Chapter 79

Erin’s POV

“How’s your meal?” Henry asked as he often did from across the table, staring at me with a loving curiosity in his eyes. It was like old times, and I would be lying if I said this wasn’t nice.

“It’s delicious,” I tell him honestly. “Thank you, Henry.”

He beamed at my feedback and went back to eating his food. We ate silently for the most part; we exchanged some words here and there, but mainly we didn’t have much to discuss. We had said everything we needed to say earlier, and I had run out of words for him.

Henry doesn’t know what I am planning, and I wanted to keep it that way. He would only try to stop me if he knew the truth.

I was going to find the Slayer hideout and defeat their leader, tonight. I couldn’t risk anybody else finding out about this.

I knew where they were hiding; I had the coordinates in my backpack, which I had shoved under my bed to hide it from Henry’s viewing.

As soon as he saw that it was packed, it would all be over for me.

Gavin was planning on going to the Slayers as well and I needed to make sure he never got that chance.

Once we finished our meal, Henry grabbed his plate, and he was about to grab mine too when I quickly stopped him.

“I’ll clean up,” I offered with a polite smile. He rose his brows and searched his face with his eyes for a moment.

“Are you sure?” He asked. “You hate dishes.”

“Yes, I know. But it’s only fair. I mean, you did cook after all,” I said with a shrug.

He gave me a small smile before nodding.

“Okay, that would be nice. Thank you,” he said as he stood to his feet.

“Maybe you can look to see if there is anything on TV tonight. We could watch something like we used to?”

He stared at me for a moment longer; maybe I was pushing this act too far. He’s bound to know that something is wrong and that I was up to something.

“It might help take my mind off things,” I further explained.

He nodded and walked around the table, so he was closer to me.

“Are you feeling well?” He asked, staring around my face with curiosity in his eyes.

“Yes, of course,” I tell him with a light laugh. “I just want to spend time with you. Is that a crime?”

He gushed into a large smile as he wrapped his arms around me, surprising me and nearly knocking the plates out of my hands.

“I was waiting awhile for you to say something like that,” he said in a soft tone. I could tell he meant that; my heart was thudding violently in my chest, and I started to feel guilty that I was leading him on a little bit. “I hope you know that I still love you, after all this time.”

“I know,” I said in return. “I love you too.”

It wasn’t a lie; he was still my best friend and I loved him very much. But I wasn’t in love with him. But I couldn’t bring myself to say those words to him; I didn’t want to hurt him like that and plus I didn’t want him to resent me or be suspicious of my motives.

He hugged me for a moment longer before pulling away from me.

“I’ll go search the TV,” he said as he went toward the living room.

I sighed and grabbed our plates; he was right about one thing… I really hated doing dishes.

I did the dishes as quickly as I could, and I could hear Henry already laughing at something on the TV.

I grabbed a bag of chips and a couple of cans of soda before joining him in the living room.

“You weren’t supposed to start watching it without me,” I teased, sitting beside him on the couch.

“Sorry, you were taking so long,” he said, reaching to grab the soda I had brought him.

I wasn’t sure what we were watching, but Henry seemed to be into it. Plus, it was a little funny, so I didn’t mind it.

A couple of parts made me laugh deeply and it felt good to laugh again. It was nice spending a little time with him like we used to. We ate most of the bag of chips and drank all the soda before I gave him a dramatic yawn.

“I’m so tired,” I said. “I think I’m going to head to bed.”

He gave me a concerned look for a moment, but then he nodded.

“Do you think we could sleep in the same room tonight?” He asked.

Henry has been sleeping in the guest room; I haven’t been wanting to share the same bed with him lately.

“Not tonight,” I tell him; and it wasn’t because I didn’t want to share the same bed with him, it was because I needed to sneak away tonight, and I didn’t want him to know I was leaving. “I’m so exhausted, I think it would be nice to sleep by myself.”

“I see…” he breathed, staring down at his hands with dismay written all over his face. I felt bad that he was saddened by this.

I wrapped an arm around him and kissed him gently on the cheek, giving him a soft smile.

“Maybe tomorrow night?” I suggested; this was assuming I lived long enough to see tomorrow night.

He nodded but the sadness never left his face.

“Yeah,” he finally said after a long silence. “Tomorrow night.”

I kissed him again before standing to my feet.

“You shouldn’t stay out too late either… you need your rest for tomorrow.”

“I’m going to take a shower before I hit the sack,” Henry said, standing to his feet. “But, goodnight, Erin.”

“Good night, Henry.”

…

I waited until I heard the shower running before I got out of bed and grabbed my backpack. I hated deceiving him like this, but I wasn’t sure what else to do.

I plugged the coordinates into my watch so that I could be directed on how to get to the Slayer hideout. Then, I quickly snuck out my window.

It took me two hours to reach the exact coordinates of the hideout and I was extremely disappointed to see only a wooded forest before my eyes. Everywhere I looked were just trees and dirt.

Not a vampire in sight.

I pressed my lips together and continued to look around, but I saw nothing. I continued my search, going through the forest.

I was starting to get a nasty feeling in the pit of my stomach and then I heard a voice sounding from behind me.

I quickly turned around to see a man standing before me; he had a dark aura, and his eyes were so dark that they were nearly black. Like the others, he had a tint of gold outlining his pupils. I knew he was either a vampire or a vessel.

His skin was so pale it looked like it hadn’t been kissed by the son in decades.

“You must be lost,” he said in a low and threatening tone. “Because I certainly don’t remember ordering a wolf.”