A week later, I was sitting bored in music. Nathaniel hadn’t showed up
today, and that wasn’t like him.
The only one that was at school was James who was currently trying
to keep me entertained but it wasn’t working. I asked him about Na-
thaniel, but he wouldn’t give anything away. They were up to something
and I did not like it at all. I thought I was a part of their family? Right
now, it felt like I wasn’t.
“Believe me Brianna, I want to tell you where Nathaniel is, but he
forced me not tell you as he was worried that you would be angry with
him,” James said.
“Nathaniel should know by now that I get even angrier when things
are being kept from me, especially when it involves someone I love,” I
said and looked over at James.
“Then I guess he didn’t take that into account. What is going to hap-
pen when you see Nathaniel next?”
“It’s a good thing he is a vampire so I won’t kill him with my bare
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hands,” I muttered so only James could hear me and no one else. We
didn’t need strangers knowing that they weren’t human.
James glanced at me but didn’t say anything. On the outside I
seemed calm but on the inside, I was fuming at Nathaniel. He usually
told me if he was going somewhere, and when I made my way to visit
him at his place, I was informed by Bethany that he had gone away, and
didn’t want me knowing. What kind of boyfriend is that?
At vampire speed, James got his phone out of his pocket and glanced
at it before looking at me. He leaned in close and whispered into my
ear. “That was Amylia who just informed me that Nathaniel is home.”
“Guess where we are going after school,” I said.
“Don’t be too harsh on Nathaniel.”
“He shouldn’t leave without telling me. I don’t like the fact I went to
see him and was informed that he wasn’t in Forrest and didn’t want me
knowing where he was,” I spat.
The rest of the day went fast. James led me over to his HSV Ute and
threw our school bags in the back before placing the cover back on the
tray. I crossed my arms and looked around the school ground, spotting
Hudson sitting under a tree on her own.
“I’ll be back,” I said to James and made my way over to her.
When I got closer, I saw she was crying and that concerned me. I sat
down, making her look up at me with red rimmed eyes.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Brandon and I had a fight,” she said, sniffing. “But I never usually
cry like this.”
“Where is he?”
“Coming behind you,” Hudson said, making me turn around.
“I’ll let you talk. I have to have a nice word to Nathaniel.”
“Is he back from whatever it was? Brandon said but I can’t remem-
ber.”
“You knew about this?” I asked, feeling horrified.
“Nate said something about it before you arrived in town.”
Nodding to myself, I walked back to where James was waiting. His
arms were crossed as he leaned against his car.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
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“Yeah I need to have a nice word to Nathaniel,” I said and got into
the passengers set.
The drive back was quiet since I had nothing to say. When James
pulled into the driveway, Nathaniel was standing outside, waiting. I got
out of the car and crossed my arms, looking at him. James gave me my
school bag and walked inside, leaving us alone.
“I see that you are back,” I said, my eyes narrowing.
“Brianna I know that you would be mad at me for leaving without
telling you, but I did get you something,” he said, pulling out a bag from
behind his back.
“You think that giving me a present from some expensive shop is
going to make me forgive you for leaving without telling me? Your
whole family wouldn’t tell me where you were because you told them
not to tell me. I am your girlfriend Nathaniel and I think I have a right to
know!” I shouted.
“It was nothing important that you needed to know about, so that’s
why I didn’t want you knowing about it,” Nathaniel said, walking over to
me.
Something was telling me that he was lying about it. For some rea-
son, he didn’t want me knowing what he was really up to. Why could
Hudson and Brandon know about it, but I couldn’t? Shaking my head, I
turned around and started to walk away.
“Where are you going?” Nathaniel asked, following me.
“Away from here and from you before I end up saying something
that I’m going to regret later on in life,” I replied, not stopping.
“Don’t be like this,” Nathaniel pleaded.
“What do you expect me to be like? You had vanished for almost
week and because of that, you had me worried sick. No one was telling
me anything and it wasn’t until I saw Augusta at school, I knew that you
didn’t run away with her so forgive me if I am not all over you since you
are back again.” With that, I walked away leaving him standing there.
I just kept on walking and didn’t stop until I was deep in the Ot-
way’s. I looked around and saw a fallen tree. As usual it was covered in
green moss, but I didn’t care. Walking over to it, I sat on it and hoped to
myself that Nathaniel wouldn’t decide to follow me. That didn’t come
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true. Five minutes later, Nathaniel appeared from behind all the trees
and approached me.
“It’s like you keep on forgetting that I can track your scent and find
you,” he said, standing in front of me.
“What if I don’t want to be found?” I asked.
“Then you would have gone to a place that would have been difficult
for me to track your scent.”
“What do you want Nathaniel?” I asked.
He didn’t say anything. I wasn’t in the mood for his games. I was too
angry and upset. Nathaniel soon realised that.
“I know that you are angry about me going and not telling you, but
there was a reason for me not telling you,” Nathaniel said and sat on
the damp ground next to me.
“And what’s that?” I asked, looking over at him.
“You would be even more upset if you knew the truth than me lying
to you. I don’t want to put you through pain when you are going
through hell right now.”
“Nate, you sound like you have made a sin or something. What is
going on?”
He looked blankly at me and that scared me. Nathaniel had done
something that he didn’t want me knowing all because it would hurt
me, but everyone else could know what was going on? That wasn’t fair.
“I would love to tell you, but I don’t know what would happen,” he
said.
“Can you at least tell me where you had gone?”
“I went to Melbourne,” he muttered. “Do you want your gift I
brought you?”
“All depends on what it is Nathaniel.”
“It is fairly expensive, but I couldn’t help myself,” he said and handed
me the bag.
“You know about my dislike for over the top expensive things,” I said
and pulled out a wrapped box which looked like it was from Tiffany.
“It made me think of you when I saw it and I thought that you would
like it.”
Grumbling to myself, I pulled at the ribbon and lifted the lid on the
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box. My breath got caught in my throat. I pulled out a silver necklace
with a red ruby sitting in the middle of it.
“It is like the ring,” I whispered.
“It reminded me of your hair so I knew that you had to have it and I
also knew that it would match the ring that I got for you as well,” Na-
thaniel said and kissed my pulse point on my neck.
“It is really beautiful but I can’t take this,” I said and looked in his
eyes. “It’s too expensive.”
“Brianna, I enjoy buying you these sorts of things because I love you.
It doesn’t matter to me that you can’t really afford much because I
crave to see the look of happiness on your face.”
I knew I wasn’t going to win this battle, so it seemed that I had to
grin and bear it. I closed the lid and placed it back in the bag.
“Thank you,” I said. “But you do know I haven’t forgiven you. You
had me worried sick to my core from your vanishing act.”
Nathaniel sighed and looked down at the damp ground. This was
killing him and I could see that with my own eyes, but hurting me by
keeping whatever he had gone there for was going to destroy him after
the feel of him not being able to fully trust me made its way to the sur-
face.
“Are you that worried that I am going to spread whatever it is
around the town or something?” I pressed.
“That is not it Brianna.”
“Then what is it?” I asked feeling defeated.
“Can you not worry about it?” Nathaniel suddenly exploded, getting
up off the ground.
“Well forgive me for loving you and caring about your safety. Next
time, I won’t even bother to care,” I retorted.
Then I was alone. Nathaniel had vanished into thin air. Looking
around me, I pushed myself off the tree trunk and walked around, call-
ing for Nathaniel but was only greeted by a chilly silence that wanted to
make my bones shiver. Time had gotten out of my control as it started
to get darker and was struggling to find my way back. I had two choices
and both were a risk for this time of night. I looked up at the sky and
saw the moon had started to get higher in the sky.
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I decided to risk it and make the walk back home in the pitch black
and risk someone stealing me.
I started to walk in the dead forest, not knowing which was I was
going or what I was going to walk into. Feeling my way around, I wasn’t
paying any attention to where I was walking and tripped over some-
thing. I fell and started to roll down a hill, screaming as my body started
hitting twigs and sharp edged rocks before I stopped from my right leg
hitting a tree extremely hard. Clenching my teeth from the pain, I placed
a hand on the side and felt something seeping through onto my jeans.
Only one word came to mind; blood. And it was mine.
Forcing myself off the ground, I tried walking, but once I put an
ounce of pressure on my leg, I screamed in total agony. I fell back onto
the ground, bleeding and sobbing in pain and from being alone and
frightened.
Two hours had passed and I was still alone. I didn’t know if someone
was going to find me or if I was stuck here. A cold wind blew; going right
through me and making me shake to the bone. Not long after, I rested
my head against the tree with my teeth chattering. I wanted to close my
eyes, but I didn’t know if I would awake again. I was either going to die
from blood loss or severe hypothermia.
My leg was still bleeding and I had no idea how to stop it from con-
tinuing. In my half alert state, it sounded like there were voices some-
where in the forest, but I couldn’t be too sure. Closing my eyes, I took a
few deep breaths and tried to think of happy thoughts, but all the bad
things in my life were the only things present and that even included
Nathaniel.
I moved my leg just not even an inch, causing my eyes to open and
both my hands to grab at it to stop the pain that was starting to slowly
move around my body. The voices were still around, but still muffled. I
knew what I had to do to be found alive.
“Help me!” I screamed with as much voice I had left in my body but
that even felt like it was taking the last of my energy that I really need-
ed.
It was quiet again. I must have been thinking they were around when
they weren’t. I kept on screaming and crying for help. I just wanted to
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be found. Just as I was about to give up and wait for death to take me, I
believed I heard Amylia’s voice in the distance, calling for me.
“Amylia,” I screamed, but it came out in a hoarse whisper and I knew
she wouldn’t be able to hear me even though her hearing is much bet-
ter than mine.
She kept on walking and calling for me when I was nearby. I could
see her body outline in the moonlight. Taking a deep breath and prepar-
ing myself for what I was about to do, I moved my injured leg and cried
out in pure agony. The body stopped and looked over to where I was.
“Help me,” I shouted.
“Brianna,” Amylia said and ran over to where I was using her vam-
pire speed.
“Help me please,” I begged, actually scared that I was going to die.
Amylia called for Nathaniel who appeared out on nowhere and ran
over to me, grabbing me tightly and sucking all the air out of my body.
“I thought you were missing for good,” Nathaniel whispered.
“We need to move her before her body temperature drops even
more and it gets even more deadly for her to be out here without some
sort of warmth,” Amylia said, narrowing her eyes at Nathaniel for some
reason.
“I am not moving her and that is final. I don’t know what sort of
damage has been done,” Nathaniel hissed at Amylia.
“Nate, stop holding your breath and smell what I can!” Amylia de-
manded.
“Why should I?”
I wanted them to stop fighting, but the one thing I wasn’t expecting
was Nathaniel grabbing my injured leg and moving it. I cried out, making
both Amylia and Nathaniel freeze. He moved his hand over the blood
spot and brung his hand to his face.
“Blood,” he whispered.
“There is a high chance that she might have severed a main vein in
her leg. We have to get Brianna back to the house and to a hospital to
stop this from continuing. You don’t want her bleeding to death, do
you?”
“How did this happen anyway?” Nathaniel asked and looked over at
215
me, fear and dread in his eyes.
“I slipped and bashed my leg against this tree when I came to a halt
and I have been out here since,” I whispered and closed my eyes.
“Don’t you dare close your eyes,” Nathaniel pleaded, grabbing my
cold hand that was clammy.
I heard something tearing and felt cloth being placed on the wound.
Arms wrapped around me and lifted my weak body up off the ground
and started running. I realised it was Nathaniel that had me. After five
minutes, I heard a door fly open in my hazy state and a bright light shin-
ing into my eyes, causing a dull pain in my head.
“I have found her,” Nathaniel said.
“Where was she?” I heard mum ask.
“Sitting against a tree,” Amylia said, coming over to me.
Nathaniel placed me on the couch and tightened the cloth that was
tied around the wound. I hissed and dug my fingers into the leather of
the couch from the burning sensation it caused.
“What happened to her leg?” mum asked, her voice laced with hor-
ror.
I didn’t know who replied as it was the last thing I heard.
A beeping noise woke me up from my peaceful sleep. The sheets on
the bed I was laying in were hard and itchy and it felt like I was weighed
down by something. My mind was extremely foggy and clouded over.
“Brianna, can you hear me?” a voice said.
“Nate, she almost died. I don’t think she would be able to hear you
right now. Think of what the doctor said,” another voice said.
I wanted to answer them, but I couldn’t find my voice. I didn’t even
know where I was.
“There is nothing wrong with hoping,” Nathaniel said.
After that it was quiet. I forced my eyes to open and looked around
the room. Nathaniel was sitting in the corner, looking down while Amyl-
ia was looking out the window, in her own world and not aware that I
was awake.
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“Nate,” I whispered, making him look up.
He said something at vampire speed before coming over to me and
pulling me in for a hug. My whole body felt weak and there was some-
thing pulling in my arm, limiting the movement.
“Be careful with all the wires connected to her,” Amylia said over in
the corner. “You don’t want to knock them out by mistake.”
“The smell of blood in that bag is making me go strange,” Nathaniel
said, letting me go.
What blood in a bag? I looked up and saw I was connected to a
blood transfusion bag. What happened to me? Flash backs started en-
tering my mind and I remembered what happened to me; the harsh
cold, the twigs and sharp rocks, the tree and worst of all; the blood.
“It is your own fault. I told you to go and get blood, but you didn’t.
You haven’t left Brianna’s side since she has been in here!”
“She’s my girlfriend Amylia.”
“And yet you left her during a fight. That’s what got her here in the
first place and you know that Nathaniel. You need to learn how to con-
trol your temper before you end up getting Brianna killed. We don’t
want that happening.”
I decided to speak up then. “Can I speak to Nathaniel alone?”
“I don’t think that would be wise right now,” Amylia said.
“Take a hint. She doesn’t want you in here at the moment. Go find a
nurse or something,” Nathaniel said, pushing her out of the hospital
room.
I knew Nathaniel would beat himself up over what happened to me,
but now that I think of it, he was entitled to some secrets and he would
have told me everything when he was ready. Maybe I was wrong to
have pushed him the way I did. Nathaniel slowly made his way over to
me. It was like he was afraid of something, but I don’t know what
though. Maybe he thought I was angry at him for what had now hap-
pened to me.
“I’m sorry that I left the way I did. If I didn’t, I might have been able
to stop you from falling and almost dying,” he said, sitting on the edge
on the bed and his voice haunted.
“This isn’t your fault. I’m the one that started walking in the dark
217
when I knew that I should have just stayed where I was because some-
one would have started looking for me eventually.”
“You were right. I should have told you the reason for my trip to
Melbourne, but I just can’t. You would be devastated once you knew
the truth. I don’t want to see that happening,” he said and grabbed my
hand.
“Don’t you think I would be even more distressed once I find out?” I
asked, glancing down at the pale white sheets.
“I’ll tell you everything once you have recovered. I don’t really want
to get hit by a crutch when I do tell you.”
“It wouldn’t even hurt. You are immortal,” I pointed out.
“But I have to act human around others.”
The door opened and a nurse walked into the room, looking be-
tween Nathaniel and me.
“How are you feeling Brianna?” she asked and grabbed a chart from
the end of the bed.
“Tired and still a bit weak,” I said.
“That is to be expected. You tore a vein in your leg that caused all
the bleeding, but you are extremely lucky that you didn’t shatter the
bone in your leg. All you did was bruise the bone, which should take
about six weeks to heal. Those trees are extremely tough, so I wouldn’t
go picking fights with them often,” she said and disconnected the blood
bag.
“I plan on staying away from that area for a very long time.”
She nodded and went back to doing her job. Nathaniel was quiet the
whole time and didn’t even say anything after she had left.
“Are you alright?” I asked.
“I am just thinking about some stuff.”
“Would Amylia tell mum that I am awake?” I asked, changing the
subject.
“She is doing that now. Marie threatened her if she didn’t tell her if
or when you woke up since I wasn’t in any state to.”
“How long have I been in here for?”
“Five days,” Amylia replied as she walked back into the room. “Marie
is on her way.”
218
“How did my mum threaten you?”
“She might be human, but when it comes to my clothes and shoes,
she wins on anything.”
“She threatened to cut and burn them, didn’t she?” Nathaniel said,
trying not to laugh.
“Like a bat out of hell,” she replied and crossed her arms.
The door opened, making me look over to it. Mum and Bethany
walked into the room, looking flustered.
“That is the last time I am letting Jack drive,” Bethany said and
placed her bag on the floor.
“What happened this time?” Nathaniel asked.
“Your adopted father parked five blocks away from the hospital. It
would have been quicker just to walk from in town to here,” she said
and walked over to the bed.
Mum came over to me and pulled me in for a tight hug. I tried to hug
her back, but Nathaniel still had my hand in his tight grip. I narrowed my
eyes at him, but it didn’t work. It seemed my vampire was in his own
world.
“Nate, can I have my hand back?” I asked, making him snap out of
his world and let go.
“And you also need blood. If I see you looking like death anymore, I
will drag you to our supply and force it down your throat and I won’t be
gentle while doing it either,” Bethany said to her son.
“I will be fine,” he argued.
“Nathaniel, don’t fight back. Go get your blood that you need,” I said
and placed my hand on his arm.
“I don’t want to leave your side.”
“Don’t argue with me Nathaniel Monroe. You aren’t going to win on
this one.”
He said something under his breath and moved from where he was
sitting. Bethany looked over at me and smiled before following him out.
“Nathaniel doesn’t like it when he gets orders,” Amylia said.
“Then he has to learn the hard way.”
“What happens if a vampire starts lacking blood?” mum asked.
I was interested in knowing that also. Amylia deeply sighed and
219
spoke. “A vampire’s body is dependent on blood. If we deprive it of its
life source for too long, darkness forms underneath our eyes, we be-
come snappy and not pleasant to be around. Just like Nathaniel was and
is most times,” she said. “Our body slowly starts to starve itself into a
sure death if we don’t do anything to stop it.”
“Why did he do that for?” I asked.
“Because he was worried that once he left the room, something
would happen to you.”
“What would he have done?” mum asked.
“Something that he doesn’t want to do but knows that he won’t
have a choice one day; turning Brianna into a vampire,” Amylia said,
looking out the window.
“Doesn’t Nathaniel want me to be like him?” I asked, shock lacing my
voice.
Amylia came over to where I was and sat on the bed. She grabbed
my hand, but had a sombre look on her face. That’s when I knew the
answer. He didn’t want me to become a vampire and spend the rest of
my life with him.
“When can I go home?” I asked.
“Um, I don’t know,” mum said.
“Can someone go ask or something?” I pressed. I wanted to get out
of here and fire a lot of questions towards Nathaniel.
Before anyone could do anything, a doctor walked into the room. He
grabbed my chart from the end of the bed and glanced down at it.
“Brianna, I presume?” he asked, looking at me.
“Yes,” I said.
“I am doctor Holland and the good news is that you can go home
today,” he said.
“That is great,” Amylia said and smiled a toothy smile, making