• Chapter 6


    WHEN WE finally pulled up into the drive way, I was relieved to see that my aunt’s lights were out. Then I remembered Jeff being in the backseat.

    “Jeff!” I started, but before I could finish, Vincent was already opening the back door and lifting Jeff out of the car. When I saw him walking toward the front door, I decided to go ahead and follow, but not without glancing over at my aunt’s house, just to make sure she didn’t wake up.

    After unlocking the door, I watched as Vincent placed Jeff down on the sofa. “What did you do to him,” I asked as I walked next to him, forgetting to turn the lights on. The only light in the room was coming from the moon shining through the window curtains.

    “Isn’t it obvious,” he said sarcastically. “I put him to sleep.”
    To sleep? “Why,” I asked.

    I could barely see Vincent’s face, but I noticed his eyelashes move upwards as if he rolled his eyes. “He was obviously a liability. Besides, I have to put him to sleep—if I’m going to erase his memory.”

    “No!” I shouted jumping in between him and Jeff. “You can’t just go and erase people’s memories like that! It’s no better than stealing!”

    “Kida, move,” he said sternly.
    I shook my head slowly and deliberately, my lips pressed lightly together. “I won’t let you do this. You’re the one who allowed him to come in the first place.”
    Vincent took a warning step toward me, and I found myself staring straight into his chest, my heart nearly beating its way out of my throat.

    “Humans aren’t supposed to know about us, Kida,” he said, his voice completely void of compassion. “Do you know what happens to people who know about us?”

    I shook my head, eyes locked on his chest.
    “They become servants. Familiars. Do you want Jeff as your Familiar, Kida?”
    “No,” I whispered.

    “Well I sure as hell don’t. Now move,” he said swiping me out of the way with his arm.
    “Please,” I begged, grabbing his arm as he placed his palm on Jeff’s forehead. “Please don’t erase his memory.” I closed my eyes tightly to keep from letting any stray tears loose.
    It was silent for a moment, and I started to wonder if Vincent had already completed the
    task.

    “Why do you want him to remember,” he said in practically a whisper. I opened my eyes slowly and saw Vincent fixing Jeff with a strange, almost bitter look.

    I loosened my grip on his arm but didn’t release. “Because he’s…he’s special to me.” I watched as Vincent’s jaw muscle worked. Was he seriously considering?

    “Fine,” he said removing his hand from Jeff’s face. “But you have to tell him.”
    “Okay,” I said, relieved.

    “And you better make damn sure he knows to keep his mouth shut.”
    “He will,” I assured.

    Vincent pursed his lips and walked past me without making eye contact. He brushed against my shoulder on his way to the door.

    “Where are you going,” I asked anxiously.
    “I’m going to scout the neighborhood. Make sure no one else followed.”
    “Thank y—”

    I flinched as Vincent slammed the door on his way out. It was odd the way he was reacting. I understood that he would be reluctant to let Jeff keep his memory of tonight, but…it seemed like there was more to it than just allowing Jeff to remember what happened. He wouldn’t get so upset over something like that. Not Vincent. There was more to it than he was letting on.

    Something more troubling.
    Something deeper.

    ***

    bJeff
    MY HEAD hurt. A lot.

    I moaned, forcing myself to sit up. With a quick look around, I realized that I was definitely not in my house, and it was no longer night. There was just a little light illuminating the room. I guessed it was probably around eight or nine o’clock.

    “Jeff!”
    I started at the voice shouting much too close to my ear. When I looked over, I was pleasantly surprised to see Kida sitting next to me, a very troubled look on her face.

    “Why am I at your house?” I winced. My head throbbed a lot worse when I talked. “And why does my head feel like it’s going to explode?”

    Kida sighed and ran her hand through her newly dyed black hair. It was different, but for some reason, it suited her a lot more than the blonde. There were also dark bags under her eyes, and they looked swollen. Like she’d been crying. My eyebrows furrowed with apprehension.

    “What-what happened,” I asked, a lot more concerned after seeing how terrible she looked. There was barely a hint of color in her face, and it appeared as if she hadn’t showered in a couple of days.

    Her eyes widened like she’d just seen a ghost. “You don’t remember?”
    I averted my eyes to her trembling hands.

    I did remember. Everything. From the part where she arrived with Vincent to the party, to the part where we were attacked by some—

    “Monster,” I whispered.
    “What,” she asked as she scooted closer to me.
    I looked up into her worried brown eyes. “That monster. Last night. What was it?”
    Kida bit her lip and turned away from me. She pulled her legs up onto the couch and rested her chin on her knees.

    “That’s”—She spared me one more troubled expression before continuing—“that’s what I’m supposed to explain to you. I mean if you want to hear it.”

    My eyebrows heaved. Of course I wanted to hear it. It’s not every day you get attacked by some contorted monster. The image of the thing was singed into my skull. That disgusting, wrinkly face.

    Those fangs.
    “Yes,” I said, anticipation and excitement swelling within me. “I want to know everything.”

    She nodded and closed her eyes, releasing a very tired sigh. “Okay, then. I’ll just start from the beginning.”




    I’M PRETTY sure my jaw hung open the entire time she spoke.

    The Otherworld? Nephilim?
    What was all of this? So of course she explained it. All of it. And when she was finished, I just sat there gaping at her, completely at a loss for words.

    So she sat there staring back at me, biting her lip, waiting for a reply. And when I didn’t say anything, she said, “So?”

    I blinked a few times and sunk down in the couch, staring stricken-eyed at the wall on the other side of the room.

    “I,” I began, “I don’t know what to say.”
    “You don’t believe me,” she said, as if she had expected me to be in denial. But that wasn’t the case. Not at all. I did believe her, every word of it, but that didn’t lessen the blow any.

    “It’s not like that,” I began. “This is just a lot to take in.”
    She snorted. “Tell me about it,” she said wearily, following my lead by sinking into the couch.

    I looked over at her and said excitedly, “I can’t believe it,” but when I saw the look she gave me, I corrected, “No, no! I mean, I can believe it, but…”

    Her expression didn’t change. How was I supposed to explain exactly how excited I was that all of those sci-fi movies I’d watched, all of those fantasy novels I’d read, weren’t about fictional creatures. They were all real. There was another world out there inhibited by mythological beings! And how could I not believe her story? After witnessing what happened last night, it would be naïve of me to deny it.

    “This is just so amazing, Kida. So amazing, that I can’t believe that I’ve been given the honor of knowing about this. Of being presented with this kind of information. It’s so—”

    “You can’t tell anyone,” she interrupted, a stern look on her face. “Like I said, humans aren’t supposed to know. And those that do are normally servants and familiars. I don’t want that to happen to you.”

    Of course I remembered her telling me that I couldn’t share this information with anyone, but this was the first time during the conversation that she referred to me as human.

    It stung a little.
    “You’re not human,” I said, finally realizing what she was. She averted her tired eyes to the ground, with what looked like a look of disappointment.

    “No,” she whispered. I sucked in a deep breath of air and released it slowly.
    “Okay,” I said. “So what does that mean, then? That you’re going to live forever? That you have super-natural powers?”

    A smile played on the edges of her lips. “No. I won’t live forever. I’ll age eventually, but being that I’m a half-breed, it’s unknown how long I’ll actually live.”

    She looked over at me and smiled crookedly. “And yes—I do have some super-natural powers. I’m super fast, super strong, and have super awesome hearing.”

    My eyebrow arched. I couldn’t say I wasn’t a little jealous.
    “And Vincent? He’s not human either?”
    She shook her head. “No. He’s a vampire. A Pure vampire.”

    “So he drinks blood and stuff,” I said, eyes widening with thrill.

    She fixed me with a funny look. “I’ve never seen him drink blood, but I assume he does.”
    I nodded. So Vincent was a vampire. And not just any vampire, but a Pure vampire.
    “And he’s your—half-brother?”

    She bit her lip with what looked like an embarrassed look on her face. “Yeah. We have the same father.”

    I laughed a short, abrupt laugh.
    “Wow, was I wrong,” I said incredulously. Her eyebrows merged.

    “Wrong about what,” she asked.
    “About Vincent. I thought he liked you.” Her jaw slacked open.
    “L-liked me,” she stuttered.

    “Yeah,” I said. “The way he looked at you and stuff? Then there was the whole asking you to the dance thing,” I said, remembering now how pissed off I was.

    I hadn’t like Vincent. Still did’t. There was just something about him that set me on edge. And the fact that he asked my best friend—practically my little sister—to the dance just really fueled my anger. My jaw clenched just thinking about it.

    “Yeah, well, I’m pretty sure he only did that to make you jealous,” she said, with a contempt in her voice that confused me.

    “Yeah,” I said slowly. “Why did you say yes anyways?”
    Her head jerked toward me quickly with a shocked and slightly uncomfortable look on her face, and she moved her mouth as if she was trying to say something, but no words came out. I arched an eyebrow, awaiting an answer, but she still was unable to reply.

    “Well—” she began, but right as she was going to reply, the door opened.
    We both looked over to see Vincent walking in. I swallowed nervously.

    A vampire.
    Vincent spared both of us disdainful looks before he continued to walk up the stairs. I didn’t realize until I tried to talk that I’d been holding my breath.

    “What’s his problem,” I asked, my voice more shaky than I would have liked, but Kida was still staring at the door, an unbelieving look on her face. I thought she was about to cry.
    “Kida?”

    She stood up suddenly and ran up the stairs, leaving me with nothing but a head full of crazy thoughts.

    I started as I heard the door open again, and when I turned around, I saw a young, Japanese man walking through the door. Something about him caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand on end. The man smiled, a wide, beautiful, and at the same time, terrifying smile. I held my breath as he went to speak.

    “You must be Jeff.”

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