Chapter 43

"What's bothering you this time?" Vanessa asked as we prepared dinner. I usually told Vanessa everything, but I didn’t know how to explain what Damon had said earlier—that I belonged to him. Just thinking about it made my skin crawl and, confusingly, my chest flutter. It felt... complicated and insane. And knowing Vee, she'd probably march right up to their house and tell him to back off or something just as reckless.

One thing I could talk to her about was Nick—and the growing guilt gnawing at me for keeping so much from him. I sighed as I sliced a potato in half. "With everything that's been going on, I haven’t had time to spend with Nick. And now it just feels like I’m hiding too much. It's created this huge distance between us."

"You know you can’t tell him any of this," Vanessa said gently, placing the cut potatoes onto an oven tray. Her voice dropped lower. "First of all, it could put him in danger. And second... he’d probably think we’re all completely insane."

She was right. I couldn't do that to him. Nick wouldn’t understand, and I couldn’t bear the thought of dragging him into this chaos. These creatures—whatever they were—were unpredictable. Dangerous. And so far, things were only getting worse.

I sat down at the table and started chopping onions, blinking away the sting. "I just feel like I’m betraying him."

"I’m sorry, Liz. I wish I could say everything’s going to be okay, but secrets... they’re heavy. Still, you’ll figure this out. You always do. Besides, all you really need is to carve out some time for yourself—and your cute boyfriend!"

I laughed, tossing a baby carrot at her. She caught it mid-air like the volleyball captain she was. I used to care for Nick so deeply. But now? Something had shifted. I still cared... just not in the same way. The image of us together had faded like an old photo left in the sun.

I couldn’t help it—my thoughts kept going back to him. Damon. No matter how hard I tried to push him out, he lingered in my mind. Like a whisper in the dark. Familiar. I hated it.

"Yeah," I said with a sigh. "I don’t know. I don’t think I’m in the right headspace for a relationship right now. You know what I mean?"

Vanessa nodded knowingly. "To be honest, neither am I. With everything going on, I don’t think I could handle that either."

"Who’s in a relationship?" Joe’s voice chimed in as he strolled into the kitchen, headphones around his neck. He yanked the fridge open and reached for the giant bottle of juice.

Before he could drink straight from the container, Vanessa snatched it from his hands. She grabbed a glass and poured some in. "None of your business. Now scram."

Joe rolled his eyes. "Whatever." He grabbed the glass and disappeared upstairs.

"Boys," Vanessa muttered with a shake of her head.

We both laughed. That was one of the few things we agreed on—boys could be annoying as hell.

"Come on," I said, wiping my hands. "Let’s watch something while the food bakes."

\---

After dinner, I meant to take a short nap—but it turned into hours. By the time I opened my eyes, the house was silent and dark. Everyone was asleep.

I couldn’t get back to sleep. My mouth was dry, so I dragged myself out of bed, yawning as I padded down the hallway to the kitchen. As I stepped in, a cold breeze brushed my skin, sending a chill straight through me.

I froze. The door was wide open.

Suddenly I was fully awake. My heart kicked into high gear as I flipped the kitchen light on and scanned the space, every horror movie I’d ever watched replaying in my head.

"Why is the door open?" Joe's sleepy voice came from behind me, making me jump. I let out a startled breath, resisting the urge to yell at him for scaring the life out of me.

He yawned and scratched his head, looking confused.

"I was just coming to get water," I said quickly, hurrying to the door. I slammed it shut and twisted the lock. Hard.

"It’s midnight, Joe. You should be in bed," I snapped, more out of nerves than anything else.

He reached for a glass. "Sheesh. Relax, Miss Snappy. I woke up thirsty. Not exactly a felony."

I glanced around the room again, still uneasy. He noticed.

"What are you looking for?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Go back to bed now, or I swear I’ll tell Claire you’ve been up all night playing Fortnite," I said, arms crossed.

He scowled. "Fine, I’m going. Calm down."

I followed him upstairs, just to be sure. Once he was safely in his room, I paused and looked back over my shoulder. The hallway behind me felt too quiet, too cold.

How had that door gotten open?

Maybe someone left it slightly ajar, and the wind did the rest. Or maybe that’s just what I wanted to believe.

\---

Campus felt like actual hell the next day. Maybe it was because I barely slept, kept up all night by paranoia—waiting for some vampire or monster to break in and kill us all in our sleep.

"You look like you haven’t slept in decades," Vanessa said, eyeing me as we walked across campus. "You’ve got bags under your eyes."

"I stayed up. Couldn't sleep," I lied, shrugging. I didn’t want to worry her about the door. Nothing had happened, so there was no point stirring things up.

"You shouldn’t stress out too much—oh my god," she gasped, eyes wide. "Is Chloe flirting with one of them?!"

I followed her gaze.

Sure enough, Chloe was standing way too close to one of Damon’s brothers—Adam, if I remembered correctly. He was leaning against a tree, looking every bit the bad-boy heartbreaker, while Chloe giggled like they were the only two people on Earth.

I sighed. "She’s completely lost her mind."