles, crossing the clearing when she noticed Dante was practically sleeping on the go. She nudged her elbow at him, although it didn't have any effect – his eyes remained closed.
“Dante!” she exclaimed.
“Why are you yelling?” he drawled and slowly opened his eyes.
“Because you are sleeping.”
“I'm not. I just didn't want to answer.” His eyelids were again practically closed.
Her brows dipped. “You look bad.”
“Thank you, I was dreaming to hear that,” he mumbled.
“It's not funny. You are literally walking with closed eyes.” Her legs went still.
“I am not sleeping, the sun is just too bright to look at.”
She hardly believed he was telling her the truth – his voice reflected tiredness and his gaze blunted.
Finally they found themselves near the cemetery, it meant they were not far away from the mansion. She spun on her heels.
“Look, we–Dante!” she choked a gasp and fell silent, finding the vampire falling to the ground near the closest tree.
