The Blood Hourglass Volume 1 Chapter 9

After we blew out the candles and cut the cake, we all ate. Xiaoya was really happy today. The way she looked wearing the necklace reminded me of my old self; I was once that happy and innocent. I remember liking the necklace because of how it looked, not what the red represented.

Then Sister Lan prepared a table of dishes for us. What was odd was how Xiaoya’s brother stared at me the whole time, as if trying to observe something. I acted like I didn’t notice and just kept eating. After we were done, I said I needed to go home, and Xiaoya insisted on her brother driving me

“Can you take Jing home?”

“Sure, no problem,” her brother readily agreed.

“It’s okay. I can get home on my own.” I had always been on my own. It has been this way for years now, and I was used to it. There was no need for him to take me. I’d always believed that someone by themselves posed no danger unless they wanted suicide.

“No, Jing, it’s really dangerous for a girl to go home in the dark.” Xiaoya was really concerned for me.

“Xiaoya is right. A girl as pretty as you would be really at risk,” Sister Lan agreed.

“Well, there’s no telling who’d be at risk if they ran into me,” I mumbled to myself.

“What are you talking about?” Xiaoya’s brother was so focused on what I said and did that he even noticed my whispering.

“I said okay.” I couldn’t argue and win against two people, plus her brother was hounding me.

“Let’s go.” Her brother walked toward the garage and I had to follow.

We got in the car, and even though there was no one in the front pa.s.senger seat, I still sat behind him. Sometimes, keeping a distance was smart. As he drove, I didn’t talk and neither did he. The quiet didn’t last, however, as he opened his mouth.

“Why did you give such an expensive necklace to Xiaoya? It seemed pretty important to you. Would your dad be okay with it?”

“I already said the reason. And my birth parents died a long time ago,” I answered coldly.

“I’m sorry to bring up painful memories for you. But I know that the necklace’s power is not in itself but its real owner.”

“Its real owner has been dead for thousands of years.” I knew avoiding the topic wouldn’t work when I saw his eyes.

“Who was it?”

“A vampire.” I didn’t beat around the bush.

“You’re joking.” He seemed to be in disbelief.

“You don’t have to believe me.”

“Why would it be on your neck then?”

“Someone gave it to me.”

“Your answers are too vague. Are you avoiding my questions?”

“No, I wasn’t. I just don’t want to remember the past.”

“Not remembering doesn’t mean forgetting. Sometimes you have to remember again before you can truly forget.”

“My mom gave me the necklace. I became an orphan that night. I had nothing left except for the necklace. I curled up in a ball in the corner of the room, watching all the blood congeal and turn dark. I just sat and watched the blood like it was paint or something. Everything in the room was turning cold, from my body to my heart.” I realized saying these things wasn’t that hard, it was as if they had nothing to do with me.

“I had no idea you’d been through something this horrible. Trapping yourself won’t do anything, though. It’s time you put the past behind you.” His eyes stared straight ahead but I felt like I was exposed. This must be an illusion; there was no one who could see all of me anymore. After a while, he asked,

“How much power does that necklace have?”

“As long as she wears it, no royals would dare touch her.”

“Aren’t you afraid of being without it?”

“Me? I’ve never been afraid. Especially now that I have a dad, a home, a school, and friends, too. Without it, I’m just a student, and whatever the lineage has nothing to do with me anymore.”

“This is your choice.”

“It is.”

“Giving up immortality for a normal life?”

“I only gave up my past.”

“You aren’t afraid of dying?”

“I don’t know. No one knows until the moment of death.”

“True.”