“Two days ago, Josh and Cole, well, they kidnapped Meg and me. Tristan …” Amelia stopped short, sorting through her thoughts and trying to pick what was relevant to the story. She still wasn’t entirely sure how Tristan fell into all this. When she continued, she dropped her gaze and began to fidget, wrapping a curl around her finger. “Josh used my power against me. He had thought that if he broke the bond, then everything would go back to before I placed the curse that took away the vamps’ souls. It didn’t work.”

“What are you trying to say?” one of them asked, and Amelia looked back up, trying to pinpoint who had spoken. All twenty-two of them sat in a semi-circle around her on the floor, staring at her with lost and confused eyes.

Amelia took a deep breath and counted to ten, bracing herself, and then she whispered, “Right now all of our soulmates are running around town without a soul, without any ties to humanity.”

The silence was loud, and Amelia felt as if an orchestra was playing in her ears as she watched everyone process her story. There were many blank faces, and a few nods of understanding, but there was one thing that Amelia saw that was the same for all of them. Emptiness. It was as if someone had come in and sucked out all of their insides, leaving only a shell behind.

“Where’s Lucy?” Zooey asked, breaking the silence.

“Erin changed her,” Amelia answered. “She’ll be okay.”

“You saw her?”

Amelia nodded. “Yes, I saw them all this morning. I went to the fair with the hunters. The vamps were there hunting. Mitchell …” she paused, biting back a sudden urge to let the building tears loose. She took a few deep breaths and pushed on, knowing that they all needed to hear this, and she was determined not to keep anything back. “He could have killed me. He used persuasion on me, and I walked right into his arms, but he let me go. He told me to run. He’s still in there, and I’m going to fix this, guys. I’ll figure it out and get them back. But right now, we all need to be careful. They remember us. I saw it with Mitch today, and Eric has shown signs of it with Megan, but that memory … I just don’t know how long it will last. Mitch … it was like he thought he owned me, as if I was a pet or a toy for his amusement.”

When Amelia finished, the glazed eyes and dampened cheeks of her audience didn’t go unnoticed. She wanted to cry with them, but before the flood could start, she rushed on. She had to be strong, for them, for Mitchell, for her family. “Josh, well, he had an idea,” she continued hesitantly. “I could try and just give our soulmates their souls back and get rid of the bond altogether.”

“What?” Zooey yelped, and jumped up to her feet. “You can’t do that! You can’t just take them away from us!” Tears streamed down her face in a heavy waterfall.

Amelia was stunned. She hadn’t expected that, not from one of the human soulmates. With all the pain the bond could cause, she had really thought that they would have at least considered the idea. “Zooey, it wouldn’t take them away,” Amelia said. “Greg would still be yours. You just wouldn’t have the bond or the pain.”

“But I love the bond,” Xara said. She got up and wrapped her arms around Zooey, who was crying uncontrollably, gasping and sobbing. She looked at Amelia with Zooey huddled under her arm, and a dreamy far off look clouded her face. “The connection … it’s amazing. The feelings, the love, the passion, it’s … it’s … like sunshine.” Her cheeks flushed, and she sneered. “You can’t just take that away. I thought you cared.”

Amelia dropped her head back down, unable to look at them, and she suddenly felt sick. “I do care,” she whispered. Could she really be the only one who would consider life without the bond? She fought away the guilt and pushed aside pain, and she blurted, “Look, I have to go, but you guys need to stay inside. Lock the doors and don’t open them for anyone. Not even your soulmates. I’ll fix this, guys. I promise.”

It didn’t take much convincing for them to stay put. They decided they wanted to stay together, and Amelia spelled the house. Again, she was taken aback at how well everyone was just accepting this news. The townspeople didn’t seem surprised by the lockdown; the soulmates believed everything. It made Amelia wonder how many disasters had happened in this town before she came. Whether it was their willingness to accept it or that they had already been through a few of these calamities, their togetherness gave Amelia strength, but more importantly, it gave her hope. Warm and lustrous hope.

The hope died fast.

Back at home, Amelia looked around the crammed kitchen. Clearly, their house had turned into the official headquarters, a sanctuary for their side of the battle, even if she didn’t really know what their side was, especially with the random sparks of something, that Amelia thought resembled humanity, showing up in the vamps.

The house was in a state of havoc. And if the house was like this, what about the rest of the town and the rest of the world? Amelia wasn’t naive enough to think that the vampires weren’t hunting. They had seen the evidence on TV, and she knew that had been their plan at the fair. She had only counted thirteen then, fourteen including Mitchell, and she knew that the town held a little more than twice as many. They were everywhere, and right now, they were most likely killing recklessly, without so much as a thought for their victims. Or at least they would be sooner or later; she was sure of it.

In the kitchen, the tension was crushing. Tyler and Megan refused to work with Josh and Cole, not that Amelia blamed them since their only solution to the problem so far was killing the vamps. From what Sally had told her, Cole had made it clear that he planned to start with Eric. The unexplained burn marks, which shimmered slightly with the telltale signs of magic that dotted Cole’s shirt, showed Amelia exactly how Megan had handled his remarks.

Amelia glared at the four of them through narrowed eyes, with her hands on her hips. She guessed that her expression projected every bit of the anger she was feeling, because in seconds, the kitchen emptied, leaving Megan, Tyler, Josh, and Cole looking guilty, ashamed, and more than a little nervous.

“What the hell is wrong with you guys?” Amelia asked; her voice was thin but controlled.

Tyler shrugged his shoulders with a lazy lift, Megan’s jaw twitched, and Josh kept his eyes on the floor, studying the dark marble tiles with so much concentration, that Amelia figured he was counting the speckles.

“Josh, give her the note,” Tyler said, leaning against the island.

“What note?” she asked with a huff.

Josh didn’t look up from his floor inspection. “I don’t know what he’s talking about,” he grunted.

Tyler folded his arms over his puffed out chest and glared. “Just give it to her.” There was a smirk forming on his lips that Amelia knew well. It was the you’re in so much shit smirk that usually surfaced when Eric did something completely retarded.

“There’s no note,” Josh snapped, and then he smiled at Amelia. Cole chuckled, clearly enjoying Josh’s unease, or maybe it was the huge, flashing question mark that Amelia was certain was on her forehead. She glanced at Megan, who looked just as confused. Amelia didn’t say anything. There was something about Josh’s quick answers and snappy tone that made the hair on the back of her neck prickle and stand on end. She stuck out her right hand, palm up, and waited, tapping her foot on the floor impatiently.

Josh glanced at her hand quickly and then began to fidget, shuffling from one foot to the other. “It’s nothing, will you just drop it?”

“Give her the paper, man,” Tyler snickered, and stifled a laugh.

“Amelia,” Josh said, his voice pitched, and his eyes pleaded.

Amelia narrowed her eyes further. Clearly, he was hiding something. And by the look of him, it was something that he desperately didn’t want her to know. She racked her brain, trying to figure it out. Josh paled and grumbled something, and Amelia held her glare, gritting her teeth. After a second, he shoved his hand in his pocket, producing the wadded up ball of paper, placing it in the center of her palm. She unfolded it, flattened out the creases, and began to read.

Amelia,

You need to leave this town. Run away and never look back. I have tasted your blood, and I fear the next time we meet, you will not survive it. I know you are probably wondering why I care, but that is a question I cannot answer. All I know is I am drawn to you and that you must fear me.

I will give you a head start, but remember, I am a predator. I will track you and find you. So I beg you, never stop running.

Mitchell Lang

Amelia gasped and read it again. She looked up at Josh, hardly seeing him, and asked, “Where did you get this?”

Josh didn’t answer. Instead, he backed up, moving away from the people who were gathering around them, and Amelia followed, pacing after him. Heat built and flooded her cheeks, and she balled her fists. He went straight for the study, and ushered everyone in.

“He found it on your Jeep,” Tyler said, strolling over to the desk chair and sitting down. He leaned back, propping his feet on the desk and putting his hands behind his head.

“What is it?” Megan asked, once the door was shut and they were out of earshot from all the curious people that had been watching. When Amelia didn’t answer, she pried the page out of her hands and started to read it. When she was finished, she folded it up and said, “We need to help him,” with a matter-of-fact tone.

“No we don’t,” Josh replied, his eyes fogging with an eerie florescent haze.

“They aren’t going to stop, Josh! He can’t stop. I have to help him!” Amelia’s voice was rising, tinting with panic, and emotions swirled through her like a tornado touching down and slashing through her chest. Even without a soul, Mitchell was still trying to help her—protect her.

“You mean kill him,” Josh growled, and then he drew his lips into a thin white line as his jaw twitched.

“No, she means help him.” Tyler noticed Amelia rock on her feet, and he jumped up and rushed to her, putting an arm around her shoulder and squeezed her tightly.