Unmasked | Book 1 in "Dark Descendants" (Editing)

Chapter 11

The ride was awkward.

We had split up into pairs of two; Diana with Nate, Joe with Matt, and me with—you guessed it—Fallon.

Yes, we just happened to be the last two remaining when Diana and Matt announced their partners. Joe wanted to have a word with Matt, I'll never know what about though, since he remained expressionless. Matt didn't question him, surprisingly and had no choice but to pick him as a partner.

And now here we were, in a car Fallon 'borrowed' and driving in the direction where he had felt the supernatural presence come from. And it was awkward as hell considering what happened the last time we talked.

I've been wondering for the past hour what that red glow had been, and it was obvious that it came from him. But what did it mean?

I was also even more perplexed when he said he was evil, 'since the day he was born'. So he wasn't completely a vampire, then what was he?

"So how long have you been a vampire for?" I broke the silence so suddenly, he almost jumped. I smiled, then quickly hid it. I was trying to destroy the awkward atmosphere. If I was going to be this close with him, I might as well entertain myself. I was a little less intimidated by him since he spilled his beans.

I don't know why, maybe because even if he was bad, he finally let me know a bit more about him. If he was truly evil, he wouldn't be helping us; the good guys. So maybe he was evil in the past, or part of him is still evil but it doesn't really count since it seems as if it's not in control.

He glanced at me momentarily before turning back to the road, one hand on the steering wheel. "About four and a half centuries." He mumbled in a monotone. "You?"

"A decade." I answered flatly. The corner of his mouth twitched as if he were trying to fight a smile.

"You're strong." He mused softly.

"Not stronger than you." He looked at me again with an almost sad expression and stayed silent for a few seconds as he watched the road again.

"Trust me, you'd never want to be me." He said mysteriously as his face suddenly turned hard.  My gaze softened. He sounded hurt.

"Why is that?"

"You don't want to know."  He left it at that and silence once again filled the air. We were both wearing matching black jackets and it was around three in the afternoon. Pretty dark though, and insanely cold. I nibbled at the inside of my bottom lip as I tried to think of another thing to talk about. I was horrible at keeping this one promise to Nate.

"Do you drive around much?"

"No, actually. I usually just depend on my own strength. Joe's the one who tries to be civilized about it."

"Huh." I nodded, pretending to be interested in it as I wildly searched my brain for something else to fill the silence. When I came up with nothing casual, I just got right to it. "What did you mean you were 'evil'?"

His grip on the steering wheel visibly tightened and his knuckles were turning white. I guess this was a touchy subject. But that didn't make me second-think this. I needed an answer. "You'll find out eventually." He said finally.

I scoffed. "Just like everything else that happened. That is the answer everybody gives me."

"Then maybe you should actually listen to what people tell you." I stared at him in disbelief. Apparently talking about his past made him in such a bad mood.

"Oh, excuse me for being a little annoyed if people keep giving the same stupid answer to every question I ask." I snapped at him.

"The world is full of vague people, Rose." He said in a quiet voice. "Especially those who have so much to tell but can't say anything."