The First Musical: Chapter One: Gisele, Part 3

I didn’t used to have stage fright. I used to sing all the time, every chance I could. Music and performance were my life; it felt like I wouldn’t be able to breathe without the ability to sing. Though I never learned to read music, I could feel it. At least that’s what my mom had said once when I'd asked her. So even if they weren’t always the right notes, they were beautiful. That’s what everyone told me anyway.

But then he came along, and changed everything. He made the stage dangerous and music foreign; he shattered my confidence because I wanted his approval above everything else. And then he left, crushing my heart and spirit in the process.

Carmen and Baron didn’t know that story. Carmen had moved to town the next fall and Baron transferred the following spring.

If I’d had my way, no one would know. Very few people knew what had happened, and that was out of necessity. But not knowing led to things like Johnathan.

Sitting in the study room, trying fruitlessly to concentrate on my accounting assignment, I realized she would probably still insist I acquaint myself with him, maybe even date him. Not out of maliciousness or naivety, but in the name of putting myself out there again.

Giving up on homework for the moment, I grabbed my bag and left the library, wandering aimlessly around campus. Upperclassmen passed by and glanced at me long enough to register I wasn’t a familiar face before looking away. Over the past couple months I had grown used to that. Despite a population of around 6,000 students, it was a fairly close community. Part of me envied the upperclassmen who seemed to know someone everywhere they went on campus.

As I continued walking, I contemplated what Carmen had said concerning his questions about me. She was right that it wasn’t general interest, though I had determined that long before she had. For whatever reason, he had picked me out of our group; I wasn’t even the performer…at least, I hadn’t been in the past three years. Could he see I’d been broken before? Had he marked me as easy prey?

“Hello, Gisele.”

I nearly jumped out of my skin. Off the path was an old maple tree; leaning against the trunk was Johnathan, a crooked smile on his lips, his blue-green eyes reflecting the light from the nearby lampost.

Without answering him, I continued down the path, heading toward my dorm room and hoping Carmen had decided to spend the night with Baron practicing her audition pieces. I didn’t want to have a conversation with or about Johnathan. If she was there, she’d certainly let him in and then I’d have nowhere to go.

“I really must speak with you,” he said, his footsteps following me down the sidewalk. “Perhaps Carmen has already told you? I’m putting on a musical…an ancient musical.”

Ignore him, I told myself. I repeated it several times in my mind, trying to block out his voice.

“I’m holding auditions for it soon. There’s only one role with a closed audition.” He caught up with me, his hands buried in his pockets as if to assure me he meant no harm.

“I really don’t care,” I said, hoping he’d stop following me.

“But I think you will,” he confided. His footsteps ceased to follow me and I hoped that was the end of the nightmare. “I want you to be my lead.”

Stopping in the middle of the sidewalk, I faced him. His features were stoic and his eyes scanning my face for some trace of my reaction. All I could do was stare dumbly at him. I must have misheard; that was the only logical explanation. There’s no way he had said he wanted me to be the lead.

“You’re insane.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t perform. Now leave me alone.”

Without waiting for a response, I ran the last several yards to my residence hall. Even inside my room with the door locked, I couldn’t help thinking about him and what I couldn’t be certain he had said. As I had turned to retreat from him, I could have sworn he'd said, “You will be my lead.”

Eternal: Chapter Four, Part 4

“You knew I wasn’t dead?” I asked, cocking my head to the side, slightly put out. Mitchell’s habit of harmlessly tormenting people for fun was really starting to rub off on me. I was fairly certain that wasn’t healthy.

“I knew you were still around more than I knew you were alive,” he replied, shrugging and crossing his arms over his chest. “You have a unique imprint in the air that was still hanging around. When it disappeared that day, that’s when I called Caroline and learned what had happened. But then it came back.”

“It’s all…really complicated,” I said, knowing he was thinking about how it was always complicated—it did seem that way. “But I’m not even sure if I’m supposed to talk about it.”

He nodded. “She was a mess for the longest time, though.”

“Drei told me,” I assured him, hoping that subject would go away too. I didn’t like knowing I had been the cause of pain for people. It was part of the reason I tried not to think about my parents.

“But she seems better now.”

“I helped her let go of the grief and guilt she was holding on to,” I explained, shrugging, hoping he wouldn’t see it as a bad thing.

“That was nice of you,” he said softly, seeming to look past me. Yeah, he didn’t agree with it, but I personally hated to watch people suffer when I could help them.

“You aren’t mad at me, are you?” I asked, studying the bows on the toes of my flats. Ian was the only free air elemental I knew of, and I wasn’t sure how well I could pull off anything knowing I had angered him. He was one of those people I never wanted to cross, and not because he scared me. Ian was probably one of the frankest people I knew and that, in itself, was invaluable.

“Come ‘ere, love,” he said, pulling me into his arms again. “I can’t be mad at you when I’m sure you wouldn’t have put her through so much if you could’ve helped it.” Kissing the top of my head, he added, “Besides, you’re back now.”

“It’s—”

“Because it’s your time to run things,” he finished for me, unsmiling.

“How’d you know?” I stared up at him.

Approaching his painting, he pointed to the only gray strip branching away from the strand near the top of the canvas. I hadn’t noticed it before, but the three strips chasing after it weren’t pulling it back; they were swirling around it and creating the start of what could be a new strand. “That’s you.”

“You can’t be sure—that might be you,” I insisted, not wanting to believe him.

“I’m supposed to spread truths, but not until after there’s been a great change,” he said, scanning my face. “Which means it has to be soon because I’ve already begun painting.”

“Why can’t it have already happened?” I argued, knowing he was probably right since it was his work—he should know—but being stubborn just the same.

“Because every other air elemental who has led a movement was chosen to lead it by luck, not because they stepped up to lead it.” Eyeing me, having cornered me with the very information I had spent months studying, he concluded, “Until you.”

We stared at each other for the longest time. I still didn’t want to believe that was supposed to be me, but I couldn’t form an articulate argument in response; history was on his side, as well as his own destiny. The silence was broken when Caroline returned with her coffee.

“There’s more if either of you would like some,” she said, sitting on one of the couches, oblivious to the situation upon which she had stumbled.

“No, thanks,” Ian said as I said, “I’m good.”

“Suit yourselves,” she replied, shrugging, clutching her mug in her lap as if it were extremely cold in the room. “So, Abs, what’s the plan? Where do we start?”

Ian and I sat down on either side of her. “I still need a lawyer, and then I have to find the other four people I want on my core team,” I said, trying to remember what else I had already figured out. “Then we work on setup, because that’ll take some time. I’ll go more into detail when I have a full team, but that’s the basics.”

“Sounds like what we started with,” Caroline said to Ian, who nodded. “I can set up the appointment with my lawyer tomorrow. Noon work okay?”

I knew I couldn’t admit I was a vampire and that noon might not work out so well, so I said, “Sure,” hoping everything would work out in my favor. I either needed it to be overcast or to find a really big hat, though an umbrella might work as well; I’d make it work.

“Perfect. Ian can pick you up. Just like old times.”

“Of course,” Ian agreed, smiling as big as Caroline was.

Smiling back, I nodded, wishing it really was like old times. I had thought things were complicated then, but this was an entirely different web of all new proportions, and I would have given almost anything to have the old worries back.

Vampiric: Chapter Nine, Part 6

He followed me downstairs where we stopped only long enough to grab my sweater and his jacket. Since we had arrived, the breeze had shifted to roll off the ocean, cool and refreshing. It raked gently through my hair and played with the skirt of my dress. Though I knew pants would have been more sensible in the dropping temperatures, I had felt like wearing a dress. Caroline had already given me a hard time for it, but I could be equally stubborn.

Since I had found out I was an air elemental, I hadn’t been to the beach. It was such a different experience. The air was heavy with briny mist but simultaneously fresh and relaxing. I had never known heavy air to be so calming. Usually it was depressing and exhausting.

“The sand will be cold,” he warned as I kicked my flats off by the porch.

“I don’t mind,” I said, pushing my hair over my shoulder and out of my face.

“Suit yourself.” He made his way down the beach and to the water’s edge.

I followed, gasping more at the coldness in the water than in the sand. From the corner of my eye, I could tell he was struggling not to say those four eye-roll-worthy words. But I wouldn’t have minded so much. My feet were already adjusting to the cold and I began to enjoy watching the sandy particles cling and wash away so easily.

“Does it ever bother you that you’re surrounded by girls?” Then, thinking maybe I hadn’t been clear enough, elaborating, “I mean, like Caroline, and now me.”

Ian pulled his hat off and tousled his hair before answering. “Not really. Caroline’s like family, so I’m used to it. And you’re just a cool friend I’m starting to somewhat understand.”

“Understand?” I asked, smiling. It seemed a silly word to describe a blossoming friendship. “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean, you aren’t as mysterious anymore. You seem more human…more like someone to trust than when we first met.”

“I don’t know what to make of that.” I watched as he pulled his cap on again. “But one thing I don’t understand about you is your cap. You’re always wearing one.”

He shrugged, and I was beginning to think it was his signature gesture—or at least the gesture of the day. “My grandparents never had a lot of money, so for Christmas, my grandmother always knitted me something. One year it was a stocking cap,” he said, tugging his navy fleece cap over the tips of his ears. “I guess it just stuck.”

Nodding, I gazed out over the ocean. It was calm, pulsing gently. There was a gray-green hue to the top layer; further out, that layer shimmered as if it were perfectly still and had nothing better to do than sparkle in the dim sunlight.

“So how did you know?” he asked, interrupting my observations.

“Know what?” I wondered if this was about Caroline again.

“That first broadcast. How did you know they were coming?” He studied me as carefully as I had him.

“Oh…that.” It wasn’t something I wanted to tell him because it was a habit not to mention it. Caroline wouldn’t have known if she hadn’t tried testing me that first day. “It’s more up to her if she wants you to know,” I told him, hoping it would work as well as it had on Conan.

“She said the same thing of you;” he smirked, staring at his feet a moment before stopping. I turned around to face him, trying to figure out if his stopping was a good sign or a bad one. “Secrets are okay to have,” he said slowly, holding my eyes. “But sometimes it’s better to share with someone. Sometimes it’s…a relief for someone else to know.”

Hugging myself, I debated if I wanted him to know. Drei knew, but he was the one who explained it to me. Most people from the safe camp knew, but that’s because it wasn’t a secret there. Even Nick knew now; though he had had some idea of what I was back then, he now had it perfectly documented to erase any doubt he might have had. Caroline even knew.

The breeze blew a little harder, whipping my hair around my face, almost seeming to berate me for contemplating the wrong question. It didn’t matter who already knew. What I needed to know was if I wanted Ian to know. Did I trust him enough? After everything he had shared about his family and what he knew after countless years with Caroline, was it enough to trust him with the biggest secret of my life?

“I’m an air elemental,” I whispered, ensuring the words reached his ears as I looked up. “That’s how.”

I knew I had made the right choice in confiding in him, especially since I had this feeling I would need him later on. But that didn’t stop my stomach from churning. While I knew it was right, something felt wrong about it. Like I was breaking some unspoken promise not to tell. That didn’t make sense, though. This hadn’t happened when I had practically told Caroline, but she was an elemental, too. Did that make a difference? Or was it something more? Something deeper I didn’t understand?

That was the right question to ask. The moment I thought it, the answer flooded me and tears misted my eyes. Telling Ian felt almost more like I was forsaking Drei. Which I was, sort of. Maybe. I didn’t know anymore. Part of me still wanted him despite how much thoughts of him still hurt. He used to be my only confidante, and I was replacing him. Which should have been a good thing, right?

Turning from Ian so he wouldn’t see the tears welling in my eyes, I started walking again. The shallow water splashed softly behind mme and I expected him to ask something, or comment, or anything. I didn’t expect him to wrap his arms around me and kiss the side of my head; I hadn’t expected him to whisper a thank you in my ear, to reward me with comfort when I felt like I had truly betrayed Drei.

Vampiric: Chapter Nine, Part 5

“It’s true,” Ian said as he came back to grab the last bags from the trunk. I grabbed one so I wouldn’t feel like I was being completely lazy. “They used to tease her about not going out with me.”

“Really?” That would have been weird. Then remembering when I first met them, the idea wouldn’t have been so ludicrous to me.

“Yeah;” his cheeks turned crimson. “They were convinced we were made for each other and she was too stubborn to admit liking girls was just a phase. They used pretty much the same wording.”

“At least they’ve come around to it.” I followed Ian into the house after picking up another suitcase from the porch. It was a huge two story with the formal dining room and the living room off to either side of the foyer. There were doors further down the hall, and I guessed one may be a bedroom, the second a bathroom, the third a closet, and the fourth possibly an office of sorts.

“Not really. They’re still trying to get used to it. The guest rooms are upstairs,” he said, signaling I should go ahead of him with his head.

All along the walls up the stairs were pictures of Caroline and her parents; Ian was even in a few where she looked about high school age. “You two practically look like siblings,” I thought aloud. Their smiles and hair color matched, even the pattern of freckles dancing over their skin seemed to be identical.

“Well, as you know, we’re not, but we’ve pretty much been friends since we met.” He laughed to himself. “I remember that day pretty well, too. My friends and I were playing a card game in the hallway after school. Caroline came up and scattered the cards, demanding why we hadn’t invited her when we knew she was waiting for her ride. A couple of the guys argued that she was a girl and better move off of our cards before they were tempted to hit her. She just laughed at them and told them to try. They were my cards, and my ride was going to be there in a minute, so while they continued to bicker, I tried to collect them all but she was standing on a few. When she didn’t move, I picked her foot up off the cards and grabbed them. As I ran to the door, I could hear her indignant shouts following me. I turned at the door and smiled at her.

“The next day at lunch, she sat next to me and began berating and accusing me of perverted thoughts. When I told her I didn’t care, she stopped and started talking about herself.”

I laughed. “And that’s how you knew you were friends?”

“Of course,” he said, directing me across the landing towards one of the doors. “This would be Caroline’s room,” he said, and I dropped her bags—I was carrying two of them—inside. I followed him further down the hall since he was carrying one of my bags. “Whenever Caroline starts talking about herself, it means she’s comfortable enough with you to share. She’s not an open person usually.”

“I figured that out. What I don’t understand is why that made you friends?”

“Oh;” he shrugged, dropping one of the bags into another room I guessed to be his. “Probably because while the others were indulging her in arguing, I did what I needed to do and left. I wasn’t going to argue with her just because she wanted to. I guess that’s why she likes you, too.”

“The only reason I haven’t fought with her—much—is because I’ve been biting my tongue most of the time.”

“Exactly,” he said, opening another door and setting my suitcase inside. “Your room. With her personality, she prefers people who are more inclined to calm her than rile her up.”

We headed back downstairs for the last bags.

“I guess that makes sense. No one wants to be around people who are going to upset them all the time.” I grabbed one of the two remaining suitcases before he could take both. “So how’s her family, then? Do they feed the fire? Or do they put it out?”

“Bad pun,” he chided, smirking.

“So you know about that?” I asked, not wanting to give away anything if he didn’t.

“Less than she knows, but enough. She doesn’t tend to keep too many secrets from me;” he dropped the suitcase in his hand off in Caroline’s room. “I actually found out because she almost took my head off.”

“My word,” I gasped. I hadn’t been shocked when she had nearly taken mine off, but to know she had done the same to Ian was a surprise. Remembering that time, it made sense Ian already knew because he had been there. Duh. “What did you do?”

“Uh…I tried cracking a joke when she was really pissed.” He sat down on the top step of the stairs where I joined him. “It usually works, but it was one of those ‘the difference between girls and guys’ jokes and her girlfriend of the time had just left her. I hadn’t known.”

“No way you could have.” I nudged him with my shoulder. Even though his tone was light-hearted, his eyes were remorseful. The emotion polluted the air and made me regret not speaking to him sooner—well, not being more persistent. But regret had never fixed anything, so I switched subjects, hoping to lighten my mood along with his. “So where are they?”

“Probably in her dad’s office talking about what’s new since Thanksgiving;” he seemed indifferent. I guessed as long as he had been around Caroline and her parents, he would be used to it.

“Let’s go for a walk then,” I suggested, trying to gauge how he would take it.

“Well, why not? There’s nothing to do until dinner.”

Vampiric: Chapter One, Part 3

After the meeting with Caroline, Drei had me quit my job, warning me that working for Caroline would be a full-time occupation in and of itself. Luckily, my manager hadn’t yet posted the new schedule and assured he would edit me out of it. Though he wouldn’t openly admit it, I knew Drei was grateful I was done with waitressing.

I spent most of my workless half-week buried in books, studying the lesser-known European Revolutions of 1848 and others. The drudgery of studying figure after historical figure caused me to go into a stupor of sorts. My eyes read what lay before me as my brain stored it in some dark corner, but my conscious thoughts were elsewhere. Primarily, where was the contact Caroline had promised?

Drei was pondering the same, though he would never admit it. Admitting it would be the equivalent of saying he believed I had fumbled the meeting altogether.

“Would you like to join me?” Drei questioned, sitting across the living room from me.

I marked my spot in the reading to look up at him. He was dressed in a simple black t-shirt and slacks. His coat was still hanging by the door. Usually when Drei left, I was finishing up at work, so he had never asked before.

“Don’t you have something you’re supposed to do—someone to meet?” I convinced myself I asked because I didn’t want to be more of a burden. No matter how much he insisted I wasn’t, I couldn’t help feeling he lied.

“Not tonight.” He wasn’t lying, which was, or course, a good thing. But his eyes were sad and there was something like worry in them. Worry for me.

“I’m fine, Drei.” I smiled to assure him.

“Abriel,” he sighed, shaking his head and sitting down across from me; he leaned forward on his elbows. “You are the most perplexing person I have ever known.” Though this wasn’t necessarily positive, I saw the hint of a smile on his pale lips. “You wanted to leave, so you left. But you have yet to really leave. You have merely traded one hideaway for another.”

I sighed, knowing he was right. Of course he was right. But it was a lot more complicated than he made it out to be. “I had a job,” I reminded him, hoping it would constitute as not hiding.

“It was a start, a small one,” Drei conceded, but I knew it wasn’t what he meant. “I will protect you, Abriel. No bounty hunter will take you away so long as I am with you. You have nothing to fear.”

“I know that, Drei.” I had thought my life would just return to the way it had been, except with a different town and different crowd. But the moment we reached the city, I wasn’t so sure. Suddenly, it seemed like everyone was a bounty hunter in disguise and would try to drag me off to some awful fate. Outside of work, I made excuses—which Drei unintentionally helped to provide—so as to not have to leave. After so much freedom, the city seemed like a prison in and of itself.

“Come out tonight.” He crossed the room and pulled me to my feet. His pale amethyst eyes were bright and excited. It seemed he was certain this was what I needed, and perhaps it was.

“Okay,” I whispered, nervous and unsure but not wanting to disappoint him. He had done so much for me; some days it felt like I never did anything for him in return. But I could do this.

His lips upturned in an infectious smile, a smile that seemed to burn away the uncertainties in my mind. “I will wait for you to change;” he kissed my cheek.

Away from him, my nervousness about a night on the town returned, but now I felt like it was about time as well.

My wardrobe had expanded slightly since we had arrived to include clothing other than just blue jeans, sweaters, and shirts. From my closet, I pulled out a white, off the shoulder blouse and a black chiffon skirt, pairing them with black ballet flats. As I brushed through my somewhat unruly hair, I looked at the angel necklace Drei had given me a few years back at Christmas. Impulsively, I put it and the matching bracelet on. I left the room, my former nerves now a bubble of excitement.

Drei was stalking around the living room, his features betraying his nerves, tight and furrowed; if he was the sort to chew his cheek, he probably would have done that as well. He seemed to be having second thoughts about his insisting I join him.

“Let’s go,” I said, smiling. I grabbed our coats and handed him his before he could change his mind or I lost my nerve.

When he looked up, his eyes glowed warmly with love and adoration for what they saw. He reached out and touched the necklace, as though he couldn’t believe I was finally wearing it and it completely changed the way I looked to him.

“You are gorgeous, Abriel,” he whispered, pushing a stray curl behind my ear.

All I could do was smile and revel in the fact he had chosen me. He loved me.

“Let’s go,” I repeated, though I had no idea where he was planning to take me. It didn’t seem to matter much anyway. Not as long as he was there.

Vampiric: Chapter One, Part 2

Numerous events spanned the two years leading us to the meeting with Caroline, most from before we left the camp Drei had started. It was the second location of the camp, as the first had been compromised by decisions I had made about one particular boy. He was also the reason we were able to escape and continue protecting children like me. Children born into gifts over an element—elementals as we learned to refer to ourselves. Our protectors, and the administrators of the camp, were a group of vampires led by Drei; they believed in the good we would do for the world if we were allowed to grow in our talents and learned to hide ourselves from a government that would turn us into experiments.

Lily—a blond vampire turned in the 1920s—disappeared some months after we had settled at the new location and never returned. I asked Drei once where she had gone, and he told me not to think on it. I did, though. It was strange losing someone so integral to the camp. She was the only vampire who smiled regularly and was in a cheerful disposition more than half the time.

I had been free to do what I wanted during the day, now that the older children had taken over leading and creating new games. Sometimes I would join in, for old time's sake. But it wasn't the same, and I would soon leave, unable to feel as young as I thought I needed to believe I was.

That first Christmas there, more children I knew left. Of course, new children with earth or water elements kept appearing throughout the year, but I felt more like a stranger. Not even the occasional night Drei and I would spend talking could make it feel like home.

A week before my twentieth birthday, I went to Drei and Valetta. I had decided I wasn't needed there and it was time I returned to the reality of life, hopeful to figure out where I was heading. The longer I stayed, the more anxious I became that I was losing time. Valetta had said once I didn't have a lot of that. Time, that is. It might have been depressing if I hadn't had some mystery to keep me pushing forward.

They sat sipping something from teacups and Mitchell—a dark skinned vampire who enjoyed teasing me and answering my questions in riddles he knew I couldn't solve—was on his way out when I entered.

“Join us,” Valetta said, setting her cup before her.

I slid into a chair between them and inhaled, trying to remember the words I thought would sound best.

“I want to thank you for everything over the last couple years,” I began, aware of the curious looks I received from both ends, “but I feel it's time for me to leave.”

Drei nodded and flashed Valetta a look that seemed to say they knew this had been coming.

“We were hoping you would stay a while longer,” she said softly.

“I'll stay until the thirteenth.” My tone suggested this was long enough as I gauged both of their reactions. It hadn't bother them as much as I had imagined. In my mind, they would be furious and insist I wasn't ready. Alas, I had underestimated them.

As I waited for one of them to say something, a scent filled my nose. It was coppery and disgusting in my mouth. Nearly gag worthy, and somehow familiar.

The smell was wafting from their teacups, and I realized they were drinking blood, not tea. Why this was so shocking, I couldn't determine, but it was. It made me sick to think of whose blood it was, and how they went about retrieving it. When I tried to stop the thoughts, more came.

Drei noticed my discomfort and said, “We need to drink to survive. We do not harm people; this is from—”

I waved at him to stop, not wanting to know. Though I loved him, I didn't need to know what he was drinking; and I decided never to ask or be around when he was. It would be better that way.

“So you have decided to leave,” he restated.

“Yes. A week from yesterday.”

“Valentine's Day will not be the same without you,” Valetta said. With that, she stood and left, as though Drei had demanded her to do so.

He drained the last of his beverage as I tried to find something interesting in the room to hold my attention. The children’s rooms had more personality; Drei’s cabin hardly looked lived in. There was a distinct dearth of posters or anything to sufficiently distract my mind from his drinking. His lips were stained red when I faced him again.

“I am coming with you.” His tone was stern and direct.

“I wasn't going to tell you no.” I stood, knowing I still had to figure out what I was taking and where I wanted to go.

Drei kissed my cheek, pulling me into his embrace. “I would have followed even if you did refuse me.”

My arms wrapped around him, my face buried in his chest. It was my favorite place in the world, just being in his arms. There, it felt like nothing could reach me; I would be forever protected and safe from injury of any kind. Moments like that were so sparse, they were even better when they happened.

“When are you telling Martin?” I whispered, fully aware that Martin wanted to take control of the camp when Drei left. Martin was a stubby, albino vampire who liked to agree with Drei even when he was wrong—not that he often was.

“I am not telling him a thing. Valetta will take over in my stead; she was always my chosen successor.”

“He won't be happy.”

“His happiness does not concern me,” Drei said in a way that made the cruel words sound gentle. “He does not care about our goal or our purpose; he cares only for what power he may grab for himself.”

“I love you,” I told him, smiling. I was delighted Drei had noticed it, too. It was the one thing I was most worried about when I had made my decision. If Martin took over, I would have found a way to make Drei stay or change his mind. The camp would fall apart, and that would be on me. Enough things like that were already on me and I didn’t want more.

“I have always known Martin's kind;” Drei kissed my hair. “Just as I have always known my duty here would end.”

Our embrace seemed to last forever in my memory, but eventually the thirteenth came, Valetta was officially declared new lead vampire, and we left. Martin threw sinister glares our way until we disappeared into the foliage. Somehow I knew that wouldn't be the last of him, but it didn't stop me from feeling relieved he was gone for the moment.

We traveled for a week to a city known for its constant ebb and flow of people and faces. There we rented a small apartment and I took on a part-time job—I refused to let Drei pay for everything from his mysterious source of income. While he spent the nights doing his thing—mostly research on the city he would later share—I often kept to the apartment, content with leaving to work and occasionally buying a new outfit.

It really was a cozy space. There were two small bedrooms, a kitchenette, and a living room. Though we each had our own room, sometimes, after he had been out late, he would lie beside me until morning when I would get ready for work.

When I wasn't working, Drei had me read up on the work of great revolutionaries, from those who developed revolutionary theories, to those who led the fights, marches, protests, boycotts, and numerous other political devices. He insisted I needed to know the past if I wanted to succeed in the future. That, and I needed to see how the fire elementals led their movements in contrast to how the air elementals led theirs.

Though we were alone, we still kept our distance, except for the occasional embrace or kiss. You could never be sure how alone you were, and it was just good practice. We knew we could have thrown our caution to the wind if we really wanted to, but it was best to be reserved. Whenever—if ever—I began to lead my revolution, it would be the most valuable thing to us.

If you're careless, you will be found. And, as my lessons had proven, very few air elementals lived past their movements. Very few fire elementals lived after as well, but that was our burden. No one had said it would be easy.