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

price. With vampires, there

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

* * *

pass in a

and goes between Blackwood and

details, but I

for my parents–and Alpha

I’m told, they’re no closer to finding them.

they’ve been

everyone nervous.

runs me and

have changed.

ery day, but

and he’s

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Ava: Vampire’s

incorporating real self–defense.

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

from the scare.

“Fall?”

word seems to echo off the exposed brick walls of the gym, bouncing back and smacking me in the face. It’s raining outside, and he’s decided to show us a little mercy by letting us do all of our torture

curls. “Yes, Ava. Falling.”

were going to learn actual fighting

going to learn

I think. No, I know he

to admit he does, so I

scowl at him.

know how

you now?”

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Vampire’s

and unimpressed to having my entire body slammed into

the mat.

rushes out of my

millisecond.

of a

how

shock.

up,” he barks.

an effort, my

scoffs. “You hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. Bend your knees, tuck your chin, slap the mat with your palms.”

in telling him that he never taught me shit before throwing me down. He’d just laugh. So I

at me again, and I try to remember what he said. Bend the knees,

the mat, and I wheeze.

“Again,” Jericho orders.

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Ava: Vampire’s Call

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

giant bruise, and the mat becomes a nightmare I’m 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 imprints on

who’s putting her through some kind of calisthenics routine. Pushups, sit–ups, lunges, weird walking crab–like movements. It looks exhausting, but

give to trade places right now and free myself of my vicious tyrant overlord of

at me again, and I

focus.

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

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Ava: Vampire’s Call

mat slaps the air straight out of my lungs

growls. “Get your

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 grumble