Sharla ran through her kitchen as fast as she could, the monster at her heels.
Looking down at Cam, bloody and torn as she held him in her arms, she couldn’t help but feel ridiculous.
The monster had masqueraded as him for so long, she couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen it until now.
Because the truth of it was...
She grabbed a knife off the counter and turned to face her attacker.
This was not the first time she had fallen in love with someone already dead.
The monster with his face struck. She fell to the floor, the knife slipping from her grip. He gripped her wrists, pinning her to the floor as he positioned himself over top of her.
It was hard not to take that sort of thing personally.
His teeth sunk into her neck and he began to drink, her blood flowing down his throat and he seemed to relax into her.
Cam had told her that vampires could fortify their charm with supernatural power, to make you feel whatever they wanted, but she knew that hadn’t been the case.
All the time they spent together, she had never thought to question why she only saw him in the evening, or why this sophisticated college boy had paid all this attention to her and no one else.
She had genuinely loved him, she was sure. But Cam gave her a reason to forgive herself for that. To forgive herself from being taken in by something that was far from human. She had always been thankful for that.
She felt tired, sluggish, but she wouldn’t give up. He sat up, using his nails to open a thin cut on his wrist. She reached out, her fingers desperately searching for the knife.
And here she had gone and done it again.
Pressing his wrist to her mouth, he said, “Drink, and we will be together forever.” Her eyes widened in horror, and now she realized why he never wanted anything in return for the affections he lavished on her. He was waiting for tonight. Waiting for her to be ready in his eyes.
The silly thing was that Cam had, in his own way, warned her away from this a hundred times. But she had fallen in love with him anyway. And when she began to flirt with him a little more than usual, he had told her a romance between them was impossible.
Her hand found the knife as she struggled to keep the blood from passing through her lips.
She had thought he was worried about letting their relationship become personal, a valid concern in their line of work, but she was sure he felt something too. She was sure that sooner or later, they would be together.
He closed his eyes as the blood began to seep its way into her mouth, and then she struck, driving the knife deep into the side of his skull.
But Cam was already dead, and now she wasn’t sure if he had ever felt anything at all.
He howled in pain, slumping against her and with her last bit of strength she managed to shove him off. Slowly she pulled herself to her feet, her legs threatening to give out at any moment. She felt lightheaded, and only now realized how much blood he had taken.
But that didn’t matter now. Gently, she let her arms release their grip on him and stood up. “Take care of him until he wakes up,” she said to April, who only nodded. The fire in Sharla’s eyes left no room for questions, and April had her own wounds to attend to.
She limped out of the house, both her blood and his staining her prom dress a deep crimson.
She strode out of Spooky Burger and into the pouring rain, now coming down stronger than ever. It too, could sense what she could.
She would find out what happened. She would find out what that monster had been.
There was a very powerful, but very injured monster out there, and she would do what Cam had taught her to do. Now was her only chance and she would not let it pass her by.
And when she had learned what it was she would ensure that she would never be a victim again. She would make sure no one would ever be a victim again.
Because Cam was still everything to her. He had taught her how to walk the night unafraid, trained her to fight the monsters that would otherwise prey on people like her. But most of all because even knowing the truth about him, she still loved him.
She didn’t know it yet, but she would become a Hunter.
She had never been more certain of anything in her life. She would kill the Girl With the Dead Eyes.
