Page 90 of Eternally Yours


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He was pale and tall and thin. His hair bright as snow. Not blond, but white, almost like it was leeched of color. If James was pale, then this man looked almost translucent.

“Uncle James, this is Anna Ee. An old... friend.” Kai spoke so formally. I almost frowned up at him in surprise.

“Yes, we met yesterday.” James smiled. And thank God he pretended like this wasn’t the most awkward situation in the world. He gestured to the other man. “This is Andrej.”

“Are you here for dinner?” Andrej asked. His voice was deeper than I’d anticipated. I don’t know what I was expecting, maybe those harsh whisper-like voices in old vampire movies.

His blue eyes lingered on my face, moving down slowly, to take measure of me. I felt like a deer caught in the gaze of a mountain lion, too scared to move, as if that would signal him to pounce.

“She’s just leaving.” Kai took my arm and pulled me past them. His grip was too tight, cutting off my circulation.

“You don’t have to walk me out.”

But he ignored me and kept so close behind me that I felt like I was being herded.

We walked down the familiar hallway together and down the stairs. If I tried, I could imagine that we were still together. That I was walking him out after watching a movie in my room. But as I stepped off the bottom stair I saw that the living room was completely different. Sleek leather furniture had replaced my mom’s soft blue couches and worn wooden coffee table.

And that spot, right in the middle of the room where she’d collapsed, was now covered in a woven rug. It was the last place I saw her alive.

Just outside the front door I hesitated, wondering if Ishould say something, but Kai spoke first. “If I find the photo I’ll let you know.” Then he slammed the door in my face as I stood alone on the porch.

I walked slowly back to my car. Like I was reluctant to leave too quickly.

It’s because I didn’t accomplish what I came here to do, I told myself. But I knew what I was really thinking about was Kai. How I hoped he’d change his mind and come after me.

I almost laughed at the irony of the situation. Weren’t our positions reversed two years ago? I hadn’t come after Kai then. What right did I have to wish for anything different now? But as I unlocked my car, I heard him call my name. I turned, with a smile forming on my lips, as he jogged across the street.

“You forgot your bag.” Kai’s voice was flat, his eyes blank. Like he’d pulled down a shutter so I couldn’t see what he was thinking.

“Oh, thanks,” I said, reaching out for it, but he didn’t hand it over.

Instead he said, “So you’re a vampire hunter now?”

Oh crap, he looked inside the bag.

“I’m not,” I said, surprise making my legs shake. “I mean, not really. I just... I need...” What was I supposed to say here? That I wanted my freedom so badly, I’d do something as foolish as try to capture a live vampire?

“I never thought you were the type to ruin a person’s life for a few bucks,” Kai said.

“I’m not!” I insisted, horrified at how he put it. “I mean, yes, I need the money. But I didn’t think—”

“Didn’t think that you’d be sentencing my uncle to be imprisoned, or probably worse. Do you even know what they do to people in those detention centers?”

The way he kept referring to James as a person instead of a vampire. It made shame fill me to the brim. And it threatened to spill free as I felt my eyes water. I wiped at the tears with a jerky swipe of my hand.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. I just wanted to get out of here. How could I have gone from the surreal high of kissing him to this awful low of being confronted with my own horrible choices? Maybe I was stuck in this nothing town because I didn’t deserve to leave.

“Would you turn me in?” he asked, leaning in so close that he trapped me against the side of my car.

“Wh-what?” I stuttered out.

“You obviously came here to hunt a vampire. Does it really matter which one?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, even though I knew exactly what he was implying and my brain screamed that it couldn’t be true. Not Kai. He couldn’t be...

He shook his head sadly and finally backed off so I could turn and open my car door.

“Why are you doing this?” he asked quietly behind me, stopping me in my tracks.