Sun Kissed (The Guardian Angel Series Book 2) (16 page)

“You can sleep; we still have a long way to
go.”

“When I wake up, would you like me to drive
so you can nap?”

Eli chuckled and glanced at me briefly. “You
drive?”

“I’m eighteen, of course I drive. Aunt Jen
taught me when I lived with her.”

“Do you have a license?”

“Yes, Eli, I have a license!”

His lips curled into a smile. “Okay. You
can drive tomorrow, but only if you sleep now.”

I slumped back into my chair and wiggled
against the leather. I placed my legs on the dashboard and immediately found my
comfortable spot.

“This doesn’t bother you, does it?” I
asked, pointing to my feet.

“No.”

“Good night.”

“Good night,” he whispered.

I closed my eyes and long sharp fangs
filled my mind. I was scared, but I needed to turn that fear into anger. I needed
to find something to fuel me, because if I remained an emotional mess, I’d get
us killed. I was pulled deep into a dreamless state, forgetting all about the
horrors of my reality.

Déjà vu

The smell of a bacon and egg muffin wafted
menacingly under my nose, waking me up. The sun was bright and the air was hot.
It was the perfect weather to go to the beach, but alas I had vampires to work
for.

“I didn’t know if you’d want sausage and
egg or bacon and egg, so I got you both.” Eli smiled.

I wiped sleep from my eyes and grasped the
bacon and egg breakfast muffin. When I had fallen asleep there was nothing but
darkness and Eli and I were alone. Now we were at a pit stop on a motorway
somewhere, surrounded by other people and families. It was a relief to see
normal people. It had been a while since I was surrounded by humans. As I un-wrapped
my muffin and Eli climbed into the car next to me, I saw a teenage a girl who appeared
to be around my age. She was on her mobile phone.

“Well, she said you texted her. She’s my
worst enemy, Peter! You’re my boyfriend, not her friend!”

I envied her; her problems seemed so
miniscule against mine. I wished my biggest worry was if my boyfriend was
texting my enemy. What felt like the end of the world for her would be a walk
in the park for me.

“One day.”

“Hmm?”

“One day you’ll be free from all of this.”

It was like he could read my mind
sometimes. “I will never be free as long as I am what I am.”

The sudden realisation put me off my food
but I ate it anyway.

“So, can I drive now?”

It took a little bit more persuading on my
part before he managed to hand over the keys.

“Keep your eyes on the road and focus. I
don’t want to die before getting to the vampire nest.”

“Yeah, that’d be pretty embarrassing
wouldn’t it?” I giggled.

“This is my favorite car, please don’t scratch
it.”

“Eli, chill out. I’m not that bad at
driving. Go to sleep and I’ll have us closer to our death in no time.”

The engine started. If it wasn’t for the
soft vibration, I wouldn’t have noticed the car had even turned on. It was so
quiet and smooth.

Eli watched uneasily as I pulled out onto
the highway. When he saw I was actually staying between the lines, his eyes
closed. A peaceful silence fell in the car and I peeked sideways at Eli. His
body was at ease. His chest rose and fell with each breath.

Focus!
My mind yelled at me, forcing me to watch the road
but it wasn’t long until I found my eyes on him again.

“Eyes on the road,” he said, opening one
eyelid. His green eyes pierced into my soul and I felt my cheeks heat up. His
voice was light and relaxed but it still didn’t make me feel any less silly.

“Oh-I …Uh, I …” I took a deep breath of
air. “Sorry.”

How embarrassing.

The concrete river curved its way through
the bush like it grew there naturally. The trees lining the motorway flew by in
a blur of green and black. Before long it was midday and the scorching sun was
high up in the sky. I took my foot off the accelerator slightly as I passed a
‘Take a break’ sign indicating a service station and rest area up ahead. I was
thirsty and slightly peckish, so I decided to pull in when it came time to turn
off. As soon as the car rolled to a stop, Eli’s eyes sprang open and he glanced
around, trying to get his bearings.

“Are you hungry?”

“It’s twelve already? I didn’t mean to
sleep for so long.”

“That’s okay, you needed it and I was
having fun driving. Shall we eat in?”

My whole body ached as I slid out of the
car. Eli’s groan told me he was experiencing the same discomfort I was. After a
good stretch and a quick meal, we were on the road again.

The trip was a lot quicker than I imagined,
it was now six on Saturday night and we had to be there by this time tomorrow.
The GPS told us we were twenty-three hours away from Mount Kuuce, which I
assumed was our destination. Eli said we needed more time, so we didn’t stop
for dinner. It wasn’t an issue; I’d eaten too much at lunch, so dinner was the
farthest thing from my mind. It was twilight and the moon was full, casting
unmoving shadows along the horizon. The tall hillside was coarse with boulders
and the fog began to roll in, making the world around us slightly more eerie.
Soon the busy motorway fell away and we were travelling along an old service
road leading us deeper and deeper into the forest.

Eli flicked on the high beams; it allowed
us to see more and watch for any animals that might stray onto the road. The
trees had changed style. They were white and weathered instead of brown and
hard.

“They’re Paperbark trees,” Eli said, making
me wonder if he could actually read my mind.

They looked as though they were made with papier
mache. Bits and pieces stuck out in every direction, like torn tissue paper. It
was strange and eerie yet painfully beautiful. Out from behind a tree hopped a
grey, long-legged animal.

“Eli, look out!” I shouted.

I squeezed my eyes shut as the car lurched
and I was thrown forward violently. The seatbelt bit into my chest, knocking
the wind out of me. The car slid a small length before coming to a stop. Our
breaths were ragged and uneven as adrenaline and fear dominated our systems.

“Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” I gasped, trying to even out my
breathing. “Did you hit it?”

“I think I nudged it. It hopped into that
bush. I should make sure it’s okay.”

I nodded in agreement.

“Wait in the car,” Eli ordered. I watched
as he disappeared into the bush.

A shadow moved rapidly past my window,
catching my eye. My breath became quick again, my heartbeat speeding up with it.
I hadn’t hit my head, so I know I wasn’t seeing things.

You can handle yourself against a vampire.
You know how to use your magic … kind of.

I decided to do the one thing I yell at
silly girls in horror movies for doing — I exited the car. The moon seeped
through the branches and sticks of the trees and cast scary, emotionless
shadows onto the road. My eyes swept over the surrounding bushes, searching for
Eli.

Nothing
.

The fog blanketed the world in a murky-grey
as I took a few steps forward. I saw him in the near distance, half concealed
by the fog.

“No.” My voice was barely above a whisper.

No, it couldn’t be … I saw it with my own
eyes. Shock shot through me as cold as ice and I ran. I didn’t go back to the
car. That was pointless. Instead, I took off in the direction Eli went, hoping
I would run into him.

I could hear his footsteps snapping sticks
and crunching leaves behind me. Stray twigs and branches snagged strands of my
hair but I had to go faster. My scalp stung as hair was torn from my head. I
didn’t scream, I couldn’t — I grasped at my chest. Shit! I left my whistle in
the car. How far in had Eli gone?

“Unh …” I gasped as I rebounded off a hard
body and fell backwards, hitting my head on the forest floor. For a moment my
vision spun. When my eyes came back into focus, I panicked at the face the
loomed over me, shaking me.

“Ruby? What’s wrong?”

It was Eli, his voice alert and panicked. A
part of me relaxed in his grip but the other part was still shaking in fear and
disbelief.

“I … I … I —” I panted, trying to speak. “I
saw Hunter.”

Eli grasped my shoulders and pulled me
gently to my feet.

“Did you hit your head in the car?” he asked,
examining my forehead.

“No … Eli, I saw him. I saw Hunter.”

I pulled away from Eli’s grasp, stumbling
slightly. I felt my face cringe as a headache surged through me. He didn’t believe
me, of course he didn’t. He saw Hunter die as well.

“It’s normal to think you see things when
you’ve witnessed such a traumatic event.”

“No. I saw him. He wasn’t some kind of
apparition or hallucination, he was real.”

Even in the low light of the forest I could
see the concerned expression dominating Eli’s features. I know what I saw, the
creepy pale skin and the soulless dark eyes.

“He’s a vampire,” I whispered.

“C’mon, let’s go back to the car. We still
have a long drive to get to Mount Kuuce. You can sleep it off.”

We stepped out of the bush and onto the
road. I kept my eyes on the area I saw Hunter. The unpleasant feeling of being
watched returned to me, only this time I knew someone was watching.

“Ruby?”

My attention turned back to Eli. I hadn’t realized
I’d stopped walking.

When we were in the car, an uncomfortable
silence fell. Eli didn’t believe me. As far as he was concerned, I’d hit my
head when he slammed on the brakes, or the trauma from Hunter’s death was
playing with my mind, but it couldn’t be. He was so vivid and real. I saw the
way the moon glinted off his deathly pale skin. His denim jeans were vibrant
and his shirt an outstanding blue. His image wasn’t washed out like a ghost.
Against the high beams, I didn’t see any color in his eyes, just blackness — a skin-crawling,
hair-raising tunnel of darkness.

Neither of us slept that night, we just
kept on driving in silence. Every time I closed my eyes I saw his face. It
wasn’t the sweet, kind face I remembered. It was horrible and dark. It was exactly
the same and yet totally different. I felt like he was a stranger, like I
didn’t know him. Maybe he was angry at me? I’d let them kill him, I didn’t do
anything to help, and now he was a vampire. He’d become the one thing he wanted
to kill.

A shimmering gold orb began to rise in the
inky sky, pulling me from my depressing thoughts. I sat, drinking in the
invisible rays that kissed my skin. Moments later, the golden sun was sitting
in its rightful place, adorning the soft blue sky.

“Do you want to talk about last night?”

Oh, so he hasn’t lost his voice
.

“There’s no point. You don’t believe me.”

“Ruby.” Eli exhaled in frustration. “It’s
not a simple as that. I saw him die, I saw his eyes… he was way past the point
of being brought back as a vampire.”

“He is, Eli. I can’t prove it to you but I
saw him.”

His brow furrowed. “We’ll be at Mount Kuuce
tonight. We’ll clear this mess up then.”

I exhaled out of my nose in frustration. “Fine.”

Mount Kuuce

The forty-eight hour car trip had come to
end. The winding mountain we had to ascend popped my ears and made me nauseous.
I couldn’t stop my trembling knees as we rolled to a stop outside a huge wrought
iron gate. The twilight sky was beautiful. There were no clouds and no stars. It
was peaceful, but it still wasn’t enough to calm my nerves.

The gate screeched as it pulled itself
open. Slowly we drove forward through the wild, untamed greenery. Once we
passed the first fifty meters of gravel road shrouded by thick trees, the
scenery changed. The dark, mossy trees were gone, replaced by elegant gardens.
The road became stable as we reached the tar driveway. I glanced sideways at
Eli in disbelief.

“Is this the place you came to when he
summoned you?”

“No. There was no beauty or color where I
went, only old bricks and darkness.”

In the distance the unnerving silence
engulfed the surrounding hillside, where the castle stood elegantly against the
backdrop of the inky horizon. Surprisingly, it wasn’t a sad place, even though
I could rattle off a million reasons why it should be. Still, it wasn’t a happy
place, either. The castle was old. It was larger than the ones we had at Sage,
but this one was graceful and appealing. The aged bricks seemed to groan in
pain, as if they hated the creatures now occupying it. By the looks of the
glass windows that fitted nicely into the castle, it must have been renovated
to fit in with today’s needs. Instead of the drawbridge and moat I was
expecting, there were big, wooden double doors and a fountain.