Grey Eyes: Book One of the Forever Trilogy

Chapter Four

I leaned up from the bed.  I knew what was being implied, but the thought was too ridiculous…

Duncan began to nod his head.  "I wasn’t there with you—"

“But you were there,” I interrupted.  “You saved me…didn’t you?  You pulled him from underneath my bed?  Maybe one of your men?”

His head cocked in surprise. “Anastasia by the time we arrived, the house was empty.  There was no sign of anyone.  Until Nathan’s phone call, we had assumed the very worst.”

“But then, who?  And where did my mother go?  This isn’t making any sense.”

“You’re certain that there was someone else present?” he asked.

I nodded.  “Someone saved me.”

“Then perhaps there is another explanation,” he conceded.  “Is there any chance that you could be mistaken about how bad her injuries were?”

“I don't know, I mean, she stopped breathing. At least I think she did. She was hurt so badly, I guess I just assumed..." 

"It is highly possible that whoever saved you came back for her.  If that is indeed the case then she could very well be alive."  He sighed.  “But there is also another very real possibility, and I need for you to hear and accept this now, before your mind closes itself off to it."   

I shook my head. I knew enough about vampires to guess at what he was suggesting. “You’re not saying that she could be one of them?” 

“She very well could be,” he replied. “It takes only one bite to become one of those animals.”

One of those animals.  The disgust in his voice seemed to echo around the room—the same tone that Nathan took when talking about the vampires who attacked his mother.  I tried to let the words sink in—to imagine my mother as one of those things.  I couldn’t.  My reality had been warped and twisted enough—it had reached its limit.

“No.  She’s alive.  I have to believe that.  I…” I didn’t know what else to say.  As I sat there in silence, I could feel my mind scramble for some way to make this explanation work.  I thought of how resourceful she was.  How she always had a backup plan for everything.  Surely, she would have enlisted some kind of help, someone who would come in a time of crisis.  It certainly sounded like something my mother would do. Enough for me to cling to this hope, wholly and completely.

“Ana—“

“No.” I interrupted.  “She’s alive.” 

Duncan opened his mouth to say something more, but didn’t.  Instead, he placed his hand on my cheek and wiped away the wetness under my eyes.  “Very well, then. “

With that, he stood up from the edge of the bed and crossed the room, stopping in the doorway.  “Would you like to speak to your grandmother?”

I didn’t hesitate.  “No.”  Her gamble cost my mother her life. I had nothing to say to her.

“Very well, but tomorrow we leave for her home in Brighton.  You’ll be safe there.  I believe it’s what your mother would have wanted.”

“It is,” I sighed, remembering what she’d left for me in that yellow envelope.  “I’ve got plane tickets, there’s one for each of us.”

“Three?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Then she did know we were here.  It isn’t a coincidence that your escape led you to this cabin, is it?”