Redemption

Chapter 16

I am watching Them. They have my rapt attention. They are brothers-Twins-and they are Cursed. One I know well. His name is Damon. The Other I fear. He is now bound to her.
~Bezalial~

For the first time ever I lied to Monroe. I didn't point blank alter the truth, I just couldn't speak. Questions bubbled out of her as I drove to school. "What happened to you this weekend? I came to the Abbey, but your aunt said you weren't there. I texted and called, but you didn't answer."

Maybe it was shock, maybe it was denial, but every time I attempted to speak, there was nothing.

Monroe's gaze found my face, and she fell silent. Despair colored my features. It was the same kind of grief, in a way, that I'd felt the day my parents had died. Maybe Monroe saw that, or maybe she saw the fear, the creatures I imagined were inside of me, the ones eating a hole through my gut. My soul was laid bare. Whatever she saw, she didn't question me further.

"What's wrong with Dayton?" merged with multiple "Happy birthdays" as we moved through the halls at school. I never heard the answer to the former, and I didn't give thanks for the latter. I wasn't feeling thankful.
I ran from everyone. Maybe I was a coward, but I didn't want to admit that my friends had been right, that I should have left the Abbey. My stubbornness had defiled me.

During fourth period philosophy, I hid in the bathroom because the thought of facing Mr. James and Conor was too much knowing one had feelings for me and the other was involved in whatever ritual my aunt had initiated. Truth was, I was afraid.

When the bell rang, I joined the converging students, my body jostled. Peering over the crowd, I found Jessie Grey's face bobbing in the maelstrom, her eyes flashing red. I blinked, and she was gone.

"Dayton!" Monroe called. Fighting the bodies, I met her in the open doorway of our last period Spanish class, a pitiful smile playing on my lips. It didn't fool her, the silence strong when we took our seats.

We were in the final fifteen minutes of that same class translating an audio file for extra credit when Monroe suddenly jabbed me from behind.

"Hottie stage right," she hissed, her pencil pointed at the window next to us.

My gaze swept the small expanse of green lawn to the woods beyond, my breath hitching when I caught sight of the man. "You've got to be fucking kidding me!" If I'd doubted any of last night's events, the hottie just made them a reality.

"Marcas," I breathed. The tall, black-haired man leaned casually against the trunk of an oak tree, his arms crossed, the stance pulling his black tee snugly across a broad chest. A full length leather duster flapped against his jeans.

His eyes met mine, and the events from the night before slammed into me. My head spun and every bruise on my body suddenly ached.

"Hot, huh?" Monroe asked.

I fought not to wince. "I guess."

Monroe smirked. "You guess? Are you blind! I wonder who he's waiting on. Whoever she is, she's lucky." Draping heart shaped fingers against her chest, she mimicked a beating heart.

"It's fifth period. Has to be a senior," Stefanie Davies suddenly murmured from the seat in front of us. "Introductions are definitely in order."

My brows rose. Stefanie had a continuous delegation of men following in her blonde model-like wake. Maybe it was the body, but most of us figured it was her daddy's money.

"He looks dangerous," Lita added from the next aisle.

"I'll be Lauren Bacall to his Humphrey Bogart," Monroe whispered.

My gaze remained locked on the window. Was he here to kill me? He'd failed before, but it was daylight now. Daylight! Did that mean he wasn't a vampire?