I tried to ignore my suspicions about Pip’s identity and headed inside. It didn’t take long to realise that Cassie wasn’t there. I might have been mad at her, but her not being there made things even worse. It was the problem with only having a single friend. I hadn’t expected it to be so difficult. I took my seat and chose one in the back row. I was a loner. There was no point pretending otherwise. I sat there listening to the most boring account of the book we were reading by Dr Flint.
It was Flint’s voice that was the problem. He droned on and on. What made it even worse was that every few lines, he stopped and explained to us what he had read. It was so grating, I could feel myself falling asleep. My eyes were so dry and my lids so heavy. I tried desperately to stay awake, but the more he spoke, the closer to sleep I got. I gave in and closed my eyes, still concentrating on his voice drifting through the room towards me.
“Would you like us to bring you a bed in so
That night, as soon as everyone in the house had retired to bed, I grabbed the holdall from the bottom of my wardrobe and laid it on my bed. I had no idea what I was even supposed to pack. I looked around my room and spotted a family photo on my bedside table and stuffed it in the bag. I thought about grabbing my uni textbooks, but I didn’t even know if I would be able to continue with uni. It seemed unlikely. I headed over to the wardrobe and pulled out some of my more practical clothes. Nothing from my shopping trip with Cassie made the cut. Then I moved on to fishing my boots and trainers out from under the bed.All I could think about was all the things I wouldn’t be able to take with me. I just started throwing in everything and anything I could think of until the bag was full. Zipping it up was more than a little difficult with how full it was. I eased my bedroom door open and tiptoed down the stairs. Letting myself out of the front door carefully and stowing the bag in
I couldn’t help but feel ridiculous, standing outside in yoga pants and a sports bra. I felt bitterly cold too. I stood patiently while Vanessa strapped my hands and wrists up, not that I understood the point of the exercise. She was being pretty tight-lipped about what we were actually going to be doing. I watched intently as she picked up two black pad-like things from the patio table.“Right, hit right here.” She pointed to the centre of the pad and I complied. “You need to do better than that. Put everything you have into it.” I rolled my eyes, but continued to follow her instructions.“I thought I was meant to be doing vampire training?” I wasn’t training to become a boxer, so I really didn’t see the point.“You are, but you need to train your human side, too. You won’t always be able to summon your vampire side, but you still need to be able to protect yourself.” I thought back to the day at the beach and realised she was right. I started to put more effor
All the interruption did was force me back down the stairs. I wasn’t happy about it, but I knew I had little choice but to go and see who was at the door. It wasn’t like we got many visitors. I recognised her the second I laid eyes on her. She was just how I remembered her, a complete knockout. Although as vampires we were meant to blend in, Vanessa never got that memo.She stood leaning up against the door frame talking to Mum and Dad. As they moved out of the way, she sauntered in. She was wearing black leather trousers with a matching jacket and a low cut red tee tucked into her waistband. She was already tall for a woman, at least five foot eleven, but her four-inch heels made her tower over even my dad. Her raven black hair came down below her shoulders and hung loosely. By far her best feature was her ocean-blue eyes, framed by naturally long black lashes.Not only did she look like an ass kicking vampire, I knew from the stories my mum had told me that her attit
The exhaustion was starting to kick in before I even made it to the door. I walked straight past my parents and headed into the kitchen. I slumped down on one of the dining chairs and laid my head on the table. It surprised me when they didn’t follow me. I had expected them to be there within seconds, grilling me about everything. When they finally joined me at the table, Mum put a glass in front of me. I eyed it suspiciously, but before I could come to a conclusion, the smell of it drifted towards me. I felt so torn.My human half was repulsed, but my vampire half was desperate to reach for the glass and start gulping down the thick crimson liquid. I just sat there, waiting for my body to decide which half would win out. “You need to drink it. If you don’t, you will get poorly.” I looked up at Mum, but I knew there was nothing but disdain on my face. It was her fault, all of it. She had caused me to be two competing halves by giving in to my dad. I wasn’t sure whether I want
It was like I was half awake. As though I was there, but not really. I could feel the jostling and movement, but my head felt so heavy and sore. I could feel myself drifting in and out of nothingness. From the darkness, I heard a howl. It almost seemed to confirm my demise. I tried harder to escape the dark prison I was in. The tiniest shaft of glowing light entered my mind. I tried harder still when I heard another howl, but it seemed to be further away.As my eyes finally gave way, I saw him in all his magnificence. Stood among the trees, howling into the air. I was so taken aback by the sight of him that I hadn’t realised that I wasn’t alone. My mum had her hands on me and I felt her checking my neck for a pulse. I was so groggy and sore; I struggled to move at all.Then I saw the worst sight I had ever seen. My dad charged at Pip and sent him flying into a nearby tree. Pip just lay there, as though he had given up and had no fight left in him. I had no choice. I ha
I dressed hastily the next morning. Not because I was looking forward to going to uni, but because I needed to check that Cassie was alright. Not to mention finding out how things were between the two of us. Something told me I had managed to lose my only friend. Not that it was my fault. I didn’t want Brodie’s attention. She was more than welcome to him. Somehow, I knew she wouldn’t see it like that. She would think that I had led him on. I drove way faster than I should have done and wondered if my sudden speediness was due to the night before. Almost like I couldn’t turn off the muscle memory that had occurred during my high-speed chase. I cursed as I saw sirens coming up behind me and pulled over. I was fully expecting him to pull up behind me and give me a telling off, but he whizzed straight past me. About te