Page 60 of No One’s Daughter

I swung, shoved, twisted, lunged, even tried to bite, but every single time he won.

Then he started showing me. Correcting me mid-motion, redirecting my weight. Demonstrating the exact move I’d attempted, but perfectly executed.

By the time we finally stopped, my chest was heaving, my hair damp with rain and effort.

“Done?” he asked.

“For now,” I muttered, wiping sweat off my brow.

“Come on.”

I groaned under my breath but followed him anyway, my legs protesting slightly as we made our way back down.

Down and past our humble abode.

“Where are we going now?” I protested.

No answer.

Of course.

By the time we reached street level, the drizzle had become steadier, growing heavier still as we moved through the narrow streets that grew progressively more crowded the further we went.

Neon signs flickered against the wet pavement, casting everything in distorted colour. Laughter spilled out from doorways, music thumped faintly through walls, and beneath it all, the tempting beating of hearts tried to lure me in.

The capital city as a vampire was… different.

​“I thought you needed to speak to your sister,” he said suddenly, glancing back at me, one brow raised.

​My eyes widened at his words. “Yes,” I said immediately, not particularly caring if this was another joke or not. I couldn’t take the risk that he was actually going to let me speak with her and fumble my only chance.

We stopped outside a phone box, the glass fogged slightly from the cold, its metal frame worn and scratched from years of use. Without a word, he pressed a handful of coins into my palm and nudged me forward.

“Don’t take too long.”

I shot him a look but stepped inside anyway, the door creaking shut behind me, only to stop short when his weight pressed against it from the outside, effectively sealing me in.

I turned to the phone, fingers hovering a second before I picked up the receiver, the faint hum of the line already there. I fed the coins in one by one, each click echoing too loudly in the confined space.

I pressed each number deliberately until the line rang.

Once.

Twice.

​Finally, a groggy voice came through the receiver at the other end. “Hello?”

​I visibly relaxed at the sound of her voice. “Hi, Claire, it’s me—”

​“Oh, hi,” she said, her voice lifting immediately, warmth flooding through the line.

​“I hope I didn’t wake you,” I began, trying to figure out what to say without sounding ominous. It was just past five am in the morning, and while it wasn’t unusual for her to be up this early for work, what was unusual—as in I’d never done it before—was for me to call her at this hour.

​“No, no, you’re fine. I just wasn’t expecting a call this early. What’s up?”

​“I just wanted to let you know that I’m a bit under the weather at the moment, so don’t be alarmed if you don’t hear from me.”

I glanced out through the glass instinctively, catching a glimpse of Davien’s unmoving form.