Chapter 5

Sarah was sitting with me at lunch. Zach passed the table and he stopped to look at me. He didn’t show any emotion behind his face but I knew that he was trying to communicate with me. He does this periodically to tell me that he can’t stop thinking about me. He then just turned and went to sit with his siblings. I sighed. I hated this. I hated not being able to sit with him at lunch and talk with him. “What’s wrong with you two?” Sarah asked. She was really confused as to why we weren’t talking anymore.

 

Sarah didn’t know that we were just pretending to be broken up. Even though Sarah knew about Zach and his family and other vampires, I could only share so much with her. This had to be a secret to make Jenna think that it was real. I shrugged. “He broke up with me. He doesn’t think that he should have to risk his life and his family’s life to protect me.” We were sticking to this story but only Zach’s family and myself knew that it was fake. We had to keep it like that.

 

“Are you okay?” Sarah was my best friend and not telling her something was the hardest thing that I had to do.

 

“I will be. It hurts but I have to move on. I mean he’s right. I’m human and he’s a vampire. It wouldn’t ever work out between us.” I knew that Zach was listening in on this. Everything that I was saying was killing me inside but I needed to keep it up until Jenna came around and realized that we were ‘broken up’.

 

Just then it was like she could read my mind. Jenna showed up at our table and sat down. “Hello! I’m new here and I was just wondering if I could sit with you guys.” Jenna must have compelled the entire class because if not, everyone knew that she was the crazy girl that talked about vampires even Sarah knew. But now Sarah acted like she didn’t even know who this person was.

 

“Sure go ahead!” Sarah said with way more enthusiasm than she should have. I just tried to ignore Jenna and continue sketching in my sketch book.

 

“Katie, how are you doing? I heard that you and Zach broke up. That’s just tragic.” She’s trying to get into your head, don’t let her. I thought to myself. I know that’s what Zach would say if I could talk to him right now. “Common Katie, are you really mad at me? I’m not the one who broke up with you. I’m the one who warned you that it would never work because he’s a vampire and you’re a fragile little human.”

 

“No Jenna, you’re not the one who broke up with me, but you are the one that almost killed Zach and for that, I do have a right to be mad at you.” I looked at her. I needed to get her to tell me what her plan was and why she went to so much trouble to get Zach to leave me.

 

“Okay, yes it was wrong to drive that steak through Zach and almost kill him. But to be honest he shouldn’t have tried to attack me and save your family like that.”

 

I stopped what I was doing and just starred at her. “Is there an actual reason why you’re here or do you just love tormenting me when I’m already down?”

 

She smiled. It was the same smile that she gave me when I first met her at the assembly. “Maybe it’s a little bit of both. Why would I tell you anything? I mean you’re trying to keep the fact that you and Zach aren’t actually broken up a secret from me.” I looked over at Zach and he started to stand up. “Tell him that if he takes another step closer I will snap your neck so fast no one will even know that I did it.” Zach stopped in his tracks. He gave me a questioning look. I just nodded to indicate that I was alright.

 

“What do you want with me?”

 

“You are more valuable than you even know. Haven’t you been curious as to why Matilta, Luke, and Jake have stopped trying to kill you? It’s because I told them that you were mine to kill. You have a power that I want.”

 

I was confused. “What power? I’m only human.”

 

She laughed. “You obviously don’t have it now silly. It’s a power that won’t activate until you become a vampire. If you ever become a vampire. Sadly, you won’t even get the chance.”

 

“What does killing me then have to do with you getting my power?”

 

“You get the power if you become a vampire yes, but if a vampire kills you before you become a vampire than that vampire gets the power and you are just dead.”

 

“Then why wait? Why not just kill me now? Zach’s not here.”

 

“Actually I could kill you now but there are too many witnesses. I need a place where you’re fully alone and away from your goddamn boyfriend for five minutes.”

 

“Well now that we know your plan he’s not going to let me out of his sight for more than five minutes.”

 

“Maybe not now. But things can change and you never know what I have up my sleeve.” With that she got up and walked out of the room.

 

The trance that Sarah was under suddenly broke and she didn’t have any memory of what just happened. Yea, I definitely have to get some vervain into her system. 

 

Just then Zach came up to me and made me jump. “Are you okay?” I shook my head. He then just pulled me in and hugged me. This is what I needed. No more pretending. No more not talking to him. I needed him to help me feel safe. Even if Jenna had some crazy plan. It wasn’t going to work.

 

 

Zach was laying with me in my bed and I was starting to fall asleep. He didn’t keep me awake at all. He must have known how tired I was because he just kept telling me that it was okay if I wanted to fall asleep. I haven’t really been sleeping a lot because of what Jenna told me about this strange power which only Jenna knows about.

 

Zach was standing across the hall and I went up to him. I didn’t know what was happening but I just had this feeling that I needed to get to him before something bad happened to him. He didn’t say anything as I was running to him. Right before I reached him I could see Jenna driving a steak through Zach’s heart. He let out a loud scream and as he did I screamed and ran toward him. I could physically see the live being drained out of his body.

 

That’s when I woke up screaming. Zach was trying to calm me down. He was holding me trying to make me feel safe like I always do in his arms. “Katie, it was only a dream. You’re okay.”

 

I shook my head. “It’s not me I was worried about.” I just looked at him.

 

“Katie, I’m not going anywhere. I don’t care what Jenna has planned to get you alone. I’m going to make sure she fails. Nothing is going to happen to me. I promise.”