Storm
Blood Haze: Book Two
By Tara Shuler
Read all about the Blood Haze series,
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and more at:
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For Granny and Grandma
Your light shines on me always.
Chapter One – Waiting
My brother, mother, best friend Jamie, and I
all sat in silence in the living room of my house.
We were waiting for word from my friend Max,
a soon-to-be vampire hunter, on whether or not
my boyfriend, Kai, would live or die.
Jamie gnawed her fingernails – something she
always did in times of stress. I felt as though my
heart would burst from my chest. The only
sounds in the room were the click-click-click of
Jamie biting her nails, and the tick-tock, tick-tock
of the grandfather clock.
Kai – my love, my life, my world – had gone
to Max’s father to plead for death. He knew I had
feelings for Max, and he could not bear it. I’d
insisted it wasn’t love, and that was the truth as
far as I knew. But, it was more than Kai could
stand. I had become the center of Kai’s entire
existence.
Kai’s adoptive father had died in prison when
he was a baby, and his mother had always blamed
him for it. His father had gone to prison for
murdering my father, but it had been an accident
that was set in motion by Kai, then only a
toddler, coming into the room. But Kai’s mother
blamed him, and she detested him even more
when she discovered he was a vampire.
All of this sparked a lifetime of abuse. Kai
had been horribly mistreated by his alcoholic
adoptive mother, his grandfather, and his
cousins. Still, kind soul that he was, he cared for
his mother and regularly went to check on her to
ensure she wasn’t driving drunk. That was the
kind of selfless person he was.
I couldn’t stand the waiting. Not knowing
what was happening was driving me crazy, and it
was all I could do to keep from racing out to our
rented van and speeding over to Max’s house.
But he insisted he would keep Kai safe for me,
and I had no choice but to believe him. I trusted
him.
I stood up and began to pace. I found myself
chewing my own fingernails – something I’d
never done before. The waiting and wondering
was unbearable. I kept glancing at Kai’s phone,
praying Max would call.
The grandfather clocked began to toll its
hourly refrain. The deep bong of the clock
sounded five times. It was 5 PM, and it had been
over an hour since Max had sped away from our
house.
“Why isn’t he calling?” I asked no one in
particular.
“He will,” Jamie assured me.
“What if he was too late?” I asked,
shuddering.
“He wasn’t,” Jamie answered.
“But what if he was?” I moaned. “And why
won’t he call?”
With that, the phone rang. Kai’s ringtone, my
favorite song, “Moonlight Sonata”, the first
movement, rang throughout the room. I felt my
heart thud in my chest, and I slowly walked
toward the phone. The song was somber, and it
perfectly accentuated the anxiety I felt as my
trembling hands reached for it. I flipped it open,
took a deep breath, and pressed it to my ear.
“Alice…” Max said. “It’s over.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but no words
came out.
“Kai’s fine,” he said, almost sounding
disappointed.
I released a breath I realized I’d been holding
since the phone first rang.
“Let me speak to him,” I snapped.
“Here,” I heard Max growl.
“Alice?” Kai said meekly.
“Kai,” I breathed. “Thank God you’re okay. I
was so worried! No… worried isn’t even close
to what I was. Horrified. Terrified. Absolutely,
excruciatingly scared out of my mind! What were
you thinking?”
“I’m sorry,” he apologized.
“I’m just so glad you’re okay,” I whispered
weakly, sinking into a chair.
“I’ll be home in a few minutes,” Kai said.
“Max is driving me.”
“I love you,” I told him quickly.
“I love you, too,” he said.
I heard Max muttering something in the
background.
“Alice?” Max said after he took the phone
back from Kai. “I’ll explain everything when we
get there.”
“You’d better,” I muttered, and I hung up the
phone.
“Kai’s okay,” I said to everyone.
“Oh, thank goodness,” Jamie said.
“I told you he would be okay,” my mother
said.
My brother agreed. “I knew it would be fine.”
Several minutes later, I saw Max’s car pull up
outside. I burst out the door and smothered Kai
in hugs as soon as he stepped out of the car. Max
grumbled, his jaw clenched. Kai clasped my face
in his strong hands and kissed me. He kissed my
lips, my face, my forehead, and even my nose.
With each kiss, he repeated, “I love you.”
Max sighed loudly. “Are you two done?”
I’d forgotten he was standing there. I knew it
couldn’t be easy for him to watch us like that, so
I suggested we go inside. Besides, I was terribly
anxious to find out how Max had gotten Kai
away from his father – a Viewer – a powerful
vampire hunter with sharp tracking abilities.
When we got inside, everyone wanted to hug
Kai. My mother got to him first, and then the
normally shy Jamie gave him a quick hug. Even
my brother gave him a quick squeeze and a sharp
thump on the back.
“Now, Max,” I demanded. “Tell me what
happened!”
“When I got home,” Max began. “My father
was waiting for me in the foyer. He told me Kai
was in the living room, and asked me what was
going on. I explained to my father that Kai was
the brother of a friend of mine from school and
that he was mentally ill. I told him Kai was prone
to psychotic episodes, and that I needed to get
him back home as quickly as possible so he
could take his medication.”
“And he bought that?” I gasped, stunned.
“I don’t know,” Max said honestly. “I don’t
think he did at first. I asked him to let me talk to
Kai alone, but I was sure he’d be listening. So I
talked to him as if you were his sister.”
�
�What did you say?” I wanted to know.
“I said, ‘Kai, Alice is really worried about
you. She loves you. Your whole family is really
worried. They want you to come home.’” Max
explained. “I tried to convince him to leave so I
could get him out of the house. I wasn’t exactly
keen on telling him all of that, though.”
“What did you do?” I asked, turning to Kai.
“I didn’t listen to him at first,” Kai answered.
“I just wanted to die. I wanted him to kill me. I
begged him to. But he said he couldn’t do it. He
didn’t want to hurt you.”
“Why did it take so long for you to get back?
Max was gone over an hour before we heard
from him,” I asked.
“It didn’t take all that long for him to
convince his father that I was crazy,” Kai
answered. “He heard me talking about wanting to
die – asking Max to kill me. I guess it was pretty
convincing. He wanted to call an ambulance to
take me to a mental ward.”
With that, both Kai and Max burst into
laughter in remembrance. They forgot their bitter
feud for the one moment.
“I told my father I was going to take him
home, and that he had medication there that
would stabilize him,” Max explained. “But even
after I managed to get him out of the house, he
didn’t want to come home.”
“What?” I gasped. “Why not?”
“I couldn’t take it, Alice,” he said somberly.
“It hurts too much to keep going through this. To
He stopped.
“Kai, I don’t…”
“Don’t say it,” Kai interrupted. “Not until
you’re a hundred percent certain.”
I nodded.
“I talked him into coming back,” Max said. “I
told him how worried you were, and how much
you…” he paused to gulp, then continued
through clenched teeth. “Love him. It took a
while, but I finally convinced him.”
“I couldn’t be away from you,” Kai said
honestly, and I smiled weakly at him.
“You don’t think your father is still
suspicious, do you?” I asked Max nervously. “He
could easily find out if you’re telling the truth
just by trying to track Kai, couldn’t he? Your
kind can’t track humans, right?”
“No, as far as I know, we can’t,” he admitted.
“But I think he was so convinced by Kai’s talk of
wanting to die that he won’t even think of doing
it.”
“What if he does?” I asked Max.
“We’ll cross that bridge if we ever come to
it,” Max said. “I promise I’ll warn you if I ever
have any reason to believe he suspects anything.”
“I don’t know how to thank you for bringing
him home,” I told Max.
I walked over to Max and hugged him.
“I did it for you,” he whispered into my ear,
squeezing me as tightly as he could.
“I know,” I whispered back.
Kai cleared his throat, and Max backed away
from me.
“I’d better go,” Max said. “I’ll call you if I
think anything’s up.”
“Thanks again,” I said, and Max left.
“Is anyone hungry?” Mother asked. “I’m
starving!”
Mother went to the kitchen to find something
for dinner, and Kai took my arm and pulled me
into his lap on the sofa. Will went upstairs, and
Jamie followed him. They’d been spending a lot
of time together in the last few days. I guessed it
was pleasant for her to have someone to talk to,
and she certainly seemed to feel very comfortable
around him.
Sitting in Kai’s lap with his arms around me, I
finally felt safe again. I leaned against him and
put my head on his shoulder. He buried his face
in my hair and breathed deeply.
“I was so afraid I’d lost you,” I whispered into
his ear.
“What would you have done if you did?” he
asked me suddenly.
“What?” I asked, shocked at such a forward
question.
“What would you have done if Max had killed
me?” he repeated.
“I... I don’t know,” I stammered.
I felt a huge knot swelling in my stomach as I
thought about it. Just the mere thought of Kai
dying sent a shiver down my spine. It was
unbearable.
“I can’t think of that,” I cried into his
shoulder. “It’s too painful to even think about.”
I started to cry. All of the fear and emotion I’d
felt in the last few days came to a head and
spilled forth as I sobbed into his shoulder. He
held me close, smoothing my hair.
“Shhh,” he whispered. “It’s okay, love. I’m
here.”
“You almost weren’t,” I sobbed.
“But I am,” he emphasized. “And I’m not
going anywhere.”
I pulled away from him, suddenly angry.
“You know, you keep saying you think I’m
going to leave you. You keep begging me never
to leave,” I admonished. “But you’re the one
who keeps leaving me! You left me before
Christmas, and you left me on New Year’s Eve,
and you left me again to go find Max to have him
kill you! For you to not what me to leave, you
certainly are eager to get away from me!”
I struggled to get away when he pulled me
toward him again, but I finally allowed him to
get his arms around me. I rested my head stiffly
on his shoulder, still annoyed.
“You’re right,” he agreed. “I’m sorry. I guess I
leave me first.”
“How can you think that?” I asked, looking
him straight in the eye. “After all we’ve been
through, don’t you see how much I love you?”
“I do,” he admitted. “But I also see the way
you act around Max.”
“What… slapping him?” I snapped.
“Methinks the lady doth protest too much,” he
quoted.
“Stop that,” I insisted. “You know what I
mean.”
He sighed. “Yes, you slap him when he kisses
you. But the look in your eyes tells me you don’t
really want to.”
“What?” I gasped. “You’re crazy!”
“Am I?” he asked. “Think about it. If I didn’t
exist, would you resist him?”
“You do exist,” I argued.
“But if I didn’t,” he emphasized. “Would you
resist him?”
“I don’t know,” I answered. I paused to think,
and then said quietly, “Maybe not.”
“I know you wouldn’t,” Kai stated. “And
that’s why I’m terrified.”
“But you are here, and I love you,” I said.
“And I do resist him. I will keep resisting him.”
“Is that enough?” Kai asked me. “Would it be
enough for you to know I had feelings for
someone else, but I was just resisting those
feelings?”
I shuddered at the thought of Kai having
feelings for someone else.
“Do you see what I mean?” he asked, noting
my unspoken horror.
“I do,” I admitted. “And I’m sorry you’re in
this position.”
“So am I,” he said. “But I love you, and I will
never leave you again unless you ask me to.”
“Promise me,” I pleaded.
“I swear,” he responded seriously, and I
snuggled close to him.
*****
Chapter Two – Goodbye
Within a few days, things were mostly back to
normal. School started back, and Kai anxiously
drove me to school each day knowing I would
see Max there. It was hard for him.
Jamie was a lot more open than she used to
be. Something about our situation, and perhaps
about my brother, had opened her up a little.
With Max watching over us like a bodyguard, no
one dared to cause any problems. Amanda and
Ashley had once tormented Jamie every time she
tried to eat, but Max had made it clear that was
not acceptable. Grudgingly, they all left her
alone.
Max, Jamie, and I all sat together during
lunch. We chatted openly, and Jamie even smiled
sometimes. It had been rare to see her happy
before, but now she managed a shy smile at least
twice a day. It was a nice change.
It was a little awkward to sit with Max. After
all that had happened – him kissing me, he and
Kai fighting and nearly killing each other, him
discovering Kai and I were vampires, and us
discovering he was a hunter – it wasn’t easy.
Now and then, he would catch my eye and shoot
me a look that let me know he still cared for me,
but he understood the boundaries.
I have to admit it was tough sitting there with
Max. I had always been attracted to him. From
the first moment I saw him in homeroom on the
second day of school, I’d had a physical
attraction. It was undeniable.
But now that he’d sacrificed so much for me
– he’d saved Kai from death even though he
desperately wanted him out of the picture so he
could be with me – it was somehow even harder.
I felt closer to him, yet I pushed him away harder
than ever. I had to.
The day before his birthday in February, Max
walked up to me as I was entering homeroom
and asked if he could talk to me privately. He
looked very worried, so I followed him out to
the parking lot where we could speak without the