Frowning up at him, she slipped from his arms but he didn’t move far from her as he followed her into the foyer. Glancing nervously back at him, he gave a brief nod. She opened the door; surprise widening her eyes at the sight of Dani huddled on the doorstep. Her gold streaked eyes were wide with fear. “Can I come in?” she asked quietly.
Cassie nodded as she stepped back, searching the night she saw no sign of Joey. “Did you walk over here by yourself?” Dani nodded as she stepped inside, huddling deeper into her light windbreaker. Dani eyed Devon wearily, but there seemed to be no fear coming from her. “Don’t you learn?”
Dani smiled wanly as she shook back her hair. “I told you I can take care of myself.”
“You also told me that you couldn’t use your ability again tonight.”
“Yeah, but that other vamp doesn’t know that.”
Devon snorted softly with laughter, but Cassie was nowhere near as amused. She could have been killed. “Come on in.”
Leading Dani into the living room, she gestured toward the loveseat that she had abandoned. “Grandma, this is Dani. Dani this is my grandmother.”
“You can call me Lily,” her grandmother replied.
Dani smiled hesitatingly, her hands folding into the sleeves of her coat. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“You also, it appears that you are a truly talented girl.”
Heat flared up Dani’s face as she ducked her head. “Yeah,” she mumbled.
“We were just discussing where those powers come from,” Luther said smoothly.
“Vampire’s.”
“You knew?” Chris demanded.
Dani frowned in confusion as she nodded. “Since I was old enough to understand, you didn’t?”
Chris scowled as he turned on his heel and began to pace once more. His agitation was palpable in the room. “No, they didn’t,” Melissa said flatly. “I wish we didn’t know.”
Cassie blinked, surprised to hear such dismay in Melissa’s voice. She was always reserved, thoughtful and aloof, but there was always an optimistic air about her that was refreshing. Now she seemed hard, distant, lost. Sighing loudly, Chris walked over to Melissa; swinging his arm around her shoulders he pulled her close in a brotherly embrace.
“It will be ok, we’re no different than the people we were an hour ago.”
“No, we’re not,” Cassie said firmly. “We can’t change the mistakes of our ancestors…”
“Without those mistakes, the world would have been an entirely different place. It would have been filled with fear and death and murder. Vampires would have run it. Would you have rather have had that?” Luther interjected hotly.
They gazed fiercely at each other before Cassie slowly turned to Dani, not willing to admit that Luther was right. She was still too angry and confused for such an admission now. “What brings you here?” she inquired.
Dani shrugged, her gaze darted nervously around the room before settling on Cassie again. “I don’t agree with Joey, I think that we should help.”
Cassie’s heart fluttered with excitement; with Dani’s help they would have a much better chance of killing Julian. They would be able to save more lives. Maybe they could even find some peace for a little while. She desperately wanted peace, and she desperately wanted some time with Devon to try and sort out the pieces of their lives.
“Does he know that you’re here?” Luther asked softly.
Dani nodded, her hands clenched tightly inside her sleeves. Tears shimmered in her eyes, but she did not spill any. “He knows,” she answered in a choked voice.
“Dani, what happened?” Cassie inquired gently.
The red streaks in her hair flashed brightly in the light as she shook her head slowly. “He left.”
The silence in the room was heavy with shock. Melissa was the first to recover from the news. “He left you here alone!?”
Dani nodded, her dark head bowed. “Yes, I refused to go and he refused to stay.”
Cassie’s heart broke as tears slid down the girls face, plopping onto her lap as she made no attempt to stop them. Pulling away from Devon she joined Dani on the loveseat, resting her arm gently around her delicate shoulders. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, trying to soothe the pain radiating from her. “I can’t imagine how hard this must be.”
Dani continued to cry silently, but her words were coherent. “We’ll keep in touch, and one day we’ll reunite, but for now each of us has to go our separate ways. We both feel very differently about this. It had to be done. We could not be together forever.”
Cassie could understand that, but she couldn’t understand how Dani’s brother could have just abandoned her here. She was barely old enough to get a job, let alone support herself. Her brother was so angry and selfish that he had not only left her to fend for herself, but also left her to the monster that haunted their town. Quite possibly left her to die.
Apparently his hatred went far deeper than Cassie had even begun to fathom.
“Well then,” her grandmother said softly, rising swiftly to her feet. “We should go get your things.”
“Excuse me?” Dani asked in surprise.
“Your things. You cannot stay on your own, and we have an extra room here you can use.”
Cassie couldn’t stop herself from smiling as Dani stared at her grandmother in disbelief. “Really?” she croaked, her voice breaking for the first time.
“Of course,” her grandmother replied with a bright smile.
CHAPTER 12
Cassie moved slowly down the hall, trying to stay strong against the new barrage of whispered comments that followed her every move. Her chase of Dani the other night had set off a new wave of gossip and innuendo. Sighing softly, she clutched her books tighter to her chest as she reached her locker, spun the dial, and flung it open.
“Who knew she was such a freak,” Jess whispered.
Cassie glanced over her shoulder; her hand on the locker tightened as she took in the group of girls gathered fifteen feet away. They glanced discreetly at her, looking quickly away when they found her staring at them. Kara, Jess, and Marcy were gathered close together, obviously savoring in her downfall.
Heart hammering, anger flared hotly through her. She had once considered all of them her friends. She had held sleepovers with them, gone to their pool parties, partied on the beach with them. They had talked of boys, and shared their hopes and dreams as they discussed their futures with eager reverence. Though they had grown apart when Cassie had discovered her heritage, she had never once stopped thinking of them as friends.