I jumped out of bed. “You can’t marry him, mom!” I choked. “He’s a vampire! You can’t marry a fucking vampire!”
She raised her hands in exasperation. “First of all, watch your language. Now, look, this is getting way out of hand. You need to grow up, Nikki. Stop with these ridiculous fairytales.”
“It’s not a fairytale, mom! You can’t marry him. He kills people and sucks their blood!”
“Nikki, knock it off!” hollered Nathan.
I glared at him. “It’s the truth, Nathan! And you knew it, too, before they erased your memory!”
Mom pointed her finger at me. “Enough! I’m going to get ready for work and I’m making an appointment for you to talk to someone about this obsession of yours. This is ridiculous.” She then turned on her heel and left my room.
“You are extremely warped,” said Nathan, his face red with anger.
“No, I’m not. Duncan was here last night. You can to talk to him about it. He’ll confirm everything I’ve told you!”
“Right,” he snorted.
“He will, because Duncan…he’s a vampire now, too!”
He laughed out loud. “Oh, here we go!”
“He is,” I choked. “Celeste turned him into a vampire to save his life after Ethan attacked him! You’ll see for yourself, I swear to God, Nathan!”
He shook his head in disgust. “I’m going to school.”
“You have to believe me,” I begged as he stormed out of my room.
“Warped!” he called back.
I groaned and pulled the covers over my head. I was so exasperating that nobody believed me! It was then that I made a decision. One that might save my mother’s life, before it was too late.
Chapter Fifteen
Feeling calmer now that I’d made my decision, I fell back to sleep and woke up several hours later, feeling much better than I had in days. I went down to the kitchen and fixed myself something to eat. When I finished, I took a shower and then left to go find Duncan. I started with the marina.
“I haven’t seen him,” said Sonny when I met with him in his office. “I spoke to Duncan on the phone earlier today, however. He said he’ll be back in town in a couple of days. I’ll definitely let him know that you stopped by.”
I nodded. “Thanks.”
His lips thinned. “That kid… I’m still pretty ticked off, I tell you. I thought he had more brains; nearly gave me a heart attack worrying about him.”
I smiled. “I’m sure he didn’t realize what he was doing at the time. Duncan would never want to worry you like that, not intentionally,” I said.
He shook his head in disgust. “Still, I thought he had more brains that that. It just makes me sick when I think about all of those people who helped me search for him. The time that was wasted and all turmoil we went through. I still can’t believe it.”
“I know what you mean. Tell you what, I’ll give him hell when I see him, too,” I said.
Sonny smiled. “I always liked you, Nikki. You and your brother are a couple of good apples.”
“Thanks,” I laughed.
“Say hi to your mom for me.”
“I will.”
After leaving the marina, I decided to drive towards Caleb’s house, which was on the other side of town. I’d only been there once, so it shouldn’t have surprised me when I took a wrong turn and got lost.
“Crap,” I murmured, pulling over to the side of the road. I grabbed my cell phone out of my purse and decided to try Duncan’s again. Just like before, however, he didn’t answer. I threw my phone against the seat in frustration and closed my eyes.
What am I doing, anyway? This is crazy.
I’d decided to try and kill Caleb myself. I’d read that you could kill a vampire by stabbing it in the heart with a wooden stake. Fortunately, I’d found some narrow pieces of wood in Sonny’s marina and had brought a hammer from the garage at home. My plan had been to try and take Caleb by surprise by congratulating him on the engagement. Then, I was going to try and somehow hit him with the hammer until he couldn’t move, then pierce his heart with the stake. It sounded so logical earlier, but now, it was completely laughable.
Someone began pounding on my window, surprising the hell out of me. When I saw who it was, I froze up.
“What are you doing in this area?” barked Ethan. He was wearing sunglasses and an angry scowl. “Open the door!”
I swallowed back my fear and unlocked the door.
“I repeat, what are you doing over here?” he asked, getting into the passenger seat.
I bit the side of my lip. “I was searching for Caleb’s place.”
His lips thinned. “Caleb’s? Jesus, you have to stay away from him and the others. It’s not safe for a human, especially a young woman like you, to be out wandering around this side of town.”
I stared at him, wondering if it was even safe being in a car alone with him. Feeling lightheaded, I put my hands on the steering wheel for something solid to hold on to.
“Ethan,” I swallowed. “So, who’s Miranda?”
He stared at me for a minute. “Miranda?”
I nodded. “Yeah, who is she?”