The Certainty (Book Four in The Illusion of Certainty Series)

Ready To Eat

When I woke up, Michael was asleep next to me. I looked up at him, my head having rested on his chest. He was sound asleep and I was happy that at least one of us was. I slipped out of bed and headed downstairs. My head was swimming with the nightmare and the things my mind had locked away from me. After Raphael showed me those things in the dream, my mind had tucked them away from me, hiding the awful truth that would face me.

I went to the phone in the kitchen and picked up the cordless. I punched in the all too familiar numbers and…paused. My thumb wavered over the call button. Should I call him? I shouldn’t, I knew. Our ties were cut and there was no reason bringing them all back. I said my goodbye, he hadn’t. If he wanted to say goodbye he would’ve but I so desperately wanted to talk to him about my dream. Would he understand? If I explained it all to him, would my Aidan come back?

I hit the send button and pressed the phone to my ear. The phone dialed my pre-typed numbers and started to ring. The line was picked up on the third.

“Hello?”

I closed my eyes and rested my head against the fridge. He sounded tired, so, so tired. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

“Hello?”

I opened my mouth to say something but then I just hit the end button. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t risk it. It wasn’t time. I shouldn’t have called. I prayed Jon Winter invested in a blocked number but my luck was never that good. My hand automatically went to my throat and touched his mark on my neck. My mind whirled through what Michael had said before.

I came so close to being bonded to him. It made me shiver. I stood there over the phone for five minutes, until I decided he wouldn’t call back. I started to the patio doors when the phone rang. I should’ve known better. I had never been that lucky.

I picked up the phone, saw his number there on the caller ID and pressed the call button. I put the phone up to my ear but didn’t say anything.

“Hello?” he said again. “Who is this?”

I closed my eyes and my fingers wrapped around his charm.

“Look, prank calls at three in the morning are not funny.”

“I’m sorry,” I breathed before I hung up the phone.

I heard him call out my name before I pressed the button. The phone started ringing seconds after and I started to cry. I should never have called him. I pulled the phone line from the base and the phone cut off, the ring silenced. It was over, the whole thing. That’s what I needed to tell myself. There was no use in going over the past or what might happen. Things change all the time. Every choice we make determines our future. So I would never call him again, yes. Simple enough.

I went over to the patio door and pressed my hot face against the cool glass. I needed air. I reached over and unarmed the alarm system and stepped out onto the deck.

The whole place was dark and I felt a little surge of panic before I realized this wasn’t a bad darkness. This was just the beach at night. There were no security lights. I sat down at one of the tables and fished out the knife from my pocket. I started turning it over and over on the table top and almost missed the beep of the gate that lead up from the beach. I still didn’t look, even after the hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up. A Vampire was near and it wasn’t one I’d ever met.

I heard footfalls on the wood but remained focused on the knife. The person stopped the moment they saw me, but I still didn’t look. At that point I didn’t care if I died, just as long as the pain stopped and I wouldn’t have to say goodbye to Michael.