Blood Awakening Read Online Free Page A

crossing a line. “We’re going to find her dad.”
    “Ava!” Kayla snapped, slamming the apartment door and coming over to no doubt smack me. “What are you doing?” She had her hands on her hips, like I imagined a mother would do if she were scolding her unruly child.
    “I can’t lie to him, Kayla. I just can’t.” I looked at Erik after I spoke, his forehead wrinkled with confusion. “You know her dad went missing a while back, right?” Erik didn’t speak, only nodded in affirmation. “Well, she’s been looking for him ever since.”
    “Yeah, I know,” he finally spoke. “I offered to help right after he disappeared, but she said she didn’t need any, so I let it go.” Kayla looked over at him then, and I saw a flash of remembrance between the two long-time friends. They shared a history I knew nothing about, and I felt a hint of jealousy over that.
    “We think we may have a lead now,” I went on. “A good one. In Boston. So that’s where we’re going.” Kayla’s hands fell from her hips as she visibly relaxed. “Sorry.”
    She sucked air through her nose again. “It’s fine. Not like you can take it back now.” Kayla knew better than anyone that with all that had happened to me, I wasn’t comfortable with keeping people in the dark. Even if it might be for their own good.
    “Why didn’t you want me to know that?” Erik asked, his eyes focused on Kayla.
    “Because I didn’t want to upset you,” she said, crossing the room to stand directly in front of him. “After Lila, I didn’t think you’d even want to hear the word vampire.” I could see Lila’s name cross Erik’s face, painful and fresh. My heart broke for him. In a way, I had lost Chance—and that pain was overwhelming. But Chance was still alive. I couldn’t even imagine the torture Erik must have been living with every day over Lila’s death.
    “I miss her,” he finally said, his words soft and sad. “Every day I miss her. But that doesn’t mean I’m quitting hunting down vampires. I want them to pay for what they did to her.” The muscles lining his defined jaw flexed beneath the skin as he gritted his teeth. His sudden shift to anger increased his heartbeat, pumping blood through his veins so fast it made my head spin with its delicious scent.
    “So do I,” Kayla said. “So do we.” She looked over her shoulder at me and I smiled at him, hoping to offer some reassurance. “But I don’t think you’re ready to get back out there, Erik. It’s too soon.”
    “I’m fine. And that’s not your decision to make.” Kayla pulled back from him a bit. “I’m sorry,” he went on, “I know you only want me to be okay. I get that. But I have to do what works for me, you know? And right now, I want to hunt down some of those bloodsuckers who killed Lila.” This time, I was the one who flinched at his words. Though I knew that Erik was in no way lumping me in with the vicious monsters who took away his sister, it still hurt to hear him say it. No matter how much I wanted it to not be true, I was one of those bloodsuckers, too.
    “Soo, do you wanna go with us?” Kayla finally asked, her voice quivering a bit from the intensity of Erik’s tone. I watched his face as he stared over Kayla’s shoulder out the window before finally taking in a deep breath and exhaling.
    “Yeah,” he said. “I do.”
    Kayla and I sat in silence as Erik went to pack. I had expected her to lash out at me for causing a rift between her and her friend, but she didn’t. I could sense by her demeanor, though, that she wasn’t entirely happy with me at the moment, but at least she was keeping her comments to herself. Less than ten minutes passed before Erik was back in the living room, lugging a tiny suitcase. He had also found time to change into what he would call more “proper” attire for a trip: a wrinkle-free, black button-down shirt, and oh-so-perfectly-fitted jeans. I hadn’t thought he could look more appealing than he