Hello Darkness

Chapter Thirty-Eight

My knee bounces as I wait in Victor's office. He's arranged for me to stay with one of the higher-ranking members of his council. My skin crawls, they all seem so...uptight. With Victor's buttoned down, pressed white shirt and navy suit jacket hanging over his chair, and the formal dress Lace wore, I feel so out of place.

Someone knocks and opens the door, not waiting for Victor to respond. A girl with short purple hair and dark ripped jeans enters. She's probably here to tell us Gabriella is running late. Even her name screams affluent.

Victor stands to greet her. "Gabriella."

I blink. Twice.

She's a pixie-like girl with a pointed little nose and razor-sharp cheekbones. Her lavender hair compliments her olive skin and dark eyes. She tucks her hair behind her ear, showing off her large diamond encrusted gages before bowing her head to Victor. "Gabby, please. He's always so formal." Her smile is bright and toothy—the kind that warms the room and draws everyone to them, just like Breccan's.

I nod. "Charley." I study her septum piercing and parallel rings piercing the bottom corners of her cherry red lips. She's not what I was expecting.

"I expect you'll get her some proper clothes," Victor says, raising his eyebrows. "When I arrive later we may be going out, so I'm sure she'll be more comfortable in something else."

"I'm sure I've got something that will do the job." Gabby smiles again at me.
I follow her into the hall and shut the door behind me. Lace waits as if she's been summoned.
"I called you fifteen minutes ago." Her eyes bore into Gabby.
"Oh, shove off, Lace." Gabby shoots back.

Lace steps in front of her, making me nearly collide with Gabby's back. "Excuse me. I am your superior, and you will address me as such."

"You're not my Guardian or my Master, and I'd suggest that if you have an issue with how you're addressed you take it up with them. And as of now, I can assure you that Master didn't mind the slight delay in my arrival. So please forgive me, Mistress, but shove off." The fire that spits from Gabby's tongue was impressive considering Lace stands nearly a head taller than her and her amber eyes glow with the ferocity of a tiger.

Lace backs Gabby into the wall and grabs her chin between her thumb and forefinger. "Watch your tongue girl, or I'll be sure that you lose it." She drops her hand yanking Gabby's head to the side. Lace's eyes glaze over me. "I suggest you don't take lessons from this one." She turns on a heel and walks back down the hall, her shoes clicking on the tile.

"She's a peach." Gabby smiles before turning to walk after her.

~*~

The sun crests over the bushes lighting the community in an orange glow. I'm hesitant to step into the sun, even though I've seen Talum do it plenty of times. Gabby reassures me, that even though vampires don't crisp into a potato chip in the sun, it doesn't mean they enjoy it. It drains our energy, so it's still something we avoid.

The neighborhood has awoken with the hum of car motors, birds chirping, and random conversations. "Won't the humans notice us?" I whisper as we pass a middle-aged man weed whacking around a small spruce tree. I don't know what I expected vampires to do in their spare time, but it certainly was not lawn maintenance.

"There's a veil that works the front gates. He ensures any humans going in or out, even through the bushes don't remember anything strange they saw."

"What's a veil?"

"We all have the basics haze, speed, strength, super regeneration. But some vampires are reborn with extra gifts. Veils, mistweavers and shadow walkers. Veils can project a haze over multiple humans. The humans hear, see, and feel whatever the veil wants them too."

Veils. Mistweavers. Shadow walkers. My head spins. "I'm not going to have to take a test, am I?"

Gabby lifts her dark eyebrows.

"I'm just saying I might need a handbook or something."

"Ahhh. That's my million-dollar idea." She spread her hands in front of her like she could see it in lights. "'How to be a Vampire with Gabby Ettore.'" Gabby turns down a short driveway. The house at the end isn't anything to gawk over. Quite plain compared to the mansions around it. "It gets easier I promise and I'll be with you every step of the way."

Gabby gave me a quick tour of her house. Joint kitchen and living room, two bedrooms down the hall and two bathrooms, one in Gabby's room and one just outside the second bedroom with an adjoining door.

A shower sounds fantastic. I don't feel dirty exactly, but being alone for a few minutes to try to sort out my thoughts seems magical.

Gabby sets me up in the guest bedroom. The dark mahogany furniture compliments the tan walls and ivory curtains, giving it a more elegant look. I shuffle into the bathroom, my feet brushing the soft carpet before stepping onto the cool tiles.

Again, I think I see the same flicker of black I'd seen in the silver door. I met the green eyes of the girl in the mirror, though they glow the familiar emerald against my porcelain skin—that girl was a stranger. The full extent of my transformation is displayed and I run my hand over my scalp. It's not quite bald anymore, the stubble prickles against my hands like the wires of a brush.

I drop the boxy clothes to the floor before I climbing into the shower, welcoming the cascade of warm water. After a moment, I grab the washcloth and bar of soap. My skin crawls and I scrub at invisible specks of dirt.

And Talum.

Every time I close my eyes I see Talum launching himself at me. I grip my neck, feeling Stevens' canines slicing through the soft flesh. I see my parents and the vampires hunched over their bodies. I am one of them now... I can feel Talum's long cold fingers running over my arms. I can still feel his breath on my neck. When I close my eyes, his ice blue eyes stare back, sending chills down my spine. Every memory of him is a lie.

I slide down, my back pressed against the shower wall and allow my tears to escape, hidden by the running water. No matter how hard I scrub, I will never be able to scrub him off.