Free Silver Mortal (The Gracen Chronicles) by Jenna Kay Page B

too.”
    “Sorry for getting beat up,” he says softly.
    I bite back tears. “You have nothing to be sorry about. It wasn't your fault.”
    “I can't remember...how did you get me home?”
    “Someone helped me.” Two single tears burn down my cheeks. I want to tell him everything, and I also want to tell him he needs to forget all about me, but I hold back. I begin to walk when his voice once again halts my steps.
    “Gracen?”
    “Yeah Mark?”
    “Goodnight.”
    I wipe the tears off my cheeks.
    “Goodbye, Mark,” I tell him in a whisper, then as fast as possible I run through the open sliding glass doors and jump over to the next building. And then the next, and the next, and the next...
    I run all the way home, jumping on top of every building that's in my way, crying the whole time. And with each roof I touch down on my mind spits out one simple truth:
    Happiness just wasn't in the cards of life for a Silver Mortal like me.
    69

 
    Silver Mortal
     
     
     
     
     
     
    chapter 6
     
     
    Arriving home I open the door, slamming the crap out of it and rattling all the frames hanging on the wall. I throw my purse across the room and it hits the wall hard, all the contents spilling out, falling to the floor. To say the very least I'm ticked , and having rage issues does little to help the situation. Mom would still be out hunting demons so I would have to calm myself down. Alone. I stomp my feet against the hard wood floor leading to my bedroom, ready to sulk in the privacy of my own space. When Jude calls my name from the living room I know that my little pity party would have to wait.
    “Gracen!” Jude calls out. “How did your date go? Was it spicy ?”
    With a loud groan I turn around and walk into the living room, pouting the whole way. Plopping down on the nearest loveseat I release a long, drawn-out sigh.
    “That bad, huh?” Jude remarks, his eyebrows raised.
    “Yeah, it sucked. It was horrible, key word painful .” I know my reply is woeful, and I hate that is, but...I'm having a moment. An extremely pitiful one.
    He takes his glasses off, looking at me through tired green eyes, one blackened due to the other night's vamp demon venture.
    “What happened? Did he put the moves on you?”
    “The moves ?” I laugh loudly. “When were you born, the forties?”
    “What I meant to say,” he retorts, rolling his eyes, “is did he try to get in your pants and feel your naughty parts?”
    “That's more like it,” I tell him with a nod. “Only no, he didn't try anything like that. He was the perfect gentleman, one of the nicest guys I've ever talked to. I was actually thinking of having another date with him. The date was going good and he was about to kiss me when...”
    I can't finish my sentence. Tears began to build in my eyes, the levy holding them in threatening to break. I didn't want to cry anymore, especially since I'd bawled like an infant a good twenty minutes on the way home, which bothered the hell out of me.
    I, Gracen Potts, was not a crier—until tonight, that is.
    “What happened? You know you can tell me.” Jude leans forward in the recliner, his elbows resting atop his thighs and hands clasped together.
    Looking down at my own entwined hands, then back at him I reply, “Everything was fine until some drunk dudes showed up and beat the living hell out of him.”
    His eyes widen and he lets out a whistle. “Whoa, that does suck.”
    “Yes indeedy- freaking -do it does,” I agree, shaking my head with remorse. “I don't know what I was thinking! Going on a date and being who I am, thinking everything would be alright—I blame Bets for all this. For getting my hopes up and all. If she hadn't made the date for me then Mark wouldn't have gotten beat up and I wouldn't be feeling so sorry for myself!”
    “Hey, that's enough ranting, drama queen,” Jude scolds, throwing a hand in the air.
    I narrow my eyes and scowl. “I have every reason in the world to bring the drama right