AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Gigi’s face sort of crumpled into that weird “there’s something I don’t want to tell you” origami expression. “Every time I was supposed to be going out with Ben, he would drive me to meet John.”
“Wh-why did Ben agree to that?” I asked, struggling over the syllables.
She shrugged. “Because he really likes me.”
“Gigi!”
“Shut up, both of you!” John yelled, exasperated. “This is not the time for girl talk.”
We both shrank back into our chairs, chastened.
“Both of you, just be quiet,” he said, his tone stern but not unfriendly. “Gigi, I’m very glad to see you. Now that you’re here, you can help me.”
The smooth, velvety tenor of his voice seemed to curl around her body, making her relax and sag into the chair. A dreamy smile tilted the corners of her mouth, and she leaned into the caress of his voice.
“Don’t you want to help me, Gigi?” he asked, his lips nearly touching her ear. She nodded, smiling shyly. “Just close your eyes and sit there quietly,” he whispered.
With his focus aimed elsewhere, I was able to move again, to concentrate. Gigi’s eyelids drooped, and her head dropped to her chest as if she’d suddenly decided to take a nap at our kitchen table.
“Hey!” I stood up from my chair, flinging it behind me. “What are you doing to her?”
He turned on me, that winsome expression firmly in place, although his eyes were as dead and blank as a shark’s. “Sit down and be a good girl, like your sister.”
Although I fought against the urge to obey, my arms reached out of their own volition and righted the chair. I sat heavily, gripping the edge of the table and praying for the strength to push up and stand again. But the urge to stay seated seemed to be the only thing that kept me breathing. If I stood, something terrible would happen. John hummed a tuneless ditty as he opened the back door and disappeared into the house. His absence let me flex my hand enough to reach out to Gigi. But then he came back, and the music clogged my thinking.
The humming continued while John wrapped duct tape around our ankles, secured our wrists behind our backs, and put us into the trunk of his car. The humming was so soothing, so calming, that my limbs were too limp and heavy to push John away. Hell, I even tilted my head helpfully so John could tie my blindfold more easily. I was only able to move and think freely after the trunk slammed shut and the humming stopped. Even in that small, cramped space, it felt easier to breathe.
It took a few long, agonizing miles for me to focus enough to rub my face against the carpet of the trunk. I worked until the blindfold slipped from my eyes and around my neck.
“Gigi,” I whispered, my tongue heavy and thick. She didn’t stir, so I kicked her shins. She jerked awake, head rolling wildly around in the little space.
“Iris, what—where are we?”
“Deep breaths, Geeg,” I told her, shaking the last foggy remnants of John’s influence from my head. I leaned forward to tug the blindfold down with my teeth.
Head lolling, she blinked against the harsh red light of the brake lights. I cleared my throat.
“What the hell has gotten into you, Gladiola Grace?”
“Wow, you sounded exactly like Mom just then.”
“Don’t flatter me.” I growled. “Why did you lie to me? Did you think I would forbid you to date him? Did you think I wouldn’t understand that you wanted to go out with a vampire? I would never judge you, because clearly—pot, kettle, black, hello?”
Gigi squirmed uncomfortably. “Vampire?”
“John is a vampire.”
She scoffed. “No, he’s not.”
“Are you telling me that you did not notice that your boyfriend doesn’t have a pulse?”
“Well, it’s not like I was feeling around on his wrist.”
I closed my eyes and bit my tongue, because I did not want to know where she had been “feeling around.” Instead, I asked, “Have you ever seen him during the day?” She shook her head. “Have you ever seen him eat?”
The two of us smacked our heads together when the car hit a bump. She winced. “I thought he was a little cold.”
I groaned and promised myself that if we lived through this, my sister would be sent to a convent school.
