When we walked out of the school, I noticed that the screams had nearly stopped. There were a few vampires who were, still, enjoying their meal. A tall, dark figure was standing among them. Unmoved, above a dead body that was laying on the concrete floor. I took a step forward, trying to figure what was happening. But I stood still, when the man turned his head and looked at me from over his stiffened shoulder.
The moonlight was touching his glowing skin as he was glaring at me through droopy eyes. I slowly walked over him, prepared for a sudden attack, but that never came. He let me place a hand on his shoulder and squeeze it. My gaze travelled from his to the lifeless body in front of us. I wasn't going to feel sorry for him. He deserved what he had gotten. He shouldn't had done this to us. He could had had a better ending. Not that night. Certainly, not like that.
"It's over." I murmured. I was surprised I could still make out a word.
I noticed Dante shutting his glossy eyes and looking away from Max's body. "Not yet."
My mouth sat agape for a moment. I hesitated. I knew it wouldn't change a single thing, but I would be unfair to choose not to tell him. He should know.
"When I was in Max's car," I shrugged. "Just before to hypnotize me, he told me he loved you. He wanted you to know that. At least, that."
I heard Dante's teeth clenching and unclenching together. I heard his knuckles break as he squeezed his fists. I, even, wondered if it was possible for me to see the smoke that, I assumed, was coming out of his ears at that moment.
"Don't lie to me, Sofia." He gritted out.
My hand, automatically, left his green t-shirt and fell to my side. He didn't believe me. Of course, he didn't. Why would he? I had almost forgotten that there were lots of people in the pack who didn't like me, or trust me.
He sucked in a quick breath as he returned his gaze to Max's laying form. He quickly looked away. "Max is dead. We are in a middle of a war, so there will be lots of deaths. We get over it and move on. Not big of a deal."
"Don't you feel sorry?" I grabbed his arm when he was ready to end this conversation and leave to go find the others. The wolves were gone, just like most of the vampires. That should mean something.
"Why should I feel sorry?" He prompted.
"You loved him, Dante. And he was in love with you! He made big mistakes, sure. I get it. He kidnapped me. But, I don't believe he-"
"Excuse me, are you defending him?" He pinned me with a scowl that caused me to take a step backward.
"No, i- I'm not defending him!" He blew out a quiet laugh. "I'm just saying that-"
He interrupted me again, not letting me to speak my thoughts. "He made big mistakes." He repeated my words. "Yeah, he did. That's exactly why I killed him. He was leading an entire bunch of dangerous vampires. He brought most of them into our town and they were waiting for him to give the signal to the twins, so they could come and murder all of us. His friends! So, after that, I no longer believe he was really in love with me. He was a big traitor and there is no fucking way I feel sorry for him."
And with that, he walked away from me. He disappeared through the pure darkness of the woods. I couldn't convince myself he was right for the simple reason that I had already thought of all of these. His words had become my obsession after I found myself tied in a tree, nearly dying from a fire that was surrounding me.
"We need to go find the others." Someone from behind me called out to me.
Michael and Miss Grand were waiting for me in the gates. I approached them with my head down as realization hit me. Jayden, Riley, Dove and Chase were probably staining their hands with blood while I was feeling helpless. Someone might was dead by now and I had no way of knowing.
Michael glanced around. "It's not safe here. We should leave."
I stretched out my hand to stop him from walking out of the gates. "I don't need you to come with me."
Miss Grand pinched her eyebrows together. "What do you mean? We can't split up. Especially right now. It's way too risky!"
Michael held his right hand in front of her chest. She glanced at it, confusion all over her face. "I think it's a good idea. We should let her do it on her own."
Miss Grand's eyes popped out. "She nearly got killed from a vampire! We were there. Now we won't. It's that what you are saying?"
He seemed to think about it for a brief moment and then, he slowly shook his head. She threw her hands in the air, as she couldn't believe what her son was saying.
"Mother, I believe that's the right thing. Trust me. What happened earlier in the hallway with Alice was..." He locked eyes with me. "A mistake. Right, Sofia? She wasn't careful enough." He finished darkly, like he was pointing something that wasn't true.
I was careful enough.
"It won't happen again." I assured both of them, as the concern in Miss Grand's eyes grew bigger.
"She is going to be alright, mother. You need to have faith on her."
She shook her head and crossed her arms under her chest. "Fine. But, if you get hurt, I won't take the responsibility of it."
I couldn't fight the smile that was plastered in my face a few seconds later. "Nothing bad will happen to me. I can promise you that."
I couldn't. Not really. But I was unable of telling them this.
The weather was cold enough to make my hair bristle, as I was making my own path through the dark woods. There was no one around. I could tell from the noises my own footsteps were making. Nothing more than that. I didn't hear anything. It was just me.
I was supposed to find Jayden or someone else from the pack. Michael and his mom would meet us at the end of the woods. My house mustn't had been far away from where I was. Only to be honest, I had no clue where exactly I was. I was kind of lost. I had the opportunity to scream to make someone hear me and come to me. But, it could be anyone. A thirsty vampire, the enemy, Ember... Anyone. Almost no one knew where I was at the moment and I couldn't risk lose that advantage.
On the other hand, I had no cell phone with me. So, I was literally by myself. I had to remember to ask Dante if he had found my phone while he was fighting with Max.
I still didn't know what had happened to them. Max was dead, yes. I knew that. I had seen his dead body, but... How did he die? Did Dante really kill him in cold blood? He was capable of it, but Max wasn't just a random person and he wasn't a stranger either. They were lovers in the past and I knew very well that the past couldn't get forgotten. And I bet Max didn't erase himself from Dante's mind to find the courage to fight each other.
One had been dropped out of the battle.
Maybe it was easy for him. Max wasn't the same and since I had seen it, Dante had seen it too. I wasn't going to blame him for doing something like that. As he had said, Max was a traitor.
It was the first time my mind was fully able to understand the dangers of a war. Everyone had been saying that we were in the middle of a war since the moment I found out the truth. But, every time someone was saying that to me, I wasn't taking seriously, as I should. Luckily for me, it wasn't too late. I could still find my way out of this game. My friends were all alive and I was too. Everything was going to be okay.
I froze. I dug my finger nails in my palm, as I felt pain rushing through me. The blood in my veins started boiling, like someone had just ripped open my chest and had pulled out my heart. My mouth fell open. My eyes started burning at the feeling. It was worse than every other time. My knees knocked together as I collapsed, hitting the ground. I landed on it with open palms, as the fingers of my feet curled.
The image that appeared in my mind was blurry. I couldn't see it clearly and that made a part of me go suspicious. All the other parts of me couldn't feel a thing apart from the huge, unbelievable amount of pain my whole body was suffering from. That was another level of pain. It was awful, but I desired more, making a part of the pain turn into sweet pain. I wanted to know what was behind the blurry image. Maybe it was another prediction or a vision, like the usual ones I was seeing.
Maybe it was just an image. But that was hard to believe, because it was always something. I wasn't seeing things for no reason.
I felt eyes on my back, but when I slightly turned my head to look around to find that pair of eyes, a part of the image cleared up in my mind, filling my whole vision. There was a slim body falling from the sky. There was no face. But, i understood the body belonged to a female because of the long white nails and the long legs. She was wearing black jeans and a brown jacket. I couldn't see her hair.
The vision disappeared in a matter of seconds, leaving me speechless. Most of the times something like that happened, I was able to guess what it meant. But, this time, I couldn't. First of all, not all the parts of it were visible for me to look at. It, also, came and went way too fast.
Something caught my attention. It was coming from behind the tree right next to me. Curiosity filled my senses. But, what if it was someone who wanted to hurt me. It wasn't the end of the night, but Alice was definitely going to keep her word. That was what I was more afraid of.
I approached, anyway. I looked around me for once again and just like before, there was no one out there. I hadn't found anyone yet and that had started to freak me out. I should had found someone by then. Where could they had possible been?
All of sudden, something appeared in front of me in a fast speed. I jerked away, pulling my hand into my chest with me. I started backing away, keeping my eyes closed. They only opened wide when my back crashed into a hard chest and I quickly jerked around, terrified. I held up my hand, preparing it to punch the person who was ready to attack to me. But, a large palm captured my hand, changing my mind. My breathing grew slower, as I locked eyes with his brown ones. They were so dark I couldn't find my reflection on them.
"You are scaring it." His hot breath hit the tip of my nose, making me shiver.
"What?" I turned my head. Slightly, only so I could catch a glance of what he was referring to.
A small squirrel was looking in my direction as his feet slid back. He disappeared through some thicket and a relieved breath escaped from my parted lips, as I returned my gaze back to the man in front of me. His hand was still around my closed fist and the other one, was holding me in place by my waist.
Was he ever going to let go off me?
Immediately, his hands lost contact with my body and he made a step away from me. I looked down at my clothes. I had just lost twenty years of my life because of a squirrel.
I glanced back at Jayden, whose gaze was travelling all the way up and down my body.
"You seem unharmed." He clarified. Then, his eyes stopped at my throat. He narrowed his eyes at me.
I spilled the hair out of the hoodie, letting it hang down my chest on both sides. He darted forward and with his left hand, he smoothed my hair away from my neck. Then I remembered. When his eyes faded and his hand closed in a fist around my hair, I knew he had seen the mark Alice had left me.
He peered over to me. "Just tell me who did it."
My eyes went round. I didn't believe he was serious until he stayed like that, still and unmoved, waiting for an answer. I figured he was thinking that I should had already told him.
"Alice." I breathed out. "She... She bit me."
My eyes watered in the memory of it. His hand unclenched and let it fall to his side.
"Chase was worried about you." He informed me. My eyes flied up to him. "They are all waiting at my house. They sent me to find you and since I have, there is no reason why we should waste our tim-"
"Honey!"
A female voice made my heart race. She appeared in front of me and threw her arms around me, pulling me close to her cold body. I hesitated before I decided to squeeze her in my arms.
"Are you alright? Did you get hurt? Ugh! I'm sure you are hurt! It's some kind of your ability to always get yourself in trouble!" A quiet chuckle shook my body that was against her. "I'm so glad you are okay, honey. I don't know what I would do if something had happened to you." She rubbed my back, as I felt something wet touching my hair.
"Mum, are you crying right now?"
"Maybe. But we are not going to talk about this at the moment." She pulled away and cupped my face in her palms. "I love you very, very much. Okay?" I nodded. "Good. Don't try to cause me a heart attack ever again! Understood?" I shook my head, again.
Another voice interrupted us. "Trae is here too, so I guess we can keep going now." He had already started walking away from me the moment he finished his sentence.
I spotted uncle Trae standing a few inches away from us and I wasted no time. I pulled him in for a hug.