by Ashley Mason
Things seemed to almost slow to a crawl. Penelope had no memory of being attacked in her bed, Tessa hadn’t heard from either of the brothers in nearly a week, and things weren’t getting any easier. She still didn’t have the answers she needed and ever since the masquerade ball, Penny had seemed almost frightened of Tessa no matter how much she swore up and down that she would never willingly feed off of her best friend. No, that was what the strangers she found out on the street were for.
“Tessa?” The red head poked her head in through the bedroom door, smiling slightly. “Louie just got here.” The two of them had decided a couple of days back to tell Louie and surprisingly enough he had seemed to take everything pretty much in stride.
“Did he bring it?”
“Sure did.” Tessa followed Penny out into the living room, smiling at Louie who gave a little wave.
“I got finished just about an hour ago so I figured I would just head on over. You’ve got some interesting crap going on there, Tessa. Stuff I’ve never seen before.” Louie worked as a lab tech at the local hospital and had agreed to analyze, to the best of his abilities, a sample of Tessa’s blood. He laid a thick manila envelope on the table and Tessa snagged it, pulling out the papers and trying to make sense of it all.
“Alright, translate this for me, please.”
“Well, first off, as far as I can tell, you have no blood type anymore. This, among other things, is pretty damn impossible. Second of all, your blood cells are mutated it seems. Your white blood cell count is absolutely off the charts. In the low millions which is just…incredible. It’s like your entire body is filled with one huge infection creating this over production of leukocytes. Normally, I would say to start counting your days but…I don’t think that’s the case here.” Louie grabbed the papers and pulled out a print of a blood slide.
“If you look closely enough, you can see normal red blood cells. Then you can see in the zoomed in portion…” He set his fingertip down on a close up of a blood cell. “I believe this to be your vampiric cells; more oblong in shape and much smaller. The whole thing is just bizarre but…somehow it seems to work. The mutated cells seem almost to work with a pack mentality. They attack the human cells of the blood you digest, absorbing whatever nutrients they get from the blood. Amazing, really.”
“Glad you think so.” Penny glared at her boyfriend who shrugged sheepishly. “You were careful about all this, right? No one is going to find some random sample of her blood on a slide anywhere?”
“Everything was destroyed, no worries. I’ve got your back.”
“Thanks.” Shoving the papers back into the envelope, Tessa stood and walked to the curtained window. She pulled back the shade and blinked rapidly in the dwindling sunlight. She wasn’t quite sure how it was possible but things just kept getting more and more confusing. And the funny thing was that Tessa had completely come to terms with the fact that she was now a creature no longer of the human persuasion. That didn’t faze her at all.
Men, however, continued to plague her even after death. What she really needed to make sense of the whole situation was more information. Unfortunately, neither of the men was very forthcoming on the subject that interested her. But Tessa refused to let that stop her. She’d just have to get a bit creative.
“Guys, we're taking a trip to the library.”
A loud thump reverberated through the mostly empty public library. Penny had dropped a large stack of books on the table in front of the rather large stack that Tessa and Louie were already reading through.
“These look pretty interesting. If Harper and Elijah’s family is as old as we’re thinking it is then I highly doubt they originate from here. So I grabbed a few books on the history of the founding families for the area.” A smug smile curved the girl’s lips and Tessa laughed quietly.
“Good thinking. But how are we supposed to pick out one family out of ALL the founding families?”
“Typically, the surname is changed for acclimation purposes. However, it doesn’t usually change all that much.” She pulled the book down from the top. “So, lucky us, the Harper family didn’t seem to have an issue with fitting in. Either that, or they just didn’t care.” She flipped the book open to a marked page. On it was a beautifully drawn family tree. Children, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and more filled the page in tiny print, lines connecting the names in a pattern. Tessa ran her finger along the bottom few lines and frowned.
“I don’t see anything familiar.”
“That is because you’re looking too far down.” Penny pointed at a couple of names towards the very top of the page. “Your friends are very old indeed.
“This can’t be right, can it? I mean this would make Harper at least…well it would make him extremely old.” The specific dates for the entries at the top of the tree were either none existent or consisted of nothing but question marks. “Are you sure this is them? I mean the names are similar but…wait I get it. The original names are first followed by their new world counterpart in parenthesis.”
“Right. There isn’t a whole lot to go on. The writer basically takes a guess at what year the family came over to the states so that isn’t wholly reliable. They settle in a coastal village that doesn’t seem to exist any longer before the writer gets vague all over again. Both sons were alive and kicking when the ship came over. It seems that Loki may have died in the original settlement. He was engaged to some girl that came over with them. She got sick aboard the ship and died shortly after reaching land. I'm not exactly sure what from though. Then, it seems, Ollil died as well, from what I couldn’t say. After that it just talks about how the remaining family members moved on and lived their lives. There is no mention of them being-“
“Hello.” A deep voice stopped Penny mid-sentence and everyone froze before turning and looking behind Tessa’s shoulder, grimacing. Harper smiled warmly at them all but his eyes were hard. “Sorry, am I interrupting your little study session?” Penny shut the book and Tessa stood up, forcing her lips into a tight smile.
“Of course not. We were just-“
“I understand perfectly well what it was you were doing.” Harper grabbed her arm, not unkindly, and drew her a little ways from her friends. “If you had questions, you should have just come to me instead of going off on your own and with humans nonetheless. Do you know the danger you have put them in, including them on this little digging expedition of yours?
“When you sealed your Coven bond by drinking Penny’s blood at the masquerade, you were basically pledging your life to the betterment of the species, Tessa. That does not include letting humans in on our little secret. I let your telling Penny slide because I didn’t really have much of a choice. But telling the male…you are asking for trouble.”
“I didn’t exactly get a How-to guide when you changed me and left me for dead to wake up on an autopsy table, not knowing who -or what- I was, Harper. I don’t know the rules. As for my Coven bond…I was forced into that just as I was forced into my vampirism. So excuse me if I haven’t been a model student. Besides that…screw you. Ask you my questions? How am I to do that when I can’t even get ahold of you?” She ripped her arm from his grasp and stood up straighter, jutting her chin out in defiance. Her eyes blazed with a dark purple incandescence, flamed to life from her weeks’ worth of anger and frustration. “You and Elijah simply disappeared, leaving me to my own devices and this is the only thing I could think of to keep myself from going completely crazy. I want- no I need- to know more. I need to know it all.”
Harper sighed deeply, shoving his hands into his Diesel jeans as far as they would go. He stared at Tessa for a long moment and she began to wonder if maybe she would finally get the information she wanted. She hadn’t meant to put him in the spotlight like that but what else could Tessa do? She deserved to know everything about this new life she had found herself in, didn’t she? It was like joining a super-secret society with an initiation but no rule book. And she had had enough of the cloak a
nd dagger. It was time for answers and she was determined to get them no matter what.
“You know, you are absolutely right. What the hell was I thinking? You’ll have to forgive me, Tessa. Unlike you, I was born into this life, as was my brother. Why don’t you meet me tomorrow night at the club? I’ll be there all night. I promise to give you some of the answers you have been looking for.”
“Really?” Tessa lit up with a grin, clapping her hands. “Finally! You don’t know what a relief this is.”
“I’m sure I can imagine.”
Tessa did not miss the fact that Harper said some of the answers and not all of them.
Tessa thanked the girl behind the counter and took her cappuccino to a dark corner of the café, pushing the sunglasses up farther onto the bridge of her nose. Absolutely nothing about the drink seemed particularly appetizing but she had needed to get away for a while and this was one of her favorite past times. She would sit in a random coffee shop with a drink and a good thick book and just lose herself until her troubles seemed less bothersome. Sure, her problems now were a little more intense, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t take a little breather from the world. Tessa had managed to feed the night before so even the late afternoon sun wasn’t able to keep her cooped up in Penny's apartment.
Before she could even manage to settle comfortably into her seat, a woman pushed past her chair and nearly knocked the hot drink from her hands. Tessa's quick reflexes were the only thing that saved it from sliding to the floor.
“Oh gosh, I am so so sorry. Did I spill any on you? I really need to learn to watch where I'm going.” Tessa waved a hand in the air, ready to dismiss the girl’s apology as it really wasn’t necessary, but stopped short when she looked up at her face.
Eyes so dark they were nearly black stared back her, unblinking in a slightly unnerving way. They were fringed in thick, heavy eyelashes above a delicately pointed nose and rosy red lips that were a shade too full for the oval face. Dense black waves of hair fell past her thin shoulders, a red sundress flaring out from her equally small waist to accentuate her long legs. The woman was undeniably pretty but there was something off about her as well. Though her lips were curved upwards in an apologetic smile, it didn’t quite reach her eyes.
“I'm sorry, what was that?” The girl laughed quietly at Tessa's confused stare, slender fingers reaching up to brush her bangs back from her face.
“I was apologizing for not looking where I was going and nearly spilling your drink all over you.”
“Oh, right. No worries, it didn’t spill at all. I, uh, have pretty quick reflexes. Like a cat…” Tessa laughed nervously, flicking a look at the door to the café. Something about this girl was really off and it was making her anxious to leave. Suddenly, the girl tilted her head to the side, squinting.
“I'm sorry but you look so familiar. Do I know you?” Tessa shoved her sunglasses up her nose again, forcing a bright smile on her face.
“Sure don’t. I'm new to town so I'm afraid there I don’t really know anyone here. Look, I was actually just getting ready to-“
“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.” Suddenly, the girl looked nervous, almost contrite in her second apology. “I sometimes have that effect on people. My mother says I am much too forward, always putting my nose into other people’s business and not respecting personal space. I just think I'm being friendly. I'm Deyanira, by the way. Most people just call me Nira, though.” She stuck her hand out and, for a moment, Tessa just stared at it. It was a perfectly normal hand. The skin was a lovely olive color with nicely polished nails. Finally, Tessa shook herself out of whatever had taken her over for a moment and shook the girl’s hand and smiled, for real this time.
“I’m Tessa. It is very nice to meet you, Nira. Deyanira was the name of Heracles’ third wife, right? The one that killed him with poison after the centaur tricked her?”
“A woman that knows her Greek mythology; be still my heart.” Nira laughed and slid in the chair opposite Tessa, who merely quirked an eyebrow then shrugged it off.
“Yes, well it happened to be one of my favorite subjects back when I was in college. I think it had something to do with all of the hopeless love triangles and affairs. It was just too interesting to pass up.” The warning bells going off in Tessa's head had started to dim and she began to relax a little.
“So, are you still in school or did you graduate?”
“Oh, uh well, I didn’t finish, not really. I had some things come up and my life just…didn’t quite follow the plan. Not that I'm complaining, and I could always go back to school. It’s just a little difficult to, right now.”
“Right. I'm here on vacation, actually. I'm in my third year as an ASNC Major at Cambridge.”
“ASNC?”
“Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic major, to be specific. It’s a small group of study, but it’s my passion. But enough about me; tell me more about you. What did you stop going to school?
Nira sat there with her chin in her hand, staring at Tessa with intrigue. The warning bells gave one last peal for good measure then went completely silent. Just like that, Tessa could not recall what it was about this woman that had made her so nervous before. She was only being friendly. It was what polite people did, right? But she couldn’t possible tell her the truth of her complicated home life.
Could she?
The club was busy, as always; the bouncers merely glancing Tessa's way before opening their respective doors to let her in. The crush of bodies would have at one point in her life made Tessa anxious to quickly leave. But tonight, dressed in a silver mini-skirt and loose marigold tank top, she felt comfortable and confident. She held her head up and smiled, careful not to make eye contact with anyone seeking her attention. Although she had shown surprising control over her blood lust, she was still only a mere two months into her change and the hunger could easily rear its blood thirsty head and sweep her into a killing frenzy. So caution was her best friend these days.
Tessa maneuvered her way through the crowds, making it to the bar in double time. Carter grinned at her from behind it, his large hands resting easily atop the varnished wood as he leaned towards her.
“Welcome to the Hollow, little lamb. Alyssa and I had started to worry about you. She had said she hadn’t seen you since the masquerade.”
“Carter, right? Somehow, I don’t imagine you felt quite as much concern as your friend.” The male shrugged and grinned, flashing two long canines at her. “Where is Alyssa anyways?”
“She happens to be off for the night. Doesn’t mean she isn’t here, however. I suspect she is somewhere out there, in the crowd, drinking her fill. So tell me, lamb, how can I be of service?” Carter leaned a little further over the counter and Tessa wondered how she could have ever mistaken him for Harper. Yes, they both had black hair that hung down into their eyes and Carter was certainly handsome enough. His eyes though…they were the brightest shade of emerald that Tessa had ever seen. They nearly glowed, they were so bright. And he was missing the scar on his upper lip. The vampire’s skin was perfectly smooth and bronzed with just a hint of dark stubble that was just coming in.
“You’re starring.” Tessa gave a little shake of her head and smiled.
“Sorry. I was just…Anyways, I'm looking for Harper. Is he here?” Carter jerked his head towards the door at the side of the bar.
“He’s in his office.”
“Thanks.”
“Any time, lamb.”
“Don’t call me that.” She turned and made her way to the side of the bar and knocked once on the door before opening it and walking in. Inside, the walls were covered with shelves filled with books and a single desk with a dual screened computer with two chairs facing it. Harper sat at the computer and smiled when he looked up at her.
“You showed up. I wasn’t sure you would. You seemed so angry earlier.” He stood and walked around the desk to take her in his arms. “I'm glad you did, though.” Before Tessa could utter a single word
, Harper's lips came down on hers and Tessa melted against him, her arms coming up to circle his neck and pull him closer.
With a groan, Harper backed her up against the door, his lips moving slowly against hers like they had all the time in the world. Tessa heard a click and realized he had locked the door. She gasped against his mouth and pushed him away with all her strength. Harper flew across the room, crashing into one of the many shelves, books falling to the floor around his feet. Tessa's chest heaved as she struggled to catch the air that she no longer needed to breath. She slowly straightened and rearranged her tank top that had slid up her stomach.
“I didn’t come here to make out with you, Harper. I came here for an explanation and I don’t plan on letting you distract me. So just knock it off.” He chuckled and smoothed down his tie, his eyes dark as he took his seat at the desk again. Tessa followed suite, taking one of the chairs facing him. “Sorry, I'm just a little on edge right now.”
“No worries. I completely understand. Where would you like to start? I’ve already explained how you were turned.”
“I'm not looking for more of that story. I want to hear yours.” The room fell silent as Harper stared at her, his face contemplative, like he wasn’t quite sure if he wanted to tell that particular story. Tessa opened her mouth to say something but he cut her off.
“My story…Not many people ask to hear it. I won’t lie and say I'm not surprised. It is a long and sad story, I suppose, but one that should be told on occasion. Would you like something to drink first?” Tessa shook her head, settling further back into the chair. “I’ll try to tell it in order but, to be honest; it is harder than it sounds. So be patient.
“The year was 1599 and Robert Devereux, the second Earl of Essex, had arrived in Ireland with over 17,000 English troops, hoping to make an attempt on Ulster. My father, Stephen, hoping to avoid having his only two sons being brought into a war that he wanted nothing to do with, fled the country. He took his second wife, Liamhain, the twins she had borne him, his eldest son from a previous marriage and his son’s betrothed with him. They boarded a small vessel destined for the new world. Some days, when I think back, I wish we had never left Ireland. I think he wishes it as well.” Harper stared at the far wall, remembering the long journey and the even longer streak of bad luck that welcomed them to their new home.
