LOGINShare
EIGHTY-ONE | FORGOTTEN
Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56He was silent for a long time, as if weighing up a hundred different answers – all of them circling around the ugly truth. His fingers were still against mine, and he gazed with a blank expression out across the sea. The colours warped and fragmented as they deepened, pastel pinks and oranges blooming into resplendent, bright beams of rose and tangerine. Rather than watch Cyrus holding the muscles in his face taut – too taut, controlled – I too looked out at the shimmering water.
Eventually, through tight lips, he spoke. “Yes.” It was as though the dam had burst with that single word. “Yes, I made you forget. It was a mistake – a mistake to take you on that date, knowing how desperately I wanted to be honest with you, and knowing the consequences of my honesty. I – Callie, I wanted to learn where you stood, without having to face the repercussions of my curiosity. I… apologise.” He swallowed any furthe
Related chapters
The Hunter and the Vampire EIGHTY-TWO | SUNRISE
We lay back on the grass together, his arm slipping beneath my head and keeping me close. Idly, as I felt the gushing wave of life return to me, I traced the veins in his wrist, using the barest touch to follow them along his forearm and into the crook of his elbow, making up the path where they dipped from view.Then I traced the stars with that same pointed fingertip, watching as clouds as blue as his veins puffed across the sunrise, startlingly different to the hues of red and gold simmering atop the sea, but fitting all the same. They blurred together seamlessly, night and day, dark and sun.“Do you remember what I told you about Esther?” He asked quietly, his words a whispering breeze against the dawn.I did, now; now that he’d returned my memory to me. “Yes. The witch – right?”“That’s her.” He mused over his thoughts for a moment before con
The Hunter and the Vampire EIGHTY-THREE | SALT AND ASH
My heart thrummed and pulsed with sheer joy at our closeness as we walked along the cliff’s edge. Mist shrouded the sea, but the red orb hanging low in the sky would burn it away as it rose. I would juggle the new, darker morality singing within me later.It had been childish to latch onto my Dads’ words as gospel, to readily believe their tales and their lore. It had nearly cost me my life. And, though my nerves jumped with every sweeping brush of Cyrus’s fingers across the back of my hand, which clutched his like a lifeline, I was still uneasy about telling them.I could now remember exactly how poorly I’d reacted to the truth. I knew that they would react similarly – after all, it had been their influence that had guided me to such hatred.I shoved the thought aside, and instead revelled in the touch of his skin against mine. His palms were smoother than mine – no callouses drummed
The Hunter and the Vampire EIGHTY-FOUR | FROST
“Dad? Paps?” I shrugged off Cyrus’s coat, holding it close to my chest for a moment before hanging it on the rack. It looked out of place beside mine and my Dads’ familiar coats, long and dark and sweeping, carrying his arrogance with it even though it had long since left his body.“Callie? Oh – thank God.” Paps swarmed me, wrapping me tight in his arms before stepping back and patting me down, checking for any wounds. “You’re okay. Oh, you’re okay.”I grinned, one side of my mouth tugging up further than the other. “I’m okay.”“We were worried,” Dad said, his voice low and croaky. I wondered how much sleep either of them had got last night.“It – it didn’t exactly go to plan,” I mused, toeing off my boots.Paps raised an eyebrow. “You can say that again.&
The Hunter and the Vampire EIGHTY-FIVE | RED
The smile froze on my face. I wobbled, and stuck out a hand towards the counter to catch myself. The work surface was cool, and it pooled beneath my palm, making me shiver.I had to get her out. The humans here weren’t safe. I looked around, my breath hitching, counting heads and recognising familiar faces. I could see Dal, his broad face broken in two by a grin; I could see the Town Trio, tucked into a corner and gossiping noisily; I could see Tony, and Bill, and –My heart stopped. Sat at the counter, next to Alice, was Harper.I held my breath. I had to focus, had to think. But fear and exhaustion were swirling in my head, clawing at my brain and making it impossible to do anything more than stand and stare at the two of them.“You alright?” Grace caught me by the elbow and towed me into the back room, her eyebrows raised at me the whole way. I sagged against her,
The Hunter and the Vampire EIGHTY-SIX | RUIN
I caught Grace by the elbow and steered her towards the back room. At the same time, I raised a theatrical hand to my forehead and puffed out my cheeks. It wasn’t hard to make myself feel woozy – the memories and lack of sleep from the night before did that for me.“I don’t feel well,” I said, careful not to ramp up the dramatics too much. Grace would sniff them out in a second. “Do you mind staying late for me today?”Her shoulders stiffened momentarily and then relaxed. “Is it – it’s because of Harper, isn’t it?”I sighed, looking longingly towards the shop floor. “Yes.”“I can’t believe he’d come in here with another woman,” Grace snapped, coaxing me closer. “Of course I’ll stay. I doubt I’ll even be needed – Sydney should be able to close on her own.” She peere
The Hunter and the Vampire EIGHTY-SEVEN | SACRIFICE
I tightened my hand around the makeshift stake. My blade felt utterly useless – a child’s toy – as she stroke a red-clawed hand down the side of Harper’s face. He cried out, the sound muffled, as he struggled futilely against his bonds.I steeled myself, refusing to give in to the haze of panic slithering through my veins. I’d had no chance against Alice; Harper had even less of one. I had to play this carefully. My mind raced through a hundred different ideas and plans, but none of them seemed good enough. None of them seemed like enough to save him.There was no bargain she would accept. The glint in her eyes told me that. There was only one way out of this, and in accepting what had to happen I was giving myself over to her power. For Harper, I would do it.I readied my stake and blade, pulling back into a defensive stance. I had to lull her into a false sense of security. Then again, I t
The Hunter and the Vampire EIGHTY-EIGHT | ASCELINA
She smiled. It was a truly wicked smile, slow and devious and made all the more gruesome by the blood dripping down her chin. Light headed as I was, I still felt a chill as those dark, otherworldly eyes met mine.“Didn’t quite go to plan, did it, little hunter?”I smiled right back at her. I had an idea. I couldn’t doubt myself – I didn’t have any other options.“Yes,” I said, falling to the ground and grabbing the makeshift stake, hoping with my whole heart that it would work, that it would kill her, “it did.”Propelled by my movement, Alice fell with me. In one smooth roll, I landed on top of her and drove the stake through her heart.The smile died on her lips, her eyes forever held wide with shock. I stared down at her face, at the ugly jut of her chin, at the curve of her large nose. The colour drained from her skin
The Hunter and the Vampire EIGHTY-NINE | ECHO
Firm hands hauled me up, dragging me from under my armpits and heaving me onto my feet. The world swirled around me, so I kept my eyes closed and allowed myself to be manhandled.“You can’t fall asleep on me again, Cals,” Harper muttered. “I have to get you home so I can take a proper look at that arm.”I winced at the word home. I hoped Harper thought it was related to the throbbing in my forearm, rather than his word choice.My body did not feel entirely my own as Harper slung one of my unresponsive arms across his shoulders, tucking me tightly against his side. My legs dragged across the uneven ground, dried leaves and broken twigs mounding at my toes.“You know,” he said, his tone attempting to sound casual, conversational, “I always thought you seemed… more. More than everyone else around you. Otherwordly, almost.”
Latest chapter
The Hunter and the Vampire 116 | EPILOGUE
I braced myself, lifting a bandolier weighted down with silver bullets and resting it across my chest. My knife was strapped to my ankle, a gun was slung low across my hips, and a silver dagger rested at my thigh.I’d laced my boots with resolve, each knot a promise. I was doing this for the right reasons. I was a protector, not a monster. The sword down my back was double-edged, both killer and saviour, but I wielded it with the power to choose. I would not allow myself to be what I had been, and what many of the others still were.Cyrus caught my wrist, pulling me close. Our lips met in a heated kiss, his tongue and teeth searing my core. Hands tugged the plait from my hair, and fingers tangled in the dark waves. My skin tingled with his touch, and bolts of lightning fractured down my spine.The bond between us swelled, crackling with glossy sunlight and soaring blue waves. The heat of Cyrus’s affection bec
The Hunter and the Vampire 115 | SWORD
Gaudy lights flashed above, drenching Cyrus’s face in bright reds and blues. With alcohol humming in my veins and his arms holding me close, I moved past the flashing, burning image of blood that overlaid the reality of the coloured, moving lights. Even as my mind whispered that it was blood, blood and pulsing blue veins, Cyrus swept me into a spin that threw aside my fears.I grinned at him before he pulled me in again. His joy brushed mine, intertwined within my chest. It didn’t lessen the ache that I dragged with me, but it smothered it, forcing the pain to submit.“As much as I like it when you curse and tease and fight,” he murmured, his lips ghosting across my ear, “you are truly beautiful when you smile, Callie.”Before I could respond, Cyrus tugged me around so that my back was pressed to his front, and his hands cradled my hips. We swung from side to side together, my steps cl
The Hunter and the Vampire 114 | LIGHTNING
I had to move on. At least, I had to try. And, though understanding and enacting were two different things, it was easier to try if I kept myself focused on the present – rather than my jarring, pain-distorted past, or the murky and indistinct waters of my future. Looking back brought forth only blood and terror, and I couldn’t see through the thick, cloying mist shimmering softly ahead. It coated my crumbling relationships, Cyrus’s vampiric nature, and my comparatively short lifespan. Behind, my Dad’s words had carved themselves into my bones and tattooed themselves onto my skin. I could taste Veronica’s fear with every swallow. The walls closed in around me whenever I was alone, and the neat, sharp clicks of Alice’s footsteps followed me around every corner. Even in Wiley Manor, a hotel so detached from my old life in Seafall, monsters found me in my sleep. Sleepy, soft kisses to my forehead, my temples,
The Hunter and the Vampire 113 | SANDBAR
“Get out,” Dad hissed, his face contorting. Shadows crept across his cheeks and nose, distending it into something twisted and evil. Fear filled my gut, and I stepped backwards. My hands trembled as I reached for the door.My fingers turned to claws as I scrabbled behind me. Dismay rose in my throat as I flattened my palms, feeling desperately for the door. I turned slowly, knowing before I saw it that the door was gone.I was trapped. The windows shuttered, and my Dad loomed before me. Paps cowered at his side, shrunken and rat-like with front teeth that slipped from beneath his lips. As I watched, they sharpened into points and became fangs.My feet skidded under me, slipping on something wet streaking across the floorboards. I looked down to get my bearings, to get my balance, and bile clung to the back of my mouth. It wasn’t just something wet. It was blood.Flames shuddered acr
The Hunter and the Vampire 112 | RIFT
The drive to the hotel was quiet, but comfortably so. Perhaps because there were no words that could have made the situation any easier, Cyrus and I allowed the silence to swallow us whole. He rested his hand on my thigh, a steady pressure that kept me grounded enough that thoughts of shoving myself out of the car and rolling across the road – just so that the physical pain overshadowed the emotional for even a moment – seemed nonsensical.Without him there, I wasn’t entirely sure what I would have done. I heard my Dad’s last words to me on every inhale, and I saw the dull look in my Paps’s eyes with every exhale. I breathed, but it didn’t make me feel any better.Get out. Get out. Get out.The sun was just starting to break through the clouds as we pulled in to a car park, nestled alongside a shaggy stretch of woodland. I turned to Cyrus, confusion drawing my eyebrows down. H
The Hunter and the Vampire 111 | BLOOD MOON
My back stiffened. Any attempts at lounging went out the window the second my Dad entered the room. I curled my hands into fists, digging my nails into the soft, broken skin of my palms.His face was shadowed. I ached to go to him, to bridge the gap between us. He’d placed a blanket on me as I’d slept mere weeks ago, and now he was staring at me as if I was a stranger. My breath latched in my throat as I tried to speak.“What is your decision?” I asked. My voice did not sound like my own.“This has not been easy for me, Callie. For us. You have made it incredibly difficult.”I stood on shaking legs. There was a softness to him beneath the hard shell that forced his mouth into a downward tilt. It spilled out rarely, but it was there.“I am sorry for what I have done,” I said. “But I do not regret it, nor do I wish to t
The Hunter and the Vampire 110 | FAMILY
The world collapsed in on itself as I waited for the door to open. My right hand remained curled in a loose fist, raised against the wood, knuckles bared. I flexed my fingers and, slowly, lowered my hand.I focused on my breathing, caught in that everlasting moment. With every rise and fall of my chest, I could feel the passage of time. It had to be moving. I was not trapped here.I turned halfway back towards Cyrus, needing to see him, to reassure myself that he was still here with me, when the door finally opened. I caught a flash of hair so dark it shone blue even in the dim light, and then hard arms were pulling me inside.“Callie,” Paps breathed, his body warm and unyielding as he held me close. “Oh, thank God.”I stilled against him, my arms at stiff angles by my sides. My heart leapt – he seemed glad to see me – even as it twisted and tangled, knotting itsel
The Hunter and the Vampire 109 | NOSTALGIA
“You know,” Cyrus said, his tone carefully casual, “I could do the same for your Dads – and the other hunters, too.”He set down the photograph he’d been holding, the wooden frame knocking against the hard surface of the kitchen counter. I didn’t have to look to know which photo in particular he’d been about to pack into my old, worn suitcase, scraped from years of overuse.The day had dawned slowly, the sun hiding behind blank white clouds that had grown grey as they had settled into the sky. The kitchen was dim, though Cyrus’s eyes still somehow glittered like stars on a calm sea as they met mine.I sighed, shoving the last of my cutlery into the same wicker basket I’d used to move my utensils to and from university for the last three years. It smelt faintly of fruity cider, and my nose crinkled slightly at the faded red stain down its side.
The Hunter and the Vampire 108 | HARPER
“Harp?” I called out. It was the first time I’d spoken to him since our argument. I’d heeded his wishes; as such, I had no idea if he’d even still be at home. I hoped he was. Whether for me or for him, I longed to offer him this chance to move past this. I had ruined myself. I didn’t want to destroy Harper, too.“Callie?” Harper thundered into the hall, eyes wide, chest heaving. “I – I went to find you, and you were gone.” He pulled me into a crushing hug, pressing me tightly against his chest. “Fuck. I was so worried, Cals.”My heart ached. “I’m sorry.” My voice sounded tiny.“I – I thought–“ he spoke wildly, the words spilling out between panted breaths. “I thought you were – oh, shit,” he swore, and then pushed me away, holding me at arm’s length to appraise me. &ldqu
