Vampiric: Chapter Nine, Part 10

“And now to start the year off right for the couples in the crowd,” the DJ announced, starting the music back up with a slow song.

“May I?” she asked hesitantly.

“Why not?”

Caroline spun me in a circle before we started slow dancing. Part of me knew it was dangerous because she probably still liked me, but I always hated sitting out on slow songs. And she was good about keeping it a dance between friends.

“Mind if I cut in?” the cutesy girl—the one Ian had been dancing with earlier—asked. She twisted a blond curl around her finger and ground the toe of her right shoe against the floor.

“For whom?” Caroline asked, though I’m not sure she actually saw the girl.

The girl’s dark eyes darted to the floor. “You.”

“Go ahead;” I stepped back. Caroline eyed the girl, and I could tell she was thinking how this girl was so unlike her past girlfriends. It was healthy for her to be uncertain, though. After they started dancing, I headed to the bar, the energy that had filled me previously replaced by extreme thirst.

“Lime water, please?” I took a seat.

“Hi,” a guy beside me said, slightly waving with the hand not holding his beer.

I nodded, otherwise choosing to ignore him. He was darkly tanned with sun-kissed brown hair and green-blue eyes. “Thanks,” I said to the bartender who handed me my water. I pulled a dollar from my wristlet and left it in the bucket on the counter.

“What’s your name?” he asked as I slipped from the stool and headed to the tables on the other side of the dance floor. I wanted to have fun, not be hit on by some gorgeous stranger. Even as I reminded myself I wasn’t looking for someone—not even to dance with—my mind argued that I still wanted the attention, that it wouldn’t hurt to hear someone tell me I was beautiful.

I caught sight of Ian at a table, but he was busy talking with the uptown miss, occasionally kissing her. The music returned to remixes as I found an empty table. The guy from the bar was following me. Not too close, but he wasn’t trying to disguise it either. I wasn’t sure if I was glad he had followed—if that was a compliment to me that he even would—or if I wished he would just go away. I did know that I wasn’t emotionally ready to deal with him. I had just started dealing with my other problems.

“Anyone sitting there?” He flashed me a dazzling smile. Pretending not to hear, I wondered if it’d be easier to turn him away if he didn’t look so handsome. Taking my silence as a no, he sat, sitting his beer on the table and saying, “Now, a lovely lady like you should have a name.”

Taking a sip from my water, I glanced at him from the corner of my eye. “Not one you need to know.”

He leaned forward on his elbows, capturing my gaze for a moment before I pulled away and stared at the crowd. “I’m Dominic, but everyone calls me Dom.”

“Well, Dom,” I said, glancing around again as if looking for someone, “I’m not interested.”

Dom didn’t say anything, but he pulled his chair closer to mine. One of his fingers trailed down my forearm, sending goose bumps along my skin. “You will be,” he insisted, the words just audible over the music.

I pulled my arm away from him, finishing my drink. At this point, I had two options. One of them I knew was the wrong choice, so I went in search of Caroline.

“Lovely, lovely lady,” he called, grabbing my hand and twisting me into his embrace. He was strong; I could feel the muscles in his arms flex around me. His body against mine was hard and sculpted. I wouldn’t have minded staying there if the proximity hadn’t reminded me of Drei. Of our dance lessons and how those often resulted in kisses.

“Let go,” I demanded, struggling to hold myself together. All I wanted now was to be home. To go to sleep and hope I could stop finding him everywhere. It didn’t seem possible I could go from being okay with thinking about him to being close to tears because of one stranger. I hated it.

“What’s the matter, lovely lady?” I could feel his eyes scanning my face as I tried to find Caroline. If I could see her, I could send her a message. I could ask her to make him stop, because I couldn’t without drawing too much attention and I was technically supposed to be dead.

His lips found mine and, for a brief moment, I was caught up in the alcoholic smokiness of his breath before it started to choke me; smoke turned out to be far worse than water. I tried pushing him away, breaking from his embrace, but he wouldn’t let go; I knew tears weren’t too far off. Blanketing the room, I searched for Caroline that way, trying to ignore his nipping at the base of my neck. His lips were tickling my skin, bordering on being consummately distracting. And in all the wrong ways.

“Caroline,” I whispered, finally finding her in the crowd. She turned in my mapping, apologizing to her partner. “Stop,” I said, trying to pull away.

“Why are you crying?” he asked stupidly before his head jerked backwards.

“Maybe because she doesn’t like being treated like that,” Caroline yelled, yanking on his hair some more. I couldn’t imagine what he was feeling but waves of heat were washing from her and the people nearby were backing away. He let go, pain etched across his face.

Without staying around to hear whatever she was saying to him, I pushed my way through the crowd, trying to find my way out. I couldn’t stay here. I had to go. I needed fresh air, to breathe, to try and slow my racing pulse.

Someone grabbed my hand from in the crowd and pulled me along. Ian glanced back at me. “No worries, love,” he said, smiling grimly. He didn’t let go of my hand until we were outside. I wished we were at the beach still so I could walk out over the water, inhale the heavy sea breeze and calm down. But we weren’t at the beach. And all I could inhale was the stale city air, traces of smoke finding its way into my lungs.

Caroline wasn’t far behind us, running to catch up. When she did, she wrapped her arms around me saying, “God, Abs. That was awful. I’m so—”

I tore out of her embrace, not wanting her to touch me. At that moment, I couldn’t stand her. Drei wasn’t here because of her. And though Dom wasn’t her fault, being at that club was. In that instant, I could have blamed her for almost anything. We had toasted to a happier New Year and it was already worse.

“What’s wrong, Abs?” she asked, her voice soft and pained.

Waving it off, I knew the wisest thing to do was to not say anything. So, filled with anger and a renewed hurt, I hailed a cab back to the apartment, wishing more than ever she would have let me move out.

Elemental: Chapter Ten, Part 3

It stopped raining. I had spent the sleepless night trying to pinpoint the exact moment in time where everything began to change from so blissfully wonderful to extraordinarily turbulent.

The air of my cabin was spoiled with hopelessness, the walls closing in on my depression. Without another thought, I ran through the forest to where the brook babbled and the gray sky clearly threatened another cloudburst. My sneakers were soggy with mud and the brook looked more like a river that had outgrown its bed. My eyes caught something brightly colored further down the overflowing brook, and my feet marched toward it, uncaring of the water sloshing into my shoes or the suctioning mud.

A bright red footbridge had been set up, rather recently from the unused look of it. I wondered who had placed it here, and in the same moment thought I knew the answer. I used the sleeve of my college sweater to clean up some of the water and sat down, removing my sneakers. Dropping the damp shoes beside me, I dangled my feet in the clear rainwater; I followed the created ripples, watching them collide and spread, wondering if I might ever affect people in such a manner—without the drama and broken hearts.

“What are you thinking about?” Nick questioned; he plopped down beside me, my shoes separating us.

“I’m thinking about if any of this was worth coming, and if everything might have turned out okay if I had just stayed instead of running away. If any of this changes anything.”

I refused to look up at him, I knew what was coming, and I realized it was time he knew. If he hated me because of it, perhaps it was better that way. If he loved me all the more, would it change anything? Would I love him more and be willing to prove it the way he wanted me to? Now I didn’t know, but in a moment it would be clear.

“I’m glad you came,” he said, putting off the inevitable. “I never would have fallen in love if you had never come.”

“Stop,” I pleaded, tired of him beating around the bush. He had no problem asking before; was he afraid of what I would say as much as I was? It was the only logic I could find in his actions.

He took a long while building up his courage to ask. In the silence I regretted never telling him before. There were millions of opportunities, the only thing stopping me being the fact I didn’t want him to look at me like a diseased girl who cared more about new purses for every occasion than world hunger.

“Why are you here?” he finally asked. “How did Drei save you?”

I took a huge breath in before saying, “On my seventeenth birthday, I came into my…gifts.”

He sat, watching me as I kept my eyes locked on the new ripples in the water. I told him everything, from Drei explaining elementals and the history and future, the bounty hunter at school, my public freak out, and how Drei gave me an out. The easy out that I was too numb to pass up. I left out my conversation with my father, but included how Drei helped me begin rebuilding, and then the children, and, lastly, him and Valetta.

“I owe Drei more than I want to admit,” I finished softly, my pride hurting as I shared this truth. “He saved me from—from everyone.”

“Even yourself?”

“Yeah,” I whispered. “I wish he hadn’t have had a need to save me; I wish bounty hunters didn’t exist, the government didn’t see us as some abomination. We were just seen as people who can make things better. What makes us so different we can’t be left alone? We always have to look over our shoulders wondering when we have to uproot next. It isn’t fair,” I asserted, holding his jade eyes, searching for answers, afraid of what I might find.

“It’s not their fault,” Nick said quietly, slipping from the footbridge and standing in the water. He didn’t look at me as he said, “Bounty hunters are in a similar boat.”

“It is their fault, Nick,” I cried, not holding anything back. He couldn’t take their side; I wouldn’t allow him to. “After that hunter left, I was terrified of who was watching. It killed me inside not being able to be who I was—who I am. I didn’t know when another might show up, or if he would be so obviously a bounty hunter. You have no idea what it’s like running all the time from someone you can’t be sure is even there. It’s terrifying and nerve-wracking and a thousand other things—constantly; it’s so consummately exhausting trying to figure out who’s a step ahead and who’s still back in square one.”

“I know!” Nick shouted, turning around and grabbing my shoulders. “You don’t know what it’s like to have the government breathing down your neck all because they think you’re one smart cookie and a possible asset.”

Nick stopped suddenly, breathing heavily, but terror obvious on his face. He let go of me and turned away again, running a hand through his hair. It took a couple of cycles to comprehend exactly what he had just said. Pain and anger flooded me. I really had ruined everything. And Nick—the person I thought was on my side—had let me believe a lie.

“Why,” I began, my voice trembling, “if you love me, did you never tell me before you were a bounty hunter?”

He whipped around and reached out to me, trying to comfort me or assure himself it wasn’t as bad as I made it sound.

“Get away from me!” I shouted, leaving him and my shoes behind, afraid I might do something I would regret while the ferocity was still fresh. And to think I had been afraid of what he might think of me.

Elemental: Chapter Five, Part 3

A shiver ran down my spine as Drei laid a hand on my shoulder. It was harmless enough, but I couldn’t imagine why he would want to touch someone as imperfect as me.

“Come. You can rest awhile in your room,” Drei suggested, sounding almost like my dad for a moment. “You will meet the others when they have awoken and had breakfast.” He looked down at me, not disgusted or repelled, but not smiling either. Drei wasn’t going to disprove Valetta’s claim on him. There was a kindness, though, that he hoped would make me feel more secure. Unfortunately, it didn’t, despite my wishing it would.

I followed him, even more self-conscious than before, certain everyone would hate me and I would end up running away from where I ran away to. A question appeared in my mind, asking what I had been thinking to believe anything would be better.

Drei led me along a path that provided an excellent view over the lake, its sparkling waters seeming to mock me. The path was well worn, bearing only the occasional pebble. My eyes followed its ragged edge, unaware of the fairly steep slope falling to the lake’s shore. Something cold erupted inside me, causing me to shiver. I felt Drei look worriedly at me, but he didn’t say anything. His wordless response sent more traitorous beliefs into my turbulent mind. The most prominent being I had been wrong, yet again.

My feet followed him up new wooden stairs, stained and mussed to give the impression of age. Their sturdiness told otherwise.

“Here we are,” he stated at the top of the stairs.

I looked up at the nondescript front of the cabin; it was so far from where we had entered, I wondered if he had chosen this cabin on purpose.

He followed my slow ascent to the door, an anxious air drifting about him. Immediately inside was a small living space, complete with rugged chairs, a worn-out table, and a faded, sagging sofa in a hideous mauve hue. Just to the left was a small bedroom owning a single bed, old and rundown, but well cared for, as well as a well-kept rocking chair, the intricate carvings along the edges smelling recently refurbished.

Drei followed me with his eyes as I drew near the chair, my fingers running along the smoothed designs. As I gazed at it, something inside admitted I’d be all right here, even if everyone else hated me. At least this space could be mine. This chair alone felt more like home than my father’s house, and that was enough.

“Do you like it?” he questioned tentatively.

I turned, shocked at hearing his voice. For a moment I just stared, forgetting he had asked a question. Turning to look at the drab room containing the welcoming rocking chair, I replied, “It’s perfect.”

Part of me wanted to hug him, and yet I knew that would be inappropriate. There had been no problem with our closeness outside the world; but back inside, I knew it couldn’t be. He had Valetta, after all.

“Delighted,” he responded, a soft smile on his lips. “You are by yourself for now, but there is another room.”

His insinuation was obvious, but I could care less about a roommate. All that mattered was this room was mine. From my duffel bag, I pulled out my favorite blanket—a feathery soft material in pale beige with a silk scarlet border—and draped it over the thin sheets on the bed. I also removed a small matching throw pillow. Though there were other miniature decorations I could have given a new home, now didn’t feel like the time, so I slid the duffel into a corner.

Drei walked down the length of the bed, a pale finger trailing along my blanket. He met me at the foot. “Are you set?”

The sensation to hug him again was startlingly tempting as traces of his flowery scent reached me, but I kept my distance. “Yes,” I replied, a smile solidly on my lips. My emotions continued to yo-yo but for the moment, I felt calm and somewhat excited. It was time to meet the others.

Elemental: Chapter Four, Part 2

The nights blended together in a comforting monotony. Drei seemed shocked I had adjusted so quickly to his sleep pattern. It allowed us to move along more quickly if we were awake at the same times, I had reasoned aloud. The truth was I had nothing to change; I hadn’t been sleeping at night unassisted for a long while.

When we came to cities, we generally used a taxi to cross, giving our bodies a rest from the endless hikes through hilly countryside. We never stayed in town; we just passed through. It might have seemed odd to the cab driver, but Drei knew each one we used. They knew his peculiarities and didn’t ask questions. A few did babble on about families and work when Drei casually prompted. The sound of their voices was pleasant after wordless nights between the two of us. I had a feeling Drei knew their nonsense comforted me. He smiled encouragingly at them in the rear view, commenting just enough to keep that chatter going.

Each morning when we stopped, Drei would disappear for half an hour or so—sometimes longer, sometimes shorter—and reappear with a few bags of camping gear. Sleeping bags, tents, a small camp stove, even non-perishable food and bottled water. It was further evidence he traveled this route often, and it was reassurance I was not his first tag-along. After we'd break camp in the evenings, he would leave for a short while again to return the goods to wherever they had been acquired.

Drei and I rarely spoke to each other. It seemed he always had questions and no way to ask them. I just couldn’t find words to express anything. When you’re numb, what is there to express?

“Why?” he asked at the close of one night as we settled camp.

I gazed at him over my shoulder, surprised at the seemingly random question. “What?”

He winced at my weak, cracked voice. Even I winced. Two weeks of disuse had left my voice scratchy and heinous. I grabbed a bottle of water and tried to clear my throat.

“Why did you change? You do not talk, rarely laugh, and seem more like a corpse than a person.” His pale eyes stared at me expectantly.

“I don’t know what you mean;” I turned away from him, searching for something I could do on the far side of our camp.

Drei walked up behind me, and I felt a hesitancy in his movements; he wanted to impulsively do something but fought against the cons of his actions. Though I prepared myself for an embrace or attack of sorts, none came. I turned to face his stoic form and hurt eyes. A haze of confusion swarmed around him, and now me; I wanted to swat it away or run, but I did neither.

“You do know,” he whispered. “Something changed; you are fragile and sad, silent, and—” His voice cracked, depriving me of the last word.

“And what?” I prompted quietly, feeling depression and ache seep past the wall of numbness. Wrapping my arms around me, I couldn’t stop myself thinking this wasn’t supposed to happen. I induced numbness to avoid feeling anything. I didn’t want to feel this melancholy, this emptiness caused by the loss of things I had come to resent. I may not have wanted them anymore, but they had been mine...

“Broken.” Drei breathed the word heavily, as if close to tears and the thought itself was unbearable for him.

I should have known I couldn’t hide it from him, but I wanted to forget it all, not relive it. Tears pressed at my eyes and breathing was considerably more difficult; my chest felt almost too tight. Drei caught me as I fell into him, an explosion of hyperventilated sobs postponing the conversation.

“Everything will be better,” he murmured into my hair, pulling me closer. His voice lulled from me all the horrors of the days before my departure and left me with a fulfilling sense of closure; my parents and the school were as far away in my mind as they physically were. The comfort I found in his arms and the luscious scent of flowers filling my nose made me feel safe. Combined, they seemed to promise nothing like that would ever happen again. Though I didn’t completely believe it, it helped.

Drei cupped a pale hand beneath my chin and lifted my shining face to his. Something in his amethyst eyes sparkled at me in a way I had never seen before. It frightened and thrilled me instantaneously.

“All better?”

My head shook. On the surface, I felt better about everything that had bothered me; deep down, I knew I was a long ways from a full recovery.

His fingers smoothed back some stray hairs from my ponytail as he smiled that comforting glow of his that made everything else seem petty. “It is a start,” he whispered, grasping some nuance in my weak smile I failed to realize I was relaying. “It is a start.”

Elemental: Chapter Four, Part 1

Chapter Four: Tear Down the Wall

I stood on the bridge where he had dragged me all those months ago, my eyes gazing down into the gentle current of the stream below. My mind was made, and he hopefully wouldn’t attempt changing that.

“What is this?” a familiar voice questioned beside me.

Drei stood, handsome as ever wearing a sweeping black coat over his usual black outfit. His eyes looked to the generic duffel bag lying near my feet. The pale gems then searched my face. “Oh, so you have decided.” There was a note of approval hidden in his tone.

“Perhaps,” I replied, focusing on the scenery ahead, trying to sound jovial.

He walked to my other side, asking, “Your question regards me, does it not?”

“Not just you;” I turned my back on the railing. “All of the vampires involved.”

An eyebrow cocked over his left eye. “Oh really?”

“Yes,” I continued, settling back on my elbows. I had decided I needed this answer for the sake of having it. My decision was made, and nothing could change that, but this answer was merely reassurance I wasn’t becoming lunch. “Why do you help elementals? What’s your motivation for helping people like me?”

He leaned forward on his elbows, lacing his fingers together before him.

Part of me felt natural talking with a man who appeared only a few years older than myself. Yet another part writhed anxiously, feeling insignificant in comparison to the number of years he must have been around and the numerous things he had consequently been witness to.

“We help because we must,” he said quietly, his gaze watching a bird soar past the moon. “We find that some vampires gain clairvoyance with their turning. This foresight tells us of a future that is better, where we can finally coexist. If we can protect the elementals.”

“But why?” I inquired, turning back around, assuming a position similar to his. “We’re weird. Abnormal. Monstrosities, if you will.” Though I had been trying to stay upbeat, I couldn’t fake how I felt about this. Not after what had happened.

“No, you are not.” His eyes caught mine and held them prisoner. “You are leaders. People who will do great things. Earth and water elementals will lead to better technology for a better environment. They will change the way we live. Fire elementals were the leaders of great revolution. They brought out the desire for change in people. They fought and led wars that led society on a path in favor of better interests, despite how destructive they may have been at times.”

“And me?” My voice sounded small, even to my ears.

“Air elementals gather people with their words. They unite masses with visions and speeches. They lead non-violent fights for the betterment of society as a whole. They are also, often times, assassinated, wanted dead, or hidden.” He released me from his spell and stared back at the moon. “As for you, your role in particular, all I may reveal is that you will do great things, but not if you are found by hunters first.”

I nodded before grabbing my duffel. “So let’s go.”

Drei faced me, his expression stony. “It will be difficult, on the way and once we arrive. You will be leaving behind this life,” he said slowly, emphasizing his statement with a sweep of his arm.

“I know,” I assured him. I forced my mind to be numb; I didn’t want his words to penetrate too deeply.

“You might never see your family again.”

“I know that. Now will you stop trying to change my mind already?” I calmly cocked my head to one side and waited.

A glow seized his features, and again I perceived how handsomely gorgeous he was. “I wanted to ensure this is what you wanted.”

“And you thought I’d prefer torture and death?” I managed a wry smirk, trying to come off as light-hearted.

“Not at all;” he smirked. His gaze flashed back to the moon. “Come now, we are losing time before sunlight.”

“That’s right. You can’t be in sunlight;” I was remembering all the folklore on vampires I had looked up when I was younger and more interested in the subject. Not that I wasn’t interested in them anymore.

“Actually, that is myth. We just avoid it because we burn easily.”

“So what’s the hurry?” If he could be in sunlight—even if it is cancerous—why couldn’t we just take our time?

“Sunlight also makes us more visible,” he replied, sweeping past me in long, elegant strides.

I shrugged and followed him off the bridge and into the city. I supposed a runaway was less suspicious than an abduction; the last thing I needed was official news coverage, anyway. I just hoped we wouldn’t walk the entire way. From the sound of it, we would be going a very long distance.

Elemental: Chapter Three, Part 5

My blue-gray eyes stared emptily back at me, reminding me of the way Mom had transformed in my mind the night before. I looked as though I hadn’t slept a wink, which might have been the truth. All I could remember, however, was the history of my parents replaying like some horrible family film, always ending with Dad leaving, never to see her again.

I didn’t want to go to school; it was the last thing I wanted to do. Everyone would be talking about yesterday, about the girl who lost it—and more. My mind thoughtfully simulated the jeering faces and deafening silence. Half of me questioned why the past couldn’t be left alone, but the other half argued I had done my fair share of digging.

Turns out, I should have stayed home.

The moment I stepped onto campus, everyone shushed. It seemed to thrill them to peek around the corner at the girl who went psycho not even 24 hours earlier. Giggles echoed everywhere, nearly as much as the stealthy tiptoes and retreating footsteps of pathetic children lacking anything better to do.

In my locker was a note from Sara, apologizing profusely between her ravings of doing nothing wrong. Half of it denied any responsibility on her part. It ended with her begging me not to kill her, which hadn’t crossed my mind before that point—not that I would seriously contemplate it.

My first three classes I kept to a back corner of the room, having noticed in homeroom how everyone seemed to avoid sitting too close. Nothing changed during those classes. I seemed to radiate an aura of “fear me” so that even teachers were contented when I didn’t offer my usual participation. I could feel the waves of relief washing from them every time a question was posed and they glimpsed my way to see I hadn’t volunteered to answer.

Lunch was when the message became undeniably clear this was not just a one-day phase. Our school newspaper—the same one that managed to inform the student body of student news after it had ceased to be news—had published and released an edition focusing solely on moi.

I easily glimpsed the cover page, sporting an artistic version of myself floating, glowing abnormally, and resembling an earlier sketch of a popular weather controlling mutant. Everyone seemed to be reading the fresh copy, and an occasional finger found its way to my current position. The raucous of the room had hushed into a murmur of gossip and rumors from the moment I entered. If I neared a table of whispering girls, or chuckling guys, the energy and sound was vacuumed away until I passed; only then did it once again explode and infect the table’s occupants.

I had just decided on not eating in the lunchroom when someone stood and shouted, “Look! There’s the freak!”

Bursts of laughter and agreement echoed through the room and swam in my ears. Feigning deafness, I calmly exited the cafeteria through the rear door and only then allowed myself to sprint quicker than humanly possible to my car.

My eyes fell upon my poor vehicle, cluttered in teasing graffiti, sticky notes, toilet paper, and eggs. I dropped my backpack and stared horrified at my once beautiful, blue hybrid. Tears threatened to fall as I fled from the representation of my destroyed life. En route, I promised myself never to lose control again—regardless of what it required. My livelihood was ruined because of it, as well as everything inside of me.

At home, I found the house devoid of life. I was alone, as I was starting to realize I always had been. I’d been on my own since my mom left me to this supposedly better life; since my father traveled endlessly trying to escape her memory; since Kenzy tried to control everything I was when she couldn’t even begin to imagine. That realization shattered my world.

Elemental: Chapter Two, Part 7

My jaw dropped. My mother? The same one who was constantly nagging about boyfriends and college? “My mother’s at home asleep,” I said slowly.

“No, your mother has been locked away for 17 years.”

“That’s not possible!” I crossed my arms, trying not to let his words sink in too deep. Suddenly I felt cold, and the fact I knew practically nothing about him seemed really important. Like it was reason enough to block out anything else he said and dismiss it as a lie.

“It is. And if you are not careful, they will reunite you,” he threatened, though his voice wasn’t as cruel and frightening anymore.

I was silent. Thoughts jumbled in my head and left me wordless. He was so serious I was somewhat convinced he was telling the truth, but the idea was ludicrous and I had no reason to believe him. I saw her all the time...unless—

“I could take you away. You would be safe. We take care of all the elementals,” he offered, his voice gentle and alluring after the long silence that had fallen between us. The scent of flowers filled the air. It might have been my imagination, but instead of finding it soothing this time, it made me doubly uneasy, almost nauseous.

The idea seemed okay, but fear swelled in my mind. What would I do without school, college prospects, or friends? How could I survive without the comforts I found every day, the security in the fact I had everything I needed? I couldn’t leave everything behind; it didn’t seem possible. Aside from that, how safe would I be with Drei should I trust him? I didn’t know. He had soothed and saved me, yes, but that was when people still expected to see me. If I ran away, that expectation decreased to nearly nonexistent and what would he do then? Would he still be safe?

“Who is we?” I asked instead, attempting to think about something that didn’t bring so many unanswered questions to light.

“Vampires, like myself,” he answered, as if trying to prove I could trust him.

I scoffed, more out of terror than disapproval. “You’re out of your mind,” I insisted, trying to calm myself. It wasn’t working very well. “First bounty hunters, then my mother, now vampires? This is—this is a total joke.”

My mind repeated those final words, trying to convince me that was the truth. It fit into the boxes of my life; the rest of it didn’t. I could even make a box for being an elemental, and stretch things to make it fit, but I wasn’t going to try for everything else if it was easier to deny it all.

But my heart refused to believe he was lying. It argued I had always suspected this harsher reality, even if I never wanted to admit it.

Wanting to escape that place and the gut-wrenching feeling my world was collapsing, I forced Drei away from me and dashed back through the park. I was able to escape him easily enough; I wasn’t as lucky with his words.

Elemental: Chapter Two, Part 6

One spring night, I couldn’t sleep, even with sleep aids. For some reason unbeknownst to me, I was anxious and full of energy. I couldn’t bear to lie down or sit still, so I decided to go for a jog.

The guard at the gate buzzed me through and I took off along the path coursing through one of the nearby parks, enjoying the feel of cool air on my face. I felt alive and empowered by the clear night and the chatter of wildlife around me—so much clearer than I ever remembered.

I experimented with using air to make me faster, to deepen my breathing; I was enthralled with the results. The freeing feeling spread throughout me, sending my mind into levels of ecstasy beyond any runner’s high I’d previously experienced.

At some point, I had closed my eyes, letting my feet lead me through this solidly fraudulent world. Something yanked on my arm and spun me about. When I jerked my eyes open, Drei stood before me, a tight grip on my wrist to keep me from going anywhere. He looked deathly serious as he said, “We need to talk.”

His words echoed hollowly in my head. What did we have to talk about? I hadn’t done anything wrong. Well, nothing that I knew of. Besides, I hadn’t seen him in months. Why was he showing up all of a sudden now?

Drei dragged me along to a bridge, seemingly because of the stream trickling below—since he checked over the side as if assuring himself there was water there—though that didn’t make sense. Then again, how much of who he was or what he knew did?

“You cannot be careless,” he warned; his voice was low and gruff—waking terror inside my chest—and his features were paler than usual.

“It’s just little tricks,” I muttered, trying fruitlessly to escape his scathing eyes. Why was this such a big deal? If he didn’t want me using these powers—or whatever you wanted to call them—why did he show me I had them in the first place?

“And tricks are hilarious!” he snapped and I flinched. This was a whole other disposition, distinct from even how he’d been in that alley. “Of course risking your life for fun and games is hilarious!”

“My life?” I questioned dumbly, feeling completely lost in the conversation and trying not to say too much in case it angered him more. I liked him better when he was happy; even disappointed was better than this.

“Bounty hunters watch for careless elementals,” he said, his eyes livid and passionate with a hint of fear somewhere on their edges, though I couldn’t imagine why he would have anything to fear. “It is their job. If they catch you, you are shipped off to some government building to be experimented on. Is that what you want?”

“No,” I replied meekly, struggling to find something solid to support me; it felt like everything was slipping away from beneath me. Not only had my life been turned completely on its head, but now the change I was beginning to actually enjoy was bringing its own restraints. As if my life didn’t have enough of those already. “But I can fight them;” I sounded more confident than I felt as I pulled free from his grasp. “They don’t know what I can do. They—”

“—already took your mother.”