Total pages in book: 209
Estimated words: 196141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 981(@200wpm)___ 785(@250wpm)___ 654(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 196141 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 981(@200wpm)___ 785(@250wpm)___ 654(@300wpm)
Kyle stares at himself in the mirror. Is it Lazarus’s blood?
“Little Lion’s fine,” says Elias as he joins Kyle on the bed in the darkness with a relieved sigh, “though maybe next time she does something totally out of character, such as meowing cutely, we should probably pay attention. She was warning us.”
“Warning us,” agrees Kyle absently, staring at the ceiling and the crack Lazarus left there. His eyes pick up so many more details, the tiny cracks embedded in the larger ones, perfectly visible even from the bed. Lazarus nearly broke the wall in half, could have torn the house in half. He was so stunningly strong.
Did he underestimate all this time the power of blood?
How much did Tristan not tell him about their kind?
“Do we need some real talk?” asks Elias. “To help get out our thoughts? Even the uncomfortable ones?”
Kyle studies the fractures in the wall like a map. Is Elias creating the opportunity to let out his fears? “Sure.”
“Tell me what’s on your mind.”
Kyle had assumed Elias would go first. “Well … I guess I just feel like I was being … naïve … to think it was over with.”
Elias slowly rubs Kyle’s chest. “You experienced a lot back in Vegas. We both did. Babe, it was literally just days ago.”
“I know.”
“You lost a friend. I almost lost you.”
Kyle pauses. “It’s … more than just what we went through. I think about what else Tristan might not have told me. It’s this feeling there’s a bigger picture … a picture I’m not seeing … a picture I can’t see because I’m too fucking small. I’m small and stuck out here in this town, in Nowhere, unable to see how—”
“Stuck?”
Kyle peels his eyes from the wall, turns to Elias. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said ‘stuck’. I’m happy here. I love our life. I just feel—” He shakes his head. “I feel like I’m missing something.”
“It’s okay if you feel like a prisoner.”
“I don’t. I didn’t mean—”
Elias continues to rub Kyle’s chest, though his hand slows. “Y’know, I’m no stranger to feeling like a prisoner, even if it’s allegedly for my own good. Gave my mom a lot of hell growing up … I was not an easy kid.” Elias chuckles at something. Kyle feels a happy memory, something fluttery and fun. Then it goes away. “But I’m here with you, whether this is a prison, or our home, or just an old town that’s lost its real name to the history books. There’s no bigger picture, babe. You don’t need all the answers. You don’t need Tristan. Fuck that Lazarus guy, too.”
Kyle looks away, troubled.
“He won’t return, you’re safe,” he adds softly.
Kyle wonders if he’s saying that more to comfort himself, considering there’s no way he can possibly guarantee Lazarus won’t return.
“I’ll stay awake until you go to sleep, alright?” says Elias, and again, Kyle suspects it’s because Elias is too afraid to sleep. He needs his time to stay awake, to watch the windows, to stare at the door until the sun rises and they can truly feel safe. “You must be so tired. It’s gonna be dawn in another hour.”
Kyle closes his eyes while Elias strokes his hair. He tries to obey, to let himself drift off, to find that peace he so needs.
It’s half an hour later that Kyle lies there still awake, and it is Elias instead who is cuddled to his side like a baby, head on his chest, snoring with impressive, deep, dragon-like resonance.
Somehow, the noise is more comforting than the silence.
Run away from the sun, Lazarus had said. Find us hiding beyond a dark mouth, itself armed with teeth.
“I’m nothing like you,” says Kyle when morning glows in the thickly-curtained window. “We’re nothing alike. Stay away from me, away from Elias … away from Nowhere, forever.”
Soon, it is anger and resentment that fills Kyle. Betrayal. That Tristan and all of the powers of the Vegasyn domain did nothing to prevent this from happening. That something like Lazarus is even able to come here. Despite all the reassurances made, they’re apparently still as vulnerable as they were before.
The raging ocean of resentment soon evaporates, leaving the dry salt of reality. Somehow, the arrival and swift departure of Lazarus has made it even more apparent how different Kyle is. The only one of his kind in this town. Cade and Jeremy and all of the others at the bar may see Kyle as a friend, but Leland clinging to him in the alleyway at the smallest of sounds is just one example of how scared they must truly be beneath the laughter and smiling. Is Kyle’s Reach not picking up that fear? Is it so well-hidden? Is Chief Rojas the only one brave enough to say what is on everyone’s minds?—that they would be better off if Kyle was far away, attracting no more matters of terror and danger upon the people of Nowhere?