Chapter Nine: Breaking Point

I had barely made it back to my room before the shaking started.

My hands wouldn't stop trembling. Not from fear this time. From something else. Something that was building inside me like a storm.

I pressed my back against the door and tried to breathe. But the air felt too thick and hot.

This feeling wasn't new. I'd been having it for days now. Ever since I ran from Blake's house. Ever since I saw that woman Raven with her mouth on Blake's neck, drinking his blood like some kind of monster.

I'd thought she was crazy. Sick. Maybe on drugs or some crazy cult with blood fetish.

But when I'd pushed Thomas against the wall that night, when I saw his head crack on the wall, my body had burned like this. Hot and wild and strong.

Too strong for someone like me.

"Get it together, Calla," I whispered to myself.

But my reflection in the mirror looked wrong. My eyes seemed brighter. My skin flushed. Even my hair looked different, like it was alive.

I needed water. Cold water to cool down this fire inside me.

I turned toward the small sink in the corner. My hand hit the wooden chair next to it.

The chair broke like I'd hit it with a sledgehammer.

I stared at the broken wood scattered across the floor. That shouldn't have been possible. I'd barely touched it.

"What the hell?" I breathed.

My hands were shaking worse now. The heat inside me was getting stronger. Like something trying to claw its way out.

A knock on my door made me jump.

"Everything okay in there?" A woman's voice. One I didn't recognize.

"Fine," I called back. But my voice sounded strange and rougher than usual.

"Doesn't sound fine."

The door opened before I could protest. A woman with short dark hair and tired eyes stepped inside. She looked around my age, but something about her seemed older and harder.

"I'm Rikka," she said. "And you must be the one causing all this trouble."

"I didn't ask for any of this."

"None of us did." She looked at the broken chair, then back at me. "But here we are."

"It was an accident."

"Was it?" She moved closer, studying my face. "When did it start?"

"When did what start?"

"The burning heat you must be feeling right now. The strange strength."

I took a step back. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you do. You must've been feeling different for days. Maybe weeks. Your body changing in ways that don't make sense."

How did she know that?

"You're one of us," she said quietly.

"One of what?"

"Definitely not human. Like the rest of us."

The words hit me like a slap. "That's fucking impossible."

"Is it? Look around, Calla. Look at what you just did to that chair."

I wanted to deny it. To laugh and call her crazy. But the broken wood was right there. Evidence of something I couldn't explain.

"This is insane," I said.

"Yeah, it is. But it's also real."

My chest felt tight. Like I couldn't get enough air. The room started spinning.

"I can't... I need..."

"Hey." Rikka's voice got softer. "Breathe. Just breathe."

But I couldn't. The panic was taking over. Everything felt wrong. My body, this place, these people claiming impossible things.

"I....i need Axel," I gasped out despite myself.

Rikka nodded and disappeared. A minute later, Axel burst through the door.

"What happened?" His eyes found the broken chair immediately.

"I don't know," I said. "I don't know what's happening to me."

He crossed the room in two steps and pulled me against his chest. His arms wrapped around me tight, and suddenly I could breathe again.

"It's okay," he said softly. "You're okay."

"I'm not okay. I'm losing my mind."

"No, you're not. You're just... changing."

I pulled back to look at his face. "Into what?"

"Something beautiful."

The way he said it made my heart skip. Like he meant it. Like whatever was happening to me wasn't something to be afraid of.

"I don't understand any of this," I whispered.

"You will. Give it time."

His hand cupped my face, and I leaned into the touch. For a moment, everything else faded away. The fear, the confusion, the broken furniture.

It was just him and me and this feeling between us that I couldn't name.

"Calla," he said.

"Yeah?"

"Trust me?"

I wanted to. God, I wanted to trust him more than anything.

But I wasn't ready. Not yet. I don't even know the man.

"I need some air," I said, stepping away from him.

"Stay inside. It's not safe—"

"I'll stay close. Just... I need a minute to think."

He looked like he wanted to argue. But he nodded.

"Five minutes. Then you come back."

"Five minutes," I agreed.

---

The night air felt good against my heated skin. I stayed close to the building like I'd promised, but far enough away that I could think clearly.

Everything Rikka had said kept playing in my head. Definitely not human. Like the rest of us.

What did that even mean?

I was walking past a row of motorcycles when I heard footsteps behind me. Quiet ones, like someone trying not to be heard.

I turned around, expecting to see Jace or one of the other men Axel had watching me.

Instead, I saw a stranger.

He was tall and pale with dark hair. Good-looking in a sharp, dangerous way. But something about him made my skin crawl.

"Hello there," he said.

"Who are you?"

"Just someone looking for information." He smiled, and his teeth seemed too white in the darkness. "About a woman named Calla Hart."

My blood went cold. He was looking for me. But he didn't know who I was.

"Never heard of her," I lied.

"Really? That's interesting." He stepped closer. "Because her scent is all over this place."

Scent? What kind of person talked about scent like that?

"I think you have the wrong place," I said, backing away.

"I don't think so." His eyes seemed to glow in the moonlight. "Look at me, human."

The word was a command. I felt something in my head, like pressure trying to get inside.

But it didn't work. Whatever he was trying to do bounced off me like water off glass.

His smile faded. "That's... unexpected."

"Are you feeling okay?" I asked. "Because you sound kind of crazy."

"Crazy?" He laughed, but it wasn't a nice sound. "You have no idea what you're dealing with, do you?"

"Some guy having a breakdown?"

"Wrong again."

His face started to change. His skin got paler. His eyes turned red. And when he smiled this time, I saw fangs.

Long, sharp, deadly fangs.

My world tilted sideways.

"Now do you understand?" he asked.

I couldn't speak. Couldn't move. Could barely breathe. I just stared at him in horror.

He looked like...like...like a... vampire!

Axel was right.

Vampires were real.

Actually real!

And one was standing right in front of me with hunger in his glowing red eyes.

"Time to die, little human," he said.

He lunged forward, fangs aimed at my throat.

And I finally understood that everything I thought I knew about the world was wrong.