Neither (The Noctalis Chronicles 3)

Brooke

“So what's your story? You're obviously old,” I said to Helena as we ran. We'd crossed the border into Vermont a few minutes ago.

“Thanks for rubbing it in, kid. You're what, five seconds old?”

“Sixteen,” I said. Well, was I? How did you count your age when you were immortal? I would be sixteen forever, but the years would still pass me by.

“Fifteen,” Helena sang. She looked it. “I wish you would trust me, Brooke. I'm a very good secret keeper,” she said as we stopped next to a lake.

Quicker than I could, she had her clothes off and dove into the water. If I knew anything about Helena, I knew that she loved water. Anytime we were near a body of it that was deeper than a puddle, her clothes were off and she was in. The first time she'd transformed, I'd challenged her to an underwater race. She'd beaten me badly and hadn't let me live it down yet. She flipped water at me as I sat on a rock and let my wings come out. They didn't get wet, exactly, but they were useless in the water.

“You're no fun. Secrets are fun.”

I didn't know why I wouldn't tell her about Ivan. She'd been trying since the second we met to tell me about Ivan. Reading between the lines, they thought I was here to destroy Ava. Honestly, I didn't know why I was here. Ivan and I had settled into a strange sort of life of feeding, lying in the sun and having lots of sex. We did what we wanted and took what we wanted. It was a heady and overwhelming time. I knew he didn't love me, because every now and then he would look off in the distance and I could tell he was thinking about another girl. Either Josie or Ava. They followed him like ghosts, haunting him every moment he was with me.

“You should go see her,” I said one day after we had fed. We were both naked and lying on top of a fallen tree in the middle of a secluded clearing. I didn't even remember what state we were in.

“See who?”

“Ava.”

“Why?”

“Because you love her.”

“I don't love her. I could love her. There is a difference, Brooke.”

“Still. You should go see her.”

Ivan got to his feet, on his guard. I smelled it a second after he did. There was another noctalis here.

“Who is it?” I said.

“My brother. Go downwind three miles and stay there. I have to run to meet him so he won't smell you. I will tell you when you can come back.”

“The one who loves Ava?” I asked.

“Go. Don't ask questions.” Ivan never gave me orders, so I knew it was important. The brother could not hurt me, but there was some reason Ivan did not want him to know about me. I would have to find out.

I ran exactly three miles downwind from him, making sure my scent wouldn't blow toward them. I had to keep moving as the wind shifted, but I treated it as a game. It was only ten minutes later when Ivan found me.

“Good job, Brooke. You are very good at hiding. I thought he would smell you, but he didn't.”

“Was that the brother who is with Ava?”

“No. This was Viktor. My other brother, Peter, is with Ava.”

“Are you close?” I thought I knew the answer.

“No.” He kept looking at the woods, as if he heard something I could not.

“What is it?”

“I have to go.”

I was confused. “Go where?”

“To Maine. To see Ava. My mother, Di, is intent on destroying her.” He reached out and broke a tree in anger. I had never seen him upset. I didn’t really understand it. I didn't get upset anymore.

“How can you help?”

“It is complicated and a story that would take too long to tell. I can't let anything happen to her, lover.”

“Why?”

He looked over his shoulder, as if he wanted to be gone already. “That is another long story, Brooke.”

“Can I come with you?”

“No. You will stay here.”

“Why?”

His eyes narrowed and his human form rippled into his noctalis form for a moment. “Why do you have to ask so many questions? Just do what I tell you, love. It will be so much easier.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

I did not want him to leave me. I had not been scared since I became immortal, but thinking about not being with him gave me a feeling I did not like. It was unpleasant and I wanted it to go away.

“Brooke, I will be back in a day. I want you to be safe. Will you stay here and be safe? Can you promise me that?” I would just promise him and then follow him. That seemed easy enough.

“I promise.” The air around us jolted with something, and my hair moved with it. It was like something invisible had settled over my skin. I looked down, but didn't see anything. The sensation was gone as soon as I felt it.

“Thank you. I will leave now. Take care, love. Remember to feed.”

He kissed my cheek and that was the last time I saw him.

Twenty-Five

Peter

The next day Claire is too sick to leave her bed, and Sam takes her to the doctor's. Ava goes to school, but her thoughts are distracted all day. She didn't want to go, but Claire begs her to.

“How can I say no to her?” she says, trying to hide her red eyes under lots of eye makeup. “I just... I'm just so scared. This wasn't supposed to happen now. It was supposed to happen months from now. Not now,” she says, trying to get her emotions under control. I send her as much positive energy as I can, but it isn't much, because her despair is so heavy over both of us. It weighs us down like a chain, dragging us down. “And what about Helena and Brooke? They're going to find Di and what if they bring her back? What will we do —” I put my finger to her lips to stop her verbal torrent. Her thoughts are rushing like a river that I wish I could dam.

“I will be with you. Every second.”

“I wish that made me feel better.” She instantly feels guilt for saying it, afraid I would be offended. I am not.

“I wish it, too.” I wish it more than anything else.

I stay as close to the school building as I can, lying low under windows and up against walls. When she has classes on the top floors of buildings, I go there as well. I follow her as close as I can without going inside. Her thoughts come to me, scattered, scared, lost. I have been able to read her mind almost completely the entire day. I haven't told her. She is not doing well. Her heart races and slows in a way that worries me. The stress is starting to take a toll on her body. I keep watch on her body rhythms, making sure that she doesn't have a panic attack or something worse.