He tried to grab her hand while she continued to back away. Her calm cracked as tears overflowed, and she turned away from him. Dani moved quickly, but she couldn't stand there anymore with him trying to touch her with the hands he'd had all over that girl. She ran until she reached her street, her mom's street. She didn't live there anymore. She didn't belong. She stormed into the house, hoping her mom wouldn't see her, but no such luck.
Tessa stood by the stairs and got a full view of the black-eyed freak when she walked in. She staggered back a step. "Danielle, what happened? Are you alright?" She rushed forward to embrace her, but Dani didn't want to be touched.
On her way up to her room, she said, "Don't you mean Soleil?" and slammed the bedroom door.
Okay. That was uncalled for, but she was so damn mad at the world for lying and making her think she was something she wasn't, and it all started with her mother. She gathered everything that was of any importance to her from her room.
Tessa knocked on the door and walked in.
"Please don't touch me." She flinched when Tessa reached out to her.
"What's wrong, honey? Talk to me." Alarm rang in her mom's voice.
Dani paused to take a deep breath before she lost it. "I found out today that my whole life has been a lie. I have no idea who or what I am anymore. Even my name is a lie. I have to give up my freedom to be protected by people who are only going to reject me when they find out I'm not what they think I am. I have to hide from someone who wants to kill me, and I just caught Lucas having sex with a girl in the back of his truck. All I want now is to be left alone, please." She couldn't even look at her mom. Sanity was holding on by a string.
Tessa nodded and turned to leave.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you. I love you, Mommy," Dani apologized. She needed to remember that her mother had been living with this for twenty-one years. Dani wasn't the only one whose life was in turmoil.
Tessa looked back and their eyes met. "I'm sorrier than you could ever be." She shut the door behind her.
Shortly after that, Dani heard a knock at the front door. She should've expected Lucas to follow her. She should've told her mom not to let him in. Dani cracked her door and listened to her mom telling Lucas that she was busy and didn't want company.
"Please, Ms. Tessa, I have to see her. She doesn't understand," he begged.
There was a pregnant pause before she began. "Did she see you having sex with another girl, Lucas?" Mom asked very directly. He didn't respond, but she figured his face said it all.
"Then I think she understands perfectly. You have made your feelings known in a vivid fashion, and now I would like you to leave." She shut the door in his face.
He came around the side of the house and started yelling up to her window, just as she had expected. "Dani, please let me in. Let's talk about this. Please, listen to me."
She ignored him and hoped the neighbors wouldn't call the cops. She could go down and talk to him, but there was nothing left to say. It had been silly of her to go to him in the first place, thinking the familiarity of the past could help her deal with the unknown future.
Dani shut the window, lowered the blinds, and turned out the light. She collapsed onto the bed and let the sorrow take her under. There was sorrow for the loss of her first real boyfriend, but more than that she mourned the loss of the life she would have had if she were the human she'd believed herself to be. She would let the pain have its way with her. She could still feel Lucas out there. He stood beneath her window, hoping she would change her mind, praying she would let him in. She could hear his heart beating so hard in his chest. It was such a familiar sound. She'd listened to it with her head on his chest so many times. It called her to him, but for an entirely different reason now.
It was oddly comforting to know why Lucas had pushed her away so many times. He'd been afraid of her all that time. She'd wanted so badly to love him, but there was always something there between them. He'd felt the monster hiding inside her long before she did.
Dani cried until she could no longer breathe. Every time she thought she was out of tears, the dam would break and let loose another torrent. She wrapped herself around the hurt and let it drain her. She would never cry for her old life again.
She heard her mom come to the door a few times. Tessa sat outside on the floor for a couple of hours before she went to her room.
When the sun finally started to rise and throw shades of pink and gold across her bedroom wall, Dani got up and left her human life behind in puddles of tears and sorrow. Looking in the mirror was a mistake. She looked worse than she felt, but it was over. She took a quick shower and pulled her hair up. At least her eyes were back to their normal shade of blue.
She found her mom peering out the living room window. "He is still out there in his truck, sleeping," she said without looking at Dani.
"I know. I'm going to leave before he wakes up." She could hear him out there if she listened hard enough. He was having restless dreams. She made herself a bowl of cereal with extra sugar and a cup of coffee, light and sweet.
Tessa came in and sat across the table. She reached out and rested her hand on Dani's hand.
Dani looked at her mother and smiled. "I know, Mom. I'm sorry too. It's over now, so let's just move on from here. The past is gone and the present doesn't care if we're ready for it or not."
"When did you become so mature?" Tessa asked.
"That would be when the world I knew and everything in it disappeared. It's okay. I'm going to need to be grown up to deal with what's coming. They think they want me, the vampires. They think I am special. I'm going to let them believe that until this threat is gone. Won't they be shocked when they find out exactly how special I really am?"
"Danielle, everything is going to be fine. Mason and I will take care of things when and if this all comes out." She patted Dani's hand.
"Are you gonna take care of it if I spend the rest of my life alone? Are you gonna take care of it when I have to explain to some poor guy that our child will be a half-breed reject? Are you gonna take care of the fact that I feel like I'm trapped under the ice right now? I can see everyone else in the world on top of the ice but I'm underneath, in the place where nobody belongs, because I don't belong."
Tessa started to cry, but Dani couldn't comfort her. She had no comfort to share. She washed her dishes like any other morning. When she reached the front door, she called out, "I'll text you when I get back to school. I love you."
Walking by Lucas's truck on the way to her car, she prayed he wouldn't wake up. He slept with his face pressed against the window. She watched him for a moment but couldn't see the sweet guy she'd wanted so much when she looked at him anymore. He had become a memory in a box of photographs that she would leave behind, along with the rest of that life.
Nathan followed Dani all night, watching her every move. He hadn't been home since his run-in with her. She was able to identify him, and the hunt had been on ever since.
Living out of his van without assistance from his master was difficult, but he deserved the punishment. He would need to find a place to clean up and get some new clothes soon if he planned to follow her more closely. His master was angry with him for letting her slip away and causing her harm the first time around. Now the girl was under his surveillance until he found something useful to present to the master.
"He'll see how devoted I am when I get him what he needs to attain his goals," Nathan told himself.
He had watched the little slut leave the club the previous night to go to the boy's room. She didn't leave until the early morning. It had been so quiet and deserted on the campus that he'd considered taking her then, but he decided to wait. He had to figure out how to disarm her before he tried again. The drug he used on the other vamps didn't work the same way on her. He figured she would need a much larger dose than could be transferred by a feeding. He would continue to follow her and see where she would lead him. With any luck, he would find a chink in her armor.
Indeed, the girl was well connected, as the master had said. The Wrath warrior's son had come to retrieve her in late morning. Nathan couldn't believe it when they arrived at the home of the Vaughn family. She could be quite a prize indeed, if she had connections to the council. The master hated the council.
After less than an hour, she left the gated estate, and he followed her to the interstate. The bitch drove for over four hours without stopping. Good thing he had a full tank of gas, or he would've lost her. They'd arrived in a town called Perry Hall, and he dropped back to follow her through the winding town. If she saw him, the gig would be up, and she would call in reinforcements.