Page 28 of Love Bleeds

Chapter Ten

Iwould never understand how someone could get bored in a place with so many books around, but my brother managed. He was half-dozing when I told him that I was going to use the rest room. I almost felt kind of bad for ditching him.

Telling myself that I'd make it up to him eventually, I paid my driver and got out of the car at the gates to the family manor.

The place looked exactly the way it had the day before.

With one exception.

There was someone sitting on the steps leading up to the front door.

It was too dark for me make out who it was, let alone if it was a regular person or a vampire, but nevertheless, alarm bells went off in the back of my head.Danger, danger,they cried.Collision imminent.

I should have turned around at this point. I should have called the driver back and let him take me to safety. I should have called any of my siblings.

I should have called Collin, because apparently, I owed him an apology. He wasn't the only one making irrational decisions.

Of course, I did neither of those things.

Because the shape of the person sitting there seemed familiar. Heart-wrenchingly familiar. So much so that for a second or two, I forgot everything I'd ever learned about vampires, right down to the fact that they existed at all.

I walked up the path to the house, my steps becoming faster and faster until I could make out the person on the steps, and then my feet stopped as if I'd slammed into an invisible wall. Before me, a mere ten feet away, sat my best friend.

And it was as if he couldn't see me at all.

A million thoughts shot through my brain all at once, whooshing past at light speed. Too fast for me to hold on to a single one.

Aldrich hadn't been wrong. Damian wasn't dead. He was kind of dead. He was undead. He was back. He looked pale. He was a vampire. I had done this to him.

I had done this to him.

All other thoughts ceased as my mind stuttered to a halt on that one, repeating it on a loop.

Damian hadn't died for me.

He'd become...this.

For me.

Becauseof me.

And now I was hiding from him, aided by the magic of some artifact that my dad had uncovered to keep our family safe, to keep me safe. How was that fair?

In what world did I need to be kept safe from Damian?

I took another step forward. My foot felt like lead when I first lifted it, my whole body almost frozen in place. When I set it down again, though, I found it easy to take another step, and then another one. If I didn't think about it, if I just moved, my body knew exactly what it needed to do, where I needed to be.

With my friend, who must have gone through so much horror because of me.

How could I hide behind magic while he...

While he...

Thoughts failed me as Damian looked up.

Our eyes met.

It was too late for me to turn back now.