Hello everyone! I'd like to start out by saying that I know I'm completely terrible. I'm aware that it took me a REALLY long time to get this chapter out. Blame the writer's block. Don't worry, I plan on letting my muse know that just because it's summer that doesn't mean it gets to go on vacation whenever it wants. Speaking of vacation, I have bad news for you guys. I'm going away on vacation on Thursday and I'll have very little computer access. So the next chapter won't be out until August. :( I'm sorry. I was really worried that I wouldn't be able to get this chapter out before I left because right now I'm supposed to be grounded from the computer. I'm actually sneaking on right now, so be happy I'm capable of rebelling against my mother. I'm promise I'll do my best to get the next chapter out ASAP. Enjoy!
Anthony wasn't there when I woke up. I'd slept peacefully and easily at his house. When I woke up I felt much better. I rolled onto my back and looked at my watch. I flew off the bed when I saw it was noon. I never slept that late.
I stretched and tried to decide on my next move. I had the whole day to myself. I could spend my time looking for Emily or I could spend my time with Anthony. Spending the day with Anthony instantly appealed to me, and I had an excuse for not using my time to look for Emily – several members of the hunting population were looking for her and I might get caught. However, I knew that excuse was just a way to justify it to myself. I preferred the idea of being with Anthony.
I figured that he would be downstairs so I walked out of the room with the intention of finding him. Once in the hallway, I stopped short. My senses flickered. Vampire. It wasn't Anthony or his brothers; this one was weaker.
I saw her. She was thin. Long, messy black hair fell down her back. Her clothes looked old and worn, but she pulled it off in a way that only a vampire could have. She snarled when she recognized me as a hunter. Then, she held my gaze and tried to hypnotize me. She tensed and worry came over her when her little trick failed.
"Juana!" I looked to see Eric coming toward us. She didn't move when he called her name, her eyes stayed on me while I kept myself in position to defend myself if she attacked. "Evelyn, don't worry, she's not going to hurt you," Eric assured me as he approached
I struggled to relax my muscles and calm down.
"I thought you told me there wouldn't be dangers in this house," Juana glared at Eric. "Yet, you have a powerful hunter walking through the halls of her own free will?" There was a faint Spanish accent in her voice.
Eric glared back at her. "Nobody invited you here. You found me and asked to come. Feel free to leave."
"And the hunter?" she asked icily.
"The hunter was invited," I looked up to see that Anthony had come.
Relief washed over me. I'd been feeling uncomfortable just standing there. Anthony came and stood next to me protectively.
"Really? Well this is interesting," Juana mused.
Anthony rolled his eyes. "Come on Evelyn." He started leading me downstairs; I followed mechanically.
I walked toward which ever room he was leading me to lost in thought. I knew he had other vampires at his house from time to time – he'd told me about that himself. So why was it bothering me so much? Because you're hunter, killing vampires is in your nature, a voice in my head responded automatically. I tried to clear my head, but I very easily realized what was bothering me. I didn't want proof that my relationship with Anthony wouldn't work.
"I'm sorry," Anthony said when we were in the kitchen.
"Hmm?"
"She shouldn't be here. I'm glad she didn't try to hurt you," he said. His face looked troubled, and of course, this bothered me.
"This is your house," I reminded him. "And I can take care of myself just fine," I assured him. I saw Chinese food sitting on the granite countertop. "Is that for me?"
He nodded. "Normally, I wouldn't have vampires over while you're here – I don't want you to be uncomfortable." He started playing with my hair. "But Juana, she's different. She helped us a lot when we first changed. Eric insists we owe her, even though I think we paid her back enough a long time ago."
I stopped putting rice onto the paper plate and put my arms around his neck. "It's fine; you shouldn't be so upset. You shouldn't do things differently just because I'm here. Invite all the vampire friends you want."
He caressed my face with the back of his hand. "You should know, I have very few vampire friends. And, in all this confusion, I forgot to ask you how you were feeling."
I gave him a small smile and stood on my tip toes to kiss him on the cheek. "I'm better than I was this morning."
"That's good," he said, hugging me close. "What do you want to do today after you eat?"
"I don't know," I said putting my arms around him so that we were even closer.
"Well, don't you two make a cute couple," Juana said as she walked in the kitchen.
Anthony and I jumped away from each other. I couldn't believe I hadn't sensed her coming.
"What are you doing here?" Anthony asked. He was glowering at her.
"I wanted something to eat," she said simply. "But, I didn't know I would be interrupting anything." She looked at my plate of food. "So, you got food for your little hunter friend but nothing for me?" she asked with false hurt in her tone.
"Where's Eric?" Anthony asked her, ignoring her questions.
"I think he was fed up with me, so he left." She started going through the cupboards and the refrigerator.
"Anthony, can you come here for a minute?" I looked up to see Mark enter the room.
Anthony didn't answer at first. Instead, he looked at me.
"Don't act like you don't know I'm here," Juana said to Mark. "A hug would be nice." She opened out her arms. Mark grimaced at her and then looked at Anthony again.
"Go ahead, I'm fine," I told him. With one last look at Juana he walked out with Mark.
I took one deep breath and then concentrated on the food in front of me. It smelled good, but I when I put it in my mouth I might as well have been eating cardboard. There was no taste. Still, I was determined to ignore Juana. She however, was infinitely curious about me.
For a long time, she just stared at me. Her eyes followed my every movement, from when I flipped my hair to when I put the fork to my mouth.
"So does your family know you're here?" she wondered. I hadn't anticipated that she would talk to me. But, it wasn't very surprising. After the little glimpse of her personality that I'd gotten today, I'd already gathered that she was the type who liked to mess with people's heads.
I wasn't sure whether or not I should ignore her. I didn't want another vampire knowing about the secrets of my life. That was always dangerous.
My silence, however, tipped her off. "I guess I know the answer," she said. "So you're a rebel. How admirable. So what are you going to do? Run away with Anthony after high school? That would be romantic."
Again, I ignored her. No matter, that she was voicing problems that I'd been losing sleep over. Problems that I tried stubbornly to not think about whenever I was with Anthony.
"And you're a powerful hunter too. I can sense it. My being here must be making your blood crawl. How do you resist? Isn't it in your nature to kill?" she wondered.
I frowned at her, finally provoked. "No, it's in your nature to kill. It's in my nature to protect. And as far as I know, everyone in this house is capable of taking care of themselves, so the only thing I have to 'resist' is your voice."
She grinned, glad that she had me talking. "Be careful hunter. I have very powerful friends."
"So do I," I retorted. "And if your 'friends' love you as much as Anthony and his brothers do, I'm really not worried."
Anthony, thank god, finally walked back into the kitchen. He seemed worried to find us glowering at each other.
"I think your taste in women questionable," Juana said to him.
"I don't really care what you think," he said. "Now, Mark is going to take you to get blood. You're not leaving this house by yourself. And remember, if you break the rules once, we will kill you," he warned.
She rolled her eyes. "You all live such strange lives here. It's disappointing. So much power, and you three don't even want to use it." She turned dramatically and headed toward the door. "Oh, can we go shopping? I need new clothes," she said to Mark.
He groaned and looked at Anthony who nodded. "You owe me for this."
Anthony and I looked at each other for a minute. "Did she say anything to you?" he asked.
I shrugged. "She was just trying to provoke me. She didn't really say much." I refused to let him know how much her words bothered me.
"Are you sure? You know, if you don't want her here, I'll talk to my brothers about making her leave," he said.
"No, don't do that. I told you, I don't want everything to change just because I'm here," I said.
"Everything already changed because of you." He smiled. "In a good way."
I looked down and blushed. "So, what now?"
He moved nearer to me. His lips skimmed the side my face, down my cheekbones to my mouth and then back up again to my temple. "Now, we have the whole house to ourselves for the rest of the day."
I remembered Mark's words about Anthony "owing him." "Did you tell Mark to take Juana out of the house?"
He smiled. "I just asked him for a favor."
"Poor Mark," I said.
Again, he smiled. "I think we don't get to spend enough time together. Don't you?"
"Well, yeah, but it's because we're always busy. Actually, I'm always busy. I have no idea what you do with your free time." I realized too late that I was rambling. His lips were still at my face.
"I think about you," he said.
"Because that's not creepy at all," I said, secretly pleased.
He pulled away and grinned. "Why are you still talking?" He leaned in, but this time, his lips met mine. His fingers caressed my face lightly, and then he stopped.
I pouted. "Since when do you stop first?"
"Well, now you know what it feels like," he said with a smile.
He picked me up and carried me to the living room. He set me down on the couch and stared at my face as if searching for something. "You look worried," he said.
I bit my lip. "It's my friend, she's still missing. If they'd found anything my sisters would have texted me. I can't do anything, and I'm worried. And then this sort of my fault."
"I'm pretty sure it isn't," he said.
"Ethan asked me out," I said.
His eyebrows pulled together. I resisted smiling at the fact that he was jealous. "What'd you say?"
"I told him that I had other plans with my friends, Jack and Emily, except that was a lie. So I made my sister call them to make plans so that he wouldn't catch me in the lie. But, if I'd just said no, they'd still be fine in New York," I said.
"Listen to me. It is not your fault. Would it make you feel better to go looking for them?" he asked.
"I don't know. But I can't. My mom already told me not to. I'm supposed to be in school, remember? If any of the hunters see me, I'm screwed." I sighed.
"Want my help?" he asked.
"What?"
"Do you want me to help look for your friend?" I couldn't believe how calm he looked when he asked.
"Are you kidding? You could get hurt," I said.
He rolled his eyes. "Evelyn, let me let you in on a little secret. The thing about us immortals is that we don't 'get hurt' very easily."
"But you still can get hurt. Especially if you go out where there are hunters armed with the most deadly poison we have," I said. "And I know all about immortals. I am immortal."
He raised his eyebrows. "What?"
I frowned. "You didn't know that?"
"No. I've heard rumors, but I didn't think they were true."
I didn't say anything for a moment. Vampires didn't know that hunters were immortal. Therefore, common sense should tell me that letting a vampire in on that little secret would be very, very stupid.
I hesitated. "I probably shouldn't tell you," I said.
He kissed the tip of my nose. I could see the disappointment on his face. He probably thought I didn't trust him. "You don't have to tell me anything."
I sighed. Why was he so nice to me all the time? "We are capable of living forever," I began. He was listening intently. "But, if I was shot, for example, and lost too much blood, I'd die. Of course, we're not an easy kill for humans, but they can still do it."
He nodded. "You know, I'm not going to tell anyone your secrets, right?"
"Yeah, but my mom would still probably disown me if she found out I told them to you," I said.
"She won't find out," he promised.
"Okay, let's not talk about hunters and vampires and powers. I'm so sick of it. I need a break," I said.
"No problem," he leaned in toward me. I forgot everything easily when he kissed me. Way too easily.
He moved away from my lips and put soft kisses all the way down my neck to my collar bone.
"You know, you're really good at this," I said, a little embarrassed that I couldn't keep my voice steady.
He laughed. "Better make the most of it. I don't know when we're going to get all this uninterrupted time again."
"I guess you're right," I said. And this time, I kissed him. I put my arms around his neck and his lips shaped around mine. I moved one of my hands to trace down the muscles on his arm.
For once, I didn't have to care about getting caught or what anybody would think. I was insanely excited. He kept me pressed tightly to him. He smelled so deliciously good.
I pulled away, needing to catch my breath. He smiled and moved a lock of hair from my face. His dark, blue eyes were so sweet. I decided something. From now on, everybody else wouldn't matter. He wasn't evil. How could he be? It didn't matter that nobody would ever believe me if I said I knew a good vampire. For now, nobody had to know.
See? No evil cliffhanger just because I know I won't be able to update for over a month. Aren't I nice? lol, jk. I really am sorry I won't be able to update. I'll see if I can write on the plane, that way I'll just have to type it up when I get back. :D Hope you guys liked it! Remember I love your reviews.