Free Blood Awakening by Jamie Manning Page A

get better, that it would be easier to manage as time went on, but I really had no right to say any of that. I technically wasn’t a vampire, so who was I to tell him anything? This should’ve been Aldric’s job, helping Chance navigate his way through his new existence. Just one more reason I didn’t like my Creator.
    When school let out for the day, I found myself hanging around outside the gym, waiting for Chance like nothing had changed. Like he was going to come bouncing outside and throw his arm around me, and the two of us would skip off to his truck and live happily ever after. Just as I realized how moronic I was being and turned to leave, the double doors of the gymnasium flew open and Chance came out, exhaling a pent-up breath.
    “That bad?” I asked, trying not to look like I had been stalking him.
    “Yeah.”
    “Well, the day’s over. You made it. That has to count for something.”
    “I guess.” He looked around—I’m guessing for an escape from the awkward tension between us—before lowering his voice and adding, “I’m so hungry. I don’t know how much longer I can go without feeding.”
    His words—and the crazed look in his eyes—were unsettling. Practically from the moment he lifted me out of that coffin all those months ago, Chance had been very forthcoming about his hatred for vampires and their assault on humanity. Seeing him suddenly comfortable with everything was almost too much to bear. I shook off the shivers trying to climb my back. “What did Aldric say to do?” Aldric’s name left a bitter taste in my mouth—one that I wanted to wash away with soap…or acid.
    “He has bags at home, but they’re not cutting it.” The thought of Chance sitting down to watch an episode of The Walking Dead (his fave show, though I have no clue why) with a couple bags of O negative on a plate brought the shivers back. They crawled along my skin as I fought the urge to gag. Which made no sense, seeing as how I drank blood, too; though I was getting the feeling that Chance enjoyed the experience much more than me.
    “You want me to drive you?”
    Sure, Ava. He wants the girl who turned him into a blood-drinking corpse to take him home. Fun times.
    That voice again. Sometimes I hated me.
    “I’ll be fine.” Three little words that hid many more: “I don’t want you around me”; “You’re the last person I want to drive me anywhere”; “Stay away from me, you murderer”; I could almost hear him saying those things—or at least thinking them.
    “Okay,” I said, defeated. I tugged tightly on my backpack, already dreading what was coming. “See you tomorrow.” I offered a shy smile and walked away from him, from the guy I loved—by far one of the most difficult things I had done since waking up half dead. Somewhere in the back of my mind, a tiny voice was telling me that it was for the final time, and a twitch in my heart was agreeing. I had fought a coven of vampires, trained with one of the oldest and most powerful monsters in the world, and even survived high school. And yet, turning my back on Chance was near impossible to do.
    “Ava?” Chance’s voice behind me, close. I stopped and turned to find him trotting to catch up to me. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m being an ass, I know it.” He was looking down at his feet, which were busy scooting loose rocks back and forth across the pavement.
    “No, I’m sorry,” I said, fighting back tears. “For all of this.”
    “You don’t have to be.” He looked up and at me—really at me—and moved closer. So close that had he still been alive, I would have gotten a blast of the electric heat that used to permeate off of him. “You didn’t do this.”
    “I did.” I suddenly couldn’t look him in the eye, focusing instead on the gym wall behind him. “I made him do it, Chance. I made Aldric turn you into a vampire.” His body shifted slightly; he was clearly still uncomfortable with the word. Probably more so,