Fallen

by Stacy Claflin

  "Where do I start?"

  "First wash your hands and then you can chop the tomatoes."

  I washed my hands and then looked at the tomatoes, trying to figure out how I would cut them.

  Tanner laughed. "You've never cut vegetables before?"

  "Technically, they're a fruit," I said, showing him that I did know a thing or two about food. "But no, I don't have any experience in the kitchen."

  He picked up a knife and set it in my hand. He put his hand over mine and then wrapped himself around me and put my other hand over the tomato.

  "So far I like this," I said.

  I could feel a smile form on his face from the back of my head. "Me too. Now watch how we slice it. This is the best way because otherwise it'll just fall apart." Still holding my hands, he helped me to slice the tomato. When we had finished, he asked, "Do you want to try the next one yourself?"

  "Only if you keep yourself wrapped around me."

  He laughed and put his hands on my waist. "Okay."

  As I sliced through the tomato, I listened to the blood pumping through his veins. It was music to my ears.

  "It looks like you've got the hang of it," he said, backing up. "I need to cook the meat. Can you chop the rest of the veggies when you're done with the tomatoes?"

  "I can handle that."

  When I was done with the tomatoes and olives, I grabbed an onion. I wasn't expecting it to be so hard after dealing with softer foods and the knife slipped, slicing into the side of my finger. It went in deep enough to expose the bone, and being that my heart doesn't pump, the blood didn't gush out as he would have expected.

  I dropped the knife and he looked over at me with wide eyes. By then some blood had trickled out and covered the bone. He dropped his spatula. "Are you okay?" he exclaimed.

  Covering my wound, I said, "I just need to get a bandage. Do you have some in the bathroom?"

  Eyes wide, he said, "I don't think that's going to be enough."

  "It's not as bad as it looks. Don't worry about me." I ran to the bathroom and closed the door behind me. I licked the blood and watched as my saliva worked to seal the wound faster, as it was already healing on its own. After the skin had returned to normal, I found a box of bandages and stuck one on, not wanting to explain how such a deep cut could heal in a matter of minutes.

  I walked out, holding my finger high. "See? That was all it needed."

  Tanner looked at my finger in disbelief. "I guess you were right."

  "Of course I was. Let's get the rest of dinner ready."

  As we were setting the table, the door opened and a kid that looked exactly like Tanner, only younger, walked in. He stared at me.

  "Don't be rude, Charlie," Tanner said. "Remember I told you that Samantha was going to join us for dinner tonight?"

  He looked at Tanner. "Yeah, but you didn't say that she…she, well, she's freaking hot!"

  "Charlie!" Tanner exclaimed, and at the same moment I burst out laughing.

  The poor kid's face flushed red. "Well she is."

  "Excuse my brother. He's still growing into his hormones."

  "No worries," I said. "I like him."

  Charlie's face became a deeper shade of red and I winked at him. He ran from the room, down a hall.

  "Sorry about him," Tanner said, shaking his head.

  "It's fine. Dinner should be interesting."

  "To say the least," he mumbled. "Let's sit and eat. Charlie can join us if he feels like it."

  Shortly after we started eating, Charlie sat down reeking of cologne, wearing a black leather jacket, and had his hair slicked back.

  Tanner shook his head again and I smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Charlie. Tanner's told me so much about you."

  His face flushed again, this time reaching down to his neck. "You can call me Charles," he said in an unnaturally deep voice.

  Tanner put his face into his hands, muttering something that I couldn't make out even with my strong hearing.

  "Sure, I can call you Charles if you prefer. That's very grown up."

  "I am in junior high," he said, nodding.

  "Impressive," I said, taking a sip from my glass.

  The rest of the meal went with Charlie trying to impress me and Tanner wanting to die of embarrassment. I enjoyed every minute of it. Why hadn't I spent more time with humans before? They were actually pretty entertaining.

  After we had cleaned up the mess from dinner, we all sat down to watch some goofy show. When it was over, the door opened again and a lady who looked like the two of them walked in, looking exhausted. She gave me a double take.

  Tanner jumped up. "Mom, this is Samantha. Do you remember me telling you about her?"

  "Yeah, I must have forgotten. It's nice to meet you, Samantha."

  I stood up. "It's nice to meet you too, Mrs. Monroe. Do you need help with anything? Tanner left the taco stuff warmed up for you in the oven."

  She gave me a weak smile. "Thanks. I need to help Charlie with his homework. Tanner, why don't you take Samantha home?"

  Charlie stood up, scowling. "I can do my own homework."

  CHAPTER SIX

  "Sorry about my family," Tanner said as we were driving in his car.

  "No need to apologize. You can't help how other people act."

  "Yeah, but my brother…."

  "He was cute."

  Tanner snickered. "That's one way to put it. Then my mom was kinda rude."

  I shrugged. "She was just tired. She works a lot to take care of you guys."

  "Yeah, I guess. But I still thought she was rude."

  "Next time, I'll be sure to leave before she gets home. I'm sure she doesn't want to deal with guests after working two jobs."

  He looked over at me. "Next time?"

  "If you want me to come over again, that is."

  His eyes lit up. "Of course I do."

  "So where's your home?"

  "My…? Oh right, you're supposed to drop me off. Why don't you drop me off at the library?" I asked. I couldn't let him know that I didn't have a home in town.

  "It's closed. Let me take you home."

  "We could go to a coffee house and grab some lattes," I said.

  "That sounds nice, but I have to get back home or my mom will have a fit."

  "You can drop me off anywhere. I'll get myself home."

  "Without a car?"

  "I do have two feet, you know."

  "There's no way that I'm just dropping you off anywhere."

  "The thing about me is that I'm tough. I can take care of myself."

  "I know that Delphic Cove is a quiet town, but I'd still feel better about dropping you off myself."

  "Just drop me off at a bus stop or something."

  "A bus stop? What's going on? Why don't you want me to drop you off at home?" he asked, pulling into a parking lot.

  "I like to walk."

  "In the dark? Do you even have a car?"

  I shook my head no.

  "If your house is worse off than mine, I'm not going to judge you. You saw our little house and you're sitting in my beat up car. I know that the economy hasn't hit most people in Delphic Cove, but it has hit a lot of people everywhere. I'm not going to think less of you."

  Thinking of Vince's enormous mansion, I said, "That's not it."

  Tanner stared at me while I tried to think up a believable story. Suddenly, he looked hurt. "Wait a minute. Do you live in the really nice part of town? Where the kids all go to the private school and have drivers. Is that why you don't have a car? Do you not want my car seen in your neighborhood?"

  "No. That's not it. I don't have a driver."

  "What is it, then? What aren't you telling me?"

  I sighed. "It's a long story."

  "Try me."

  This wasn't the way that I had wanted things to go, but maybe telling him that I was a vampire was for the best. If it wasn't, I could always use mind control to make him forget. I pulled the bandage off my finger and showed him my perfect skin. />
  His eyes widened and he grabbed my hand, staring at my finger. "How did that heal already? That's not possible!"

  "I'm not your average…person."

  "How did that heal already? I saw how deep you cut yourself. What's going on?"

  "I heal quickly. If anything happens to me, then I just heal. That's why you can drop me off anywhere. If I get hurt, I'll get over it."

  "That still doesn't make any sense. I—"

  I unbuckled myself and leaned over to him and started kissing his neck. I licked circles around his skin, allowing the saliva to prepare it to be bitten. It not only relaxed the skin, but him as well. He leaned his head against the seat and let me kiss his smooth, soft skin as I let his heartbeat sing seductively to me.

  Giving one last lick, I nipped his skin with my teeth. He let out a small gasp of pain, followed by a moan. I let my teeth sink slowly into his neck, giving him more of my venom as the blood trickled into my mouth. I closed my eyes as I discovered that the taste of love, or whatever it was, was much more delectable even than the taste of fear.

  The flow sped up and I drank it hungrily even though I'd already drained two people that week. This was different. This was more than just filling a hunger. As I felt the flow slow down, I knew it was time to stop or he'd pass out. I licked the wound, allowing it to heal as quickly as it would if he were a vampire. I kissed him a few more times and then sat back in my seat.

  He took a few heavy breaths and then asked, "What was that?"

  "My gift to you," I said. Not only did the amount of venom that I gave him work to give him a level pleasure that humans rarely reach, but it would also stay in his system for a while, giving him added strength and confidence. He would be able to take on the other football players so that they would leave him alone. But I wasn't going to tell him that, I wanted him to figure that out on his own.

  I watched as he remained leaning against the seat, enjoying the venom running through his system. When done right, and I knew how to do it exactly right, it was beyond anything humans ever get to experience without the help of vampires.

  Finally, he sat up and looked at me. "I don't know what that was, but…wow, that's all I can say."

  "I'll explain it to you tomorrow if you want to get together with me after your practice again."

  He laughed. "If I want to? I wanted to before…that, that, uh, that, well, whatever it was, but now I have to hear more about it—and have some more. I know I need to get back home, but I, uh, I'm not sure about, well, I mean—"

  "Would you like me to drive?" I asked, trying to hide a smile. "If you're having trouble navigating through your words, maybe I should take you home."

  Blinking a few times, he said, "Yeah. That's probably a good idea." He got out of the car and walked around to my side, if you could call it walking. It was closer to stumbling. I got out and ran to the other side, sitting in the driver's seat before he had sat down in the passenger seat. He gave me a funny look, but didn't say anything.

  Once he was buckled in, I drove back to his house.

  "You sure you're going to be okay?" he asked.

  "Do you really need to ask?"

  He smiled. "Probably not. You'll tell me everything tomorrow?"

  I nodded. "I promise."

  "Okay, well, meet me after my practice. My mom will be home when Charlie gets there, so I don't have to watch him. I'll let her know that I'll probably be late."

  "There's no probably about it," I said with a smile.

  He leaned across the center console and placed his lips on mine. His desire and confusion mixed together and made the most alluring smell. I grabbed his face and kissed him back, and then pulled away. He looked disappointed.

  "There'll be more of that tomorrow," I said.

  "Don't be late."

  When he was safely inside, I ran back to the hotel that I had slept in the night before. They had a lot of vacant rooms, so it made sense to sleep in one of those. I just had to walk around the building listening for heartbeats. I walked through the wall of the first empty room I found and saw suitcases sitting on the beds. Obviously the room wouldn't be vacant for long, so I slipped through the door and walked along the hall, listening for another empty room.

  The next one I found was free of luggage, so I made myself comfortable on one of the beds and turned on the TV, not paying attention to what was playing. My mind kept going back to Tanner. I couldn't stop thinking about how gorgeous he was or how delectable he smelled and tasted. I understood why some vampires liked keeping human volunteers, though it was usually the ones with a conscience who felt bad about killing humans to meet their blood need.

  Having grown up around royal vampires, I'd met more than my fair share of vampires bent on helping the human race. Ironically, it was usually the common vampires—the ones turned from human to vampire, rather than being born a vampire—who had no qualms about killing people.

  My phone rang and I groaned, knowing that it was probably Vince. I pulled it from the backpack and saw that I was right.

  "What do you want? Are you going to call me several times a day now?"

  "I want a real update, Samantha, and don't hang up on me this time."

  So that's what this was about. I'd hurt his pride. "There's nothing to report. I'm still looking for the right guy."

  "Maybe you shouldn't lead in with your being a vampire. Find some guy to seduce that will do the job, and then when he's wrapped around your finger, tell him about Alexis then."

  "Great. I'll do that. You didn't answer my question. Are you going to call me every day now?"

  "If you don't make a habit of checking in. Oh and since it looks like you'll be there a while, be sure to enroll in the school."

  "I can't wait. These things take time, Vince. If I have something important to tell you, I will. Otherwise just let me focus on what I'm doing here. I heard the noise in your background earlier. It sounds like you've got plenty to keep yourself occupied while I'm gone."

  Vince laughed. "We're perfect for each other, Samantha. We both have someone on the side all the time and we don't let it bother us."

  I rolled my eyes. "I thought we were perfect for each other because we both want to rule over vampires worldwide after removing the current leadership."

  "That too, baby. Have fun with the humans." The call ended.

  I put my phone away, thinking about the differences between Tanner and Vince. Sure, Tanner was a high school football player and obviously very different from a ruthless vampire who was set on ruling the world, but I found myself really taken in by his innocence. I wanted to learn more about that and not to crush it, as I usually would. Instead of seeing it as a weakness, I was drawn to it.

  What was I going to tell Tanner? I was going to explain that I was a vampire, but I couldn't tell him that I was actually working with one of the most powerful vampires alive so we could take out one of Tanner's classmates. He would think that I was a monster, even if he didn't know who Alexis was.

  Was I even doing the right thing? I didn't want to lie to Tanner, but at the same time there was no way I could tell him the real story. I wanted him to continue to like me. He was a much better person than Vince.

  Did I really even want to pull him into my life? I would run the risk of corrupting him, losing the very part of him that I found so intriguing. I would have to make sure that I didn't let that happen.

  Grabbing the remote, I decided to watch the TV to get ideas on what kind of a story I would give him. It had to be something that would be believable and at the same time evoke male protection. If he felt like he could protect me from something, then he would definitely want to spend more time with me. Guys love to be able to protect a girl, always have and always will.

  I couldn't believe it. I was actually falling for a human. I couldn't ever let Vince know about that. He would never let me live it down. I turned my focus onto the show and ended up staying up late watching some kind of redneck movie marathon. It was so stupid that it was
funny, and I couldn't pull myself away.

  At some point I must have fallen asleep, because I woke up and sat up when I heard keys jiggling in the door. I'd chosen that motel because of the low security, so it didn't have the typical card keys from the hotels that I was used to frequenting. I turned off the TV and ran behind a curtain before the door opened. I slipped through the wall with my backpack, glad to be traveling light.

  The sun was just beginning to rise, meaning that I had some time before school started and I had to restart my search for someone to lure Alexis. I'd follow her around again and see if there was any guy who even gave her a glance, then I'd pounce. I knew that finding a boy who actually looked at her wouldn't be an easy task. I hadn't found one yet.

  I decided to grab some breakfast, but not much was open in the still sleeping town. The deli that Alexis worked in was open, so I figured I'd grab a breakfast sandwich and a coffee. I walked in and was surprised to see her working. Why did she work so much? I'd been to her house, those humans raising her made more than enough money to buy her anything that she wanted. Maybe they were the type who didn't want their kids growing up to be spoiled brats.

  "Do you guys have mochas?" I asked. "I haven't seen a coffee stand anywhere in town."

  She smiled. "This may be Washington, but we're far from Seattle. You'd have to hit one of their suburbs before you'll find a coffee stand on every corner. And you will, believe me."

  I sighed. "I may just have to do that."

  "We've got drip coffee for now. Unfortunately our barista is out sick this morning, so you won't get any special coffee."

  "So you do have mochas?" I asked.

  "Yeah, she makes mochas and espressos, but nothing fancy."

  "I'll have to remember that. Just give me a drip coffee for now."

  As I ate my sandwich and sipped the thick coffee, I watched all of the customers to see if anyone paid any attention to her. But of course, no one did. I sighed, knowing that I had a long day ahead of me before getting together with Tanner after his practice.

  CHAPTER SEVEN