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her hip.
She put on lipstick and caught my eyes in the mirror.
She snapped her clutch shut with a laugh.
She widened her eyes, chugging soda as her Coke bottle fizzed over.
She hugged me, enveloping me in her lemony scent.
The images faded, but the scent lingered as I became aware of my bed again. Mei-Ling had finished playing. My pillow was damp. I touched my face—I was crying.
Mei had managed to reach deep into those parts of myself that I’d buried and forgotten. It was the most cathartic experience of my life. And it was the most terrifying.
That was Mei’s secret. And her weapon.
And her talents would only be enhanced over time as she consumed more of the blood. I lay there, unable to speak. The possibilities were endless. Could she hypnotize people? Trigger reactions in entire crowds? Would she be powerful enough to influence even the vampires?
If vampires could harness her gift—gaining the ability to hypnotize with music, influence emotion, manipulate memory and thought, to control those around them—it would be a powerful weapon indeed.
“Would you like to sleep now?”
I felt a jolt of alarm. “Can that thing put me to sleep?” I had no doubts it’d work in the euthanizing sense of the word.
She sat at the edge of the bed, seeming calmed. When I saw her smile in the moonlight, I realized she hadn’t given me many true smiles. I liked the sight. “Relax, Acari Drew. You’ll wake up again. I promise. ”
“Mei, it’s just Drew. You gotta call me Drew. ”
She began to play again, quietly this time. For the first time since the bond, the gnawing in my gut subsided. In the moment before I drifted off, I hoped I’d get to feel my mother’s embrace one more time. But the black void of sleep was all that waited for me. Cold sleep and dreams of vampires.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
I was climbing.
All I knew was the rock in front of my eyes and my own breath reverberating in my head. My fingers found handholds without effort. My legs pushed me up—just as Carden had said they would.
Suddenly my perspective telescoped outward. A moment of vertigo as my head adjusted. I was climbing the Needle.
I saw the rock and heard my breath, and now I was aware of the sunlight, too, warm on my shoulders. It almost soothed the permanent throbbing along my neck and in my skull—almost.
The sun was warm, but the wind was cold, whipping against my legs. I realized they were bare. I wore my favorite old pair of cargo shorts.
A dream, then.
Smiling, I climbed faster. I couldn’t fall—this was a dream.
Carden was waiting for me, seated on the plateau near the top. I wondered for an instant why he was there if we were supposed to remain apart, but then I laughed, understanding. “Anything can happen. I’m just dreaming. ”
He smiled down at me, reached out his hand, and pulled me up and over to join him. “Anything can happen. ”
I sat and dangled my legs. They were so small in comparison to his muscular thighs, thick like tree trunks swathed in plaid wool.
“Wait, is that…is that a kilt?” The wind was cold on my smiling cheeks. “You didn’t wear that when you climbed. The wind…I would’ve noticed. ”
He leaned down, speaking close to my ear. “You’re saying you would’ve peeked up my plaid?”
The way he’d nudged his shoulder to mine set my heart pounding. I nodded to the preposterous scale of our legs, side by side. “I look so tiny, compared to you. ”
“You’re just right, compared to me. ” His broad hand covered my thigh, squeezed, warm on my chilled skin.
