“Well, don’t do that,” I tell him, swallowing hard.
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t want you to. And stay out of my head.”
Shaking his head, he turns his back to me. “It would have been a great kiss if you wouldn’t have lost your damn mind and shoved me away.” He starts to stalk away, but I jump in front of him.
“Lost my mind? You were in my mind… you were manipulating my thoughts.” I push him, but this time he doesn’t stumble. “I could feel you inside my head. You were making me feel those things… like I wanted to kiss you—wanted to be with you.”
I shove him again, this time much harder, and the force launches him in the air much harder than I intended. I fold my arms across my chest and cringe as he crashes into a vehicle just behind us. Metal bends and concaves under his weight then ashes scatter and float in the air.
Aiden lands on the ground hard, asphalt debris shattering under his weight. He quickly gets to his feet, and with three long strides, he closes the distance between us. He leans into my face, anger burning in his eyes as he balls his fists. For a second, I think he is going to attack me, but I just stare at him, refusing to back away. Although, when he raises his fist, making me think he’s going to hit me, I turn to leave, not wanting to fight. Not right now. Not here. Not when there are other things I need to take care of.
He captures me by the elbow as I start to storm away, stopping me in my tracks. I turn my head and try to shrug him off. “Let go of me.”
Aiden’s eyes widen in shock. “Juniper, I’m not going to hurt you.”
I shake my head in disbelief as I glance at his hand on my arm, his fingertips digging into my skin. “You’re not?” I question with doubt.
He releases my arm and then rakes his fingers through his hair. “I would never hurt you. You have to believe me that I wouldn’t.”
I sigh because I can actually feel that he’s telling the truth. “I believe…” I trail off, my eyes wandering to my left at something heading towards us… something large.
Aiden follows my gaze and his eyes snap wide as the creature weaves in a fast pattern between the cars in the road. We take off at the same time, sprinting in the opposite direction as fast as our legs will carry us. Yet, I can hear the panting of the creature getting closer at the same time the ground cracks beneath its feet as it runs on all fours.
When I glance over my shoulder, I realize just how big of a problem we have. There’s not just one, there are many creatures chasing after us in a herd. Their fleshless bodies are a repulsive sight to behold, their fangs out, nipping as saliva drips from their mouths. It makes my guilt arise again because they’re the same creatures that bit Sylas. Or as Dominic called them, vampire abominations. It reminds me that Sylas could very easily be one of them.
Chapter 3
I speed up, my arms pumping, my feet moving so fast that they’re nearly gliding across the ground. Aiden stays right behind me, whether on purpose or not, I’m not sure.
The mutilated monsters howl and nip at our heels; the sound forces my legs to move quicker than I ever thought was possible. I nearly fly as I race towards a wide trench in the distance. Approaching it, I glance over my shoulder as I leap into the air, relieved to see Aiden is right behind me, flying over the trench as if it’s the easiest thing to do in the world. I’m glad he can keep up. Although I hate to admit it, it drove me a little bit crazy when he was human and slowed me down.
When my feet gracefully land on the ground, I hurry to my left and head for the desert land that stretches towards the caves. Aiden gets his footing and moves quickly with me, motioning at me to go faster. So I do. My legs and arms drive my body past its breaking point until I feel like I’m going to crack apart. Even then, I go faster.
The monsters begin to fade into the distance, however their howls and cries still pierce the air, so I keep moving; going forward, racing through the sand, around bushes, cacti, my eyes fixed ahead of me. I could probably go on for days, but I eventually slow my pace down to a jog then conclusively to a walk when I feel we’re safe enough away and the howls have finally dissipated.
Aiden slows down with me, walking at my side while looking content and sort of happy, which is strange.
He’s not panting, nor am I. Our hearts aren’t beating, but our skin is damp with sweat. We’re both unnaturally calm and it starts to click in my head that maybe we’re abominations, too.
“So are you going to tell me what those things are?” Aiden finally asks, peering up at the dark sky.
“I’m not one-hundred percent sure.” I shrug as I sidestep around a bush. “All I know is that’s what Dominic turned into—and he said he was an abomination. Half vampire, half human... some sort of mutated hybrid.”
Aiden slams to a stop. “Wait, isn’t that what we are? A mutated hybrid?”
I halt and turn to face him. “Well, Dominic said we weren’t. He said we’re something different, although he never said exactly what, but the abominations are more vampire than human. These gross beasts with no sense of pain, fear or mercy that will kill anything. We still have our will left—our sense of humanity—for the most part.” I breathe in quietly and gaze out at the land. “I probably could have learned more, but I ended up having to kill Dominic when he attacked... Sylas and me.”
“Have you ever seen them in groups before?” he asks, leaning to the side and catching my eye, his expression unemotional. “The beasts, I mean?”
I shake my head. “I’ve only seen two and they were by themselves.”
“Where did they come from?” he wonders. “I mean, I’ve never seen one before, so why all of a sudden? And why were they running in packs like that?”
“I’m not sure… maybe Monarch and Gabrielle are creating them now. That would explain the sudden onset of them.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Because of the cells. There was blood and scratches all over inside them... and I heard stuff… horrible stuff…” I trail off, trying not to shudder because it’d make me look weak. “I think that they may have been creating them there and I think they might be using them as weapons, like they send them out to attack or something.”
Since I’m divulging everything right now, I decide to let him in on everything, unsure how he’ll react. “Aiden, there’s something I need to tell you about Sylas… when he was attacked by Dominic… he was… he was bit. He started changing into…” I shut my eyes and force a lump down my throat. “Something else when we were captured by the Highers. I’m not sure what he is right now.” When I finish, I open my eyes.