23. Blamed

"Sorry were late we just hunted…" Angel came running up with Nick and with a sweet smile. Well until she saw me that is.

"What do you mean?" Hannah stepped up. Dylan's gaze shifted towards her then back to me.

"I' sorry I have to tell you this, but Shadow is dead." I looked around at all the beautiful faces. Skylar held me tighter as everyone hissed in unison. There was anger everywhere now.

"By who?" Keenan snarled, pulling his lip back over his teeth. His hands were now claws. Abby was trying to calm him down.

"My Cody." I emphasized his name so they knew who it was. Jason didn't like the way I phrased it.

"I'll kill him!" Dylan screeched.

"Not if I do first." Sylvia growled, a loud rumble coming from her chest.

Then they all looked at me.

"Why didn't you save him?" Abby asked calmly, though I could hear the steel in her voice.

"There was nothing I could do" I mumbled, unwilling to go through this.

"Liar!" Sylvia walked towards me with the oddest expression on her face. "You could have saved him. Don't try to lie to us now, Claire. We all know your gift! Hell, I haven't met a vampire in the world who doesn't!" she was then right in my face.

Skylar twisted around so he now stood in front of Sylvia. He towered over her, his black eyes glaring at her face.

"Don't blame Claire for what Cody did. You know his gift as well! Hell, I haven't met a vampire who doesn't!" Skylar's tone was mocking. Jason and Keenan laughed from behind Sylvia.

"Shut up!" Abby whispered, throwing her elbow into Keenan's gut. Keenan dodged and snickered at her attempt.

Sylvia growled again.

"Well her gift is life, is it not? Has she lied to us? How could she? I've seen her gift many times before." Sylvia was mad. She looked around Skylar, barely making eye contact with me.

She was right. How could I deny it? My gift was life. So why hadn't I been able to save Shadow? I remembered that I wanted to. I remembered pouring all my strength into him, hoping it would be enough, but my power was limited, Cody's was not.

As if to prove my own thoughts Skylar spoke again. "Her power is limited. Even as a vampire she only has so much. Life if the hardest thing for her to produce because it goes against nature. When someone id dying it's easier to kill them than to bring them back, is that not right? I'm sure she can kill faster and easier because of that rule.

"Besides that, Claire hasn't used her gift a lot. Normally powers strengthen over time, but she has rarely ever found a need to use it, except on normal humans when hunting, that there was no way for her to extend it.

"If you think about it picture Angel if you will. The way she can transport things is absolutely amazing. At first she could only make herself go, then she figured out with enough practice and energy, she could move other objects. Angel has now been with us for over a hundred years and now she can move not only herself, but up to three people with her. It may not seem like a lot, but to her it is. She is also able to track the movements of the ones she's already met. How much do you wanna bet me that she could be an amazing tracker?" Skylar looked at Angel who smiled. Nick chuckled and held her closer.

Sylvia opened her mouth, but shut it, rethinking her answer. She had not expected what he said.

Jason stood there smiling like a fool, which told me he was slap happy. He was tired and he needed to sleep.

"I'll take him." Angel whispered in my ear. She jumped lightly over to Jason with one graceful leap. She scooped him up like a football and after running two feet, Nick and them disappeared.

"It's a good point, but why couldn't-" Sylvia started.

"Cody can do anything. Obviously Shadow knew what he was getting into when he fought him. Shadow knew he wasn't going to be able to win."

"A suicide mission? But why?" Hannah asked, her eyes still on me.

Dylan spoke up. "To save Claire of course." he smacked his palm to his forehead, finally understanding. "He must have seen Claire in trouble and he went to help. He must have always knew he would end up dying for her." Dylan was smiling, but he couldn't hide the pain in his eyes, the pain I knew all too well.

"I tried." my voice was shaky, barely a whisper. "I just couldn't save him. Cody's too powerful." I didn't look at any of them. Instead I looked at the ground.

Sylvia made a hmpf noise and I heard her run off. The breeze tickled my skin lightly. The rest followed her soon after.

Seeing that I didn't want to move, Skylar cradled me in his arms, held me tightly, and ran.

It wasn't long before Sylvia's house was in sight. Her house was huge. It was bigger than my old one in Oregon.

The house was a soft brown. It had an open space of just glass, then windows curved around the house in intricate patterns. The ones that stayed normal were the windows claiming the rooms.

Skylar walked me inside, grumbling at the hiss that I was guessing came from Sylvia.

"Which one?" Skylar asked in a tone that I only knew as his Don't-mess-with-me-if-you-want-to-live tone.

Sylvia glared at him. "I don't want that any where in my house."

Hannah growled. "She can stay in my room. Angel put Jason there as well." she then turned to glare at Sylvia. "What the hell? Claire has saved our butts so many times and this is how you repay her? She tried to help Shadow! Can't you understand that?"

"You listen to me, Hannah…" Sylvia began before a sound that sounded like rocks smashing together happened. Hannah clawed at Sylvia and bit her neck, but before she could do anything else Keenan and Dylan ripped them off of each other.

Skylar chuckled and walked me into Hannah's room. It was full of pictures of Zac Efron and Justin Timberlake.

Skylar set me on the bed and it took me a moment to realize that Jason was sitting there waiting for me.

Skylar left.

Jason wrapped him warm arms around me. I fit my head perfectly into his neck and stayed that way for a while.