Melinda’s hand reached out to it, fingers brushing softly against his exposed skin as they touched the necklace. The air grew heavier as his breath began to become uneven and her heartbeat increased in speed. Both very evident to the vampires around them with their excelled hearing.
“You really should have stayed away," Melinda heard Lucien’s words, but they were so airy and quiet that she thought it was her imagination. However, it wasn’t her imagination. If it hadn’t been for the small vibration in his chest from speaking then she would’ve ignored it.
As he got caught in the storm in her gray eyes, he felt his heart flip in a way that felt uncomfortable and somehow a little comforting at the same time. He wanted to hate it, to hate her. Why was hate no longer an easy feeling?
“Why?”
“You two are going to be one of those nauseating mates, aren’t you?” Ambrose spoke with such harshness that they were snapped from their mutual thoughts. When Melinda finally looked in his direction, she saw he was glaring at Lucien. “We have a problem beyond that of mates. Our driver is dead.”
Isadora whirled to face him. “There’s no way. I left him alive. Did you kill him?”
“I wouldn’t have fed on such foul blood. He was killed with silver to the heart. We have a hunter in this town and if my suspicions are correct, they killed Agatha as well. Now, don’t humans usually call the police about this kind of thing? Or do you let nature take the extra fertilizer?” Ambrose explained with his eyes finally on Melinda at the end.
Lucien set her down, almost reluctantly as his hand remained on her waist. Melinda knew she should have removed it, but somehow it kept her from freaking out about the hunterprospect. Lucien’s heart reeled from her lack of disgust. He shoved it back down with the rest of the feelings that she had started to bring out of him these past couple days.
“Show me where it is.” With a nod, Ambrose motioned for Melinda to follow before walking into the forest.
It appeared to be a trend to find bodies in this forest lately. Shivering at the memory of Agatha’s face that day, she wrapped her arms around herself for comfort.
Lucien didn’t miss the shiver and without thinking, he began to shrug off the leather jacket he wore.
Something warm was placed over her shoulders and when she looked over, she saw it was Lucien’s jacket. Frowning, Melinda looked at Lucien.
“Don’t read into it.” His icy tone made Melinda pout, but he kept his neutral, emotionless mask.
“Can vampires be bipolar?” she asked in annoyance to Isadora, who had joined their jaunt into the forest. Isa chuckled with a shake of her head. “Then perhaps being in the human world has made him a tad emotional. Lucien, are you finding it hard to control your emotions as of late?”
His amber eyes glowered at her, but she refused to cower at such a dangerous look. He pointed a finger at Isadora before speaking, “Don’t encourage this. It’s bad enough I’m having to fight my own impulses with the mundie, but it’s harder when you encourage this teasing.”
The mundie. It shouldn’t have hurt her since the others had called her that on numerous occasions, but hearing that from his lips sent a sharp prick to Melinda’s heart. Swallowing the pain, she picked up her pace to walk alongside Ambrose. He hadn’t really spoken since earlier, and his face showed how deep in thought he was.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
The glaze over his eyes disappeared and he looked up at Melinda in confusion. “My thoughts are worth more than a singular penny. I suppose I could take the penny for my thoughts since it’s you.”
“Well, it’s just a phrase. I’m not sure where it started, but everyone says it around here,” Melinda explained. When he opened his mouth to reveal his thoughts, she caught a glimpse of a trail of blood.
Hurrying in that direction, she abandoned the others in a rush to find the source.
She shouldn’t have looked.
Melinda’s scream rang through the trees and sent birds flying from their leafy depths. She fell to her knees beside his body as sobs tore from her chest. Her hands reached out to the silver stake that was covered in his blood.
Who here could do such a thing to someone so kind?
“Melinda. Mel!” Isadora continued to call her name, but Melinda couldn’t react as her hand rested next to the weapon. The blood now coating her hand was still west. The stickiness made her stomach twist while the cold temperature of the blood made it plummet.
“Melinda,” Lucien spoke softly, his hands grasping her shoulders. Melinda shook her head, unable to speak through the sobs that ravaged her body. Despite the situation, Lucien couldn’t deny the slight jealousy he felt at Melinda shedding tears for another man. Nor could he deny the pain in his chest from hearing the agony of loss in her sobs. “Who is he?”
A gasp came from Isadora’s direction. “You’re the girl he told us about,” Isadora said in realization. “You’re the cousin he was trying to get out of this town.”
Jeremy had been Melinda’s rock growing up. Whenever he moved away, she thought that she would be stuck in this town without that anchor and had been forced to adapt as the othershad. Bryon had swooped in and became that anchor, but now she felt like nothing was holding her to the earth. Agatha had been close to Melinda, but this was different.
Jeremy was family.
He was Melinda’s blood.
Melinda nodded. Her fingers grasping her cousin’s shirt, causing blood to gush around them through the gaps. Without thinking, Melinda grabbed the stake with her free hand and pulled it out. The others remained silent as she pressed her forehead against his with the stake held firmly against her chest.
