"Better you than him."
In one swift move, Lucian zipped from one side of the room to the other, shoving his fist through Anna"s chest and into her body.
"Witches are disposable. There are plenty of them. Do you know how hard it is to find a Heelian?" He tore her heart from her body.
"No!" I screamed. I tried to run to her but Eli stopped me with an arm around my waist, holding me close. I tried to push away, I needed to get to her.
"You can"t help her, Ruby. She"s gone."
Her body fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Her eyes didn"t close, they were open, staring at the floor. Lucian ran his tongue over her heart and cringed slightly.
"I never have enjoyed the taste of witch, they"re too ... acidy." He dropped her heart on the floor. Nausea radiated through my stomach and I became dizzy. There was so much blood. There was also a heart on the floor, an actual bleeding, pulsing heart. I closed my eyes in hope it would magically disappear.
"Open your eyes!" Lucian demanded.
I did as I was told.
"I want you to see what you did, what you always do. You cause nothing but death, and for as long as you"re alive, you will continue to cause death."
A tear rolled down my cheek as the reality of his words. .h.i.t me. It was true, people died around me.
"Liam will be your driver tonight, just to make sure you don"t try anything stupid. See you there."
A depressing silence fell over the room as everyone headed for the front door. I didn"t move. I felt like I should apologize to her, or at the very least, say goodbye, but I couldn"t. I couldn"t bring myself to go any closer. It was too much.
"It"s okay, Ruby. It isn"t your fault."
"It is," I sobbed. "I told Hunter. I trusted him and it backfired."
"He"s not the same person anymore. Use tonight as a lesson, no matter how nice a vampire is, no matter how many times they claim they still have their humanity, don"t trust them."
My lungs shuddered as I took deep sob-filled breaths. I couldn"t see now, tears blurred my vision. Eli stood beside me. He didn"t touch me, which I was thankful for. It was enough for him to just stand beside me. I cried a river, the tears flowed down my cheeks and didn"t stop until they hit the wilted collar of my shirt.
"She was so young," I whispered. I ran my fingers along her hair, caressing it gently.
"Get up. Let"s go," Liam ordered.
I stood up and rubbed my eyes. It was time to put my game face on. These monsters would pay for what they did to Hunter, Eli, Anna, and I. I might be able to control my anger now, but I couldn"t promise that I would later. If they hurt Mr Aleksandrov or any other guardian, I would make them suffer. I would kill them all, painfully and slowly. No one else will die because of me.
Road Trip.
There was no moon in the sky, everything seemed so dark. There were no shadows, only the light projected from the high beams in front of us. Liam drove fast, so fast it made me nauseous. He didn"t care for speed limits or his safety, nothing would kill him. If we crashed, he"d heal.
It was one of those quiet car rides after a particularly horrible argument. Hot flashes rolled through me after absorbing Mithras"s power to energize myself. Eli noticed how uncomfortable I was but all he could do was send me apologetic glances and cool bottled water. I couldn"t sleep, knowing there was a vampire in the car with me. I a.s.sumed Eli felt the same, he didn"t even blink for too long. He stroked his stake with his thumb, prepared for any situation.
As the hours wound down and it got closer to sunrise, Liam drove even faster. He was desperate to meet the others at the rundown service station, as they had planned. If he didn"t make it on time, he"d be incinerated by the sun. I"d do it myself, but I needed to get to Gerald Harbor and warn Mr Aleksandrov ... somehow.
As planned, we rolled into the abandoned service station an hour before dawn. Without a word, Liam climbed out of the car and Eli and I watched as he leaned up against a rotting wooden post.
"Where are the others?" I whispered.
"They"re here, waiting somewhere."
Sure enough, a dozen vampires appeared from the wild, neglected bushland. As Lucian stepped out, I could feel his eyes pierce right through the car and into my soul. He was still p.i.s.sed about Mithras and I couldn"t shake the feeling that maybe my punishment wasn"t over.
Lucian and Liam spoke momentarily and then Liam made his way back to our vehicle. He stalked around to Eli"s door and opened it.
"Here"s the address, put it in the GPS. We"re going to ground. If you don"t make it to Gerald Harbor by nightfall tomorrow, we will kill Ivan and all of the guardians. Is that clear?"
"Crystal," Eli growled.
Liam pushed on Eli"s chest so he was pressed against the seat. Liam"s eyes narrowed in on me.
"There"s girl who"s going to visit her aunty next week ... what"s her name?" Liam rubbed his chin with his finger. "Mila?" He noticed my heartbeat quicken. A wry smile spread across his face. "Yes, that"s it. If you mess this up, I will personally rip her heart from her body and force you to eat it."
He turned and disappeared into the forest with the rest of them. Once we were sitting comfortably in the front of the car and Eli had programmed the GPS with our destination, we sped off along the deserted highway.
As the sun peered over a distant mountain, Eli pulled the car over. Other trucks and cars zoomed past, making our car sway.
"What"s wrong?" I asked, suddenly panicked.
Eli rested his head on the steering wheel, breathing deeply. I"d never seen him so vulnerable. He seemed so stressed and worried.
"I just needed a breather. I have to regroup my thoughts and come up with a new plan."
"No, Eli, you heard him. If we try anything -"
"I"m not going to send my fellow guardians and Mr Aleksandrov into an ambush. I have to do something. If only you hadn"t -" He bit his tongue.
"I"m sorry," I whispered.
"We"ll discuss it later. For now, let"s just figure something else out."
"We could always call Mr Aleksandrov from a payphone."
"I"ve already thought about that. I don"t have his number. It was in my phone."
"I have it."
He turned his face towards me.
"It"s in my bag. Mila gave it to me. She thought we might have access to phones at Lucian"s."
"Perfect. We"ll call Ivan at the next service station. Which should be ..." He poked at the GPs screen.
"... two hundred kilometers away. If we stick to the speed limit, we can be there in about two hours."
He pulled back onto the highway and we drove steadily toward our destination. It had been three weeks since I was been alone with Eli inside his car. It seemed like an eternity ago.
The sun was higher in the sky now and I felt the urge to feel its warm rays on my skin. I pressed my window b.u.t.ton and it rolled down silently. The wind whipped my hair everywhere. Last night felt like a distant dream, but the negative vibes from it still lingered in the air.
"You haven"t expressed your anger with me," I said to Eli. "About the whole telling Hunter our plans thing." I kept my eyes fixated on the dry bushland that rushed pa.s.sed us. It would be harder for me to get through this conversation if I looked at him. "You can blame me, you know," I added.
"Blaming you is pointless. It won"t change anything. So our plan was compromised, big deal. We"ll find a new way to handle the situation." His voice was strange, like he was annoyed and holding back what he really wanted to say.
"That"s not what I want to hear,"
"What do you want to hear, then, Ruby?"
I glanced at him. His expression seemed indifferent but his voice gave him away. He was frustrated.
"You don"t have to tip-toe around my feelings. I"m not going to get mad and absorb too much sun and explode. I"m half Heelian, so I probably couldn"t even if I wanted to. Besides, I can control it. So tell me, yell at me, chastise me ... do something, because this whole cool and calm demeanor you"re putting on is worse than anything you could possibly say to me."
He scratched the shadow of stubble on his face and exhaled.
"I"m just -" He paused and exhaled again. "I"m disappointed that you took something I told you in confidence and told another guy, who happens to be a vampire, and sides with our enemies. I knew you cared for Hunter, I did. I just didn"t know you cared about him more than me, more than our lives."
"Eli." I placed my hand on his shoulder and squeezed slightly. "I care about you more than I"ve cared about anyone in my entire life. It has always been you, it will always be you."
"Sometimes it takes a little more than words to prove it."
I crossed my arms across my chest. "I gave you more than words yesterday."
A slight smile hinted at his lips. Then he ran his index finger over his bottom lip.
He didn"t comment any further on the subject and neither did I. I understood his feelings about me betraying his trust and telling Hunter. What I didn"t understand was the whole "more than words" thing. I was willing to give him all of me ... Wasn"t that enough?
"When all of this is over and before we go any further, I want to make sure we"re both on the same page."
"And what does that mean?" I spat with att.i.tude.
"It means we should make sure our wants, needs, feelings, etcetera, are on the same level."
I turned my stare back onto the dull trees. Was I the only one that thought our feelings were on the same page? I recalled telling Eli I loved him yesterday. He didn"t say it back and I didn"t expect him to, but now I was starting to think that was because he didn"t love me.
A bright red, orange, and green service station became visible about fifty meters down the road. I exited the car after we parked and pulled my address book out of my bag. I scrolled through the pages, trying to locate Mila"s name sprawled somewhere amongst the bad handwriting. It was only Mr Aleksandrov"s home number, but if someone answered, then maybe they could forward us to his cell phone.
There, written in blue, was Mila"s name. I tore the page from my book and handed it to Eli.
"Here." d.a.m.n. I thought I"d be able to keep the att.i.tude from my voice. He took the paper from my hand.
"You"re mad? You were the one who wanted to know what I was holding back."
"I know, but I thought that it would be about being impulsive and stupid. I didn"t think it was because you don"t have the same feelings for me as I do for you."
"What? How did you get that out of what I said?"
I looked down at my feet. "You didn"t say I love you back yesterday, which, by the way, I"m totally fine with. But then you said you wanted to make sure we"re on the same page ... I a.s.sumed you meant -"
My words were cut off as Eli grasped the sides of my face, pushing his warm, full lips onto mine.
"I love you, too," he whispered as our lips parted.
I stood there in shock for a moment, his statement catching me off guard. A smile that felt too wide for my face spread across it. "You"re going to need more than words to prove it," I said frankly, trying to play it cool.
His strong arms wrapped themselves around me, holding me as close as possible while he bent his face toward mine, kissing me gently.
"This," he began, planting a small kiss on the tip of my nose. "Doesn"t change what I said about Hunter. You need to decide where your loyalties lie."
"I know. I just feel responsible for what happened to him."
"You didn"t force him to fall in love with you nor did you make him come after you the night we were leaving. These were all his decisions. It was also his decision to tell Lucian about our plans. He chose to betray your trust. Not to mention that he almost bit you, he isn"t the same anymore."
Unable to find a response, I nodded.
"Think things through. When this is all over, we"ll talk. I"m going to make the call."
I sat in the car, twirling a dark lock of hair around my fingers. If I made it out of this alive, the first thing I was going to do was get my hair trimmed. I"ve got so many split ends. I jumped slightly as the driver door opened and Eli climbed in.
"Here, I got you some breakfast."
He handed me a bacon and egg roll and an orange juice. I was too nauseous to eat but I took it anyway. I didn"t want to come off as rude.
"Did you get a hold of Mr Aleksandrov?"
He nodded as he took a bite of his breakfast roll. He swallowed. "They"re still coming."
My stomach dropped into my shoes. "What? No, they can"t. Are they insane?"
"They"re confident they can take all of the vampires."
"But Lucian is coming with twenty vampires and we don"t know how many vampires the leader of the Gerald Harbor sector has ..."
"Mr Aleksandrov is coming, Ruby. I tried to change his mind, but he won"t budge. The plan is going forward. There"s nothing we can do."
I slumped further into my chair. If anything bad happened to Mr Aleksandrov, then I"d lose Mila. She"d blame me for it.
"Do you know what you have to do?" Eli asked, interrupting my stream of consciousness.
"Yes."
"Tell me. I need to know that you understand exactly what to do."
Eli was worried about me. If I messed up, what I was supposed to do then? There was no doubt the Gerald Harbor vampires would kill me. "I"ll enter the warehouse and use my powers to kill as many of the vampires as I can. Sounds simple."