Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 499(@200wpm)___ 399(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99700 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 499(@200wpm)___ 399(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
“Oh, sorry. Do you have to be at uni?” she asked, suddenly worried that she’d pulled him away from something important.
Really, she should have just made an excuse and gone her separate way from him back at the house. There was no telling what Dante might be up to – what she might need to protect Victor from.
She hadn’t been thinking straight, clearly.
Though, the larger part of her thought she simply wanted him there. With her. Especially when potentially uncovering something upsetting.
“No. No, I’m done for the day. I was just going to do the washing. This will be more fun than that.”
Eventually, Dante got off the train.
“Hampstead,” Victor said as they made their way through the station, following Dante at a safe distance as he made his way out onto the busy streets.
Pandora ignored the sideways looks from passersby as she walked under her umbrella.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been out this way,” Victor said as they moved from the busy city streets toward a more residential lane, the leaves crunching under their feet as they walked. “But … there’s not much out here now, is there? Now that we’re past the shops?”
“Not really,” Pandora said, watching Dante pause to pet a passing golden retriever before continuing on.
“Maybe he has a mate out this way. Or a girlfriend.”
Pandora hadn’t even considered that possibility.
It would make things make sense, wouldn’t it? If he’d perhaps got himself a human girlfriend. Why he was out all day and stayed holed up in his room all night. Why he was so supportive of her fake relationship with Victor.
“Maybe.”
But as they turned down the road that went from residential to rural, she was pretty sure that wasn’t the case either.
It wasn’t until she saw Dante take a turn into a car park that she realized where he was heading.
“Is he going to the pond?” Victor asked, looking over at Pandora for confirmation.
“Seems like it.”
What the heck was he up to?
“Meeting with some friends?” Victor asked, suddenly sounding more hesitant, like he felt bad for following Dante if he was doing something so casual.
“I understand if you don’t want to go any further,” Pandora said. “But I’m already this far. I want to see what he’s doing.”
She couldn’t tell him it was because this wasn’t normal behavior. That he shouldn’t be out in the daytime at all, let alone out by the pond where the sun was even stronger.
“How about we take a stroll around the lake?” Victor said. “If you want to confront Dante, I will just hang back.”
She gave him a grateful smile. “Sounds like a plan.”
If they’d been there for any other reason, Pandora might have soaked up the moment. The riot of colours of the leaves on the ground. The scent of the fresh earth. The way the water rippled gently with the breeze as it picked up.
And, of course, sharing that with Victor.
But she was too busy searching for Dante.
She was about ready to give up when she suddenly saw him emerge from the lifeguard station.
Wearing the typical red-and-yellow lifeguard colours. Only, he had sports leggings on and a jacket. As well as a massively wide-brimmed hat.
In short, he looked outright ridiculous.
But he was clearly there with a purpose.
Being a lifeguard.
“Um, can you give me a few minutes?” Pandora asked.
“Sure,” Victor said. “Got some books in here.” He patted his backpack. “Take your time. I’ll be right here.”
As if to cement his point, he pulled out a book and sat down on the ground. He seemed engrossed in his reading before Pandora had even started to walk away.
Weeks of the weight of her concern fell away with each step, replaced with absolute confusion.
But before she could even come up with any plausible explanations, Dante spotted her, his face going from shock to anger in a blink.
Then he was rushing toward her, making her anxiety shoot up when she noticed that, in his anger, he was moving at vampire, not human, speed.
A quick glance around, though, showed no one really noticed. It wasn’t exactly swimming season for most people, so the pond wasn’t as busy as it would have typically been a month or two before.
“Pandy, what the hell are you doing here?” Dante asked, grabbing her around the upper arm and dragging her off the path and into the woods.
It wasn’t until they were out of sight that he released her. “Did you really follow me?” he asked.
“You’ve been off for weeks. Months, maybe,” Pandora said. “I’ve been worried about you, but anytime I try to bring it up, you change the topic. You’re out all day, then holed up in your room all night. But you aren’t getting any sleep, judging by the bags under your eyes. You look … unwell.”
It was then that she realized just how true that was.