by H G Lynch
Cris nodded casually. “No problem. Any time. Just don’t tell Ember I helped you. She might bite me head off.” He laughed, and Brandon wondered if he was joking or not. It was hard to tell.
Then something occurred to him, and he figured he might not have another chance to ask someone who could explain it to him. “Hey, Cris? Why do you like Ember? I mean, it’s just that you and Hiro and even Ricky are all so loyal to her, such good friends to her. I don’t…dislike her, as such, but I was just wondering what she did to warrant such… loyalty.” He just had to know. It was a mystery to him, and one he wanted to solve. He didn’t want to be Ember’s enemy, but the girl was infuriatingly like Reid and her hostile attitude toward him made her hard to like, let alone befriend.
Cris smiled faintly, knowingly, and laid a hand on Brandon’s arm. “I know she seems abrasive and bitchy and totally nuts, but she isn’t like that all the time. She’s dead serious when it comes to her friends. Ember is…intense. If you can get on her good side, once you’re there, you stay there,” Cris paused, tilted his head a little, grinned. “I know she doesn’t like you, but that’s more because she thinks you don’t like her than anything else. But she’s a good person, Brandon, she really is.”
Brandon absorbed this slowly, looking out over the silvery lake, shoving one hand into his jeans pocket. Could he really have misjudged Ember? He couldn’t picture it. Still, if her harshness was a façade, maybe she wasn’t as antagonistic as he’d thought.
“We should probably get out of here before the nymphs kick up a fuss and decide to drown us too.” Cris nudged his arm and grinned, and Brandon sighed. He threw one last glance at the lake, knowing that if there were nymphs in that lake, he was going to need a lot of holy water and blessed iron beads to get them out. Wonderful.
*****
** Ember **
Ember awoke to knocking on the door, groaned and rolled over to peek at the clock on the nightstand. It blinked numbers at her, telling her it was a little after twelve in the afternoon. Sitting up, she saw Sherry’s bed, unsurprisingly, was empty. The curtains were still closed, and the room was dim, only a faint glow of daylight filtering through the edges of the dark curtains.
With a sigh, Ember pushed back her duvet and padded to the door, getting ready to slap Cris or Reid – it could only be one of those two as Hiro would’ve just popped in magically and Ricky was undoubtedly with Sherry – upside the head for waking her. After the party last night, she felt she deserved to sleep all day. But, when she reached the door and threw it open, raising her hand already, she blinked and paused. It wasn’t Reid or Cris behind the door, but Brandon. She was almost too startled for a moment to be angry, and clearly Brandon was a little uncomfortable to be at her door.
It took Ember a second to gather her irritation, and a slight embarrassment at being seen in such a state, with her hair a mess and dressed in only tartan pajamas. “If you’re looking for the vampires, they aren’t here,” she said dully, rubbing the back of one hand across her eye.
Brandon looked at her like he’d never seen her before, lips pursed thoughtfully. He was dressed as immaculately as ever, in smart jeans and a plain white t-shirt. His dark hair was combed neatly behind his ears. Ember noted that Perry wasn’t tailing him for once.
Growing uncomfortable with his scrutiny, Ember glowered at him. “Hello? Did you hear me? The boys aren’t here. You can leave.” She waved a hand in front of his face and he blinked.
A faint touch of pink crossed his cheekbones, and he smiled ruefully. “I’m not here to see Reid or Ricky. I wanted to talk to you,” he said quietly, shoving one hand into his pocket.
Well, Ember hadn’t expected that. She frowned at him, half-confused and half-suspicious. “Why? What about?”
He hesitated, shifted from foot to foot. “You know what I said before, about not disliking you? Well, that wasn’t precisely true,” he admitted sheepishly, not meeting her glare.
Ah. So he felt bad about lying to her so he was here to just clear that up. Wonderful. He woke her up for this? To tell her he actually didn’t like her? He’d be lucky if he walked away from here unscathed.
“Yeah, I worked that one out myself. If that’s all you needed to tell me, I think I’ll be going back to bed.” She started to close the door, but he put a hand out to stop her, and she almost considered giving him some lovely second degree burns.
Pulling his hand back carefully, Brandon frowned. “No. I came to try to fix that. I don’t want you to hate me, Ember. And I don’t want to dislike you. But…” Brandon stopped, seeing her glare, which had gone from cold, to icy, to scorching. He swallowed nervously and cleared his throat. “Can I come in?” he asked hesitantly, glancing furtively down the hall to where three girls were niggling over a shopping bag from the local shoe boutique.
Ember gave him a feral smile, almost wanted to laugh. “You don’t want to be without witnesses right now, Brandon,” she said, her voice low and softly menacing.
He paused a moment, sighed, his shoulders slumping. “Look,” he said bluntly. “I just want to get to know you a bit. I don’t like having people hate me, and having someone with as much power as you do hating me…it makes me quite uneasy. You’re Reid’s girlfriend, you’re a good friend to Ricky, and I just feel I owe it to them to try to give you a chance.”
Ember considered that for a moment, savoring for a moment his admission that he was scared of her – Okay, so he hadn’t said those words exactly, but if you read between the lines – and then stepped back to let him in.
Brandon came in cautiously, keeping his eyes on her as if she might suddenly lunge at him if he looked away, and closed the door behind him as Ember moved to her dresser. Pointedly keeping her back to him, she picked up her hairbrush and started brushing her messy hair into smooth, caramel swaths.
“Go ahead and talk,” she encouraged him, waving one hand imperiously over her shoulder. She glanced at Brandon in the mirror on the wall in front of her, saw he was lingering by the window, scowling.
He stared out the window as he talked. “I spoke to Cris, asked him how it was that he and Hiro and Ricky all liked you so much. He explained that, as harsh and cold as you acted toward me, you weren’t really like that. He told me you regarded me with hostility because you thought I disapproved of you—”
“Knew. I knew you disapproved. You just admitted as much, proving my assumption to be correct,” she said with a bitter smirk.
Brandon frowned, glanced at her, and continued. “Yes. I suppose. But, I thought if I could just come here and talk to you, we could find a way not to dislike each other.”
Ember snorted, turned to face him, still holding her hairbrush. She arched a brow at him, and opened her mouth to make a snarky comment, but Brandon gave her a probing look that brought her up short and she blinked. “Why do you keep looking at me like that?” she blurted, cringing, brow furrowing. It was disconcerting, throwing her off her bitchy attitude.
His lips curled a little and he shrugged. “Trying to see what everyone else sees in you. I admit, it is easier to imagine you having a vulnerable side when you’re wearing fuzzy pajamas. It makes you seem more human.”
Ember gaped for a moment, not sure what to say to that. That’s how he saw her? As inhuman in some way? It was almost funny because that’s how she often thought of him. He was always so uptight and bitterly controlled. She wasn’t sure she’d ever really seen him smile.
“Human? Really? That’s what this is about, me not seeming human? Brandon, I’m more human than you or Ricky or Reid. The reason I’m a bitch to you is because…ever since I found out what you guys are, you’ve been condescending and neurotic and disapproving. I don’t like rules, I don’t like being told I shouldn’t know certain things because you think I can’t be trusted with the knowledge.” Ember huffed, gritted her teeth and drew herself up.
Brandon just stared at her intently, his dark eyes a little wide. She waited for him to say something. She’d said what she had to
say, and if he was willing to stop being a dick every time she came around, fine. She could attempt to be civil to him at least, but she doubted she’d ever like him. It took a lot more than simple decency to earn her friendship.
After a long moment, Brandon nodded sharply. “I get it. And I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel rejected. I’ve just spend my entire teenage life making sure nobody blew our cover or got staked, and you were the first person outside our group to know our secret. I guess it was because you’re so much like Reid that it worried me. Impulsive and defiant. You can see how that could make me fear for our safety, right? I suppose I should’ve trusted Reid’s judgement from the start, given you a chance to start with. Is there any chance we can start over and not be enemies here?” He hesitated a moment and then cracked a smile. “You really do scare me a little, you know?”
That made Ember smile despite herself. She gave Brandon a long look and then sighed. “Sure. Do-over it is. But I’m warning you now – one patronizing comment, and I’ll fry you from the inside out. Got it?”
Brandon wiped all amusement off his face and nodded solemnly. “I can deal with that,” he vowed quietly, and started toward the door.
“One more thing,” Ember said, turning back to her mirror to finish brushing out her hair. Brandon paused in the doorway, his shoulders tensing.
“Yeah?” he asked warily.
“Smile for God’s sake, Brandon. It won’t kill you.”
He shot her a weak grin over his shoulder and left, closing the door behind him. Ember sighed and planted her hands on her hips, staring at her reflection. “Now then,” she said to the girl in the mirror who was smirking with amusement. “Wait till I tell Reid about this.”
Unfortunately, when she finally found Reid, hanging around outside the library, it didn’t look like she’d get the chance to tell him anything. He was with Sherry and Cris and Ricky…and Lia. Ember’s previously good mood evaporated, a dark cloud forming over her head. She was getting really tired of seeing Lia’s face amongst her friends’.
As she approached them, she tuned into the conversation, and frowned.
“Romeo, doff thy name, and for that which no longer a part of thee, take all myself,” Sherry said dramatically, with little hand flourishes.
Lia responded with, “I take thee at thy word, call me but love and I’ll be new baptized; henceforth, I never will be Romeo.”
“What man art thou that thus bescreen’d in night so stumbles on my counsel?”
And that was all Ember could take as she came to a halt next to Cris, her mouth twisted into a disgusted grimace. She’d always hated Romeo and Juliet, and after they’d finished reading it in English, she’d sworn never to pick up the book again, swore that if she ever heard anyone quoting it, she’d turn around and hit them.
“Oh, Dear God, Sherz, please stop before I kill myself,” she grumbled, scowling.
Sherry looked up in surprise and grinned at her. “Hey, you’re finally up! I was just rehearsing with Lia for Drama. We’re partners, and I’m Juliet, and I totally don’t know my lines yet,” Sherry said with a brief frown.
“You seemed to be doing fine to me,” Ember commented.
Sherry held up her hands and Ember saw that there was black ink all over her palms and wrists.
“Ah.” She smiled a little, “I see. Clever.”
Lia nudged Sherry with her elbow, grinning encouragingly. “You’ll get it. I can’t wait to see the look on Marcus’s face when we get an A, and he and Brian fail just ‘cause they’re homophobic idiots.”
Ember tried not to look like a thundercloud, but it was like the minute Lia opened her mouth, the words automatically sucked all Ember’s happiness away. She just wanted to hit the girl. Maybe she could compel her to dye her hair a normal friggin’ color? That might make her a little less annoying. Or not, but it’d be funny anyway.
“I still don’t get why I have to be Romeo. Why do I have to be the guy? He’s such a douchebag. He couldn’t just say, ‘Hey, Juliet, I think you’re, well hot. We should get it on, and screw what our parents think’. No, he has to say crap like, ‘With love’s light wings I did o’er-perch these walls, for stony limits cannot hold love out’,” Lia snorted.
“Well, for one, I doubt Juliet would have swooned at the words ‘we should get it on’,” Cris commented dryly.
Lia flashed him a smile and said sweetly, “I bet she would’ve if you’d been Romeo. God, that accent makes everything sound sexy.” Lia fanned herself with her hand dramatically.
Cris blushed and laughed, and Ember silently gagged while everyone else laughed.
She took the chance to pull Sherry aside, and plastered on a slightly less hostile expression. “Hey, Sherz, I was thinking maybe later we could take a trip into town and check out Waterstones. There’s been a bunch of new books out lately, and it’s been too long since we prowled the bookstore.” She beamed.
But Sherry was shaking her head, an apologetic look on her face. “Sorry, I’m going shopping with Lia later. But, hey, you should come with us. I saw a really cool hoodie in New Look last time I was in and I bet it’s still there.” She grinned encouragingly.
Trying not to let her disappointment show on her face, Ember shrugged. “No, it’s okay. You know I hate clothes shopping. But I really do want a new book, and I need new pencils for my art set. I can go myself.”
“Sorry. Maybe next week we can go?”
Ember nodded. “Yeah, sure.” If you’re not planning on bringing Lia along — Which I bet you will, because Lia’s just sooo great. God, she was getting so childish. She really needed to get a grip. It wasn’t like Lia was going to become Sherry’s new best friend, just like that. She and Ember had been best friends since nursery, and one stupid new girl wasn’t going to change that. I am not threatened by Lia. Sherry’s just being Sherry, nice and friendly and outgoing. That was what Cris was doing too, just being himself. Cris liked everyone and everyone liked him, it was just who he was. Thing was, everyone seemed to like Lia too, and it was really getting on Ember’s nerves.
*****
** Reid **
Once again, the basement of the abandoned farmhouse, which had held the party two nights ago, was lit up with flickering candles and a large, crackling fire in the center of the room. Spiders scuttled into their woven dens in the corners of the crumbling ceiling, shadows retreated into nooks and crannies, hiding under the bookshelves and in the cracks between the grey stones that made up the walls and floor.
The four vampire boys occupied their usual chairs around the room, the firelight giving each face an extra inhuman quality. Eyes glinted and shoulders were tense, and Reid was the only one in the room who was relaxed. He slouched in his chair, drumming his fingers absently on the arm, wondering why he was here. There hadn’t been a meeting in a while, and he understood why there would be one now – he just didn’t know why he had to be involved. Brandon knew he wanted no part of the hunt for the lake monster…well, okay, Ember didn’t want part of it. Reid was quickly changing his mind about that. He was bored and stressed and tired of holding up the façade that he was perfectly alright when he actually hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in a week. If he thought he could join the lake monster case without Ember finding out, he’d do it; he needed the distraction.
“Okay,” Brandon spoke up at last, raising his solemn gaze from the sizzling fire, the golden light playing across his face in a way that made him look even more serious than normal. “Reid, Ricky, I know you don’t want to be a part of this, but I thought you should know what’s going on anyway, just in case. I took Cris to Onyx Lake to see if he could find something we couldn’t, something that was beyond vampire ability to find, and he discovered there’s warding on the lake. That kind of magic, I can only imagine, is the work of some of the fae. Nymphs, most likely.”
Reid frowned. They’d had trouble with various fae before, particularly dryads, but nymphs were new. Nymphs were water sprites, and while there were numero
us lakes in and around Acorn Hills, they didn’t hang about here because of all the other fae – Acorn Hills was a mecca for the lesser fae.
“Couldn’t it be a kelpie or a selkie? I doubt a nymph would be able to ward an entire lake. Even a group of them would struggle to make a strong warding that would hold for any length of time,” he said, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.
Brandon nodded. “I did consider that, but there are no signs of a larger faery around the lake. No hoof-prints or shreds of seal skin.”
“They could just be exceptionally clean,” Reid shrugged. It wasn’t unheard of for a selkie or kelpie to cover their tracks, especially if they were running from something scarier. Though there were few things scarier than a hungry kelpie, in Reid’s opinion. He didn’t fancy being drowned and eaten by a huge horse with glowing red eyes.
“But the bodies that were found were intact. A kelpie would chew on it,” Ricky pointed out, as if reading Reid’s mind. “And selkies tend to bury their prey on the lakebed.”
Perry was scowling into the fire, his arm folded over his wide chest, apparently unhappy about something. “What about a merrow?” He pitched, not moving his gaze from the twirling orange flames. Everyone looked at him in surprise.
“A merrow?” Brandon muttered, his frown deepening. “Nobody’s seen a merrow in over thirty years. Plus, they live in the sea, not in lakes. Like mermaids and sirens,” he said.
Reid hesitated. A merrow would make sense, he supposed, but he really hoped it wasn’t. Merrows were Celtic sirens, with the ability to transform into human form for periods of time, but they needed a magic hat to do it, had to wear it at all times. If there was a merrow walking around, it could be anyone, anywhere. Brandon said nobody had seen a merrow in thirty years, but Reid had his doubts. The thing with a merrow was, you could be classmates with one and probably wouldn’t know it. In human form, it was impossible to tell them apart from someone who just liked wearing hats.
