Chapter 0004

I awake, aching all over. But when I try to rub my itchy nose, restraints keep me from moving my arms more than an inch off the bed. What the hell?

Monitors beep around me. The pungent aroma of cleaner, bleach, and an underlining sickening smell fills my nose. I'm in a hospital? Had I been bitten? Was I a stupid vampire now?

Scanning the small room shows the bed I lay on is the only one in here. The blinds along one window don't allow any light inside. I can't tell if it is night or just dark from rain clouds.

"Hello?" I strain against the bonds that dig into my wrists. Where is everyone? Amelia! Lance! Are they okay? My heart hammers in my chest and I feel like I can't take a big enough breath.

"Hey! Help me," I yell. There has to be a nurse around. Someone to come and let me know if Lance and Amelia are all right. Tears gather, causing a startled cry to break free. Please let them be okay.

The door creaks open and I yank on the metal cuffs again. What if the vampires brought me here to take their time drinking my blood? Made this room to look like a hospital and recently cleaned the spray of blood from walls and floors from their previous victim?

A shudder of terror mixes with anger and flares through my veins. "What am I doing here and where are Amelia and Lance?"

Two men in silver uniforms enter and the monitor beside me picks up the frantic rhythm of my heart as my throat closes up. Supernatural cops wear that color. I've never seen any up close before. Behind them, my aunt shuffles into the room and I let out a small gasp. Her back is bent like she's been mentally beaten though there's no physical indication aside the fact her shoulders slump to tell me this.

"Aunt Grace?" I ask, my voice cracking. My uncle won't be here. He's been out of our lives for years after I moved in. Only memory I have of him is both my aunt and him arguing before a door slammed shut and his truck gunned the engine. "What's going on?"

"There's been an accident." She sniffs.

The room tilts, but I clench my fists to keep from passing out. "Tell me."

One of the men who looks like a younger version of a popular action star of apocalyptic movies steps closer. "What do you remember about Friday evening?"

"My boyfriend, my best friend and I were decorating the cafeteria for prom." I glance at my aunt to try and read her expression, but she stares at the floor, her face pale. "Has something happened to them?"

"They are stable." The second supernatural cop nods. "Please continue."

"Are they here in the hospital? I want to see them." I try to sit up, but the restraints prevent me from doing so. If I was a vampire now, wouldn't I be able to break these?

"No," my aunt clears her throat, "they were released a few days ago."

It takes a full second for her words to make sense in my mind. "Wait. How long have I been in here? What about prom?"

"That was last week, honey." She gives me a half-smile, though her gaze darts back and forth between the supernaturals and me.

I turn from her to the two guys in silver uniforms. New vampires only take three days max to turn. "What's going on?"

"Brene," my aunt's voice sounds strained, "they think you have magic because of what happened at the school."

My mouth hangs open, then I laugh. "That's ridiculous."

I try to wave a hand out, but the metal handcuff clanks against the bed frame. My aunt and the men shrink back from my movement as if I brandish a gun.

"If I had powers then they would have manifested way before this." I shake my head. "And I would know- my aunt and relatives would know."

"Sometimes powers like this can lay dormant in families for years," the closest cop said. "Think of it like a recessive gene. Like when a kid is born with red hair and no one remembers anyone having that color. They dig a little and find out his great-grandfather's second cousin had red hair."

I lean back against the pillows, my gut clenching. "Yeah, but wouldn't I have a feeling or something? Some clue or sense of knowing?"

My aunt dry-washes her hands. "Since you've been unconscious, the officers and I have searched our relatives' records and spoken with extended family members, but haven't come across anything."

"What about Uncle Jim?" I hate even mentioning him after he walked out on us. He didn't want kids when they had married, then surprise, they got me. "Did you check with him?"

She nods. "Nothing."

"So what happens now?" I look from her to the two cops. "You gonna keep me locked up here until you realize it was some freak accident or something or maybe it was one of the vampires or his friends."

"Doubtful." The first cop shook his head. "He and his buddies are in the infirmary until their bodies heal them enough to be released."

A sick sensation hit my stomach. "What happened?"

"Your magic fried the flesh off their bones. If they were anything other than vampires, they'd be dead. It was only their lightning speed that got them away from the blast fast enough that they didn't become ash."

"But fire doesn't kill vamps." None of this was making sense. I couldn't have magic, I would've known. Been able to slam Nichola Bean into the wall when she tripped me in the hall in sixth grade and I busted my nose.

"That's why we've got you in magical handcuffs," the second cop said.

Dread tightens around my chest. "So I'm a prisoner here? For how long? What about my friends and Lance?"

My boyfriend was leaving the state after graduation. What if I was stuck in here until summer? I wouldn't get to see him off or kiss him goodbye before he left. And shit! I'd missed my last prom with him all because of some stupid vampires. Tears prickle the back of my eyes, but I blink them back. I wouldn't be able to wipe them away since the restraints keep my arms an inch from my sides anyway.

"No, Brene," Aunt Grace says in a shaky voice, "they're taking you somewhere you'll be safe until all this figures itself out."

That should sound more promising than it does. But the tremble in her voice and her pale face screams otherwise. Like they are going to chain me up in some maximum-security prison if I don't agree to whatever they want.

"Your aunt's right." The first cop nods. "We're here to escort you to Hollowhaven Supernatural Academy."

"What? No fucking way am I going to that freak house." They might as well send me to a medieval torture chamber. I'll be the only human in a school full of vamps, weres, witches, and God knew what else. Before sunrise tomorrow, I would be dead.