Page 44 of Dance of the Phoenix

So I trained until I was out of breath and my clothes soaked with sweat. I trained until I was on the verge of passing out from pure exhaustion. All so I wouldn’t have to think about her. About the woman who’d ruined me physically and emotionally.

That day, there was only one difference. My parents wanted to take me to dinner outside town at my favorite restaurant.

I’d been stonewalling them for weeks, refusing to leave my room when I was home and only giving them half answers when they asked me questions. I put distance between me and everyone around me, not just my parents; my friends, too, received the cold shoulder.

And the night before, I heard my mother cry. She hardly ever cried, and yet in the last few months, she’d cried more than I’d ever seen in my entire lifetime.

All because of Aileen.

So that morning, when she all but begged me to be available for dinner, I wasn’t heartless enough to say no.

When I got into my father’s car that evening, Mom turned to me from the passenger seat and smiled. “How was practice, sweetheart?”

Her smile did not hide her bloodshot eyes, however.

Swallowing my guilt, I replied with a shaky smile of my own. “It was okay.”

She grabbed my hand and turned back to face the road, squeezing my palm so tight, I was afraid the blood flow would stop.

Dad cleared his throat before he asked, “Did you practice with Jace and Hamilton?”

My heart ached at the question. Because it just blatantly showed me how distant I’d grown from my parents ever since Aileen waltzed into my life. But I didn’t want to remind him of that, so I lied with a simple “Yes,” even though it had been years since my relationships with Jace and Hamilton fell apart.

A moment after the lie left my mouth, Mom let out a sudden piercing scream, and before I could comprehend what was happening, a bus crashed into the front of the car, shooting it off the road.

The next thing I knew, I was in a burning car, upside down, with the seat belt suspending me from the car’s roof. In the front, I saw my parents in similar positions.

Only, unlike me, their eyes were closed, their bodies still.

Terror hit me then as I fumbled with the seat belt until I clicked it open. I wriggled out of the belt and hit the ground, when I saw a pool of blood that had to be mine soaking my clothes. But I was too numb with shock to feel anything. All I could see were my parents.

“Mom,” I murmured, trying to crawl toward her and failing when I realized my legs did not obey my orders. Trembling, I tried to reach her and Dad, to help them, to get them out of there ...

The door of the car was torn open just then.

Sure, I was hallucinating. All I could do was stare as a tall, muscular woman threw the tin aside as if it weighed nothing. Next to her, a pretty woman with long auburn hair and green eyes walked toward me, her eyes fixed on mine.

She crouched before me, her hand gently pushing my hair away. “Neisha,” she said, and the muscular woman reappeared next to her. “Call our Lord.”

The muscular woman, Neisha, looked at the redhead with wide eyes but walked away.

The redhead gave me a soft, sad look. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so, so sorry for your loss.”

My consciousness was quite foggy by then, so I could barely keep my eyes open. The last thing I remembered was her soft, gentle touch, soothing me, as I slowly succumbed to the inevitable darkness.

The next time I opened my eyes, I was already a vampire.

Part IV

Chapter 20

Ragnor

He’d given her time. More time than he would’ve given anyone else.

But when Aileen refused yet again to tell him about the nature of her relationship with Logan Kazar, Ragnor was through.

If she didn’t want to give him answers, then he’d seek them out on his own.