I pushed my way through the spiralling branches of a mother tree, and settled myself on a fallen log a little way behind it. I could still just about see the building through the sheet of greenery, but it was distorted, blurred. There were a number of tiny, speckled mushrooms growing beside me. I bounced my fingers along them, tapping each in turn, desperate to distract myself from the conversation that was surely about to happen. Skye’s expression loomed in my mind’s eye, and I felt my heart ache as I thought about the fear in his handsome face. The pillars of light stretched into the forest, tickling the damp toes of my once-white shoes. I stretched my legs out, and then jumped so hard that I almost fell off the log I was precariously balanced on. Skye was beside me, a finger held over his sinfully curved, full lips. He didn’t say anything, and I narrowed my eyes at him. My eyebrows pulled inwards, fu

"Oh?” I grinned. Skye led me over to his car, and I was pleased to see that it was almost as run-down as mine was. It had faded, peeling grey-blue paint, and it was spotted with rust around its wheel arches.“Yeah,” he said, his chest puffing out. “I thought it would be nice to get to know you a little better. But I know that you’re new here, so you probably don’t know the town that well, and I also know that you don’t eat. Though I don’t know why you don’t eat,” he added, giving me a sly, sideways glance.I shrugged. “I’m just not hungry, I suppose.” Technically, I thought, that wasn’t a total lie. I didn’t get hungry – but I did get thirsty.He shook his head at me, but he was smiling. He yanked open the car door with a creak, and I slipped inside. It was cramped, and I wondered how he fitted his long, broad body in here. My legs were scrunched up against the dashboard, and I was a good foot or so shorter than he was.There was a tiny, handmade wolf charm hanging from his rear view m

We held hands as we walked down the high street, his palms cool and smooth against my own. I felt small beside him, but safe – his grip was strong, but not too tight, and I knew that even had I not been utterly capable of protecting myself, he would step in and rescue me. It was a heady, giddy sensation, and I found that I rather liked it.My coffee cup was still hot in my other hand, but cooling rapidly as the darkness drew in above us. The glow of the lamps was warm, and the strings of fairy lights made the autumnal trees glow orange. Crisp, fallen leaves crunched beneath our feet.“So,” Skye said, scuffing the toes of his shoes into the leaves, one by one as he took each step, “did you leave Hollowbridge because of – of what you are?”It was an innocuous enough question, but I knew that it was a segue into a conversation I wasn’t sure I was ready to have. But as I gazed up at him, tall, broad, but leanly muscled, with a softness to his face, especially around his eyes and lips, I kn

He’d stabbed me. I was sure of it. I could feel his fingers punching through my ribcage, his nails slicked into sharp points and digging through my flesh as he latched on to my heart. It beat out an unsteady, anxious rhythm as he yanked it free, and he held it in his hand for a moment, blood dripping down his wrist. I could do nothing but stare up at him as I fell to my knees. The dim lamplight swirled around me. I felt seasick, dizzy, as the orange trees and the navy sky span, forming ringlets in the air. Then I felt the hard tarmac against my bare knees, and the heels of my hands following them onto the ground seconds later. I felt my skin tear on impact, but barely, like a flash of red through my vision. I could feel it, but it was dwarfed by the pain in my chest. My eyes fluttered shut, and I curled into a ball, my broken hands clutching at the empty space where my heart used to be. The wav

“How you became a vampire,” Skye said, nodding. His eyes darted from side to side, like the sun rolling around the earth, and he bit down on his bottom lip. I sighed. My fingers clenched at the dirty blanket, and I took a deep breath. I fixed my gaze on the orange lamplight filtering through the tree in front of us, the shadows of the other leaves dappling the brighter ones underneath. “Are you sure you don’t want to go first?” I laughed, but it sounded dry, hollow and unnatural, even to my own ears. I glanced up at Skye, and, at his weathered expression, my eyes dove back towards the tree. “I – mine is – it’s dark,” he admitted. From the corner of my eye, I could see his hands tapping restlessly on the thighs of his jeans. This time, the wry tone in my voice was intentional. “And you don’t think dying and coming back as a vampir