The woman’s face paled when her eyes fell on her son. “Corry? Is that really you?” Her voice shook as tears started streaking down her cheeks.
“Oh!” She clutched her chest, her hand trembling as she did so. It was like she couldn’t believe her eyes. “Thank the Lord! Our prayers have been answered!”
She twisted around, shouting into the house, “Philip! He’s home!”
A second later, a man that looked like an older version of Corry appeared in the doorway. Relief flashed across his face, followed by anger. “Corry Cross. Where in God’s name have you been? We’ve been worried sick!”
Corry’s mom tugged on her husband’s arm, tearfully pleading with him. “Phil, don’t yell at him. Look at him. Someone’s clearly hurt him. He looks starved half to death—as white as a ghost! He needs an ambulance.”
At the word ambulance, Corry bristled. “No. No ambulance. I’m fine.”
“Look at you, boy,” Corry’s dad snapped. “You’re not fine. Your motorcycle was found smashed to pieces off the interstate. We were starting to think you were dead.”
Philip looked out into the street, noticing the motorcycle still lying in the middle of the road. “Where did you get that? That’s not your bike.”
Poor Corry looked like he was on the razor’s edge of sanity. So much as a drop of blood and he would snap. “I, uh… The people who uh…”
“The people who kidnapped you, honey?” his mom asked, trying to fill in the blanks.
“Now, Sue, we don’t know he was kidnapped,” Phil hushed his wife. “Come inside, Son. Tell us everything.”
When his father beckoned him inside the house, Corry just stood there for a beat. Frozen. Debating. The youngblood knew the second he stepped over that threshold, he was entering a world where he no longer belonged.
When I’d first met Corry Cross, I’d thought our instant connection had something to do with the fact that we were almost the same age. Had the same kind of humor. That we both knew what it was like to be human more than the others.
That was still true, but now I understood it went deeper than that.
Like me, Corry had been recently plunged into a scary world he had never asked to be a part of and ripped away from the only home he’d ever known.
The others didn’t get it. They didn’t know what it was like to have a hole in your heart where your family was supposed to go. Or, if they did, they’d forgotten.
For us, the wound was still fresh.
I couldn’t dismiss the urge to know more about Corry and his past. So when the door opened, I followed them inside, knowing I was gonna need a fuck-ton of therapy after this.
Chapter twenty-four
HELP
TheinsideoftheCross residence was just like the outside, cute and homey. My palms went sweaty as my mind went rogue for a moment, and I imagined everything covered in blood. I closed my eyes for a second to clear the image.
When I opened them again, there was another person standing in the Cross’ living room.
Everyone stopped in their tracks when Cora Cross gaped at her twin, pure astonishment carving her features. Thick tears of joy filled her eyes. Her relief at seeing her brother was so palpable it hit me like a punch to the gut.
Knowing what was coming made the reunion harder to watch.
Cora flung herself into her twin’s arms. Corry froze like a deer caught in the headlights. From where I stood, I could just make out his expression through Cora’s mane of hair. His eyes were all red, with not a trace of their blue hue. His lips parted. Fangs dropping. He shoved his nose against the smooth column of her throat, inhaling her scent.
Dread crawled its way up my throat, making me wheeze with each breath. It was like watching the most gut-wrenching of horror movies.
I knew how much Corry loved his twin sister and that he would move worlds to keep her safe. Especially from himself.
But he wasn’t himself right now. I knew how next to impossible it was to fight the urges of a baby vampire. When you were at your thirstiest, it was like someone else was in control of your body.
I wanted to scream for her to run. To help her.
It was useless. This was just a memory, all in the past. I’d seen Cora Cross that one night at the skating rink and knew she was alive and well. She did survive this night. Somehow that didn’t make this any easier to watch.
