30 Nights

13

LILY

I should be dead. That's all I keep thinking. I should be splattered all over the concrete instead of lying here with slightly achy ribs.

I knew Edric was a vampire. I knew I was surrounded by vampires but there is knowing something and really believing it. He leapt off the ground and snatched me out of the air, his blood healed me. It is amazing and terrifying all at the same time.

If I wasn't totally convinced that Edric didn't want me to die then I now had my answer. But someone wanted me dead, his father didn't like the rules being broken. Edric had broken the rules for me and got us both into more trouble.

I didn't feel like anyone had ever had my back in life and I was used to handling stuff by myself. Not that my parents didn't love me but they were kind of shy and quiet. They always believed in turning the other cheek and being nice to bullies until they lost interest. But it didn't work out like that in real life.

I was a freak. I can still hear the other kids chanting it now. I always looked different even from a little girl. It shouldn't have made a difference because I was still like everyone else, but because I looked different, I was treated differently. So in the end, I was different but I was ok in my own little world at school. It wasn't until high school when I met Tom that I finally found a friend. He didn't care what I looked like, or what other people thought. He really didn't give a crap about anything even though he was bullied as much as me.

Somehow together we became invisible to everyone else and we were stronger together. We even made sure we ended up at the same university together. I missed Tom so badly even though I'd only been here a couple of days. I wondered what he would say about this whole crazy situation. But I couldn't put him in danger or my parents.

I was going to get through this. So far I'd been scared, freaked out and angry. And that hadn't changed anything. I was still here and I was going to stay here and get through this and keep my family safe. Even if that meant, well, I wasn't going to think like that.

Vampires were real. This game was real. I'd got six points today. I didn't have to assume that I couldn't win this or that there wasn't another way. Edric kept saying strength wasn't the only factor in the games. I was going to learn all I could about these games and give myself a chance at this.

Edric had said he would help me. I still didn't understand why he was prepared to do that. I'd been so busy thinking about not dying that I hadn't really had a chance to process my feelings for him.

But what did I feel? I wasn't scared of him although I knew I should be. He seemed different from his father and from his brother. The guards seemed the least human even though I knew they were the youngest to that life, all except Sam. His eyes had a softness about them like Edric's. They didn't seem so, well, dead.

I'd never had a proper boyfriend. I kept my distance really apart from the little group of friends I'd built up. Tom always said that boys were too scared to ask me out, and he called me an ice princess - beautiful but unapproachable. "Smile Lily, stop looking so serious, laugh," he'd say, giving a nudge or a kick if a boy did happen to look my way or try to make conversation.

I don't know what I thought. I guess deep down I didn't want to admit why I was being aloof, I was scared. Scared of being the freak again. Scared of getting to know someone, liking them and then getting rejected. So it was easy to just carry on as I was.

But Edric was different. He wasn't scared to approach me. That was an understatement. He had kissed me and touched me in ways I didn't even know about. He made me feel something that I thought didn't exist. It was like the whole world was obsessed with sex, and I didn't see what the big deal was. I mean sure it must feel good for a few moments but surely not that good. Edric had blown that theory out of the water. With him, it really did feel that good. And regardless of what else was going on here and all the danger I was in, I wanted more of him. I wanted him to touch me and kiss me until I couldn't remember who I was.