Eternal Shadows by Kate Martin

tapped lightly against the linoleum as she made her way to the island that stood at the center of the room. Folding her arms, she leaned on the black granite counter top.
    I went to the giant refrigerator and pulled open the stainless steel door. Amongst the necessities of milk, orange juice, eggs, and butter sat one lone piece of triple chocolate cake. Another of Samantha’s specialties. Almost as good as the brownies.
    It didn’t smell as tempting as I remembered. A dark cloud of despair washed over me suddenly. “Do vampires eat food?” I asked, not really wanting to know the answer unless it was yes.
    I heard Millie sigh before answering me. “We can. But it doesn’t hold the same pleasure it once did. And our bodies have no real need for it. Most eat in the first months, or even years, but after that they relinquish even that bit of their human past.”
    I closed the door and listened to the air hiss out. I wasn’t hungry.
    “I know it seems difficult now,” Millie said, “but—”
    “Difficult?” I turned to face her. “Difficult? I’d say this is more than difficult! It’s maddening! Ridiculous! Unfair! Unnatural!”
    “Kassandra, please don’t—”
    Her placating tone made every last nerve I had snap. “Don’t? Don’t what?” I grabbed a bag of chips from the basket on the island and shook it in her face. “Don’t eat chips? I love chips!” I threw the bag at her. “I love cookies and candy and hamburgers and a good turkey dinner, and now what? I can’t have them! And what do I get in return? Blood! Not a fair trade.”
    She looked sympathetic, but not nearly enough. “No one ever said it was fair.”
    “Then why the hell am I doing this?”
    “Because you were chosen.”
    “And what if I don’t want to be chosen?”
    “It’s too late for that.”
    “Well , that just sucks, doesn’t it?” I slapped the basket of snacks off the counter and headed into the dining room.
    A mistake if I ever made one. This was the room where I had tried to warn my father. My breath hitched in my throat. With one simple glance at the high-backed wooden c hairs that lined the long table dominating the richly decorated room, I thought I would cry.
    No way would I let that happen. I translated my tears into more anger.
    “Where’s Rhys?”
    “He’s busy.” Her voice wasn’t far. She had followed, as I knew she would.
    But her answer wasn’t good enough. “Where?” I practically screamed the word.
    Like a dam had been let loose, a multitude of scents suddenly flooded my senses. I could smell Millie behind me, lilacs and clean laundry. How had I not noticed before? And there was another scent, not as close, but more familiar. Another that I hadn’t really been aware of before, but now I knew it. The closest comparison I could come up with was fresh earth, or the air right after a rain storm. How anyone could smell like that, I didn’t know. But I knew who did. There was no mistaking it, even beside the completely unfamiliar scent of fire, steel , and gunpowder. I moved. My father’s study. I knew I wasn’t wanted inside. Knew because I was certain of who lay within, but I wanted to prove it to myself. I heard Millie draw breath to stop me, but I grabbed the handle and threw open the door before she could get any further. I saw his face in my mind, even before I set eyes on him.
    Rhys.
    He didn’t look particularly happy to be interrupted. Neither did the man he had been speaking with. Rhys stared at me for a moment like he wasn’t sure who or what I was, but then it became absolutely clear. His gaze switched from my face to over my shoulder.
    “Millie, what is she doing here?”
    I took a brief moment to size up the second man, or undead corpse. No mistake, he was the one who had approached my father. Taller than Rhys, and nothing but lean muscle, he reminded me of a well-honed weapon.
    That didn’t stop me from going ahead with my outburst.
    “Which one of you killed my father?”
    They