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"Do you really think we should go ahead and getthe question, but I couldn’t keepeither
"Don’t you?" was his response "You said so yourself so ether"
At that, I couldn’t help but give in It was hard not to with hi and tender and sweet Why resist it? Why not now? Still, I couldn’t deny tothe whole thing
I tried to shake it off as we spent ht, but I just couldn’t When we ended up in his couch and he began to tug at my shirt to exposeHe didn’t ask for an feeding on ainstinto my skin, I couldn’t help but wonder: If he never beco to be what life is like?
For the first ti prey
Chapter 12: Ian
Screa within The Catacombs They were as familiar to the Naturals as an ambulance’s siren would be to people outside of The Shade – or so the books say While so with terror was a cause for alarm, a Natural never quite runs to the rescue unless they fear that the person screauy like me, as orphaned at fourteen and didn’t have any loved ones to worry about, screams never really becaht, I realized that things were different, because when I heard a piercing screa up on an echoing in ainst Derek’s father, Gregor, and his idea of another culling in The Shade, things had been very different around The Catacoroup of rebels –ever being done again Once was enough and the horror it brought all of us was still fresh in our hearts and , all the humans of The Catacombs deemed to be weak or in any way useless, were killed Their blood was harvested and preserved for future consumption by the vainning, was instru Derek Novak, then prince of The Shade, to stand with the hu Of course, where Derek stood, a whole bunch of the vaotten more of a voice in The Shade, and thanks to Sofia,tis could turn around on the island More than all of that, I hoped once again that perhaps I could have the old, vibrant, carefree and joyful Anna back This hope was sparked further when one night when Anna found her way toa rose with her She knelt on the ground and shook me awake At first, I was annoyed, but when I saw that it was her, I once again founda breath over her beauty
"Anna? What is it?"
She laid the white rose in front of ’s going to be alright I promise" Her tone was childlike, her eyes ith exciteht better not to ask I was too busy choking back the tears as I re the adored beauty of The Catacombs, back before Felix broke her
"Thank you, Anna"
She lay on the stone ground besideto her side to face me "Can I sleep here, Ian? I don’t think Felix willas we don’t touch I’ht"
I nodded, careful not to touch her, knowing how erratic her moods were I liked this docile version of her "You can sleep here, Anna, but not on the ground" I got up and retrieved another mat – the one my mother used before – and set it on the space beside rateful as she took her place on theit, but I insisted "A pillow for the rose, Anna"
She understood, s her head on the pillow and quickly drifting off to sleep She slept in ht her out that fourth night and found her sleeping like a baby in her own quarters After another three nights, she once again requested to sleep in ot used to her requesting to sleep inher presencethat night, I found an to care about someone other than me
The scream was followed by another and then another and I foundtowards the sound of the screaot to her quarters, I found three men – all older than me –inside her chambers One of them had her pinned to the wall, his hand clamped over heradvantage of her but I never thought the ruht that they were just the insane s of a crazy woht, I found out "Get your hands off her!"
One of theon his face "Oh, look… It’s Ian What? You’re not willing to share? Don’t play nice, Ian We all know she’s been sleeping in your quarters for nights in a row"
The thought that he was accusing me of what they were about to do – or perhaps even what they’d already been doing – causedWhile I was able to take one ainst the two otherme by the arms while the other was poised to hit uard
I looked at hi here? Anna ran to hi to be okay, Anna," he assured, before casting a glare at the two o of hi their hands up in the air in surrender