The tombstones popped up overnight like mushrooms after rain. Thomas had ignored them at first, dismissing them as another quirk of the strange place he'd found himself. He'd been busy anyway, rearming himself with a rough, rust-pitted kukri he salvaged and an old cavalry saber. It didn't fit quite as well in his hand as his own did, but that would ( Read more... )

Even after a demonstration of Alice’s considerable talents at distraction and his own extensive ability to avoid uncomfortable knowledge, the matter of just what had happened to Edward (as well as the uncomfortably large number of questions regarding his father’s sudden appearance) pushed their way back to the front of Thomas’ mind. The house was ( Read more... )

When Thomas woke up, the sun was streaming in through the window, and he could see brilliant blue sky through a space in the thin curtains. His mouth felt bone dry, but his head didn't throb, a pleasant surprise. Some part of him had expected the vampire safe tequila to have given him every effect of real alcohol. As it was, Thomas couldn't ( Read more... )

Sunlight was already painting the sky orange when Thomas made his way back to his room. The night had been full, extremely so, but it had ended well enough. A hundred different thoughts, each with its own implication, ran through his mind, each of them shoved away for a later time, when he was ready for doubt and caution and self loathing. The only ( Read more... )

( to sleep, perchance to dream )

On the back of a motorcycle pushing 120 mph, Thomas ran. Ran through winding roads in pine scented woods, through roads on the coast with salt in the air, down asphalt ribbons that cut straight through the city. Thomas ran with fear in his heart, and the scream of Hunger in his veins. He ran until daybreak, until the road led him back to the house ( Read more... )

The others trickled back to the house long before first light, but Thomas ignored the sounds dying gaiety from his position some ways down the beach. He’d taken a walk as soon as he’d hung up with Alice, not being in much of a mood to be good company and without the patience to fake it. He’d walked past a mural of sea life and kept going until he ( Read more... )

Remembering to put his trunks on before exiting the surf, Thomas made his way back to shore with every intention of heading towards the volleyball game that was starting, but one of his crew members waved for his attention. "Your phone's been ringing for hours, man," the grizzly, gum-chewing man said. "And it's been the same damn song, not the ( Read more... )

Dawn was approaching when Thomas pulled back into the garage. Tired but full of warm contentment, he headed upstairs with every intention of falling asleep in his own bed, but as he passed Dru's door, he stopped. Something felt wrong, felt cold, and Thomas frowned, slipping quietly into the room. Finding her in a fitful, uneasy sleep, he stripped ( Read more... )

Despite how drained he felt, both mentally and physically, Thomas didn’t leave Lilith Park until the first rays of sunlight began creeping over the horizon. Even then, he drove aimlessly, the opened collar of the slightly too-small shirt he’d borrowed from a crew member flapping in the wind. So Thomas wasn’t too surprised when motion out of the ( Read more... )