Page 17 of Valley of the Shadow
Her life had boiled down to the barest essentials.
There was no school. No work. No plans.
There were only the people she loved who had come around her, and the precious hours of human life slipping away. If being sick weren’t forcing her to sleep every day, she’d skip sleep altogether. Another hour gone. Another minute ticked by.
Her eyes were closed, and the sun warmed her cheeks. She could feel Dez playing with her hair, braiding the ends, spreading the warm red across the grass.
Natalie’s eyes fluttered open. “How long?”
Dez looked at her watch. “Maybe twenty minutes?”
Twenty minutes of sunlight gone.
“What do you want to do?” Dez asked. “We’re deciding cellulite is sexy and desirable, so let’s focus on what you want to do before… you know.”
“Before Lucien drains my blood and makes me drink his and I turn into a ferocious creature of the night?”
Dez patted her head. “It’s so cute how you think you’re going to be ferocious.”
“Iamgoing to be ferocious.” Natalie snapped her teeth. “For real, I’ll be totally ferocious. A complete badass.”
“Right.” Dez muttered, “At least we won’t have to worry about you running into traffic anymore.”
“I only did that because Councilman Vargas was dodging the question! He’s the one who crossed the street. I just followed him.”
“Into traffic, Natalie!”
She shrugged. “No one hit me. I knew what I was doing. And if that damn cameraman hadn’t been there for channel 2o, none of you would have even known it happened.”
“But he was, and we did.”
She wouldn’t be able to work like she had before. You couldn’t be an investigative reporter for a major newspaper if you couldn’t go anywhere during the day.
“What do I want to do?” She had to distract herself. “Other than lose that ten pounds?”
“I mean…” Dez got out her phone. “I can try to find some Wi-Fi and look online to see what part of your body you can cut off if you want to streamline, but yeah, I’m thinking other than weight loss. One, it’s super not important, and your ass is already enviable. Also, probably not feasible in a week. Whatimportant thingsdo you want to do before you turn into a vampire?”
Natalie sat up. “Like… a bucket list?”
“Kinda. You’re not dying. That’s the point. But your human body iskindadying? So yeah. Kind of a Nat-being-human bucket list.”
Natalie watched the kids playing in the river. “Spend time in the sun with the kids as much as possible.”
“Done. Good one.” Dez got out the small notebook she always kept in her purse. “Okay, what else?”
“Are you writing this down?”
“Yes.” She scribbled something and held it out so Natalie could see. On the paper, she’d written:Nat’s Super-Awesome and Amazing Bucket O’ Blood List.
Natalie laughed. “I like the little vampire flourish there.”
Dez waved her hand. “Come on. What else, future badass?”
“Uh…” She took a deep breath. “What can vampires not do?”
“Sun is the obvious one.”
“Oh!” Natalie’s eyes lit up. “I want a tattoo!”
