Dinner had been a disaster for everyone except Mr and Mrs. Clifton who were wrapping up the evening with a glass of wine on the couch. They played a random show on the TV and held each other close. Lola stood in the hallway, watching as they gazed into each other's eyes and gently caressed each other lovingly.
Mr. Cilfton grabbed his wife's chin and attacked her with several pecks on her lips as she laughed.
"Jealous?" Lola spun on her feet and looked at Ash.
"No," she said but she was. The ever-growing longing for a love like that was evident in the twinkle in her eyes.
Ever since she met Jax it was as though something awoke inside of her. Something she didn't think would ever come.
The prospect of a future with a loving man who wanted her.
Ash could see the lies spread on her face but he let it go.
"Margret is gone, I'm going to head home. Are you sure you're not coming?" He asked her.
Lola nodded and clasped her hands in her front.
"Yes. Thank you for coming tonight," she smiled. Whatever she thought of him, she couldn't neglect that this gesture was one of his good ones.
"Anytime." Ash looked at the Cliftons on the couch, sipping wine and cuddling as they watched TV.
"For your own good, don't tell them the truth. Lie if you have to. I promise that the pain of losing them will be much worse than temporary guilt." He said. Lola slowly turned her head and they locked eyes. "I won't." She promised.
"Goodbye," Ash said and left. Lola stopped him on his way out.
"Can you tell Jax to call me?" Ash stiffened, his shoulders rose, and slowly turned with a nod of his head.
"I will. I'll see you tomorrow." The door closed and Lola turned around. Melissa stood behind her with a quizzical look on her face, staring at the door.
"Why was he being weird?" She asked before waving off her question. "No, why was he being nice?" She grimaced and whispered the question so her parents wouldn't hear them.
"Melissa, sweetheart?" Melissa poked her head into the living room.
"Yes, mom?"
"Are you girls going to bed?" Melissa and Lola looked at each other and shrugged.
"Yeah, I think so, why?" Mrs. Clifton edged up on the couch and turned her head in an unnatural pose to see them.
"There are cookies in the fridge. Why don't you make yourselves some tea and grab the cookies before bed," Lola's heart grew both warm and aching.
"Thanks, mom," Melissa said and grabbed Lola's hand.
They had made tea and brought the cups to Melissa's room.
"Seriously, why does that woman hate you so much?" Melissa asked, referring to dinner with Mrs. Blackwood.
"She has since day one, I don't know why. Maybe it's because she's a rich socialite who thinks everyone's beneath her."Lola said. Melissa shrugged her shoulders.
"Maybe but it doesn't make any sense why she would target you like this." Her voice deepened.
"There's something more. She's digging into your past and trying to find out what you are. You have to make her stop before she finds out." Melissa said.
Lola dismissed the idea that Mrs. Blackwood would actually do something with the information if she ever got it.
"Lola, she hates your guts. What do you think will happen when she finds out that she can profit of off you?"
"Profit?" Lola asked.
"You can see yourself like a valuable piece of art. Whoever has you, whatever they think of you, will always see your value and act accordingly. Without the emotional attachment, there is no saying what she will do. A really expensive piece of art is sold to the highest bidder, not to the person who loves the piece." Melissa explained.
Lola remembered her father running into the house to collect the money he'd gotten from selling her.
She was a piece of art and her family sold her to the highest bidder. Her family, people who didn't hate her. Melissa was right, if given the chance there was no saying how far Mrs. Blackwood would go to profit from her.
"I'm sorry, that was harsh but I'm just-"
"No, you're right. You're...you're very right about everything." Lola said and smiled somberly.
Melissa's brows furrowed as she sat down cross-legged on the bed.
"Why didn't Jax come tonight?" She asked. Lola sighed and dragged her hands over her face.
"Jax was busy so he sent his cousin." She said and scoffed.
Melissa tapped her fingers on the big cup, even with two hands her fingers didn't reach all the way around.
She pouted her lips and pulled her shoulders up. "Maybe we should find out what it is he's been working so hard on." She said.
Lola shook her head and raised her finger.
"No, we won't dig around in that." Melissa dropped her hand and looked with exhaustion at her friend.
"Don't you think it's a little double standard how you have to share everything with him but he gets to keep secrets? What if it's about you- did you ever think about that?" Lola knew that Melissa had a point in her argument.
The door to the bedroom opened up and Mrs. Clifton stood with tears in her eyes. She held her phone in her hand and her face grew pale.
"Mom, what's wrong?" Melissa said jumping off the bed.
"Clarissa Adams, Professor Adam's daughter, was killed the day of the gas leak." She said.
Lola's eyes rounded and the girls stared at each other.
"How- how do you know this?" Lola asked warily.
"They found a body in the dumpster behind the University cafe where she worked as a barista. Her body...well they couldn't identify her until today. Professor Adams just emailed me about it." Lola gulped and thought back to that day. She was at the cafe with Clay when Jax came in and sent him away, he sent Clarissa away as well.
"Do they know what it was?" Melissa asked when her mother started eyeing Lola's nervous gittering.
"They haven't found cause of death but almost all of her blood was drained." She whispered and shook her head.
The room started to spin and this time it wasn't because of the wine.
"The university is still opening tomorrow but I want you girls to be careful. As far as I've heard there hasn't been a murder in this town for years but whoever did this is still out there. You go to school and then you come straight home, understood?" She asked and looked at Melissa sternly.
"Understood." Melissa smiled and softly closed the door when her mother walked away in tears. Lola was spinning on her feet, she grabbed the bedpost and fell on the floor.
"Lola!" Melissa fell on her knees next to her and held her head.
The first kill had happened. A young girl, she was twenty-two years old. The daughter of a highly esteemed professor in town. They attended every town gathering and celebration, she was always cheerful with a rare outlook on life that many lacked. She and her father were very close, her mother died in childbirth.
"She was all he had," Lola whispered when the tears pressed against her eyes. She swallowed, time and time again to keep the tears from forming.
"This is not your fault," Melissa said and turned Lola's head. "Look at me, this is not your fault!" But she didn't believe her. The vampires came because Lola was here, Clay came for her and in doing so he killed Clarissa.
"She's dead, Mell. She's dead because they're chasing me." Melissa shook her head.
"It's not your fault, not her death, and not the fact that vampires are chasing you. You didn't choose this!"
"But I chose to settle down here, I chose to stay even after the first attack and now someone's dead!" The tears pressed harder and the burning pain was becoming unbearable.
Melissa resorted to her last piece of hope.
"You were going to leave Wild Cliff, you had your bag packed and had made your choice to look out for the people who live here. But someone wouldn't let you, your plans were interjected and you were forced to stay. So, if you want to blame someone, blame the family that stripped you of your freedom." She seethed.