The forest was awakening. Branches creaked in their early morning yawns. Narrow pink and orange rays of sun cut through the canopy and shed their colorful light on the forest floor. Tiny winged insects danced in the bright shafts, anxious to be a part of the beauty. Smal creatures scurried about on the ground, rustling in the scattered debris. Dew drops glistened like diamonds on fal en leaves and the heat of the dawning sun warmed the soil, releasing its earthy aroma into the air. I was certain I’d never seen anything more lovely.
Unwittingly, I had stopped to look around. I raised my face to the fiery sunrise, closing my sensitive eyes and letting the warmth bathe my skin. After a ful , wonderful minute had passed, I lowered my head and opened my eyes. Bo was watching me.
I smiled.
“I’ve never seen anything more beautiful,” I declared.
“I was just thinking the same thing.”
Again, it felt as though blood flooded my cheeks, spreading across my face and down my neck and chest. An uncomfortable laugh swel ed in my throat, but it died when I fel into Bo’s velvety eyes.
“You’re like a fire in my soul,” Bo said softly, his voice as quiet and reverent as the forest to the sun. “I love you so much it almost hurts.”
“It’s no more than my love for you,” I replied in a whisper, barely able to find my voice.
Bo reached toward my face, trailing the backs of his fingers from my cheekbone to my chin.
“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you, Ridley. Absolutely nothing,” he vowed, the sincerity in his eyes driving the truth of his words into my heart like a hammer.
“I know.”
Bo bent his head and pressed the sweetest of kisses to my lips before he took my hand and urged me forward.
“Come on. We need to get going.”
It seemed as though my feet didn’t touch the ground for the rest of our walk through the woods. I glided on the cloud of Bo’s confession, his heartfelt admission enough to nearly give me wings.
We darted and flitted our way through town to my house, making sure to stay in the lingering shadows as much as possible to avoid detection. I doubted human eyes could’ve tracked us, but I knew we were better safe than sorry.
I unlocked my car and shifted into neutral so that Bo and I could push it down the road a bit before I started the engine.
Bo drove us back to Sebastian’s and I waited for another hour before I cal ed Mom’s cel phone.
“Hey, I forgot to tel you last night that I had to leave early this morning. We’re working on some stuff for the fal formal.”
I felt bad lying to her, but I knew it was better than hanging around and putting her life in danger every night.
“Oh, are you already gone?”
I couldn’t help but sigh. I knew I could always count on me to be virtual y clueless about anything pertaining to me.
“Yeah, I’m gone, Mom. Another thing. Sebastian had to go out of town for a few days, maybe a week. He wants me to housesit, starting tonight. That’s alright, isn’t it? I mean, it is Sebastian.”
I added that last, knowing it would be the nail in the coffin.
“I don’t know, Ridley. I’m not sure that would be safe.
Maybe we should talk to your Dad.”
Of al the times for her to start taking parenting seriously, she couldn’t have picked a worse one.
“Mom, I’l be fine. Sebastian’s house has great security.
He just wants me to water the plants and stuff, keep an eye on things. It’s not a big deal.”
“Ridley, maybe you should—”
“Mom, I am almost eighteen. I’l be going away to col ege in a few months. Might as wel let me start getting used to this kind of thing now, right?”
“Wel , we’l have to see what—”
“Look, Mom, I gotta go. I’l cal you tonight. Love you.”
I didn’t wait for a response. I just hung up, frustrated.
It seemed like a wave of irritability washed over me within seconds of hanging up with her. I got up to pace into the kitchen, walking by the windows and looking out at the morning. As I roamed back and forth, I began to feel like a caged animal, unable to go where I wanted, do what I wanted because of a condition that kept me prisoner inside my own body.
The longer I paced, the more Mom’s obstinacy simmered in my veins like a venomous soup, making me angrier and angrier. I began to feel that uncomfortable icy heat work its way from my chest into my limbs. My throat burned with an increasing thirst and my temper grew touchier by the minute.
When Bo’s hand touched my shoulder, I whirled around, ready to lash out. The concern and understanding on his handsome face gave me pause, however, bringing me up short.
“You need to feed again, Ridley.”
I was so aggravated it took a moment for his words to penetrate the red haze in my mind. When it did, I looked down at my hands. I could stil see them, but they were nowhere near as apparent as they’d been earlier.
I looked up and met Bo’s eyes. “So soon?”
“Yes, but it won’t always be like this. Your body is stil changing and adjusting. What you’re going through causes a huge amount of stress on your body, using more blood than you normal y would. Plus, we’ve been very active and now you’re upset.”
His mention of my current irritation only served to bring my attention back to it.
“I could just throttle her!” I ground out through my tightly-gritted teeth, bal ing my fingers into angry fists.
“Emotions run stronger and hotter the closer you are to needing to feed. Then, it just makes it worse.”
As I thought about feeding, my mouth watered in response, but my mind grew more troubled. Bo must’ve sensed it.
“What’s wrong? I don’t like that look.”
Out of habit, I worried my lip with my teeth. When something sharp cut into my flesh, it reminded me that deadly teeth went along with thoughts like those.
“Bo, do you think I’l learn to like animal blood? I mean, what am I going to do if…”
When I’d thought of becoming a vampire, I’d never real y considered feeding or that I might have issues with where the blood came from. My vision of it had been extremely romanticized, much to my detriment.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m sure that wil change with time.
And if it doesn’t, you stil won’t need to worry. I’l feed you, baby,” he said, cupping my cheek with his wide palm.
“What’s mine is yours, even my blood.”
I didn’t want to ask what would happen if and when he had to kil his father and he would be mortal again. That would change everything. What if I couldn’t feed from him anymore? What if doing so would risk his sanity, risk his life? Plus, even if he could tolerate it, he wouldn’t be with me forever. We’d only have a single, short lifetime together.