“Thank you.” It’s a kind gift. The kind that could give me a chance at evening the playing field between me and my masked villain.
“I want you to stay safe, Candice. I want you to feel as comfortable as possible. And most of all, I want you to learn just how powerful you’re capable of being. You’re beginning to see it. I’m eager to see how far you can go here. What potions you can create. One day, you’ll put one of us in our place definitively, and I will love every second of it.”
“Why?” I whisper. “Why do you care so much?” I don’t even understand how he could be this kind and considerate to me after everything.
Without responding, Jarron takes a few long strides to his bed and curls his legs beneath him casually. I don’t move, still holding tightly to the dagger box.
“One night on Myre Island, when we were young, there was a vampire on the beach. Do you remember?”
I nod.
“Trevor and Liz ran off the moment we saw him. He seemed peaceful, soaking in the moonlight, but we knew he was dangerous to all four of us at the time. He could have killed us all if given the chance. But you refused to retreat. We were building a sandcastle in the middle of the night—because somehow that made sense.”
I smirk at that memory.
“I remember the way the moon reflected off your hair. The expression on your face as you focused so intently on our castle. You barked instructions at me, but most of the time, I didn’t complete the task to your liking, so you redid it anyway.”
I remember how no one ever wanted to build with me because I annoyed the hell out of them all. Except Jarron. He was impressively patient with me. Maybe that’s why I was always closer with him than Trevor. Liz put up with my antics only as much as she had to. She’d go off and do her own thing, leaving me to obsess over whatever it was I was obsessing over at the time.
In this case, a sandcastle.
Myre Island was fairly safe. There were guards everywhere and only a few select families were allowed there. There weren’t supposed to be any vampires, that’s for sure.
"We should have run too, you know. A human and an underage demon prince? A prime meal for a vamp who’d just swam miles. But you refused to run. You were the bravest of us all.”
I snort. “I wasn’t brave. I was stupid.”
He shrugs. “I was in awe,” he says, voice distant. “You just sat there and continued to shift the sand beneath your fingers, crafting this ridiculously elaborate structure. I still don’t know how you did it. It was like you were spelling the sand.”
“I don’t have any magic.”
“Yeah, I know. But in my mind, it was magic.Youwere magic. Because that vampire never even looked in our direction. He saw Trevor and Liz run up over the hill and into your parents’ house. But we stayed on the beach, and he didn’t see us. I wondered what would have happened if he had seen us. I was convinced that you’d protect me. No one could ever stand against someone as brave and strong and beautiful as you.”
I suck in a breath.
“That's why. That's why I'm so determined to help you, both in getting your revenge and gaining back the power I’m so convinced you could have. Should have. I know you’re human; I’m not saying you have any hidden magic. But you didn’t run when you should have. And I want to see that Candice again. I want you to believe you can be her."
My stomach twists. Tears sting the back of my throat.
I don’t see that night the same way he does. Our parents came out within ten minutes, before I was even able to finish my project, and they flipped out that we were out alone at night. The authorities hunted down the vampire, and I was grounded for three days. By the time I was allowed back out, my castle was completely gone. It was pointless. Worthless.
I never realized he’d been impressed by my bravery or my determination. Both were stupid, in my mind.
“Thank you, for the dagger,” I tell him. “I should head back now.” My stomach aches, again unsure if that’s actually what I want.
Jarron slowly rises to his feet and approaches the door. But I don't move, something sticking in my mind.
“That night,” I whisper just as his hand lands on the door handle. “The night you changed. Do you remember that one?”
He freezes. “Not really. It’s all a blur.”
“You turned, exposing your true form while we were playing hide and seek. And you stalked Liz.”
Jarron stops breathing. He still isn’t looking at me; he stares down at his hand, squeezing the handle tightly. We were just playing. I don’t know what triggered his manifestation or if that’s just how it works. One moment he’s basically a regular boy, if not a bit stronger and faster than usual, and the next, he’s a literal beast with magic he couldn’t even begin to control.
“You weren’t you.” My voice breaks the same way my heart did that night. “You hurt her. Did you know that?”
His head whips to me, eyes fully black. I stumble backward at the sight of those demon eyes that terrified me from that night.
