Alex led me down a hallway lined with doors, finally coming to a stop in front of a closed door at the very end of it. My head was hurting so badly by this point, and my ribs were aching big time. I felt more empty and alone than I’d ever felt in my life. Although Marco and Sophia had never been that great of grandparents, they were still my grandparents. And what they’d done to me felt like the ultimate betrayal.

Alex didn’t open the door right away. He just stood there, staring at it as if he were trying to compel it to open with his mind. Needless to say, it didn’t open. Then, unexpectedly, he whirled around and faced me.

“There’s is something else I need to tell you before we go in here,” he blurted out.

I sighed “What now?”

“Relax it’s not about you.  It’s about Laylen, the guy who lives in this house” He leaned against the door and crossed his arms. “He’s not exactly human.”

“What does that even mean?” I asked. “If he’s not human then what is he?”

“Well,” he wavered, “a few years ago he was bitten by a...vampire.”

I gaped at him. “So you’re saying he’s a vampire?” Was he kidding me?

He moved away from the door and stepped toward me. “I know what you’re thinking. That there’s no way vampires are real, but they’re about as real as the Death Walkers.”

I pressed my lips together and stared down at the opposite end of the hallway, at a door with a small stained glass window on it. Light spilled through the glass, casting misshapen reflections across the floor and walls. It had to be the front door. And just on the other side of it was the desert. The warm and sandy desert. The complete opposite of where I’d been no more than a few hours ago.

“You’re not thinking about running away again?” Alex’s voice tore through my thoughts.

I turned my head back toward him. “No.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Are you sure about that?”

“Yeah, I’m sure” I said, but I didn’t sound very convincing.

He opened his mouth and started to say something but, changing his mind, clamped it closed again. He’d done that a lot over the last few hours—started to say something then stopped. Who did that reminded me of? Hmm…Let me think. How about Marco and Sophia. Coincidence?  Who knew?

“Do I have to worry about him biting me?” I asked tensely.

He laughed. “No, you don’t have to worry about him biting you. Since he was a Keeper before he was changed, things work a little differently with him. He’s more in control of his blood lust.”

“And what about vampires that aren’t Keepers to begin with? What are they like?”

He hesitated. “Let’s just hope you don’t ever have to find out.”

And with that, he opened up the door.

On the other side was a room that had the same red walls and ash-black hardwood flooring as the room we’d just came from. There were also bookshelves everywhere. The only noticeable difference was a long mahogany table that trailed down the middle of the room. And in one of the eight chairs bordering the table, sat Aislin, staring down at her cell phone.

She immediately jumped to her feet when she saw us. “Oh good. I was just about to come get you.” She hurried over to Alex and asked in a barely audible voice, “Did you get everything taken care of?”

“Yeah,” Alex’s bright green eyes flicked in my direction, “I did.”

Aislin gave me a wary look before returning her attention back to Alex. “I can’t get a hold of Stephan.” She tapped her cell phone in the palm of her hand. “It goes straight to his voicemail.”

“That’s odd,” Alex mumbled. “Did you try Marco and Sophia?”

The mentioning of Marco and Sophia made my stomach ping. It shouldn’t have hurt. It really shouldn’t have. Yet it did.

Aislin nodded. “They didn’t answer either.”

“Where the heck could they be?” he asked. “They weren’t going anywhere, were they?”

Aislin shook her head. “Not that I know of.”

“Do you know if Marco and Sophia were going somewhere?” Alex asked me.

I gave him an are-you-kidding-me look. “Yeah, because they tell me all the time what they’re doing.”

Alex frowned. “Gemma, this isn’t a joke. It’s important.”

“Oh, I know it’s not,” I assured him. “I was being very, very serious.”

He stared at me, clearly irritated. I held his stare until the buzzing became too intense, and I had to turn my head away or else I’d probably explode. “Stare all you want, but I still don’t know where they are.”

He heaved a frustrated sigh and looked back at Aislin. “Why would all of them not answer their phones? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“I don’t know.” Aislin twirled a strand of her golden blonde hair around her finger. “You don’t think that something happened to them, do you? Like maybe the Death Walkers showed up at the house or something.”

“I highly doubt it. The Death Walkers have no reason to go after them. They want Gemma.”

I rolled my eyes. Lucky me.

“And even if they did go to the house,” Alex said, starting to pace back and forth across the floor. “Stephan can take care of himself.”

“Of course he can.” A voice came up from behind me. It belonged to a guy, that was a given. And he sounded about as resentful as I felt. “Because we all know Stephan can do anything.”

Aislin’s gaze shot over my head. “Laylen, please don’t start. That’s the last thing we need right now.”

I froze.  Laylen, the vampire, standing right behind me.  Slowly, I turned around, my stomach rolling with nervousness.

He was about five or six inches taller than me, which meant he was really tall—six foot four at least. His blond hair swept across his forehead, the tips dyed a bright blue that matched the shade of his eyes. A silver ring hooped the bottom of his dark red lips. He wore a grey t-shirt, black jeans, and biker boots. Black symbols tattooed his forearm. They looked like a foreign language of some kind. Greek maybe?

His gaze dragged up me and came to a stop at my eyes. “You know the last time I saw you, you were maybe about four years old. You’ve grown up a lot since then.”

I scrunched my forehead. “Do I know you?”

He laughed, a very gentle, non-vampire sort of laugh. “Yeah, kind of.”

I forced a small smile. Okay?

“So,” he said, directing his attention to Alex, “Aislin said you got yourself into some trouble?”

“I didn’t get us into any trouble,” Alex corrected him. “So don’t get too excited.”

“That’s not what I was told.” The smug look Laylen was giving Alex made me wonder if there was some kind of bad history between them. “From what Aislin said you—”

“Laylen,” Aislin hissed. “Shut up.”

Alex folded his arms, and his glare sliced into Aislin. “Alright, so what have you been saying?”

She bit her lip, looking guilty as charged. “Well, it’s just that I think…maybe the little thing that happened between you and Gemma on the bus was what helped the Death Walkers discover that the energy is hidden in her.”

Alex shook his head. “There’s no way that could have been the reason.”

Ailsin raised her eyebrows. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because I can,” Alex said easily. “There’s no reason that would have given her away.”

By “that” did he mean our barely kiss. I had to wonder since he’d said it with such regret.

Well, guess what? I regretted it to. I swear I did. Well okay, whatever. It was kind of a lie. But I wished I was capable of regretting it, and that had to count for something, right?

“Alex, you didn’t see it from my point of view,” Aislin said. “From what I saw, it was far from ordinary. The lights were flashing on and off while you two—”

“Alright, I get it,” Alex snapped.

“Wait a minute.” Laylen held his hands up in front of him. “What exactly was it that you two did?”

Was he joking? I didn’t know him at all, so I couldn’t tell if he was being serious or not. But it almost seemed like he was purposefully trying to cause trouble. Like he was trying to embarrass us. And, let me tell you, if that’s what he was doing, then it was totally working. I’d never been one to get embarrassed easily, but I could feel my cheeks getting warm. I squirmed around uncomfortably and fixed my gaze on the spot on the floor right in front of my feet.

“It was nothing important.” Alex’s tone was flat. “So you don’t need to worry about it.”

A lumped swelled in my throat. It felt like my heart had been ripped out and stomped on. I wished it didn’t feel that way, though. It really shouldn’t have felt that way. After everything that had happened—after everything he’d done.  But despite how much I wanted to hate Alex—because, let’s face it, nine times out of ten he was a Class A jerk—I couldn’t. My feelings for him seemed to be out of my control.

“I need a break,” I announced. “I’m going outside.”

“Like hell you are,” Alex said.

“I’m not a little kid.” I stood up straight and raised my chin, hoping I appeared more confident than I actually felt. “If I want to go outside then I will. I need some fresh air”

Alex started toward me. “Gemma—”

Laylen stepped between us, creating a barrier. “How about I go out with her? That way she won’t be alone.” His bright blue eyes locked on me. “That is, if you don’t mind?”

Did I mind? He was a vampire, at least according to Alex. It seemed like I should have felt untrusting toward him. But honestly, at the moment, I couldn’t have cared less what he was or wasn’t. I couldn’t see any blood thirst burning in his eyes or anything. And I really, really wanted a break from Alex.

I shrugged. “Nope. I don’t mind.”

“Fine. Do whatever you want.” Alex waved his hand, dismissing us, and turned back to Aislin. “Let’s keep trying to get a hold of someone. We really need to know what’s going on.”

I heard Aislin muttered something in reply, but didn’t hear exactly what because I was already out the door.

Outside, the deliciously warm desert air dusted my cheeks and swept through my hair. The sky had shifted grey and the stars sparkled across it. The sandy desert land drifted aimlessly in front of me, shadowed by the nightfall. It was a relief not to have goose bumps speckling my skin. It was nice to be able to breathe without seeing it cloud out in front of me. It was so nice to be warm. So, deciding I might as well enjoy the warmth, I shoved the reason I was here as far back into my mind as I could and tried to let myself relax.

I sat down on the cement steps and stretched my legs out in front of me. The warm cement pressed through my jeans. The porch light shined from behind me and casted Laylen’s and mines shadows across the stairs below. Laylen seated himself beside me and leaned back on his elbows.