Chapter 17

I was running.

Harder and faster than I had ever run in my life. Trees flashed past the way. It was only a matter of time my legs would hurl me forward, feet flying from something too terrible to face.

"Kill Derek. Kill the purebloods."

Shaking those thoughts away, I willed myself not to listen to that voice.

"You were born for this. Fulfill the prophecy."

Derek's house appeared between the distant trees. The sight of it brought a strange feeling of salvation, the way a thief might feel sighting a church, his chance at sanctuary. I sprinted harder, and soon, Derek's swimming pool appeared on my line of vision.

I stumbled down to the patio that surrounded the pool, my eyes eyeing its blue depths. Part of me wanted only to drown myself, to lie on the bottom and hold my breath while my heartbeats get further and further apart, stretching, eventually reaching infinity.

My reflection morphed into a different face. She had dark wavy brown hair that fell above the top curves of her supple br