Afterlife by Claudia Gray Read Free Book Online Page A

it still hung between us.
    “What was it like for you?” I asked. “Being dead?”
    “I don’t remember anything about it.” Lucas leaned his head
back against the leg of our folding table, giving in to the exhaustion that
followed rising from the grave. We remained on the floor, unable to summon the
will to move. “Just now, when Balthazar staked me — that sounds so weird to say
— whatever. Well. after that, I dreamed. Thought I saw
Charity chasing after us.” He half laughed, a bitter sound, and looked up at
the ceiling. “The last thing I needed was her in my nightmares.”
    I shivered. Charity looked innocent, with her youthful face
and bedraggled, waiflike appearance; she was anything but. I figured I would
have nightmares about her forever, too, if I could still dream. I wasn’t sure
about that yet.
    “What was it like for you?” he asked, focusing on me again.
“Did you become a ghost right away, or was there some time between? It’d be
nice to think you got a sneak preview of heaven. “
    “No sneak previews.” I folded my arms atop my knees and
rested my chin there. “I think I turned into a ghost pretty much instantly, but
it took me awhile to realize what had happened. At first I just drifted in and
out.”
    “Do you think there’s an afterlife for vampires? Do they — do
we all go hell, if there’s a hell?”
    “Don’t say that!”
    “Holy water burns me. I’ll never be able to set foot on
consecrated ground again, “Lucas said. “God’s made it pretty clear where he
stands, don’t you think?”
    I cupped his face with my hands. “I know you hate this, but
there are ways to go on, to enjoy the years to come. Think about it: We’re
immortal now. We lost each other once, but at least we never have to again.”
    Lucas pulled away, breaking contact between us. Slowly he
pushed himself to his feet. He walked a few steps farther into our makeshift
apartment in the wine cellar, studying it as though he were seeing it for the
first time: the hot plate, the air mattress on a bed frame, the cardboard
drawers that held our things. There were times in the past few weeks when I’d
thought this was the most perfect, romantic place on eartth. Now it seemed
shabby and small, its beauty just our last shared illusion.
    He said, “Bianca, I don’t know ifl can do this.”
    “You can.”
    “You’re saying that because you want to believe it. Not
because you do.”
    “You’re giving up without even trying.”
    Lucas turned to me, his eyes anguished. “I’m going to try.
Jesus, Bianca, do you think I wouldn’t try for you? As much as I hate this — this
hunger inside me, this cold, disgusting, dead feeling — if it means being with
you, I’ll try.”
    “You’ll make it. You’ll learn how to handle the hunger. I
promise.”
    “How is that supposed to happen?” He gestured at the empty
blood containers on the floor. “That’s, what, three pints of blood? It’s as
much as I can do right this second not to tackle that bag and drink the rest
immediately. Already when I think about Vic outside — it’s not about Vic
anymore, it’s about the fact that he’s alive and he’s got blood I could drink.
In another few minutes — ”
    “We have more blood. Drink as much as you need. We can get
more.” But that was a purely temporary solution, and we both knew it.
    He needed hope, and only one suggestion gave us any hope. I
laid aside my own objections and fears about my parents; Balthazar’s plan was
the best we had.
    “Classes start in two weeks, “I said. “At Evernight. You’re going
to go back there.”
    Lucas stared at me for a second, then thumped his head
against one of the wine racks so that the bottles rattled. “Great. I’m already
hearing things. Halfway to crazy.”
    “You’re not hearing things. You’re enrolling in Evernight
Academy again as a student, a vampire student this time, and they’ll take care
of you.”
    “Take care of me ? Bianca, the last
time I