Lights and sounds poked through Kate’s consciousness. One by one she began to feel certain body parts regain function. She tried her eyelids, but they still weren’t ready. She instead tried to listen to the noise around her.

“She should wake up soon.”

“She was just so exhausted.”

“She’ll want to see him when she’s awake.”

“He can wait.”

“I’m not sure he can. The went through this together, Cain. They deserve to have each other for support.”

Kate regained better sensation in her fingers when she heard a woman address her father by his first name. Slowly but surely, her eyelids fluttered and she searched the ceiling above her for familiar faces.

She saw Trevor’s mother, and a man standing above her. His mother smiled down at her with a relieved expression and the man just stared with great curiosity.

“Trevor?” The last thing she remembered of Trevor was him lying on the ground, almost lifeless. “Is he okay?”

His mother smiled sadly. “He’s going to be fine. I think he’s a little more worried about…Well, I’ll let you talk to him when you’re ready.”

“I’m ready.”

She chuckled. “In a few minutes, Kate. Don’t overdo it.”

The man continued to stare. She assumed it was his father. There was a vague resemblance between them. She wondered silently where her father was, she had definitely heard him before. She slowly sat up and took in her surroundings. She was in her room. Her father was standing uncomfortably in the corner.

She tested her ability to move her toes and such, and once she felt like her balance was good enough, she stepped out of bed.

Trevor’s mother and father stood around her, ready to catch her if she fell. But she didn’t, she walked carefully to the door and opened it, listening for Trevor’s heartbeat. She followed it over to the guestroom, two doors down from her own room.

She opened the door and walked inside.

Trevor was awake, staring at the ceiling. He didn’t move or look at her as she walked in. She sat next to him on the bed. “Trevor? Are you okay?”

A rush of emotion overwhelmed her and the tears took her by surprise.

“You know I didn’t mean what I said, right? You know that I love you, Trevor. I love you so much. I was lying. You know that, right?” Her voice was a pathetic attempt at “well put together”.

Trevor didn’t move or stir. He only blinked occasionally.

But she saw tears

“I’m so sorry Trevor.” She gave up the composed act and threw her head onto his chest. She wailed and wailed until she felt his chest quiver. She felt a hand rest on her hair. This only made her cry more.

“Please forgive me!” Her words were unintelligible, but she repeated them multiple times.

“Kate.” He whispered her name with a voice thick from tears.

She looked up and stared into his eyes.

“I was so worried you’d be angry at me.” He admitted. “I lied to you. I knew who the darkness was.”

The truth still did not sway Kate from her position, and she wasn’t even concerned with it. “But I lied to you! I pretended to hate you, Trevor! How could you forgive that??”

“Because you did it for me Kate. You sacrificed your own feelings to save me from being brutally killed by a vampire with extraordinary abilities. That right there shows how much you love me.”

Kate relaxed, but only a little. She laid her head down on his chest and hugged him. He brushed her hair back gently with his fingers, and for awhile they forgot about the whole situation.

awhile they forgot about the whole situation.

Kate broke the comfortable silence. “So what were his abilities?”

Trevor took a deep breath under her and let it out slowly. “He could manipulate thoughts. That’s how he influenced our dreams and that’s how we didn’t even notice he went to school with us. Until last month when he allowed me to see him for what he was. He told me what he wanted and he said if I could give it to him, he’d reward me heavily.”

“He wanted me?”

Trevor pursed his lips, then continued. “He wanted me to bring you to him. The day I was watching you in the hallway, I was thinking about how I could do it. But over the next days, I realized I couldn’t. You were too special for the kind of things he wanted you for.”

Kate’s mouth was open at all the things being revealed.

“So you knew all along he’d come after me?” She started to feel a hint of betrayal.

“No. I thought he’d given up. Until the dream about the Darkness came. That’s when I knew.”

Kate exhaled painfully. The lump in her throat tightened around her vocal cords.

“That’s not even the worst part, Kate.”

Kate shook her head. “What else could be worse?”

“Your father was the one who promised you to him.”