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Her eyes squint, lines forming at the creases as she concentrates. “I went to the library to make some copies of my resume. It was dark. Mrs. Grady was closing the library behind me, but she forgot her purse and went back inside. I was in the parking lot by myself when someone grabbed me from behind.”
Her eyes widen as she conjures up the last minutes of her life as she knew it. Before she was kidnapped and brought into this world of vampires. “I remember kicking and screaming, but nobody came to help.” She begins to cry, and I want to pull her into me, but the bars still separate us. “I was dragged into the dark alley behind The Shack, and I don’t remember anything else.”
She was likely injected with the same drug I had been, rendering her unconscious. Hearing her story brings back my own horrific abduction. From the chilling walk home to hiding in the cornfield to the black eyes that showed no mercy before stabbing me with a syringe that put me under. I shudder at the memory.
“The party,” she continues, having slipped into the next horrifying event. The night she was turned. “That’s when the pain—” She trails off, hand reaching up to her neck, hovering over the scar that’s likely the wound from where the vampire bit her. “Cold. Ice cold,” she murmurs, body shivering as if she’s reliving the horrific night. “Then everything started burning.” She starts to claw at her neck, growing agitated. “Jill... oh God! Andrea.”
I shake my head back and forth. “Shannon, listen to me. You didn’t do those things. It’s the virus playing tricks on you. It was the virus,” I repeat, trying to calm her.
“Your friends are fine. It’s already been verified,” Julian chimes in.
I watch as Shannon fidgets with her fingers. Looking up, I notice her head twitches as though she’s fighting some internal battle we can’t see. She’s fighting off the monster within. My heart breaks for my friend and the struggle she faces.
“Shannon,” I soothe, trying to pull her back to the present. Anything to help her fight. “Listen to me... Marina,” I correct, hoping that hearing my name will help. “I’m here and I’m alive. I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
The twitching slows and finally, her fingers stop moving. Shannon’s eyes focus on me, recognition coming back.
“That’s right,” I coax. “Deep breaths.”
She inhales and exhales several times, closing her eyes and continuing to breathe.
When her eyes open, they volley back and forth between Julian and Addy. “Who are you?” she asks, pulling out of my grip and slinking back into the cell.
“They’re friends, Shannon. You can trust them.” I smile, hoping to reassure her.
Addy steps forward. “I am Adèle. A friend of Marina’s. I will not hurt you,” she affirms.
Shannon’s eyes meet mine and I nod, happy to see her shoulders relax. I turn to Julian. “This is my... boyfriend, Julian Bellamy.”
Shannon’s eyes widen. “A v-vampire?”
“He’s one of the good guys, Shannon. You can trust him with your life.”
“You love him,” she observes, head tilted, watching my every move. It’s a bit disconcerting. She’s still the same Shannon I know and love, but she’s different too.
A slow grin spreads across her face and for a moment I’m afraid the monster is pushing forward. “You’re in love with a vampire, Rina? What the hell have I missed?”
I chuckle, grateful that she isn’t succumbing to the darkness within, but I ignore her questions as one of my own arises, needing to be brought to the collective. I have to know if her abduction and subsequent change was my fault.
“Based on the way that she was taken, do you think that it was someone from the Council?”
Julian shakes his head. “I don’t think so. The Council has very particular ways of dealing with humans. This sounds random.”
“Liberty has never had issues with vampire attacks. Maggie and I saw things, but no one else seemed to,” I say, wondering how this could be unrelated. We see vampires that are linked to the Council and then my friend is bitten. How can they not be linked?
“It’s likely the activity is due to the Council’s presence. Vampires travel closely behind, hoping to get in with members of the Crown’s Council. Think of it like organized crime. There is always someone who wants in. Wants power.”
I grind my teeth, angry at the Council for exposing Liberty to vampires. It’s a small town and should have never been on their radar.
“What can be done to save the rest of the village? I don’t want this happening to any of our other friends,” Shannon says between sniffles.
“We’re already on it,” Julian says, coming to stand next to me. “We’ll keep them safe, Shannon.”
“Any chance I can get a shower?” she asks, scrunching her nose. I smile because in this moment, she’s my Shannon.
“I’ll arrange it,” Julian says, walking toward the door.
“Marina. What’s going to happen to me?” Shannon’s hand lays on top of mine.
