“Brianna, can I talk to you?” Lucinda asked at the end of the school day.
“Sure. What’s up Lucinda?” I asked, placing my hand on the door
handle and looking over at her with a smile on my face.
“I think it will be better to talk in private without prying ears and
eyes with what I have to say,” she said and opened the door before I
could.
“What’s going on Lucy?” I asked, following her outside.
She didn’t say anything to me. She just kept on walking and didn’t
stop until we were in a place where it was quiet and where no one
would be able to bother us or interfere with our talking. Lucinda
stopped under a tree and turned around so she could look at me with a
strange look in her eye.
“You want to know what is going on?” she asked.
“Well you did drag me out and I am meant to be meeting Nathaniel
in thirty minutes for an appointment and you know what he can get like
when I am late for something with him,” I replied, crossing my arms.
“Nathaniel can wait. This is more important than meeting him for an
appointment that can be held,” Lucinda announced and sat down on
the ground.
“Do you care to tell me what is going on or do I need to start playing
a guessing game until I know what is happening?” I asked, sitting down
in front of her.
“Chase told me some things last Saturday afternoon before the bas-
ketball game and I wish to discuss them with you as I think you will
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know the answers to my questions that I have.”
“What things do you want to know?” I asked, but I already knew the
answer to my own question.
“Him and his family being vampires for one and you knowing about it
for one,” she answered.
“Oh god,” I replied, suddenly knowing where this conversation was
going to end up. And that would be in an argument.
“Do you care to tell me what is going on or do you want to keep me
in the dark like all the other times you did when I was around Chase and
yourself? Did you think about pulling me aside and telling me what was
going on?” she asked.
“Lucy, I don’t want to scare you with what I know because it isn’t a
pretty picture,” I whispered, looking down at the dirt.
“Chase told me about the blood drinking and how you and Nathaniel
have dabbled in it and that Chase wanted to try it with me.”
I nodded, knowing that I was about to get the third degree of Lucin-
da for keeping her in the dark about Chase, but I didn’t make any habits
of going around telling my friends that Nathaniel and his family weren’t
human and they were something that people didn’t think that were re-
al.
“Blood drinking isn’t for everyone. I know that I don’t enjoy doing it,
but it does give you some benefits and you will be bonded to your vam-
pire for the rest of your life. The downside is the fact that they might
not stop drinking from you and that it does leave a scar that fades so no
one can see it after a while. I have had countless people come up to me
on the street, asking what I had on my neck.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about Chase and his family being vampires?”
she asked, changing the subject completely.
“Because I couldn’t tell you and you now can’t tell anyone what you
know,” I told her, knowing I was going to explain why.
“What do you mean?” she asked, looking and sounding confused.
“Didn’t Chase tell you the reason why? You can’t tell a soul about him
or anyone in the Pryor family being vampires Lucinda. It is a secret that
you will have to take to the grave unless Chase changes you into a vam-
pire and then you will have protect yourself and them from the secret
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coming out into the open for other people to know and freak out
about,” I announced, watching the expression on her face.
“What do you mean that I can’t tell anyone? I think my family has a
right to know that I am getting involved in!” she yelled, making me
quickly place my hand over her mouth and look around to make sure
that no one heard her.
“Do you really want to risk telling them and they tell someone else,
making Chase and his family be exposed to the public eye and putting all
of us in danger?” I asked.
“No one can expose them for being vampires Brianna. No one would
believe the person who told them.”
“Lucinda, you have to take this seriously! Your life is now in danger
as you know what the Pryor’s are and don’t you know that everyone has
enemies? The only difference would be that the Pryor’s enemies would
be vampires and would most likely kill to get their revenge and you and
I would be the main targets for a couple of reasons as we are human
and we have blood running through our veins.”
“I don’t want to believe this.”
Lucinda got up suddenly and started walking away from where I was
sitting. “Like it or not Lucy, you are gonna have to believe this. Chase is
now going to act like a vampire in front of you now because you know
and nothing you will say or do can stop that. It is in his nature and it has
been for a very long time.”
“What do you mean? I can threaten him to make him act like a hu-
man and not like a vampire,” she said, smirking.
“Chase doesn’t take anyone’s crap Lucy and I’m sure that he won’t
take yours either if you started on him. No matter how hard you tried to
force him to act human, he won’t because of what he is and I think that
is something that you are going to have to realise if you want to be with
him. Chase is a vampire and nothing will ever change that,” I said, get-
ting up from where I was sitting. “No matter how hard you tried to
change something that could never be changed and I know that for a
fact with Nathaniel. He can’t change the fact that is a vampire for the
rest of his life and not a human, like he now craves to be but he can’t.”
Lucinda didn’t reply. She just walked away being her usual stubborn
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self. I shook my head and left the school grounds, finally going to meet
Nathaniel. I found him out the front of Jack’s chemist, talking with Jack.
By the look on their faces, it was pretty important. I slowed down my
walking and waited for them to notice me. They were too busy in their
conversation to notice my scent wrapping around them from the wind.
“What’s happening?” I asked, walking up to them and catching their
attention.
“We were just about to gather a search party to look for you since
you are a bit late,” Jack said smiling at me warmly.
“I would have been here a lot sooner if Lucinda didn’t bail me up and
start asking me questions,” I said, catching both of their attentions.
“Lucinda? What did she want?” Nathaniel asked.
“She knows,” I muttered, looking between the two of them.
“Knows what?” Jack asked.
I didn’t say anything. I just pointed to the mark on my neck and
made a biting sound with my teeth as major clues. For smart people,
they didn’t twig about what I was on about.
“Brianna, what are we playing? Charades?” Nathaniel asked.
“If we were, our team would be losing,” I said, smirking. “No, I am
trying to tell you what Lucinda knows and you haven’t even figured it
out.”
“Why can’t you just tell us by using your voice?”
“She knows what you all are,” I said very quietly, knowing they could
hear me.
Jack’s eyes widened before he grabbed my arm and led me inside
the chemist and into the staff room with Nathaniel on his heels. Jack
shut the door and pushed me down into a chair.
“Okay Brianna, talk,” Jack said.
“Why do I have to talk? Don’t you think you should be talking to
Chase about this? I mean, he was the one that told her, not me,” I said.
“Chase won’t tell us anything Brianna. You should know that by
now,” Nathaniel said, walking over to me.
“So, what are you going to do? Give me the third degree until I
cave?” I asked, looking between the two of them.
“We just want to know what Lucinda told you,” Jack said, sitting next
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to me.
“She was more pissed off at the fact that I didn’t tell her that Chase
was a vampire and she couldn’t understand the reason why she wasn’t
allowed to tell anyone about you all being vampires, but I explained to
her that she couldn’t risk it.”
“Was anything else said on her end?”
“She thinks she can threaten him to act human and not like a vam-
pire.”
“Chase doesn’t take things like that well,” Nathaniel said, sounding
concerned. “Brianna, I know that you and Chase aren’t best friends and
very highly won’t be, but can you talk to him and try to get out of him
what was said? It might work as you are a human and Lucy is your
friend. “
“Send me in the deep end to face the sharks, why don’t you Na-
thaniel Monroe?”
“It might be the only way we can get him to open up,” Jack said,
making me look over at him.
“I don’t want to do this, but I will,” I said. “But if he doesn’t say any-
thing, don’t expect me to do it again.”
Two hours later, I was walking towards Chase’s bedroom, grumbling
under my breath. I didn’t want to do this so I had no idea what pos-
sessed me to say yes. I stopped out the front of this door and raised my
hand to knock but almost chickened out.
“Brianna, I know that you are outside my door,” Chase said from in-
side. “You can come in.”
Gaining some courage, I opened the door and walked inside his
room, seeing him sitting on his bed, flicking through a magazine.
“What can I help you with Brianna?” he asked, looking up.
“I need to talk to you about something,” I replied.
“And what is this something?”
“About Lucinda.”
He froze when I mentioned her name. Suddenly, he got off the bed
and raced over to his bedroom door, closing it before coming back over
to me.
“You have spoken to her?”
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“She bailed me up before and told me that she knew about what you
are and that I knew. She wasn’t happy that I didn’t tell her about it and
didn’t understand why she couldn’t tell anyone about what you are. She
has it locked into her mind that she can threaten you into acting human
and not like a vampire.”
“I didn’t know she was going to react when I told her the truth about
me and my family. She had a right to know but she didn’t even believe
me until I proved it to her.”
“You have to set her straight Chase. I’m sure that you don’t want this
coming out into the open because she thought that it was harmless.”
“How am I going to do that Brianna? She told me before she left that
I was a lying freak that needed to be locked up and that was the last
thing I heard from her.”
“Show her that you aren’t going to hurt her and that you only don’t
want her for her blood. I don’t think she fully understands the nature of
getting involved with a vampire. I’m still trying to understand everything
so it is going to take her awhile to understand what she is getting her-
self into.”
“Brianna, did someone set you up to talk to me? I know that you
wouldn’t have done this willingly as we don’t really get along,” Chase
said, pulling me over to his bed.
“Chase, did you ever think that maybe I just wanted to help?” I
asked, playing dumb.
“Brianna,” Chase pressed.
“Alright, alright you win. Nathaniel and Jack put me up to it as they
knew you wouldn’t talk to them so they put me up to the job as I am
human and so is Lucinda,” I said.
“Where is my brother and father right now?” he asked. “I want to
have a nice chat to the both of them.”
“I don’t know where they are, but we aren’t talking about them
Chase. I am trying to help you and Lucinda out with this patch you are
going through.”
“Brianna, you know Lucinda better than I do. Give me some tips on
what I can do to help her understand about this. I didn’t want her to
take the news perfectly that I am not alive and that I suck people’s
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blood, but I didn’t expect her to freak out like she did either.”
“Try calling her on the phone and just explain everything to her. Tell
her that you drinking her blood aren’t something that you have to do.
Just tell her the truth Chase and then give her some time to think about
all the information you have given her.”
“I will do that. Thank you Brianna. Even though we don’t always see
eye to eye on most things, you are the best thing that has happened to
Nathaniel in a very long time and I’m sorry that I didn’t approve of your
relationship to begin with. Dakota had a big influence on me back then
and she was influencing me not to approve of how happy you were
making Nathaniel because you weren’t a vampire. I didn’t see how hap-
py you were making him and how Dakota was ruining my relationship
with Nathaniel because of it. I was caught in her web of lies that she had
created to ruin your relationship with Nathaniel as she saw you as a
threat because you were changing Nathaniel for the good.”
“Chase, I forgive you, but I know that your relationship with Na-
thaniel is still tense and I hope that you can both work through it for
your sake and for his. I don’t like seeing this divide between the two of
you.”
He nodded and grabbed his mobile before walking out of his bed-
room. I sighed before getting up and walking out of the room, closing
his bedroom door behind me and making my way to Nathaniel’s room.
When I entered Nathaniel’s room, something didn’t feel right. I
walked straight over to his bedroom window and looked out of it, see-
ing nothing suspicious besides a crow that was sitting on the window
edge. It turned its head and looked at me, making me take a step back
in shock and in fear. The way it stared at me was like it wasn’t a real
crow but something else and its eyes. They weren’t like a normal eye
colour like you see in a normal crow. They were a deep blood red colour
and as cold as ice.
It flew off into the distance, making the eerie feeling go with it. Why
would a bird like a crow give off such a strange feeling in Nathaniel’s
room?
“Brianna, are you okay?” Nathaniel asked, making me slowly turn
around to face him.
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“Everything is fine,” I replied, still feeling slightly shaken by that bird
that I saw.
“Are you sure? You look like you have seen a ghost or something,”
he replied, walking over to me.
“It’s just; how often do you get crows around this house?” I asked.
“Such a strange question, but they tend to avoid the house as they
know what we are and don’t want to risk their lives. Why do you ask?”
Nathaniel asked me and pulling me down on the bed.
“No reason,” I said too quickly.
“Brianna, what is going on? You are acting strange and it is starting
to freak me out. What has happened?”
“There was a crow near your window before, but it didn’t look right.
For one, it had blood red eyes and looked like it was human but in a
crow life form.”
Nathaniel now looked like he had seen the ghost from what I told
him. He took a few deep breaths and shook his head before getting up
off his bed, almost making me fall back from his vampire speed.
“You must have been imaging things Brianna,” Nathaniel said, but
his voice was shaky. “There is nothing like that around here.”
“Are you not telling me something Nathaniel?” I asked. “Like some-
thing that involves this freaky looking bird?”
“Brianna, I know nothing about what you have told me so why would
you ask me a crazy question like that?” he said, quickly making his way
into the bathroom.
That was enough to tell me something wasn’t right with Nathaniel.
He only went into the bathroom when something was wrong or when
he didn’t want to tell me something and that was where he was headed
now. I got up from his bed and started to walk very slowly but stopped.
“When why is your voice shaky and you are acting strange? You look
like you’ve seen the ghost Nathaniel and not me,” I asked following him
but had a door shut in my face.
“There is nothing going on Brianna. If there was, I would tell you, but
there isn’t so I don’t need to tell you a single thing,” he said, turning a
tap on.
I didn’t believe one word that came out of his mouth, but I didn’t
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feel like another fight so I didn’t press it anyone. I just turned on my
heel and walked out of the room and went into the living room. Why
didn’t he just tell me what this bird was about? Has it been here before?
Did Nathaniel know something about this crow that he didn’t want me
knowing? The third question defiantly had the answer of Nathaniel not
wanting me to know what was going on in it, but I couldn’t find an an-
swer for the other two.
I just couldn’t understand why Nathaniel didn’t want me knowing
anything. Did he really think I was going to interfere in what was hap-
pening or make things worse? I was deep in thought when he came into
the living room and walked over to where I was sitting on the couch.
“Can I help you?” I asked, looking up at him.
“Why didn’t you stay in my room?” Nathaniel asked, sitting down
next to me.
“Maybe because you walked into the bathroom and slammed the
door in my face before I could say any more?” I suggested.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked, not picking up on the
mood I was currently in.
“Oh wouldn’t you like to know,” I muttered, not giving anything way.
Nathaniel placed his hand behind my head, moving it so I had no
choice but to turn my head so I could look at him. He narrowed his eyes
so I did the same, playing his game with him and not against him.
“Why are you acting like this Brianna?”
“Maybe because I know for a fact that you aren’t telling me some-
thing Nathaniel Norwood and I think I have a right to know. Why the
hell did you freak when I told you about that bird? That is something I
should have done and not you. So explanation please?”
“I have nothing to explain to you Brianna, so can you just leave it at
that?”
“Well, I’m sure that if I asked Hudson or Brandon why you freaked
out with what I told you, they would tell me in a heartbeat what the hell
is going on with you,” I said, watching him cringe.
“They wouldn’t dare,” Nathaniel hissed.
“You want a bet Nathaniel? They have told me stuff about you before
and I’m sure nothing will stop them again when it comes to me Na-
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thaniel and now that Hudson’s hormones are playing up, it will be even
worse on your end once she finds out that you are keeping me in the
dark once again with something that might just happen to involve me.
There is no use saying in the future that is for my own protection when I
could as well could be dead from you keeping me in the dark,” I pointed
out.
“Well Hudson won’t be finding out about this Brianna because I for-
bid you from telling her anything anymore that involves her giving you
advice on anything. When something is happening or going on, you will
come to me and no one else anymore Brianna. Is that understood?” Na-
thaniel asked, making me cower into the couch from his hard stare.
Something snapped inside of me, making me sit upright and look at
Nathaniel the way he was looking at me. I narrowed my eyes and
crossed my arms, feeling my temper rise to the boiling point that Na-
thaniel only got it to.
“I refuse to do that Nathaniel. Why should I tell you everything when
something is wrong or happening when you don’t tell me a single thing
and I find out off someone else?” I asked.
“Because I have the right to know everything Brianna,” Nathaniel
said, infuriating me even more.
“While I don’t have the right to know?” I screeched.
“You don’t need to know anything about what is happening. You are
only a human who can’t defend herself when caught in danger so it is
better not to tell you anything so you won’t and can’t get involved in
what is going on in my life,” Nathaniel spat, before placing his hand over
his mouth, but it was too late.
I got up from where I was sitting and walked over to my jacket, put-
ting it on and storming out of the room, with Nathaniel right on my
heels, pleading for me to stay, but I didn’t say anything. I just wanted to
get out of this house before I said something that I would regret and I
had a few choice words on the tip of my tongue directed to Nathaniel.
“Brianna baby, where are you going? I didn’t mean to say that,” Na-
thaniel said, following me.
“I’m going for a walk and don’t you dare even think about following
me,” I said, yanking open the front door.
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Nathaniel quickly put his foot out to stop the door from slamming
and effectively stopping me from leaving at the same time. I looked at
him and raised my eyebrows, wanting him to explain.
“You aren’t leaving until we talk this through Brianna.”
“Just try and stop me Nathaniel. I don’t want to be here a second
longer and I sure as hell don’t want to say something that I will later re-
gret so just let me go and do what I want to do without you breathing
down my neck every second of the damn day.”
I watched Nathaniel as he moved his foot from the door way and let
me leave. I made my way into the ranges and walked along a path until I
was in some clearing. I sighed and walked over to a tree, leaning against
it and looking down at the ground, seeing blood on the ground. I quickly
looked at the tree and saw blood on the bark.
This must have been the tree I landed against when I took that tum-
ble. I sat down underneath it and pulled up the fabric of my leggings,
looking at the leg that took the brunt, seeing a faded scar along my leg
that reminded me of that night where I could have died.
“Well, isn’t this a sight to see? I thought that no one would be out
here,” a voice said, making me look up.
My blood ran cold when I saw who was standing at the start of the
clearing, making me get up from where I was sitting and hold onto the
tree. My blood was running cold and I felt my heart turn into stone to-
wards the person who was currently standing across from me.
“Hello Brianna. My, haven’t you changed over the years? You still
look like your mother and that is a scary thing. Don’t you have a hug for
your father?”
My worst nightmare had just become a reality and there was nothing
I could do to stop it from happening.
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