Tangled

120 Ava: Vampire’s Call

120 Ava: Vampire’s Call

“If you ever need me, child, simply light a candle and call my name. I’ll find you.”

My eyes snap open in the middle of a deep sleep, and my heart races, a thunderous pounding in my chest that shakes my entire body.

The dream was too real, too close to memory. Selene’s ears perk up as she lifts her head from the foot of the bed. What’s wrong, Ava?

I shake my head, eyes darting to the door. Kellan’s somewhere in the apartment, ever present, always listening. I think I know how to contact Sister Miriam. The maybe–vampire lady.

Selene’s blue eyes widen. How? She sits up, her full

attention on me.

When she visited me before the ceremony, she said if I needed her, I should light a candle and call her name.

That she’d find me.

1

Tell me everything, Selene says, her voice gentle in my mind. Every detail.

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120 Ava: Vampire’s Call

I recount the memory, the cloying scent of incense, the invasive way she touched me, her cryptic words. The dread and intrigue she instilled in my mother.

Your mother fears her, Selene muses. As she should. Vampires are not to be trifled with.

But she might have answers. About what I am. What’s happening to me. She seemed to know.

Selene is quiet for a long moment. Vampires are ancient, powerful creatures with their own agendas. She may help you, but there will be a price. There always is, with their kind.

I swallow hard, a shiver running through me. I’ll be careful. I promise.

Try to sleep, Selene says, curling back up. We’ll talk

more tomorrow.

I nod, sinking back against the pillows. But sleep is elusive, my mind spinning with possibilities and fears.

Sister Miriam’s red eyes follow me into my dreams, her silken voice a whispered promise. “I’ll find you.”

I toss and turn, the sheets twisting around my legs. Power pulses under my skin, a restless itch I can’t

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120 Ava: Vampire’s Call

scratch.

What if she’s the key? What if she can unlock the

mystery inside me, teach me to wield the elements like weapons?

warning lingers, a cold

There will be a price. With

play across the ceiling, indifferent to my struggles. Outside, the moon is bright, almost full. Its call sings

* * *

days pass in

and goes between Blackwood

the details, but I do know

search for my parents–and Alpha Renard–is

told, they’re no closer to

fact that they’ve been so silent,

everyone nervous.

runs me and Lisa ra

changed. I’m strong

ery day, but

and he’s

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Vampire’s Call

real self–defense. Mainly, falling.

learn to fall,” he declares out of no–fucking–where, popping into my field of vision like one of those winding pop–up toys. I manage to keep my face blank even as my heartbeat spikes for

from the scare.

“Fall?”

the gym, bouncing back and smacking me in the face. It’s

lip curls. “Yes, Ava.

we were going to

how do you think you’re going to learn

I know he

he does, so

scowl at him.

how to fall.”

you

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Ava: Vampire’s Call

track, from weathered and unimpressed to having my entire body slammed into

the mat.

of my lungs in the

millisecond.

of a

re–learn how to breathe

shock.

up,” he barks.

feet is an effort, my tailbone throbbing with

the ground like a sack of potatoes. Bend your knees, tuck your chin, slap the

him that he never taught me shit before throwing me down. He’d just laugh. So I grit my teeth and nod, determined to

I try to remember what he said. Bend the knees, tuck the

the mat, and I

“Again,” Jericho orders.

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Ava: Vampire’s

and over, he knocks me down, and over and over, I struggle to my feet. Each time, he barks out a correction. It’s always something. How I hit the ground. How

never going to forget. For being something foam and giving, it feels like stone when I land on it. Pretty sure my butt has left permanent

of calisthenics routine. Pushups, sit–ups, lunges, weird walking crab–like movements. It looks exhausting, but at least she’s not

What I wouldn’t give to trade places right now and free myself of

is coming at me again, and I

focus.

myself, I do my best to anticipate the fall, determined

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mat slaps the air straight out of my lungs once again

Jericho growls. “Get your head in the game, Ava.”

knees, panting. My arms tremble with the effort, and I can feel the sweat dripping down my face. My shirt is stuck to my body, positively soaked, and I think I popped a stitch in the crotch of my leggings.

trying,” I grumble through