Pulse (On Hold)

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-One

As I watch Renee scream in heartbreaking agony I know I have to do something fast. There has to be a way to get her memory back and for the pain to cease. She’s holding her head in her hands and her face contorts with so much crippling affliction I realise what has to be done.

My heart begins to do pirouettes in my chest as I consider contacting Logan. He is a deadly vampire, a nightmare, a monster, but he’s also the key to unlocking the mystery behind Renee’s torment. I stand up and leave the room, my breathing a little too irregular.

I turn the corner into the kitchen and I poor myself a glass of water. I steady myself on the counter and take in three deep pulls of air. I hear soft footsteps behind me and I turn around to meet Jared’s fierce gaze.

My eyes dance over his tense shoulders, the tight fists by his sides and the tortured look in his blue eyes. He’s like my private sun, so I hate to see his beautiful face so tainted by the shadows under his eyes and the hard mask that is slowly but surely making permanent changes to him.

“You should be in there looking after Renee,” I tell him, swallowing another mouthful of water. It seems to sink to the bottom of my empty stomach and I feel a wave of nausea swell over me.

Jared’s frown is stiff. “She’s not hurting any more,” he says curtly, taking a few steps towards me.

He folds his arms over his chest and he gives me a look that has a sigh escaping my lips. Suspicion. “What are you thinking about, Em?” He asks, peering down at me with those knowing eyes of his.

“I have to help Renee,” is my only reply.

Jared shakes his head, taking my shoulders in his firm grip and squeezes as if he’s trying to communicate his reluctance through touch. “Not like that,” he says. He tries to smile, his lips pulling up weakly at the edges, but it just looks like a bittersweet grimace.

“Not like what?” I ask.

“Logan isn’t the answer Emerald,” he tells me, squeezing my shoulders again softly.

I feel my resolve waver and I bite the inside of my cheek. He knows me so well. “He has to know something, Jared. He’s a vampire and Renee’s captives are vampires. How is he not the answer?”

“Michael and I aren’t completely hopeless, you know? Have a little faith,” Michael says, one of his hands leaving my shoulders and reaching up to cup my face.

I lean into his warm palm and sigh again. “What do you mean?”

“We’re vampire hunters,” Jared says, stroking my cheekbone with gentle tenderness like I’m a fragile doll. Only his touch could calm me down completely like this. “We know things that can help.”

I can’t stop the scepticism from filling my voice. “Like what?”

Jared chuckles, the creases by his eyes alleviating some of the harshness from his hard mask. But when he answers my question there’s no mistaking the edge to his tone. “When a human feeds from a vampires they loose their memory.”

Jared stops, an explanation still hanging on his lips as he waits for me to digest what he just said. But I can’t. He must realise how utter confused I am because he begins to bounce on the balls of his feet, agitation and anger building in him now.

“I had a talk with Michael and we believe Renee’s mind has been tampered with,” he says bitterly.

I take a step back from him and the hand that was once caressing my face falls to his side. I clutch my stomach as if to hold myself together and I meet Jared’s enraged eyes again.