“Look, sweet cheeks, you don’t have to let me down lightly, I can take it,” he continued as if he hadn’t heard what I just said.

“Potter, will you shut that mouth of yours for once and listen?” I screamed at him. “I love you!”

Then looking at me as if I had just punched him straight in his jaw, he said, “What did you just say?”

“I said, I love you. Even though you can be the most infuriating arsehole I’ve ever met, you smoke like a goddamn chimney, you’re arrogant, foul-mouthed, and -”

“Okay, so they are all my good points,” he cut in, “What don’t you like about me?”

“You scare me,” I whispered as he came close.

“I thought I explained that,” he said.

“No, it’s more than that,” I said, looking into his eyes. “There’s a darkness about you, but I’m drawn to it, even though I get the feeling that I’m going to get hurt. I can’t help myself.”

Then, pulling me against him, he said, “I won’t ever hurt you, tiger.”

Before I had a chance to say anything else, he had covered my lips with his and we were sinking onto the ground as the night sky shone orange and red from the lava that created its beautiful shapes below.

Chapter Sixteen

The warm air rising from the canyon kept our naked bodies warm. I fumbled for my iPod in the pocket of my overalls which lay strewn across the ground where Potter had thrown them.

Handing it to him, I said, “Find us a song.”

He took it from me and without saying anything, he scrolled down the list of songs. Then, placing it on the ground next to us, Wonderwall by Oasis started to play.

I lay on my back and looked up into the night sky. Plumes of lava sprayed up into the night like a fireworks display. Watching them create their magical shapes, I noticed what appeared to be two irregular-shaped moons shining brightly back at me.

Potter caught me staring at them and said, “They’re pretty cool, aren’t they?”

“Are they moons?” I asked him.

With his head tilted back, he spoke quietly as if he were in the presence of some great power. “We call them our moons, but in fact, they are two captured asteroids.”

“Asteroids?” I asked confused. “Don’t they belong in space?”

“It’s what we call them. I guess they are just two old rocks that float around up there and no one really knows why. Asteroids sound better than just boring old rocks!” Then pointing up into the sky with one long finger, he added, “We call that one Phobos and the other Deimos.”

“They’re incredible,” I agreed. “They are just as beautiful as the moon.”

Potter remained silent as he continued to stare up at the two bright asteroids, or rocks, that bathed us in their milky light.

I thought about above ground and realised I had never looked at it in the same way I looked at The Hollows with its two moons. Perhaps I had taken my own home for granted. Perhaps it was as beautiful as The Hollows, but I had just never truly appreciated it.

“Above ground is beautiful too,” I sighed thoughtfully, as the music continued to play.

Potter rolled onto his side, and brushing my hair from my face, he traced his fingers down the length of my neck, over my breasts, and laid his hand gently across the flat of my stomach. I looked at him and smiled, then stared again up at Phobos and Deimos again.

“Where do we go from here?” I whispered.

“Ask Coanda, he’s the man with the plan,” Potter said.

“I didn’t mean that,” I smiled back at him.

“What did you mean, sweet cheeks?” he muttered as he lightly kissed my neck, making my skin tingle.

Taking his hand from my stomach, my heart beginning to race, I asked, “Are you Elias Munn?”

“What?” Potter stammered, his eyes widening. “This is some kind of joke, right?”

“No joke,” I said, staring back at him.

“Why would you even think that?” he asked, sounding more confused than angry.

“Elias Munn killed his lover by ripping her heart out,” I told him.

“So?” Potter said, staring back at me, his eyes so black I could see the lava that was shooting up into the sky reflecting back in them.

“That’s how you killed Eloisa,” I whispered, breaking his stare.

“And that’s how Phillips killed Murphy,” Potter reminded me. “Perhaps he’s this Elias Munn. Ever thought about that?”

“No,” I whispered.

Pulling me close to him, he held me in his arms and said, “Kiera, I don’t know where or how you got this crazy idea into your head, but I’m not him. I promise.”

Then, looking up into his face, I whispered, “I’m scared, Potter.”

“Why? I’ll keep you safe,” he tried to assure me.

“I don’t need looking after,” I told him softly. “I’m scared of this decision I’ve got to make. If I choose the Vampyrus to live, then the humans die and I can’t do that. But if I choose them over the Vampyrus, then you die.”

“Listen to me, Kiera, Ravenwood was just a crazy old man,” he said. “Wait until we get to the Elders, they will tell you what the truth is.”

“But it’s not just Ravenwood’s letter that spoke of this choice I have to make,” I said. “There was someone else too.”

“Who?”

“Coanda,” I told him.

“Coanda is full of shit!” Potter groaned. “The guy thinks he’s a freaking legend. Yesterday was the first time I met the guy, but I’ve heard the stories about him. He thinks he’s the Evel Knievel of the skies!”

“But he’s built this resistance…” I started.

“Resistance my arse!” Potter spat. “That’s not a resistance - that’s a bunch of fucking groupies! He’s probably screwed half of them! The guy is an arrogant, womanizing, Biggles-wannabe. Don’t listen to him.”

“But…” I started, then stopped.

“But what?” Potter pushed.

“It’s nothing,” I said, looking away.

“Tell me, Kiera,” Potter insisted. “What has he said? Or more importantly, what has he got planned?”

“He told me not to tell anyone,” I told him.

“Where is he leading us?” Potter asked, his voice full of concern. “Kiera, listen to me, that guy has pulled so many crazy stunts in his time, he could have his own series of ‘Jackass’. He could be leading us into a whole heap of shit!”

Turning to look at him, I said, “I promised him I wouldn’t say anything, for Kayla’s sake.”

“Kayla!” Potter barked. “What has she got to do with this?”

“I can’t…he told me not to trust anyone,” I whispered.

“But it’s okay to trust him?” Potter hissed. “That’s rich coming from the guy who is so far up his own fucking arse he thinks he’s one of the Wright Brothers! He’s more like one of the Marx Brothers! The guy’s a clown!”

I looked at Potter and he stared back.

“If you love me, Kiera, you will trust me,” he pushed.

“He’s taking us to the Light House,” I whispered, fearing that someone other than us might hear.

“The Light House!” Potter almost choked.

“Shhh!” I hissed, and glanced back over my shoulder.

“Are you taking the piss?” he asked in disbelief.

“No, that’s where Coanda is leading us,” I said.

“Kiera, this isn’t like any ordinary lighthouse,” he cried. “It’s not tall and white, with a pretty-looking light on top and it isn’t set on the shores of some beautiful coastline.”

“What is this Light House like, then?” I snapped back.

“Your worst fucking nightmare, that’s what it’s like!” he hissed.

“I don’t know so much, I’ve had some pretty intense nightmares lately,” I told him.

“The Light House is a needle of rock that towers out of the ground.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” I told him.

“When I say that it towers out of the ground,” Potter said, “It juts out of the Earth’s core! Coanda must be smoking crack if he thinks we can go to the Light House.”

“Why?”

“We call that splinter of rock the Light House, because it reflects the light from the centre of the Earth, which, if you didn’t know already, is a hideous, raging, inferno. The tower is unstable and floats on a whirlpool of burning, molten lava, and as it turns, it showers its light across The Hollows, creating day and night.”

“Coanda explained that part to me,” I told him.

“That was big of him,” Potter scowled. “So, where does Kayla fit into all of this?”

“Coanda knows that she has heightened hearing,” I explained, “So he wants to get as close enough to the Light House as possible.”

“Why? What the fuck is he hoping to hear?”

“That’s where Elias Munn is going to coordinate his above ground attack from,” I told him. “He’s going to send his orders by echo-waves via the light radiated from the Light House.”

“So what’s he planning to do, even if Kayla does hear some gem of intelligence?” Potter asked, sounding unconvinced.

“It will give him and the resistance a chance to outwit Elias Munn,” I said.

“That is the craziest idea I’ve heard,” Potter groaned. “It’s not even an idea, its suicide and I’m not going to be a part of it and neither are you.”

“Please,” I said, “We’ve got to go along with it. Otherwise, Coanda will know that I’ve told you.”

“But it could be a trap,” Potter warned me. “Where did he get this information from?”