For awhile, we just sat there, gazing out at the desert, listening to the crickets chirping in the distance. The stars were really dancing tonight, and I could clearly make out the constellation of Cassiopeia. I wondered if that’s where my fascination with stars came from. Perhaps, deep down inside me, I knew what I really was and that some bits and pieces of me belonged up there with them, not down here where I never truly felt like I’d belonged.

“So,” Laylen’s deep voice rang through the silence, “how’s life been with Marco and Sophia?”

“Oh, just great,” I replied, my tone bitterly sarcastic. “It’s been a real blast.”

He laughed. “They never have been the most pleasant people to be around.”

I swatted at a bug that landed on my elbow. Gross. “So you know them then?”

“Yeah, but I haven’t seen them in really long time.” He stared off in the distance, looking like he was lost in a painful memory. “I haven’t seen any of the Keepers since….” He trailed off and looked at me. “Alex told you what I was, didn’t he?”

I nodded.  “But it’s kind of hard to believe. All of this is kind of hard to believe.”

“I imagine it would be.” His voice was sympathetic. His blue eyes held such loneliness in them.

I propped my elbow on my knee and rested my chin in my hand. “So….what exactly is it that makes you a vampire?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well…” What was the correct way to ask someone how they were considered a creature of night? The living undead. A blood thirsty monster. “I’ve read a lot of books and everything. Nothing that was actually factual, though. They all say different things about vampires, and I was just wondering which—or if any had some truth to them.”

He rubbed his hand along his jaw line. “You want to know what it is that makes me a monster. Whether I bite, kill, or drink blood. If I can run at an inhuman speed or have super strength?”

It sounded like such a stupid question when he put it that way. I traced a circle in a patch of sand that was on the step I was sitting on. “I guess that’s what I’m trying to ask. Well, minus the whole monster thing because I don’t think that.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “You don’t think that I’m a monster?”

I shook my head. It wasn’t a lie either. I didn’t know him or anything, but he definitely wasn’t sending out the whole I’m-a-demon-and-I’m-going-to-kill-you vibe.

He pressed his deep red lips together. “If that’s true then you’re probably the first to ever think that.”  He gave a long pause. “The whole hungry-for-blood thing doesn’t apply to me. I don’t drink blood. I don’t kill.”

“But it applies to other vampires?”

He nodded. “Other vampires are probably a lot like what you’ve read. And I’m not talking about the ones who drink blood, and do it by killing animals. They like to kill.”

A chill crept down my spine. “Why haven’t I ever heard anything about them existing?” I mean, if people were dying because their blood was being drained, you’d think there’d have been something mentioned on the news about it.

“For the same reason you didn’t know what you were. People are excellent at keeping secrets.”

“Yes, they are,” I agreed.

He brushed his blue tipped hair away from his forehead. “I do have some traits that normal vampires have. I’m immortal. I’m stronger than the average person. I have fangs.”

I gaped at him. “You have fangs.”

He nodded. “They’re retractable and I don’t use them. Ever.”

I couldn’t help but stare at his mouth. I know staring is rude and everything, but I just couldn’t seem to look away. The guy just told me he had retractable fangs for crying out loud. How could I not stare?

He laughed, and I got a full view of his flat, white teeth. “Staring at them isn’t going to bring them out.”

I quickly turned my head away, feeling stupid. Could it be true? Could I really be sitting in the desert next to a vampire, all while harboring the energy of a fallen star inside me? There was so much wrong with that statement, and yet, in a bizarre, twisted way, it felt right.

It felt true.

The howl of a coyote cut through the air, and I jumped.

“I can also sense when a person’s afraid,” Laylen remarked.

“I’m not afraid,” I told him.

“I know.” He stood up and dusted off his jeans. “Which makes you kind of weird.”

I sighed. “Weird seems to be my middle name.”

He chuckled. “So it does.”

Everything seemed strange. Here I was, having barely discovered my life was a web of lies, and yet I still found myself able to laugh. A quiet laugh, but nonetheless still a laugh.

I heard the front door creak open. Alex stepped out underneath the porch light with a displeased expression on his face.  “You two having fun?”

What? I wasn’t allowed to laugh? Well, I guess technically laughing was an emotion, but whatever.

I looked up at Laylen, who winked at me before extending his hand out to help me up. His hand felt cold against mine as he helped me to my feet. Truth to another myth, I wondered.

I let go of his hand and followed him up the stairs, where Alex was waiting impatiently for us. He shot Laylen a glare as he walked by, but didn’t even so much as give me the benefit of a scowl, staring out into the darkness as I stepped past him.

Chapter 16

When we were back inside, Alex informed us that he hadn’t been able to get a hold of anyone, which I found very odd. I mean how was it that three people wouldn’t be answering their phones at the exact same time? It couldn’t just be coincidental. There was no way. There had to be more to it. And by the way Alex looked—all stressed out and confused—I was guessing he felt about the same as I did.

I sat down at the table and watched Alex pace back and forth across the room. He continued to do so for awhile, not saying anything, and I was starting to grow restless. I wished he’d say something because the silence was driving me nuts.

Finally I couldn’t take it anymore and decided to take matters into my own hands. “So what are we supposed to do now?”

Aislin, who had parked herself in the chair across from mine, was tapping her cell phone anxiously on her knee—apparently, no one could sit still. “We try to find them.”

Alex stopped pacing and shook his head. “That’s easier said than done.”

“I’m just trying to help,” she said. “There’s no need to be rude.”

“Did you two ever consider that maybe they don’t want you to get a hold of them?” Laylen asked.

Alex tossed his phone down on the table. It skidded across it and came to a stop just in front of me. “Laylen, whatever it is you’re trying to say, just say it.”

He crossed his arms and leaned back against one of the bookshelves, the muscles of his arms flexing beneath his shirt. I had to admit the guy was cut. I wonder if it had anything to do with him being a vampire. Vampires were supposed to be cut, weren’t they? Then again, Alex was the same way so maybe it was a Keeper thing—being perfectly built. Because, trust me, that’s what they both were.

My gaze wandered over to Alex. The sleeves of his long sleeve grey shirt were pushed up, the muscles of his forearms visible. I wondered what it would feel like to have those arms wrapped around me.

Suddenly I realized Alex was staring at me. Why was he staring at me? Because I was staring at him.  He cocked an eyebrow and gave me a curious look.

I quickly looked away. I was such an idiot. Here I was, in the middle of a chaotic mess, my life in danger, and all I could do was stare at Alex’s muscles.

“You want to know what I think,” Laylen said. “I don’t think it’s just a coincidence that Stephan, Marco, and Sophia are all unreachable at the exact same time all hell breaks loose. There’s got to be more to it than that.” He moved away from the shelf and walked over to Alex. “For all we know, they could be working with Demetrius and the Death Walkers.”

“Why would they be working with the Death Walkers?” I asked.

“Gemma just ignore him,” Alex said, glaring at Laylen.

“Why should I?” I asked. “From what I know, there are two liars in this room. And he’s not one of them.”

Laylen pressed his lips together to hold back a grin. Aislin frowned, looking hurt. And Alex sauntered over toward me, a cynical smile on his face as he leaned across the table and looked me right in the eyes. He kept his voice low, making my body hum. “I’m not sure what’s bringing on this new attitude of yours, but you know what? I think I kind of like it. It makes things more interesting.”

He was mocking me. I got that. But I couldn’t seem to think of anything to throw back at him. My brain had spaced out on me.

Stupid brain.

He backed away from the table, looking disappointed.

“Maybe we should go back to Afton and check up on things,” Aislin suggested. “There might be something back at the house that could help us figure out where they are.”

Alex stared at her, dumfounded. “Are you crazy? There’s no way we’re taking Gemma back there. It’s too dangerous.”

“What? Am I never going back there?” I sounded upset. But really, I don’t know why. Escaping the snowy mountains was what I’d always wanted, right? But I had never pictured I’d have to leave because my life was in danger.

“You can’t go back. Not when the Death Walkers know what you are.” He arched an eyebrow at me. “Does that upset you or something?”

I considered this, thinking about going back to the mountains, to the snow, to living with Marco and Sophia again. I shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess not, but where am I going to go?”

Alex dragged his fingers through his dark brown hair. “That’s a question only Stephan can answer.”

What was it about this Stephan? And why could he make decisions about my life? I was eighteen years old after all, which was old enough that I could be living by myself. Yeah, I understood that I was carrying around a precious, world saving star’s energy inside me, but that didn’t mean my life shouldn’t be my own.

“I don’t think—” I started.

Alex talked over me.  “We need to get a hold of them.” He picked his cell phone up from the table and checked the screen. “Otherwise, we’re lost.”

“Well…” Aislin tapped her phone against her chin. “What we could do is leave Gemma here with Laylen while you and I go back.”

Alex scowled at her. “There’s no way in hell I’m leaving her alone with him.”

Laylen laughed, but it was a laugh underlined with hurt. “What? Am I not even considered a person anymore?”

Alex’s pause lasted one second too long. I could feel the tension bubbling, about to erupt.