“What do you mean this isn’t going to work out?” I asked, two weeks
later after the tension Chase forced into the Pryor house hold with his
stubborn ways.
Nathaniel started walking around his dining room and I placed my
hands on the table. I couldn’t believe that he was saying something like
this.
“I mean, Chase is going to give us even more stress if we stay to-
gether.”
“So you are going to let him dictate to our relationship? That is so
pathetic Nathaniel. I’ll tell you what, how about I go and date Jason be-
cause of his interference? Would that make him happy?” I asked, my
voice getting louder with each word.
“That would make me kill him and Jason with my bare hands in a
second,” Nathaniel hissed, making me take a step back from the tone he
was using.
“Then don’t let him come between us Nathaniel! You are letting
him dictate to everything!” I shouted, not giving up on this argument.
“It’s hard Brianna! Chase and I have always been close and now, we
aren’t because of our relationship and I don’t know what I can do about
that!” Nathaniel yelled.
“Then you shouldn’t have fallen for a human,” I spat and walked
out of the room.
He called my name, but I ignored him. I was too angry. I slammed
the back door, hearing the glass shake. Walking down the steps and
crossing my arms, I was hoping that Nathaniel didn’t decide to follow
me. I wasn’t in the mood to speak to him and if I saw Chase, he wasn’t
going to escape my anger either. Something crashing in the garage
191
caught my attention, and I made my way over there.
Chase was underneath his car. I kicked his foot, getting his atten-
tion. He crawled out from under and looked at me with questions in his
eyes and I was making sure that he knew that I wasn’t going to be play-
ing nice.
“I hope you are happy now Chase. You got your way,” I seethed,
grabbing the tool he had in his hand and throwing it on his car with a
brutal force.
“What over?” he asked, sounding confused.
“The fact that you have now driven a divide between my relation-
ships with your brother; you just can’t handle seeing him happy, can
you?” I asked.
“That isn’t the reason!”
“Then what the hell is it Chase? Is it the fact that I am human and
weaker than you? Are you worried that I will leave Nathaniel for some-
one else? Or are you that terrified I will reveal your secret to everyone
else?”
“Brianna, you don’t belong in our world. Nathaniel should be with a
vampire, not a weak human.”
“Then I hope you enjoy the fact that Nathaniel will never forgive
you if I walk out of his life due to an arrogant vampire that can’t handle
the fact his brother is happy with someone different and not dating in
the faith,” I said calmly and walked out of the room.
“Brianna, wait!” Chase called out to me, catching up in a heartbeat
and forcing me to stop walking by standing in front of me. “You are
right. Nathaniel is happy and I just can’t understand why he would fall
for a human when we have spent time trying to set him up with vam-
pires.”
I sighed and shut my eyes, processing what he was saying. I wasn’t
good enough for his brother. I opened them and stared blankly at
Chase.
“Chase, I have a heart and warmth that attracted Nathaniel to
begin with and what I am about to tell you is something no one knows. I
was hoping that you would become like a brother towards me, like
James has, but you haven’t because you can’t accept me for one reason.
192
I have a heart beat and blood running through my veins,” I muttered.
“There isn’t anything I could give you to have what you have. I
would love to be human again, but there is no way that will happen.”
“Don’t you think that if you accept me, you might get all of that? I
mean, do you feel the heat coming off Nathaniel when he is around
me?”
“Why do you have the urge to keep Nathaniel? Over the past two
weeks, you have changed, and it isn’t for the good, either,” Chase
pointed out.
“I just feel threatened by someone,” I whispered and looked down
at the ground.
“By that someone, you mean Augusta right?”
I looked up shocked. I thought that I had hid that well, but it
seemed I was wrong. My fear was that...witch was going to steal Na-
thaniel and if things with my father get any bitterer than I thought they
could, she would win. Taking a deep breath, I nodded.
“What is going on?”
“I am aware that Nathaniel told you about my father, but he didn’t
tell you that he is back in town. He is only here because Augusta tracked
him down and told him I was here to hurt me in the worst possible way.
What she doesn’t realise is I’m not the only one she has hurt by doing
that.”
“You mean your mother?”
“We never wanted to see him again, and now he is back in my life. It
is the only way I can be destroyed and Augusta will use that to her ad-
vantage to get Nathaniel.”
“Nathaniel would have to be the biggest idiot if he went to Augusta
because of the inflicted pain from your father. He isn’t like that, and I
know that I haven’t been supportive of the relationship, but I can tell
that Nathaniel is crazy about you Brianna. He didn’t eat or hunt for the
first week when you arrived in town, and we didn’t know why until we
met you. The way he looked at you made us see that he was crazy about
you.”
“Then why did he treat me like the way he did? I mean, we were
always fighting and I still don’t understand why we are together now.
193
We are totally different. I’m human, and he isn’t and that is the main
thing that you didn’t like our relationship.”
“Brianna, there is another thing I don’t like about your relationship
with Nathaniel and I don’t like saying this, but I am jealous because of
it.”
“What do you have to be jealous of? You have everything Chase.
You have Dakota, beauty, wealth and everything that I dream of having
you can afford.”
“There is one thing that you can give Nathaniel that I can’t give Da-
kota.”
“And what is that?”
“A baby,” Chase announced.
I looked at him in shock. Did Chase really want a child of his own or
was he just saying that to make me feel bad?
“You want a baby?” I asked.
“I don’t really want one, but every time Dakota and I pass someone
with one in the street, she gazes at them and won’t take her eyes off
them until I have to wave a hand in her face or they vanish. I crave to
give Dakota a child, even though I am not a fan of them,” he said, and
slid down the wall.
“What makes you think that Nathaniel even wants a baby? I mean,
I’m not even sure about that,” I said and sat next to him.
“He has always told us about his desire of becoming a father to his
prince or princess that he can spoil and you might be the girl that can
make it happen,” he said, looking over to me.
“Are you serious? I’ll break in half from being so big. I am quite thin
and petite.”
“Then we need to fatten you up then,” he said and patted my stom-
ach.
This was the most Chase and I had gotten along. He usually left the
room or didn’t say anything while I was around. Nathaniel walked
around the corner and slowed down his walking when he saw us to-
gether, getting along for once.
“What is going on?” he asked.
“Nothing is going on, dear brother,” Chase said, getting up from the
194
floor and walking over towards his way before speaking and saying
something that I wasn’t expecting. “She is a keeper. Don’t stuff it up.”
For once, Nathaniel was speechless. Chase patted him on the shoul-
der and left the room. Nathaniel came over to where I was sitting and
stood in front of me. I looked up at him and waited for him to start
speaking.
“Are we okay?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Are we?” I asked, not knowing what to say.
“Brianna, I regret saying what I did before,” he said, coming down to
the height I was.
“Then why did you? Did you enjoy the pain or something that you
like putting me through when you know that I have been through
enough?” I asked, standing up.
“That isn’t it! I just thought it would be easier to end everything be-
cause of Chase. I didn’t know that he had finally accepted you into the
family. How did you get him to do so?”
“We just had a chat over a few things, and must have bonded over
them.”
“Do you still love me?”
“Why wouldn’t I? Every couple have their faults, but it seems that
we have a lot more than normal, but we always work through them and
besides, since when are we a normal couple?”
“Let’s go for a walk,” Nathaniel said, grabbing my hand and leading
me outside.
Half way down the street, I wanted to kill him for suggesting a walk.
Augusta came over to us with a glint in her eye that told me she was up
to something and it wasn’t going to be pretty.
“Nathaniel, I didn’t think I would be seeing you today and especially
with Brianna,” she said, looking me up and down.
“And why is that?” he asked, biting the inside of his cheek.
“Well, with her father back in town, I thought that you wouldn’t
want to be around the circus in her life caused by it. I mean, I just
thought that you would be after some fun and not having someone that
would drag you down,” she said and brushed her hand against his chest.
“I’m not leaving Brianna due to the fact her life is slowly turning up-
195
side down when mine has been like that for a very long time.”
“We’ll see about that. Did you know that she once got a birthday
card from her father and waited up all night for him to come to her
birthday, but he didn’t arrive? Apparently, she spent most of the day
fighting back tears over it,” Augusta said, looking over at me smugly.
“Who told you that?” I asked, trying to hold back my anger and from
hitting her clean across the face.
“Your cousin can be really truthful when forced and bribed,” she
said, making me close my eyes.
“Why didn’t I know about this?” Nathaniel asked, hurt lacing his
voice.
“I was going to tell you about this the other day, but if you remem-
ber, we were fighting from something you said.”
“Oh, is there trouble in paradise?”
Nathaniel and I looked at Augusta. She was doing this to drive a
wedge between us and wasn’t going to stop until we were broken up. I
took a deep breath and walked past Augusta, glaring at her at the same
time. I felt angry and depressed at what she was trying to do. If I lost
Nathaniel to her, I didn’t know what I was going to do to get over the
pain that would be inflicted from her.
“Baby, where are you going?” Nathaniel asked, stopping me from
walking.
“Away from here before I do something that I will regret,” I said, not
looking behind me.
“Like what? Crying?” Augusta asked.
I clenched my fists and took some deep breaths. Nathaniel shook his
head and walked over to me, leaving Augusta standing there with her
mouth wide open in shock over the fact Nathaniel had walked away
from her when she revealed something about my father to Nathaniel
that I hadn’t told him.
“Where are you going?” she asked, her voice whining like a child that
couldn’t get what they wanted.
“Away from you before I do something that I will regret for the rest
of my life. You can try your hardest to drive me and Brianna apart, but it
will never work. Brianna has my heart and soul and she is the only one
196
that will have that. I love Brianna so much, and I will never, ever love
you. You are someone I pity Augusta. All you care about is having power
and being rich by stealing some guy that has more money than anyone
could ever dream of, like me.”
“What are you saying Nathaniel?”
“I’m saying that if you keep on acting like the way you are, you will
end up alone because you are spoilt brat who gets everything that they
want. You are the type that makes me sick to my stomach. Brianna isn’t
like that, and that is what made me fall for her in the first place,” Na-
thaniel said, wrapping his arm around me tightly.
“You mean that you would rather someone that is poor to someone
that is like me?”
“At least Brianna covers up. I would never let her wear what you are
currently wearing right now,” Nathaniel said, looking her up and down
before grabbing my hand and dragging me away from her.
“You are making a huge mistake Nathaniel! When everything comes
out into the open, you are going to wish you left in the first place!” Au-
gusta yelled behind us, but Nathaniel didn’t say or do anything.
“Are you alright?” I asked when we were around the corner and out
of Augusta’s sight.
“For once, I would just like her to stop trying to break our relation-
ship. I have never shown any interest in her to begin with but she
couldn’t understand that!” Nathaniel seethed.
“Then why do you continue talking to her? Don’t you think that
maybe she might think that since you are paying her attention that she
might believe she has a chance with you?” I asked.
“Amylia has pressed that idea before, and we tried stopping, but it
made things worse. In the end, she became all stalker like on all of us,
and only because of us being vampires and not wanting her to know, we
started speaking to her again,” Nathaniel explained.
“So basically, you feared that she would find out that you aren’t hu-
man and that you are immortal for the rest of your life?” I asked, cross-
ing my arms.
Nathaniel didn’t say anything in response. He just stared blankly up
ahead towards the sky. Amylia came around the corner with bags in
197
each arm.
“Brianna, there you are. I have been looking all over the place for
you,” she exclaimed and handed me a bag.
“What is going on?” I asked, hoping that my bones wouldn’t shatter
from the weight she had just inflicted on me.
“I just thought we could go over some wedding plans that Dakota
didn’t want to have anything to do with. I could use someone that has a
completely different style that would help the wedding in a big way,”
she said, looking towards Nathaniel with a strange look in her eye.
“What even makes you think that Brianna wants to help you plan
this wedding?” Nathaniel asked, looking at his future sister with what
appeared to be anger in his eyes.
“Nate, disappear and leave us to talk, okay?” Amylia said, grabbing
my hand and dragging me away.
“Do you really need help?” I asked after a while and when I was sure
we were out of Nathaniel’s hearing range.
“Brianna, I wouldn’t be asking if I didn’t need your help. Anyway, you
are basically my sister now, so you should be included in making the
right choices with everything in life,” she said, looking over at me.
“If only doing those things were easy, especially in my life,” I mut-
tered, mostly to myself.
“What do you mean by that?” Amylia asked, making me mentally
kick myself.
“It’s nothing important. Now, what do you want me to help with?” I
asked, making Amylia slip into her wedding world.
“I have decided that I want you as a bridesmaid with Dakota, so I
want you to have your say in this also. James wants me to have a fluoro
wedding cake, but I don’t want that, so our first task is to drive to Mel-
bourne and try different wedding cakes.”
“Does James have any say in the wedding?”
“He is meeting us in Melbourne to help out,” she said, her eyes still
burning into my soul. “There is something wrong, isn’t there?”
“How do you know?” I asked.
“The sparkle in your eyes has gone. They just look dull and lifeless.
You can tell me,” she whispered, placing her hand on my arm, making
198
the skin on that arm break out in goose bumps.
“I’m scared that Nathaniel is going to realise how much a basket case
my life is and will leave me,” I admitted.
Amylia sighed and closed her eyes. I knew that she would have never
thought in a million years that Nathaniel would fall for a human, not a
vampire, so all of this was new for her as it was for me. She reopened
her eyes and looked down at the ground.
“He would be a huge idiot if he did something like that and Bethany
would be the first to inflict some sort of pain onto him, followed closely
by me. You are the best thing that has ever happened to this family, and
there is no way in hell Nathaniel or anyone is going to ruin that.”
“Tell that to Augusta,” I whispered.
“She is easily dealt with if it comes to that,” she said, a glint in her
eyes.
Violence had to be in that plan somewhere. Her voice was too calm
for nothing that didn’t involve bloodshed, violence or pure and utter
torture. Shaking my head, I forced that vision out of my mind. I didn’t
want to see the horror anymore.
“What happens if that doesn’t work?”
“Brianna, there is something that you don’t know about vampires
that you don’t ever want to see. I’ll just leave it as that. I don’t want to
give you nightmares for a long time and I don’t think Nathaniel would
be happy with me if you found out from me and not from him,” she
said, and slowly started to walk away.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
“Back home. We aren’t going to more wedding plans for a week. I
just want to have you on board before I started all the major things,”
she announced and left me standing there in shock and with a rubbish
bag full of something.
I heard a throat clear behind me. I turned around and saw Nathaniel
standing there. “Did you listen in to what we were talking about?” I
asked.
“No Brianna. I was under strict instruction from Amylia in her
thoughts not to listen in or my car would cop it. I didn’t want to take
that risk,” he said and took the bag off me.
199
“She wouldn’t have caused that much damage, would she?”
“You haven’t met Hurricane Amylia,” Nathaniel said and took my
hand.
“She sounds interesting.”
“Come on,” he said and started walking. “It’s going to get dark soon
and I don’t want you to get eaten alive by mosquitoes when your blood
is mine.”
I looked at Nathaniel and shook my head, not believing that he add-
ed in something about my blood. He led me back inside his place and
walked past the lounge room, where Dakota was. She looked up from
the magazine she was reading, and glared at me before looking down at
Nathaniel’s hand wrapped in mine.
“Why couldn’t you have gone out with a vampire?” Dakota asked.
“Why can’t you just be happy for me? You knew I was slowly slipping
into something bad, and you still can’t get over the fact I am happy.
What did you want to see Dakota? Do you want to see me committing
suicide?” Nathaniel asked, his voice holding nothing but rage.
“No I don’t want to see that. I just can’t understand what made you
fall for someone so plain and has a heartbeat.”
Nathaniel dropped the bag onto the floor and clenched his fists. I
grabbed the bag and opened it, seeing what was in there.
“Oh my god,” I whispered and pulled out a pale strapless dress with
crystals on the front.
Dakota looked down and hissed in fury before grabbing the dress out
of my hands and looking at it.
“Where did you get that from?” she snarled at me.
“I gave it to her because I wanted her to have it. That bag and the
other one is full of clothes that I planned on giving Dakota, but I decided
to give them to you Brianna,” Amylia said, looking over at me. “You de-
serve them.”
“You promised me that I would be getting these things and now you
have changed your mind? What the hell happened?” Dakota asked
through clenched teeth.
“It’s your own fault Dakota. If you didn’t start acting like you are, we
wouldn’t be having this fight right now. If you are going to keep on
200
treating Brianna the way you are, then you can forget about getting an-
ything off me ever again. I am actually dreading to have you as a sister
in law if Chase ever asks you to marry him,” Amylia said, walking out of
the room.
Once she was out of the room, Dakota came right up to me and
grabbed my arm, stopping me from getting away.
“Let go of her!” Nathaniel demanded as Chase walked into the room.
“This is your entire fault Brianna. If you never arrived into this town
and made Nathaniel fall in love with you, none of this would be happen-
ing right now. Amylia and I would still be close and so would Nate and
Chase,” she hissed.
“Actually, you are wrong about that,” Chase said, making Dakota
look over at him. “Nathaniel and I are close again for the one reason. I
have accepted Brianna into the family as she makes him happy like he
has never been before. It is only you that can’t seem to move past the
fact he is happy.”
“So you like the human now?”
“Let go of her Dakota,” Nathaniel said one more time, but she didn’t.
She just held onto my arm tighter.
“Listen to Nathaniel. I don’t think he really wants to use violence to
get you to let go of his girlfriend.”
“She has ruined everything! I want Brianna out of this family forever
and if you won’t help me Chase, then I have no idea where we stand
anymore,” Dakota threatened.
“If I have to pick between my brother’s happiness and you, I will be
going with my brother. I don’t know why I didn’t see this sooner Dakota.
You aren’t happy unless everything goes your way. You are just as shal-
low as Augusta is and that is sickening,” Chase said.
Dakota gasped at what Chase said, and let go of my arm. I grabbed
where she had the pressure and tried to flex my arm without hurting it
anymore. Nathaniel gently took it and tried to find the problem, but
couldn’t seem to do so.
“You mean that you are going to break up with me over this?” Dako-
ta screeched.
“Maybe if you weren’t acting like the way you are, none of this
201
would be happening,” Amylia said, walking back into the room with four
bags in her hands. “Since it is obvious that your relationship with Chase
is ending, I don’t want you involved in my wedding anymore. You are no
longer my maid of honour.”
“Chase, fix this now!”
“You have blown it. I want you out of this house and out of my life.
We are finished forever, Dakota. I don’t know why I didn’t see this earli-
er. It could have saved me from all of this stress and anger,” Chase said
and left the room.
It was quiet for a split second before Dakota let out a blood curdling
scream and lunged for me, but Jack pulled her back.
“What is going on?” Bethany asked, walking into the room and look-