That knowing smile caused Cassie’s heart to plummet. The sudden, awful insight that Melissa had received a premonition about Devon filled Cassie. Worry crept through her, chilling the marrow of her bones. She did not want to be the object of Melissa’s prophecies, and she certainly did not want Devon to be a part of them.
The last thing that she wanted was for him to be hurt, or wounded, because he had become a part of her life. Her selfishness not only put the three of them at risk, but could also get him killed. Her life was dangerous; no ordinary human could survive it.
The chill inside her grew; her body became hollow as the hope inside her curdled like three month old milk. It was just as sour as milk as it sat in a tight knot in her stomach. She could not risk him getting hurt; she could not drag him into this world with her. Her world was horror and death, it was cruel and brutal; it was not fair to him.
Melissa turned toward her, her gaze growing questioning and curious. Though she did not possess Chris’s ability, Melissa’s insight into a person was uncanny and she did not miss a thing. She especially did not miss the sudden terror that was suffusing Cassie. Cassie had not known that she had been holding her breath until it exploded from her. She inhaled sharply, drawing much needed air into her denied, burning lungs. Her clenched fingers began to ache, and she realized that she was holding Devon’s hand so tight that her nails had dug into the palm of his.
She eased her grip, but did not release him as she was not ready to let go. Not yet anyway. She could feel his curious gaze upon her, but she did not look at him again. She was afraid she would start to cry, and never stop, if she did.
Feeling like a wooden marionette, she followed stiffly as they filtered slowly into the school. She knew that she was not going to make it through this day.
CHAPTER 11
Cassie escaped from the school the first chance she got. Bursting free of the large brick building, she sprinted across the baseball field and darted into the woods. Her lungs began to burn, but she kept going, leaping over fallen logs, dodging branches, and other dangers with the easy grace that those of her kind possessed.
Her kind, she thought bitterly. She wanted nothing to do with her kind. Other than Chris and Melissa, they were not hers, and her heritage had been anything but kind to her. It had robbed her and Melissa of their parents, taken Chris’s father from him. It had destroyed his mother.
When Luther had found them, the revelation that their parents had not been killed in a car accident had been a shattering blow to both her and Chris. It was disheartening to learn that it had not been an accident that had taken their families from them, but a calculated mission to destroy their loved ones. A slew of vampires had gotten together to seek out the Hunter line and viciously slaughtered as many of them as they could find.
What was she thinking to expose Devon to such a life? To such brutality and death? Though it had been awhile, they were all still fearful that the vampires would band together once more and finish what they had started sixteen years ago with The Slaughter. She had no right to risk Devon getting hurt, or even worse, killed. She had no right to put him in danger, especially when he didn’t even know about the danger she might inadvertently place him in.
Though she barely knew him, she did know that it would destroy her to lose him because of her selfishness.
Cassie darted past some briar patches, her arm got caught on one. She didn’t notice the pain as it tore across her skin and spilled her blood. Though it was impossible, she continued to try and outrun everything that she was, everything that she had become. She did not recognize the person she was now, for it was far different then the young, hopeful, innocent girl she had been just four short years ago. That girl had dreamed big and loved every moment of her easy going, fun filled life. The person she was now was a stranger inside her body, it wore her skin, but it was no longer her.
Pushing herself harder, she tried to run from the twisting pain that wrenched at her heart, and shredded her insides. Stumbling out of the woods, her feet hit sand as she reached the beach. Sand filled her sneakers as she slipped in it, but she continued to push herself onward. Her lungs burned fiercely and her legs were beginning to ache, but she kept going, too frightened to stop. If she stopped she would have to think, and if she thought, she didn’t know if she could survive it.
Her feet slipped out from under her. With a soft cry, her knees hit the sand, her fingers slipped into its grainy depths and dug beneath the surface. It was cool to the touch, wet from the incoming tide as it lapped against the shore. Her shoulders trembled, she labored for air. Tears finally slipped free, spilling onto the beach as sobs shook her body and soul.
She couldn’t move, she could barely breathe as agony and pain twisted through her gut. She sobbed for all of the unfairness in the world, for all the loss and pain she had experienced. She sobbed for the parents she could not remember, and had never cried for before. She sobbed for Devon, who had come to mean so much to her in such a short amount of time, and whom she feared she would have to let go of. Once the tears started, they would not stop, and she had no control over the torrent that poured from her.
Memories rolled forth, old wounds were sliced open, leaving her ragged and torn. She recalled her early years, years spent on the run and moving constantly. Though she and Chris had been to young to understand the reason behind the constant moving, it had been stressful and lonely for them. Chris’s mother had fled with them to Cassie’s grandmother in Florida, and from there they had moved to Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Vermont, Pennsylvania, New York, Maine, and had finally settled on Cape Cod after six years.
She and Chris had never known that they were moving to avoid being hunted by the same monsters that had murdered their parents, until Luther arrived. They had been given six wonderful years of peace in which they hadn’t had to move, and they had actually been able to make friends outside of each other. Though she hated the fate that Luther had handed them, she did take some joy in avenging her parent’s deaths by ridding the world of the monsters that walked upon it.
Cassie rested her hands on her knees, her tears slowly subsided as the gentle ebb and flow of the sea drew her attention. A soothing calm settled over her, drying her tears. She was surprised at how much better she felt, surprised by the tranquility that settled over her. She hated the path that fate had laid out for her, but there were many people who had it far worse than she did. She may hate the path, but she would walk it, and she would stop struggling against it.
She had been given the ability to destroy some of the evil in the world, given the ability to help people; she should start to consider it a gift, not a liability. Though she had lost a lot because of what she was, to continue to fight it would only destroy her. She had to make a choice, either accept her fate, or continue to live in misery for whatever short time she had left.