Vampire Emeritus (Part #3) ✔

Chapter 9: Old Friends

I squatted in the bushes in front of the targeted house. The cultists would come soon. Afraid of bitter disappointment, I desperately tried to calm my heartbeat and force myself to think negatively. We would find nothing. The Sacred Order wouldn't act the way we predicted. I wasn't mere minutes away from seeing Ian again.

"You're going to give us away." Tina hissed next to me.

Her black hair and clothes blended in the darkness, but her piercing blue eyes shone like two jewels and her pale face, illuminated by moonlight, glimmered in the night. I was completely dressed in black, too, with black jeans and a black turtleneck, but my blonde hair was way more visible, so I kept it in a ponytail.

We've agreed Tina and I would scout. William wanted to come, too, but he was busy training vamplings and the three of us would be too many.

My gut churned with anticipation and disgusting fluttering. No matter how hard I stop myself from hyping this up, my body wouldn't listen.

I breathed in deeply, "I'm trying."

Tina and I were crunched in the bushes on the hill right over the narrow street, tightly-packed with houses in a row, waiting for anything to happen. The Sacred Order website said this was the house they would attack next; a small, single story home with a porch in front and a cute little garden in the back. The lights inside were on.

The need to act overwhelmed me, the need to warn this family harm was coming their way, but that wasn't the smartest thing to do. Over the past two years, I've learned that the thing one wanted to do sometimes greatly differed from what one needed to do.

"Jesus, they're going to hear your heartbeat a mile away." Tina rolled her eyes.

"They're going to hear your incessant bitching, too." I smacked her arm.

"Ouch!"

"Quiet." I hissed and looked through the branches. "Look."

In the small garden behind the house, a man stood in the shadows, not moving. I could only make out his silhouette; tall and bulky. I turned my ear in his direction, but didn't hear anything. He stood there like he was a piece of stone, a part of the mountain.

Tina and I didn't move, afraid to make a sound. Even our breaths stuck in our throats.

For the longest couple of minutes, nothing happened.

Then, four silhouettes appeared at the end of the narrow street, stalking towards the house at the end. My heartbeat went wild, protesting in my chest, sending blood to my limbs, begging me to move.

I pushed my emotions down and focused on what was happening in front of me.

Four people strolled down the street. The website said there would be four. Then, who the hell was the fifth man waiting in the shadows?

Tina grabbed my arm, probably realising the same thing. In the silence, I could hear her rhythmical heartbeat and hoped the vampires approaching the house would mistake us for the residents of this street.

I took in the vampires' appearance.

Ian was leading them to the house. He was the same as ever; tall and gorgeous, with his light brown hair pushed back, and a determined look in his gentle brown eyes. The dim street lighting added the bronze glow to his skin and his hair. His arm muscles strained under the fabric of his black shirt. He was dressed so casually, like he was going downtown for the night out and not coming to set a fire in some random house.

My heart trashed against my chest.

I haven't seen him in two years. And for two years, I've been imagining what it would be like to see him again. What I didn't predict was the fear that suddenly coursed through my veins. What would I tell him? What was he like now? Was he still the Ian I knew?