Chapter 18- You’re Running Out Of Chances.

“So, why are you here?” I asked Katie. We were dragging Sylvie somewhere to be locked up so she couldn’t cause trouble.

“To save your sorry butt.” Katie replied, smiling. We hadn’t talked very much since I got back from London.

“What makes you think I need saving?”

“Please. She would have killed you and Alec in less than thirty seconds if I hadn’t saved you.” She turned to Alec.

“Ahem.”

“Thank you, Katie.” Alec rolled his eyes at her.

We locked Sylvie in an old shack, boarded up all the windows, nailed shut the doors, and just for good measure, put pots full of vervain all around on the inside (BEFORE we did all the aforementioned stuff) and the outside.

“So much for a great 13^th birthday.” I grumbled as we were walking back to where my friends were. It’s not like I really needed much of a celebration. Vampire years are a lot different than human years, and besides, I’m more mature than most of the girls my age anyways. You see, I know what I want to do in life. I know who I am. The only thing I don’t know is how to whistle properly, but that’s not the point. I’ll learn…eventually.

“It’s your birthday?” Alec asked. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t feel it was important.” I shrugged.

“How is that not important?”

“It just isn’t. I mean, have you ever told me when your birthday is? Have you told me anything about you?”

“Well, not exactly.”

“How is it fair that you can hear everything I’m thinking, know everything about me, but you won’t even tell me your birthday, or your favorite color, or even your last name!?”

“Kieyra-”

“Whatever.” I found my friends and walked off with them.

After Tegan, Emily, Roxy, and Sara left, I was sitting in my room with Jade, who didn’t have to go home until she felt like it. There was a tap at my window. It started quietly, but then it got louder and louder, and then a familiar voice called “I know you’re in there, Kieyra. Please let me talk to you.” I sighed and went over to the window to let Alec in.

“What do you want?”

“A second chance.”

“More like sixth.” Jade corrected.

“Sixth?” I asked.

“Yeah. The second chance was after he locked you in a dungeon, the third was after he saw you in the tomb talking to Katherine, the fourth was after you got mad at him when he came to see you before you went away to London, and the fifth was after he told you about his Telepathy.” I thought about it, also trying to remember why the hell I’d told her about all that stuff.

“Second chance, sixth chance, whatever. I want to make it up to you.”

“Oh? And how would you suppose you could do that?” he sighed.

“My birthday is December 21^st, my favorite color is green, and my last name is Phillips. For the rest of today, I’ll tell you everything you want to know about me. Please.”

“Say yes, damn it!” Jade said.

“Fine, but I’m still mad at you.”

“And you have every right to be. Meet me outside the school after Jade goes home.”

“Okay.” Alec left. Jade started making kissing noises at me and I threw a pillow in her face.

“Have fun with votre petit ami.” Jade said.

“Huh?”

“It’s French for your boyfriend. Look it up.”

“You know French?”

“I lived in France for a year. And now, I have to go to where I live now. Home. Goodbye, Cherie.”

“Doesn’t that mean girlfriend?”

“No, it means dear. Girlfriend is petite amie. That was a test. If you paid a speck of attention in French class, you would know that.” I rolled my eyes, remembering that I was failing French.

“Well if you ever need a tutor…”

“I don’t.”

“Whatever you say.”  Jade had been bugging me about this failing French business for awhile now, and it was starting to get annoying. If I needed a tutor, I would go out and find one myself. I didn’t need her help to learn foreign languages.

When I got to the school, it looked as though Alec was about to leave.

“I thought you wouldn’t show.” He said.

“I always keep my word. I’m not a liar.” I said, emphasizing the word “liar”.

“Neither am I.”

“Let’s just see about that.” We started to walk down the sidewalk.

“So, I get to ask you any question?”

“Anything appropriate.”

“Define ‘appropriate’.”

“Don’t ask me anything stupid. If it sounds stupid in your head-and I’ll tell you if it does-don’t say it, okay?”

“um…okay. First question. How old are you? Really, I mean.”

“ three hundred and twenty five years old, three hundred and twenty six in December.”

“Ay. Okay, how old were you when you turned?”

“Sixteen.”

“Yow.”

“What?”

“Never mind.” That’s three years age difference. Crap. He heard that.

“Three hundred and thirteen as of December twenty-first, actually.” Bigger yow.

“Can you start asking non-age related questions?” he asked.

“Gladly. Okay, do you have any siblings?”

“Define ‘siblings’.”

“Um, brothers, sisters…etcetera…”

“It’s complicated.”

“Try me.”

“Okay, well I had a little sister, but she died when I was ten, and I have a brother whom I don’t talk to.”

“Whom you don’t talk to? So he’s a vampire?”

“Yeah. We haven’t spoken since 1701, though. His name’s Gavin. We’re twins.”

“Fun. Why did you stop talking to each other?”

“Damien recruited me. He wanted Gavin to come too, but he refused. He believed Damien was evil. Of course, I did too, but he gave me the same spiel he gave Sylvie, I’m guessing. Rule the world forever.”

“You were evil?”

“For about ten years, me and Damien worked together to try to be rulers. But somehow, every plan failed, and Damien was starting to get crueler to not only me but everyone. His partner, Ophelia, Ana, Antoine, Lukas, even the slaves. That’s when I started to realize how evil he truly was, and how I didn’t want to be like that. I went to him and told him I wanted to leave, but he didn’t let me and locked me in the dungeon for three weeks before I agreed to stay.”

“Wow. Then what happened?”

“That’s when Katherine and Isobel came, and you know the story from there.”

“How did Katherine and Isobel get into The Hole?”

“I blame myself for that, actually. I was out running errands for Damien when she saw me, and started talking to me, and then when I told her I had to leave she followed me and fell in. She was a vampire, so it didn’t hurt her at all, but I had to help Isobel so she wouldn’t fall. After Damien took them as slaves, Isobel’s family started looking for her; her husband and three daughters, along with Isobel’s sister, Mariana. Mariana was already a vampire; that’s how Isobel and Katherine met. Mariana was friends with Katherine.  Mariana and Isobel had already discussed a plan that if any harm were to come to Isobel, Mariana would change her family into vampires to assure nothing bad would happen to them.” We stopped at a park bench and sat down. Someone tapped me on the shoulder, making me jump. It was Katherine.

“Talking about me, Alec?”

“Not now, Katherine.”

“Well did you tell her everything? Did you tell her about 1700? Did you tell her about Gavin? Did you tell her about us?”

“Katherine!”

“I’m taking that as a no.” wait a minute- Katherine knew Gavin? And what did she mean by us?

“What about 1700? What about you and Katherine?”

“It’s not important.”

“Really, Alec? I thought we were over the whole “not important” thing.” I crossed my arms.

“He didn’t tell you?”

“TELL ME WHAT????”

“I was the one who turned him in 1700.”

“Katherine, you don’t need to-”

“No, Alec, I think she needs to know. I used to be his girlfriend.” We remained silent for a few minutes.

“what?” I asked, though it was meant as a rhetorical question. Katherine disappeared. I turned to Alec.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, Alec, it does matter. Who am I to you?”

“No, Kieyra, it’s not like that.”

“Well, right now it sure looks like it.”

“I can explain.”

“Oh, can you? Humor me.”

“well…okay, maybe I can’t explain. But I don’t see you as Katherine!”

“You wanted a second chance. Well, Alec, this isn’t the way to get one.” I ran home crying. Jade was on her porch and saw me.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” when I didn’t respond, she ran over and followed me into my house and upstairs to my room.

“What did he do?” she asked. I didn’t know how to explain it at all.

“Katherine’s his ex.” I blubbered.

“You think he’s only with you because you look like her?” I nodded.

“Oh, Cherie.” She hugged me.

Alec kicked the tree beside his apartment building. He hadn’t meant for Kieyra to find out about Katherine, he really hadn’t. Katherine appeared beside him.

“What do you want?” he asked angrily.

“Ouch. That hurts, Phillips. It really does. Hurts my heart.”

“What heart? You’re a heartless jerk with no regard for anyone’s feelings but your own. Always have been. Why do you think I broke up with you?”

“Because I was all over your brother.” Katherine chuckled.

“And you did it because you’re an evil heartless jerk.”

“Your point being…”

“My point being that I hate you, and always will.”

“Oh, that’s a lie. You love me. You always loved me.”

“I never loved you. None of it was real.”

“Of course, because you’re totally into Kieyra. I mean, it’s not like we look alike or anything.” He felt like killing Katherine right then and there.

“Why are you trying to get her back? Why waste your time? Oh, yeah, I forgot. You “love” her. Dude, you can’t love her.”

“And the reason would be?”

“She’s thirteen. Thirteen year olds can’t be in love. And she’ll be thirteen forever, so even if you do love her, she’ll never feel the same. And telling her would just freak her out, so…Well, I guess it’s your decision.”