Through The Eyes

THROUGH THE EYES

By Simone Snaith

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 Simone Snaith

Cover art by Audrey Knight

The sequel to FROM THE ASHES

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EIGHTEEN

NINETEEN

TWENTY

TWENTY-ONE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ONE

Lundy opened her eyes, startled, and listened in the darkness. There had been a sound in the room. She was sure of it. She reached instinctively across the bed for Harlan, and then remembered that he wasn’t there. He was out hunting. Her breath caught in her throat. She was alone then, with someone - or something - in her room. Her eyes flashed around the silhouettes of her furniture and curtains. The noise had only been a light rustling, but over the past few weeks, her ears had become more adept at catching tiny sounds. She had been unconsciously trained by the soundless presence of Harlan. And a few others...

Something rustled again and Lundy clenched her fists, panicked now. She could see the window clearly, across from her bed, and there was nothing in the tree branches outside where Harlan usually appeared. She swallowed, trying to decide what to do. A couple months ago, the answer would’ve been obvious: Scream for her dad. But now, after all that had passed, she was afraid it would only put him in danger too.

Then a dark shape scuttled across her desk and into the corner.

Lundy yelped and sat bolt upright. But in another moment, she heaved a sigh of relief. The shape had looked like an animal, like some kind of dog or big cat. The idea of an animal in her room was much less frightening than something unnatural. She crawled to the foot of the bed, peering over her wrought iron bed frame, but in the dark, it was hard to tell if the thing was still in the corner or if it had disappeared. She knelt there for a moment, wishing she had Harlan’s reflective eyes and night vision. Or frankly, all of him, here right now.

Hello? she said softly. There was a moment of silence. Then the figure shot out of the corner towards her closet. Lundy gasped and fell over backwards, but not before she caught sight of its shape. It was gone already, disappeared among her clothes, but it had been upright this time, running on two legs. Lundy’s mind reeled. It was the shape of a child, with long hair. Lundy scrambled back up onto her knees and grabbed hold of the bed frame. It wasn’t actually a child - just the shape of one. A blurry shape.

A sudden movement outside the window made Lundy jump again, her heart pounding. Then she saw who it was. She was out of bed in a flash and ran towards him, shoving open the window. Harlan slipped over the windowsill with an animal grace and caught her in his arms, his long black hair loose around his shoulders. His pale face was surprised.

There’s something here! Lundy hissed. In the closet!

Without a word, Harlan shoved her behind him, leaving one arm wrapped around her. It was a defensive position Lundy had been getting used to. She peeked over his shoulder at the dim shapes of her clothes hanging there in her open closet. Harlan was very still for a moment. Then he relaxed his arm and turned to look at her, confused, his vampire eyes gleaming in the dark.

There’s nothing there, he said quietly. His eyes and ears were undisputable. Lundy frowned and loosened her grip on the back of his shirt. It was what she’d been afraid of. There was a great deal about that blurry shadow that had been familiar, even in the dark. What was it? Harlan asked her.

A little girl, she murmured. His face fell suddenly, and she turned away, biting her lip. Harlan shook his head and hugged her.

She’s not there now, he said. He took her hand and pulled her towards the bed. Lundy’s heart sank, even in her relief that it was gone. Because it was a ghost. She was still seeing ghosts.

Apparently, it wasn't bad enough that it was the night before school started. Apparently, Lundy also needed a frightening reminder that things weren't all right after all. She was still sickly. She was still weak and pale, with no appetite, and prone to coughing fits. And she was still being visited by the other side. She had lived past her doomed sixteenth birthday, but Karel’s curse hadn’t been fully broken, and no one knew what part of it remained.

She smiled half-heartedly up at Harlan. Did Elizabeth Hawthorne have a little sister? she asked. He shook his head.

No, but she was a governess for several other children, he said, remembering. I don't know why one of them would try and reach you.

Maybe she's trying to warn me not to go to school, Lundy said glumly. Maybe she was the last freak at Fairville High. Harlan grinned, a look that never failed to send a little thrill through Lundy. High cheek-boned and square-jawed, with straight, jet-black hair, Harlan had the kind of good looks that were only heightened by the eeriness of being a vampire. Standing there in his threadbare dress shirt and pants, his white feet bare, he exuded a supernatural charisma.

I thought you said it was a little girl, he pointed out.

I'm too tired to be clever, she said with a sigh, and sat down at her desk near the window, where her clothes for the morning hung over the back of the chair. The clothes, along with the black polish on Lundy’s fingernails, were evidence of a big decision she had made over the weekend, in a desperate attempt to avoid the weirdness that had haunted her in school back in Fredonia.

She had bought all black clothes. If she was going to be pale and sickly for life, she might as well embrace it and be a Goth, she had decided. It certainly wasn’t a very common look, and maybe it was a little dated, but it did still exist, and it made more sense to be strange with a sense of style. She didn't go all the way though; she didn’t buy any large cross necklaces or huge platform boots, or electrical tape. She merely picked out as many lacy, pretty black blouses as she could find, along with a long black coat for winter, and then handed them over to her mother, Catherine, who looked startled. Lundy’s style had been very nondescript before, consisting of mostly pastel-colored T-shirts and jeans. Catherine accepted the black clothes without comment, but Lundy figured there had been a major discussion about it with her dad that night. Luckily neither of them had brought it up in front of her.

She already had two black pairs of jeans and an ancient pair of black, low-top Doc Marten boots, so she figured that would do. She had also bought black eyeliner and practiced putting it on all weekend. The rest of her would fit the bill naturally - pale skin, black hair, red lips, large dark eyes with shadows under them.

She was just going to be quiet and mysterious. That was the plan for getting through the rest of high school. It seemed possible.

Harlan lifted a black blouse off the chair and held it up, his eyes like copper-colored headlights in the dark. This blouse was sheer with an attached black tank top underneath, which meant she wouldn’t be able to wear it once it got colder. It had actually been flattering on her in the dressing room, which Lundy felt was quite a feat. The loose material made her appear less thin, but the tank still showed what a small waist she had. It did, however, reveal the bane of her mother’s existence: the small black tattoo of Edvard Munch’s The Scream on one arm, which she had sneaked out and gotten with a fake ID, one uncharacteristically wild evening back in Fredonia.

She had to cover it with two Band-aids for school, which she sincerely hoped didn’t make her look like she cut herself. That was taking the look too far.

Harlan raised his eyebrows at Lundy, in a way that suddenly made her blush.

Can I see you in it? he asked. She grinned, embarrassed.

Only if you're still here when I get dressed in the morning.

I'll wait till you leave. He gave it back solemnly and Lundy felt the rush of giddiness to which she was still adjusting, after the past few weeks of seeing him every night. The feeling made her current worries fade for the moment. He was here and he was hers. With no effort at all, he lifted her from the chair and carried her over to her bed, while her heart skipped a beat with happiness. He climbed in with her afterwards even though he never slept, because he didn't need to.

Don’t worry about tomorrow, he said softly, into her ear. You’ll be fine.

Lundy nodded, unconvinced. She had been reminding herself that she hadn’t had many friends in Fredonia anyway, being shy and a homebody, so she could live without them now. Do you remember what it was like? she asked Harlan.

His brows furrowed as he slid his arm under her pillow. I didn’t…finish my schooling, after my parents died, he said, sounding a little regretful. I had to start working right away, to survive. But I remember mean boys and silly girls. There weren’t many though. It was a small schoolhouse.

Were there any freaks? Lundy asked, grimly. Did any of the already awkward girls suddenly turn pale and weak for no apparent reason?

Harlan gazed at her admiringly in the darkness and raised a hand to tuck her hair behind her ear. "I never thought anyone was a freak, he said. Lundy smiled, imagining Harlan as a human teenager. A little less pale and a lot less graceful; sweet and hardworking, not judging anyone. All the girls must have liked him, but he had told her that he never courted" anyone until he met her, in her first life, before the curse. The first Lundy, before Karel’s curse was cast, had been wealthy Lundy Guillory, Harlan’s landlord’s niece, who had seemed totally beyond his reach. He leaned in now and kissed her slowly, and Lundy’s heart began thumping inside her.

To say that her nights were much steamier now than in all of her sixteen years would’ve been a massive understatement. She was surprised at herself, and embarrassed at how easily she melted into putty. It was a bewildering, heady rush of emotions that hit her whenever he climbed into bed with her.

Harlan pulled her closer now and their legs curled around each other, fitting together perfectly. Lundy loved how he smelled like the woods, which was where he hid from the sun during the day, and how sometimes she found a leaf in his long hair, or a small tear in his shirt. His body was unexpectedly both cold and warm, like mixed currents in the ocean, as if parts of him were still human amidst the supernatural. He kissed her jaw line and nuzzled down to kiss her neck – which had first frightened her, for obvious reasons - then her collarbone, and a little further down… Lundy held her breath as his hands played with the bottom edge of the tank top she was wearing. His fingers brushed her skin lightly near it, and she shivered involuntarily.

I’m sorry, he whispered. Lundy smiled and huddled tighter against him, not sure what to say. Touching her stomach seemed innocent enough, but he was already withdrawing. He kissed her head and sighed.

Maybe… she whispered back, it’s okay?

He held her tighter. You’re so fragile, he said, sounding nervous. I have to concentrate on being gentle.

I know. Lundy felt her courage fade as she was struck by an unwelcome image of Harlan fighting in the cemetery just a few weeks before, tearing an arm clean off one of Micah’s vampire buddies. Then swinging it like a bat and knocking off the vampire’s head. She shuddered and Harlan rubbed her arm.

I would never hurt you, he told her, not for the first time. We will figure it out… But not tonight. Not your first day of school.

A random burst of laughter flew out of Lundy before she knew it was coming. She clamped her hand over her mouth, ashamed. How immature.

What? Harlan asked, confused. Lundy shook her head furiously, and then laughed again. She buried her head into the pillow, and Harlan chuckled, still not understanding. He started rubbing her back and Lundy gradually felt her hysteria ease a little bit into sleepiness. She turned and laid her head against his, closing her eyes, content. She felt Harlan lift up her fingers.

I like the black nails, he whispered.

***

In the morning, Lundy woke to find Harlan reading one of her books next to her, as he often did while she slept. She rubbed her eyes and peeked at the cover, always interested in what he’d chosen from Elizabeth’s books, or from her own, in the library upstairs. One time it had been Seventeen Magazine, and his shocked expression had been priceless. This morning, it was Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. She smiled and put her arm around his waist.

That’s before your time, even.

He nodded. But I never read it. She reminds me of you.

Lundy! Her mother’s voice called. Harlan slipped over the side of the bed soundlessly, and disappeared underneath it. Catherine opened the door a crack and added, Time to get up, love. First day!

Yippee. Lundy sat up and squinted in the sunlight from the large window - the sunlight that didn’t do much more than irritate Harlan’s luminous skin, despite all the misguided vampire lore. It was certainly lucky for her, otherwise he’d have to leave before she woke up, and their time would be that much shorter.

I’m awake! she said, and her mother let the door close again. Harlan was standing next to Lundy in a heartbeat and she flinched even though she’d expected it. Do you think if I asked for a lock on the door, they would suspect something?

Harlan smiled and nodded. Lundy admired the deep blue his eyes were in the daylight, instead of the cat’s eye glaze they held at night. This was usually when he said goodbye and took off out the window, to spend the day in the deep woods around Fairville. He had promised to show her his nest one day, a resting place he had made for himself high up in an oak tree.

I have to shower before I can change, Lundy said now, awkwardly.

I know. I’ll wait.

She smiled and hurried out into the hall. When she was done, she rushed back in her short, terry cloth bathrobe, to find Harlan perched on the windowsill, looking out into the morning air through the tree branches. She closed the door quickly and then stood there, not quite sure what to do. She would have changed in the bathroom if she'd been more awake and thought of it. Now she was stuck there in her bathrobe. Should she ask him to turn around while she changed? Should it not matter after all the kissing? She felt herself blush, and considered just strolling into the closet casually and shutting the door to change. Except the ghost might be in there.

Harlan turned his head slowly to look at her, which was odd considering his reflexes, and Lundy caught a strange look in his blue eyes. It was a faraway look she'd never seen before, different even from the mystical expression that came over him when he recalled his life as a human.

What is it? she asked, clutching her robe cord. Harlan frowned and shook his head.

I'm not sure. I just had the strangest sense of…something. He glanced back out the window and gave a sudden heavy sigh. I'll have to talk to Weinhelm.

Lundy's breath caught in her throat. Is it...vampires? she asked. Oscar Weinhelm was her doctor, and the very reason her parents had brought her to Fairville, just a month or so before. Incredibly, however, he had turned out to be a vampire himself, and one like Harlan, who objected to hunting humans. He and the doctors in his clinic considered themselves protectors of the town, and now Lundy's appointments there included Harlan’s company, unbeknownst to her parents. The visits were highly educational now for Lundy, since they consisted of discussions about the vampire world and speculations on her curse.

No, not vampires, Harlan murmured. Something I don't recognize. He turned back to Lundy and suddenly stared, noticing that she was in her bathrobe. She blushed