So Sacrifice Yourself, and Let Me Have What's Left

The day went on slightly faster than I expected. I’m guessing it’s mainly because it’s the first day, meaning the teacher would lecture us and give us free time at the end for us to do whatever. One of our teachers even let us leave if we wanted to, but I didn’t. I had no other friends to go to. All of my friends went to an entirely different school, and let’s not forget my boyfriend. I could think nothing but him the entire day, as most of my days went when I was away from him, but it seemed worse. I really was falling hard for Zacky, and I knew this couldn’t be normal. No one ever fallen in love like we had. We were closer than most teenage couples, almost as if we were married. We understood each other by our movements, and we were always watching each other. Well, Zacky was watching me more than I was watching him. He was so protective over me. It didn’t bother me more than it did surprise me. Hybrids weren’t supposed to fall in love, so what were we? We had said ‘I love you’ to each other many times, and I knew that we both meant it, so what was going on? Well, since I was pretty much a fucked up Hybrid, I had the exception of falling in love. But Zacky, I knew he was in love with me, but how could he?

Somehow I managed to escape Danielle. She only had English with me, I’m guessing, but it was almost lunch time, meaning I still had a few more periods to go before the school day was over, meaning Danielle could possibly be in another one of my classes. I shuddered at the thought. It still amazed me that she was in the same building as I was, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Leana had already graduated, I’m guessing, or just dropped out once she met Jimmy. Yes, they were still together, but I never once saw her. Jimmy obviously knew about the tension between Leana and me, and made sure we were both separated from each other as much as we possibly could.

Kala ended up having all the same classes as me, which was a new one. I thought that in big high schools every student had a different schedule than the rest? That is a bit strange, but it didn’t bother me as much as I thought. I liked being around her, and I could tell she felt the same. But there was something off about her. She was always happy, too happy, if you ask me. I could tell that was just her personality, but still, there was something about her. I began to think that it was probably because this was her first year here, meaning she was still trying to learn how things ran around here. I understood that much, and made myself believe that once she felt more comfortable in this school then she would loosen up and not act so, dare I say, mystifying.

I didn’t see a sandy blonde haired girl waiting against the brick wall of the cafeteria walls, which meant that I either didn’t have lunch with Gena, or she figured that I already had new friends, and she went to sit with her other friends. I remember Lauren saying that whatever brawl Gena and the unknown girl found theirselves in had died down, meaning that Gena would now sit with her friends before she met me. It didn’t bother me much, considering I had offered Kala to sit with me. She may have been self-confident and slightly conceited, but she still needed friends. She agreed, and we found ourselves sitting in a table that no one else had occupied. Everyone had started to stay away from Kala, and admired her from afar.

“Why are they staring at you?” I asked Kala, nodding my head towards a few tables that kept on glancing at mine and Kala’s table every once in a while, although I knew they were staring at the dark haired angel rather than me.

Kala shrugged, taking a bite of her pizza before answering. “I’m not sure.” Oh great, another girl who didn’t realize how beautiful she really was. Ha, I sound like Zacky. “They always have. Even at my old school they stared at me.” she said softly, but her voice was loud and clear.

“Speaking of which, where’re you from?” I asked after taking a bite of my pizza. It did bother me that she looked so exotic. She was dark, yes, but darker than most of the people that live in California. They’re so tan their almost orange, but not Kala.

“I’m actually from Greece.” Kala said with a hint of sadness in her voice. I looked up to see her piercing blue eyes fill with sorrow as she mentioned her home. I could tell that she missed it. “I lived there all my life.”

“What made you move here?” I asked, quite curious as to why someone who looked like a Greek goddess could possibly want to move from somewhere as historical and magical as Greece to America. Despite what people portray it as, America really is full of fakes, many of them inhabiting California. Luckily for me, I met a rare few that weren’t fake, and one of them just happened to be my boyfriend. Great, here come the thoughts.

“My father got transferred.” Kala said, interrupting my thoughts with her soft angelic voice. “The company he manages is starting to broaden their horizons, so they decided to come to America.” She said ‘America’ rather odd. I’m guessing she doesn’t like this place. “And since my father was the only one that is trustworthy enough to keep business running, they sent him first.”

I nodded in an understanding way, thinking of when the now deceased Devin barged into our old home in McKinley, Illinois and cheered about how he got a promotion that would force us—Cynthia, Leana, Danielle, and myself along with Devin—to move to Huntington Beach, California. I remembered how much I dreaded the idea, but now I didn’t really mind. I fit in here, and was accepted by a group of people who really cared for me. But I also found out one of my deepest darkest secrets that were bottled up inside of me before I met Zacky. He helped me escape, and I was now The Forbidden One.

“Want to come over to my house tonight? I mean, it is a Friday.” Kala said softly and hopefully, her voice slipping out her lips in such a smooth way it was almost unbelievable. I gave her a slightly confused look, thinking of how she could possibly want me to go over to her house when I’ve only known her for one day. “I’m sure my parents would be thrilled to meet my first friend here.” She sounded so sincere and so pure; I just had to believe her.
I nodded, crumbling my paper that held my pizza into a ball and throwing it into the trash can. “Sure, I don’t have anything planned.” I shrugged slightly, thinking that Zacky would understand. He normally liked for us to go out on Friday night, but once I tell him that Kala invited me, I knew he wouldn’t care. He was like that, a go-with-the-flow kind of person.
Kala smiled, showing her teeth, and they glistened a bright white color against her dark skin as she looked to be happy, which was a new emotion. Usually she showed a fake happy, but now this looked to be real. “Great, I know they’ll love you.” she said softly and excitedly. It amazed me that her voice was barely above a whisper, but I still heard every word perfectly.

I felt a pair of eyes on me, and I wasn’t thinking at the time to think twice about looking in the direction. I thought that they were really looking at Kala, so it didn’t bother me to look that way. I immediately regretted looking at her. Her normally soft light brown eyes showed nothing but pure hatred as she glared directly into my eyes. Her lips were pursed together as I could see her teeth were clenched together, thanks to her jawline tightening when it was usually soft and womanly. A fragile girl with multi-colored hair saw Gena’s glare towards me, and she looked my way as well. Danielle joined in the glare as her fiery green eyes bored into mine as she joined Gena in shooting invisible daggers into my skull as I continued to look at them with fear in my eyes. Danielle always hated me—I knew it was just because I was born, and I think I knew why Gena hated me now. She had obviously figured it out, and I was now on the top of her hit list. It was obvious that Danielle befriended Gena so they could have their own ‘Anti-Candace’ alliance, and I knew that they were going to get the best of me in the end.

I saw Danielle and Gena turn their gaze away from me, but close to me. My brows furrowed as I looked in the directions they were now shooting their daggers, and my eyes met Kala’s face, her eyes were directed elsewhere. Her piercing blue eyes filled with hatred and rage as she glared at Danielle and Gena. She normally looked so angelic and perfect, but now, I was slightly afraid. She looked as if she could pounce at any moment and kill anything in her path. She looked like a demon that was more than willing to bring innocent bystanders who just happened to get in the way to hell with her once she killed her targets, which I was guessing were Gena and Danielle. Gena and Danielle showed a new emotion across their perfect faces—fear. They looked away and back at each other. I saw their lips moving, and I could tell that they had decided to kill me verbally instead of physically.

I looked at Kala with pure confusion plastered all over my face as Kala’s expression turned back to its normal form of calm and relaxed as her gaze met mine. I didn’t even need to talk, I don’t think I could’ve I was too appalled at what had just happened. No one ever scared Danielle. Gena I could see, but Danielle? She was supposed to be fearless, what happened to that persona she lived up to every day? She was supposed to make people tremble at her anger management issues, what made Kala change her way of portraying herself? This was way too weird. As if on cue, Kala furthered my beliefs of her being both strange and almost scary.

“No one will hurt you…when I’m around.”

The way she said it gave me shivers down my spine. She said it so slowly, and she seemed to hesitate before saying her final words. I wasn’t sure what she meant by it, but for some strange reason it made me want Zacky here to protect me.

--

“You can come over around seven. My mother should have dinner cooked up by then.” Kala said sweetly as we walked together out of the building. She had acted as if the incident with Danielle and Gena hadn’t happened at lunch the rest of the day, and remained her happy-creepy self as we had all our other classes together. Danielle ceased to be in any other one of my classes besides English, which was a good one. I’m glad she wasn’t in Chemistry, or any class that I really needed to pay attention in.

I nodded as an answer, and looked around at all of the cars, looking for a familiar red one that belonged to Zacky. I smiled as I saw the god leaning against his car, looking completely bored as he looked around, looking for his girlfriend—me. His gaze met mine, and a smirk crept on his lips as I turned around to Kala. “I have to go. I’ll be there at seven.” I said, smiling at the fact of seeing Zacky for the first time in eight hours. Believe me, it was murder.

Kala smiled slightly as she opened her arms. I was slightly surprised as she hugged me. Her body was hard as stone, and her skin was as cold as her icy blue eyes that pierced against her dark skin. I hugged her back out of common courtesy, and once I pulled away from her I saw Kala’s gaze directed over my shoulder. “Yeah, I’ll see you then.” she said with no emotion in her voice, which surprised me. She seemed to always want to act happy around me, and now it seemed as if she didn’t even care. Her facial features were as hard as stone as she continued to look over my shoulder. I turned my body, and my eyes immediately locked with Zacky’s, only his eyes weren’t looking at mine. I could see the look of pure hatred plastered all over his face as he looked over my shoulder as well. I tried to ignore the tension that was placed between Kala and Zacky as I walked towards my boyfriend who was still glaring at the dark goddess that I had met earlier today.

Zacky didn’t look at me as he wrapped his arms around my shoulder blades, pulling me into a tight embrace against his chest. This was odd, but I placed my arms around his middle. I knew that Zacky was still looking at Kala as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders, directing my back towards the goddess, as he opened my door for me. I got in, and waited with curiosity as Zacky walked across the front of the car, his gaze still locked on Kala’s before violently sitting down in the driver’s side, driving away at a fast speed away from my school. He gripped the steering wheel tightly with one hand, the other tightly holding onto mine, it began to hurt a little.

“Uh, my friend invited me to go to her house tonight.” I stated in hopes of breaking the ice that had fallen between Zacky and I. I laced my fingers with his, telling him that it was alright with whatever happened between him and Kala. That was pretty weird, if you ask me.

“Was it that girl?” I was shocked at how angry Zacky sounded. He said those words through clenched teeth as his plush lips only parted slightly as he spat the words with pure venom in his voice. This wasn’t normal. This wasn’t my Zacky. What was wrong with him?

“Uhm…yeah, she just moved here from Greece and I want her to feel welcome.” I thought that maybe if I put in the fact that she was unknown to this world and how she didn’t have any friends, Zacky would think differently, instead of having him immediately saying no, which was something I was almost sure he would’ve done.

Zacky was quiet for a moment, and I could tell that he was debating whether or not to agree for me to go over to Kala’s house or not. “Perhaps I should go with you.” his voice had returned to somewhat normal, and I was hoping that he had realized that he had judged Kala too quickly with whatever went on between them.

“Well, I think I’ll be alright.” I said quietly. I was really hoping this wouldn’t turn into an argument, which was something we had never had before. Normally arguments would start with one of the people disagreeing with the other, and I really hoped I hadn’t made a bad decision by telling Zacky I would rather go alone than with him.

“If that’s what you want.” Zacky said calmly. “But I don’t want you staying the night.” Of course he had to get some restrictions in there. I wasn’t so sure of why Kala and Zacky stared at each other like they were a demon rising from the deepest pits of hell, but I was pretty sure I was going to find out eventually.

“No, I don’t think I was going to do that in the first place.” I said quietly, rubbing my thumb against Zacky’s hand in hopes of getting him to calm down. He looked so tense, and I couldn’t figure out why. He seemed to relax a bit, but his shoulders were still slightly hunched. I wanted to take Zacky out of his anger that he obviously had bottled up inside of him, but I didn’t know how. “Will you take me and pick me up?” I asked.

Zacky nodded almost immediately, glancing at me before looking back onto the road that led down to mine and Brian’s house. “Of course, anything for my baby.” He smirked, bringing my hand to his lips. I felt myself blush a deep shade of red as Zacky’s smirk grew. What did I do to deserve such a perfect person?

--

“Call me when you want me to pick you up.” Zacky said once our lips parted in a farewell kiss. He had constantly been nagging me about how I should be careful when I was at Kala’s house. I would always ask him why, and he would just say ‘she’s weird’ and leave it at that. I knew there was more to the story, but I wasn’t going to push it until Zacky wanted me to. “Love you.”

I smiled slightly at his words, thinking of how lucky I was to have him. “Love you, too.” I got out of his car and looked up at the house that Kala was supposed to live in. It looked sort of like the one I lived in before Cynthia disowned me, only more modern. It didn’t have a third story or a patio, either, like my old house. I missed it, to be honest. I missed my room, the patio, and the amazing view I had of Zacky’s room, although it wasn’t really his room anymore, considering he hardly ever slept there anymore. I’m surprised his parents haven’t said anything yet. Well, then again, they do pretty much hate Zacky. Maybe they’re happy that he isn’t around that much. But what I didn’t get was, doesn’t Zacky have a little brother? Doesn’t that make him a Hybrid, too? I guess they were taking Zacky down first, and then move onto Matt.

I knocked quietly three times on the dark blue wooden door that was the entrance into the middle class house that contained the address that Kala had given me in order for me to come over to her house that night. I waited patiently, not thinking any negative thoughts about how Kala might’ve given me the wrong address. It didn’t bother me as much. I had the god as my boyfriend, and that itself changed me so much. I no longer cared how people thought of me, because not many things fazed me like they had many times before. Once I left Danielle and Leana and I could no longer hear their taunting words, I became different. Zacky helped me gain my confidence, and I was no longer insecure. I guess that’s a good thing.

The door opened slowly, and the first thing I saw was Kala’s fake smile plastered on her face. I could tell she was trying, so I gave her that much in smiling back slightly. “Just in time, dinner’s almost ready.” She said softly and gently. Her voice was always so quiet, and yet she still managed to show emotion. There really was something up with this girl. Kala stepped to the side, gesturing me to come into her home with her hand, and I obeyed.

They apparently had just moved here maybe a week ago, because there were unopened boxes sprawled out throughout the living room. They managed to get the TV and couch out, and they both looked like things I would be too afraid to go near in fear of breaking them. The couch had clearly been overstuffed, and had a black leather coating around the fluff inside. The TV looked very expensive, and was about as thin as my finger. The screen showed a random soap opera, and I was guessing that the TV was on just so it didn’t feel eerily quiet in the empty house. I heard hushed voices coming from a few feet away. I turned, and saw Kala talking to a woman that was setting up the table, which I guessed was the dinner table. The woman was a bit heavy set with brown curly locks running down her back like a rapid waterfall as she wore a plain black shirt with black dress pants, and to top it all off she had on black sandals. Her pale skin looked white as paper in comparison to Kala’s dark complexion, and her brown hair looked like an almost chocolate color against Kala’s pitch black hair. They looked nothing alike, but this had to be Kala’s mother, right?

“Oh, where are my manners?” the woman asked as I noticed she had turned her gaze towards me. She stopped setting up the table, telling Kala to take over, as she walked towards me. She had a fake smile plastered on her face, but it didn’t look as fake as Kala’s. “I’m Evangeline.” She didn’t extend her arm towards me, exposing her pudgy hand for me to take; instead she just stood there, looking at me with that fake smile. “Kala has told me so much about you.” her voice was smooth and all of the words were pronounced perfectly, almost as if she had been in this world for hundreds of years perfecting the English language. “You seem like a delightful girl. Candace, is it?”

I nodded, trying not to look so awkward around these people. It amazed me at how they moved. They were so graceful, almost as if they were walking on the tips of their toes. They had a natural sway to their bodies, making them look almost like a feather flowing in the breeze as they walked. “Candace.” I said quietly, just not as smoothly as Kala or Evangeline’s perfect voices.

“My dear, why are you wearing long sleeves? It’s summertime, surely you are growing warm?” Evangeline asked, gesturing towards my light blue shirt that covered my arms.

I had to wear long sleeves for one reason and one reason only—to hide my mysterious marking that gave away my true identity. I didn’t want the guys to know that I was a Hybrid, mainly because I didn’t want them to kill me. I would normally wear a wrist band around my right wrist if I had chosen to wear short sleeves, and no one ever questioned me about it until now. I wasn’t so sure of what to say, thinking that I might say something wrong or that could cause both Kala and Evangeline to think I’m crazy, but I went ahead and spoke. “I’m cold-blooded.” I said quietly, hoping this would work.

Evangeline smiled slightly before turning her neck to look at Kala, who had just finished up setting the dinner table. “Kala, be a dear and show Candace around.” I could tell that this family wasn’t so much a fan of asking questions rather than demanding things. Evangeline turned back to me, the smile still on her face. “We’ll eat when my husband returns from work.” She stated, and I nodded. “Kala told me that you liked spaghetti, is that alright if you eat that tonight?” I nodded once more, and Evangeline’s fake smile grew. “Great, see you in a bit.” She looked at Kala, who took that as her cue and held my arm with her hand, leading me up the stairs that was parallel to the living room. I saw that Evangeline had walked back into the kitchen, and I guessed Kala was going to show me around her house.

Kala led me into a room that was at the dead-end of the hallway, sort of like how Brian’s room was. She opened it, and I could see more boxes piled up in a city skyline sort of manner, but there were a few more decorations than the living room had. A mattress was carelessly placed on the floor with a messy blanket knotted up along with an uncovered pillow, and I guessed Kala hadn’t gotten any of her sheets out yet. A TV was placed a few feet away from the mattress, only this one wasn’t as luxurious as the one in the living room.

What really caught my eye were the pictures. All of them had something to do with Greece. Only a few were posters, but the rest were small pictures that someone had obviously taken. I stared in wonder at the pictures, amazed at the fact that there was a place so magical existing in this world at this very moment. The pictures all had a different scene to it. I even saw the Parthenon, which was a new one. The photo was taken so close to the actual thing, it gave me shivers thinking of how powerful the building looks up close.
“It’s not that big of a deal.” I jumped when I heard Kala’s voice dangerously close to me. I turned to see her walking towards me, her black hair flowing slightly as she stopped in her tracks once she was beside me. “The outside is beautiful, but the inside is full of trash and unwanted pieces of art.” I nodded and continued to stare at the pictures. I had always wanted to go somewhere like Greece, and the fact that Kala had and had proof just made me want to go there even more. Kala was quiet for a while, that is, before I heard her take a slight breath. “You’re probably going to be the only one eating tonight.” She said calmly. I tore my eyes away from the pictures to look at her with a confused look plastered on my face. Kala noticed this, and explained. “I’m afraid that I was terribly hungry once I came home, and had a little something. Mother has already eaten as well, and father usually gets something on his way home. We won’t make you feel uncomfortable, or we’ll try not to.” Kala said softly.

It didn’t bother me having Kala already eaten, considering she said she was hungry. I believed her, as odd as that seems. I nodded in an understanding way, knowing that if I was hungry I would’ve done the same thing.

“Kala, can you come down here for a minute?” Evangeline’s voice called up the stairs, down the hallway, and into Kala’s room.

Kala turned her neck towards her open door once she heard her name, and didn’t say anything before turning back towards me. “I’ll be right back.” She said, smiling one more time before walking out of her room. I listened to her footsteps until they became faint, meaning she had reached the kitchen.

I looked back at the pictures, looking for any of Kala and someone else. I was wondering if she had any friends. She didn’t even have any pictures of herself and her family. They were all pictures of different sceneries in Greece. I saw one picture in the corner of my eye, and I noticed it was different from the rest. I turned my neck, and my eyes immediately locked with another’s. His eyes were a black color that seemed to engulf his beady eyes as they stared right back at me. His face was a pale gray color, his cheekbones prominent against his silvery skin. His thin lips were pursed together as he finished his cold stare directed towards me. He was sitting in a large throne that was decorated with black and gold lining and stones. His long boney fingers gripped the edges of the arm rests that his lanky arms were placed upon as his body showed outstanding posture underneath his clothing, which consisted of a fancy black shirt with black pants. There was something about this man that made me scared. It could have been his death glare that was aimed at me, but I didn’t think that was the entire story. He looked so familiar, where had I seen him before? Surely he wasn’t from McKinley, that wouldn’t make sense. If he was, why would Kala have a picture of him?

I began to think of Kala, and how oddly strange she was around me. She always seemed to be putting on this big show to make me love her, or something. She was too pretty, there had to be something wrong. Everything she said came out perfectly, and I never once heard her mispronounce a word, or act as if she didn’t know what was going on around her. It was at that point that I heard her voice ringing through my ears.

“You’re angry, aren’t you?” I was surprised her voice could sound like this. She normally sounded like an angel, and her voice was always so soft when she spoke. This time was different. Her voice was hard and cold, and she seemed to spit the words out with all the venom she could build up at the time. Something told me that she was talking to Evangeline, and that the conversation that was being heard in my ears was the one going on downstairs in the kitchen.

I thought back to the first time this happened, when Zacky had killed Devin, and how I could hear Cynthia telling Danielle and Leana that I was The Forbidden One. That was the night that changed my life. Could it be that, when I think about people, I can hear their conversations that they are having at that very moment? I thought only werewolves had special abilities, could it be Hybrids could, too? If so, what was Zacky’s? I had managed to figure out everyone else’s, but Zacky was hard to tell. Maybe only a few Hybrids are born with abilities, and Zacky was given too much beauty for him to have the abilities as well.

“Why did you bring her here?” my eyes widened as Evangeline’s voice spat out the words that escaped her lips. From when she introduced herself, I portrayed her to be the mothering type. She certainly wasn’t being very motherly now. “Your orders were to kill her, not to befriend her.”

The words stabbed me in the heart. Were they talking about me? My breathing became uneven as it all started to swish around my brain in many different forms, causing myself to fall dizzy. But I didn’t move, I stayed put with my feet planted against the floor. They couldn’t be talking about me. I didn’t even know these people. What orders was Evangeline talking about? No one could possibly actually order Kala to kill me, could they? What did I do that was so wrong that I deserved to be killed?

“Need I remind you, Evangeline,” Kala spat the words with pure venom, and it scared me. She called her mother by her name, which was odd. Aren’t you supposed to call your mother ‘mom’? Well, I never called Cynthia that, but she wasn’t my biological mother. Perhaps that was the deal here, as well. “That the Count himself ordered me to kill her, but to get to know her first.” For some odd reason, my eyes immediately looked back at the picture of the man that Kala had hanging on her wall that her mattress was closest to. “He may want her dead, but he still wants to know what his daughter is like.” My eyes widened at her words, and I realized who that man was.

My father was staring right back at me. The one man I’ve always wanted to meet wanted me dead. Those cold eyes belonged to the man who had a part in creating me. But, the legend says that Dracula didn’t care about his daughter, and only wanted her to start the war. Well, we got that covered, but why did Kala say that he wanted to know what I was like? Plus, if I started the war, why did he want me dead? Didn’t he want this war to go on for as long as possible? I began to fell dizzy again, and this time I needed to hold onto the wall to keep myself from falling.

“They’re going to figure it out.” Evangeline said. I listened, but my eyes were still locked on the picture of Dracula, my father.

”What makes you say that?” Kala asked, her voice not so full of venom like it originally was.

“She lives with a Lycan and a Hybrid, Kala.” Evangeline said, and I could hear the ‘duh’ tone in her voice as she talked to her daughter, although I’m starting to think that they’re not much of a family to begin with. “Eventually someone will figure it out.”

“They won’t.” Kala said almost immediately after Evangeline said her last word. “The Hybrid is so crazy in love with her that he won’t even notice I’m around. And the Lycan wants her so bad that he won’t notice, either. It’ll be like I don’t even exist to them.” I was both surprised and confused as to why Kala knew this much about Zacky and I’m guessing Brian. Why did she know so much?

“She is around others, you know. They’re all a pack, and they’re around her every waking moment of her life.” Evangeline stated. “I don’t see why you had to bring her here.”

“I have to get to know her. He wants to know. If I just kill her without knowing anything about her, the Count will kill me, too.” Kala said. I was amazed that she could keep her voice so hard as stone with no emotion other than mean.

“Didn’t you learn enough, today?” Evangeline spat at Kala. “You were around her the entire school day, isn’t that enough? Go up there and fucking kill her, dammit! I can’t stand the smell of her blood. I’m surprised the Lycans haven’t killed her yet.”

Kala seemed taken aback at Evangeline’s out lash, and I had a damn near heart attack. What did she mean she couldn’t stand the smell of my blood? How could she smell my blood? Why did she seem so angry at Kala for bringing me here? Most of all, why is she surprised the guys haven’t killed me yet?

“The Hybrid won’t let them.” Kala answered coldly. I could tell that she was angry at Evangeline for talking to her like that. She seemed wise beyond her years, and something told me that she wasn’t as young as she looked. “He wants her for himself. He says he loves her, but that can’t be true. Hybrids don’t fall in love.” She stated, and I remembered the conversation Zacky and I had so long ago when I was given the burning dream from my father.

“I don’t care about if the Hybrid loves her or not.” Evangeline said with venom dripping from her words. “Just kill her and kill her soon. I don’t want to have to take your duty from you. Now go.”

I gulped as I heard Kala’s footsteps walking up the stairs and down the hallway that led into her room. My eyes were glued to the picture as the thoughts of having Zacky actually defending me from the guys killing me and the thoughts of having Kala assigned to kill me. That sort of made sense of why she immediately talked to me, or why she had all the same classes with me, it could all be a trick for me to die. I stared at my father, and he stared back. It may have been a picture, but something strange filled the room. It felt like the picture was actually him, and he was actually looking at me. I felt like I was being watched. Not by Kala, for she hadn’t entered the room yet, but by someone else. I knew that the Hybrids watched me from time to time, but I never felt weird about it. There had to be something going on here.

I feared I was going to find out soon enough.