“No!”

  I looked at her through crazed eyes. She looked taken back by my outburst.

  Memories of the vision came rushing back to me. The image of Hayden dying in my arms. It was ingrained in my memory, and it felt so real.

  “What?”

  “Don’t. Don’t go outside.”

  “Why?”

  I stayed quiet and shrugged sheepishly. It was probably bullshit, but who knew with my grandparents. “Bad dream.”

  She made a face and shrugged it off. “We have to do something. Why didn’t you just kill the vampire?”

  “Because I won’t be them, Hayden. I’m not doing it.”

  “Even if it’ll mean us getting the hell out of here?”

  “It won’t be just one vampire. They’ll make me continue killing them. I can’t give in to what they want.”

  “And I can’t listen to you being tortured anymore!”

  She looked like she was seconds away from a breakdown. I never saw Hayden look so defeated before. She was one of the strongest people I knew.

  This was tearing her apart.

  I sat back down on the bed. “I’m sorry.”

  She sighed, sitting down on the bed next to me. She leaned her head on my shoulder. Aside from the hug we shared, this was the closest we ever were to each other. Maybe being kidnapped by my grandparents was a blessing in disguise that would bring me and my sister even closer together.

  Or not. We were already getting close enough without this bullshit detour.

  “Stop,” she said. “Stop apologizing for things that aren’t your fault.”

  “But it…”

  “Shut up, Hope.”

  I smirked at her. She smiled.

  “Hey, maybe you can smother me with a pillow and it can still work.”

  Her head shot up and she slapped me again. “I said shut up you crazy witch.”

  “Chill! It was a joke.”

  Smothering with a pillow sounded like an unnecessarily slow way to go.

  “Not a funny one.”

  A knock on the door ended the sisterly moment. The door opened and James stood in the doorway. He looked at me. “Hope, how are you feeling?”

  “Alive, unfortunately.”

  That earned a glare from Hayden.

  “You’re lucky we were able to save you.”

  “Yeah, so lucky.”

  “It would have been simpler had you just killed the vampire.”

  I looked at him. “Where is he?”

  “Dead.”

  I breathed out of my nose and looked away, clenching my fists. “I can’t wait until you’re dead.”

  He let out a snicker. “It’s amazing how much you are just like your mother.”

  “Don’t talk about my mom.”

  “She was like you too, you know. She was always sympathizing with the vampires. Tried to claim that they weren’t all killers. I changed her mind by locking her in the basement with a ravenous vampire that hadn’t eaten in days. Am I going to have to do the same with you?”

  I shrugged. “Probably.”

  Hayden bumped me with her shoulder and gave me another look. “No, you don’t. Hope is going to start cooperating.”

  “That would be nice.” He smiled. “If only it were true.”

  James stepped into the room and raised his hand at us.

  We both grabbed our heads in pain.

  Hayden passed out right before I fell to the floor beside her.

  This was really getting old.

  Chapter 6: Christian

  When I got back to the house, something was happening.

  I ran into the living room when I heard Francesca’s voice. If she was back, maybe Hope was too.

  Unfortunately, it was just her.

  “Francesca.”

  She looked hurt. “Well, nice to see you too.”

  Gemma was here too.

  “Where’s Hope?”

  “She doesn’t know,” Lexie said. She was standing beside Jade. “She can’t remember anything.”

  That was inconvenient. Our first real lead and it was already leading right into another dead end.

  This was getting tiresome. We had no way of finding Hope and Hayden. I was afraid we were never going to find them.

  “And it gets worse,” Jade said.

  “What now?”

  Everything was always so terrible around here. Nothing ever went our way, and the world always seemed to be going to shit.

  Being an optimist was starting to be pretty hard around here.

  “She’s been marked,” Gemma said.

  “What’s that mean?”

  Before she could answer me, the front door opened and Kane rushed in. He went right to Francesca. He looked her over carefully. “How are you? Are you hurt?”

  “I’m fine. Relatively speaking anyway.”

  He stared at her a moment before pulling her into a hug. “I’m glad you’re alright.” He pulled back and smiled at her. “And human, apparently.”

  She smiled. “Yeah. It feels weird. Not real.”

  “I’m sure it’ll take some getting used to, but I know it’s what you’ve wanted for a long time.” He looked around. “Hope? Hayden?”

  “Still missing,” Jade said.

  “And your sister’s been marked,” I said. “Whatever that means.”

  Kane’s eyebrows knitted together. Francesca turned around and showed him a bloody mark that had been cut into her skin.

  “My parents marked her,” Gemma said. “It’s a controlling spell. She’s under their control.”

  “That’s invasive,” Kane said.

  Francesca started screaming. Kane grabbed her. “It burns!”

  She cried out in agony, touching the mark on her neck.

  “What’s happening?” Kane asked Gemma in a panic.

  “They’re doing it,” Gemma said.

  “Make it stop! Make it stop!”

  Gemma put her hand towards Francesca and uttered a spell.

  Francesca passed out, falling into Kane’s arms. Kane carefully placed her onto the couch. “We need to fix her. How do we break the spell?”

  “We can’t. Not unless we find the talisman and destroy it. It’s like a voodoo doll. If we don’t find it and destroy it before the mark disappears into her skin, she’s gone. Forever. You can’t get her back.”

  “Do you people have any good news?” Kane said.

  “We can buy her time. I can make a potion. A binding agent that we can cover the mark with. It will render it useless for now. It’s not a permanent fix though.”

  The ancient vampire nodded. “Your parents are really starting to piss me off.”

  “You and me both.”

  “Please, do whatever you can do to help my sister.”

  “I will. I just need some ingredients.”

  Gemma went to work on the potion. I wished she could make a potion that could help us find Hope. If only it were that easy.

  “Any word from your brother and Melinda?” Kane asked me.

  “No. They should be getting there soon though.”

  “My sister is alive. If they kept her alive, I’m sure they wouldn't have done anything to harm Hope.”

  “They may not have killed her, but we don’t know what the hell they’ve been doing to her.”

  Thinking about it drove me crazy.

  “Hey, Hope is strong,” Lexie said. “Hayden too. If anyone can get through this it’s them.”

  I smiled sadly. “Yeah, you’re right.”

  Knowing Hope and Hayden were together was the only thing keeping me from falling apart.

  Lexie was right. They had each other. They could get through whatever her grandparents threw at them.

  I almost lost my brother.

  I was not about to lose Hope.

  Chapter 7: Hope

  “Wake up!”

  My eyes shot open at the sound of Hayden’s voice. She was looking down at me in a panic. “Hayden?”

  “Finally. I thought you were dead.”

  “Nope. Not dead. And not deaf either.”

  “Sue me for making sure you were good.”

  She stood up and looked around. It looked like we were in the woods. The ground was cold and wet.

  I stood up and followed Hayden.

  “Where the hell are we?”

  “No idea,” Hayden said. She hugged herself and looked at me. “I don’t really care so long as Mr. and Mrs. Crazy aren’t here.”

  This didn’t make sense though. Why would they just leave us in the middle of nowhere? It didn’t seem like they were going to give up on turning me into a hunter.

  Maybe they realized it was a lost cause and I was never going to be the vampire killer they wanted me to be.

  Maybe they showed me mercy and let me go.

  They didn’t really seem like the mercy type though.

  This was probably some mind game. Maybe this was all a hallucination.

  I grabbed Hayden and pinched her.

  “Hey! What the hell, Hope!”

  “Did that feel real?”

  She slapped my arm. “Did that feel real?”

  “Yeah, pretty real.”

  This didn’t seem to be a dream.

  We walked further into the woods pointlessly. We couldn’t just stay here. There had to be a way out of the woods.

  When we got to a small shack, Hayden stopped. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “What?” I asked her.

  She looked at me. “We’re in Salem Point.”

  “What? Are you sure?”

  “I’ve lived here my whole life, Hope. I’m sure.”

  I sighed in relief. “Thank God.”

  “I never thought I’d be so happy to be in this stupid town.”

  I still felt like this was some kind of trick. I wasn’t going to be truly at peace until I was home with Mom and Gemma.

  I couldn’t wait to see Wyatt, Christian, and Knight. I’d even be happy to see Tegan.

  I wondered how Wyatt was doing with being human. And the others. Were they even alive? Did they use the cure on them too?

  There was so much I didn’t know. So much I missed.

  “Come on,” I said.

  * * *

  We went to my house first. I don’t think Hayden was excited about going to see her mother so she was staying with me.

  The sight of the house nearly brought tears to my eyes. I was home. I was finally home.

  It had only been two weeks since we’d been gone, but it felt like a lifetime when you thought you were never going to get to go home again.

  I thought for sure I would never get to see my friends and family again.

  To be here felt so surreal.

  I ran up the steps and opened the door. Hayden followed me from close behind.

  I still felt like this was some kind of trick or a dream that I was going to cruelly wake up from.

  But when I saw Aunt Gemma’s beautiful blue eyes staring back at me in the kitchen, nothing felt more real than the look of relief that washed over her face. “Hope.”

  “Aunt Gemma.”

  I ran into her arms and held onto her tightly.

  I felt something wet on her shoulder. It took me a second to realize I was the culprit. I was crying. I couldn’t help it. All of this was so close to being taken away from me.

  I was so grateful for the life I had now. The people that were a part of my life. I wouldn’t trade anything for it. And I would fight like hell to make sure I never lost them again.

  Chapter 8: Hayden

  Dad was on his way over.

  Melinda and Wyatt were on their way back from wherever the hell they were.

  Gemma was making food. She looked at Hope with a look of worry, thinking the same thing as me. She was a hot second from withering away.

  “Did they feed you anything?” Gemma asked.

  “She refused to eat,” I said. I sat down across from Hope and shook my head.

  “For good reason. For all I know they were trying to poison me.”

  I couldn’t argue with her there. James and Constance were bat shit crazy. Definitely capable of poisoning Hope. Luckily I didn’t seem to be poisoned by their terrible cooking.

  The front door opened and within seconds, Lexie came running into the room. She smiled at us, pulling me into a hug first. “Thank God you guys are okay.”

  She went to hug Hope next.

  Jade came into the kitchen, followed by Kane and to my surprise Francesca.

  Hope looked just as shocked. “Francesca. You’re okay.”

  The witch smiled a sheepish grin. “Yes. For now.”

  I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at Kane for an explanation as to what she meant. Before I could question it, Hope already was. “What do you mean for now?”

  She turned around and showed us some kind of mark on her neck that was covered by some kind of goo. “What the hell is that?”

  “A parting gift from James and Constance,” Francesca said. “It’s their way of controlling me.”

  “We’re going to fix it,” Kane said adamantly. He looked at me and nodded.

  I nodded back.

  I wasn’t sure where things were headed between me and the born vampire, but I knew one thing. I missed him when we were gone. The thought of not seeing the sometimes annoying vampire again made my stomach twist in knots. And right now looking at him, my stomach was twisting in knots again. Only this time, in a good way if that made any kind of sense at all.

  Oh screw it.

  I went forward and hugged Kane too. He was taken back at first, but quickly reciprocated the hug.

  I pulled away and cleared my throat awkwardly. “Good to see you.”

  “You too, wolf.”

  I turned around and Hope had an annoying smirk on her face. I rolled my eyes. “So, how do we fix this control thing?”

  “We find my parents,” Gemma said. “And end them once and for all.” She had a far away look on her face. She gulped, her eyes glistening with tears.

  “Aunt Gemma,” Hope said, going up to her. “It’s going to be okay.”

  She smiled tearfully. “I know, honey. I just wish things could have been different. It’s not a good feeling having to go up against your own parents.”

  “You won’t have to,” Kane said. “I’ll end them myself. I won’t allow them to use my sister as their puppet. We need to find and destroy this voodoo doll.”

  “Agreed,” Gemma said. “Francesca is a powerful witch. She can be a serious weapon for them.”

  “I still don’t get why they let us go,” Hope said, leaning on the counter. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Nothing my parents do makes sense.”

  “No, but Aunt Gemma they were adamant about me becoming some destroyer of vampires. Then they just drop us off in the woods. Something doesn’t feel right about all this.”

  “Plus leaving us with the athame,” Jade said.

  “You guys have the athame back?” Hope said.

  “Yeah, that was my mission so to speak,” Francesca said. “To put Nathaniel back into his body.”

  “Did you?” I asked.

  “No, luckily I was stopped.”

  “Where’s the athame now?” Hope asked.

  “Hidden,” Gemma said. “And it’s going to stay that way until this is all over.”

  I nodded. “That’s probably for the best.”

  Hope sighed. “None of this even matters. They got what they wanted. It’s over. The sun spell has been broken and I’m sure countless vampires are dead right now because of them.”

  That must have been quite something to explain. I could see the headlines now. Man bursts into flames in the middle of Times Square.

  “We’re going to fix that too, Hope,” Gemma said.

  “How?”

  Gemma sighed. “I don’t know that answer yet. But I’m good at finding answers. We’ll find a way to reverse all of the chaos my parents caused.”

  The front door opened again.

  I noticed Hope jump at the sound. Kane noticed too and shared a look with me. I shook my head.

  I’d talk to him about it later.

  I think Hope was more traumatized from the last two weeks than she was willing to let on.

  It was going to take time for her to feel safe again. It was a long two weeks, and I didn’t even know the full details of what they were doing to her down there.

  Wyatt appeared in the entryway to the kitchen. Hope smiled a huge smile and ran into his arms.

  I fought the eye roll from the cinematic moment unpeeling before my eyes.

  I wasn’t into the mushy stuff, but I will admit, it was nice seeing Hope so happy to see Wyatt.

  I wondered where Christian and Knight were. I thought for sure they’d be here in two seconds flat after they heard Hope was back.

  Wyatt looked Hope over seriously. “How are you?”

  Hope hesitated. She cleared her throat, her emotions rushing to the surface. “I’m fine. Now that I’m home.”

  We were home. We were fine. But for how long?

  Chapter 9: Hope

  I spent the rest of the night catching up with everyone.

  A lot had happened in the two weeks that we’d been gone. Everything felt so different, and yet so the same.

  Jade and Lexie were officially Jade and Lexie. I was trying to think of a good ship name for them. Jexie. Lade. I think I finally settled on Lexade, as stupid as that sounded.

  I was trying to find some type of normalcy in all of this. Being happy for my friends seemed to be the only normal thought I could focus on.

  My grandparents were out there and I was having a hard time keeping my mind off of them.

  The thought of them attacking kept me up until past two in the morning. But finally the exhaustion of my body and mind became too much and I drifted off to sleep.

  It didn’t last long though.

  The smell of smoke filled my nose. I heard my mother’s screams as my eyes fluttered open.

  My room was one fire. The entire room was engulfed in flames except for the middle where I laid on my bed.

 

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