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She disappeared into the adjacent bedroom, still talking a mile a minute. “Are you hungry? Would you like me to fix you something to eat?”
Je
Finally, Alex paused.
She pivoted her head around and just stared for what felt like a full minute of silence.
“I want to know,” Je
Alex stared at her, let out a long exhalation as she slowly shook her head. “Oh, Jen. There’s so much you don’t know. Things I didn’t know myself until just a couple of weeks ago, after Kade showed up in Harmony.”
Je
“Vampires, Jen.” The word was whispered, but Alex’s gaze didn’t waver. “You know they’re real now. You saw that for yourself. But what you don’t know is that they’re not like we’ve been taught to believe from movies and horror novels.”
Je
“I know,” Alex continued, imploring now. “I can’t excuse what the Ancient did to you. But hear me out. There are others of his kind that are not so different from us, Jen. On the surface, of course, we aren’t quite the same. They have different needs for survival, but deep down, there is a core of humanity inside them. They have families and friends. They are capable of incredible love and kindness and honor. Just like us, there is good and bad among them, too.”
It wasn’t that long ago—a mere week, in fact—that Je
But everything had changed since then. A week ago felt like a century from where she was standing now. Je
Je
To a man, the Order’s members, then as now, had pledged themselves to provide protection for both the human race and the Breed, their mission hunting down blood-addicted vampires called Rogues.
Je
Je
Je
“What about me?” she heard herself murmur. Her voice rose with the spike of anxiety that flooded her bloodstream. “What about the thing that’s inside me, Alex? What is it? How am I going to get rid of it?”
“We don’t have those answers yet, Je
“No.” Je
“Oh, Jen.” Alex slowly shook her head. “The life you knew in Alaska is gone now. Everything in Harmony is changed. Precautions had to be taken.”
She didn’t like the sound of that at all. “What are you talking about? What precautions? What’s changed?”
“The Order had to make sure that word of the Ancient and the strange happenings around town didn’t leak out to the rest of the population.” Alex’s gaze stayed steady on hers. “Je
Je
And then the part that brought back a fresh wave of grief: the recent multiple homicides in Harmony, which apparently included her brother. “Tell me what happened to Zach.”
Alex’s face was full of regret. “He had secrets, Jen. A lot of them. Maybe it’s better if you don’t know everything—”
“Tell me,” Je
Alex nodded. “Zach was dealing drugs and alcohol to the Native populations. He and Skeeter Arnold had been working together for some time. I didn’t figure it out until just before Zach …” She exhaled softly. “When I confronted Zach about what I knew, he got violent, Jen. He pulled a gun on me.”
Je
God, how many times had she pressed Zach to look into Skeeter Arnold’s questionable activities around Harmony? Now Zach’s reluctance to do so made a lot of sense. He didn’t really care about what was going on in town. He was more concerned with protecting himself. How far would he have gone to protect his dirty little secret?
“Did he hurt you, Alex?”
“No,” she said. “But he would have, Jen. I took off on my snowmachine, out to your place. He followed me. When we got there, he fired off a shot—to scare me, more than anything. Everything happened so fast after that. The next thing I knew, the Ancient had crashed out of your cabin and took him down. After the initial strike, it was over very quickly for him.”
Je
“Yes. You said you wanted to know. I couldn’t withhold it from you, and I think it’s better that you understand.”
Je
Alex nodded. “I know how hard this must be for you, Je