Venom (The Reawakening Series Book 1) (8 page)

She looks indecisive at first. “I think I should go home,” she says.

He nods and gives me a warning look before he gets in the car and leaves.

I go in the house and, having nothing else to do, I grab one of those disgusting blood bags. I turn the xbox on and start to play some zombie game that Harvey left lying around. A good hour or so passes before Harvey comes back.

I hear the door open and without looking back, I ask, “so, did you decide to keep that one to yourself?”

He hesitates. “You did, didn’t you? I can smell her on you. You know, it’s not fair that I do the hard work and you keep the reward.”

“
Shut up, Nicholas. And turn off the game. We need to talk.”

“
No, we don’t.”

“
Ugh,” he growls. “Look, I had a long day, and night, but we are talking tomorrow whether you want to or not.”

“
Sure thing, father.”

I hear him growl once more before he goes to his room.

I end up playing for the rest of the night, afraid of going to sleep and having those dreams again. Right now, I would give anything to go back to how I used to be… without the blood angel that makes my existence hell.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

I can already see daylight through the curtains when I hear Harvey come down the stairs.

I keep playing the game.

“
I need to have a word with you, Nicholas.”

I roll my eyes. “Sure. Make it quick.”

He walks toward me and takes the controller away from my hand.

“
Look at me when I talk to you!” he growls.

“
Yes, sir!” I say sarcastically. “What is it, Harvey?”

“
You need to find something to do instead of feeling sorry for yourself all the time.”

“
I don’t feel sorry for myself. And I’m trying to do something right now, but you are interrupting me with the therapy talk.”

“
I just don’t want you to go back to how you were. And find a way to be supportive of your sister. Get involved in what she is doing.”

“
She seems to be doing fine on her own. She has her own life. I mean, where is she now?”

“
I called her and said it was okay for her to go to school.”

“
There you go. She doesn’t need me, which means that I gave up the only person who ever meant anything to me for no reason.”

His hand moves to my neck and he pushes me back until I’m standing against the wall. He presses harder and harder against my neck and I let him.

“
Don’t you ever blame the kid for your stupid decision. Leaving Lexi was your choice. You could have her right here, right now, but you decided on your own that leaving her would be for her own good and not only that, you handed her off to her ex. That, Nicholas, is all on you. So get your shit together and be the brother that Sarah needs you to be. This is all new to her and I’m sure she is scared. She needs you.”

“
Fine. But I need to feed first.”

He lets go of my neck. “Grrr. Just go feed. And don’t do anything stupid.”

“
Yes, father!” I give him a smirk and he shakes his head. Harvey is not much older than me. He was in his late twenties when he was turned, but he acts much older. He turns around and goes to another room and I go to the table where he always leaves the key fob to his Aston Martin. In a blur of movements, he is back and trying to take the key fob from me.

“
I don’t think so,” he says as he yanks the key fob off my hands.

“
Come on, man.”

“
You’re not driving my car. Take your own.”

I look over at my old Camaro sitting outside, knowing that every time I get in it, brings back memories of her.

“
Damn it, Nicholas. You need to see a therapist or something. And sell the damn car. You need to do whatever it takes to get over her.”

“
Driving your car would help,” I say.

I can tell he is frustrated but it’s a sweet car and worth dealing with his bad mood later. He throws the fob toward me. “Fine. If anything happens to it, you are paying.”

“
Yes, fath—” He gives me a warning look. “Thanks, Harvey.”

“
Uh-huh.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

SARAH

By the time I get up, there is a summer dress on the bed along with an unopened toothbrush. Ally is gone, so I get dressed and before I get out of the room, I get a text from Harvey saying that everything seems okay and I should go to school.

I stop by the bathroom to brush my teeth and hair. When I open the door, I run into Ian.

“
Good morning,” he says.

“
Good morning.”

“
Am I taking you home or to school?”

“
School, I guess.”

“
Are you ready?”

I nod and follow him out of the house.

He rushes in front of me and opens the passenger side door of his truck. I climb in and he goes around.

We end up stopping at a fast food place on the way to school.

“
What would you like?” he asks.

“
Just an orange juice,” I grab my bag to get money, but he stops me.

“
It’s on me,” he gives me a crooked smile.

Neither one of us say anything on the short drive to school. Minutes later, after he has parked the truck, I can’t seem to move. I sit there, staring at the school. Near the front door, I see Megan talking to Cassie. I can’t say that I’m surprised. Everyone told me they pretty much leave each other alone, but right now, they have something in common. They both hate me.

“
Are you okay?” he asks.

I nod.

“
You’re shaking.”

I shiver. “I don’t think I can go in.”

I don’t have to say anything else.

“
I don’t either. Let’s get out of here.” He starts the truck and drives off.

He drives for a while and I don’t ask where we are going. After a while, he parks the truck in the middle of a field.

“
Where are we?”

He shrugs. “Just a place I like to come to think.”

We stay in the truck, listening to his music. After a while, I lean my head back, close my eyes, and just try to relax. I can feel him watching me though.

I open my eyes and he looks away. With the uncomfortable silence, I say the first thing that comes to mind. “Your sister said I should stay away from you.”

“
Did she now?” he laughs.

“
What’s funny?”

“
I don’t know. I guess that she is the one trying to protect me when she needs protection.”

He sighs and something about his tone is tense when he speaks again.

“
I thought of a way to help you,” he says.

“
What is it?”

“
We could pretend that we are dating. They should back-off then.”

“
But, what about Megan? Besides, your sister—and my brothers—”

“
Megan and I were over before we even started. I will handle things with her. What is the problem with my sister and your brothers?”

“
They are going to kill us.”

He laughs. “I’ll take my chances.”

“
I can’t accept this.”

“
Please,” he begs.

“
Why do you want to do this?”

He looks away. “I feel responsible for not being there to protect my sister before. Maybe helping you—maybe it will be a way to make up for that. I just need to do this.”

Every instinct I have is to refuse, but the pleading look in his green eyes… I can’t say no.

He gives me a crooked smile when I agree to this crazy plan. “Come with me,” he says as he opens the door to the truck. He jumps out and walks toward the front of the truck, and I follow him.

“
I come here at least once a week.”

“
What for?” I ask.

He smiles. “For that,” he says as he points to the side.

From the distance, I see a fence and on the other side of the fence, there is a horse.

I freeze in place. It’s been so long since I got caught in my memories, but my mind takes me straight back to London, at least a century back, and to memories of a caretaker who was pure evil. At the time, I was frozen at the age of nine. I had a horse back then. It was my caretaker’s, but I cared for it and I got attached. After all, that was the only interaction I had with a living being. One week, she had one of her episodes where she went insane. The blood of a vampire child is so pure that it does things to other vampires, so her insanity always got out of control once she had my blood. That night, she decided that my blood was tainted because of what I was eating. She told me I would be on a new diet from that point on. Right before dawn, I was looking for mine—her horse, and I found it dead and drained of blood. That was the first and last time I tried to run away from her. She kept me locked up after that.

Ian’s voice brings me back to reality. “Are you afraid of horses?” he asks.

I fight back the tears. “I—It’s a long story. I’d rather not talk about it.”

I stare at the horse from a distance, until I feel Ian’s fingers graze against my wrist and down to my hand. He intertwines his fingers in mine. I look down at my hand in his and realize the calming effect that he has on me. For a split second, I forget my past, and for the first time in centuries, I feel hope that there is something out there that could help me get over what happened to me.

“
Trust me,” he says as we walk toward the fence.

I keep my eyes on the grass as we walk. Every once in a while, I nervously glance at his hand holding mine.

Once we get to the fence, he let’s go of my hand and yanks the gate open.

“
That is Stormy,” he says, pointing at the brown horse. “Come on,” he waves me on and I follow him.

I stop a few feet away from Stormy.

Ian looks back at me. “Come on. He is calm. Just put your palm under his mouth and let him sniff you.”

I nervously approach him and do as he says.

“
Good. Now gently stroke his neck, and try to relax.”

I close my eyes as I stroke his neck. I try to block memories of my past away, but I can’t. My mind floods with images of sticky blood around my horses’ neck. I drop my hands down and take a few steps back.

Ian smiles at me. He seems happy that I got this far. He pets Stormy and then walks back toward me.

“
We should probably get back,” he says.

I nod and follow him back toward the truck. About half way there, he gets closer and reaches for my hand once again.

I’m left wondering what all of this means. It doesn’t matter how many reality TV shows I watched in order to adapt to this world… to him, something simple like holding hands may be part of pretending, but to me, it means much more.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

HARVEY

“
I got a text from Sarah. She is getting a ride home from school,” I tell Nicholas who is standing by the window, staring outside.

“
Funny,” he says. “The school called to say that she wasn’t there today.”

Harvey shakes his head. “I’m sure she’s been stressed. Maybe she needed time alone. Just let her explain before you go all psycho vamp.”

He ignores me and keeps looking outside.

“
What exactly are you waiting for?” I ask.

“
I want to see who drops her off.”

I end up sitting on the couch while he waits… and waits…

“
She is walking toward the house,” he says, without looking away.

Once I hear the key in the door, he turns around and faces that direction.

“
Hey. Sorry I’m late. I was asking my teacher a—”

Nicholas doesn’t even let her finish. “Really, Sarah? You’re going to lie to not one, but two vampires who not only can tell that you are lying, but also that you smell like you’ve been around a guy.”

“
There are a lot of guys at school, Nicholas.”

He tilts his head to the side. “Don’t do the sarcastic, smartass thing with me. That is not you… I practically invented sarcasm. I would know.”

I shake my head. “The school called. They said you didn’t show up today.”

“
Oh.”

“
Yeah… oh!” says Nicholas, mocking her shaky tone. “So were there a lot of guys wherever you ended up today too?”