Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92612 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92612 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 463(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 309(@300wpm)
I taste bile as I wrap my arms around his neck and press my body to his.
“Slower!” he snarls at the orchestra.
The tempo drops, and he sways with me, his hands at my waist, then at my back. I feel every sinewy bit of him, his cold flesh against mine, his fetid breath on my cheek.
“I should’ve kept you.” He whispers in my ear, then rips my earlobe with his fang as I scream. “Maybe I will.”
17
Recovered Journal of Dr. Georgia Clark
June 26, Year 1, Emergence Era
They’re leaving today. I have to stay strong and let them go, no matter how much they ask me to go with them. This is where I belong. Here, in this city that’s on the edge of a precipice. We’re at the brink of something that will either make or break mankind. I send my hopes and my love with each of my friends. I told them I’ll meet them in Atlanta once I can convince Juno to come with me. They knew I was lying, Gretchen especially. But she and I share a secret that even the others don’t know about. We’ve created a substance that could change everything… But only if it works.
Idon’t leave my room for four days. At least, I think it’s four days by my count. I have no memory of how I got back here the night of the ball. For once I’m glad I can’t remember.
Food appears outside my door like always, though I don’t know how. It’s different, the dishes simpler, the silverware laid out a bit more haphazardly. I pick at it, my stomach aching with emptiness. I didn’t realize how Melody’s personal touch made everything better. I didn’t realize …
Her body shuddering on a silver spike.
I flinch at the sudden image, then roll into a ball, hugging my knees. I’d wanted her dead. Gloated at the thought of the vampires killing each other.
I didn’t know.
How could I have known it would be her?
It shouldn’t have been her.
And Valen just watched. Stood there with his hand over my mouth, forcing me to swallow my grief and anger. A vicious creature. The one who killed Juno. Why does that somehow make it hurt even more? He’s just another one of them. There is no warmth, no kindness, no mercy. He’s slaughtered his way through this world, and no one can stop him. Certainly not me. I’m no one. Whatever work I did on the cure, it wasn’t enough. I was a bit player put on the stage by my sister just like he said. That’s all.
My gown lies on the floor beside the bed. I wish I could burn it, wipe it from existence. Gregor’s hands on my bare skin, his fangs embedded in my flesh. I shiver and burrow beneath the blanket as tears threaten.
Sleep comes and goes, but I often wake to phantom screams. Vince’s. The little girl’s. My own.
I run my fingers along my neck, then my earlobe. They’re unharmed, the skin overly sensitive in those spots but undamaged. Healed though I don’t know how.
In these past fevered hours, all my dreams of escape have faded. Even if I could somehow get away from this estate, there’s nowhere to go. No safety. No one.
My thoughts have circled the drain, coalescing into one stream. I have only one option. A single chance to end all of this for good. Whatever information might be hiding in my mind, I can take it with me. Whitbine won’t have a chance to strip it from me if I’m dead.
On the fifth day, I resolve to move around. With quiet steps, I roam the halls, a ghost in a haunted mansion. When I find Melody’s quarters, I sit on her small sofa. Her floral and citrus scent still lingers in the air, but the room is still. All her color and vibrancy are gone, dead on a silver spike while I did nothing.
Did I do nothing when Juno was killed? Was I there when Valen hurt her? Was that the trauma that broke my mind and erased my memories? I don’t know. I’ll never know. I say a silent apology to Melody. It encompasses many things, my failure to save her, my coldness toward her when all she had for me was kindness. She was a vampire, but she wasn’t a monster. Could there be more like her? All the ghouls at the ball—not a single one of them had any kindness, any care for the humans they slaughtered. That child, her screams, I can’t escape them.
No, there was only one Melody.
In her closet, all her beautiful clothes are hung neatly, one sky blue dress set out from the rest. As if she might walk right in and change into it. I run my fingers along the fabric, a tactile goodbye.