Page 9 of Blood Lovers (American Vampires #1)

Fuck the world.

“Run!”

The word is all my grandma has left. She slumps over, dead. And in this same moment I feel a shock go through me. Like an electric charge. Like… strength. And cold. My body turns to ice. And then I see something. Something blurry and teal. A head, maybe. Of some kind of animal. But then, suddenly, a cloud of purple drifts up—hiding the thing from my view. And everything turns into a cloud of inky violet.

I stumble backwards, bumping right into Zusi. Blinking, as I try to understand what just happened.

Zusi has me by the shoulders and she’s shaking me. Like she’s trying to force me out of a trance. “You heard her, Syrsee. Let’s go!”

Zusi is pulling me towards the door. But I’m reaching for my grandma. She gave me a gift. Her death did something to me. She transferred something to me. And now I can’t even ask her what it is or what it’s for. “Why didn’t I come visit her sooner?”

“It doesn’t matter anymore. It doesn’t matter. She’s gone, OK? And we have to leave. That fucking scion is in Breckenridge right now . He’s got a helicopter.”

“What? But that was—”

“Yesterday! Yes. I know. That’s what I’m saying. We need to leave right now and we’re gonna have to do something drastic to cover your scent.”

“Drastic?”

“Come on!”

She tugs me out the door and I have just enough time to look over my shoulder and whisper a soft, “Goodbye,” to the only blood relation I ever knew.

Zusi shoves me into the back of a black SUV, gets in next to me, and then leans into the front seat where Tristin is. “Drive!”

They take me to the Rifle Airport on the Western Slope of Colorado where a private jet is waiting. On board, I settle into my luxurious leather seat and let out a long breath.

No one says anything until we’re in the air. And then it’s just arguing.

I’m too tired. Too spent. Too ready to just give up.

What’s the point?

But Zusi and her partner, Tristin, are poring over maps on a tablet. I don’t bother asking where we’re going. None of this is up to me.

Then my grandmother’s words come back to me now. And the icy-cold electric jolt upon her death. The magic will be gone with me. You must learn to do it on your own .

What did she mean by that? And what was that jolt of power? Was it magic? Was it… something else? A spirit?

I would rather it be magic. I don’t like the idea of spirits. I never have. Vampires, scions, I don’t like them either, but they make sense to me. Spirits do not. Because if they’re not here, in this world, and they are there—or somewhere in between—then what is that other place? Where is it?

A part of me knows what it is. The same place I go when I dreamwalk. But if that’s a real place where spirits live, what am I doing there?

And even if I know what it is, I don’t know where it is. And every time I come back from a dreamwalk, I can’t help but wonder if the next time I will get stuck. If I will get trapped. And then I will be the spirit on the wrong side of the veil.

My grandma’s other warning comes back to me now too. He will come for you. He will get you. And he will make you offers, dear heart.

“Magnificent promises.”

“What?” Zusi and Tristin have paused their argument and are now looking at me from across the aisle.

“That’s what my grandma said. That the… that Paul will come to me and make offers.”

Zusi crinkles up her nose in an expression of disgust. “What are you talking about?”

“Nothing.” I sigh, suddenly feeling very tired. “Forget it. It’s just… she was rambling at the end.”

She was not rambling. She was warning me. But I don’t feel like explaining it. Not right now. The scion is close. Way too close. I just need to get far, far away from him and then I can think about all the things that actually happened tonight.

Run !

It makes sense. And it’s good advice.

So that’s what I do, only in the comfort of my leather chair on a private jet. I close my eyes and let my head fall back as I let out a long breath.

I’m just falling asleep when Zusi plops down in the seat next to me. “OK, I hope you’re ready for this. Because when I said something drastic, I really meant it.”

“Ohhhh, Zusi.” I moan this out. “Can’t it wait?”

She holds up a syringe, depressing the plunger just enough to make a little bit of liquid spurt out.

My eyes go big and instantly I’m awake. “What’s that for?”

“I told you. Drastic . He’s not just following your scent, Syrsee. He’s following your heartbeat.”

“What? Since when?”

“Since always,” Tristin says. “We’ve known about the heartbeat tracing for more than a hundred years. But they need the pattern before they can track it. Something changed tonight, Syrsee. Something big. Because he must have somehow acquired your heartbeat pattern. That’s the only way he could’ve found us so fast.”

“What?” I’m a little bit annoyed and it comes out in my tone. I direct this at Zusi.

She shrugs. “I wasn’t allowed to tell you about the heartbeat thing. It’s supposed to be a Guild secret.”

“We don’t think they know we know.” This comes from Tristin, sitting across the aisle at the table. “So we’ve got that on our side. But the moment they figure out that we’re untracking their tracking, they will cover their tracks better.”

“OK. But”—I point at the needle—“what’s this for again?”

“We have to kill you.” Zusi smiles and flashes her long eyelashes at me, looking very cute as she does this.

“ What ?”

“Zusi.” Tristin corrects her in a sharp tone. “Stop it. It’s not a joke.”

Zusi tsks her tongue. “Sor-ree. Jeez. Just trying to keep things light, friends.”

Tristin takes over. “We need to slow your heartbeat down, little by little, then stop it for three beats. Then restart it again. That way we can acquire a new pattern.”

“Oh, hell no, you’re not.” A little hysterical laugh escapes with these words. “No, no, no freaking way.” I look over at Zusi. “You’re not killing me.”

“We’re absolutely not.” Tristin is nodding his head up and down like he’s agreeing with me. “It’s just a trick while we put distance between us and them. I promise, it’s safe.”

“But—”

“There are no buts, Syrsee.” Now Zusi’s all serious. “This is the only way we can shake him. Tristin knows what he’s doing.”

“Which implies you don’t!” My voice is going shrill.

“Listen.” Tristin is all business now, but he’s always like that. “You don’t have a choice, Syrsee. That’s it. This is happening. You put everything and everyone at the Guild in danger when you insisted on going to see—” He’s about to say something disparaging about my grandma here, but he stops himself just in time. He pinches the bridge of his nose and takes a breath before resuming his lecture in a slightly softer tone. “You knew you could be caught and you went anyway.” He directs a glare over at Zusi. “And you helped her.”

“I said I was sorry. Calm the fuck down, Tristin. I’m handling this.” Zusi glares at him, then redirects her gaze to me and secretly sends me a please-please-please-do-this-for-me look. It comes with a I’ll-pay-you-back-doubles-later-promise look for good measure.

I huff, and squirm, and throw them both a nasty scowl. “Fine. Kill me then.”

“Dramatic.” Tristin snarls out this word.

But Zusi is already pushing the drugs into my arm.

When I wake up, I’m in a tent .

But as I look around, I realize this is one of those glamping tents. White canvas held up by wooden poles. Persian carpets on the sandy floor. Feather beds, and pillows, and through the flap in the front comes a sea breeze complete with seagulls and salt in the air.

I sit up to take it all in.

“Told ya I’d pay you back double.” I look over to my right and there sits Zusi, blowing on a freshly painted toenail. “Do I come through, or do I come through? How do you feel?”

“Like death.” And I sound like it too. “I need—”

“Right there.” She points to a tray with a glass bottle of water chilling in a silver bucket of ice.

I take the bottle, pop the cork, and guzzle the whole thing down. Once that’s done, I let out a long breath and look her in the eye. “OK. Fill me in.”

She does.

We’re on some island off the coast of some South American place. This is literally what she says and I can’t tell if she’s just being coy and doesn’t want me to know exactly where we are, or she just wasn’t paying attention when we got dropped off, and it’s the beach, so who cares. Because both of these options perfectly describe my cool-as-a-cucumber best friend.

“So, cool, right?”

“How long are we staying here?”

“Well, you really fucked things up with the grandma visit.” Zusi slides her pink sunglasses down her nose so she can look me in the eyes. “Tristin was pissed.” She says these words softly, hinting that he’s nearby. “But”—now she smiles big, putting on her trademark charm—“there is no point in being cute as a button, as I am, if you cannot use your gifts to procure yourself and your BFF”—she points to me—"a fantabulous beach vacay so the evil scion vampire won’t kill us all.” She says that last part in a mock-evil voice, then shrugs. “So. That’s what I did. We’re here for at least two weeks.”

I sigh, then smile. My head is kinda pounding, but I don’t even care. “Two weeks? So we’re free? He’s not coming?”

“We slipped him days ago.”

“ Days ? How long have I been asleep?”

“Technically, you were dead.”

“You said—”

“I lied. You were dead. We smuggled you into the country in a coffin.” She begins to giggle hysterically. “Oh, my God, Syr. Remind me to fill you in on all the antics Tristin and I—”

“Antics?” Tristin’s deep voice penetrates the canvas tent. “Those weren’t antics, Zusannah! They were fuck-ups!”

Zuse and I both put hands over our mouths so he can’t hear us laugh.

“Anyway.” She shrugs her shoulders up to her ears. “We’re here. And we’ve been ordered to pamper you and let you rest.” She picks up a cluster of grapes and dangles them near my face. “Would you like a peeled grape, princess?”

Then she lowers the cluster down and I pluck one off with my lips.

And I decide… yeah.

Fuck the world, ya know?

I didn’t ask for any of this. None of it. And I’m tired. Not just literally from whatever death magic the Guild just did on me—but spiritually too. And now that I’m out of that cabin and away from her rotting body, everything about my last visit with my grandma makes me feel gross instead of sad.

I’m done. The protection is over, the magic is gone, and I’ve been kicked out of the only home I’ve ever had and no matter what happens next, I’m gonna be lost and alone.

So fuck the world.

I’m gonna sit on a beach for two weeks. I’m gonna forget all about being a Black witch, and the vampire who wants to suck me dry, and that scion who’s hunting me.