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  “Chance, no,” I coughed out, willing my legs to work and hold up my body. I was grateful for the rough stone behind me; I would’ve fallen without it to lean against. My vision was still blurry, but I could see that Chance was ignoring me. That, or he didn’t hear me at all.

  “Chance!” I yelled, my voice coming out warbled. It was effective enough, though. He broke his gaze with Aldric and looked over at me. The rage and anger on his face was prominent, but I also saw immense concern. He sprinted over to me, his hands falling onto my shoulders awkwardly, his eyes intense.

  “Are you okay?” he asked with a shaky voice. His hands began busily searching my body for cuts or broken bones. It hurt like hell when he began moving them across my neck and shoulders, but I was too out of it to complain.

  “Fine,” I muttered, the nausea and dizziness subsiding a bit. Thankfully, Chance stopped patting me down. “Just got the wind knocked out of me, that’s all.” I wasn’t sure if it was a lie or the truth, but I knew I wasn’t in serious danger. I couldn’t be, I was a vampire. I didn’t yet know much about my new life, but I was pretty sure it would take more than a kick to the chest to kill me, even if that kick came from someone like Aldric.

  “He’s a dead man,” Chance whispered, his breath hot on my face. “I promise.” And I knew he meant it. Maybe not soon, but one day he would die trying to end Aldric’s life.

  “It had to be done,” Aldric chimed in, still standing firmly in place across the room. “Catching you off-guard is the first lesson in defense. Once you can anticipate your enemy’s move, you can counteract with one of your own.” I heard what he was saying, and it even made a little sense. But in my current state of pain and confusion, his reasons meant jack. I was pissed, and I wanted him to know it.

  “Let me go,” I told Chance, pulling my body away from the wall. “He’s right. I have to do this.” I didn’t agree with Aldric’s method—and I fully intended to show him just how much I didn’t agree—but I had to move forward with my training, and apparently defense was going to come before offense, whether I wanted it to or not. Surprisingly, Chance backed away, confident that I wasn’t hurt. The daggers he was shooting at Aldric with his eyes showed he wasn’t happy about it. Once I didn’t have the stone wall behind me, I realized how hard standing actually was. My legs felt like jell-o, shaking uncontrollably. I had to actually lock my knees to keep from falling over. I took in a deep breath, my lungs expanding, pressing the muscles in my chest against my ribs. The pain was fierce, but I was determined to stay standing and not let it defeat me. I fought my way through it, wincing at the fire circling inside my body. I was a vampire now. I needed to learn to deal with something as simple as a kick to the chest. I half walked, half stumbled over to where Aldric was waiting, careful not to lose my footing on any of the broken pieces of wood scattered across the floor.

  “Shall we continue?” Aldric asked once I came to a shaky stop in front of him. I could tell by his tone that he meant it as more of a statement than a question.

  “Yes,” I said, standing tall and putting as much confidence into the tiny word as possible. A wicked smile crossed Aldric’s face, and I was sure that he enjoyed hurting me. I planned on enjoying hurting him, too.

  The rest of my training session—over four hours—was spent dodging punches and kicks and super-fast charges from Aldric. I managed to get several good kicks and hits in myself, while simultaneously keeping an eye on Chance to make sure he didn’t step in with a wooden stake to drive into Aldric’s chest. After it was over, my body felt like it had been thrown in front of a train and dragged fifty miles. I was actually sweating, something I hardly ever did, and something I had hoped wouldn’t be possible seeing that I was a vampire. Aldric explained that since I’m half human, my body would still experience things the way a human would. I would still sweat and cry and blush…all the things he no longer had to deal with. Hearing that only made me want to fight him again, but I was so tired I could barely climb the basement stairs. I agreed to another round tomorrow—more lessons on defending myself—and Chance and I left. It was only when we were a few miles from Aldric’s house that Chance finally spoke.

  “I hated watching that,” he said through gritted teeth.

  “I hated doing it,” I answered back, surprised at my quick wit given my current state. My body felt every bump in the road as we headed back into town. “But I know what you mean.” And I did. I knew that it must have taken a great deal of control for Chance to stand by and watch me get attacked by a vampire. After all, he was there to protect me, as he kept repeating. Even though I would be fine, I definitely didn’t look it. Aldric managed to avoid leaving any lasting marks on my face, for which I was grateful. My body healed much faster than a full-fledged human’s, but still not as fast as it would were I not a hybrid. So I was glad I wasn’t going to have to worry about explaining bruises to anyone.

  “And thanks for not telling him about Erik or Lila,” I added, realizing that Chance had kept their identities to himself. “And Kayla, too.” She was the one I was most concerned with, so I was glad she was safe, at least for now.

  “Only reason I didn’t is because I was too busy watching out for you. But I plan on telling him, Ava. I have to.”

  “I know,” I said while exhaling. Even something as simple as breathing took a bit of extra effort, the muscles pushing against my lungs aching in response. “I’m just glad it wasn’t today. I need a little time to feel them out, see if they’re a danger to me. Can you give me that, at least?” I was looking across the cab at him, praying he would understand what I was asking. I didn’t like the idea of simply turning them over to Aldric without first finding out if they were okay. It was unfair.

  “I can’t do that. I’m sorry.” Chance’s response surprised me. Up until now, he had always been concerned with what I wanted, so for him to say no was kind of a shock.

  “Why not?” I asked, anger lacing my words.

  “Because those two have one thing on their minds, and that’s killing vampires. Regardless of how nice you think they are, or how comfortable they seem to be when you’re around, you need to remember that. They’re killers, Ava, no matter what.”

  “So is Aldric,” I snapped back, hoping to make him mad. “And you let me be around him as much as I want.” I had unconsciously crossed my arms over my chest, making me look like a pouting child—which is kind of what I was at that moment. I was mad that Chance couldn’t see things from my side, and that he didn’t really want to.

  “You’re right,” he said, “and it’s taking every ounce of self-control I have not to kill him right now.” I heard the anger in Chance’s voice, and though I knew he would be killed in less than a second if he tried to even hurt Aldric, I kept my thoughts to myself. I didn’t want to upset him any further. But I also wanted some answers. I tried once again to dig more truth out of him.

  “So tell me,” I said, nervous. “What does he have over you?” Chance looked at me confused.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, you never told me why you’re helping him. I figure he must have some sort of hold over you.”

  “It’s complicated,” he finally answered, his eyes focused on the road.

  “Try me,” I gave back, my voice heavy with worry.

  “He doesn’t have anything on me.” He paused, like he was searching for the right words. “I just wanted to help you, that’s all.”

  “You said you saw him? The night he found me?” Chance nodded. “Why did you step into the middle of it? Why not just leave us alone?”

  “I couldn’t do that.” There was something odd about the way he spoke. His words were filled with conviction. “And besides,” he went on, “he saw me watching. So, it was either help him with what he was doing, or end up dead.” He finally looked over at me. “I chose to help. And I’m glad I did.” He smiled, the green of his eyes lighting up his face.

  “Good to know you’re not some weirdo who just likes digging up dead peo
ple.” I was glad he semi-laughed at my lousy joke.

  “No, I’m not that weird, Ava. But I am worried about you. About you being around Aldric all the time.” I heard the concern weighing down his words.

  “You worry too much.” I had said it to him before, but it needed repeating. Chance’s constant worrying about me was overwhelming sometimes. I had the whole ‘kill a hundred vampires to save my soul’ thing to focus on; adding in Chance’s extremely overprotective nature around me was beginning to wear me down. I couldn’t concentrate on what I had to do and worry about him getting hurt or killed at the same time. But how was I supposed to tell him that without hurting him in the process?

  “I can’t stop worrying about you, Ava. It’s what I do.”

  “I know. But I’m telling you that you don’t have to worry so much. You’re focusing your entire life on me. Aren’t there other things you’d rather be doing?” He pulled the steering wheel so hard and fast I thought we were going to crash. We veered off the side of the road and came to a stop on the dirt shoulder, a whirling cloud of red and brown dust spinning around us. I loosened my grip on the dashboard and glared at Chance.

  “What the hell are you doing, trying to kill us?” I yelled at him, not caring about upsetting him.

  “Don’t ever say that, understand?” He had turned sideways in the cab-length seat, his large, welcoming eyes burning holes into me. “Don’t for a second think that I’d rather be somewhere other than here. You are so much more important than anything else I could be doing.”

  “Okay,” I said. “I’m sorry I made you mad.” I felt uncomfortable with his high praise—and totally confused by the sudden outpouring of support and concern. Chance turned back in his seat, taking deep breaths to calm himself down. I took the opportunity to pry for more answers. “What’s going on with you? What was that?”

  He slowly looked over at me. “Nothing. Sorry.” He put the truck in drive and pulled back onto the road, and as I focused on the hypnotic white line speeding beneath us, I couldn’t help but think that what he had just said was definitely not nothing.

  1

  7. MOVING FORWARD

  The next week of my life went by quickly and drama free. I couldn’t have been happier when Friday rolled around and I hadn’t seen or smelled a single vampire, and Erik and Lila were seemingly MIA. Except for the constant thrum of bloodlust that I worked very hard to contain, my life seemed normal. Chance and I were getting along—which surprised me considering the super-weird conversation we had had after my defense training at Aldric’s—and Lacey had pretty much lost interest in making me miserable. Only twice during the entire week did she snub me while walking down the hall at school, and she didn’t invoke another confrontation during gym class. A huge accomplishment in my book.

  The only thing I felt uneasy about was Kayla. She had avoided me like the plague all week, and I wasn’t really sure why. Maybe she was scared of being around me now that I knew she was secretly a vampire hunter—you know, me being a vampire and all. Or maybe she felt bad for the way Lila had treated me since she was the catalyst that brought us together. I didn’t have a clue, but I intended to find out. So when I saw her crossing campus before gym class, I told Chance to go ahead and I bounded across the crowded lawn after her.

  “Kayla!” I yelled, trying to catch her before she went inside the gym. Even though a light snow had been falling pretty much all day, coating school campus in slushy white, I figured talking outside would give us the most privacy. At least that way, we would see if someone was trying to eavesdrop on our conversation. She glanced over her shoulder, caught sight of me, and then actually walked faster away from me. What was she doing? I paused briefly before practically running to catch up to her. I grabbed her shoulder once I did.

  “Hey, wait,” I said, pulling her tiny frame to a stop. I didn’t even have to use my super vampire strength; she probably weighed ninety pounds soaking wet. “Didn’t you see me?” I knew she had, but I didn’t want to put her on the spot by confronting her.

  “Sorry,” she said. “Just preoccupied.” That I didn’t doubt, what with trying to be a teenage vampire killer and all. I kind of knew a little about the stress of leading a double life. She kept walking toward the gym, though at a much slower pace. I quickly stepped in beside her.

  “Can I talk to you?” I asked, trying to show that all was well. Although at first I didn’t want her around, now I kind of liked the idea of having a close friend—especially one who could kick vampire butt.

  She stopped walking and turned to face me, and I could see she was visibly upset. “I’m so sorry,” she said, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked, rubbing her shoulder. I didn’t want her to feel embarrassed by the throngs of kids headed our way, so I took her by the arm and led her around the back of the gym. She didn’t protest, probably grateful for a bit of privacy.

  “I should have told you about me and Erik and Lila. I should have told you!” She started crying then, tears flowing fast from her eyes. She held her books tightly against her chest, her body shaking as she sobbed.

  “Don’t worry about that, Kayla.” Instinctively, I pulled her into a hug. Seeing as how I wasn’t the hugging type, it surprised both of us. I let her go after only a few seconds, pulling away from her awkwardly. “You did what you thought was right. That’s all any of us can do.”

  “But I lied,” she cried, trying to hold back more tears. “You and Chance have been so nice to me and I was lying from day one. I’m so embarrassed of myself I can’t even look at you.” She lowered her eyes as she spoke, adding dramatic effect to her words. I felt so bad for her. I wanted her to forget about it, to understand that it really didn’t matter, but somehow I didn’t think she understood.

  “Well why don’t you make it up to me?” I said, trying to sound upbeat. My reverse psychology seemed to do the trick. Kayla was smiling when she spoke again.

  “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do it,” she said, sniffling.

  “I want you to teach me to kill a vampire.”

  Kayla’s eyes grew wide. “Seriously?” she asked. “That’s it?”

  “Yeah, that’s it.” I smiled at her. “Who better to teach me than someone born to do it?”

  “Um, okay. Sure.” I could tell she was a bit confused by my request, probably because she thought I already knew how to do it. I didn’t want to tell her I was learning, and I especially didn’t want to tell her I was learning from a vampire. I felt it was best to keep Aldric’s existence a secret from her and her killing club—and vice versa—at least for now.

  “So,” I continued, walking back toward the gym. Chance was standing by the doors, his body language screaming worry. I smiled across the way at him as Kayla and I rounded the front of the building, hoping he would see that everything was fine. “How’s tomorrow sound?”

  “Okay,” she answered. “My mom’s doing volunteer work at the animal shelter, so we’ll have the place to ourselves.”

  “Sounds good.” I was feeling pretty good about my decision, confident that having someone on the other side of the stake couldn’t hurt my training. I knew that Aldric could teach me things that no one else could—vampire things—and I was counting on the vampire hunters to do the same.

  “What about Erik and Lila?” I asked. “Would they be willing to help out?” I didn’t really want them to be there—well, not Lila anyway—but I had asked Chance to give me some time with them before turning them over to Aldric, so I figured having them train me would be the best way to get to know them a little. I was hoping that Chance would reconsider once he found out they would be helping me.

  “I don’t know,” Kayla said. “Are you sure you want them around?”

  “Not really,” I answered honestly, “but I didn’t want you around at first, and look how that turned out.” Kayla smiled at me as we made it to Chance, who thankfully appeared to have lightened up a bit. He was leaning against the gym wal
l, his muscular arms crossed over his chest. “So see if they want to help out, and we’ll go from there.”

  “This is awesome,” Kayla said, stepping past Chance to the gym door. “So I’ll see you tomorrow?”

  “I’ll be there.” We smiled at each other before Kayla headed inside, leaving Chance and me alone.

  “What was that all about?” he asked after making sure no one was lurking around listening. We both seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Another pitfall of being a vampire. Chance had already changed into his gym clothes—a boring gray t-shirt and shorts that he made look good—and I was surprised he wasn’t freezing in the bitter winter air. I was also having a hard time concentrating on what he was saying instead of his exposed limbs.

  “She’s going to help train me,” I said, my eyes twirling between his face and legs and biceps. “And hopefully Erik and Lila, too.” Chance reacted as I thought he would.

  “So you didn’t think me having to worry about you being around one person that could kill you was enough, huh? You had to go add three more. Why? So I could stroke out from the stress and you’d be rid of me?” Even though he had a stern look on his face, and he probably was being genuinely honest about how he felt, I found him funny.

  “If I wanted you gone you would be,” I joked. After I said it, though, a bit of tension rose between us. Tension that circled around the fact that I was capable of doing what I had just said. I could kill Chance if I wanted, and on some level, I think that might have been sitting in the back of his mind all along. The thought saddened me. The last thing I wanted was for Chance to be scared of me in any way. I had no intention of hurting him or anyone else. Well, no one alive.

  “I know I’m wasting my time telling you this,” I said, hoping to move us past the awkwardness of my blunder. “But don’t worry. I’ll be fine.” Chance didn’t seem to believe me. I could only imagine that in his mind, he saw my alliance with Kayla—and hopefully Erik and Lila—as a death wish. “I just think it makes sense to have someone who actually kills vampires teach me, too. I mean, Aldric’s great, but what if he doesn’t show me all I need to know?”