by Kristie Cook
“No pressure.”
“I’ll see you in Art,” I said with a smirk to lighten the mood.
He smiled and rubbed my cheek with his thumb before moving to his seat while the rest of the kids were coming in and being loud. The teacher came too, banging her pencil on the desktop to get everyone’s attention. Class crept by increasingly slow, like water in a watched pot not boiling. I was anxious to get to Art to see Eli. But to my dismay, there was a note on the door telling us to go to the gym for that period because the Art teacher had an emergency. I completely forgot to do the assignment anyway.
So I went and dressed out with the girls to play volleyball. I loved volleyball and soon the class was over and I was changing and heading home.
As I walked through the door I remembered that we’d told Patrick yesterday at lunch that we might go to that club with him tonight. I wondered if Eli was going. I thought about texting Eli about it but kept going back and forth as I nibbled my carrot sticks snuck from the fridge. I did want to go but I also needed to think. I didn’t want to string him along or give him the wrong idea. Though kissing his cheek today was probably doing just that. Ugh. Boys.
The babies were extremely colicky tonight. It was like God was sending me a message to get out of the house.
So, by seven o’clock, enough was enough and I decided to give the club a shot and if Eli was there, he was there. I hadn’t told him I was coming so there would be no mixed signals, I hoped. And if he didn’t come, then I’d try to have fun and be my own person for a change. I’d always done everything with my little band of friends. I needed to learn to do things alone and make my own friends. Besides, Patrick would be there.
So I showered quickly and put on a pair of jeans with my black heels and the dark blue and black silk peasant top that Dee claimed she saw first. It seemed to fit the night’s theme of independence. With my hair left down and a little make-up, I was ready to go. I told Pastor and Mrs. Ruth where I was going. Since I was not being picked up by a boy, Pastor let me borrow his Silver Camry and send me off with his usual “be careful and be home by midnight”.
I drove to the place and saw a packed parking lot so I parked on the street. I got out and started to make my way up the sidewalk but got cold feet. What was I doing there? I didn’t really want to go in there by myself. I should’ve known I’d chicken out. Even if Patrick was inside, I didn’t know him that well.
I turned to go back to the car and saw Eli standing by the wall near the door. I felt so relieved as I walked towards him. He looked at me, but his eyes slid right past me. My steps faltered and I lost my nerve. Was he changing his mind now? He looked back to me and he stared at me for a few seconds and then he smiled. I smiled back and walked right up to him and kissed his cheek.
“Hey,” I said and fingered the buttons on his shirt. It was a strange pick for him, a bright blue and white striped polo. Everything else I’d seen him in was darker and more low key. “I wondered if you were coming or not.”
“Did you now?” he said smoothly in that accent of his. “And why wouldn’t I come, sweetness?”
“Well … I didn’t get to talk to you about coming earlier. I thought you might.” I bit my lip. “Look, I know things are weird right now … but can we go inside and just have fun? I really need a night out, with no stress.” I linked my arms around his middle. “Please?”
“I think I can oblige,” he said and wrapped his arms around me.
“Good.”
“Is this really your scene?”
“No. My crowd never hung out here. I’m trying something new. Besides, Patrick invited us, remember?”
“Hmm,” he hummed and nodded. “Are you ready to go in?”
“Ready when you are.”
He then bent his head to kiss me. I immediately felt warm all over and heard him groan as he turned us to press me to the wall. He kissed me for a few long seconds. “Oh, wow,” he whispered against my lips. “You are exquisite.”
I was just about to think about how strange he was acting when I heard my name. I peeked around Eli and saw … Eli. He seemed confused, then hurt, then angry. He glared at the man with his arms around me.
I looked up to the one with his arms still around me tightly and he grinned deviously and winked, making my fear spike as to what was going on. It was then I noticed that his eyebrow ring was missing. He opened his mouth, licked his lips and leaned forward to kiss the side of my mouth as he groaned in delight.
“Aww,” fake Eli crooned. “Brother has come to spoil my fun, now hasn’t he?”
Chapter Seven
“Clara,” Eli said and reached his hand out to me, beckoning. “Come away from him now.”
I wondered if the fake Eli would try to stop me, but he lifted his hands as if in surrender and let me go freely. I heard him laugh as Eli pulled me behind him.
“Brother.”
“Enoch,” Eli spat. “What are you doing here? How did you find me?”
“You’re not that hard to find anymore. You travel to these pitiful little towns and buy those quaint old houses. So pathetic and predictable.”
“Eli,” I asked. “What’s going on?”
He sighed and took my hand behind him, almost as if to hide the fact that he was trying to comfort me.
“Clara, this is my brother, Enoch. My twin.”
“One of your family that you were telling me about?”
“Yes.”
“Tsk, tsk, brother,” Enoch mocked. “You didn’t introduce your little cupcake to me. How rude. Especially after I’ve tasted her lips and her fright, her want.” He licked his lips again and smiled at me. “All were delicious.”
I blushed and covered my cheek with my hand in embarrassment. I knew something had been off with Eli when I saw him there on the wall. But Eli didn’t mention that his brother was a twin. How could I have known?
“Don’t, Clara. You have nothing to be ashamed about,” Eli whispered. He looked from me to his brother. “You thought you were kissing me, after all.”
His brother laughed and pushed off from the wall.
“Ouch.” Then he shook his head in mock disappointment. “I can’t believe you told a human about what you are. I’m in delightful shock—both by your actions and her reaction. She still wanted to kiss you after you told her you siphon off her emotions. Fascinating.” Eli just continued to glower. “Goodbye, brother. Bye, Clara. Nice, uh … meeting you. I hope we can meet again. Maybe next time, you can leave the stick in the mud at home.”
Eli growled and Enoch laughed again as he disappeared around the corner of the building.
Eli’s visibly relaxed and turned to me.
“Are you ok?” he asked as his hands roamed my arms and face. “He didn’t hurt you did he? What happened?”
“I saw you—I thought it was you—waiting here. So I walked up to you and said I was wondering if you’d be here. Then you kissed me …” I shook my head. “I’m sorry.”
“Why are you apologizing?”
“I kissed him back,” I confessed.
“It was me you were kissing.” He smiled and ran his thumb over my bottom lip. “I should be happy you want to kiss me at all. What happened to thinking it over? I didn’t think I’d see you here tonight.”
“I’m still thinking, but … I can’t seem to keep away from you. I was hoping you’d be here,” I admitted. “Can we just take things slow? I’m still not sure what’s going on … with everything, but I want to still be friends.”
“That’s sounds really good, actually.” He glanced behind us. “Do you still want to go in or …”
“Yeah, we might as well. We’re here.”
Eli bent down to kiss my forehead, holding my face gently. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Patrick.
“You both made it. Awesome.” He hugged me and told me I looked great in my ear. “Let’s go in. You can suck face on the inside of the club too, ya know,” he said grinning and bumped fists with Eli as he chuckled.
/>
The bouncer asked for all our I.D.s and I started to wonder when he asked if they were going to let me in or not. I hadn’t thought it would be a problem.
“You can’t come in,” he confirmed my fears. “Eighteen and up only, kid.”
“You’re not eighteen?” Patrick asked. “But you’re a senior.”
“I have an early birthday. I don’t turn eighteen until May.”
“Dang.”
“Let her in,” Eli said, looking at the bouncer closely. “Let. Her. In.”
The bouncer blinked a few times and looked around. Then he looked back to me.
“Go ahead. But if someone asks, you snuck in, got it?”
“Yes. Thank you,” I answered.
“Eli, dude. Awesome. You got some Jedi mind tricks working for you, man,” Patrick praised as we followed him in.
I looked at Eli, but he wouldn’t meet my gaze. Inside, the music was so loud it actually vibrated through me, making my vision bounce and it was impossible to hear. So much for talking anything out with Eli tonight. We went to the bar and ordered a few sodas. It didn’t escape my notice how Eli’s protective arm stayed around me the entire time.
The announcer said that the first band of the night, Blue Ashes, was about to take the stage. Eli pointed to the balcony, asking if I wanted to go there with him. I nodded. Patrick and his boys followed us and Eli leaned me against the railing and caged me in with his arms from behind me.
It made me smile because he was protective in a fierce way that was unlike Tate. Tate had been protective like I was a possession of his. Eli was protective like I was something precious.
I turned to look at him and found his face right there over my shoulder. My cheek touched his lips and nose. He kissed it and I shivered. I felt him exhale on my face and realized I was feeding him right that second. I tried to calm down, taking a deep breath. It was kind of chilly inside the smoky club actually, which was weird. I took Eli’s arms and put them around me without even thinking.
“I promise I’m not playing some stupid girly flirting game. I’m just cold. Is this ok?” I asked loudly.
“Are you kidding me?” he said into my ear and kissed my cheek once more. “And you look stunning, by the way. I didn’t really get a chance to say that before.”
“Thank you. So do you.”
He laughed. “Never been called stunning before.”
“Well, you are.”
He smiled and chuckled silently, but I could feel him shake slightly. He put his head against mine for a few seconds and then the lights went out completely. The show was starting.
The band was terrible, but in the strobing and laser lights Patrick and his friends seemed to enjoy them. Then another band came and played a small set, then another. I wasn’t too impressed with any of them but it was still fun to watch and entertaining. And Eli’s arms around me made it even better.
Finally ten o’clock rolled around and I really wanted to talk to Eli. I pulled him to me and yelled as much in his ear. He must have gotten the gist because after he motioned to Patrick that we were leaving. He held my hand tightly and towed me down the stairs and out the door.
“Where’d you park?” Eli asked looking around furiously, for the car or Enoch I didn’t know, and I showed him.
“Where are you parked?” I asked.
“I walked. I’ll just ride with you if that’s ok.”
“Yeah, of course. I’m sorry if you wanted to stay, I just really wanted to talk to you.”
“No,” he opened the passenger door to my car, put me in and then got in the driver’s seat, “I wanted to leave too. I need to explain some things to you about my brother.”
“Ok, good, because I have some questions.”
“Where to?” he asked as he pulled a swift u-turn onto the highway.
“Not home. Let’s go to the dock, out past the warehouse district.”
“Alright. Buckle up.”
He drove us quickly and I decided to start the questioning.
“So, I thought you said your kind couldn’t feel? If that’s the case, then why did Enoch kiss me?”
“Our bodies feel, just not those kinds of emotions. Not love but lust. Not friendship but competition. My brother has always been somewhat of a female conqueror,” he said and I could tell he thought it was disgusting.
“So he seduces girls just to feed off them? And then leaves?”
“Pretty much. He gets what he wants and needs. He’s not made to care about the person. I’m not making excuses for him,” he said quickly. “I’m just saying, Devourers don’t have relationships, even with each other. It’s all twisted and dysfunctional. It’s not real. It’s all a game, a show.”
“So what’s he doing here?”
“Good question,” he muttered as he pulled into the dirt road and I showed him where to park. “I haven’t seen him in about five years.”
We sat in the car and looked out at the water. The long list of things I wanted to ask were a jumbled mess in my head. I couldn’t seem to make sense of any of it.
“Ok. So, what happens now? You skip town because he found you?”
He looked at me with a face of horror.
“No, Clara. No. He’ll leave soon enough on his own. He bores easily. I’m not leaving you,” he took my hand, “unless you send me away.”
“I don’t want you to go away.” I gnawed my lip as he rubbed my knuckles with his thumb. “So what’s up with him? Why does he follow you around?”
“I told you, it’s a game. And if we see him again, which I’m hoping we won’t, but if we do, I’ll have to pretend like I’m just using you so he’ll leave you alone.”
“What?” I said not understanding.
“If he knows how I really feel about you, he’ll just try to torment you and I can’t have that. He’ll know that something is different about you. I’ll have to be with you at night, in your Reveries, so he can’t get in. We’ll just keep a low profile until I know he’s gone.”
“Low profile. Sounds very 007.” He laughed and I smiled, loving hearing it. “Ok, so you ignore me and hope he leaves, that’s taken care of. Now. How old are you?”
He seemed surprised by the question, and I bet he’d never been asked before where he could actually tell the truth.
“Uh … three hundred, plus some. I lost count.”
I gulped and fidgeted with my ring. “You don’t remember the year you were born?”
“Mother wasn’t too keen on keeping records,” he said and laughed without humor. “My brother, sister and I were just a means to keep our race going after all.”
“That’s terrible.”
“Not really. We just don’t view family like humans do. Trust me, if you knew my parents you’d be glad they cut me loose.”
I thought about that and felt like he was being a little ungrateful. At least he still had his parents. I missed mine so much. My face must have shown my sadness, or he felt it maybe.
“Ah, I’m sorry, Clara. I didn’t mean to be so callous. I just meant that they are a ruthless pair, nothing like I’m sure your parents were with you.”
“It’s ok.” I absorbed that, trying not to shudder. “So, you came to the club. I didn’t think you would.”
“I didn’t think you would either, but I didn’t want to miss the chance that you might.”
“I’m glad you did.” I shook my head. “I can’t believe I couldn’t tell that wasn’t you.”
“He knew you thought he was me. That’s all that mattered. If I hadn’t shown up he would have just pretended until you realized it. And then …” He shook his head furiously. “No, I’m not thinking about that.”
“He didn’t seem … I don’t know, evil. He was a jerk, but he seemed … he seemed normal, like you.”
“What did he say to you?”
“I told him I didn’t think you were coming. He said why wouldn’t he come. I said I knew things were weird but could we just try to have fun tonight and not worry about e
verything. He said he would and then he kissed me. He stopped and said … I was exquisite.” I cringed looking at Eli. “Wow, you’re exquisite.”
“He said that?” Eli asked and seemed shocked. “That was the words he used?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Nothing. It’s just strange. He doesn’t usually comment, he just takes what he wants and leaves. Maybe he’s just playing with me. Never mind.” He waved his hand before taking mine in his. “If you see him just ignore him. He won’t play if it’s not fun.”
“So … this is how all Devourers live? Having random kisses and just eating emotion from strangers all day and night?”
“Mostly, yes. But … I don’t … anymore.” He sighed and rubbed his face with his free hand. “I haven’t lived like that in a very long time. I survive on strangers but they don’t even know I’m doing it. I just find ones that are sad or angry. It made things a lot harder on me but … I’ve survived that way, albeit it uncomfortably and near severe hunger sometimes; to try to atone for what I’ve done.”
“Eli …” My heart was breaking for him. He was so guilty, his fingers were actually shaking in my hand. “That’s over.” As much as I didn’t want to think about the things he’d done before, especially with other girls, I knew it wasn’t his fault. He was fighting it. “Eli, look at me.” I pulled his face up when he didn’t. “I don’t blame you. You’ve changed, that’s what matters. What happened? What made you decide to be different?”
“I don’t know, really.” He smiled. “I was walking into a diner one day and a little boy bumped into my leg. I was so annoyed and when I looked down to see him looking up at me, just as annoyed as I was, I laughed. For the first time in my entire existence … I laughed out of pure enjoyment. I’d never felt that emotion before. I watched him walk away with his mother and I thought about how hard it would be to hurt him after that, to make him scared and feed off him, and I knew I couldn’t. From that day on, I never forced an emotion onto another person unless it was necessary. That’s why I liked your Josiah so much the other day. It reminded me of that boy who saved me,” he said and smiled again remembering. “But I never felt another good emotion after that day, until I met you. Now I can’t stop feeling it around you. It’s all over you.”
