Eternal Kiss

by Trisha Telep

  Jennifer took a deep breath. “What aren’t very accurate?”

  “Those books.” He stepped forward and took The Massive Book of Vampire Myths down from its shelf. “It’s just going to tell you the same stuff. That vampires burn up in sunlight, don’t reflect in mirrors, can’t cross water or look at crucifixes …”

  “And you don’t think that’s true?” Jennifer’s voice came out thin and high, almost a squeak. Standing this close, she could smell the scent that lingered on his hair and clothes. A faint charred smell, like a burnt match. Maybe he smoked.

  “I think,” he said, “that for vampires to have been around for such a long time, they must be pretty clever. Too clever to let their secrets get out like this. I think they’d be much better off spreading false rumors about how they can be killed—garlic, stake to the heart. Once people believe them, once they think they’re safe …”

  Jennifer shuddered. “You’re joking, right? Did you really tell Mr. Brandon’s English class that you were a vampire?”

  He smiled. “Maybe I did. You have to admit it’s more interesting than the usual introduction. Don’t you think?”

  “I don’t know.” Jennifer reached to put the book back on the shelf. “It all seems sort of …” She turned back around, but there was no one there. Colin was gone.

  “Morbid,” she said, half in a whisper.

  Jennifer stayed in the library for another half an hour, but Colin didn’t return. When the last bell rang, she went to her locker to get her books and found Gabby leaning against it, holding a notebook across her chest. She popped her gum as Jennifer approached.

  “Bridget said someone saw you in the library talking to Colin,” she said.

  Jennifer fiddled with her lock. “So what?”

  “Did he say anything …” Gabby paused. “About, you know. Vampires.”

  “No,” Jennifer said, partly just to be perverse and partly because she had felt a flash of resentment at Gabby’s interest in Colin. Colin was hers. Except, of course, he wasn’t. She jerked her locker door open—

  And jumped back with a muffled exclamation as two books fell from the open locker and hit the floor at her feet. Gabby immediately bent and scooped them up. Both had lurid covers depicting a fanged male vampire looming over a prone girl in a long dress. “Blood Desire,” she read aloud. “The Vampire’s Secret. What is this crap?”

  “Nothing. I was just looking for—” Jennifer broke off as something caught her eye. A piece of white paper fluttered, caught in the grille of her locker door. She reached to pluck it down.

  I thought you might enjoy these, was scrawled on the paper in unfamiliar handwriting. There was no signature.

  Gabby walked home with Jennifer, which was not unusual, especially for a Friday. Their houses were a few blocks from each other. Jennifer’s mother hadn’t wanted to move too far away from her sister even though they both lived in the same town. Gabby chattered about Colin the whole way home—about where he’d moved from, about the things he’d said in English class, and about whether or not he liked Jennifer. Jennifer barely paid attention. All she wanted to do was get home and read the books Colin had left in her locker.

  She convinced Gabby not to come inside the house with her, claiming she had a headache. Locking the front door behind her, she raced upstairs to her room and flung herself on the bed, fumbling the books out of her bag. Their covers were even more lurid than she remembered—each one showed a powerfully muscled male vampire bent over the prone body of a woman, her back arched, her pale throat nakedly exposed. Unconsciously pressing her hand to her own throat, Jennifer opened Blood Desire and began to read.

  She finished The Vampire’s Secret after midnight, having read straight through for six hours, not even going downstairs for dinner. But she didn’t feel tired. She felt alert and awake. Her mouth was dry, her heart pounding as if she’d been running. She was barely aware of what she had read—she’d taken in almost nothing of the stories—but images raced through her mind, as if they came swirling up out of dreams: pale bodies sinking back into darkness, dark hair blown on the wind, red fingernails scraping across the front of an old-fashioned white shirt, blood on an exposed throat, blue veins running under skin like a roadmap. Her own skin burned and itched. There was a pain in the side of her throat. Taking her hand away, she saw her fingertips stained red and realized she had dug her own nails into the skin of her throat until it bled. Her stomach twisted. Colin, she thought. I want Colin.

  When Jennifer came downstairs that morning she found her father sitting at the breakfast table, half-hidden by a newspaper. Her mother was by the stove, flipping pancakes.

  Her father lowered the paper with a smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes. “Good morning, sunshine.”

  Jennifer tugged self-consciously at the neck of her sweater. She’d worn it to cover the bruises she’d made on her throat with her own fingernails. “Morning, Dad.”

  He frowned. “You look a little peaked, kid. Is everything all right? You feeling okay?”

  Her mother, coming over to the table with a plate of pancakes. “Do you need to stay home from school, Jenny?”

  Staying home from school would mean not seeing Colin. Jennifer’s stomach twisted, a feeling of nausea rising inside her. The sickly smell of maple syrup was overwhelming. “I’m fine. I just had a lot of homework to do last night.”

  Her mother and father glanced at each other across the table, their eyes meeting in secret parental communication. “We were thinking of going up to your grandmother’s this weekend,” her mother said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve seen her. We thought you could take Friday off school.”

  Jennifer’s grandmother lived hours outside the city in the middle of nowhere, a tiny house surrounded by trees, miles from the nearest town. And she was even more conservative than Jen’s mother. She banned all books from her house, not just the ones with magic or supernatural creatures in them, and all music and movies, too. She was terrifying—cold and rigid and strict. Gabby said everyone was afraid of her, even her daughters. Gabby hated going there just as much as Jen did; they’d always used the place as a threat to each other when they were little.

  If you do that, they’ll send you to Grandma’s house!

  “Is this because I asked you about dating?” Jen demanded, whirling on her mom. “It’s not like he even asked—”

  She broke off, already knowing she’d said too much.

  Her mother’s eyes narrowed. “So there is a boy. A specific boy?”

  “No!” Jennifer backed away from the table. “There isn’t anyone.”

  “Jen,” her father said. His voice was placating. “You know the rules.”

  But what if you met him? Jen wanted to ask, but it was pointless. She thought of her parents meeting Colin, with his rings and his strange black clothes and his claim that he was a vampire. She could only imagine how badly that would go.

  And it wasn’t as if he’d asked her out in the first place, anyway.

  “I just don’t want to go away this weekend,” she said, her voice shaking slightly. “I have a lot of work. A big assignment—”

  “Jen,” her mother said. Her voice was soft; she didn’t sound angry. “Whoever he is, just forget about him. Someday, when you’re older, there will be other boys.”

  But Jen didn’t want other boys.

  Colin was in his usual place in the lunchroom that afternoon, his feet up on the table, a black notebook spread out over his lap. As usual, there was no food on his lunch tray. Jennifer marched directly up to him, ignoring the stares of Gabby and Bridget from across the room.

  “I read those books,” she said. “The ones you put in my locker.”

  He lowered the notebook and looked up. His eyes seared into hers. “What books?”

  Now he was playing with her. “You know what books.” She searched his face for any clue to what he was thinking, but it was unreadable. “Why are you so fascinated with vampires?”

  Now he
smiled. “Why not?” he said. “People have been fascinated with vampires for centuries.”

  “But you,” she whispered. “Why do you care? Why do you know so much about them?”

  “They’re human, but more than human. They don’t need to eat, to breathe—imagine being like that, so pure that you have only one need in the world, one desire.”

  “Blood,” Jennifer said, and a shiver went up her spine as she said it. She was no longer aware of the cafeteria, the noise and bustle all around her, or even if people were staring. She was only aware of Colin, who was holding her gaze to his with eyes like green nails.

  “Blood,” he said. “So simple, but everything. Imagine looking around a room like this—” His eyes slid around the cafeteria, slow and contemptuous—“and knowing you’re better than everyone in it. Better and different.”

  Jennifer shook her head. “I can’t imagine that.”

  He leaned forward, his elbows on the table. His grin was florescent-bright. “You should. You are better. Different. Special. I knew it the minute I saw you in the library.”

  She swallowed hard. “I’m not, really. I’m ordinary.”

  He shook his head. “Come out with me this weekend,” he said.

  Startled, she could only stare. “Like—on a date?”

  “Like on a date.”

  “My parents …” she began. “They don’t let me go on dates.”

  “That’s too bad,” he said. He sounded like he meant it.

  “And I won’t be around this weekend,” she said, and then, hardly believing her own daring, added: “But—my parents, they go to sleep early. Maybe I could sneak out …”

  “Could you?” A smile played around the corners of his mouth. “I’ll tell you what. You wait for me, tonight, in your room. I’ll come to you.”

  Jennifer’s throat was dry. It was all she could do to nod in response.

  Leaving the cafeteria, Jen drifted through the halls like smoke, like a ghost. More than one person walked into her, but she only swerved to go around them, or stared through them until they moved on, muttering to themselves. I’m seeing Colin tonight, she thought, over and over. Late tonight. He said he would come to me. In one of the vampire stories she had read the night before, vampires had soulmates, humans who were bonded to them with a mutually interdependent bond—both vampire and human needing each other. The vampire would do anything to protect its bonded human. She thought of Colin being willing to do anything to protect her. She thought of his mouth on her throat, and a shudder went through her. She almost had to stop and lean against the wall to keep herself from falling over.

  “Where are you?” Gabby’s voice, bright as sunshine cutting through the fog in her mind. Jennifer looked up. Gabrielle was propped against the locker next to hers, a piece of her bright hair wound around a finger, her eyes inquisitive. “Earth to Jen.”

  Jennifer swung her locker door open, avoiding her cousin’s eyes. “Sorry. I was thinking about something.”

  “You’re always thinking about something.” Gabby tugged on her hair. “You need to take your mind off stuff. Want to go out tonight? See a movie? Something dumb, with cute guys in it.”

  It was like Gabby was psychic. Jen bit her lip. “I can’t. I have … plans.”

  “Plans? Plans with who?”

  “No one.”

  “Plans with Colin?”

  Jennifer slammed her locker door shut. “Maybe.”

  “Oh my God, you do have plans with him!” A look of surprise—and something more than surprise—washed over Gabby’s face. If Jennifer hadn’t known it was ridiculous, she would have thought Gabby looked frightened. “You’re not seriously going to go, are you?”

  “Of course I’m going to go.”

  Gabby chewed her lip. “I don’t think it’s a good idea—”

  Jennifer turned away, cutting her off. “I’m going home, Gabby. I’ll see you later.”

  Of course, it wasn’t as easy to get rid of her cousin as that. Gabby walked with her all the way home, talking excitedly all the way about Colin. Warning her that going out with him wasn’t a good idea. He was weird, he was too silent, he was too pale, he was too strange, he acted like a serial killer, he never talked to anyone. He was probably full of himself and boring.

  “So I’ll be bored,” Jen said, keeping her eyes straight ahead as she walked. It was easier to disagree with Gabby when you acted calm and didn’t get mad. “So what?”

  “So why subject yourself to that when you could spend the evening with me?” Gabby’s voice was wheedling. “Where’s the girl power?”

  “Girl power doesn’t mean never going out with boys ever, Gabs. You go out with boys all the time.”

  “I’m just looking out for you. Colin is—weird.”

  “So he’s weird. I’m weird.”

  “Not like him.” Gabby sounded unhappy. “I think he could be—dangerous.”

  That did it. Despite vowing to stay calm, Jen whirled on her cousin. “Is this about Bridget saying he was a vampire? Is that what this is about? I thought that was a joke.”

  “It was.”

  “So you don’t think he’s a vampire.”

  Gabby met her gaze, steadily. “No. I don’t.”

  Surprise washed over Jennifer, and then something else—disappointment? It flared out quickly, and now she was angry again. “Then stop bugging me. I bet I can guess what’s really bothering you.”

  “I bet you can’t.” Gabby’s blue eyes sparked with matching annoyance.

  “You’re always the one who gets the dates. You’ve always got some cute guy panting after you. Now that I’m the one with the date, you’re jealous. You noticed Colin first, and you’re mad he likes me.”

  Once the words were out of Jen’s mouth, she wished she could take them back. There was the strangest expression on Gabby’s face. She’d never seen her cousin look like that before.

  “Let me tell you, Jen,” Gabby said, “whether you believe me or not, jealous is the last thing I am.”

  Jennifer opened her mouth to shoot back that she didn’t believe her, then closed it again. Whatever else was going on—whatever was the real reason her cousin was acting so strange—it was obvious that Gabby was telling the truth.

  Jennifer sat on her bed, looking at herself in the mirror that hung over her dresser. She had changed her clothes a dozen times, and finally settled on black jeans and a black sweater. Her hair was down, brushed out, with gel on the ends to stop it from frizzing. Between her dark hair and her dark sweater, her face seemed to hover in the mirror like an untethered white balloon floating in the darkness of the room.

  He’s not coming.

  It was almost midnight. There were books spilled out across her bed. She had tried reading to take her mind off waiting, but that had only made things worse. She’d tried finishing the vampire novel she was halfway through, but it had only made her skin feel hot and unbearably itchy. She could hear the clock in the hallway ticking—hear the snap, snap, of each minute passing. The air in the room seemed close and suffocating, too, as if she couldn’t quite breathe properly.

  He’s not coming.

  She wished she hadn’t told Gabby anything. It would be humiliating to have to go to school in the morning and admit that the date she’d fought so hard to defend hadn’t even happened because she’d been stood up. Maybe Colin had just been mocking her with all his talk about blood and desire and—

  It came then, a soft rap on her window. She whirled around to stare; the floating white balloon in the mirror veering as if caught by a gust of wind. She heard the sound again and stood up, going to the window and throwing it open, leaning out into the soft spring night.

  He was in the garden below her window, a black shadow against the neatly trimmed grass of the front lawn, face and eyes printed white against the darkness. He beckoned to her with his hand. Come down.

  She came down, and he was waiting by the front steps. He put his finger to her lips, shushing her before she cou
ld ask him any questions. When he took his hand away she could taste the salt from his skin on her mouth.

  He took her hand. She let him, and he drew her toward the front gate and out onto the street. It was empty, the white lights painted down the center of the road gleaming in the moonlight, the parked cars still as sleeping animals. Colin pulled her into the shadows between two cars and kissed her, hard and hungrily, pushing her back against the trunk of a neighbor’s Jeep, the handle of the trunk jamming into her back.

  Colin’s hands were alternately cold and hot on her skin, sliding up under the back of her sweater. His mouth tasted like salt. She was dizzy, floating, cut free from everything. Her fingers scrabbled against his shoulders, his neck. She could feel his pulse hammering. His heart beats, she thought. His mouth found her cheek, the side of her jaw, her throat. Desire and fear flared up inside her and she whimpered.

  Colin pulled back. His lips looked bruised in the dim light, his eyes hot. He said, “You’re right. We shouldn’t do this here.” He took her hand again. “Let’s go.”

  “Where?” she whispered. It was all she had the breath to say.

  He grinned, bright in the darkness. “You’ll see.”

  The cemetery gate was unlocked. Colin pushed it open and slipped through, pulling Jen behind him. There was a gravel path running between the graves, lined with pale headstones. Some of the graves had flowers scattered across them, black in the shadows. Their feet crunched on the path.

  Jen’s heart was pounding. “What are we doing here?”

  “Relax.” Colin turned, holding both her hands in his, walking backward. He drew her after him, and she could have pulled away, but she didn’t want to. “I want to show you one of my favorite places.”

  She let him lead her. “All right.”

  The path wound under the trees, where the shadows were thick and dark as paint, and came out by the side of a small lake. Hills rose around the lake, spiked with mausoleums and leaning gravestones. Colin let go of Jen’s hand long enough to slide off his backpack. He pulled a blanket out of it, spreading it on the ground, and beckoned her to come and sit beside him.