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Antonia’s position doesn’t waver. “You will bring her to my house, Ethan Cristescu.” Her words are hard like stone. There are no other options, apparently. I anxiously try to figure out a way to evade Antonia long enough to get out of this city and away from her.
Ethan is about to argue with her when I place my hand on his arm. “It’s okay, I’ll go with her Ethan.” His face is a picture of confusion as I turn back to Antonia and bow my head slightly. “Governess, would you mind if I made a brief trip to my apartment before I go with you. There are some things I would like to get, and I’d like the chance to wash off all of this blood and dirt.” I gaze at her with my big blue eyes, like a frightened little kitten, and go over to kneel down in front of her. This seems to persuade her of my innocence. Although she probably considers my trust to be stupidity, little does she know. I pluck away a stray white hair that had fallen onto her black coat, closing my fist over it and slipping it inside of Ethan’s coat pocket.
“Very well,” she answers after thinking it over. “But Drusilla will go with you, and when you are done she will escort you back to me.”
“Thank you.” I reply, before getting up and going back over to sit with Ethan.
When we get back to the city Ethan and Dru drive me to my apartment in Ethan’s Cadillac. Ethan tells Dru to wait in the car when he pulls up outside my building, but she insists on at least coming up with us and standing outside the door to make sure we don’t try anything. Ethan agrees, but I can tell that he’s pissed when he slams my door in Dru’s face, making sure she doesn’t follow us inside.
“You don’t need to be so rude to her,” I tell him, taking a moment to sit down on my sofa. “She’s only doing her job you know.”
Ethan presses both his hands against the walls on either side of my kitchenette. His forehead furrowed when he asks. “Why are you doing this? Going with Anto
nia is a death sentence and you know it.”
I roll my eyes. “I’m not going with Antonia, I’m leaving Tribane. I just needed the time to get my things. I’m still trying to figure out a way to get rid of Dru though.” I rub my forehead in both frustration and exhaustion.
Ethan’s worry immediately disappears and a smile shapes itself on his handsome mouth. “Why didn’t you say so,” he beams, before coming to sit beside me and taking my hand in his. “Where are we going?”
“We?” I ask in surprise. “You want to come with me?”
“Of course,” he says, without backing an eyelid. “Delilah can take care of my business while I’m away.”
I pull my hand out of Ethan’s hold. “I don’t think you get it Ethan. I’m leaving Tribane for good. Not just for a holiday. I won’t be coming back. Ever.”
Ethan shakes his head. “Antonia will not be Governess for much longer Tegan, soon she will be overthrown and then it will be safe for you to return.”
“It’s not just about Antonia,” I reply. “There are a bunch of vampires who know what I am now, and that information is only going to spread. I don’t think you get the enormity of my situation Ethan. I am going to have to hide for the rest of my fucking life and I’m terrified.” A tear trickles down my face. “You may not be interested in me for what my blood can give you, but I can guarantee you that’s not the way the other vampires will be thinking. They’ll all want a piece of me, and they won’t stop taking and taking until I’m dead.”
He pulls me into his arms, and they are so warm and strong and protective. I wish I could fall into him and stay there forever. He makes comforting sounds as I bawl into his t-shirt. Finally I pull back and wipe at my face. “I’m sorry Ethan, but you can’t come with me. This is something I need to do alone. I need to get away from this world, a world to which you belong. If you come with me then I’ll never escape it.”
He doesn’t respond when I tell him this, merely stares at me with unfathomable eyes. “I’m going to take a quick shower,” I say, before getting up and going into the bathroom.
I towel dry my hair once I’m done in the shower and get dressed in some clean black jeans and a white t-shirt. I curse quietly when I remember that my green army coat is most likely buried beneath the rubble of Theodore’s mansion. It had been my favourite. A comfort blanket of sorts, I’ve had it since I was seventeen. It’s stupid but I feel like I might cry at the loss of it. Everything is going wrong. Everything.
But I hold back the tears, swallow them down my aching throat. I go to my bedroom, passing silently by Ethan as he remains seated on my couch. In my room everything is packed up, I throw the ripped up velvet dress in the bin before retrieving Antonia’s strand of hair from Ethan’s coat, wrapping it up in a piece of tissue paper and placing it carefully in the side compartment of my bag. I’ll need it later.
The last thing I need to get is Matthew’s box. It’s unhealthy to keep it, I know that, but I guess I’m just too messed up to leave it here. I still need it. Still need him, or at least the memory of him. I place it in the bag with the rest of my things and zip it up tight.
Then I sit on my bed for a minute and consider my next move. I stare at the four walls that surround me. A box that had kept me safe for so many long days and nights while I’d been too frightened to leave. Too unstable. Perhaps it’s for the best that I get away this place. Far too many painful memories permeate in the air. Each crack in the wall, every chip in the paintwork, each creak in every floorboard reminds me of things I am dying to forget. Dying slowly because my brain won’t let me move on. The urgency of my situation means that I no longer have a choice. I have to go. I wonder if anyone will even miss me.
Okay, I make a promise to myself to quit with the self-pity. It doesn’t do anybody any good. I take a deep breath and put on a long grey coat that belongs to Nicky. I’m sure she won’t mind me keeping it, since my poor beloved green one is now dead and buried. I place my key on the bedside table, hitch my bag up onto my shoulder and go out to face Ethan.
He watches me enter the room without any expression on his beautiful face. His golden blond hair is messy from all of the action on the island, it makes him look even more irresistible. I’m going to need nerves of steel to get through leaving him without even spending one proper night with him. I tend to deny myself the things that might make me feel any kind of happiness.
“Is there any way that you could, I don’t know, knock Dru out or something. It’s the only way I can think of getting out of here without her following us.” I say to him, and a small grin lifts either side of his lips.
“Leave it to me,” he answers, then gets up and opens the front door. I hear him make small talk with Dru before a loud thunk sounds and he is dragging her unconscious body back inside my apartment.
“She’ll be out of action for a couple of hours,” says Ethan, leaving her lying on the sofa. “Come along, you need all the head start you can get.”
I’m not going to argue with that. Once we’re back in his car and all belted up Ethan turns to me and asks. “So, where to?”
A tiny spark of pain stings my heart as I recall the first time he’d driven me home. In a strange way I think I really am going to miss Ethan. It will certainly take me a long time to forget him.
“The bus station,” I answer. “I need to go see my dad first and ask him for a loan of money so that I can get some place faraway.”
Ethan eyes me cautiously, he seems uneasy about saying something. Finally he gets it out. “If it’s money you need I have no problem providing you with enough to keep you going.” Then he slips his hand into his pocket, taking out his wallet and retrieving a slim navy credit card. “There’s a five grand limit on this, you can use it until you get set up somewhere.” He hands me the card and I just sit there for a minute and look at it. It’s oh so very tempting. Then I shake my head.
