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THIRTY-NINE | WHIPLASH
The sun was dipping low in the sky as I drove back to my Dads’ house. The diner had stayed quiet after the arrival of the Town Trio, and though I could have left early, I’d waited until the end of my shift to leave. I didn’t want to face the world awaiting me outside.
Harper was expecting me to return to our house soon, but despite our kiss and his sweet forgiveness, I still felt as though something was lacking between us. Our relationship had been irrevocably changed by Cyrus’s arrival, if not by Cyrus himself. He had brought light to flaws and shortcomings that I had brushed under the carpet for too long, and, confused as I was, going back to Harper now felt wrong.
But I didn’t want to go back to my Dads’ house either. There was nowhere I wholly belonged, now; there was nowhere all of my secrets were laid bare. Not one person knew the full truth of my lived experience, and it was exhausting.
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The Hunter and the Vampire FORTY | THORNS
The door opened a crack. As I leant forwards, the sharp nose and hard jaw began to soften. The nose, though perfectly straight, looked less hard-angled as my eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight. It was a face composed of balance: a soft, sensually curved upper lip beneath high, arched cheekbones. It was a face that I knew.“Cyrus?” I said, booting open the door and pulling myself up to my full height beside him.“Hi,” he smiled. His eyes, like shadowed pools on a clear day, searched mine tentatively. I gave nothing away.“You hit my car?”His chest puffed up, affronted. “Of course not. Look – it’s utterly unscathed.”“That’s wonderful,” I scowled. The blade in my hand felt hot and conspicuous. As discreetly as I could, I slipped it up and under the sleeve of my jacket.
The Hunter and the Vampire FORTY-ONE | ROSEBUD
The last vestiges of my morality slipped away as I leant into the kiss. His lips were warm and soft, and my whole being centred around his touch. His hands, firm and strong, moved to my waist and gripped me. I clutched at the back of his neck, drawing myself up and pressing against him.The storm waged out at sea, but even as the choppy waves brushed against my coastal shore I felt calm. The sun was shining, even as fat raindrops obscured its rays.Heat rose in my chest, making my heart thump against my ribcage. It tore its way free, finding its way into Cyrus’s hands and presenting itself to him. It was his, now.The feeling of his body against mine tasted forbidden, dark and dangerous, and my lips parted, desperate to drink all of him in. The whisper of a groan fell from his mouth to mine, and it was then that I knew, with no shadows clouding the truth. He was mine, too.His tousled hair was
The Hunter and the Vampire FORTY-TWO | OF CASTLES AND KINGS
I stared at the tyre tracks carved into the ground. There were two sets – proof of my encounter with Cyrus – yet the entire event felt utterly fabricated.Despite his strange behaviour, I felt waves of calm wash over me. If meeting Cyrus had been the beginning of the end of my relationship with Harper, then today’s kiss had been the cement that sealed our joined fates. I was no longer dancing in a grey area; I had stepped out into the sunlight, no matter how shadowed and dappled the greener grass may be.I stumbled back to my car, leaning heavily on the bonnet. My neck ached, and in the silence of my abrupt loneliness, I realised how bizarre my afternoon had been. With the blood pounding against my temples, I slithered into the driver’s seat. In my haste I’d left the door open, and as my strength left me I was grateful for my earlier hurriedness.I wilted against the seat, closing my e
The Hunter and the Vampire FORTY-THREE | STRAWBERRY BLONDE
“An ‘accident’?” Paps repeated, his eyebrows raising. His fingers jerked into air quotes around the word accident, and I couldn’t help but smile at him.I’d driven straight back to my Dads’ house. I needed to speak to Harper as soon as I could, but a mysterious accident just outside of Seafall felt too important to put off investigating. Besides, I told myself, it was safer for Harper if I focused on finding and eliminating the vampires. If the accident at Blackwood Castle was a clue, then telling my Dads about it was a priority. For now, my questions about Cyrus and his sudden upheaval would have to remain unanswered. Regardless of his behaviour, my choice was made. I could find out where it was, exactly, that he stood in due course.They’d both eyed my bruise with mild suspicion, but neither of them commented on it. They’d also avoided asking why I’d been driving towards
The Hunter and the Vampire FORTY-FOUR | UNKNOWN
As the car hurtled back towards Seafall, I wanted to bang against the windows, to smash the glass and throw myself out of the vehicle. I wanted to sprint, to feel the pull of my muscles and the stretch of my lungs.I didn’t want to be trapped inside a car, unmoving save for the steady rise and fall of my chest, stuck with questions I had no answers to. The world flashed by outside, and I wished I could blur with it.Not Veronica. This was no accident, and this was final. Veronica, limp and bloodied, her soft, delicately rounded body torn apart, was dead. There were no second chances, and I’d wasted my first.“I don’t see why she’d have gone to the castle,” Paps muttered. He shook his head, and then turned to stare out at the careening trees and verges. Perhaps he wished the same as I did.Veronica worked full time at Waypavers, but it would make sense that she’d fini
The Hunter and the Vampire FORTY-FIVE | STORM
I was filled with a sudden sense of urgency, which did not abate even as I threw back more whiskey and allowed myself to be prodded upstairs to bed. The alcohol dulled it, but my stomach churned as I considered all of the possible ways that Veronica could have died.Could Cyrus have done it? Or was I simply fixating on him as the only possible suspect? Our other leads had gone nowhere, yet I kept circling back to him.I wanted to admonish myself for feeling fear towards him, but this was a new, strange circumstance for me. My life, and morals, had always been black and white: monsters were evil, humanity was good. I fought to protect the good, the innocent, and I fought against the evil.I rolled over in bed, facing the window. I’d left my curtains open, and my body was like lead against the mattress now; they would have to remain open tonight. The sky was moonless, clouded, and even the pinprick stars had disappea
The Hunter and the Vampire FORTY-SIX | TEMPEST
The rain thundered down as I drove to the house I shared with Harper. The familiar roads felt alien to me, shrouded in darkness by the thick grey clouds. Raindrops lashed at my windows, and my wipers struggled to keep up with the onslaught.My Dads had wanted to take me shopping for a Christmas tree this morning, but I’d been insistent that I had to do this first. Then the drizzle, remnants of last night’s storm, turned to a downpour, and they decided that Christmas shopping was best left for another day.To distract myself from what was to come, I imagined running my fingers down the lengths of pine trees, their needles pricking my fingertips. I pictured the three of us struggling to force the tree into my Dads’ car – no matter how big their behemoth car was, somehow we always found a tree that was bigger.The picture morphed as I neared our house. It was no longer my Dads by my side; in their pl
The Hunter and the Vampire FORTY-SEVEN | SUNSET
A coarse wind howled outside, but it was drowned out by Harper’s abrupt, gut-wrenching sobs. I’d expected tears, but this was worse; guttural, world-ending tremors that wracked his body. I held him tight in my arms, fearful that he might splinter across our old, worn sofa.The firelight felt less dangerous, now. It was just firelight, and I was just a girl. The room opened up, warm in its familiarity, and as I tucked Harper’s head beneath my chin I felt wholly at home. Perhaps it was strange, to feel so welcome in the face of such anguish, but it felt as though, at long last, my life was beginning to align. Harper’s, too, though he did not know it yet.I’d had time to process this decision. He had not.His lips quivered as he rose from my embrace, but his eyes held mine with a strength I had not anticipated, but was grateful for. I loved him; crushing his spirit had never been my inten
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