I stared at the photo again. It was impossible. Mila’s mother looked at least twenty.

“My mother was twenty-seven there. If she were alive now, she’d be thirty-eight.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “That’s crazy.”

“Yep,” Mila agreed.

Mila and I jumped as Mr. Aleksandrov came back into the room. Immediately, I lobbed the photo frame back over to Mila, who cringed apologetically at Mr. Aleksandrov. She jammed it back into the drawer and slammed it shut.

“I see you took my make yourself at home statement quite literally.”

“Sorry,” Mila whispered under her breath.

I was feeling a lot better. I stood up and my vision swayed slightly, but after a split second, it righted itself.

“Gwydion is mixing the vials together. It should be ready this afternoon. If they come tonight, you will only have one shot at curing them. The window for that one shot will be small, and if you fail, well, there’s a high chance we’ll never see you again.”

I knew what he meant. If I failed, I’d be captured by Lucian and whisked away to his next secret hide-out.

“I won’t fail.”

With a polite nod, Mr. Aleksandrov stepped aside and we left the room.

“Don’t lose hope,” he called after us down the hallway. “You’re still our secret weapon, Ruby.”

I smiled back at him.

“What does that even mean?” Mila wondered aloud.

“I have no idea.”

Maybe it had something to do with Hunter’s infatuation with me. Since leaving the office a few seconds ago, my calm feelings slipped away and were replaced by those stinking jackhammers and sorrow. I didn’t have the brain power to decipher Mr. Aleksandrov’s cryptic message right now. Instead, I focused on ways I could lure Hunter in and stab him with the cure. No pressure or anything.

AFTERMATH

The day dragged on and everyone felt it. If Mila stopped moving, she fell asleep, so right before lunch, she left me to go home and have a nap—which I was grateful for. Now that I wasn’t a screaming mess, I wanted time alone to think about everything rationally, and boy, was that difficult. Everything I thought about led back to Eli. I pictured him holding strong against the vampires and getting his ass beaten. I thought about them feeding on him and torturing him. A few times I convinced myself he was dead, but I didn’t have Mila’s tattoo here to confirm it.

I tapped my index finger nervously on the arm of my couch. My gaze was fixated on the clock, willing it to tick faster. I needed nightfall to come and I needed it to come now. But it didn’t. It was still lunch time. I sighed and hopped to my feet. I needed to occupy my mind with something other than the thought of losing Eli.

I didn’t want to eat, my stomach could barely hold down its own acid, so I went to the dining hall to help with the injured.

Guardians filtered in and out of the hall, some patched up and healing, others in need of medical assistance. It was hard to think that only yesterday I was sitting down here having lunch. The polished wooden floors were stained with dark patches of blood and bits of fabric. I winced at the sobs of guardians in pain and the familiar feeling of grief jammed at the base of my throat. I’ve never been good with pain or death, but who is, really? It sucks. Pain and death are things that make you feel like shit no matter what side of the spectrum you’re on.

“Good, we need more hands,” a tall female guardian said, shoving pure alcohol and a few bandages in my hand. I took a moment to admire her beauty. Even with the dried blood on her face and her long dark hair tied into a messy bun, she was beautiful.

“Wait, are you injured?” she asked, blinding me with a small torch light.

I had been so caught up in admiring her that I must’ve looked like I had a concussion. I swatted her torch away. “I’m fine.”

“Start with the cut guardians in the far left corner.” Her voice was fast and husky. “Pour alcohol into the cut, layer it with gauze, bandage it, and send them on their way. Judge who to help first by the pain in their screams.”

How insensitive. She turned away from me.

“You’re not serious?”

“Left corner, now,” she called over her shoulder.

I squeezed in between guardians and stretchers, making my way over to the far left corner. Luckily for me, there were only three people there. Two guardian angels I didn’t know and Xavier. He smiled sympathetically at me as I approached. I smiled back.

The first guardian I had to heal had an extremely high pain threshold. As I poured on the alcohol, he kept his gun-metal colored eyes fixated on me. I ignored how uncomfortable it made me feel.

“You’re done,” I informed him as I finished fastening the bandage around his forearm. He slicked his chin-length black hair out of his face and off he went. The next guardian angel had a lower pain threshold. As I poured the alcohol on, she squeezed my shoulders—almost popping them out of their socket.

“There you go,” I said through clenched teeth. Man, she was strong. With a quick shake of my hand she was gone.

“You’re up, Xavier,” I called.

He slid across the bench. His shirt was off, exposing his well-developed chest. He looked great—for the most part, anyway. The only thing hindering the view was the long, narrow cut that started on his left shoulder and trailed down to the right side of his stomach, past his belly button.

“Jesus Christ,” I gasped.

“You should see the other guy.”

“Dead, I hope?”

He nodded. “Thanks to Eli.”

I looked at the alcohol bottle. I unscrewed the lid and wet a cotton ball. Xavier winced as I patted his cut.

“I’m the reason he was taken, you know.”

“Don’t say that. It isn’t anyone’s fault.”

“It is my fault. I was by the gym, waiting for the attack, only it didn’t come—at least, not right away. I put my silver into my pocket and sat down. Two hours later, I grew more and more tired. I placed my stake on the ground, convinced there would be no threat and that’s when I was jumped by two vampires. I didn’t have any time to react. They were so fast and strong. They took my stake and dragged it through my flesh. They didn’t want to kill me or eat me, they wanted to torture me.”

I closed my eyes, certain that Eli was going through the same thing now, wherever he was.

“I was as good as dead,” he added and I opened my eyes. “But then Eli came, and with a few quick moves, the vampires were nothing but piles of dust on the ground. The vampires kept coming, and I’m talking at least twenty of the suckers. In the beginning, it seemed like he could take them all. He chopped through them with his stake, but the numbers multiplied and I couldn’t help him, I was too injured… so he sent me away and I left him. I walked away and left him.”

I took a few deep breaths and placed my hand on his shoulder.

“That still doesn’t make it your fault. Eli is the kind of guy that helps people, regardless of whether it backfires on him. He’d kick your ass if he knew you were sulking, so chin up.”

I stuck the gauze to the flesh and it held nicely, but there was no way I could bandage it. Xavier handed me some sticky tape. “I thought you might need this.”

I took it from him and began taping the edges of his gauze down.

“By the way, you might want to be more careful with this.” He handed me a folded piece of paper. I put the sticky tape down and opened the paper. When I saw a drawing of Eli, I quickly folded it back up. I felt my back pocket, nothing was there.

“Where’d you get this?” I demanded in a hushed tone.

“I found it on the hall steps. I thought it might be important, and it was. Luckily for you, I don’t think anyone else noticed it—or stepped on it.”

I tucked it under my shirt and into my bra. It was harder to lose if I stored it there.

“It’s a beautiful picture. Whoever drew it has talent and an incredible imagination.”

I finished taping his bandage. Inside, I was smiling, because I knew the drawing hadn’t been created from someone’s imagination. It’d actually happened.

“I use the term imagination lightly, by the way.”

I smiled at him. He knew Eli and I were involved and he was fine with it—supported it even, because he also had a forbidden infatuation. He loved Mila and he was just waiting for the day the ban was lifted to make his move. Xavier slid off the bench and grabbed his shredded shirt.

“Thanks a lot, Rubes. Let’s hope we get him back tonight.”

“Yeah.”

After the hall, I went home. I threw myself back on my couch. I pulled out Mila’s drawing from inside my shirt. Slowly, I opened it. Seeing the picture made my stomach ache. I craved seeing him, with his short, classic hair that he styled so messily, and his eyes—the bright green eyes that made it hard not to drown myself in them. I sighed. Life was worth living yesterday.

I stayed at home until the sun began receding below the tree line, then I made my way to Mila’s. There were no guardians to be seen, they were all in their positions, waiting. Walking through the shrouded path before the open field by Mr. Aleksandrov’s house was eerie. I knew there were people with all kinds of guns fixated on me. I quickened my pace to a jog, for some weird reason I felt more comfortable facing a vampire than a gun. I jogged across the field, reminiscing about the kiss I’d shared with Eli in the same spot only yesterday. A hard lump formed in my throat, and I tried to sprint away from it, away from the memory, I suppose. I ran up the three big white steps and pounded on the door. Sera answered with a sympathetic nod and stepped aside. I nodded back and continued up the stairs. It wasn’t much, but something as simple as a nod can still show you care.

I knocked on Mila’s door and it opened. Mila’s face look fresh and new, I envied her. I might have gotten some sleep this morning after I tore my room apart, but I wasn’t sure. Either way, it certainly wasn’t enough to have me looking as well-rested as Mila did, and I prayed I wouldn’t fall asleep tonight. The last thing I needed was to miss the opportunity to save both Eli and Hunter because I fell asleep. Briefly, I glanced at her wrist. Relief filled me when I saw the tattoo was still there.

“You look horrible.” Mila frowned.

“Gee, thanks.”

She stepped aside and let me in, closing the door behind me. I kicked my boots off and sat cross-legged on her bed. A pain began to accumulate behind my eyes due to lack of sleep. I ignored it.

A knock sounded on the door and Mr. Aleksandrov entered the room in a hurry. Thank god, he’d replaced that distasteful pea-green robe for a classic black one. He extended his hand to Mila.

“Here’s the vial. Good luck.”

He turned and I dived off the bed, stumbling slightly. “Wait!” I called as I gained my balance. “Only one vial? I gave you a lot of blood.”

One vial was a lot of pressure on me. That meant I had to make sure I didn’t lose it and that I hit the right spot on the first go.

“You only have one shot at this, besides, the vial doesn’t last for too long. In a few hours, it will begin to decay. Once that happens, it won’t work. Lyric or Aaron will text you every hour and update you on the situation. If you don’t receive a text message, then consider the school under attack. The guardians will try to push Hunter into the house. When he’s inside, figure out how to inject him.”

Mila folded her arms across her chest.

“What about Mila? She can’t be here when a vampire’s in the house… what if I fail?”

Mr. Aleksandrov pulled out his wand from a pocket inside his robe.

“Silvera Silver,” he chanted and touched the door.

Mila and I stared wide-eyed as silver leaked from the tip of his wand, covering the entire door in a coat of silver. Strangely, it didn’t stop there. The walls became silver, the floor became silver and the roof became silver.

“If she’s in here, she won’t be harmed. No vampire would risk it, it’d be too painful.”

I agreed, recalling the immense pain that came with being burned by silver.

“You can’t lock me in here!” Mila protested.

“It’s for your own safety,” Mr. Aleksandrov rebutted and closed the door.

Mila scoffed at me. “What the hell? Nobody encased me in silver last night.”

I shrugged. “We weren’t trying to lure a vampire into the house last night. Besides, we have fewer numbers now and Lucian probably has more than they anticipated.”

“I hate being treated like a defenseless child.” She sighed and slid down the cold, silver wall.

I knew how she was feeling. There was a time when I felt like that and a lot of days I still did, but if there was one thing I realized during this whole thing, it was that I wasn’t seen as weak and defenseless. I was seen as someone needing protection because I meant that much to someone.

I sat down next to her. “You’re all Ivan has left. You can’t blame him for wanting to protect you. If it was me, I’d wrap you up in silver chain mail and stick you in a silver yet-somehow-breathable coffin and bury you at the bottom of the ocean somewhere until I removed every last vampire from the earth.”

Mila laughed and rested her head on my shoulder. “I guess now we sit and wait for that text message every hour.”

“Yep.” I reached into my pocket and panic rushed over me. Mila felt my muscles tense. “What’s wrong?”

I wanted to beat the shit out of myself for being so stupid. Today was not going my way at all.

“I left my phone at home.”

LOVE AND OTHER… DRUGS?