Shadows of My Heart

Chapter 1

Leo’s POVI peered out from the darkness, watching the house and the girl in it from a distance. My vampire senses afforded me sharp vision and hearing. I knew she was in her bedroom, sitting at her vanity, and I could hear the heartbreaking sounds of her tears. All alone now, with no one to protect or guide her through life.

I started to move toward the house to get a better look but stopped. A dog began barking. A neighbor's light came on and I retreated back into the shadows, silently cursing my immortal nature. Humans could be tricked into thinking I was one of them. Animals rarely could.

With a frustrated sigh, I decided to leave for the night. The girl could wait, I supposed, stepping through bushes and into a neat little alleyway. I frowned for a moment. The girl. If I was going to stay in White Oaks I should really start calling her by name.

Emma. Emma Fullerton. 

Nostalgia stabbed at me for that was once my name also. Now after more than two hundred years of nothingness and avoiding the human population, for the most part, I hardly thought about it. Fullerton. At least the family was still prosperous as they had been in my day if Emma’s house was anything to go by.

She was my-- I frowned and glanced up at the hideous streetlights which hurt my eyes a bit. My great-great-great great--I’d lost track over the years. She was my granddaughter with several greats attached to her. The last of my line. The rest had all been killed in a home invasion a month ago. The mother, the father--of whom Emma had descended from me--and a brother of about twelve. I could not protect the rest of them but I’d do my best with Emma. 

Always watching. 

Always waiting until the moment she needed me.

Always in the shadows.

Faith’s POV“Faith, stay behind, will you, please?”

I glanced up at my teacher, Mrs. Miller, and frowned. “Sure.” I gathered my books and walked over to the teacher’s desk, waiting for the rest of the students to leave.

“I was hoping you’d do me a favor and take these to Emma Fullerton’s house today.” Mrs. Miller handed me a small stack of books and folders without waiting for a reply.

“Me? Why me? I barely know her,” I protested.

Mrs. Miller sighed and stopped what she was doing to look at me. “Because I can’t trust her friends to actually do it and she’s falling behind. She’s so close to graduating… I don’t want this--tragedy to ruin her chances of college.”

I felt a stab of guilt at the reminder that Emma’s whole family had just died. No, they’d been murdered. She hadn’t been back to school since it happened. “Isn’t her whole life ruined anyway? I mean, who could come back from something like that?” I almost shivered at the thought of it happening to me. My whole family gone in one night? 

“Faith, maybe she needs the support of people like us, a distraction to start the healing process. She can’t stay cooped up in that house forever. It’s not good.”

I couldn’t argue anymore without sounding like a total asshole so I took the homework and smiled. “I’ll go by tonight after the game.” As I walked away, a horrible thought made me pause. “Mrs. Miller? They caught the guy who did it, right?”

She nodded. “Don’t worry. He confessed to everything. You’ll be safe.”

I slowly nodded and left the classroom.

The game was the usual. Our school won like always and I cheered my little heart out to the same boring routines. The captain, Mallory, liked to play it safe and look cute. I liked a challenge. Afterward, everyone wanted to go to Reg and Femi’s for pizza, but I remembered Emma.

“Sorry, guys, I gotta go do something. I’ll see you tomorrow though,” I called back, walking to my car quickly before I could be talked into staying. As I began backing out of the lot, a shadow passed behind me and I slammed on the breaks, hoping I didn’t hit something.

Calm down, Faith. It’s just nerves.

What had happened to Emma’s family never happened in White Oaks. It just didn’t. Maybe like a hundred years ago, but not nowadays. And especially not the gruesome details. Emma’s mom wasn’t just stabbed to death, but she was also r***d.

I shuddered again and finished backing out. The nights were still long but getting shorter week by week. Summer would arrive soon and then college. The same coil of anxiety hit me as it always did at the thought of moving away to a strange city in a strange state where I didn’t know anyone.

Focus on Emma. College was the least of her worries right now.

The drive was relatively short. As a fellow cheerleader, I knew Emma, but we’d never been friends. Emma had been the captain of the cheerleading team before her family’s death so of course, I’d been to her house before, but that was it. To be honest, even though it made me feel extremely guilty to think about it, Emma was a f*****g b***h.

There!

I’d been refraining from ill thoughts about her all the month, but damn if it wasn’t true. Emma was a mean girl, a bully, and a snob, and I couldn’t stand her. I let out a whoosh of breath and felt horrible again. God, just let me get through this and I’ll never think badly of anyone ever again. I parked the car on the street and got out, going around to the passenger side for the homework. I made sure to park under a streetlight and look around before starting up the walk to Emma’s.

I shivered and kept walking, clutching the books to my chest, and trying to remember everything I’d read or watched about rapists and murderers. Should I have put my hair up? Have a weapon out? Throwing away my facade of calm, I jogged up the million stairs to Emma’s front door and rang the bell.

No one answered for a minute, then I heard footsteps. No one said anything and I remembered that maybe she wasn’t okay with answering the door. “It’s just me. Faith. From cheerleading?”

Slowly, the lock clicked open and the door creaked. I wanted to gasp but managed to look down quickly instead. Emma, the most beautiful girl in school--in town, probably-- stood before me, gaunt and pale, hair dry and brittle. The dark circles under her eyes stood out even in the shadows of her foyer.

“Faith?” Her voice was small. 

“Yes, it’s me,” I answered quickly. “Mrs. Miller sent me with stuff from school. Can I come in?”

Immediately, her posture changed. “No. I don’t want that s**t. You can go now.” Her tone was the same old Emma and it grated on me.

Be patient, Faith, I told myself and forced a smile. “I’ll just leave it on the stoop.” I bent down to place the books and folders on a wicker chair that was covered in debris but didn’t get far. 

“I said I don’t want it. Now get the f**k away from my house,” she snarled, kicking everything I was holding in my hands across the doorstep. “Why would she send you anyway? I don’t even like you.”

“The feeling’s mutual,” I assured her, trying to keep my composure. Emma had been through a lot. Except this was typical Emma in form. “She sent me because your so-called friends are idiots who would probably leave it in their cars. She cares about you and wants you to graduate.”

Her face contorted in anger and pain. “You think I give a s**t about graduation? I don’t. And my so-called friends? They can go to hell and so can you.” She moved back into the darkness and slammed the door in my face.

I contemplated leaving all the books and papers right where she’d kicked them. I even moved toward the first step. But then I paused. For a moment, her face had looked so pained and tortured it made my heart clench. So I stopped and went back, stooping to pick everything up and place it neatly on the wicker chair. I looked around and found a rock heavy enough to hold everything down should it get windy and then I took one last look through a window. A shadowy figure moved away.

I quickly descended the steps and my feet hit the sidewalk. Glancing over to the side for just a second, my heart almost stopped. Once my brain realized there was no threat I gave a small laugh. “You scared the crap out of me.”

A boy about my age stood under the streetlight on the opposite side. I could only make out his blonde hair but as he started walking closer to me I could see more. He was … beautiful was the only word I could think of. Straight blonde hair that fell over his forehead, high cheekbones, piercing blue eyes...

Those eyes looked familiar. The shape and color. Had I met him before?

No, I decided when he stood in front of me, about six inches taller than I was, there was no way I’d forget a face like that. Though he looked seventeen or eighteen, maybe even twenty, the way he dressed was definitely vintage. With the dark sweater and dark slacks, he looked as though he’d raided his father’s closet. Still, on him it was sexy.

When he spoke, his voice was hoarse, as if from disuse. “I apologize. I heard yelling and stopped.”

Oh yeah. That. “That was Emma. She’s…” I hesitated, wanting to be kind. “Going through a really hard time right now.” I didn’t want to spread gossip even though everyone in town already knew what had happened, so I stopped at that.

“Yes,” he said softly, peering down into my face. “I heard about the murders that occurred here last month.”

I nodded. “It was awful.”

“Did you know them?”

“Not really. I mean, I was born here and Emma and I are on the cheer team together. Our paths cross outside of school from time to time, but I didn’t know her parents well.” They were snobby jerks too, was the thought I kept privately to myself. “I knew Emma’s little brother better. He was friends with my brother. He was a sweet kid.” I blinked back tears and straightened up. “And you are?”

“Excuse me?”

“I’ve never seen you around before. Small town.”

He gave the briefest hint of a smile. “And you know everyone, do you?”

I smiled. “I think I’d remember you. You have a very striking--look,” I finished.

“I do, do I? Well, you would be correct, Miss…?” He trailed off, raising his eyebrows in question.

“It’s Faith. Just Faith.”

“Faith. A very pretty name.”

His accent was one she couldn’t place.

“I’m not from around here. At least, not for a very long time. I’m visiting friends.”

I opened my mouth to ask who, but just then his head c****d as if he heard something. His eyes looked past me toward Emma’s house.

“Are you going back there?” he asked, still not looking at me.

What? “Oh, um… she really doesn’t want me there. You heard her. She just wants to be left alone and we weren’t even friends before all this.”

Now his gaze was back on me and I shivered. It was all seriousness now. And the blue that was so enchanting before was a darker color. More like a stormy ocean. “What she wants is her family back. And she’ll never get that. She needs a friend, someone who cares and can push her through this difficult period.”

“How do you know all that?” I asked flippantly, realizing too late my mistake when I saw the pain in his eyes.

“I too lost my family. A long time ago,” he confessed quietly. “Emma reminds me a bit of my sister. Strong-willed and opinionated.”

“Like a donkey,” I agreed under my breath, deciding not to mention the death of his family. We’d just met after all. I blew out a breath. “I guess I could try again tomorrow. But if you’ve ever been screamed at by Emma Fullerton you would know how brave I’m being.”

The strange boy gently guided me to my car. “I’m sure you’re very brave.”

Enough about Emma for a moment, I decided, pausing with her door open. “What’s your name, Mr…?”

He actually smiled then. It was quick but I caught it. “It’s Leo.” Before I could ask him anything else to figure out where he lived or worked so I could benignly stalk him, he turned away. “I’ll be seeing you around, Faith.”

Then he was gone.