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“Chances are, it was a murder of opportunity. But we’ll know more later.” She tucked the tablet under her arm. “I’ll talk to you later, May.” Inclining her head to me, she added, “Nice to meet you, Elphyra. Welcome to Starlight Hollow.” Turning on her heel, she headed back to her car.
* * *
I stood there,uncertain what to do next. “Are you all right?” I asked May.
She glanced at the sky. “Such dark news for such a bright day. I’ll miss Olivia. She’s—she was one of my oldest friends here.” She dashed away a tear, frowning. “But I’ve lived through worse, my dear. I’ll manage.” Motioning to the flowers, she said, “Let’s get back to planting. Let’s bring life into the world in memory of Olivia.”
I followed her back to the walkway and we sat down on the ground again, returning to our task. I shivered, suddenly chilly in the warm morning air.
“If you feel like telling me, you can, you know,” May said after a moment.
I raised my head. She didn’t have to spell it out. I knew exactly what she was talking about. “Maybe. I don’t know.”
“You’re going to have to talk about it at some point. You might as well get it out in the open. The tension surrounds you like a cloud.” She wiped her hands on a rag and leaned back. “Why did you leave Port Townsend? You froze when Daisy said Olivia was torn to pieces. It’s horrible, yes, but reality often is.”
I leaned back, knees to my chest as I wrapped my arms around them. “All right. I suppose it was wishful thinking to hope that I could avoid it—that I could consign the memories to the past. I guess you can’t ever make things disappear by ignoring them.”
“What happened to you, girl?” May asked, her gaze fastened on my face.
I stared back at her. “A year ago, in early April—April third, to be exact—Rian, my fiancé, and I went to a movie. After that, we stopped at a local bar to hang out with friends for an hour or so. By the time we left, it was dark and we were both tipsy. So we decided to walk home. The apartment we shared was only a mile away.”
“What time was it?” May asked.
“Five past midnight. We had to cross through a questionable part of town, but in Port Townsend the seedy section only took up a couple blocks. We passed by an alley and the next thing I knew, somebody jumped out and grabbed hold of me. He was strong—so strong—and when Rian started toward us, he told him to come quietly or he’d slit my throat. I couldn’t break his hold and I was too drunk to cast a spell.”
I closed my eyes, trying to block out the flood of emotion that was threatening to drown me. But then, I was right back there—in the middle of it—and everything was all too crystal clear.
* * *
Whoever hadhold of me was tall—at least six inches taller by what I could tell. He smelled like a popular men’s cologne—Ice Flow. I didn’t see a knife, but the command in the man’s voice was impossible to ignore and I quit fighting and let him drag me into the shadows. The next thing I knew, Rian was there, his hands up.
“We don’t want any trouble—we’ll give you everything we have. Please don’t hurt her. Let us go, and we won’t go to the police.”
But the man didn’t seem interested in robbing us because he pointed toward an open door against the wall of a rundown building.
“In there,” he said, ordering Rian in first. Then he shoved me through and shut the door behind him.
We were standing in a dim room, lit by a single bare bulb hanging from the ceiling. There were no windows that we could see—perhaps they had been boarded over, or maybe they didn’t exist. From where we stood I could see a dingy bathroom and a mattress in the corner. I couldn’t see a kitchen. The only other thing I saw was a lumpy sofa against one wall. I also saw a few rats skittering around. My alarm bells went off, soundingDanger! Danger!
“I have a diamond ring—if you want it, it’s yours.” I held up my engagement ring.
But the man ignored it. “Sit over there,” he said, pointing to the sofa. He was holding a knife, a large one, smears of dried blood staining the blade.
We sat. I thought about charging him, but one stab of that knife and he’d gut me.
“Choose.”
I glanced at Rian, then back at him. “What do you mean, choose?”
“One to watch and live, one for me to play with.Choose.” Again the snarl, and this time, I caught sight of his fangs.Vampire.Bad, bad news for us. Vampires were deadly. With few exceptions, they had little to offer mortals except death and danger. There were petitions out for vampire rights, but until they agreed to interact with us instead of using us as juice boxes, few people were sympathetic to their cause.
“You can’t be serious—” Rian started, but the vamp cut him off.
“Oh, I’m deadly serious. Ifyoudon’t choose, I’ll choose for you.” The vampire’s eyes were gleaming, the irises snow white against the jet of his eyes. They were circled with crimson.
Beside me, Rian grabbed my hand and squeezed tight. He whispered, “I love you” and then said, “Me. Whatever you’re going to do, do it to me.”
“No—” I tried to hold him back, but Rian jumped to his feet. “Rian, no! You can’t—”
