The scenery away from Seattle is completely different from the Alaskan landscape and the Yukon territory. The trees are still huge but they seem to cover everything. You can barely see the mountains for douglas firs, hemlocks and red cedars. It must be magnificent to go on a hike through these woods but I can't tell due to the darkness that follows us like a trailing shadow.
"Which beach are we going to?" I ask, squinting my eyes to try to see the towering wooden giants.
"I don't know," Sophie shrugs. "I'd love to go to Malibu but that's too fucking far. Check the map on the screen and see if it finds any nearby beaches."
I look at the screen and realise it's much more technical than the cars we've driven so far. I didn't even notice it through all the chaos in Seattle. I touch the screen and a keyboard appears with a disembodied female voice calling through the speakers: "Where to?"
I can't think of anything as I'm not familiar with any places in Washington State, so I just lamely type beach and push go. The screen lists a bunch of locations and I stare blankly at the screen. It just occurs to me that we are, of course, on the West Coast, so there must be a lot of places with beaches.
"Um . . . " I look through the list. "What about Long Beach?"
"How far is it?"
I press on the location and the computer calculates the distance. "About 3 hours."
"Sounds good to me," Sophie grins. "Maybe this time we can make it an actual road trip."
"What do you usually do on road trips?" I ask after I confirm the location and the screen displays the distance on the map but it decreases as we move along.
"You've been on road trips before, right?" Sophie asks, half amused, half exasperated.
I shake my head. "We went on hiking trips but I think that's not exactly the same."
"No, it's not," Sophie agrees, her mouth twitching like she's resisting the urge to laugh. She clears her throat again. "So, on road trips you sing to crappy songs, stay at motels, look at the stars at nights, eat disgusting junk food and other sappy shit."
I can't help grinning. "We can tick off the motels," I point out.
"Oh yeah," Sophie chuckles.
"No motels," we say in unison.
We look at each other and burst out laughing. For a minute, I'm blissfully ignorant of our current dilemma and I'm just enjoying a nice drive with my sister. Sister. It's still hard to digest but as I look at her, the more natural it feels. Maybe deep down, I already suspected something like that and my subconscious just chose to forget it. We already had this weird, disfunctional bond when we first met. I might be a terrible mess of a human being while she's a terrible mess of a sister.
An upbeat music rings in my ears and I realise that Sophie has turned up the volume of the radio. I don't recognise the song but Sophie is humming along with it. Then she starts singing and jerks her head at me, indicating that I should do the same. I scowl and concentrate on listening to the lyrics. The singer has a powerful voice and changes his tempo from slow to fast at intervals. It confuses me.
"I can't," I say loudly over the music.
"You don't have to follow the lyrics, silly," Sophie laughs and then starts making up new lyrics to the song. Most of the words are rude and I laugh at her enthusiasm and the looks of concentration as she tries to find the most vulgar words and add it to the lyrics.
I slide the window down and look up at the sky. The crescent moon greets me with a crooked smile, accompanied by a legion of twinkling stars. "The sky is amazing tonight," I gasp in wonderment. "Do you want to star gaze now?"
Sophie glances at the map that indicates that we've got about an hour left until we reach Long Beach. "Why not?" she says, grinning and takes a right when we see a small road that leads into the woods.
The more we drive into the forest, the denser it becomes, filling our view with towering cedars. The smell of it in the air becomes apparent and I immediately think of the camping trips I made with my family. I look over at Sophie, who's busy concentrating on staying on the tiny dirt road, and I realise that I've never had any trips like that with her. If I had known sooner about our relation, I might've invited her. I shake my head. There's no point wallowing about what could have been. I need to focus on the time that I have with her now.
The road ends at a blockage of trees that are grown so tightly together that it's impossible to go through with the car. Sophie parks the car and steps out at the same time as I do. We look up and I hear Sophie gasp in awe. The thicket of trees completely surround us but it has formed an almost perfect circle for us to view the stars. The frame is quite beautiful and if I had a camera, I would have snapped a couple of photos. Sophie climbs up on the hood of the car and holds out a hand to me. Smiling, I grasp it and she pulls me up with ease.
"They look awesome," Sophie sighs in contentment as she lies down on the front windshield with her head resting on her arms. "It's been a while since I last looked up and watched the stars."
"When was the last time you did it?" I ask, resting beside her.
She thinks for a moment. "I think it's been about a year. Kenji, myself and another vampire named Darren used to sit out on the roofs of buildings and gaze up at the sky. It was nice, one of the few times it was nice, that is."
"Was it that hard at that time?" I ask.
Sophie nods. "As you've noticed, it's not easy being who we are. Especially when you're a newborn like me and don't get any proper guidance."
"Do you regret killing people?" I ask tentatively.
She frowns at the question. "With each day, each week, each month and each year, I lose a small part of my humanity and my empathy for them disappears little by little. I mean, look at Greg. He's been around for over 600 years and you saw how he regarded you. I do regret losing control and draining some of the humans when I didn't have to," she says after a moment's consideration. "But I think it's also like asking an animal if it regrets killing their prey. They do it for survival and the same can be said about us, although I admit we can be ruthless about it."
We sit together in silence. "What made you go rogue?" I ask. "You said you were a part of Grigori's faction but went rogue shortly afterwards."
I can just about see Sophie's brows crease as she runs the memoru through her mind. "Because I didn't agree with their methods," she replies savagely. "They were thinking of creating facilities of human farming," she elaborates grimly. "Like cattle but instead of taking the milk, they would be harvesting blood."
I sit up, looking horrified. "Did they do it?"
"I don't know," Sophie shrugs. "They might be doing it secretly in the dark corners of the world."
The fuzzy, warm feeling that I enjoyed vanishes and I'm full of revulsion and disgust. "And Grigori is in on it?"
"Again, I don't know," Sophie replies with a scowl. "I told him I would lose all respect for him if he considered it. Because I always thought that he valued the old ways, of us hunting humans when we needed it. Human farming takes away the thrill of the hunt. I don't know if he listened to me or not. You saw how he was."
"I really hope he did listen," I say, though I'm not as convinced. His cold, piercing eyes still make me shudder.
"But I don't wanna talk about that," she mutters. "Those memories are something I want to bury deep in the sand."
Even though I'm burning with curiousity to know more, I respect her wish and keep silent. Like she said, she probably has more bad memories than good and you shouldn't pry that lid open.
"Do . . ." Sophie's voice trails away and I look sideways at her. She's biting her lip as if struggling to say something but not knowing how to form into a sentence.
"What?" I ask softly.
"Do-do you think your – I mean, our dad would have liked me?" she asks hesitantly and for a moment, I see her as a child on her first day of school, asking whether anyone would like her. "I mean, before me turning and this stupid mess." She adds hastily but looks away, avoiding my gaze.
The warm, fuzzy feeling comes back with a vengeance as I smile gently at her. "Of course, he would," I assure her. "He would have accepted you without hesitation. Though he probably would have scolded you about your smoking habits and your bad attendance," I add, grinning.
Sophie chuckles but then becomes more somber and resumes looking up at the stars. "I'm scared," she whispers. I can really hear the fear in her quaking voice. She reaches for my hand and squeezes it. I squeeze back, feeling for the first time a mixture of shock and pride. It's possible the first time Sophie comes to me for support and reassurance.
"We can still continue what we've been doing, you know?" I say quietly. "We can still run."
Sophie shakes her head, sniffles and hurriedly wipes her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater. "No," she says determined, sitting up without letting go of my hand. "It'll be alright," she says in a most unconvincing tone. "I'm glad you're here with me, though," she adds in such a low voice I almost can't hear it.
"So am I," I say and I feel a rush of warm affection engulf me, almost drowning me. I don't mind, it's a good feeling after all.
We slide down from the hood and head back inside the car. Sophie starts it up again, turns it around and drives towards the main road. The sky is no longer indigo. From the horizon behind us, it's becoming paler and softer. I check the watch. It's almost 04:30. Dawn is almost upon us. I open my mouth to notify Sophie about it but it seems she's already aware, her violet eyes glancing up at the rearview mirror.
"Are you feeling tired?" I ask.
"Just a bit," Sophie admits. "But we're almost there. I can last this far."
I want to suggest that I take the wheel for the remainder of the ride but I realise it'll be hard driving with just one capable arm. Besides, it's hard to argue the point. When she's set about something, she makes damn sure to follow it through the end.
The density of the forests that surround us on both sides slowly becomes thinner and we're able to see the ocean ahead of us. Sophie takes the first turn she sees towards the beach. The beach holds up to its name, being the longest beach in the world. Its white sand stretches far and wide in an seemingly endless path along the Pacific Coast. I look to my left and see the powerful current slam itself against the weathered rocks by the cliff. We get out and are instantly blasted with the smell of salt and sea as the wind pulls at our clothes and hair.
"Bit windy," Sophie remarks, pushing her hair away from her face. "But it'll do." She proceeds to take off her boots and socks and walks on bare feet on the sand. "Nice and cool." She grins and then makes a run for it towards the splashing waves.
I follow her lead, albeit clumsily, and feel my toes disappear in the sand. It's not ice cold but feels nice against my warm feet. The first wave that splashes against my legs, however, is cold. So cold that I yelp and step back in shock.
"Too cold for you?" Sophie laughs and kicks up water in the air, raining salty droplets upon me.
I shriek, laughing and shield myself against the water. When I lower my hands, Sophie looks at me with wide eyes. They're filled with fear and shock.
"What's –" I begin but something sleeck, black and leathery covers my mouth and grabs my free arm. My heart sinks and instinct kicks in. I scream, struggling to break free but the person who's got a hold over me is too strong.
"Leia!" I hear Sophie scream and then great splashes of water as she wades back to shore. Two other guys, dressed in black leather from head to foot and wearing black helmets with tinted glass, rush towards her. With a snarl, she tackles one of them into the wet sand. She's just about to rip the helmet off when the second man tugs his arms under her armpits and interlocks his fingers behind her neck.
"No!" she screams and kicks at the helmet of the man as she's lifted up.
"That's enough!" A voice booms behind me.
Sophie jerks her head, her fangs bared and chest heaving. Another man dressed in black leather and helmet walks right beside me and my captor. He lifts up his visor, revealing a man in his early forties with ginger hair and mustache.
He looks disdainfully at Sophie. "Trying to run away from your sentence, are we now?" he asks coldly.
"Colby," Sophie hisses. "How the fuck did you find us?
"The GPS in Grigori's car tracked you here," he replies, smirking.
My legs feel numb. How could we have forgotten about that? Sophie swears.
"We all fuck up at some point in our lives," Colby chuckles and clicks his fingers. The vampire holding Sophie in a full Nelson moves forward to him. "Too bad your fuck up will cost you your life."
The other vampire, whom Sophie tackled, grips Sophie's arm and a third one holds the other arm while she's lowered on the ground on her knees. She struggles, snarling but she's no match for three vampires. I try to move but the one holding my arm behind my back twists it more painfully and I whimper, collapsing on the sand.
"You even managed to drag a human into this," Colby continues lazily, glancing down at me. "It's not a big deal, though," he shrugs. "She'll join you afterwards."
"You leave her alone!" Sophie spits out furiously.
Colby laughs harshly. "You've no right to bargain, girl," he snarls as he grabs her by the chin. "Not after you killed my ward."
Sophie scoffs sardonically. "He was a worse newborn than I was," she says softly. "Since I could kill him so easily."
Her snark earns her a punch in the face. I flinch and try in vain to scream for help. I even try biting the hand that covers my mouth but the leather glove is too thick to have any effect. My captor just twists my arm in response.
"Sophia Gardner, you are sentenced to death for murdering one of your kind. The method of execution is sunlight," Colby declares coldly, his lips curving into a vindictive smirk. Sophie looks up with fearful eyes. "You can feel it, can't you?" he asks menacingly. "Daybreak is approaching fast."
You don't even have to feel it. I can already see that the sky has turned a very pale blue with streaks of magenta crossing the horizon. My eyes widen and I plead wordlessly to Colby to let us go. But he ignores me completely. He only has eyes for Sophie's despair.
"Leia," Sophie says quietly.
I whip my head back and stare at her. My breath comes out fast through my nose. My heart is doing jumping jacks in my chest. Don't do this, I think imploringly both to Sophie and her executioner.
"Leia, I'm sorry," Sophie's voice breaks. She's trying with all her might not to burst into tears. "It's going to be OK," she reassures me shakily. "I love you, alright. I'll do anything to protect you."
My eyes become obscure with tears and I shake my head vehemently. "Please don't do this," I sob through the glove, my whole being shaking.
The sun rises and Colby puts his visor down, blocking his face from the approaching rays. Sophie closes her eyes as she's engulfed in sunlight. For a fleeting moment, I foolishly think that Sophie is fine, that she's not affected by sunlight like the rest of the vampires. But then, Sophie opens her mouth and lets out a blood-curdling scream. The pain and the agony make the hair at the back of my neck stand on end. I clench my fists. It's like they've stabbed a dagger through my gut and twisted it.
Smoke begins to form through every orifice, billowing out of her as writhes in pain. Her pale skin quickly turns a horrifying red with blisters forming and popping on her arms. Soon enough, she bursts into flame. The sudden heat nearly knocks me backwards. The smoke is blinding me and the terrible smell of burning hair and flesh is enough to make me gag. Her screams echo through the walls of the cliff and almost match mine that manage to escape through the glove. My throat is hoarse and raw from screaming and sobbing but I can't stop.
After what feels like agonizing eternity, Sophie goes quiet and becomes still on the sand. Her ashen-grey form seems fragile and bristle. A warm breeze brushes past us, gently touching Sophie's body and she dissolves into ash, becoming one with the sand.