Damien Vladermer's Arc

Chapter 4 of 13

Damien stopped the car in front of the academy. Glass walls rose above them, lit with clean blue lines. Skylar stared up at the building that had turned her away once. Her hands twisted in her lap. "How long will this take?" Damien asked. "About an hour," she said. "I'll be here when you get out." She looked at him. The fear he had watched fade last night flickered again. She was used to people leaving. He wanted her to know he would not. "You don't have to," she said. "I know." He held out his hand. "Give me your phone." She hesitated. Then she pulled the slim phone from her bag and pressed her thumb to it. The screen woke. She placed it in his palm. Damien opened her contacts. He typed his name and number with care. Then he tapped through her settings, fast, and turned on location sharing to his own device. He watched her face. She saw only his thumbs moving. He locked the screen and handed it back. "Now you can reach me," he said. "Any hour." She took the phone and stared at his name on the screen. Her lips parted. For a moment she said nothing. No one had ever handed her a way back before. "Okay," she said quietly. "Thank you." She opened the door and stepped out. Cold air rushed in. She pulled her cardigan tight and walked toward the wide steps. She did not look back. Damien watched her climb, small against the tall glass doors. Then the hunger hit him. It came fast, the way it always did when she left his sight. Her scent still hung in the car, warm and impossible. His throat burned. His hands tightened on the wheel until the leather creaked. Eleven days he had gone once. He would not test himself now. Not with her close enough to reach. He knew what he became when the thirst won. He would not let Skylar see it. Damien pulled away from the curb. He drove until the academy shrank in the mirror and vanished. His fangs pressed against his lip. He needed blood, real blood, before her hour ended. Before he lost control and ruined everything he was building. But he was not driving blind anymore. Her location glowed on his screen, a small blue dot that moved through the halls of the academy. Wherever she went now, he would know. Whenever she called, he would answer. He had promised to be there when she came out. He meant to keep it. First he had to feed. Then he would return before she reached the steps, and she would find him waiting, the one person who did not leave.