Page 44 of The Curse of Eternity
“So are you. Kind of.” Damn it, this was why I never tried to be smooth. Drake’s chuckle sounded indulgent, and in a blink, he was standing. When his pale white hand extended to me, I didn’t hesitate this time to place mine in his strong grip.
“We must continue to flee. Once the immor—ah, the vampires have satiated themselves, they will summon Ezra to scry for me.”
“Yeah.” I was about to stand, but my legs wobbled. That’s right, there’d been other people in that manor.Innocentpeople who were going to be used and discarded like candy wrappers encasing sweets. I’d left them all behind in my selfish escape. “All those people…”
Reclined on my heels while I knelt, my arms felt like dead weight when Drake pulled on my hand to help me up. When I didn’t budge, he crouched down to my eye-level, but my gaze was glued to the sodden earth. Something inside me fractured, snapping in half to let out a flood. Tears stung the backs of my eyes, but I wouldn’t let them fall. A sniffle or two was unavoidable.
“Look at me,” Drake said, quiet enough that I wouldn’t have heard him if we weren’t inches apart. Cold fingertips touchedthe curve of my jaw, and I didn’t resist when he turned my head just enough to meet his gaze. There was no pity in his stare, only grim understanding. Just how much had he witnessed in over two hundred years? “You are no less for prioritizing your survival over those of others. Factually, I would wager that, had you stayed, they all would have still perished. The only difference is that you would have died alongside them.”
“Maybe I deserve to,” I whispered, the words out before I could filter them into something less crazy-sounding. Because I didn’t want to die. I just wanted the agony to end.
“Never,” he said, so strong and sure of himself that it cracked the exterior I tried to maintain. A tear slipped through my defenses, but before I could wipe it away, Drake’s thumb traced the track of saltwater running down my cheek. Close as we were, I could see every dark vein hiding just beneath the thin surface of his skin. Could taste the needless breath he’d exhaled with that one word, but then he leaned away.
Like he’d broken a spell, I blinked fast and inhaled deeply to calm down. The pressure clamped around my heart eased a fraction, and I squeezed his hand in mine as he helped me up. My knees shook, but I managed to stand on my own two feet as he released my hand. The absence of his palm against mine felt wrong, but I focused my attention on the birds chirping in the trees, invisible except for their cheery notes.
On silent steps, Drake bent toward the roots of a tall elm nearby.
“These are yours,” he said, offering my boots with the laces still tied together.
“Thank you,” I said, and secretly hoped his fingers would brush against mine when I took them. They did, and my throat tightened when his touch didn’t linger. “For everything.”
“I will accept your gratitude when you are finally safe.” His gaze scanned the woods around us, and a pang shot through myshivering chest. How had I ever mistaken him for being the same as those bloodsucking monsters?
Unaware of me sneaking glances at him, Drake waited until I shoved my throbbing feet into my boots before starting off on the unmarked path ahead. My fingers still felt tingly and useless with cold as I strode after him, the soles of my boots crunching over the dried leaves littering the ground.
“Where are we heading?” I asked, shivering.
“There is a freeway, or perhaps it is the turnpike ahead. I cannot place our exact location with how far we were swept downstream.” Drake slowed his strides when my breathing grew ragged. Damn vampire had all the advantages when it came to physical stamina.Must be nice, not having to sleep or feel tired. Then my nose scrunched at the idea of having a desire for blood. I’d rather stick to my naps and calorie-consumption.
“Are we hitchhiking?” I asked, cursing everything when my quads protested on our hike uphill. What was with this state and having so many hills? While missing the flat expanse of home, another ache twined around my still-beating heart. Would I ever be able to see my family again? Was it even safe to contact them? Just how much wasIwilling to sacrifice to make sure Drake would be alright?
“In a manner of speaking,” he answered, jarring me from the direction my thoughts had gone.
The thrum of passing traffic interrupted the soft buzzing and croaking of wildlife waking up around us. At the crest of the slope, a breeze pushed against my sticky face. A barrier separated where we stood at the perimeter of the woods from the two-lane road. Biting air filled my lungs when a coupe similar to Andrew’s Plymouth Sundance barreled past, going well over the speed limit.
I turned for Drake, only to find him in the shade of a tree that mostly hid him from sunlight. Glimpses of his true face wererevealed with each shake of the upper branches in the rough wind. His eyes flickered between bloodshot and clear while his gaze focused on the road with an eerie intensity. I shook off a shiver and followed his line of sight to spot a big Chevy Colorado turning the corner of the pot-hole heavy road.
A man sat behind the steering wheel, his expression changing from surprise, probably at seeing me on the roadside in a ruined party dress and with hair resembling a rat’s nest, to slackened nothing. Like when people fell asleep, and all of their features relaxed. Except the driver managed to turn the wheel and smoothly hit the brake, flicking on the indicator to park on the shoulder of the highway before the hazards began flashing.
My mouth popped open as I glanced back at Drake while he smoothly stepped over the barrier. An uncertain smile pulled at the corners of his mouth as he turned to me.
“Your carriage awaits,” he declared, and I huffed out a humorless laugh.Sure, why not?
“Couldn’t we have just asked someone to give us a ride?” I needled, climbing over the partition to join Drake at the truck’s front passenger door, which he opened for me.
“Even if someone would stop for us, the nicety is not worth the risk. People often gossip to one another about unusual occurrences—such as picking up two strangers on the side of the freeway—and the Cneaz has many…influential means of gathering information.”
Nobody passing us on the road gave us a second glance, and I frowned. Back home, anyone parked with their hazards would have garnered some rubbernecking if not outright assistance.Northern attitudes must mimic the awful weather.Sighing, I looked inside the warm truck.
The man seated behind the wheel was getting out, but his weathered face struck a chord of familiarity before I could quash it. Short salt-and-pepper hair matched a beard nearly reachingthe man’s collar, just like Johann’s. The stranger settled into the backseat, his expression dazed and soft green eyes glazed, like he was moving in a dream.
My heart ached while I settled myself into the warm leather seat before Drake closed the door for me. He slid into the driver’s side faster than I could buckle myself in. As Drake put the shifter in gear, I directed the air vents my way and then rested my elbow on the door panel before propping my chin on my palm. Guilt squirmed in my stomach, but I refused to glance into the backseat at the truck’s owner.
Everything hurt, down to my freezing toes, but my body quickly thawed on our drive into the unknown.
− 15 −
A Heavy Heart
