I wake up with a start. When I open my eyes I see only darkness around me – in other words: I see nothing.
Breathing heavily and sweating buckets I try to clear my head. It's not easy – nothing in my mind is lucid, nothing at all. But I try anyway.
I think of yesterday – yesterday night. Of what he said. Of what Davous said.
All the words, his and my own, float through my mind, making me dizzy. It's so much. It's not just the words. The things I felt, remembering that is what really makes my head spin. It's all so strange, all so . . . new.
What is happening to me? Why do I react to him the way I do? Why do I feel so betrayed?
I unfreeze and am back again. I was lost, but now I'm back.
I smile at him, warmly.
Warmth; I feel it streaming to every part of my body. What is happening to me? What am I turning into? Is it him, who has this effect on me?
That last thought scares me to death and beyond. I want to shutter, I want to recoil, I want to run away screaming – but nothing happens. Nothing but calm and warmth takes hold of my body. I can't resist, nor do I think I want to.
I move – I move toward him. He has sat up from the couch, which leaves room for me, to sit on the end. I don't look in his eyes as I move, I don't know why. Instead my eyes are
When I arrive a half hour late for dinner at the dining room everyone is curious where I was. I tell them the only lame excuse I could come up with: that I was so distracted while reading a book that I lost track of time.
Many laugh; before today they had thought I'd never picked up a book in my life – probably assuming I couldn't read like some others here – the idea of me actually enjoying a book is more hilarious than realistic to them.
I'm glad they laugh, it makes them completely overlook the possibility that I could be lying. There's only one problem now; Kate doesn't laugh. Well, that wouldn't really be a problem – but that s
We leave the restroom with a slightly better pace than we came to it. It's still not that fast, but at least it's balanced. It makes me less nervous, less afraid for the possibility of him falling to the ground at any moment.
The halls are silent, deserted by all life. And if it weren't for the moon shining so bright through the many windows, it would be pitch dark. Another piece of luck.
As I had predicted – and maybe, also, because luck seems to be on our side – we don't stumble in to anything or anyone on our way. We make it to the attic door, unscratched and unseen.
But as I close the door behind us, we arrive at our first pro
Why am I doing this? Why am I doing this? Why am I doing this?
I repeat the question like a mantra in my head, over and over again. But no answer comes up. And it's true; there's no logical explanation for what I'm doing. There is no reason, no motive. Only need. Need to help, need to protect. Need to know.
''I'll tell you everything you want to know,'' is what he promised me.
In exchange for protection. In exchange for me hiding him, he will give me what I want most: information.
But isn't the prize I have to pay for this thing much too high? Yes, it is. And still, I'm doing it. I'm paying it.
Why?
That is what I keep
Amos dismisses us after his little speech fairly quickly. Only a few other recruits ask some basic questions – like what the duration of our training will be, and if we'll stay in this place all through our training, etc. etc. – but after that the immortals leave us free to spend the day as we please.
And I, for once, have a great idea. I was thinking, while looking at all the books in this great library, that there might also be some history books. History books with information. History books about the many species, and maybe even about the two worlds.
When I tell Kate my plan, her eyes turn very determent and excited – yes, we are
It's been three weeks since Alexis has brought me to the safe house. Not much has changed. Serious training still hasn't begun. But it will soon, since we're with ninety-six recruits already.
After the incident we had with the vampires – the incident we told none of the other recruits about – nothing else like it has happened. I'd be lying if I said Kate and I didn't wander through the halls, looking for secret places, more than once. But we never found anything. No vampires, no prisons.
They probably hid them well, which seems logical. We weren't very thorough while seeking either, though. The dark eyes of the vampire who tried to k
My skin turns as white as bone, I'm sure. My eyes pop open wide and my mouth hangs open slightly. This all, as I take in the scene before me.
On the courtyard, I can see one big group of people with burns all over their skin. Though, 'people' is not really a good word: these are not people. None of them are.
They are vampires – I'm sure of it.
Goosebumps form on my skin. I can feel it, but I don't see it; my eyes fixed too much on what is before me. My heart thumps loudly in my ears – it's the only thing I can hear any more. And my breath feels shallow, rasping through my throat like salt and sand.
Though the group before me s
The rest of the day we just . . . hang around –that's what the other girls are calling it.
When Tess eventually comes back, she shows me every room of the girl's quarters. She also introduces me to her friends, as does Kate to hers – with both their friends together, I've been introduced to right about every girl there.
In the afternoon we move to the library. Where also the boys that were sitting at our breakfast are. As it turns out, the girls and the boys from the only mingled table are almost all together. Kate and Tess, too, have boyfriends. Kate's is Kyle, and Tess's is Isaac – they pronounce his name much differently than I wou