Escaped the Night (59 page)

I looke
d
over at Auntie Steph,
who
had
just witnessed
h
er
beloved
husba
nd die
,
and strangely enough,
she
wore the biggest smile across her face. She absolutely beamed from head to toe.
I stopped crying
, looking
at her
,
purely mystified
. What was she doing? Had I missed something?

“We love you
very much
,
Shanntal. We h
ave
since the first moment you
came into our lives
and
we
will
for all time
.
Please don’t be sad.
Keep your fa
ith and hopes alive knowing
that
we’
ll
always be
with you.”
S
he winked
at me
before
turning
her head
towards
the sky.

Everything I’d ever known had changed and the one person
who
I
’d begun to
always count on was
gone. Always with me,
nonsense!
S
he uttered the impossible. Uncle Dane
was dead.

A brillia
nt
pink
light came down,
embracing
my
uncle’s corpse
and lifting
him easily up into the night sky. Within
the
light,
Uncle Dane was aliv
e and well. He smiled and waved
before blowing
me a kiss
,
as the light brought him towards Auntie Steph.
A moment later, the light consumed her
and the two of them stood locked
in a romantic embrace. Rays
of
light spread out all around them.

I
quickly
glanced
around
checking
to see if the lights were too bright for the nightwalkers. I didn’t want anyone
getting
hurt.
They all stood with smiles up
on their faces. This light was
different and it seemed harmless to them. In
all
the
confusion,
I momentarily forgot
that
I was
a
lso a
nightwalker and
that
if the light
did
hurt, I would’ve felt it
.

Relieved
that
no one was hurting, I spun back aroun
d to
see
my aunt and uncle kiss
one another passionate
ly.
They were beautiful. I felt joy
knowing
they were
so happy
together.

My uncle sp
oke sweetly
. “You’ll
be okay, everything will work out
.
We
love you very much and are extremely
proud to
have been able to call you
family. Keep making us proud
,
kiddo!”

“I love you guys
too
. T
hank you for always being there. I love you more than you’ll ever know.
”

“
No sweetheart, w
e
understand because we love you
just as
much
.” Auntie Steph
waved
.

The light su
rrounding them increased as it gently t
ook them
up
into the night sky. Their glow brightened more and more as
they went
up higher and higher.
Finally I understood
. They we
re
going
up to the stars, where they’d
be together
.
Where they’d always remain happy.
Instantly, my
sadness disappea
red and was replaced by sheer delight
.
My aunt and uncle were happy,
in love
,
and
they’
d be
together
forever
.

We all watched as the
dazzling
light took them up to
unite
them with the other stars. We
had just
witnessed the biggest honor one could receive in the immortal world.
It was heartbreaking and
indescribably
beautiful.

Jayce grabbed onto my hand and held it tightly. “Now do you
understand
why I didn’t want to rush
?
“ He leaned over
,
kissing
me
gently on the
cheek.

Once again, h
is kiss
burned and
I flinched away
,
trying to avoid
the shock
.
He
backed off
,
giving
m
e
space
as my new reality sunk back in.
I
was a nightwalker now and t
his was goi
ng to be very hard for us to work through
. I loved his warm kisses, but
with
my blood
running cold, they hurt
and I found them
too painful to stand.

With a calm expression
Jayce looked
towards
Gabriella and nodded his head
once
.

Suddenly,
the
nightwalkers
f
ormed a circle
around me
, just as
I f
el
t a harsh
hunger
come
over me
. I was starving,
craving blood
,
like
I
never wanted anything else before
.
I eyed
everyone
,
trying to
locate
my prey. Blood was
near
because I
smelled
it and
felt
it pulsating
through the
nearby
heart.
I growled
in agony
from the hunger pains and that
’s when my eyes locked on
Meriel. She’d
seemed eager to put herself in danger before,
so
why not now?

I t
ook a step forward
,
licking
my
lips
,
imagining
what
she
’d
taste like.
The thought
of
her
blood
had
my mouth water
ing
uncontrollably
.
I took another
small
step
before lunging
towards her. I
smashed up against vampires and werewolves who
covered every inch of my sight as they circled
in tighter
.
I t
r
i
ed to see around them, but Meriel was gone from my sights.
I looked around for Jayce who was al
so
not in
my view. Gabriella,
Kaleb and Kael were nowhere to be seen.
The daywalkers had left me behind.

“Help me!
Someone, please!
” I yelled out
,
feeling
the
space
around me
getting
smaller and smaller. I tri
ed
pushing
my way through the fangs around me
,
but they were too strong. I cowered in a small ball
until
I
lunged to
make my escape
,
but
two angry werewolves
growled and I
immediately
shrunk back
down
. This was it;
the
y were going to finish me off.
I waited…

Minutes passed
before
there was a break in the circle
.
Gabriella
moved towards me shinning brighter than the stars
as she casted off the
darkness
from
the night
walkers.
I looked up at her and stared
deep into her eyes, begging
for help
. I never actually
brought myself to say
the words
aloud; instead
I buried them back down deep inside. I
had to accept my fate.
I was a vampire now and
it
meant
I
should
walk along
side
my fellow nightwalkers.

‘My child, come forward.’ Gabriella
said
,
shaking
her long
,
white mane. Little rays of light flew off her
,
co
vering me like specks of dust.
She shook her head another time
and the same thing happened, m
ore specks clung onto me.

The circle the
nightwalkers
had formed around me started to
recede
from view
as the specks of light clung on. I
found myself wrapped up in their beauty.
They resembled the star that
had co
me
down earlier for U
ncle Dane and Auntie Steph. These little lights
were beautiful, but
I
soon
noticed
that
they weren’t the same
because these ones
hurt my eyes
.
I
quickly
closed them
so the burning would stop.

“We
’ve
got
it from here
, guys,
”
I heard Jayce say.

I op
ened my eyes
up, but squinted from the brightness. Jayce walked
over and shook Daray’s hand.
“
Seriously,
I can’t thank you enough
. We couldn’t have done this without your help.”

“
What’s going to happen to her
?” Daray asked.

Lakylee
held onto his hand, wearing a
worried
look as sh
e
bobbed up and down trying
to see what was
going on
wi
th me
.
I looked around
and found that
no
one
had
lef
t. Everyone
stayed
to
make sure I was okay. These
truly
were my friends
who
loved and cared about me.
The tiny flicks of light clinging to me became brighter. The more I thought about how much I was loved, the bigger and brighter the lights grew.

“She’
ll be
just fine
,
” Jayce said
as
he looked over
and smiled.

“We’ll be back at night
fall to che
ck in on her. Good luck!” T
he group of nightwalkers headed off to find shelter before another day dawned.

My dearest friends
resumed the circle and
surrounded me. Jayce, Kaleb, Kae
l, Layla, the elements, even
shy Kynthia stuck around. Other daywalker
s who
had come to fight stood mixed in with my friends.
As I took
in
each
and every one of their faces
, the lights on me grew.
My eyes locked with Jayce
, my heart fluttered
,
and
suddenly
I was consumed in a white light
so pure and
bright
,
it mimicked the sun.

I felt strange, weak
,
even
faint. I stumbled
,
briefly
losing
my balance from
the
dizziness
, but
managed to catch
myself and
pl
ant
my feet firmly
back
on the ground. I needed
to hold it together and
stay
in one place.
I stumbled again;
my world
spun making me
even
more
disorientated. The
bright
light
s blinded me until
I couldn’t see anything
anymore. I closed my eyes trying to escape the light
, but
it was
even
bright
behind my eyelids
.
Was
I going up to the stars
with Jayce? Was i
t our turn?

I found
comfort in the thoug
ht of heading to
wards
the star
s with
my love
. It made
the pain of the light seem not as
unbearable. The light continued to shine
and
it felt like hours
passed with the brilliant glow around me.
It hadn’t taken this long fo
r Uncle Dane and Auntie Steph, so w
hy was it taking so long for me?
I reached out
, but
couldn
’t feel Jayce.
He was nowhere around me.
I wasn’t going to shoot up to the stars alone, was I?
I wanted to open my eyes, but the light was
still
too bright.

A
perfect
peacefulness took over,
like nothing I’d ever felt before. It was
comparable to
the moment
you kne
w
you were
in love and
found
you
r
soul mate
standing
before you
,
expressing their love
back.
I knew without a doubt that I was
safe and
loved. A
ll of this
was
rolled up into one
amazing
feeling.

The lights
around me
rupture
d
as a
gentle voice spoke
.
‘
You’re pure of heart and
alw
ays will be. For this reason, you
will be
set free. You won’t need
to walk during the night
and
can
go back to how you
once
were. This is my gift, my way to
thank you
for saving me from the darkness. Consider this
my time
to
be
come
your savior
.
’

Gabriella walked through the
glorious
light
and placed
her shiny
horn against my chest near my heart
.
A fierce r
age burned
from deep inside and I tried to pull away
. She stepped
forward
,
closing
the gap I
just
made.
This time, h
er horn
touched and
radiated a
brilliant
light that prickled my bod
y as it crept over me
. My mouth tingled
;
reaching
up
,
I
felt
the fangs retreat
back into my gum-
line. I was changing back to
myself. It was really working; s
he was healing me.

Minutes passed and
the light
began to fade.
The light
didn’t bother me in the least
now,
because I felt like myself
. Well almost
…
minus the
little bit
of
fear I had
that lingered
as the sun
was about to rise
. What if the night curse wasn’t completely gone
? Would I turn to ash when
the sunlight
hit me
?