“So you’re saying he’s going to turn into one of those monsters?” he asks, his voice tight.
“You sound upset.”
“Because I am,” he replies, his jaw set tightly.
“But I thought you hated him.”
“I don’t hate him.” He looks at me and I see honesty burning in his eyes. “Just because he’s done some things in the past that I think are wrong, it doesn’t mean that I don’t care about him. Besides, I wouldn’t want anyone to have to become one of those things.” He starts walking again and I follow him.
My thoughts drift to Sylas as silence settles between Aiden and I. I can’t help thinking of the kiss Sylas and I shared before we were captured in the cells. The way his lips felt against mine, the strange emotions I had, how much I liked it, how much I want to do it again, feel all those things again. Anger swells inside me. Sylas shouldn’t have to suffer.
You don’t want to kiss him again… you just think you do. I kick a rock in my path and it flies up in the air, almost hitting Aiden in the back.
Wait a minute, Aiden.
Rushing up behind him, I quickly snatch hold of the back of his shirt and jerk him to a stop. Then, I tug him around to face me. “You never told me what the hell was going on back there.” I point over my shoulder. “When you were trying to kiss me… it felt like you were putting thoughts into my head, like you were trying to manipulate my thoughts.”
He smiles at me arrogantly and I have to resist the urge to slap him. “I was just trying to help you. Deep down inside, you really want to be with me and so I was giving you a little push.”
I shake my head and shove him out of my way, stepping around him and heading for the cave that’s in the rocky cliff not too far from here. “I’m warning you now, never to do that again or you’ll pay,” I threaten, however I’m not sure if I really mean it.
“I’m sorry,” he says, but I can hear the smile in his voice. “It worked so well on the guards that I wanted to test it on you. I’d never force you to do anything and I would have stopped it if I thought you didn’t really want to.” He catches up with me and captures my gaze. “Do you forgive me?”
I shrug because I’m not sure if I do or not.
The cave rests in an area that is surrounded by cliffs. The sun is almost rising by the time we reach the entrance, which is blocked by a boulder to keep out the vampires.
After we breezily climb up the side of the hill, I slide the boulder out of the way then duck down and step inside, Aiden following right behind me. He doesn’t bother closing the entrance back up, since the sun will be up soon and the abominations and vampires only come out at night.
Everyone is fast asleep in the back section of the cave, but the noise we make ends up waking everyone. Maci opens her eyes and immediately jumps up, squealing as she runs towards me and wraps her arms around me. I awkwardly return her enthusiastic hug, giving her a pat on the back.
Her eyes sparkle with excitement as she pulls away. “Kayla, I knew you’d make it back alive, just like I knew Aiden would save you. I really missed you.”
“I missed you, too.” I pat her on the head then pry her arms away from me, so she skips off to hug Aiden.
I sit down on the dirt floor, lean my back against the rock walls and shut my eyes, feeling Tristan’s eyes on me from the corner of the cave.
“Where’s Sylas?” he asks.
I open my eyes and look at him for a moment, wondering if I seem as different as he does. “He—”
Maci cuts me off, moving in front of me. “Sylas is gone,” she announces sadly.
Greyson steps out from a dark corner of the cave, his hands tucked in the pockets of his pants. His red hair is sticking up all over the place and his brows are furrowed. “You mean he is dead?” he asks Maci.
“No, not dead, just gone,” she says and then whispers, “He’s something different now.”
Everyone looks at me, but all I can do is stare at Maci. Gone. Sylas is gone. I feel like I can’t breath.
“What do you mean he’s something different,” I ask Maci, getting to my feet.
“I mean he’s not a Day Taker,” she says simply.
Aiden says something to me, but I can’t seem to find my voice. He’s not a Day Taker anymore, which means what? I think I know, but it hurts to admit it.
Sylas has become an abomination.
Chapter 4
Is he really one of those hideous monsters? Will he be sent to kill us? My thoughts make me sick and the sensation only heightens when everyone simply stares at me, as if they’re waiting for me to explain. But I can’t—won’t. I refuse to accept it yet. I can’t breathe.
I swiftly get to my feet and head to the entrance, walking into the daylight. I stop on the side of the hill, breathing in the cool breeze, trying to erase the feelings inside me, yet they remain.
Aiden walks towards me, but pauses at the entrance where the shade and the light meet. Now that he has changed into a Day Taker, he can’t step out into the sunlight. He’s pretty much trapped inside that cave until sundown.
“Kayla, please relax,” he begs.
I don’t turn around. “Aiden, please leave me alone… I just need a small break for a moment,” I tell him and then hike further down the hill. I’m not sure where I’m going, only that I need to move; clear my head for a moment.
I work my way to the side of the cliff until I find a spot where I climb to the top of the hill easily. There’s a small ledge above me and, using my arms, I heave myself on it then continue to scale up the side until I arrive at the top. I sit down on the peak and stare out at the ground below me. It looks so beautiful, so serene from up here, not dark and twisted and full of death like it really is. As if it’s a completely different place with no vampires around, screeching and killing anything that gets into their path. If I use my imagination, I can almost picture it as peaceful. What would that be like? To live in a peaceful world?
I shake my head and force my attention off the land to my surroundings nearby. The ground below me is fairly flat, but there are crevices that weave in and out of the surface that drops down. If it was dark, those crevices would be death traps. Death. Sylas. He asked me to kill him and I didn’t. I let him turn into a beast.
“Stop thinking about it,” I mutter to myself.
My palms are sweaty and covered with dirt, so I wipe them on my jeans to clean them off. There’s a small rock on the ground next to my feet. I pick it up and throw it over the side of the cliff, watching it fall until it hits the bottom and breaks apart like I’m about to.