Crave

by Teresa Mummert

  Dust flew from the tires as we headed out of the area and back to the main road.

  “Where are we going?” I asked quietly. Elijah ignored my question and stepped on the gas. We flew through the back roads on the near-empty streets. His mood was unreadable and I could tell he was purposefully keeping his feelings guarded. I turned on the radio he relaxed as I tapped my fingers to the beat of the song. I watched the trees whip by in a dark blur as we left Savannah.

  “That sign said north. Why are we heading back toward Pennsylvania?” I asked, confused. Elijah clenched his jaw and even in the darkness I could see his muscles flex as his face turned hard. “Elijah? Why are we headed toward home?” I pleaded for an answer. He glanced over at me and looked back at the road, his expression unchanging.

  “The vampire I met tonight came with a message.” His fingers gripped the wheel tighter causing his knuckles to turn bone white. “They have Grayson.”

  I felt the blood run from my face as I took in what he was saying. We rode silently for a few more minutes. I was at a loss for words. “I’m sorry, Eva,” Elijah whispered and I could feel his sadness in the air. I searched for words to comfort him, to tell him it wasn’t his fault, but nothing came. The truth was I was too busy blaming myself.

  The car slowed as we pulled into a dimly lit hotel. I glanced at the clock on the dash. It was just before dawn. There was no way we could make it home tonight. I sighed heavily as tears welled in my eyes. Grayson would have to wait another day for us to help him if he could endure whatever torture they had planned.

  Elijah left the car and went into the lobby. I let my face fall into my hands and broke down. It was one thing to have been careless enough to put myself in danger, but someone I cared about was too much for me to handle. It was like losing Marcus all over again.

  My door flew open, startling me as Elijah stood beside me, his arm outstretched. I took his hand as he helped me to my feet. I suddenly realized how tired I was from lack of sleep and emotional exhaustion. He slipped his arm behind my back and his other under my knees and carried me to our room.

  He slid me onto the queen sized bed and pulled my shoes off. I rolled onto my side and curled into a ball as the tears began to burn my eyes again. Elijah brushed the hair from my face and ran the back of his hand over my cheek.

  “Please don’t cry. I will fix this. I will keep you safe.”

  “It isn’t me I’m worried about,” I confessed, looking up at his face.

  “I won’t let anything happen to you,” he replied, searching my eyes. “I will keep you alive at any cost,” he said absolutely. I knew exactly what he meant. He was willing to let anyone die to save my life. Anyone.

  “I couldn’t live with myself if someone I cared about was hurt because of me.”

  “Even if you hate me, even if you never want to see me again,” he began as his dark eyes glassed over in sadness. “I will do whatever it takes to keep you alive, no matter whose life must be lost to accomplish that.” He slipped under the covers and I rolled away from him. There was no use arguing. He wrapped his arm around my waist and I wiggled slightly, letting him know his touch was unwanted. He didn’t move. I closed my eyes and drifted off into a restless sleep.

  Chapter twenty-one

  Too Easy

  I awoke to water splashing my face. I gasped and blinked my eyes, trying to adjust to the sudden rush of light. My body was warm, soaking in the midday sun.

  “Bout time you woke up,” My dad called from the far side of an endless blue pool. I clung to the sides of my raft, trying to keep from flipping over as I was overpowered by the smell of the chemicals.

  “Dad?” I asked as I looked around, my eyes finally starting to adjust.

  “Welcome back to the land of the living,” Elijah joked as he rounded the raft. I wiped my eyes trying to determine if what I was seeing was real.

  “Elijah, what are you doing here?” I asked in a whisper. His body was a dark, golden brown from the sun and his eyes sparkled like I had never seen them before.

  “Are you alright?” he asked with a look of concern, then spiked a volleyball over my raft to the other side of the water. “You don’t look so well.”

  “You’re in the sun.” I called out with such enthusiasm that my raft capsized, sending me swirling in a sea of water. My lungs burned as I struggled to find my way to the surface. I gasped for air as I shot up, water dripping from my face.

  ***

  “You don’t look so well,” I heard again, blinking my eyes open to see Elijah’s concerned face. He patted a wet washcloth across my forehead, pushing my hair from my face. “You’re burning up,” he noted as I held my hand up to block the blinding fluorescent light overhead. My stomach twisted in knots as the pain shot through me.

  “Your hand is warm,” I mumbled.

  “You had a fever dream,” he whispered.

  “Where am I?” I asked, searching the room for some clue to my whereabouts. The heavy door to the room pushed open and a young woman in a white lab coat walked in, my chart in hand.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Malakai?” she asked as she leafed through the pages. “My messenger,” she said with a smile, glancing toward Elijah.

  “Excuse me?” I asked with genuine confusion and irritation. How dare this woman hit on my- whatever he was right in front of me?

  “That’s what Malakai means, correct?” she asked, proud of herself. Elijah nodded and smiled politely. “Well, what seems to be the problem today?” she asked as she finally glanced my direction.

  “My wife is sick. She is running a fever and is complaining of terrible stomach pains,” Elijah explained, his fear wafting heavy in the air. I replayed his words over and over in my head. My wife. It would have made my cheeks blush red if I weren't already from my fever.

  “Is there a possibility of pregnancy?” The doctor asked, writing in her chart.

  “None,” Elijah replied. I noted a sudden sadness in his eyes and it briefly passed through the air like a breeze. A male nurse in sky-blue scrubs entered the room and smiled as he fumbled with cords and wires from the machines beside my bed.

  “I’ll run tests just to be sure. I’m sure we will have you up and out of here shortly,” she said, finally glancing up from her papers to shoot me an insincere smile.

  She left the room and the male nurse took a seat on a stool beside my bed. Elijah squeezed my hand and winked at me. I smiled, taking in his handsome, chiseled features under several days of stubble. A sharp pain radiated through my arm and I winced. Elijah shot up from his chair, sending it flying back several feet.

  He ran his hands through his dark, messy hair and paced the floor. I glanced down at the nurse who was placing an I.V. tube into the needle he had set in the crook of my arm. Hunger radiated from Elijah’s eyes and I could feel it throughout my body. The nurse noted the commotion and eyed us suspiciously.

  “He can’t stand the sight of blood,” I blurted out. The nurse smiled, seemingly excepting my excuse.

  “We aren’t all made out for this sort of thing,” he said with a small chuckle. “How about you go get yourself a snack or something from the vending machines, down the hall to the left.”

  “Sure,” Elijah replied, leaning in to kiss me quickly on the forehead, his lips cold against my hot skin, and left the room. The nurse smiled at me in a way that made me uncomfortable. I pulled the covers up over my chest and relaxed as he took several vials of blood from the needle for testing. I stared off at a painting that hung on the far side of the room.

  “That was almost too easy, Friend,” Reid’s sinister voice called from the doorway as he shut it and twisted the lock. He nodded to the nurse as he made his way to my side. The nurse nodded back nervously, handing him the vials of my blood.

  Reid held one to his face and inhaled the scent as he closed his eyes and smiled darkly. “How are you feeling?” he asked with mock sincerity as he slipped the vials into his coat pocket and motioned for the nurse to back away. He pulled a wad of
cash from his back pocket and handed it to the employee. “You humans are so weak,” he laughed, and I wasn’t sure if he was talking about my fever or the guy he was bribing.

  “Sorry,” the nurse said quickly in my direction, avoiding eye contact. I pushed myself up into a seated position and slid back against the headboard, yanking the needle from my arm quickly. The nurse left the room, turning the lock behind him. I was all alone with Reid.

  “You have to admit, this is all kind of… funny. Well, maybe not for you.” He smiled at his own deceitfulness as my stomach twisted. “Please understand, I just want what is owed to me. I couldn’t trust Elijah to bring you to me now could I? He has no reason to want Grayson alive,” he explained as if he was telling me about his plans for the weekend.

  “We were on our way back to Pennsylvania,” I argued, defending Elijah’s honor. Reid let out a deep chuckle and shook his head.

  “Were you?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow. He grabbed the chart the doctor had sat on a table by the door and tossed it on the bed. I glanced over it quickly. Beauregard Hospital, Louisiana was printed across the top of the form.

  “How?” I asked, my mind swarming with confusion. Reid pulled up his coat sleeve and examined his watch.

  “It’s nearly four o’ clock in the morning,” he said smugly. “It appears your beloved hero was planning on letting poor Grayson die in your place.”

  The door shot open with a loud thud and Elijah was on top of Reid in a flash, barely visible to the human eye. I cupped my hand over my mouth to muffle my screams, waiting for the commotion to stop. When it finally did, the door rocked on its hinges as Reid escaped. Elijah stood at the foot of my bed panting heavily, his face smeared with blood. His eyes glanced at the tiny pinhole on my arm the needle had made. He was hungry and void of humanity.

  I grabbed the blanket and pressed it against the small wound, trying to mask the smell of my blood. He licked his lips as his eyes narrowed into slits. His hand opened, revealing a vial of my blood he must have gotten from Reid during the skirmish. He bit the rubber seal off and spit it on the floor, emptying the thick crimson fluid into his mouth. His eyes closed as he licked a stray drop from his bottom lip. I watched frozen in fear. He hadn’t eaten properly for days and I knew better than anyone what his hunger does to him.

  “Run,” he said with a deep growl. I didn’t hesitate. I leaped off of the bed and flew out of the door without looking back. I wanted to question him about where we were and why he brought me further away from home. I was angry, but most of all I was afraid.

  Chapter twenty-two

  A Mile Away

  I ran down the dark sidewalk at full speed. My lungs burned and my feet were sore and raw. I hadn’t had time to grab my flip flops at the hospital. I slipped off the main road into some trees.

  Completely lost, I sat down on an old log to examine the wounds on my feet in the dim moonlight. They were smeared with blood and caked with dirt. I sighed in anger as I realized how much easier it would be for Elijah to find me. I could only hope he would find someone to feed off of before we ran into each other again. The sun would be rising soon and I would have the advantage. That is if I can keep myself awake until then. I was running on pure adrenaline and that could only take me so far. My body was still aching and weak.

  I lay over onto the log and rested my face on my hands. If I survived until sunrise, I had a fighting chance of saving Grayson. My muscles burning, I breathed deeply trying to relax. Before I knew it, my eyes hung heavy and I struggled to keep them open. I finally gave in and decided resting wouldn’t be such a bad idea. The sunrise couldn’t be far off.

  I slid into dreamland and the only thing on my mind was Grayson. I thought about the first time I had met him. We had just moved a few towns over and I was starting to a new high school. I was the kind of person who could get along with anyone but preferred to be left alone. I managed to be late to nearly every class that morning and all of the students noticed. Most of them stared at me with curiosity, but I had also received the occasional glare.

  ***

  In a small town like this one, there was no blending in. They could smell the outsider on me a mile away, even though I had grown up just a few towns over. It’s like we were from different worlds.

  When it was finally time for lunch, I breathed a sigh of relief and made my way through the stampede of students to the hill outside. They gathered in groups to eat their processed meals and gossip. I ducked my head and made a beeline up the hill to the alley behind the school where I had parked my car.

  I smiled as my teal Duster came into view. “Thank you, Dad,” I muttered under my breath. When I had passed my driving test, he had given it to me as a present. We didn’t have a lot of money, but my father was very handy with cars and found me a fixer upper.

  I unlocked the door and slid into the seat. I turned the key just enough for the radio to blare to life and fished in my bag for a pack of cigarettes. I bobbed my head to the beat, lighting my cigarette. It felt good to be alone in my own space. I wound down the window and laid my head against the headrest, closing my eyes and letting my imagination take me away from this place.

  “You’re gonna get busted,” A voice called from beside me. I was startled but tried to keep my composure. Opening one eye, I peered to the side to see a teenage boy with dirty blonde hair and a blue and white jersey that read Rockets.

  “I’ll take my chances,” I replied, closing my eye and taking in another drag. “Even in my own space, I am getting messed with,” I thought to myself.

  Suddenly, the cigarette was ripped from my fingers. Before I could protest, the boy was walking away from my car and toward the hill. I peered out the side mirror at a heavy set woman scaling the side of the slope.

  “Grayson, you better not be smoking up here,” She called in between labored breaths. I slid down in my seat and watched as he took a long drag on the cigarette and threw it on the ground in front of him. “You just earned yourself a detention, Mr. West! I’m sure coach won’t be very pleased about this. You can count yourself out of the game on Friday,” She shouted angrily.

  Grayson glanced over his shoulder, his eyes catching mine in the mirror before walking by the teacher. He replied back to her, but it was too quiet for me to make out. The teacher turned and followed him.

  “Shit,” I scolded myself. Who was that guy? Why was he helping me? I hadn’t exactly given off a friendly vibe. I waited for the bell to ring and the students filed back into the building. I slid out of my car and made my way back inside, trying to find my next class.

  I wandered down the hall, glancing up from my map from time to time to read the numbers above the doors. I came across one that read Office and slipped inside.

  I stood at the counter as the receptionist held up a finger for me to wait as she finished up a phone call. I took a seat along the wall. The bell rang again I knew I was late yet again. The door on the side of the room opened and Grayson stepped out followed by the principal I had met when my father had registered me for school. I tensed up as Grayson glanced my way then immediately looked to the exit.

  “Eva Morgan. Just the person I wanted to see,” The principal called and gestured for me to follow him into his office. I looked at the exit that Grayson had just passed through and shook my head. He must have told them the truth. I stood up and walked after the Principal, hanging my head and avoiding eye contact. He sat behind his desk and leafed through a stack of files on his desk without saying a word. I sat across from him and silently said goodbye to my car. I knew my parents would take it away as soon as they found out I was smoking and had left school property. “So…what do you think?” he asked, raising his hands.

  “What do you mean?” I asked cautiously.

  “It’s tough being the new kid. I know. I’ve been there,” He replied. I sighed and rolled over the possible answers in my head.

  “It’s not so bad,” I lied. The truth was I couldn’t wait for this day to end. I had already p
lanned my stomach illness that would get me out of coming back for a few days. There was a knock on his door and a weathered old face peered through the sliver of a window. The principal gestured for the man to enter.

  “Coach Jacobs, I need to speak with you about Grayson,” the principal said. The coach nodded and I saw Grayson standing a few feet behind him with a slight grin. “Grayson, show Eva to her next class while I have a word with the Coach.” I stood up slowly and walked toward Grayson. I followed him out of the office and into the empty hallway.

  “Thanks,” I said shyly, glancing towards him. A grin spread across his face.

  “No big deal. I have better things to do Friday than the game anyway,” He explained. I smiled back at him nervously. “Come on.” He gestured with his head to a side hall and I eyed him suspiciously but followed behind without protest.

  “This is the senior hallway, isn’t it?” I asked, reading the numbers on the doors. He put his finger to his lips to motion for me to be quiet. I smiled and didn’t say a word as we snaked our way through the halls and into a set of big double doors. The room was pitch black.

  “Where are we?” I whispered as I ran into the back of him. He slid his hand down my arm and grabbed my hand, pulling me behind him. He pushed through another door and flipped on a light switch. The room was full of old sporting equipment and game tables.

  “Wanna play?” he asked with a smile that gave me chills. I let go of his hand and ran my fingers through my hair.

  “What is this place?” I asked, walking around and taking in all of the games.

  “Our school has carnivals and things like that to raise money throughout the year. This is where they keep all of the donated items.” He plugged in an old air hockey table. It lit up and the fans buzzed. As the beeping from the table grew louder with every score, I was suddenly brought back to reality.