Blood Awakening by Jamie Manning Read Free Book Online

now.” Her words were softer than before, more sincere. “We’re in this with you.” I couldn’t protest, so I half-smiled in agreement. Thankfully, she smiled back.
    “And we’ve been doing it a lot longer than you have.” Erik had to add his two cents, which always seemed to be about boosting his pride. “We’re better at it, too.” His wicked little crooked smile drove me crazy…and he knew it. I smirked and turned to the overgrown brush behind me.
    “You’re crazy if you think that,” I said as he and Kayla fell in behind me, the three of us trampling the trail I had cut in the thicket of vines and shrubs and overgrown plants. “I’m stronger and faster.” I broke through the brush and crossed the highway back to our hotel, Kayla and Erik on my heels.
    “You may be faster,” Erik finally responded once we were safely across the street, “but stronger? Come on.”
    “I’m half vampire, remember?” I smiled up at him.
    Sadness darkened his face before disappearing on the cool wind. “How could I forget?” His words were riddled with emotion, and I knew instantly I shouldn’t have said it. Great. Now I had two guys in my life who hated the word vampire. Well, only one right now. Chance was still treating me like I had the plague, so the fact that he was uncomfortable hearing the word was irrelevant. Just the thought of him made me anxious, almost uncomfortable. I wanted so desperately to see him. I just wished that he would at least let me talk to him. I wanted to hear his voice, to know that he was okay.
    “So I’m stronger,” I said, trying to ignore Erik’s brief-but-pained expression and my thoughts of Chance, and steer our conversation back to lighthearted ground. Erik paused just outside our room, a wide smile suddenly filling his face.
    “Yeah,” he said, opening the door. “But I’m better looking.” I smacked his arm as the three of us went inside.
    “So are you gonna tell us what happened back there?” Kayla asked as she plopped onto one of the beds and curled her legs beneath her body. Her blood was near-boiling in her veins and her face was practically glowing with anticipation, and I smiled at how childlike and innocent she looked. A nagging feeling in the back of my mind was telling me that I had to do whatever I could to keep her that way, so I decided to limit the amount of info I gave them.
    “It was a vampire,” I started. “That’s it.” My friends glared at me with knowing eyes. “I’m serious, you guys, just a random vampire. I could smell him when we were outside. I went after him just to see why he was standing there watching us. Honest.” I could tell by the looks on their faces that they were only half-convinced.
    “And?” Kayla asked, some of that anticipation fading from her features.
    “And nothing. He said the same thing about me. That he was passing through and caught my scent. So he stopped to see who I was.” I was surprising myself with every word at the ease with which I was lying. “Once he saw I wasn’t a threat, he moved on.”
    “And that’s it?” Erik spoke this time, standing tall and firm at the foot of the bed, glaring down at me in the tiny chair by the window. “That’s all he said?”
    I fought the urge to blurt the truth, almost biting my tongue in half. “That’s it,” I lied. “He was leaving when you two showed up. I know he smelled you, so I had to protect you.”
    “Well, uh, we appreciate you looking out for us,” Kayla went on, faking contentment with my explanation. “But you don’t have to protect us, Ava. We can protect ourselves.”
    “I know you can, but you’re my friends. Both of you.” I looked up at Erik, who seemed calmer, thankfully. “I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you because of me.”
    “We were hunting vampires before you showed up,” Erik said. “If one of them gets one or both of us, it won’t be because of you.”
    “Right,” Kayla added. “It’ll be