Bloodlines

by Lindsay Anne Kendal

  I heard the front door open and was waiting for them both to walk in. Instead Tyler popped his head around the door.

  “I hope that’s not breakfast,” he said to me.

  “Yeah.”

  “Leave it. I’ve got you a sausage and bacon sandwich. Well done with brown sauce…your favorite. I thought we could set off early so I called in at the café.”

  “You know suddenly I really don’t want that toast,” I smirked.

  “I’ll have it,” Jake said, walking over – he’s like a walking dustbin.

  “Are you ready to go?” Tyler asked.

  “Yeah, just let me grab my bag,” I told him while opening the closet door.

  “Where you taking her?” Jake asked him.

  “None of your business. This is private.”

  “Just behave.”

  “Always,” Tyler grinned.

  Jake just shook his head as he grinned back.

  I grabbed my bag and told Lily and Jake I didn’t know how long we’d be. Then I walked out and got in the car. Tyler grabbed a rucksack out of his trunk, then got in and passed me my sandwich; after all, it’s not like I needed my hands to steer the car. He turned the stereo up and we set off. As we were driving down the approach to the house we drove past Danny and Lucian. Both of them were in Lucian’s car and both of them were staring at us. A minute later my phone started ringing; it was Lucian. I was too busy eating my sandwich and drinking the coffee he’d also bought me to answer to the phone, so Tyler did the honors.

  “Hello,” he said. “Out…Nowhere special…Piss off!…No, it’s private, we’ll be back later…That’s fine, they don’t know either. Going now…Yeah…Bye!”

  “What did he want?” I asked.

  “To know where we were going, why, and how long we would be.”

  “Oh…and where are we going by the way?”

  “You’ll see.”

  We drove for just under two hours through mile after mile of countryside. Every now and again he would tell me to turn off in another direction.

  “OK, we’re here,” he said finally. “Nobody comes here – the closest farm is ten miles away and the closest estate is over fourteen miles away.”

  “Fantastic.”

  I pulled the car up on the grass and got out.

  “Tyler, what if I can’t come out of it.”

  “I’ll snap you out of it. Stop worrying.”

  “I don’t know what I’m going to do you know.”

  “Just see what happens…Do whatever you want,” he said, sitting on the hood of the car.

  “OK, here goes.”

  I walked a few yards away from him. I didn’t want him too close at first in case anything went wrong. I took a deep breath and let my eyes turn.

  “Come on, girl,” I said to myself. “Let it loose, feel it, use it…just do it!”

  Thick black clouds developed out of nowhere in the previously perfectly clear sky, shading the whole of the large field we were in. Sheet lightning spread across the clouds every few seconds. I turned for a moment to look at Tyler; he was looking up at the sky then turned to look at me and smiled. I looked up and the lightening started to strike, only for a second each time at first, then several bolts stayed on the ground circling me. Large drops of rain started falling yet I made sure they missed Tyler and me. I turned to face him; he was standing up now, looking at the rain falling around him, but not touching him. He reached out and caught a few drops in his hands. Then his eyes turned back to me. I stayed facing him this time, watching him. The lightning stopped circling me and circled him instead.

  “Touch it!” I shouted. He looked at me like I was crazy. “I thought you trusted me.”

  He slowly reached out and put his hand through it.

  “Why isn’t it hurting, you wonder?” I said. “The answer…because I don’t want it too. Is it real lightning, you ask? Yes it is...Watch!”

  I threw one of my hands out to the side and sent one of the bolts into a nearby tree, setting it on fire. He turned to me again; the look on his face was amazing. He didn’t know what to say, he was bewildered. I moved the lightning so it was still constantly on the ground but touching different parts of the field. I raised my arms halfway on either side of my body and a fierce wind began to blow. It was so strong I had to ground Tyler and the car. Leaves blew off the trees as they bent almost in half, and blades of grass flew into the air. Then the rain turned to hailstones, each one that fell as big as a golf ball. The windows on my car were smashed and the bodywork dinted more and more with each hit. Yet once again the hail never struck either of us.

  Tyler grew brave now and walked closer and closer to me, until finally he was right in front of me. He was looking me in my eyes the whole time. They didn’t bother him, glowing white, no pupils. He looked at me as he always did, warmly and admiringly. The ground beneath us started shaking more violent than it had last night. A crack developed and spread around us.

  “You may want to hold on,” I told him.

  “To what?”

  “Me!”

  The ground beneath us separated leaving us only a small area to stand on. He grabbed my waist just before we rose into the air fast. I had created a tall, thin, straight-edged mountain of rock and earth, and we were standing on the top of it going higher and higher towards the clouds. I stopped us after about thirty seconds, when we looked around we could see for miles, we were so high up. The car looked the size of a mouse. He looked down and swallowed hard, his grip on me tightening.

  “Do you still trust me?” I asked him.

  “You know I do.”

  “Then let go of me.”

  His grip loosened and he put his arms down by his side.

  “I’ll see you down there.”

  “What?” he asked worried.

  I grinned at him for a moment before pushing him off the edge. I watched him free-fall until he was about twenty feet from the ground. I put my hand out and he slowly and softly landed on his feet. He looked up and then I stepped off the edge myself. It was amazing, I felt weightless…free. I landed as he had, just in front of him. When I looked at him I could see he was shaking. I giggled a little, then the earth started shaking again as the mountain of rock sank back to where it had come from.

  Once again the field was flat and perfect as it had been before. The hailstones hadn’t melted and the field was now white. I stopped them falling, raised my arms again and all of them rose up off the grass. Then they started swirling around us. It looked like a tornado of hailstones and we were in the middle of it. The wind ripped through the air, thunder roared deafeningly loud, lightning struck the ground, the cyclone moved faster and faster around us. Then there was a flash of blinding-white light and everything was gone. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, no sign at all that it had rained or hailed, no burnt tree, nothing.

  “Wow!” he said, looking around us. “That was amazing – was that everything?”

  “Not even close!” I told him.

  “Don’t let me stop you. Please carry on.”

  “Not yet, I need to calm down.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s too strong. I don’t know if I can handle it yet. I don’t want to do too much until I’m used to it more.”

  “Ah, I understand. Come on I’ve got us drinks in my bag, let’s just chill out for a bit.”

  “Oh shit!” I said, looking at my car. I walked over to it and put my hand flat against the hood. All the dents pushed themselves back out, the window fixed itself and the car was as good as new.

  “God, I wish I had just a bit of what you have in you,” he said as he grabbed his bag.

  I turned the stereo on and left the door open. Then we sat on the grass next to the car.

  “I am so glad I was the one to see that,” he said, passing me a coke. “Sorry, they’re not cold anymore.”

  “Give ‘em here.”

  I sat the bottles in front of us. Ice came out of the ground and within seconds they were cold. />
  “There you go,” I said, passing him one of the drinks.

  “See? Now that is one of the reasons I’m jealous. I see you’ve left your eyes white.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s nice to feel natural for a while. Anyway what can you do?” I asked, lying back in the grass.

  “I can manipulate things to an extent, but I can’t create. You’ve seen the energy balls – you do them yourself. I can levitate but not too high, I’m telekinetic. I’ve got a lot of strength in me. I can make the room I’m in tremble. Err; I could have fixed your car like you did… Things like that are no problem. All sorts really, but not like you can. I couldn’t have created the clouds or the thunder and lightning. I definitely couldn’t crack the earth and rise up on it.”

  “You’ve still got a good power though.”

  “Oh I know I love what I have.”

  “Do you ever feel like something wants to take you over, or like there is a part of you that you haven’t released yet?”

  “No, I can’t say I’ve ever felt that,” he said as he lay on his side, his head resting on his hand so that he was looking at me. “I take it you do though?”

  “Yes, even a minute ago, I knew that if I didn’t stop something else was coming.”

  “I wonder if…how can I word this?…Say you’re doing things, like you just did. Maybe that’s your first power, and then, when you’re at your limit of your first power, the second one will want to kick in. Like changing gear in a car – you can feel the engine straining. Does that make sense?”

  “Kind of. You mean, instead of using them together or bits of each one, maybe I’ve only ever used one up to now?”

  “I think you have used the two of them. I think when your voice changed last night; you had tapped into something else. You’ve never had to use that part of your power before, have you? Then suddenly when you do, you’re different.”

  “That does make sense,” I said.

  “Of course it does! – I thought of it,” he said, grinning.

  “Oh God…”

  “No, you can call me Tyler.”

  “Shut up,” I laughed, giving him a playful shove.

  “Sorry,” he laughed back.

  “What time is it?”

  “Just after 1:15. Why? Are you in a hurry to get back,” he asked, looking disappointed.

  “No, I didn’t have anything planned.”

  “Good, it’s nice to get you to myself for a while.”

  Just as he said that my phone started ringing.

  “Hello,” I said. “Hey Lily…Sounds good. What you doing this time?…Gorgeous! What time?…Yeah that shouldn’t be a problem…I don’t know actually, in some field somewhere…I’m not telling you. Like he said before it’s private…Maybe…Right…Well, tell him I don’t like being shouted at like a five-year- old, I won’t have it…Fine, put him on!”

  I stood up and went to lean against my car. “What!…Well, what do you want me to say?…Would you like me to make something up? That way you…Oh come off it…No but if you don’t stop all this I just might…What!…You know what, I never for one minute thought you would be like this…Yeah well…Right. Look, I’m having a nice relaxing time here and I’m not going to ruin my day by arguing with someone who doesn’t trust me. Bye!” I hung up.

  “What’s wrong?” Tyler asked.

  “Lily’s cooking again; she’ll have it ready at seven so I told her we would be back. Lucian still thinks I’m keeping secrets, and now he thinks I’m up to something with you. I don’t mean magic stuff either.”

  “Oh.”

  I went and lay back down next to him.

  “Has he always been like this?” I asked.

  “Not that I know of but, having said that, once he’s got his mind set to something, it’s hard to snap him out of it. I don’t know why he’s thinking all that, though.”

  “Neither do I. I just know it’s pissing me off.”

  “Don’t let it get you down.”

  “I won’t, but I’ll tell you this – I won’t be with someone who thinks I’m a liar and doesn’t trust me,” I told him.

  “I thought you really liked him.”

  “I do like him, but I won’t take this shit – I’d rather be single.”

  “This is my fault. I shouldn’t have brought you out,” he said sadly. “I’m sorry, Keira.”

  “Hey, it’s not your fault at all. This started last night. Besides I asked you to come with me, remember, and I like being out with you. So no matter what he says I would still go places and do things with you. I won’t be dictated too!”

  “I just feel guilty.”

  “Well, don’t! Now we were having a nice day out before that phone call. If it rings again, I’m not answering it unless it’s Lily. So shall we go back to having a nice day, or shall we moan some more?”

  “No more moaning. Are you going to see what else you can do?”

  “I don’t know I’m quite comfy here.”

  “Fair enough,” he smiled.

  We lounged around on the grass for another hour and a half. No one else rang us. We were chatting about all sorts of stuff – music, and our favorite films, things we liked and despised. Basically we talked about anything and everything. I spent half the time laughing at him. I swear he could make anyone in the world laugh. I just clicked with him, I felt like I had known him all my life. I was so comfortable with him and I could be myself when I was around him. I loved watching him smile too, whenever he did, his whole face lit up. His eyes seemed to shimmer and he looked so cute. Sometimes I had to force myself to look away from him, hoping he hadn’t noticed that I had been staring at him.

  “Tyler, last night when you said, “Maybe you picked the wrong one to go out with,” what did you mean?” I asked, avoiding eye contact.

  He hesitated. “Just that…Well, maybe you and Lucian are not as compatible as you thought. Maybe you should have waited a while; you might have met someone else.”

  “Yeah, but then I would have had to keep secrets, wouldn’t I?”

  “Not if you’d have picked me or Danny.”

  “Could you honestly see me and Danny together?” I laughed. “We’d kill each other, literally.”

  “Yeah good point,” he sniggered. “You hungry?”

  “Yeah, I am actually.”

  “Do you want to head back? We can stop off somewhere for lunch.”

  “Yeah, OK.”

  We threw our bags in the trunk and made sure we had everything. Then I threw my keys to him. I’ve never seen those eyes of his go so big.

  “I think I love you,” he said with a huge smile.

  “Just be nice to her.”

  He drove us all the way back like I promised him he could. We stopped off at a gas station on the way to fill the tank and get a few snacks. When we got close to home he slowed down a lot. He said he wanted to spend as much time behind the wheel as possible. So when we reached the outskirts of the house he got upset.

  “Look, I promise I’ll let you drive her again the next time we go out,” I told him.

  “Next time?” he asked.

  “I thought you might want to see what else I can do.”

  “Definitely. I like spending time with you. Oh yeah, I forgot, my mom told me to see if you wanted to come by tomorrow morning. Just for a chat and what not.”

  “Yeah, cool. I’ve meant to go around and see all your moms and dads actually. In fact there was a lot I’ve wanted to do, but I’ve not had time to with moving.”

  “Well, you can do what you like now.”

  As we got closer to the house we saw the others all sitting outside in the sun. When they saw Tyler driving my car they all glared at us.

  “Just ignore them, and don’t let Lucian rile you. Just stay calm, don’t rise to him,” he told me before we got out of the car.

  “I’ll try – that’s all I can do.”

  We grabbed our bags and made our way over to them.

  “Hey, you two,” Lily said. �
�I’m glad your home. Dinner’s going to be earlier than I thought. Have you had a good day?”

  “Great,” we both replied.

  “Good.”

  “I thought you were going to get started on your office today,” I said.

  “The furniture place isn’t open today, so I’m going tomorrow. We’re going to get things for the games room too so we can actually use it,” she answered. “I know what you want so I might as well get it.”

  “Oh great, I’ll give you my bank card later.”

  “Where did you end up?” Jake asked.

  “Just a few miles out that’s all,” Tyler told him.

  “Doing what?” Lucian asked bluntly.

  “Chilling out, messing with my power, seeing what I could do,” I answered just as bluntly.

  “What? Why?”

  “Because I wanted to learn more about what I could do. Why else?”

  He didn’t say anything after that. We sat with them for a while before going and having another beautiful meal together. This time there were no interruptions.

  Chapter 18

  Tyler’s house

  I set off for Tyler’s at eleven the next morning. Lily and Jake were going into town to get everything we needed to finish off the games room and for her office. Lucian and Danny would be going around after lunch to help them set everything up. I, on the other hand, had to go and face question after question from Tyler’s mom, and I really wasn’t in the mood to be nice and have questions thrown at me. Lucian had been quiet with me all night last night. He spoke to me only when he had to, and the looks he threw at Tyler were uncalled for. I tried my best at first to start a conversation with him, but every time I did he either walked away from me or cut me dead by talking over me to someone else. That really annoyed me, and once again Tyler took me out of the room so I didn’t blow my top at him.

  Tyler was also a problem. He hadn’t done anything to annoy me; he hadn’t shouted at me or turned on me. He was as nice, caring and funny as he always is. That was the problem. I found myself wanting to spend more and more time with him. I’d always been attracted to Tyler, but until recently I’d just thought we were friends. Now I knew I was developing feelings for him, and I knew that would cause problems. But I couldn’t stop myself.