Falling Petals Chapter Nine

“Shadow! William! We know you’re in there so don’t even try and pretend you’re not. Shadow!” I woke to Lunnette shouting and pounding incessantly on the hotel room door. Groaning quietly, I squinched my eyes against the sunlight that leaked between the half-closed curtains. I rolled over to wake William, who was somehow sleeping through the racket, but I couldn’t do it.

            The sun shone across his pale face. His eyelashes looked darker than ever with those beautiful eyes closed. During the night he had thrown off half the covers so his bare chest showed in the late morning  sunlight. That sleek black hair was a mess, falling onto his face in a wild tangle. I brushed it back carefully then ran for the bathroom. Pulling on a bathrobe, I brushed my teeth without looking in the mirror. Then I picked up our clothes and hung them up carefully, laying another bathrobe on the bed next to William. Only then did I go to the door.

            “For god’s sake, what do you want?” I asked. Lunnette had frozen with her mouth wide open and her fist poised to strike the door again. Her eyes turned a light gold. Blushing, I realized I looked like I had done exactly what I had the night before. It might be true but that didn’t mean I wanted it advertised so obviously. Suddenly there was hands on my waist and a warm body behind me.

            “Hello Lunnette.” William said. His voice was rough. “Why don’t you come inside?”

            “I- uh- yeah.” she said. William disappeared back into the hotel room to get dressed. Lunnette leaned toward me with wide and delighted eyes. “You didn’t!”

            “I did.”

            “Shadow, that’s great!” she squealed, hugging me fiercely.

            “Oi, knock it off.” I ruffled her blonde hair tenderly, trying to pry her off as I backed into the hotel room. William watched us with amused eyes.

            “Breakfast?” he tossed me a bottle. I caught it one-handed as I finally wiggled out of Lunnette’s arms. I popped the cap on the counter.

            “What about me?” Lunnette asked mournfully.

            “Room service.” William and I said together. We looked at each other with almost identical smiles.

            “Can I come in?” a timid voice asked from the doorway. I spun on one heel to see bright red hair and jade green eyes.

            “Anfanasia.” my voice came out choked. Tears welled in my eyes. She flung herself into my arms and we clung to each other while we cried. Lunnette moved toward us but William held her back gently.

            “Let them work it out.” he told her quietly.

            “I’m so sorry An! I should have listened to you. I should have let you explain, given you a chance!” I said tearfully.

            “It’s not your fault! There shouldn’t have been any actions on my part to make you feel like that! It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have performed forbidden magic and asked William to help.”

            “I shouldn’t have been so quick to judge.”

            “I shouldn’t have been so quick to give up.”

            “I’m sorry!” we both said at the same time.

            “Jinx!”                                                                 

            “Double jinx!” we kept talking at the same time until we collapsed against each other again, laughing this time.

            “So we’re good now?” I asked.

            “Yeah.” she answered breathlessly. “Hey!”

            “Yeah?”

            “It really was you that day at the movie theatre that day, wasn’t it?”

            “Yeah.”

            “How?”

            “Long story or short story?”

            “Long story. I hate short stories. They’re so… gimpy!” we grinned at our long-standing, private joke.

            “Okay. So…”

*                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *                    *

            Three hours later and the clock showed one in the afternoon. I had told Anfanasia- and William indirectly- everything that had happened. They were both a little stunned but they seemed to understand. I had also told the girls some of what William had told me the night before- the rest would be our secret to keep.

            “Right. So we need a battle plan.” Lunnette announced.

            “What?” I asked, puzzled.

            “Well, Jacob’s going to try and kill you tonight!” Anfanasia said slowly.

            “Only if I deny the throne.”

            “Okay. I know you better than almost anyone. You would never have agreed to this yesterday. So what happened?” Lunnette asked.

            “Should I?” I asked William.

            “You should.” he said gleefully.

            “So you remember that weird bruise that started to show up as my powers started acting up?” the girls nodded. “Well, check it out now.” I held out my wrist.

            In just a few hours it had changed again. The mist had completely taken over my left hand, clinging to me like a dark second skin. The shadows that had encircled my wrist showed a thick-link chain pattern. The emblem was full color. The jewels in the swords’ golden hilts were ruby red. The filigree was silver; the vines were still black but the blood looked real. The black looked even darker and made the skin surrounding it look even whiter than ever.

            “Oh my god.” Lunnette gasped.

            “The royal crest.” Anfanasia said, awed but frightened.

            “It’s the colored crest. Oh god, you’re the Blood Queen.” terror began to shw in Lunnette’s eyes, turning them a dark blue that would seem black to anyone who didn’t know her so well.

            “What’s a blood queen?”

            “Not a blood queen, the Blood Queen.”

            “What’s the Blood Queen?”

            “A vampire queen foretold of in prophecies. A filled and colored crest marks the beginning of the end of the modern vampire hierarchy. It’s said that once the queen comes to power, everyone she loves will die but the Four of Power and the One of Air. A huge war could lead the way into a new era ruled by vampires rather than humans. and the Blood Queen will begin her reign with a bloodbath.”

            “Oh. That can’t possibly be me.” I protested.

            “Shadow, if you take that throne it will be.”
            “No. No!” William shouted, jumping up. He turned away. “The Four of Power. That can’t be anyone Shadow knows. It can’t be. Shadow doesn’t know any quadruplets.”

            “Oh. No, I don’t. So that means it’s not me, right?” I said, ready to be relieved.

            “I guess. Although there hasn’t ever been a queen with a colored crest before.” Lunnette said hesitantly.

            “Does this weirdo prophecy give a year?”

            “No.”

            “So it could be another girl in the future?”

            “I guess.” she sounded even more confused than before. I felt a smile tweak up the corners of my mouth.

            “It’s not me. It’s not me!” I had to repeat it several more times. The last was a shout. I jumped up and pulled Lunnette into a musicless dance. She laughed with me as we danced around the room.

            “Room service!” a voice called from the outside of the door. A light knock sounded as well. William and Anfanasia looked stunned.

            “Coming!” I shouted back. I twirled Lunnette toward the door. I was breathing lightly and my face was flushed when I opened the door. And just as I opened it, Lunnette said;

            “Wait, we didn’t actually order anything yet!” but it was too late. My breath was gone and I had to lean against the door frame to keep from falling.

            “Eric?” my voice came out harsh.

            “Shadow, I need to-” he started. The door opened further behind me, showing the others’ astounded faces.

            “Shadow?” William questioned as the color disappeared from his eyes and his fangs indented his lower lip.

            “I’m fine.” I answered faintly.

            “Shadow, I really need to talk to you.” Eric finished his sentence, pleading. As my surprise at seeing him slowly faded, anger took its place. I felt it turning my eyes red, heard my fangs snick out. The black mist strained against my fingertip hold on it, eager to work its possibly deadly magic.

            “What exactly do you need to talk to me about?”

            “I just need to talk to you. Alone.” he put a hand on my arm. I felt him probe at my feelings with his powers, trying to evoke the same passionate response his touch had caused before. Snap! The black mist sprang from my body and seemed to cause a mini whirlwind that whipped my hair into an even wilder cloud around my head. Eric sprang backward, mouth wide open. He seemed more awed than ever. Somehow he was able to reach right through the mist and kiss me. I felt Night shimmer in my mind and remembered begging for help. Her ‘help’ gave Eric immunity to my mist. He caught my hands before I could do any damage. His fingers wrapped around my wrist.

            The crest began to burn. Eric yelped with pain and jumped backwards again. He cradled his hand to his chest, but not before I saw the blood and burns. A deep slash had cut through his flesh to the bone and hundreds of other little scratches surrounded it. His fingers were bright red, as if they had been burnt. I looked down to see my crest slowly losing its brilliant glow.

            “Well then. That’s new.” I remarked off-handedly. One of the swords was no dripping blood as well.

            “Um, Shadow.” Anfanasia shook my shoulder, pulling her hand away quickly when the mist attacked her. I turned and gestured at William. His fists were clenched and he was shaking with the effort of not attacking Eric, whose healing blood was the only human blood he could drink.

            “Lunnette. Help get Eric to the hospital. Anfanasia, chill him out.” the day before I would never have wanted them under the same room, much less in a hotel room together. Now I left them with the utmost confidence that nothing would happen.

            “Boss!” at that word I knew it was serious. Lunnette only called me that when the situation was dire and she urgently needed my attention.

            “Coming!” Out of the two of us I was the only one strong enough to carry him as he became weak from the loss of blood. Anfanasia had brought me clothes earlier, jeans and a tee. I lifted Eric into my arms, knowing it would look even weirder if I tossed him over my shoulder. Then I followed Lunnette out the door.

*                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *                    *

            An hour later the surgeon came out of the operating room. I jumped up, genuinely worried. The doctor came over to me and Lunnette.

            “He’ll be fine. He’s going to have some residual scarring but he’ll have full function back within a week.” the doctor told me. I smiled at him.

            “Thank you.” I shook the hand that wasn’t still gloved.

            “So which one of you ladies is Shadow or Rose?”

            “That would be me.”

            “Well, I can see where the nickname comes from. Anyway, he’s been muttering your name the whole time.”

            “Oh. Am I allowed to come in?”

            “We’re moving him to ER. When he has a room we’ll come get you.” the surgeon said. He left and came back ten minutes later.

            ‘Go check on the others.’ I signed to Lunnette behind my back as I followed the doctor.

            “Here you are. Mr. Slythe?” the doctor called through the curtains.

            “Come in.” Eric’s voice was still confident even though it was barely audible. An unwilling smile formed.

            “Eric.” I went through the curtains to find him lying on the bed while a tech pulled a needle from his arm. Closing my eyes, I tried to shut out the intoxicating scent of his blood. I succeeded to the extent that I could open my eyes and wait for the tech to leave. Then I padded over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. If I didn’t know better I would have sworn the look in his eyes was love.

            “How are you?” I asked softly.

            “Better. It doesn’t hurt so bad now. And I bet I’ll amaze the doctors with how fast I heal.” he smiled a little and held up his thickly bandage right hand.

            “Yeah.” I squeezed his shoulder gently before standing up.

            “Where are you going?”

            “I’m going to call the agent who’s waiting at the White House and get him to come pick you up.”

            “Will you come back here and stay with me until he gets here?”

            “Why?”

            “Because I know who you are, Shadow Viguié, and I know what you really do.” he said, leaning in close to whisper in my ear. I pulled away and walked out, speed dialing Agent Lovell.

            “Shadow?” he said hesitantly. I never called him unless someone was dead.

            “Eric knows. Meet me at the Williams- Michael hotel on 44^th street at five. We have a lot to talk about.” I hung up and called my agent, the one who was posing as my father.

            “Pick me up from the hospital at two thirty. I have Eric. You’ll need to drop him off at the White House then I’m taking the car, so bring mine.”

            “Yes ma’am.” as soon as the agent agreed I shut my phone off. I took out the battery and crushed it underfoot. Then I put the phone back in my pocket and left the metallic dust for the janitor to sweep up. I walked back through the curtains to find Eric staring right at me with guarded eyes. He was silent for a long time.

            “You wanted to talk to me.” I reminded him.

            “yeah.”

            “So talk.”

            “I know why you’re really here.”

            “Do you now?”

            “You’re here to recruit me for your little organization.”

            “The Black Roses.”

            “You were supposed to free my powers-”

            “Which I did.”

            ‘- teach me how to use them-”

            “Didn’t need to.”

            “- then seduce me and take me back to your coordinating agent.

            Silence.

            “But then your husband came back-”

            “We were separated!”

            “- and you decided to be with him instead.” his reproachful and accusing tone broke my thin grasp on control. My eyes snapped with anger when I responded.

            “Don’t even try to pin this one me. I was faithful the whole time we were together, I never had sex with anyone. Unlike you. You decided to go have a little fun with your supposedly exed girlfriend.”

            “How did you know about that?”

            “She told me. Right after she asked me to kill her.”

            “They said she died of cardiac arrest.” Eric looked shocked. I didn’t know if it was because Alicia had told me or because I had just admitted to killing her.

            “No. I bled her dry.”

            “Why?”

            “She had cancer. She wanted to die.”

            “Stop!” Eric’s face was bone white. “What are you planning to do if your mission to collect me fails?”

            “We’ll kill you. Screw it, I’ll do it personally. And I’ll enjoy it.”

            “Fine. I’ll join your little organization.”

            “Great.”

            “Under one condition.”

            “What the hell could you possibly want? We’re giving you your entire life! What else do you need?”

            “I have to finish school and so do you. We both have to go to graduation.”

            “God, you’re an idiot! Our job is about appearances. Nobody should remember us. That doesn’t mean we disappear on the day of graduation.”

            “So we’re going then.”

            “Of course we’re going you dope! You have a lot to learn if you don’t want to get killed.” I said, disgusted.

            “Then teach me.”

            “Fine. Paper.” I commanded. He pulled his little notebook and pen out of his pocket. I took it and started to write.

            “What are you writing?”

            “The basic rules. Follow along, little boy.”

            “I’m eighteen tomorrow.”

            “And I’m a couple thousand years old. Shut up.” Silence. “Good. Now pay attention.”

            Half an hour later I was halfway through explaining the rules when a nurse hurried into the little curtained room.

            “A Mr. Sanford is here to collect you.” she looked flustered; evidently she had realized he was the ‘vice president’.

            “Thank you.” I said, shooing her away. Eric, who had gotten more and more engrossed as I had explained my way of life, shook himself out of it and tried to stand up. His legs gave way beneath him, dropping him back onto the bed. Pity reared its ugly head and I went over to help him, throwing his arm over my shoulder while he slipped the other one around my waist and I slipped one of mine around his.

            “This would be romantic if the room would stop spinning.” he muttered, rubbing his head with his right hand and wincing as even that simple motion tugged at his bandages. I couldn’t help that little smug smile.

            “Stop that.” Eric groaned as I pulled him through the hospital.

            “Stop what?”

            “Stop smiling like that. I know what I did was horrible, but you can’t hate me forever.”

            “Technically, I can.” I snatched a joke from one of my favorite books and felt a twinge of pain when I remembered there was no one around to immediately yell out what book it was from. Eric laughed belatedly.

            “Oh, ha ha. I get it. Because you’re going to live forever.” Eric’s voice was fading away and so was the spark that was keeping him awake and moving.

            “Okay. Let’s get you to the car before you pass out, you big lump of lard.” I said fondly. It shocked me to realize that though I had found out our romantic relationship would never work out I still had a warm spot for him in my heart.

            “…not a lump… of lard…” he sighed. I laughed a little while I dragged him out into the waiting room.

            “There you are! Let me help.” the agent who had taken the vice president’s place rushed toward us, holding out tan arms as foamy blue eyes peeked out at us from beneath sandy blonde hair. His muscles moved beneath rough skin; as said skin touched mine I jumped.

            “No!” I snapped. At his startled expression I spoke again, but softer. “I’ve got him. Pull up the car.”

            “Okay.” he nodded at me. Eric moved himself forward a few steps as the agent went out the door, muttering.

            “Hush.” I soothed him, placing a hand against his burning forehead. He slumped against me further, putting more of his weight on me so I staggered for a moment. My little convertible pulled up to the curb; I could see it through the glass doors we were about to go through. It was a little difficult to maneuver through the doors and keep Eric upright at the same time, but I managed it without too much hassle. The agent helped me lift Eric into the car, then we slid in as well. The agent let me take the driver’s seat, throwing the keys at me. I turned the keys and let the engine purred while I steeled myself for driving slow. I stuck to the speed limit for the whole drive, grinding my teeth together as we made the drive in the average twenty minutes. I sighed with relief when I dropped the men off and raced to the hotel.

*                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *                    *

            “William!” I knocked on the door furiously. It flew open but no one was there to greet me. Panic began to grow in my chest, fluttering in my stomach and squeezing my heart.

            “William? Anfanasia? Lunnette?” I shouted. Nobody responded so I shouted again. The black mist that always pulled at my control was silent now. I dragged it out, worried I might have to defend myself if someone had killed my friends.

            “William?” even to my ears my voice sounded small and frightened. I prepared myself to see blood and death as I went into the suite.

            “In here.” a faint noise, a voice that sounded like one of my sisters.

            “Anfanasia?”

            “Here!” her voice was stronger now. We called to each other once more before I was able to pinpoint where she was at. I ran to the bedroom, letting the black mist recede. I burst through the door, wrenching it open and almost ripping it off its hinges. What I saw froze me in place.

            Anfanasia was lying on the bed, he red hair spread out on the pillows. Her usually tanned face was almost as pale as mine. She coughed and blood showed when her hand came away from her mouth.

            “Oh god! Anfanasia, are you alright? I’ll kill whoever did this to you! I’ll rip them to shreds. I’ll- I’ll…” my voice broke. She watched me with tender eyes.

            “You would have to kill me. It’s my own stupid fault for breaking that curse.” she wanted to say more but was interrupted by another fit of those horrible racking coughs.

            “No. No! You can’t die on me now. I only just got you back.” I clenched my teeth together so I could stop the shuddering that threatened to get to me.

            “Don’t worry. I’ll be back tomorrow. I always am. It’s the way this damned thing works.” she told me, trying to be reassuring.

            “But you’re going to die a year later.”

            “So William told you almost everything. It’s a little confusing. but I really only want what’s best for you.”

            “It’s not fair!” I wailed, throwing myself into her arms. She held me gently, stroking my back like she was afraid I would break into pieces.

            “I know, I know. But at least you’ll always have me. I can deal with a little pain as long as you’re happy.”

            “But your pain is in me too.”

            “I’m so sorry Shadow.” we looked at each other with reddened eyes and tear-streaked faces. Then something William had said came back to me.

            You will never truly die unless it is at your charge’s hand in gratitude.

            I knew what I was going to do. My decision was made. Anfanasia saw my eyes go hard, saw the steely resolve that claimed my doubtful mind and made me strong enough to do what I had to.

            “You don’t have to do it.” Anfanasia told me, but I saw a tentative hope rising in her eyes. It finalized my decision.

            “I know that. But I can’t stand to see you suffering like this.”

            “Thank you.” she whispered. Then she coughed again. When she was done, her breathing slowed, hitching in her throat a little every time. She breathed slowly but it was still better than the frantic panting of before.

            “Of course.” I answered sweetly. Anfanasia made a decision, I could see it in her eyes. I waited for her to tell me, but she showed me. She sat up suddenly and kissed me fiercely. I froze in her arms. She kissed me like she had been wanting to do it since she met me. I got it then. I got why she hated William with a passion. I got why she stayed with me even when I threatened to kill her. She loved me, as more than just a sister. Crying but determined not to let her see, I gave in to her last request and kissed her back until she had to cough again. She laid back with tears streaming down her face and held open her arms.

            It took a while but my fangs finally snicked out. My eyes, however, remained black and full of tears. I fell into her embrace and we held each other tightly. I brushed her hair carefully away from her neck. Then I bent down and bit. Doing everything I could to make it pleasant as she moaned, I positioned my fangs in her biggest vein and drank deeply.

            As I drank our minds were forced by her powers to merge into one. Memories flashed in front of our eyes. Amy, the vampire who had recruited me to the Black Roses, disappearing in Boston after making her bid for Anfanasia. The strangest prophecy we had ever heard coming out of the mouth of an average high school student.

 “You won’t be able to protect her. She’ll flit to the Underworld and the blackness in your soul will take control. Jealousy and betrayal were your downfall and they will come back again.” and right before the boy let her go, “Don’t go to England.”

            Then travelling to England six months later. Remembering, too late, the boundaries of her protection. Rushing back with the worst news and a constant headache that was impossible to get rid of. That horrible night at the theatre when I died- only for a second- but long enough for Anfanasia to have her heart torn out and long enough to set into action the curse’s fearsome revenge. Finally, a rush of memories from this year. It ended with the only happy memory for centuries.

            Standing in the door of a hotel room, surrounded by it, she sees a vibrant red and pink assaulting her senses clouded by the curse. Vision clearing, she centers on me. My hair is a tangled mess of witch curls, my face flushed with rare genuine color instead of the false pink blushes of the past years. My eyes sparkle as I talked to William and Lunnette. Every time I move William moves with me, like a satellite system with me as the sun. My graceful fingers tap-tap-tap a graceful rhythm on my long, perfect leg. My chest moves slightly with each deep, peaceful breath. And one hand is resting on my oh-so-flat stomach. Then I turn to her and give her a dazzling smile that makes her heart pound. Her mouth is moving without her knowing what words it is shaping. My light, musical laugh. My voice like an angel’s in her ears.

            The image shattered as Anfanasia’s breathing stopped. I let go of her, feeling the tears stream down my face in an unending wave. The red droplets spill onto Anfanasia’s face. I was crying blood- pure blood instead of just tinged tears like before- and it seemed right. The sky outside grew dark and it started to rain. I could feel new power swirling inside my body and I could feel it testing the power I had been born with. The other elements clashed with Night, a swirling vortex until they were absorbed and changed by that deadly black abyss. The black mist slowly leaked out of me. There was color in it then, color that came and went; the vibrant red of fire, the cool blue of water, the light brown of earth and the pearly white of air.

            I got up slowly, testing my body. I felt stronger, as if I had drained the blood of a vampire. I laughed for a moments, a peal of sounds that ran into one another. At once it sounded so right and wrong. It rang with power and it was still the same bubbly, light sound it had been but now it had a clear undertone of the alien, the different. Shock ran through me. The power of the curse had been ingrained into Anfanasia, giving her her power over the elements.

            “Clever mother. The curse wouldn’t die until she did.” I mused out loud. The sound of my voice startled me as well. It was sweeter, full of the Boston accent I loved but so much warmer. And my heart was half-empty. Devoid of the noisy feelings that had crowded it before, clamoring for my attention. I looked down at my crest dispassionately, not surprised to see the thick links of chain-five in total- were each colored with an element except for the one right above the crest, which remained blank.

            “Shadow!” the voice came from the main room of the suite. I was in the sitting room, watching the blood tears continue to fall from my eyes.

            “Shadow!” It was William. There was footsteps, then Lunnette’s shrill scream. She had found Anfanasia. I shut my eyes and curled into a ball while sitting on the full couch.

            “Shadow!” William again, closer, loud and urgent. I heard myself making those little snuffling noises I had so hated. There were more footsteps, this time on my carpet, then warm arms bundling me up.

            “Shadow, Shadow.” Lunnette murmured into my hair. I felt tears dripping onto my skin. Anger filled me.

            Why? I thought. Why does everything bad happen to the good people? Lunnette shouldn’t have to deal with this. William shouldn’t either. And Anfanasia and Samuel should never have had to die.

            “I know, I know.” Lunnette said. I realized I had spoken aloud but couldn’t find the energy to be embarrassed. The anger was slowly consuming my mind. I struggled out of Lunnette’s arms and sat up, straight and proud. William had just come into the room and his breath gushed out all at once.

            “Shadow… what happened?” he asked.

            “I killed Anfanasia. Now she won’t have to die every year. She’ll never have to die again. And she won’t have to live knowing you took me from her. She can love me without you.” I said, watching him defiantly with my chin held high.

            “You let her go.” he said, eyes wide. He rushed over to hug me and I clung to him for a moment before wiggling away.

            “What time is it?”

            “Three thirty. Why?”

            “I have a meeting. We have a meeting.” I looked at Lunnette.

            “Agent Lovell?” William looked confused when Lunnette said his name.

            “The coordinating agent of the Black Roses. And yes, at four. But what we need to tell him will take at least an hour and a half and graduation starts at six. So I’ll need to get dressed now. And I’ll need help.” I told Lunnette.

            “Right. Let me get dressed first. You’ll have to wear the red necklace again tonight so the nails have something to match.” she directed. I nodded and she flitted out of the room to change into her graceful blue dress. It was knee-length and clean-cut. which I knew because I had bought it for her.

            “Why did you freak out like that earlier?” I asked William belatedly. He looked sad for a moment.

            “I know Lunnette is going to make you look in a mirror before we go. You’ll find out.

*                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *                    *

            At three fifty I did find out. My hair, previously that solid black, had metallic streaks of red, blue, green, and silver that flashed when I moved but were mostly hidden when I was still. My skin used to be the color of fresh paper but was the color of the clouds. The crest seemed to glow at all times now. My features were sharper but more delicate and completely flawless. My lips were fuller and looked as if they had just been painted red.

            The biggest change, though the others were shocking, was my eyes. I had been so proud of their deep color. Their endless black could never had been matched. They were still thickly lashed still, maybe a little thicker , and the lashes were darker. They were big as ever, innocent but knowing. That black hole color was gone. Instead my eyes were a silver so light as to almost be white if they weren’t so metallic, a stranger color than even the pale blue of people of albino heritage. They were different, alien. They were mine.

            As a test, I thought of the blood pulsing through Lisa’s body. My fangs came out immediately. They were sharper and bigger but had a delicate taper to them still. They indented my lower lip slightly when my mouth was closed, like no other vampire’s did. The red instantly flooded my eyes. Instead of that scarlet fire color they were the red of the fresh blood I had drawn from so many people.

            “So Jacob wants to kill me, huh? He thinks his little Sunlighters will have any effect whatsoever?  He hasn’t seen anything yet.” my grin got bigger. William and Lunnette shared a worried look.

            “It’s four.” she told me. I slid my hands into the fingerless gloves and slipped my feet into the strappy, diamond encrusted white heels. Smoothing my hands along my dress, I took one look at the high school’s valedictorian with her fearsome, daring smile and walked out the door.