• C HAPTER X


    Vincent clenched his teeth as Kida walked past him. His eyes shut closed tightly. He was doing everything he could to bite back another hurtful remark.
    Which is what he should have done in the first place.
    Unfortunately, Vincent was already upset by the fact that she’d seen him feeding. Now she was asking to leave with him? The idea was absolutely out of the question. He sighed and ran a still trembling hand through his hair, but stopped abruptly when he saw Seth out of his peripheral vision standing in the doorway.
    “How much of that did you hear,” Vincent asked tersely.
    Seth stepped slowly into the room. The grimace stretched across his face was a stark contrast to his angelic features. “All of it.”
    “I didn’t mean to say it,” Vincent replied, his muscles still tense.
    “Well it’s too late to take it back.”
    Vincent ran a hand over his face and leaned wearily against the wall. “I just don’t understand why she’d ask me that suddenly.”
    “I assume it’s because I asked her to.”
    “You asked her to,” Vincent asked furiously. “Why the hell would you do that, Seth? Just yesterday you were asking me to kill her!”
    Seth’s expression softened when he looked into the other room where Kida had gone. “Yes. I did. But to be honest, I’ve grown quite fond of her in the past couple of hours.”
    Vincent met Seth’s complacent stare from across the room.
    “She’s not the same, Vincent. Surely you see that.”
    His lips tightened. He did see it. Kida was a victim before, and she still is.
    “I was wrong before,” Seth continued. “You did the right thing to erase her memory. You gave her a chance at life. But she needs you.” He walked over and grabbed Vincent’s shoulders tightly, almost desperately. “You need each other.”
    Vincent was sure the look on his face was one of bewilderment and probably even anger. How could Seth even suggest this? “It’s too dangerous,” was all he could say.
    Seth laughed mockingly. “Too dangerous? There’s nothing safe about the world she lives in, Vincent. You know that!” Vincent shook his head, but before he could turn away, Seth grabbed him by the arm and forced him back around.
    It never ceased to amaze Vincent how strong Seth was.
    “And she’s definitely not safe here,” Seth continued. “You saw those vampires, Vincent. There’s no doubt that they belonged to the Underground. They know about her.”
    Vincent knew that Seth was right about the rogue vampires. He’d had the suspicion that there was something going on in the Underground. That they’d found out about Kida. But he still was unsure how. “I’ll figure that out,” he replied more confidently than he felt. “But running away with Kida isn’t going to make things better. My face is common to most Otherworlders. They’ll alert the Council when they see me. If Kida is with me, then it’ll be that much easier for the Council to get their hands on her. No. Running isn’t going to help.”
    “Then don’t run.” Seth’s violet eyes bored into Vincent’s.
    “I can’t go home, Seth. Not without turning in Kida.”
    “I didn’t say anything about going home.”
    Vincent cocked his head. “I’m not sure—” His sentence was cut off by a loud bang from one of the back rooms.
    Seth rolled his eyes. “I’d better go check up again on the boy.” He spared one last glance at Vincent. “Go make your amends. You don’t want to part on sour terms.”
    Vincent couldn’t help the pang of disappointment he felt at hearing about how he would soon be parting ways with Kida. But the emotions threatening to bubble up had to be stifled. If there were ever a reason to leave, that was one.
    Vincent didn’t get far into the other room before stopping short, a knot forming suddenly in the pit of his stomach. Kida was sitting in a chair with her knees pulled tightly against her chest, a watery streak staining her cheek from her bright blue eye to her chin. He appraised her with a gut wrenching guilt as she stared out the window.
    Vincent cleared his throat.
    Kida jumped as her head was wrenched toward him. Her cheeks turning a light crimson, she wiped the tears from her eyes quickly before returning stubbornly toward the window. “What?”
    He shuffled over and sat in the chair in front of her. Her jaw muscle worked as she was forced to look Vincent in the eyes. “I didn’t mean to say it like that.”
    “Well I got the message.”
    “No you didn’t.”
    Kida’s eyebrows merged crossly.
    Sighing, Vincent forced himself to keep his gaze steadily on Kida. The sapphire color of her eyes was so intense. A lot of the time, he found it difficult to keep eye contact. “You would have no future with me, Kida.”
    He could hear her grinding teeth. “I wouldn’t here, either.”
    Vincent scoffed, revealing half a smile. “You know that isn’t true.” Kida swallowed hard. Vincent could tell she was doing her best not to cry, and his heart broke at the sorrow in her eyes. Since when did he care so much?
    She took in one shaky breath. “I’m so afraid,” she whispered.
    It took everything in Vincent not to grab her and hold her in his arms, and he cursed himself for holding back. “You don’t have to be afraid. Seth will be here to make sure that no one will know who you are.”
    She sniffled and looked away stubbornly. “He won’t be here all the time.”
    This was true. There was no way Seth would stay in Chicago and especially not Pleasant Hill “No. He won’t.”
    Kida’s lips pursed.
    “But,” he continued before she could say anything. “He won’t need to. You’ll be camouflaged. You can finish high school. Go to college—”
    “Start a family,” she interrupted abruptly.
    Vincent found himself suddenly mute. What could he say? They both knew the answer to that.
    Kida scoffed before brusquely removing herself from her seat. “You don’t have the slightest clue what’s best for me, Vincent. You thought you could just barge into my life, announce yourself as my lost older brother, and tell me that my parents are dead and that the Council of some Otherworld is out for my head?”
    Vincent reluctantly met her gaze, fully expecting the expression of hurt; he didn’t however expect the obvious guilt-stricken expression reflecting back at him. This shocked him more than anything.
    The truth was that she was right. “I thought I was helping you,” he replied pathetically.
    She didn’t say anything at first, but simply stood there holding back the film of tears pooling over her eyes. “Well you didn’t,” she croaked.
    “What’s going on?”
    Both Kida and Vincent turned toward the door to find Seth leaning knowingly against the threshold.
    “I’m not interrupting anything?”
    Kida’s countenance hardened before brushing past Vincent and stopping in front of Seth. “Nothing important,” she said before leaving.
    Seth arched a questioning eyebrow at Vincent.
    “This is your fault.”
    Seth laughed acerbically. “My fault? So now I’m the one who asked you to come find your ‘younger sister’ as you now call her—”
    Vincent’s jaw clenched.
    “—and make sure that her true identity remains unknown?” Seth paused, waiting for an answer, but the look on his face told Vincent that he didn’t really expect one. “No, sir. You got yourself into this mess. Not me. You.”
    Vincent stared back at Seth coldly. “We’ve been here long enough. I think it’s time to go.”

    The car couldn’t have been farther away. Kida didn’t even so much as glance in Vincent’s direction as they walked to the parking lot, and she walked far enough ahead of him to maintain a good distance.
    “You mind telling me what happened,” Jeff asked.
    Kida growled. “Just don’t ask.”
    Jeff tugged at her arm and pulled her to a stop.
    “What,” she asked flustered.
    “Don’t leave me out of this, Kida. What happened?”
    Kida had trouble looking Jeff in the eyes. She felt a pang of guilt for thinking about leaving with Vincent because she knew that would mean also leaving Jeff behind.
    Something glinting in the background caught Kida’s eye, and she tilted her head to see what it was. Behind Jeff, several yards back, stood a young girl staring blankly at Kida. But what troubled her was the girl’s appearance.
    Kida slowly removed her sunglasses, mortified.
    The girl’s raven hair was damp with blood, some of it already beginning to seep down her pale face—like red paint on white canvas. That’s when Kida saw the gash on the side of the girl’s skull, a long crimson slash peaking just slightly out from under her hair like someone had knifed the girl in the skull. The white dress that she was wearing was stained black from the blood.
    But what terrified Kida the most were the girl’s eyes—the same strong blue as her own.
    Kida’s heart pounded heavily in her chest as a suited man walked right through the girl. She disappeared suddenly in a cloudy haze. Kida swallowed hard. What was that, she thought.
    “Kida,” Jeff asked shaking her slightly. “What are you looking at?”
    Kida’s head jerk swiftly toward Jeff. “Y-you didn’t see that,” she stuttered.
    Jeff shook his head, obvious worry reflecting from his eyes.
    “I thought I saw something,” Kida replied. “But I guess it was nothing.” That was a lie.
    “What’s going on,” Vincent asked as he walked up.
    She suddenly didn’t even care anymore about what had been said between them earlier. Kida looked up at Vincent bothered. “Nothing. Let’s just keep going.” This time she’d make sure to keep Vincent close.
    They approached the car, and before Kida could place herself inside, Vincent’s hand on her wrist stopped her. He pulled her close. “You saw something earlier,” he said seriously. “What was it?”
    Kida didn’t bother taking her wrist away. “I don’t know.”
    “Another hallucination?”
    She shook her head and gently wrapped her fingers around her cross necklace, rubbing the engraving on the front. Her chest, she just realized, felt slightly warmer. “It didn’t feel like a hallucination. It was real—a little girl with black hair and blue eyes. She looked…dead.”
    Vincent let go of Kida’s wrist, his blue eyes darkening. “Let’s just get out of here.”
    “Was it a ghost?”
    He walked quickly around the car and jumped inside, Kida following. “Maybe,” was all he said.
    “Vincent. There’s something you’re not telling me.”
    Vincent looked over and spared a quick glance at Jeff in the backseat before starting the car. “Sometimes apparitions will reveal themselves to people. Otherworlders typically have no problem see them.”
    “But I’ve never seen one before,” she said.
    “A ghost,” Jeff shouted.
    “They’re harmless,” Vincent replied. But his face exposed the lie.
    As they were leaving the city, Kida could have sworn she saw the girl again standing among the crowd of walking people. But she convinced herself her eyes were simply playing tricks on her. Kida shivered violently. She could still see the girl’s sagging face staring back her.
    Had she really seen a ghost?
    Kida wanted to believe that that there were, but if that were the case…
    Then why was her necklace still warming the skin beneath it.