The Purity of Blood: Volume I

by Jennifer Geoghan

  “So when are you going to bring him by to meet us?” she finally asked.

  “Yeah, I was wondering about that. It doesn’t seem as if the guys really like him, so I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”

  “Oh, they’ll make an effort if you bring him buy. Well, Mike will. Ryan may take a little longer.”

  “Alright, I’ll ask him about it when I see him today. We’ll see what he says.”

  I was by no way convinced this would end well, but knew there was really no easily avoidable way around the introduction. My feelings for Daniel were hard to explain to myself and impossible to explain to Tabitha. I’d never had a relationship before. I think I wanted time to figure out what was really going on between us before I introduced him into my circle of friends. Blending these two worlds seemed like it would uselessly confuse things even more, and I woefully felt inadequate to the task of figuring it all out anytime in the near future. I had no idea what the protocol was for a human relationship, let alone one with another species. I sighed. There really was no one I could go to for advice in this situation, was there.

  “Wow, Daniel,” she muttered.

  “Yep.”

  “So did he ever tell you what happened to the Professor? I can’t believe he’s been gone this long.”

  “This is my stop,” I said, pointing to the Humanities Building. “I’ll call you later, I promise.”

  “Alright. I’ll hold you to that,” she shouted over her shoulder as she kept on walking.

  After my psych class dismissed I filed out of the crowded lecture hall along with the sea of other students. Coming out the large wooden doors into the hallway, I found Daniel leaning against one of the concrete pillars that ran down the center of the long atrium. When he caught sight of me, a smile lit his face and I momentarily forgot that he was anything other than the gorgeous man I’d spent last night dreaming about.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked. Almost indescribably happy to see him, I could feel the goofy grin forming on my face. Yet I still had the haunting feeling I should be protecting myself more.

  “How did you know where I was?”

  “Now that I know your scent so well, you’re not that hard to find,” he whispered, leaning in to my ear. I think he was smelling my hair.

  “Oh – guess I should shower more.” I blushed, more than a little embarrassed.

  “That wouldn’t matter, it’s the scent of your blood and you can’t wash that off no matter how hard you scrub.”

  We started to walk towards the exit.

  “So when is your next class?”

  “In about thirty minutes – over in the science building.”

  We strolled outside and started in that general direction. I saw him look down at my hand like he wanted to take it, but he looked hesitant again, almost as if last night had never happened.

  “What are you thinking?” he asked, as his eyes rose to meet mine.

  “Nothing really. Tabitha stopped by this morning. She asked me about you, about the look you gave me in class yesterday morning, and I had to tell her something.”

  “What did you say?”

  He instantly perked up, though he tried to hide it.

  “I said I thought we were kind of … well, sort of … maybe dating now.”

  He stopped and stared at me.

  Oh shit! I knew I shouldn’t have presumed that!

  He didn’t look mad; instead he looked pensive, as if weighing my words carefully.

  “Humm … dating. I really hate that word, so woefully inadequate to the task. As if there was something proper about trying people on for size, looking for one that fits and casually discarding those that don’t.”

  I looked up to see the hundred and twenty four year old in him rear his head. I wanted to laugh, but suppressed it, not sure if I’d offend him if I did.

  “You make it sound so sordid.”

  “It is!” he protested. “At least it would have been when I was your age.”

  “Okay, old timer” I smiled, poking him in the ribs. “What should I have said then?”

  “I suppose that word will do for now, at least as something to tell your friends. But I want you to know that my intentions are not as casual as the word dating would imply.”

  Not as casual? What was that supposed to mean?

  “Tabitha also wanted to know when I was going to bring you around. I told her I’d have to ask you about that. You know, to meet my friends.”

  “What do you think? I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”

  “Well, not that I know a lot about this, but I think it would look suspicious if I didn’t. If you ever want to get off on the right foot with them, it would probably be best to do it sooner rather than later I would imagine. We can put it off for a while though.”

  “If you say so. I’ll defer to you as more of an expert in modern human social interaction than myself.”

  “Tabitha asked me something else. She asked if you’d ever mentioned where the Professor had gone off to.”

  He came to a stop as we approached my building and sat down on a bench.

  “No, I didn’t, did I. It’s a very long story, too long for today. And to be honest, I’m a little sketchy on some of the details myself.”

  As I sat down next to him on the bench, he reached over and gently put his hand on mine. When I looked up, he’d closed his eyes as if relishing the sensation of his skin on mine.

  “I’ve waited nineteen hours to do that,” he said, eyes still closed. Then he smiled as his bright blue eyes found mine. I blushed again. “I love it when you do that.” He gently brushed his hand against the side of my cheek.

  Whoa!

  His touch felt electric, sending tingles up and down my spine. Shaking my head, I snapped myself out of his spell.

  “I’d better get going. I need to review my notes before class starts,” I muttered as I stood up.

  “So how about I stop by the dining hall and pick you up after you finish eating dinner. That way you can introduce me to your friends, and then we can go take a drive or something.”

  “You’d do that for me?”

  “You’d be amazed at the things I’d be willing to do for you, Miss Donnelly.” He smiled, thinking about his words. He looked amazed by them.

  Then he stood and opened the door for me. I told him I’d see him that evening, and with a smile went inside to class. As I walked down the hallway, I could still feel the tingle where he’d touched my face and gently placed my hand on top of it.

  Would I feel this way about him if he were only a human? Or did he have some special vampire power over me he didn’t want to tell me about. Not that I’ve have cared if he did.

  Sitting there waiting for class to begin, I found myself wondering if he hadn’t even kissed me yet, could we really be dating?

  “Tabitha tells us you’ve been standing us up to spend time with that Daniel guy,” Mike said as I set my tray down on the table. He sounded like he wasn’t sure he believed it, which I wasn’t really sure if I should have agreed with or been offended by.

  “Um – yeah, I guess so. We’ve been hanging out a bit over the past week or so.”

  “Interesting …” he said, letting his voice trail off. My confirmation seemed to set off a chain of thoughts in his head.

  Tabitha, who was seated next to him, appeared to be closely inspecting some particularly interesting piece of broccoli on the plate in front of with her fork. Either that or she didn’t want to look me in the eyes and admit she’d spilled the beans. I didn’t care at this point. I just wished I’d had a bit more time to figure out exactly what my relationship with Daniel was or wasn’t before I had to face an inquisition about it.

  “So what’s he like?” Mike asked.

  “What’s who like?” Ryan asked, unexpectedly dropping down in the empty seat next to me.

  “Daniel.”

  “Daniel who?”

  “You know, Darcy’s gay boyfriend,” Mike said, ges
turing towards one of the nearby tables Daniel had been frequenting.

  “How would Sara know?” Ryan asked as he dug into his dinner.

  “She’s dating him; at least that’s what she says,” Mike answered nodding in Tabitha’s direction.

  “She’s what?” Dropping his fork, Ryan stared back at him with unbelieving eyes.

  “Hello. I’m sitting right here,” I complained to no one in particular as I rolled my eyes towards the heavens.

  “So, what’s he like?” Mike repeated as he turned back to me.

  I finished chewing my food.

  “He’s nice.”

  “That’s it?” I watched as Mike raised an eyebrow my way.

  “He’s very nice.”

  “So you’re saying Sara is dating that guy? The one that usually sits over there?” Ryan asked Mike, pointing towards Daniel’s empty chair. “Since when?”

  Mike looked at me for an answer.

  “I don’t know, a few days now I guess,” I said taking another bite of my dinner.

  Act casual, Sara. You can do this.

  “So how did that happen?” Ryan demanded in an incredulous tone.

  “I don’t know. We kept running into each other and then ended up going to the festival together. We had a … nice time I guess and things just kind of progressed after that.”

  “Humph,” was all Ryan could manage in response, obviously unsettled with my answer. I think, not wanting to hear anymore, he dived into his food and ignored us.

  “I thought you’d be happy I was having fun,” I said with a quiet disappointment that surprised even me.

  I guess I’d expected too much from them. I mean after all, how well did we really know each other? I’d only known them for about a month or so now.

  “We are!” Tabitha said sweetly. “They just hide it well.”

  “Yeah,” Mike agreed. “I mean that’s odd, but nice I guess.”

  “Gee. Thanks, Mike,” I said, forcing a smile on my lips. Tabitha was right though, he was trying.

  “So where’s Mr. Wonderful now?” Ryan asked, not looking up from his food.

  “He had something to do, but he’ll be by in a while. We’re going to go out and do something this evening.”

  Ryan was unusually quiet throughout the rest of the meal, but Mike and Tab were their talkative selves, trying their best to distract me from Ryan’s sulky behavior. I really just didn’t get his reaction. Why did it matter to Ryan who I went out with?

  As soon as we finished eating, I saw him across the room heading in our direction. When our eyes met he smiled, causing my heart to skip a beat or two. How had I managed being away from him for the past few hours?

  Breathe, Donnelly. Act cool. Remember you’re only going to get hurt if you stay this invested. Relax.

  He came over to our table as gorgeous as I’d ever seen him, dressed in a faded old pair of blue jeans and a black v-neck sweater. I mean, he always looked hot in class, but that was professor hot. This was male model, drop dead casual hot. As if completely unaware of the stares he elicited from the women in the room, he strolled over and came to a stop at my side.

  “Hi,” he said quietly, trying to control the smile that threatened to overtake his face.

  I stood. “Daniel. I’d like you to meet my friends. This is Tabitha, Mike and Ryan. You remember Tabitha; she sits next to me in class.”

  “Of course, it’s nice to meet you,” he said as he flashed her one of his devastating smiles.

  Tabitha giggled as she eagerly took the hand he offered. I couldn’t blame her. What girl wouldn’t when he did that?

  After shaking Mike’s hand, he offered it next to Ryan. Ryan looked at it for a long appraising second then begrudgingly took it saying “Hey.”

  “May I join you?” Daniel asked, looking at the empty seat beside me.”

  “Yes, please do!” Tabitha answered excitedly.

  “So, what was for dinner tonight?” he asked, his gaze shifting from my empty dish up to my eyes. Why did I feel like the only woman in the world when he looked in my eyes like that?

  “Fried chicken, corn on the cob and green beans.”

  “Sounds good. Too bad I already ate,” he smiled as he winked my way. I rolled my eyes as I tried to hide my expression from the rest of the table.

  Then there was a momentary lull in the flow of conversation. When I glanced over at Mike and Tabitha, I could tell they were trying to think of something to say that wouldn’t make them sound idiotic in front of the faculty member at the table. And Ryan? Well, Ryan seemed determined not to say anything at all. ‘Hey’ was about as much as he was likely to volunteer on his own.

  “So how was your day?” I asked Daniel.

  “Long, but productive. I almost finished grading the quizzes. I was in such a good mood that I gave quizzes to all my classes yesterday.”

  “Gee, I’d hate to hear what you’d do if you were in a bad mood,” Mike said jokingly.

  “Yes, well there are some perks to being a teacher,” Daniel laughed back.

  “I’m thinking about going into teaching,” Mike replied enthusiastically. “Music. Maybe to high school kids.”

  After that the table fell into easy conversation, all except Ryan. He was still sulking. From his reaction, I could only deduce that he really did like me more than I’d thought. I felt a little bad about that, but I knew it wasn’t my fault. Of course, that didn’t ease the guilt I felt when I looked into his sad sap eyes. He’d get over it; after all, it was only me. I bet if I talked more about the really cool cemeteries I was planning on visiting before the end of the semester, he’d lose interest fast enough. Or maybe I could beat him up if worse came to worse.

  After about fifteen minutes when there was a lull in the conversation, Daniel looked my way. “So what would you like to do this evening?”

  “To be honest, I really should study for a while.”

  “Alright, how about we go to the library. You can study while I finish grading. Perhaps afterwards we can take a stroll around campus or maybe into town if you like.”

  We left them at the table to watch us leave together. I didn’t have to turn around to know their eyes were on me, I could physically feel them. Again, how could I blame them? How could they not wonder why Daniel would be with someone like me? I certainly couldn’t figure it out.

  When we walked out into the cold evening air, I glanced over to see Daniel relax. I hadn’t realized how tense he’d been inside.

  “Are you alright?” I asked.

  He smiled. “Of course. Why do you ask?”

  “You just seemed a little tense inside.”

  “I’m not used to having such long discussions with humans. It’s – been a while.”

  “But you talk to students all day.”

  “That’s different. They’re quick question and answers, not personal conversations.”

  “You talk to me.”

  He smiled again.

  “Yes, I do.” I felt him gently take my hand. “But there’s something different about you.”

  “Yeah, I know. Apparently I stink,” I pouted.

  He stopped then reached over to place his hand on my chin, raising it gently so he could look me in the eyes.

  “Don’t ever say anything like that ever again, Sara. It’s the rest of them that stink. You’re as fresh and lovely as a spring day.”

  I blushed a deep crimson from head to toe.

  After I recovered my composure, we went back to the dorm to gather my books and laptop before walking over to the library. Daniel already had his messenger bag over his shoulder with the rest of his work, and as we walked across campus he reached over and took my hand again. At first, his touch had felt so strange to me that day on the rocks. Now it was almost like some kind of euphoric drug I was beginning to become addicted to.

  “I have a question for you,” I said as he opened the front door of the library for me.

  “Shoot.”

  “You shook hands with my
friends. Why does it seem that I’m the only one that’s noticed anything different about you, about how your touch feels?”

  A sad shadow crossed his face.

  “People only notice what they choose and ignore the rest. On the rocks when I took your hand, you were open to anything and noticed. Tabitha was to giddy to notice, Mike was too curious about my intentions and Ryan, well, Ryan was too pissed off to notice.” After a pause, he added “What do I feel like to you?” He raised my hand as he held it in his, then stared at it as if for the first time.

  “You just feel like Daniel to me. Strong, comforting, safe.”

  “I guess that’s good,” he said, not exactly satisfied with my answer as he continued to stare at my hand.

  “What’s the matter? Not what you wanted to hear?”

  “No, that’s not it. It’s just not …”

  I knew what he was trying to say, but couldn’t seem to verbalize.

  “That’s not all I feel. Let’s just say I’m not the only one that’s alluring.”

  When I squeezed the hand he still held, the smile on his face said he’d heard what he was hoping for.

  Once inside, he followed me up to my usual quiet corner in the genealogy section.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever been up here before,” he commented as we took seats across from one another. “Kind of deserted back here, isn’t it?”

  “It’s busier during the weekdays, but outside of that I’m usually the only one who comes back here except for the occasional librarian passing through. I like it. Nothing to distract me.”

  While I set up my laptop, he spread out his papers and went to work. Every now and then I’d look up and watch him making faces in response to answers given on the quizzes. It was funny to watch. A couple of times he glanced up to meet my gaze. “Get back to work,” he’d say with a smile before returning to the papers in front of him.

  A couple of hours later I finished what I’d set out to accomplish for the night. He still looked like he’d be busy for a while longer so I switched gears to keep myself occupied. I opened my genealogy program and killed time cleaning up some notes and citations for a few ancestors in my family tree.

  After a while he said “You look deep in thought.”