Alive at Sunset (Rituals of the Night Series Book 2) Read Free Page B

where she sat. Luna didn’t want to tell her that or she might actually make her go inside.
    “Yeah,” she replied simply, turning back to look at Amanda. She went back to picking at her salad, hoping to end the conversation with her blunt disinterest. She knew from experience that her friend wouldn’t take a hint.
    “You should ask him out, Luna,” Amanda said.
    Luna chuckled and picked at her salad again. She could easily see that adventure ending in failure. Her communication skills were her only undeveloped smarts. “No, that’s okay, Mandy. I’d really rather not.”
    Amanda shook her head, surprised. She once again had that look as if Luna had something odd and profound. “Are you even human?”
    “I’d like to think so,” Luna said, swallowing the small bite of chicken she had eaten as she glanced up at her roommate.
    “I can’t believe you’d give that up without another glance!” Amanda sounded as if she was on the edge of hysterics.
    “It’s just a boy,” Luna said and then took another sip of the sweet ice tea. In her opinion, there were far more pressing matters in the world. Of course Amanda would vehemently disagree. “Why don’t you ask him out?”
    “I was thinking about it, but I don’t see him now,” Amanda replied, frowning. “I wonder if he comes here regularly.”
    Luna didn’t reply as she glanced up from her glass. Behind Amanda, the sun glinted off of a new surface beside the road. It was bright, reflecting a large majority of the sun. Luna had to narrow her eyes to focus on it. The light began to form in her vision. Finally, her mind composed an image, and she realized it was a man with shockingly pale blond hair.
    Once Luna’s eyes completely adjusted, she noticed that the figure wore all black; a high collar with long sleeves and dark buttons down the front. Black jeans that ended in heavy black hunting boots accompanied his fancy shirt. When the figure turned, blue eyes flashed from pale ivory skin.
    Luna gasped, shocked as images of her senior year in high school flooded through her brain. Too many at a time to actually see but enough to fill her mind and her heart with the dread and terror she had felt in years past. To her, he looked like the one and only, Chance Welfrey.
    “Are you listening to me, Luna?” Amanda asked, snapping her fingers in Luna’s face. “Earth to Luna!”
    Luna managed to pull her gaze (and thoughts) away from the distant figure. “Huh? Oh yeah, I’m fine.”
    “If you were listening, then what did I just say?” Amanda asked, sounding a bit irritated as she folded her arms across her chest.
    Luna didn’t answer her friend. Her mind was miles away from inane and pointless chatter. Her eyes shifted back to the street, the place where she had seen the figure. It was gone, but the thought of what she had seen made her feel sick to her stomach. The food didn’t seem like such a good idea anymore. She pushed the half-eaten salad to the middle of the table as she thought about the figure, how distinctive the hair was. How familiar the outfit looked.
    She hated remembering what had happened to her back then. It was in the past -a thing of nightmares. Years of therapy hadn’t been able to push them into repression, but she still did her best to cope with the memories. Usually, she did a good job, but there was no way she could ignore her past if it presented itself to her. The memories were too strong, too potent with barbed emotions.
    If Chance Welfrey was back to full health that meant that she was in danger.
                                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    They got back to their apartment which lay on the outskirts of town about an hour later. Amanda had plenty of things to do in celebration of her freedom. No matter what, they usually hung out together and got home at the same time.
    They only had one apartment key between the two of them. They had meant to make copies when they had moved in,