"You're right," I say to Nichelle, collecting my knife from the table. "We do need to go get them, but you need to stay here."
"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself," she says harshly. "Besides, you may need my help."
"Nichelle, Kayla's right," Mathew interrupts, placing his hand over hers again. "You need to stay here. The vampires are becoming more aggressive and it is becoming more difficult to keep them out of town. We need your help here. Kayla and Aiden are more than capable of doing this by themselves. They just need to be careful not to run into any Highers."
Greyson looks at both Aiden and I. "What about me and Maci?"
"Is it all right if they stay with you?" I ask Mathew, hoping upon hope that I'm not making a mistake. That he's trustworthy and won't hurt them
He nods and relief washes over me because, even though I don't want to say it aloud, I don't want to have to take them with us. They'll only slow us down.
"You have to promise me that you'll let nothing happen to Maci," I tell Mathew with a warning in my tone.
He nods. "I will make sure nothing happens to her. I promise," he says truthfully.
I turn to Aiden who is watching me with curiosity. Before I can even open my mouth to ask him if he wants to go, he says, "When are we leaving?"
When he says he'll go, I almost want to tell him to stay behind, but at the same time, if something happened to me, it'll be good if he's there to step in and finish the job; to save the world. It'll be getting dark and the vampires will be roaming, yet for Aiden and I, that doesn't matter. So weird.
"Now," I say, the strangeness of the situation even more evident.
He stands up and waits for me by the door with his hands stuffed in his pockets.
I get to my feet. "Give us two days," I tell Mathew. "That should give us enough time to get there and back."
He nods and then I motion for Greyson to come over to me. Nichelle and Mathew give me a strange look, but don't say anything as he winds around the table and huddles up with me.
"If anything weird happens at all," I tell him in a low voice, "get Maci out of here."
He squirms uneasily, scratching at the back of his neck. "Where should I go?"
"To the caves back up on the hill. And hide out there until Aiden or I return."
He reluctantly nods and then Aiden and I open the door to head out, unsure of how dangerous it is, though certain that there will be dangers. Not with the vampires, but with the abominations; the unknown. Plus, we're walking into the Highers' territory.
"Kayla, Aiden, please be careful," Mathew calls out as I'm shutting the door. "We need you to return; we need those papers."
I nod and then we leave, walking down a hall, and moments later, we're outside. The sky is dark, the air chilly, and the vampires' cries greet us from the distance; however, we don't have to be afraid.
The town has a wall built around it made from old vehicles and scraps of metal. Guards are posted on top of the barricade with knives, ready to kill anything that threatens to try to break through. Aiden and I climb on top of one of the barricades so we can jump over to the other side. There are two guards posted there, one short and round, the other tall and sturdy. The tall one steps in front of me as I attempt to hoist myself over a smashed-in car and to the other side.
"What do you think you are doing?" He walks up to me, his boots crunching against the dirt and rocks and he almost steps on my fingers. "You can't leave town now. It's getting dark."
"Your rules don't apply to us," I tell him as I push myself on top. Rules. I hate rules.
"Leave them alone, Earl," the other one says, moving his knife to his other hand as he stares out at the opposite direction from us. "They're part freak. Can't you tell?" They both laugh at us.
Aiden jumps back over onto the car, heading towards them, fist clenched and raised. I quickly stand up and latch onto his arm, pulling him towards me as I back to the edge of the roof. I keep backing up until we reach the edge then I tug him with me as I hop down to the other side, landing with a soft thud in the dirt.
"Let me go." He jerks his arm away from me and starts back towards the wall where the guards look down at us, still laughing under their breath.
"It's not worth it, Aiden." I grab the collar of his jacket and drag him backward then I take his hand and start to walk away out into the hills and desert.
"Yes, it is." He grins as he looks down at our hands that are clasped together.
I shake my head, wanting to smack him. "You know that's not what I meant."
I try to let go of his hand, but he tightens his grip. "Can't we just enjoy it for a second?" he asks as I wind downward into a group of towering rocks.
I resist the urge to pull my hand away and try to find the enjoyment he suggests, wondering if I can get there, but I can't. Honestly, I don't really feel anything at all, except the slight chilliness of his skin. My mind wanders back to Sylas and the kiss we shared before Gabrielle captured us. A spark of sadness hits me as I think of what he has turned into. How he no longer exists and has become a monster, that he might have been one of those things running around on the street.
"You look sad... what are you thinking about?" Aiden asks, his eyes sweeping the path in front of us--the rocks, the bushes--his body tensing with every vampire cry, as if he's still not used to being able to walk with them.
"Nothing important," I mutter. "I just hope we're not too late to find the papers," I lie. My thoughts are still firmly planted on Sylas and the kiss. I can almost visualize him changing into some unknown horror of a monster and I simply left him. What the hell? Why did I do that? Why am I so worried about it now? Why do I feel so... so guilty?
"You know we don't need to go back to the colony; we don't have to get the papers and take them back," he says, tugging on my arm and moving me to the side as a snake slithers across the ground in front of us.
I gape at him, slamming to a stop. "Are you being serious right now? Because getting those papers is pretty much the only hope for humanity."
"Who says humanity is worth saving? Maybe this," he points at himself and me, "is what is really supposed to happen to the world. Maybe we are perfection," he says smugly and starts walking again, pulling me with him.
I jerk my hand from his. "What the hell's happened to you? You've changed and I don't think I like it."
He shrugs, stepping to the side, putting distance between us. "I've changed into something better." I glare at him and he smiles. "Look at us, Kayla, the vampires won't bite us. I haven't seen you drink any blood and I know that I don't have the thirst for it. We're strong. Fast. Basically invincible. Isn't this better than being a weak human and having to worry about surviving every day? It's as if we're perfect."
I'm about to tell him that he's lost his mind and sounds just like the Highers when we're interrupted by a hoard of vampires blocking the trail in front of us. They're lined up in a row across the path and between the rocks as they viciously snap their teeth at us and snarl; some stepping forward and some moving back like a rippling wave.
Aiden smirks at them and then at me, giving me the most arrogant look, before he takes off and charges headfirst towards the group, bringing his knife out as he charges. He jumps into the air right before he reaches the line of them and kicks his feet out in front of him, knocking down the front ones before he lands in a crouch. Quickly springing up, he slashes flesh and stabs them in the heart, moving at a speed my eyes can barely detect; I almost start to worry that he's faster than me. The vampires explode into dust one by one while any that are left take a whiff of the air and start to retreat back into the shadows and down into the flat area of the land, letting out shriek after shriek.
Aiden strolls towards me with a gloating look on his face. "See what I mean." He tucks his knife into his pocket and brushes dust off his hands. "This is much better. We kill them instead of them killing us. We're the only ones that can control them."
He seems like a completely different p
erson than he was before he changed. When I changed, I felt better, stronger, but I didn't lose my sense of compassion for the human race. Not like Aiden seems to have done.
He's right. We're the only ones that can control them, but it still doesn't mean that this is what the world comes to. That we're the future of humanity. There's still so much we can do. We can still save the world.
Flashing me a grin, Aiden turns and strides off towards the hill like he's proving he's faster than me. I watch him as he makes his way up the hill while I trudge behind him, wondering if he's lost all of the humanity inside of him.
If the Aiden I first met is completely gone, then it's completely up to me to bring those papers back.
Chapter 13
We hike the rest of the night, keeping quiet along with a bit of space between us. A few vampires appear in front of us occasionally, but Aiden is quick to make sure that they know who we were and what they are dealing with by running at them with his knife, baring his fangs. Within a few steps, they backtrack and disappear behind the rocks, howling at one another and snapping their fangs, starving to death, yet knowing they can't feed on us.
Eventually, the cave that we hid in earlier comes into view right as daylight is getting ready to kiss the land, trickling drops of light come down from the foggy sky. Aiden veers towards it and I wonder what the hell he's doing.
"Where are you going?" I call out as I keep walking straight.
He turns around at the edge of a boulder and raises his arms above it, showing me his torn sleeves and the massive amount of tears in the fabric. "I guess I got a little carried away," he says, seeming proud. "I'll have to hide out until the sun goes down."
Part of me thinks he did it on purpose. Part of me wants to leave him. Part of me wants to knock him out.
Shaking my head, I change directions and head towards the cave. When we arrive at it, nestled down between the rocks, Aiden rushes inside just as the sun glimmers over the horizon. I decide whether to keep going or wait since I'm not sure if he's going to help me or not then ultimately settle on waiting, more because I worry what he'll do if I leave him behind. Go back to the colony maybe and do something bad? At this point, I wouldn't put it past him. Still, I find myself wishing I had some silver or something to knock him out with... although I'm not sure if it'd work since Aiden seems a lot different from a Day Taker.
I sit down outside on a rock with my knife in my hand, my elbow propped on my knee and my chin resting on my hand. I watch as the sky turns grey, lost in my thoughts.
"We can't let the Higher find out about your perfection," Monarch tells me as he rummages through his medicine cupboards. "If they do, then everything we've done to save the world will become pointless."
"But what about Aiden? What if they find out about him?" I ask as I climb up on an empty hospital bed. "Won't he put everything at risk, too?"
Monarch shakes his head as he looks at me. "I've told you that even though Aiden's the only other one like you, he's broken."
"Broken how?" I look down at my arm as he places a needle full of black fluid into my skin.
"Kayla, we've talked about you asking too many questions. You need to stop. Concentrate on everything you've been trained to do." He pushes the needle deeper into my skin, injecting more dark liquid into my vein.
"But..." Everything goes blurry and I collapse onto the bed as I fade into unconsciousness.
"Kayla, are you going to sit out there all day?" Aiden's voice brings me back to reality.
I sigh and look over at the entrance of the cave. Aiden is standing near the edge of the shadows with his hood down, watching me with a puzzled look, as if he doesn't understand why I won't go in there with him. I climb off the rock and hop down to the flat space in front of the cave, staying in the sunlight. "Did you really mean everything you said last night? About it being better for humans to change into the same breed as we are?"
Aiden looks at me intensely, leaning forward just the slightest bit. "Kayla, please, just let it go."
I back away from him, putting more and more space between us. "You're not trying to manipulate my thoughts again, are you? Because you know it doesn't work on me."
He holds his hands out in front of him. "Relax. I wasn't trying to do anything to you. I was simply trying to figure you out. Why can't you see that what we are is better?"
"What happened to the Aiden that thought that becoming a Day Taker was the wrong choice? The Aiden who cared about people?" I ask him, storming back towards him.
"That Aiden was naive and stupid," he says, inching to the edge of the line where the shadows meet the daylight. "He didn't understand what it was like to be fearless, strong, perfect." He tries to grab me, but I'm too fast, jumping out of his reach.
I glare at him and narrow my eyes as I back towards the rocks again, deciding what to do. Walk away? Stay? Hurt him? "If you're so perfect, then how come you are stuck there in the shadows?" I raise my eyebrows at him, challenging him, then tip my chin back and look up at the grey sky. "You're flawed and your inability to go in the daylight isn't what I'm talking about. You're cold and uncaring. I'd much rather have the human Aiden than what you have become." I turn my back on him and walk away.
Aiden growls, furious, and bursts out of the cave into the light, running straight at me. Without thinking, I spin around to shove him back, but it is too late. Sun blankets him as he stumbles back, still out of the shade of the cave. There's a moment where he doesn't realize what's going on then he sees my terrified expression and his gaze drifts down at his hands. Time seems to slow down, yet the more time that slips by, the more aware we both become that nothing is happening. He doesn't burst into dust as the sun touches his face, his hands, his arms. Aiden's a Day Taker. Monarch told me that Aiden was broken, but apparently his flaw is not the sun.
A grin spreads across Aiden's face as he holds his hands up to the sky. "See, we are perfect."
I roll my eyes, resisting the urge to shove him to the ground.
He drops his hands back to his side and walks over next to me, placing his hands on my shoulders. "You know I would never hurt you, right?"
"I know you can't hurt me," I say then let out a breath of frustration. "Aiden, I care for you and everything; I don't want you to become something different just because you suddenly feel powerful."
His expression falls, but it quickly vanishes. "You care for me, yet you don't love me?"
"I don't love anyone," I say, but for some reason it feels like a lie.
"That's not true. You love Sylas." He waits for me to deny it.
I open my mouth, planning on denying, but for some reason, the words won't leave me.
"Don't worry," he says, pretending to be nonchalant about it when really I can tell he's hurt. "I'll always be here for you. Especially now that Sylas is gone." Then his mood shifts, and suddenly, he's back to being as cheerful as can be; a bounce in his walk as he breezes by me towards the path. "Well, since daylight isn't a problem, how about we go get those papers?"
I can feel lies radiating from him, although I can't figure out what they're coming from. He's so moody and I know I'm going to have to be on my guard. Either that or knock him out and leave him somewhere.
As I follow behind him, up the rocks, beneath the faint flow of the sun, Monarch's words keep echoing through my head. He's the only other one like you, but he's broken. Broken.
I'm beginning to think that Monarch meant he is broken in the head. I wonder if he'll ever be able to be fixed; go back to being the same Aiden he used to be. The one that cared for others. The one that I cared about, in a way. Because right now, I don't care about him, and if he tries to put humans or me at risk, I'll stop him no matter what it takes.
Chapter 14
It's a long journey and exhausting, but only because Aiden makes it that way by being happy one minute and rude the next. His mood swings are tiring. Finally, though, we're walking across the park where Sylas, Aiden and I once played when we were smaller. The pla
ce where Sylas gave me a flower on my birthday... one of my rare, good memories, well, at least the beginning of it anyway.
"Is something amusing?" Aiden asks, watching me intently.
I realize I'm smiling and quickly erase it as I focus on the building across from the park where the papers were left behind. He practically burns a hole in my head, trying to decipher what I'm really thinking about, but I ignore him and speed up, leaving him a ways behind me.
As we reach the building, I veer to the right and head towards the doorway that's covered with torn plastic, which I cut open the last time I was here. I carefully push the plastic aside and peek into the building. It looks vacant, so I cautiously duck through the hole, glancing around at the empty space, the plastic above. Nothing else seems to be around.
I motion for Aiden to follow me and he ducks through the plastic, looking around the empty room curiously. "So where are the papers that we need?" he asks, turning in a circle, looking at the walls and the ceiling.
I nod, holding my finger up to my lips. "Shhh... We don't want to get caught and be locked up," I hiss.
He shrugs my comments off and begins to wander around the room, like he doesn't care if we get caught. I dash through the room and make my way down the hall in the direction of where I dropped the papers; where I last kissed Sylas. I cautiously peer around the corner and then step into the room carefully. I see the doorway that leads to the cells and I rush over to it. As soon as I get to it, I see the papers still scattered over the floor with droplets of dried blood on them.
I bend down quickly to collect them as they flap in the gentle breeze blowing from somewhere. I have a few in my hand when I hear a noise through the doorway that leads into the cell area I was locked in. The door is still missing from where I ripped it from its frame. I slide my knife out of my pocket, setting the papers down on the ground before I make my way towards the noise. I'm on guard as I walk down the hallway between the glass cages, peering in each of them, secretly hoping that Sylas will be inside one of them and that's who made the noise