Free Mirror: Book One of the Valkanas Clan by Noelle Ryan Page A

still don’t understand to this day—perhaps my urge to avoid pain was simply greater than my urge not to sound insane—I decided I might as well tell David what happened. I described the entire experience while staring out the car window, afraid of the disgust or anger I might see in his eyes if I faced him. When I finished, we were both silent for a moment. Then he began crying.
    I spun to face him, reaching out with one hand but as afraid to touch him as I’d been to look at him a moment before. “Oh David, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. I knew I shouldn’t have, and I don’t know why I did. I’m so sorry to bring up those painful memories again—”
    “No,” he said. “You don’t understand. Earlier today I was alone in my room, pleading with Michael to send me some sort of sign about what had happened to him. It’s been tearing me up for months, wondering if there was something I could have done, something I didn’t see…”
    Now it was his turn to avoid my gaze, and he stared out the window at the lessening rain.
    “Thank you,” he said after a few more moments of silence.
    Once I realized I was no longer in danger of getting soaked through, and that there was nothing else to say, I climbed out of the car and went inside. My trip to Santa Fe ended a few weeks later, and David and I never spoke of that night again. I never knew if he’d told Joseph, or his parents, or if he’d simply dismissed it the next day as hopeful insanity and buried it in his memory, as I did.
    As if she’d been waiting for me to finish my little trip down memory lane, the voice continued . Unfortunately for you, David got drunk a few months ago and confessed it to his fiancée, who then told her friends—one of whom happened to consort with vampires, including a particularly nasty one named Cesar who had been hunting psychic humans for years. Damian is trustworthy. Bewildering sometimes, but trustworthy. I heard a whisper of a chuckle
    The tension in my stomach began to relax, and I gripped at my abdomen.
    Wait—but what should I do? How am I supposed to handle all this? What do I tell Ava? Or Tom?
    The chuckle was fainter this time, as was the voice that followed it. That’s quite a list of questions for a “delusion.” I just didn’t wish you to dwell needlessly on whether you could trust Damian—I can’t tell you what to do with that information, much less how to handle anyone else in your life. Though I will tell you this—if Tom is half as delightful as Damian was, you’d be a fool to pass him by. And then the feelings, and Dorothy’s voice, were gone, leaving me curled on my side, alone.

Eight
     
    Okay, so I was a clairsentient vampire who could talk to her snarky dead great-grandmother. And I was protected by said great-grandmother’s former vampire lover and his minions, one of whom wanted to date me, from various other vampires who wanted to suck me dry. Literally. No biggie, I tried to convince myself, you’ve handled worse, right? Now if only I could silence that niggling thought that was loudly countering no, as a matter of fact, you have not handled worse.  
    Fortunately, that voice got terribly distracted by the sudden knowledge that Damian was about to call me. I took a few deep breaths, finding the action soothing even though the air was no longer strictly necessary for anything besides speech. Then I stood up and retrieved my phone, answering it just before it began to ring.
    “Yes Damian?”
    “Ah good, you’re awake" he said. "Listen, our…guest…last night revealed who is so intent on draining you, a vampire named Cesar.” I decided not to tell Damian I already knew this. “It seems he isn’t interested in stopping even though he knows you’ve already been turned, and I’ve been unofficially authorized to take action against him as a result. Not that I wouldn’t have anyway, but having the added support makes this all so much more entertaining.” He chuckled in