Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 122030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 610(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 407(@300wpm)
She pushes my hand away and gets up from her chair. “I’m not going to drink you.”
“But you will drink Ryet.”
She shakes her head. In complete denial.
So I give up.
I don’t need to convince her. She will feed off us. And she will love it.
Just as I think these thoughts, the sound of a helicopter fills the room. It shakes and rumbles when it lands. I push back from my chair, walk over to Syrsee and gently place my hand in the small of her back as I lick the blood from my own lip. “Come now. It’s time to go home.”
“Wait.” She pulls away from me, faces me. “You said Ryet will need me for many months.”
“Correct. You are his lifeline into this new existence.”
“But…” And now she looks worried. “But what about after that? What happens after he reaches maturity?”
“What do you mean? He will be one of two of the new American Vampires.”
“No.” She’s irritated. “What happens to me?”
I shrug. “You… do whatever you want. Hopefully the Darkness finds you and we have a baby. But…” I shrug again. “You can do whatever you want after Ryet’s needs are taken care of. We won’t need you after that.”
“What? You just… after all that… pursuit? You just…”
“Dear girl, it wasn’t you I was after. It was him. And once he is complete, he will be… different.”
“Different how?”
“He won’t need you anymore. He will need me. He will feed from me. We will only feed on each other after that. He and I will be the first of many. And we will be strong.”
Then I turn and walk to the stairs that lead to the helicopter. Letting her stew in that final bit of truth on her own.
It was never her.
It was always just… him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT - SYRSEE
Door number two, please.
Where to start? I mean, which betrayal should I consider first? Because this is my life. Nothing but a big, long lie.
And it started on day one.
I take deep breaths as I look out the window of the helicopter. I’m not dressed for this journey. I’m freezing. My hands, though stuffed into my pockets, are ice. There is a wind leaking through from the outside as we trek northeast, the sun mostly obscured by heavy cloud cover, and everything below me is nothing but cold, hard rock covered in snow.
I have no idea where we are. Above the mountains, that’s all I know.
But I do know where we’re going. The vampire’s lair. My end.
Paul’s last words to me back at the spa have been echoing through my head since I followed him up those stairs and got in behind him.
It wasn’t you I was after, it was him.
I huff out a laugh here. Because… wow. Ya know? Just… there it is. The truth. Finally. Some truth. And it came from the fucking vampire.
This truth was so stunning, and this vampire’s audacity is so… refreshing compared to all the lies I’ve been subjected to, that I followed him up to the roof and when he held the door of the helicopter open for me, I got in. Still stunned.
Why did I get in?
If I had a friend to talk this over with at some point in the future, she would ask me this question. And I’m not sure I have a good response for this. Maybe I’m so insecure that I figure what Paul is offering me is the best I can do?
Maybe feeding a growing vampire is just my lot in life, so why fight it?
If Zusi were my real friend, and we could have this conversation, then she would say, “You’re better than this.” She would be long and wordy about it, of course. She would go on and on about… something I was good at. Which—now that I’m taking stock of myself and my life—appears to be a list of one. Nourishing evil.
But, if she were my friend, she would make things up. “You’re smart, Syrsee. You have so much to offer.” Shit like that.
And I would probably just agree with her because that’s what you do when your best friend is pumping you up. You fall into the illusion and believe the lies.
But I don’t have the energy. So I don’t think it was low self-esteem. I don’t think Paul is the best I can do. That’s not why I got in.
There might be another reason why I’m flying over the Rocky Mountains with a vampire. Perhaps Paul compelled me?
It’s not likely though. It’s just not his style.
Everyone has rules. Even evil. So I think Paul needs everyone to choose him. He said as much. Not that a vampire’s word means anything to me. But did he force me into this helicopter?
No. He didn’t.
So I don’t think I was compelled.
And that leaves just one other possibility—that I can think of, anyway.