REAPING INNOCENCE ◦ STILINSKI [3]

xiii.

xiii. IT'S ALL OVER

○ ○ ○

RAEVEN FELT HER fear before she heard her screams.

    Carter's nightmare pulsed into her, shaking her out of her own dream, which had had something to do with a beach and some hot guy rubbing suntan oil on her. Images—hers, not Raeven's—tumbled through her mind: fire and blood, the smell of smoke, the twisted bodies. The pictures wrapped around her, suffocating her, until some rational part of her brain reminded her that this wasn't her dream.

    She woke up, strands of long, dark hair sticking to her forehead.

    Carter lay in her bed, thrashing and screaming. She bolted out of her own bed, quickly crossing the few feet that separated the doppelgängers.

    "Caterina," She said, shaking her. "Car, wake up."

    Her screams dropped off, replaced by soft whimpers. "I killed them," she moaned. "Oh God."

    Raeven helped her sit up. "Car, you aren't there anymore. Wake up."

    After a few moments, her eyes fluttered open, and in the dim lighting, Raeven could see a flicker of consciousness start to take over. Her frantic breathing slowed, and she leaned into her, resting her head against her shoulder. Raeven put an arm around her and ran a hand over her hair.

    "It's okay," Raeven told her gently. "Everything's all right."

    "I had that dream."

    "I know."

Carter swallowed thickly, "I also saw him."

"Who did you see in your dream, Car?"

"The boy with the ebony hair and bright green eyes. He carries a bow and arrow, like Allison."

    They sat like that for several minutes, not saying anything else. When she felt Carter's emotions calm down, she leaned over to the nightstand between their beds and turned on the lamp. It glowed dimly, but neither of them really needed much to see by.

    "When did we last do a feeding?" Carter asked, studying her face. Her tan skin was unusually pale. Dark circles hung under her eyes, and there was an air of frailty about her. The past week had been hectic, and she couldn't remember the last time she'd given Raeven blood. "It's been like...more than five days, hasn't it? Six? Why didn't you say anything?"

    Raeven shrugged and wouldn't meet her eyes. "I didn't want to—"   

    "Screw that," Carter said, shifting into a better position. No wonder she seemed so weak. "Come on. Let's do this."

    "Carter—"

    "Come on. It'll make you feel better and you know it."

    She tilted her head and tossed her hair back, baring her neck. She saw Raeven hesitate, but the sight of Carter's neck and what it offered proved too powerful. A hungry expression crossed her face, and her lips parted slightly, exposing the fangs she normally kept hidden while living among humans. Those fangs contrasted oddly with the rest of her features. With her pretty face and ebony locks, she looked more like a foreign princess than a blood drinking Mediable.