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Hailey snapped herself out of her dreaming just in time to swerve the car back onto the road. She despised what she had become. She knew of only two vampires who had ever given up blood and lived, Ceralin and Paul. She had gone to Paul first because, truthfully, he was easier to find. She feared Paul, everyone feared Paul, vampire and Asuune alike, but she had no choice. She was surprised when Paul actually treated her with kindness and compassion. He realized she was trying to quit blood before she even spoke a word, it was almost like he knew she was coming. He told her that his situation kept him from helping her but that Ceralin would help. She only needed to convince his Kathrine that she was worthy of saving. She pondered this for a second, ‘he had actually used the words ‘My Kathrine’? She wasn’t quite sure how to take that. Did it mean his friend, his servant? Did Paul actually find his one? That would be the icing on the cake to her miserable existence. The most feared man in the Asuune world found his one before she did.
The tingling in Hailey’s legs started again. She thanked God that it did. She had apparently shut her eyes while she was thinking. It was getting harder to stay awake and very difficult to concentrate on the road. When the convulsions stopped Hailey sped up. She needed to get closer to the delivery van, if she lost it, she would be dead. Hailey swerved quickly as she saw a man in a trench coat standing by the side of the road. She couldn’t see his face because of the hood he wore but she had nearly hit him.
“What kind of idiot wears a coat in this weather? Why was he standing in the middle of nowhere?” Hailey thought to herself then quickly forgot the man, she needed to catch that truck.
Giving up blood was very much like giving up a highly addictive narcotic. The withdrawals were horrible but the worst part was that your body would eventually shut down and even an Asuune could die if their body refused to live. Ceralin and Paul had managed to survive it somehow but it probably wasn’t a simple fix since Paul had sent her to Ceralin instead of just telling her how to do it. Hailey cursed herself again. She had been given every opportunity, every free pass in life and what did she do with it? She had thrown it all away in the pursuit of blood.
Hailey’s arms began to shake, she could smell the man in the car. She needed blood, her body needed it. Why was she chasing this truck? Ceralin wouldn’t help her. Ceralin hated her and for good reason. Why was she doing this? The faint smell of the man’s blood was hypnotic in its insistence. She could turn around now and go back to that small town she had passed an hour ago. There were humans there.
The convulsions started again. This time Hailey nearly broke the steering wheel off as she saw the delivery truck fifteen feet in front of her. She had been daydreaming again and the truck had pulled into a gas station at a small town. She had instinctively swerved to follow it not realizing that he was at a dead stop. Her legs were frozen and refused to hit the brakes so she hit the van at nearly forty miles an hour.
Chapter 24
Kathrine sat at the counter reading her magazine. It had been two weeks since she had escaped the vampires that were with Paul. Sarah and Agnus had trained her as often as possible but Kathrine still felt like it wasn’t enough. Sure she could best Agnus and Sarah but they were predictable. Only after several lessons was Kathrine able to beat them. Vampires would not be so easy.
Since Kathrine had so much training to do she was given the boring job of manning the register at the one gas station for the town. Kathrine had asked why a town that didn’t allow cars even had a gas station but Sarah just smiled at her and said ‘We get deliveries here all the time. Trucks need gas.’ Kathrine reluctantly accepted her assignment but still thought she could be doing more than just manning an empty station.
This job gave Kathrine an abundance of time to read and an overabundance of time to be annoyed by her constant thoughts of Paul. It wasn’t that Kathrine disliked thinking of Paul. He was an absolutely gorgeous man. The problem was the more she thought of him the more she wanted to be near him and she knew she wasn’t ready for that. She wasn’t physically strong enough or fast enough to help Paul defeat his father. By going to Paul now she would only put her true love in more danger.
Sitting alone with nothing to do was giving her way too much time to think about Paul. She felt like she was going mad. Why had Sarah given her such a boring job? There was nothing here to keep her mind off Paul. Now, not only was she intellectually frustrated she was also sexually frustrated. She swore to herself that if she didn’t get some kind of release soon she would be forced to have sex with the next guy she met.
Kathrine laughed at this notion, she knew damn well that she had lost interest in any man but Paul. As much as it might help her frustrations she doubted she could actually have sex with anyone else now. She also doubted that she was attractive enough to get a man. She’d had sex with a few men while in college but it was generally unsatisfying and the men never called her back. Kathrine had come to believe that she was an ‘anywhere in a storm’ type of girl. The one guys would hit on when all the pretty girls were taken.
