8 

present day 

It's like seeing a ghost. Although I didn't witness Ann's death with my own eyes, I imagined her dead enough times to convince myself it was the truth and never thought otherwise. At the time, it was the only explanation behind her sudden disappearance after that dreadful night in 1831, but now it's becoming quite clear what really happened. By some miracle, Ann had survived the rebellion and instead of finding me, she let me think she was dead—which I imagine with my history of running, was probably easier.

She looks the same as the day I left her, only the sadness in her wide brown eyes no longer exists. It's replaced with a wildfire that only burns brighter with every passing moment we maintain eye contact. Her dark skin isn't as harsh as I remember it, and her tight, coily strands of hair are now straightened to become unrecognizable. She's dressed appropriately for our new college setting—jeans and a bright blouse that bear such a striking contrast to the worn and tattered rags I last saw her in.

It's almost like she's a completely different person—I suppose 200 years would change a person—and yet, she still clings onto the single fragment of her newfound vampire life.

Me.

I forget about Theo completely until he speaks up, breaking me from the stupor I had found myself in. "Chloe, this is Angie. She's also a transfer student, and I'm going to be showing her around today," he introduces us as he takes a quick glance at his watch, "and you're right on time. Great."

Ann stretches her full, glossy lips into a grin that looks wrong on her. "Nice to meet you!" is the first thing she says to me, and I'm instantly reminded of the girl who had been broken far too much to trust anyone, and then I realize it's me and not her. Her hand extends to me, but I don't shake it. The silence grows deafening enough to make Theo uncomfortable, so he changes the subject. "Right, so—I'll catch you later, then, Chloe? We can try out some other sources for your paper if you want."

I don't want to leave him alone with her. I've decided it is no coincidence that Ann has decided to transfer to Savannah, and I don't know what this says about her true intentions. The library has gotten livelier since I arrived, with a flux of students chatting amongst each other and discussing anything from gossip to midterm exams. There's no way Ann would risk harming Theo with so many witnesses, but I always knew her to be impulsive when emotional—it's one of the things that almost, and should've, gotten her killed.

People in my past tend to stay there, so Ann has become an unknown variable in an unknown scheme, and the only way to get rid of loose ends like her is to cut her off before she threads into something malevolent.

Theo's phone rings before I can respond. He glances at the caller ID for less than a second before answering. "Hey, what's going on?" The person on the other end speaks, but I'm too distracted to hear what they talk about. All I can think about is Ann and the stupid grin on her face. Rarely do I ever feel strong human emotions like vengeance, but Ann's presence has sparked something deep within me that I thought I'd never revisit. She was a part of me, once. She was someone I cared for deeply and yet all I can feel when I look into her deceitful brown eyes is betrayal.

"Hey, uh, Angie ... I'm so sorry to tell you this, but something came up. I'm afraid we'll have to reschedule the tour if that's okay with you?" Theo tells us, and I thank the gods for it. It gives me just enough to time to figure out what to do with Ann and she'll be gone before anyone can begin to question her absence.

"I can give her a tour," I say with a smile that matches Ann's.

Theo gapes at me and smirks. "You sure? Didn't think you'd be one to volunteer."

"Anything to help a fellow Red Hawk!" I muster up the enthusiasm to make Theo agree. He sends us both his warm smile just as he kicks into a brisk walk, moving with a sense of urgency he didn't have before. I'm not sure what could've caused his sudden departure, but I make a note to keep tabs now until Ann is dealt with. I think it's funny how the boy I swore I'd stay away from for Amara's sake has now become one of my top priorities.

"He's cute," Ann remarks from beside me, exuding an air of playfulness. She comes off as quite harmless for someone who has been going on a careless killing spree.

I shrug her comment off and take her outside to the middle of the main quad where students amble across the lawn with no regards to their surroundings. I want to be careful to kill Ann in private, but I'm sure no one would notice if I severed her head right here. Humans tend to be oblivious.

"Why are you here?" I question.

She sighs. "Almost 200 years later, and you're still as bitter as the day I met you. Funny, because I was an actual slave when we met." I don't have the patience or temper to respond to her snide remarks, but my silence does nothing but charge her ego. "I'm here for the same reasons you are." I freeze, slightly anxious. I'm not only wary of Ann's presence because she was meant to be dead, but also because in our short time together, she learned so much about me that no one else knew. I trusted her with my secrets, my motivations, and my fears, so if she is truly here to enact some crazy revenge scheme, she would know exactly how to do it.

"To get a college education, duh!" she exclaims. "Why else would a 192-year-old vampire be at a college campus?"

My hand swiftly reaches out to gain a strong grip on her neck, fingers enclosing ever so slightly. The action makes her eyes go wide and her lips shut up for once as I feel her breath hitch in her throat. Her mistake is thinking I won't kill her because we have history, so this serves as a reminder that I am much more capable and much stronger than she is. Expectedly, any previous hint of amusement at the top of her deep red cheeks is long gone, and a begrudging scowl replaces it. Her demeanor is more serious now, and for a second, I see her familiar sad eyes. "You don't remember what you did to me?" she asks in an accusing manner that I have no choice but to scoff at.

I release her. "I didn't do anything to you."

"Fuck you," she spits harshly. "I wanted you—no, I needed you by my side and what did you do? You left me! You said you loved me, and you left like I didn't mean anything to you." Her voice is unsteady as she speaks which tells me this means a lot to her as it did to me at the time. But she is wrong, and I don't care enough to tell her because it doesn't change anything.

I knew what to expect when I turned Ann into a vampire—I prepared for it. I was ready to guide her through the insatiable hunger, the uncontrollable emotions, and all of the sleepless nights in between because I was ready to start a life with her. It was something that surprised me to admit to myself since I had never thought I would ever move on from Joham.

That's why I should've known it was too good to be true.

Because Ann didn't want to start a life with me.

When her eyes opened, reborn, she was amazed at her newfound abilities. She couldn't believe the speed at which she could move, the intensity of her hearing capacity or the pure strength and power that seared through her veins. She thought it was ironic that being dead would make her feel so alive and I loved that she believed that.I told her the dangers of blood and what it would make her want to do. I wanted to protect her from that feeling, so much so that I offered to hunt for her. She would never have to kill, only feed.

"Who did ya feed me, anyway?" she asked as she licked her fingers clean, not wanting to miss a single drop. We hid in our usual spot in a landing between dense trees, far enough from the plantation that the masters wouldn't stumble upon us and even if they had, we would know from a mile away.

I shrugged. "I don't know, a wanderer."

Ann looked at me then, eyes glossy. "A wanderer?"

I nod.

"You mean, a slave?"

"Yes."

She froze, so still that I grew concerned. "Did ya kill 'em?"

"No," I reassured her. "He is alive and well, though I'm not sure if he'll regain strength anytime soon. He may be found before he does."

"Ya left 'em there? To be found by massa?" She stood to her full height and I knew this meant she was going to try to find him and I couldn't have that.

"Ann—no. I am certain he will be fine. We can't interfere. We have to move in the darkness now. We can't let anyone know what we are."

"Why not?" Ann questioned me with wild eyes. She couldn't understand the importance of the new life we had to live. Even though we were much stronger than humans are, that was only because they didn't know we existed. If found, they would not stop until they killed us. That was always the nature of humans—murdering things they didn't understand. "God gave me this gift to do somethin' 'bout it. Nat Turner is plannin' somethin' big. If they not 'gon give us freedom, we gon' take it. We gon' use these gifts for good."

There was no changing Ann's mind once it was set. She decided she would help Nat and the others overrun the master quarters and kill everyone in sight. I warned her it was dangerous, that she wasn't fully in control of her abilities yet, but she didn't care. She knew what she wanted, and she wanted me to help her.

And I didn't.

I didn't get to live this long by getting wrapped up in every human conflict known to man. I know what it's like to be so heavily involved in a cause that ends up changing the course of human history, so I also know what it's like to be on the wrong side of history. Me and others like me used our vampiric abilities to push an evil agenda before, and I wasn't going to do it again no matter how compelling the cause might be. I understood Ann's plight and I admired her for it, but I wasn't going to interfere, and I wasn't going to let her kill herself.

Ann didn't see it this way, and so she thought I abandoned her.

"I didn't leave you," I tell her. "You were going to get yourself killed. I've been running for far too long to let myself be so stupid."

She smiles, but there's no happiness in it. A weak smile. "You saved yourself."

"If that's what you want to think, Ann, then fine—yeah. I saved myself."

She steps backwards to create space between us and folds her arms into her chest. "Well, guess what? I didn't die. You were wrong."

"Was I?" I retorted. "You didn't die, but Nat did. All the other slaves that you thought you were protecting did! You took them to their deaths because—what did you call it—God told you to? In case you haven't realized it in the two hundred years you've been trying to make a difference in these pathetic humans' lives, you're not an angel. No matter how hard you try, we will always be monsters!" I don't realize how loud my voice gets until I catch a few glimpses of passing students. I curse under my breath, slightly unnerved by Ann's ability to get under my skin. She's already making me lose my temper and I still don't know the real reason why she's here.

"Look—" I say in an attempt to regain control of the situation and myself, "—it's been two hundred years. I don't believe you would hold onto a grudge for that long to follow me here just to bring up the past."

Ann's gaze is straight when she looks at me, calculating. I've already asserted my dominance over her. I'm older and I'm smarter—something that she must have considered before deciding to go on this deranged revenge trip. I know she is smarter to underestimate me, so it leaves me to wonder what her angle might be. She is the mystery killer the town has been so frantic about—she has to be—and yet, I can't figure out her motive.

"I always wondered how you could leave so easily after turning me into this and swearing you'd help me," Ann says. "I tried to make up so many excuses as to why you'd do something so ... inhumane, but I've come to realize that that's just it. You don't have a single ounce of humanity in you. You don't care about anyone else but yourself. You're cold-blooded."

I decide she may be right.

My past has shown me that humanity gets you nowhere. All of my key moments of true and utter weakness were tied to all of the moments I found myself caring about people other than myself. And if there's one thing Wymond taught me that stuck with me through centuries is to always care about yourself. In the end, once everyone has died and I'm stuck living a dreadful immortal life, I will only have myself.

My body tenses then, because every thought running through my brain tells me to kill her, but I don't, because there's a piece of me that feels something I'm not quite familiar with. This unfamiliar feeling twists my stomach into knots, labors my breathing, and makes me uncertain. I never want to act of uncertainty, so I relax my shoulders and sigh.

"I don't want to kill you," I tell her, "so don't give me a reason to."

She quirks an eyebrow, surprised at my restraint, but it's enough to drop the subject. Whether or not she is the mystery killer, I decide I will stay out of her way as long as she stays out of mine.

Because no one is going tostop me from bringing Joham back.