Free Eternal Dawn by Rebecca Maizel Page A

loaded one. I found the target in the distance, the black bullseye, and focused. My hair, which was frozen now in thick cords
of ice, lifted off my shoulders. I had seen Rhode do this countless times. Raise your right elbow, find your target, shoot, hit, he had said. With a snap, I released the arrow. I did it again and
again.
Thump
,
thump
,
thump
– the arrows sailed through the air.
    It took me two hundred tries to hit the bullseye. After that, every single arrow went home. The stars travelled over the curve of the sky until it lightened from purple to pink. I hadn’t
been out for the sunrise in so long; it was more dangerous than the sun at midday. Dawn’s light could mean death for the inexperienced vampire. I pierced the bullseye again as a yellow light
broke over the rolling hills.
    ‘Is this where you’ve been?’ Rhode asked from behind me.
    I let an arrow fly.
Whap
– right into the centre.
    ‘Lenah, it will be sunrise in moments.’
    I bent over and picked up another arrow. Rhode grabbed my wrist and focused on the tips of my index and middle finger. A thick red indentation slit the skin; blood seeped through.
    ‘Lenah, stop.’
    He wrested the arrow from me and I flinched away from him.
    ‘I will not be controlled!’ I yelled. ‘You will not be the master of my life!’
    Rhode’s eyes flickered with worry.
    No, I did not want to do this to him. Immediately I wrapped my arms around him and held his face to mine. The faintest warmth pooled on the apple of my cheeks – a small heat rippled again
and again, until it dissipated away leaving an icy, familiar chill.
    ‘I’m so sorry,’ I said pulling back with a small shake of my head. ‘I went down to the river. And I could not feel it. I have lost, lost . . .’
    ‘The sense of touch,’ Rhode finished for me.
    I placed the bow on to the ground; my blood had stained the fibre. He took my hand into his.
    ‘I feared it for so long. And now it has come,’ I said.
    ‘You will always have me,’ Rhode said, and we started back up for the great stone manor in the distance. ‘I hope that gives you some comfort.’
    If I was human, the wound on my fingers would have throbbed and ached for weeks. By the time I assessed the cut, it was healed.
    ‘Will I ever stop feeling your warmth?’ I asked.
    Rhode did not answer.
    ‘Will I?’ I pressed, knowing that vampires who were in love could still feel the warmth of each other’s touch even when the rest of their body had gone cold.
    When we reached the house, Rhode led me into the darkened foyer and answered me with a kiss. A kiss I could not taste but that warmed my chest – a kiss that told me in one gentle gesture
what he could not utter aloud: one day I would no longer be able to feel his embrace.
    Present Day – Wickham
    ‘Are you coming?’ Rhode asked. He stood above my desk. ‘You don’t really want to stay in here, do you? Unless, of course, you’d like to draw some
more storm clouds.’
    I had doodled endless black bulbous clouds instead of taking notes.
    I collected my things and followed him to the hallway. He walked close to me as we headed out of class.
    ‘Are you all right?’ he asked.
    ‘Yes!’ I piped up, shaking away the memory of Hathersage. ‘I have a question though,’ I said. ‘You never told me what part of England you’re from.’ I
led with this to see how similar this Rhode was to the Rhode of his past.
    ‘Devon,’ Rhode replied.
    The old Rhode was also from Devon. Hope blossomed inside me. Maybe if he remembered this fact, he would remember some of our past too! We left Hopper and crossed the quad towards Turner, the
girls’ dorm.
    ‘And I heard, I hope you’ll forgive me for asking . . .’ I started to say, until Rhode jumped in before I could finish.
    ‘That I haven’t got any family. Yes it’s true.’
    We showed our IDs to the Turner security guard and entered the dorm.
    Some girls stopped mid-conversation as Rhode and I walked down the hallway to