Shelter

by Tara Shuler

  For a moment, he was silent, as if he were trying to decide if he’d heard me clearly.

  “You’re what?” he asked.

  “Going to a party,” I repeated. “This guy asked me, and I didn’t know what to say, so I said I would go.”

  “Oh,” he said. “Um… okay.”

  “It’s no big deal,” I said.

  “I didn’t say it was,” Will said. He sounded sincere.

  “What do you think Mother will say?” I asked.

  “Who knows?” he commented, and the conversation ended.

  When I got home, Mother was waiting in the parlor. She lounged on the sofa – a fire roaring in the fireplace, though it was nearly eighty degrees outdoors. She smiled at me when I walked in.

  “Alice, darling,” she cooed, standing up and walking over to me. “Tell Mother about your first day!”

  She put her icy cold hands on my cheeks and cocked her head to the side, eyeballing me as if she were waiting for me to make some incredible revelation. Mother was always chilly, but today her hands were particularly frosty. I guess that was why she had the fire going.

  “I’m going to a party,” I blurted out, instantly wishing I hadn’t.

  “That’s a lovely idea!” Mother gushed. “It’ll give you a chance to get to know some people!”

  Mother was so hard to understand. She had kept my brother and me away from humans our whole lives. She refused to hire humans as servants – even though they cost far less that vampires. She escorted us on almost every trip to the store and every outing personally, and those she couldn’t attend she had our vampire nanny chaperone. Why, now, was she suddenly so determined that I be around them? It was bizarre.

  “What time is the party, dear?” Mother asked.

  “Eight,” I answered.

  “Do you have any homework?” she wanted to know.

  “No, Mother,” I said.

  “Well, then you’d better go get ready for the party,” she told me. “Where is it?”

  I couldn’t remember the exact address, so I set my backpack down on the coffee table and fumbled through it. I finally found the paper on which Van had written the address, and I handed it to her.

  She unfolded the paper and turned it around the proper way. When she read the address, her face blanched. She suddenly became weak in the knees, and she sat down on the couch as if she were dizzy.

  “Mother!” I gasped. “Are you alright?”

  “Yes,” she answered. “Yes, I’m fine.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “This address, I know the people who live there,” she replied.

  “I thought I recognized the address,” I admitted. “When Van wrote it down, it seemed familiar. Why?”

  “Because,” she said. “That’s where your father was killed.”

  Chapter Two

  The Revelation

  I was speechless. I suddenly felt my own knees buckle, and I sat down beside her on the couch and exhaled sharply. That’s where I’d seen the address. I remembered that my mother kept a newspaper clipping in her dresser drawer about an incident that happened at that address. I never knew what it was, but I knew it must have been important for her to keep it like that.

  I had always been a snoop. I was a curious child, and I went through every inch of the house on a regular basis. I’d found some dirty magazines under my brother’s mattress when I was twelve. I blackmailed him into giving me half of them in exchange for not telling Mother. Hey, I said I was a curious child!

  When I found the clipping, I hadn’t understood what it meant. I had looked at it several times after that first day, but it never registered to me what it was. It was a simple story that mentioned a murder at the address, and police said it was a crime of passion. I never knew what that meant.

  I couldn’t speak. I desperately wanted to ask her a million questions, but I couldn’t find the words. I opened my mouth, but the words would not form. It was like I’d been struck dumb.

  “What happened?” I heard my brother ask. I’d forgotten he was in the room.

  Mother got a faraway look in her eyes, and suddenly I saw tears begin to fill them. I couldn’t remember ever seeing my mother cry, and it was shocking. She sighed deeply, and she closed her eyes tightly in an effort to regain her composure. A single tear escaped her eye and fell down her cheek, but she quickly brushed it away. After another deep breath, she spoke.

  “Your father and I were in love once,” she began. “It was so natural with him. Everyone said it was fate.”

  Mother paused, as if the memory was too much to bear. Then she continued, “His parents and my parents arranged for us to be married, but neither of us objected. You see, back then parents still arranged marriages for their children. We had no say in the person we were to marry. We did as we were told.”

  Tears filled her eyes again in remembrance, and she had to take a moment to regain her composure. The reached into the pocket of her dress and withdrew a white, lace-edged handkerchief and blotted her eyes carefully. She took another deep breath and went on.

  “Fortunately, soon fell madly in love. I couldn’t stand to be away from him, and when we were married I was so relieved that I could spend every day with him. We were happy for the first three decades or so, but then things changed. Your father began to spend more time away from home, and soon he was away for months at a time. I never knew where he went – or why.”

  “And you just let him go?” I asked her.

  “What choice did I have?” she questioned. “He was not a slave. He could come and go as he pleased, as could I.”

  “You never knew where he was going?” I asked.

  “No, not at first,” I said. “It killed me to be away from him, but I had Will to look after, and we conceived you when he was home briefly. With the two of you to care for, I didn’t have much time to wonder.”

  “Not at first,” I repeated. “Does that mean you found out later?”

  “Yes, I found out later,” she agreed. “But not before I began having an affair with a human.”

  That statement knocked the breath out of me. My mother had been having an affair with a human while my father was away. I was only a baby. This was totally unexpected. I looked over at Will, and he looked just as shocked as I.

  “A human?” I whispered.

  “Yes,” she answered. “His name was Roger Walker. He was our gardener – the only human we ever hired. We hadn’t been able to find a vampire who could properly care for the grounds, and with your father away so much I couldn’t do it myself. In his absence, I hired Roger to take care of the lawn and the gardens. Just a few weeks later, we were having an affair.”

  “Were you in love with him?” I begged to know.

  “I don’t know,” she answered truthfully. “I was so blindly in love with your father, I’m not sure if I could have fallen in love with anyone else. I was certainly enamored with him, though. He was handsome and kind. So full of life.”

  Mother got that faraway look in her eyes again, and she looked as if she might burst into tears.

  “So what happened to him?” I asked.

  “I can’t talk about this anymore right now,” Mother said.

  She stood up and fled from the room in a flash, leaving Will and me stunned and confused.

  “What do you make of this?” Will asked me, when Mother was safely out of earshot.

  “I don’t know,” I replied. “I remember seeing this newspaper clipping in Mother’s drawer. It talked about a murder, and I remember now it was the address where this party is happening tonight.”

  “Wow,” said Will, dumfounded.

  “I know,” I agreed. “What are the odds?”

  “Are you still going,” he wanted to know.

  “I guess so,” I said. “I said I would.”

  “Then you’d better get ready,” Will told me.

  Chapter Three

  The Meeting

  I didn’t see Mother before I left for the party, and
she wasn’t in her room. I guess she had gone to the garden to be alone. I didn’t want to disturb her, so Will and I got into the car and left.

  On the way, I fiddled with the door lock nervously. I flipped the power lock switch back and forth, over and over, and eventually Will had enough of the persistent click-click-click-click.

  “Oh, my God, will you stop that?” he snapped.

  “Stop what?” I asked, oblivious.

  “Flicking the lock like that!” he shouted.

  I looked down at my hand, and it was resting on the switch. I hadn’t even realized I was doing it. I fidget when I’m nervous, and it occurred to me that this party was giving me more anxiety than I’d initially realized.

  Will pulled up to the curb at 725 Sycamore Street and asked if I wanted him to go in with me. I stared at the house – small but well kept – and I tried to brace myself for the uncertainty. I noticed a few people already going inside.

  “No,” I answered. “I’ll be fine.”

  I took a deep breath and got out of the car. I was desperately hoping Van would already be there. It’s not that I wanted to see him, specifically. I just wanted to see a familiar face.

  Fortunately, just as I was closing the car door, I heard Van shout from behind me, “Hey, Alice! You made it!”

  I waved through the window to Will, and he nodded and pulled away from the curb. I watched him drive away, and then I turned to face Van. He grinned at me, and I smiled back because it seemed like the polite thing to do.

  “Come on!” Van said. “Let me introduce you to everyone.”

  I followed him into the house where my brain was suddenly overwhelmed by the thundering boom of too-loud music. The room was packed wall-to-wall with a sea of bodies bobbing up and down as they danced. The intoxicating fragrance of blood assaulted me, and my brain was overloaded with sensations.

  Zach was there, and he shot a broad smile at me when he noticed me. I smiled back politely. Van introduced me to several people, and I noticed that most of the people were unfamiliar. Other than Van and Zach, there was no one else there that I recognized from my classes.

  “Are Amanda and Ashley coming?” I asked, hoping he would tell me they were not.

  “Seriously?” he asked – his eyes wide as if I’d made a serious snafu. “Like they’d lower themselves to show up at one of our parties.”

  “Oh, good point,” I said quickly.

  “I’ll introduce you to my cousin, Kai, as soon as I can find him,” Van shouted over the music. “He’s not big on socializing.”

  “Then why is he throwing a party?” I yelled back.

  “He’s not,” Van shouted. “He’s just letting Zach and me have the party here, because our parents don’t want us having parties at our houses, anymore.”

  “Anymore,” I parroted. “What does that mean?”

  “Long story,” Van stated. “Let’s go out back. I bet he’s in the shed.”

  It was a relief to get out of the crowded house and into the night air. The loud music was still pounding in my brain, although it was much less audible once we were out of the house. I followed Van to a shed in the back yard, and he opened the door.

  “Hey, there you are!” Van said to someone inside.

  “Hey, man,” answered the voice.

  The voice was low and quiet, and it had a melancholy edge to it that almost saddened me.

  “Kai, let me introduce you to Alice,” Van said, stepping aside. “Alice Wright, this is my cousin Kai Walker.”

  I started to mention the fact that his name sounded like Skywalker without the “S,” but I didn’t want to let anyone know how much of a Star Wars nerd I really was. I got the idea that nerds were a group that was often ostracized by humans.

  I peeked into the shed, and there stood a sight that took my breath away. Kai was tall and thin, but his muscles were well defined. He wore a dark gray shirt that clung tightly to his frame, and it was tucked into black jeans. He wore black strappy boots, but splotches of paint in different colors dotted the toes. He had crystal blue eyes and long, striking rich, burgundy hair. He was intensely beautiful. I never imagined any human could be so attractive.

  Kai paused with a paintbrush in one hand and a palette in the other, and he eyed me suspiciously.

  “Hello, Alice,” he finally said.

  “N-nice to meet you,” I replied, fumbling for words like an idiot.

  He turned his head to the side, looking at me like a puppy with its head cocked to the side as if he were trying to understand me. His crimson hair fell over his shoulder, and I noticed his eyes were piercing into me as he attempted to size me up. I noticed his eyes fall downward from my face, eying the whole length of my body and back up. My heart began to thump erratically.

  “Hmm,” he said.

  I wasn’t sure what that meant. His face gave me no clue. It was completely expressionless and dull. He stared at me for a moment, and then he turned his attention back to his painting. I wanted to see what he was painting, but the easel was facing away from the door.

  I stood there awkwardly for a few moments, and then I started to leave to go back into the house. It seemed obvious he had no interest in talking to me, and I saw no reason to keep standing there like an idiot.

  “Hey, Van!” shouted Zach from the back door. “Dave brought a keg!”

  “Come on,” Van said, slapping me lightly on the arm with the back of his hand and jogging toward the door. I started to follow him, when I heard my name.

  “Alice,” Kai called.

  I paused. I was extremely uncomfortable in the huge crowd of people inside the house, but I also wasn’t sure if I wanted to be around Kai. The way he had looked at me… I wasn’t sure what he was thinking. That made me nervous.

  “I’ll be inside,” Van said, heading back to the party.

  Anxiously, I turned around to face Kai. The golden light of the lamp inside the shed cast a glow onto the grass. It was almost inviting me in – like a red carpet rolled out for me. I took a step toward the door, but I did not enter.

  “Come in,” Kai said softly. “Close the door.”

  With some trepidation, I stepped up into the shed and closed the door behind me. I turned back toward Kai, who once again seemed lost in concentration as he painted. He said nothing.

  After several long moments of silence, I was just about to frantically burst out of the shed to escape the awkward situation. Finally, Kai looked at me and spoke.

  “What do you do?” he asked.

  “Do?” I returned, confused.

  “Yes, Alice,” he replied. “What do you do? For fun.”

  “Oh,” I said, feeling stupid. “Not much. I read, watch movies. I play the piano.”

  “I see,” he said. “What do you play?”

  “You mean what kind of music?” I asked, feeling completely moronic.

  “Yes, what kind of music do you play on the piano?” Kai clarified.

  “Mostly classical,” I answered.

  “Are you any good?” he asked, looking at me with that sideways puppy look again.

  “I never thought about it,” I said. “I’ve had lessons since I was five, so I suppose so.”

  Kai turned back to his painting and added a few more details. I still hadn’t seen what he was painting, and I thought it might be rude to ask to see it. Still, I was curious.

  “Interesting,” he said. I couldn’t tell if he was referring to what I’d said or to the painting, because he was concentrating on his art so intently.

  “How long have you been painting?” I asked after another pregnant pause.

  “For as long as I can remember,” Kai replied.

  “You must be pretty good, then,” I commented, hoping it would spur him to let me see what he was concentrating on.

  “I suppose,” he answered. He poked the canvas with his brush, and then he settled the brush into a glass of water and placed the palette on the table behind him.

  “Do you want to get out of here?” he as
ked, turning to me.

  “Out of the shed?” I asked. Suddenly, I felt dumber than I had in a long time. “Oh, you mean away from the party.”

  “Yes, Alice,” he agreed, nodding with a slight grin. “Away from the party.”

  “Yes, actually,” I said, my cheeks flushed violet with embarrassment. “I’m not real big on parties.”

  “Me, either,” Kai said.

  “Yeah, I get that,” I responded.

  Kai pushed past me and opened the shed door, heading out into the cool night air. I paused briefly. I wanted to see that painting. For some reason, I couldn’t budge.

  “Are you coming?” he asked.

  “Uh… yeah,” I answered, casting a glance back at the easel before following Kai out into the yard.

  I followed Kai around the side of the house to the detached garage. Kai opened the door on the side, and we entered the dark garage. My eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness, and I could clearly see an older model car. It was some sort of black muscle car, shiny and rugged. Kai flicked the light on, and I squinted in the sudden brightness.

  “Hop in,” he instructed me, walking around to the driver’s side.

  Normally, I knew it would not be wise for a teenage girl to get into the car with a guy she’d just met. Being a vampire, it was really no issue for me. I knew I could overpower any human. Should he try to hurt me, he’d be in for a nasty surprise.

  I got into the passenger’s seat, and Kai pulled down the visor above his seat. He grabbed his keys and pushed them into the ignition, turning the key to start the car. The engine roared. He turned on the headlights, and pushed a button on the device attached to the visor. The garage door loudly screeched and hummed, and Kai pulled out into the driveway.

  “Wait!” I gasped. “I need to tell Van we’re leaving.”

  Kai put the car in park, the engine idling loudly. He reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a cell phone. After tapping away at the keys for a moment, he put the phone back into his pocket.

  “Done,” Kai said, looking at me reassuringly. “I sent him a text and told him where we’re going.”