by Temple West
I shook my head. “That’s not true.”
“I promise, it is.”
“You can’t promise something like that.”
“Yes,” he said simply. “I can.”
He turned my chin with his thumb so I was looking directly into his eyes. They were gray, but more than gray. They were—
Silver?
They were glowing.
He murmured something, and with a snap, it all came flooding back, sharp and sudden, like some switch had been flipped in my brain retrieving repressed memories. The storm—the fall.
He searched my face. “You remember?”
“Oh my God.” I stared at him, that whole night flashing before my eyes. “Oh my God. How did I forget that? How did I forget you?”
He looked uncomfortable. “I sort of suppressed your memories.”
He was serious. He was completely serious. If it wasn’t for his swirling vortex eyes staring me straight in the face, I would have thought he was trying to pull some really unfunny joke. That, and the fact that I suddenly remembered the night of the storm with full clarity. I’d fallen, he’d caught me, he’d done something to me, and then we were running, running away, and Adrian’s eyes were burning silver.
“You hurt me,” I said, remembering the blistering pain in my head, the burning behind my eyes.
He shook his head, visibly upset. “I didn’t have a choice. I can’t explain that now, but I swear to God, I did it to keep you safe.”
“But—what are you?” I asked, staring unashamedly at his face.
He breathed in slowly, and let it out. “Caitlin,” he began, shifting his weight a bit and resettling me in his arms. “There are a lot of things you should know.” He caught himself. “There are a lot of things you shouldn’t know. So I’m only going to tell you a few essentials, the first of which is that we have a—creation story, if you will. A myth.”
“We?”
What the hell was he talking about? The conversation had very suddenly switched gears and I was not following.
“We,” he confirmed. “My family and I. And our story says that we aren’t really”—he grimaced again, looking almost embarrassed—“human.”
I stared at him. “You’re not human.”
He shook his head.
I scowled. “You look very human to me.”
He closed his eyes. “I’ll just say it. I’m gonna have to say it sometime. All right. So, there are a variety of terms for what we are, there always have been and I imagine there always will be, but I’m what you might commonly refer to as a…” He paused and muttered, “Shit, I really have to say this.” He took a deep breath and looked down at me. “I’m a vampire.”
He looked apologetic as he waited for my reaction.
I narrowed my eyes, staring at him hard. “Did I hit my head?”
He frowned. “Not that I am aware of.” Just to be sure, he grabbed my face and turned it, inspecting for lumps. “No cranial injuries.”
“Okay,” I said reasonably. “So I’m dead?”
He looked startled. “What?”
I stared at him. And then I smiled, and then I laughed. I laughed a lot. I laughed so hard I had to wipe my eyes on his sweater. I think I actually snorted at one point.
“I’m totally dead!” I exclaimed. I hugged him, and added an extra squeeze for good measure. “Oh, Adrian, you’re so sweet. Thank you for all those rides to school.”
He frowned. “You must be colder than I thought.” He looked at the boulder. “Your clothes are soaked through,” he said, indicating my snow-drenched sweater on the rock. “Can you stand by yourself?”
I smiled dreamily. I was dead! This was great! I could go say hi to my mom. Probably find my dad around here somewhere, too. Adrian wanted me to stand? Sure thing, my friend. I could probably fly, if I wanted to. I was about to hop around and flap my arms experimentally when he tugged his sweater off and handed it to me. To humor him, I put it on. It was toasty warm, and fell off my shoulder. Almost as toasty as Adrian standing in the snow without a shirt on. The boy was ripped.
He grabbed his jacket off the ground and slipped it on. I grinned at him.
“So you’re a vampire, eh?”
“‘Eh’?” he asked.
“I’ve decided to turn Canadian.”
“I thought you were dead.”
“They don’t have Canadians in heaven?”
“I’ve never met any.”
“Ha!” He was funny.
“Come here.” He stretched his coat over me as I hugged my arms around his naked waist. “Good God, you’re cold,” he muttered when my hands touched his skin.
“Sorry.”
He closed the jacket more tightly around the two of us. “Vampire is a misleading term,” he started again. I couldn’t believe he was still going on about this, but I was dead, so I figure I’d let him steer the conversation. Maybe this was some weird Heaven Initiation Ceremony and Adrian was my angel tour guide. I could live with that.
“You don’t drink blood?” I asked.
“Well—yes.”
“That’s cool.”
“That’s cool?”
“Yeah,” I said, looking into his silver, luminous eyes. He had probably been my guardian angel the whole time. I always knew he was too good-looking. “It’s cool. The whole leaning-in-and-biting-the-neck thing.” Strictly for demonstrative purposes, I stood on my tiptoes and softly nipped his collarbone with my teeth, since I couldn’t actually reach his neck.
“Caitlin—stop.”
His voice was strained. I looked at him again with a smile, but the expression on his face dropped the laughter right back into the pit of my stomach. I was dead; was it possible to still be scared?
“You’re not dead, Caitlin,” he said through slightly gritted teeth, “you’re very much alive. So if you could just not move for a minute, that would be great.”
I was confused. The light and the snow and the whiteness covering everything; the cold air and the heat of Adrian’s body—wasn’t I dead? And if I wasn’t, why was he telling me all of this?
I shifted and he tightened his hold on me. “Just … don’t.”
His irises seemed to be swirling, which was a weird thing for irises to do. The grays mixed, melting into each other, re-forming like storms. I was just starting to get dizzy, to lose my sense of gravity, when he closed his eyes, tight. When he opened them again the irises were still silver, but they were motionless. He let out a breath and looked down at me.
“Where was I?”
“What was that?” I asked. “Your eyes went all crazy.”
He stared at me pointedly. “I’m thirsty.”
Ah.
“So if you would be so kind as to not bite me again, we might get through this.”
He loosened his grip on me a little and rolled his shoulders. “As I said, vampire is a misleading term. We only drink blood because our bodies can’t produce it. And it’s not a purely hematic diet—I probably eat three times as much as your uncle.” He smiled. “Great metabolism, ridiculous grocery bill.”
“I bet.”
He smiled, then frowned at me. “This all sounds crazy.”
I frowned back at him. “Yes.”
“But you’re still here.”
“You’re holding on to me.”
“And if I let you go?”
“You’re the only reason I’m standing.”
“Hmmm.”
“And I still mostly believe I’m dead. So continue.”
“Right. Well, my father—he’s a demon. From hell.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Bummer.”
He smiled. “Some believe we were wiped out before the flood.”
“The flood? Like Noah’s flood?”
“That’s the one.”
“But you weren’t?”
“I have no idea—this is all a story, remember? I wasn’t there, no one left alive remembers. Some of us believe the story. Others don’t.”
“An
d what do you believe?”
He smiled a little, then let it slip away. “I’m still making up my mind.”
I grabbed his face and turned it, inspecting for wrinkles. “How old are you? You’re totally really gross and old, aren’t you? Do you have kids? Do you have grandkids?”
He snorted. “I’m eighteen, no kids. And you’re seventeen. No kids, either. Unless you have a secret love child I don’t know about.”
“No love children,” I confirmed, and let his face go. “What about your family?”
He hesitated, but I was calm. Probably way calmer than he thought I should be. “Lucian is eleven. Julian is thirty-five.”
I frowned. “I thought he was nineteen. And who’s Lucian?”
“He looks nineteen. But he’s thirty-five. Lucian is my little brother.”
“And your aunt?”
“Mariana is one hundred and fifty-three. And she’s not my aunt, she’s my sister. Well, half sister. Julian and Lucian are my half brothers.”
“Is your mom super old or something?”
“My mother is dead,” he said flatly. “So is Mariana’s, and Lucian’s, and Julian’s. They all die after they give birth.” He cleared his throat. “But the rest of us can live indefinitely.”
I stared at him. “Indefinitely.”
“Forever,” he amended. “Unless we’re killed. But we’re pretty hard to kill.”
“So,” I said slowly, mind racing with the ramifications, “you can’t die.”
“Nope.”
“What if you get sick?”
“I don’t get sick.”
I stared at him. He wouldn’t die. He couldn’t die. “So I’m not dead. This isn’t some bizarre hallucination.”
“No.”
I thought about it, then nodded.
He looked surprised. “That’s it?”
I shrugged. “I can scream if you’d like. Maybe faint.”
He smiled and shook his head. “There’s more to tell you, but it’s getting dark and we should probably get somewhere warm. I think you’ll have to put your sweater back on if you don’t want your aunt to freak out.”
He let go of me. It occurred to me that I had basically wrestled with him half naked in the snow, and now that I was neither ambivalent about dying, nor delusional about already being dead, I couldn’t decide if the whole thing was funny or humiliating. I skimmed off his sweater and handed it to him. He dropped his coat and we both put our clothes back on.
It was a weird moment.
His blush finally brought to the front of my brain a thought that had been nibbling at the back of my mind. I turned slowly and stared at him, horrified.
“Oh my God, you’re not gay. You’re a vampire. You’re not gay, you’re a vampire.”
“I am not gay,” Adrian confirmed. “Though your promise to keep it a secret was very kind.” He cocked an eyebrow. “Does it disappoint you, that I’m straight?”
“I—what—no?” I stuttered, mind exploding with the implications.
Holy mother of Santa Claus. He wasn’t withdrawn and secretive because of his sexual orientation, he was withdrawn and secretive because he wasn’t human. I had slept next to a not-gay Adrian de la Mara in his own bed.
I had snuggled him against his will.
Trying, and failing, to suppress a smile, Adrian wound the scarf around my neck.
“My family has … resources,” he explained. “I’ve always had nice things. I believe you made a comment about my shoes costing more than your laptop? All I can say in my defense is that everyone in my family is a bit fashion conscious. I adopted their tastes to fit in. As for why I’ve never been on a date, I think you can see why that might be difficult. I’m afraid Trish will lose the pool.”
I choked. “You know about the pool?”
“I started the pool.”
Oh my God, of course he did.
“One more thing,” Adrian said as he stepped close to me again. He put his hands on either side of my face and looked me in the eyes with his burning silver ones and for half a second I thought he was going to kiss me. But his eyes began to swirl, and I realized what was happening.
“No-no-no!” I stuttered, remembering the vivid pain that had come last time he’d done this.
He kept his eyes locked on mine. “It’s not like before, I promise. Just hold still.”
I don’t think I could have moved if I wanted to. His eyes flared brightly and he murmured in that lovely language I couldn’t understand. All of a sudden I felt sort of calm and tired and warm. Tears ran down my cheeks again as I kept my eyelids open involuntarily. Then he blinked and I blinked and it was over.
“Feel better?” he asked, stepping a polite distance back.
I did a quick check. “Yeah, actually. What did you do?”
He looped his arm through mine and started walking back toward the ranch. “I transferred some of my body heat to you.”
I stared at him. “You can do that?”
He smiled his half smile and it looked a little bit wicked. “I can do a lot of things.”
Well, then.
We walked side by side in the quiet forest. Before I knew it, we were back at the house. When I opened the front door, Rachel looked frantic as she came and enveloped me in a hug.
“I thought something had happened to you! Are you all right?” She looked down at me and blinked. “Why are your clothes all wet?”
“My apologies, Mrs. Master,” Adrian stepped in. “I forgot to give Caitlin her birthday present at school, so I was walking over here when we ran into each other on the road. We started a snowball fight,” he grinned sheepishly, believably, “and I accidentally pushed her into a pile of snow.”
“Oh,” Rachel said, unsure of what to make of this.
“It was slushy snow,” I clarified.
“Very slushy,” Adrian confirmed.
“Well, come in! Dry yourself off. I was going to start dinner soon; why don’t you stay?”
“Thank you,” he said, stepping into the house and pulling me with him. “I’d really appreciate that.”
“Just hang up your wet things on the rack there. Would you like some coffee?”
He grinned. “I’d love some.”
Rachel smiled and went off into the kitchen. As soon as she was out of earshot, Adrian murmured, “Consider me your personal shadow from here on out.”
“Why?” I whispered back.
He frowned. “I guess I forgot to mention that part.”
I jumped at the sound of my aunt speaking. “Caitlin, get out of that sweater; it’s soaked! Here you go,” she said, handing Adrian a cup of coffee. “Do you want any sugar or creamer?”
“No, ma’am; black’s just fine.”
Rachel grinned at him. Of course he drank it black. And of course he said “ma’am.”
“I’ll be right back,” I said, hobbling up the stairs as fast as my half-numb limbs would allow. I closed the door to my bedroom and leaned against it.
What had just happened? I shivered violently and realized I could think about it much better after I got warm. I tugged everything off and threw on dry clothes, then headed downstairs. Adrian was sitting at the kitchen table with his cup of coffee, talking to my aunt. When she saw me, she smiled.
“Why don’t you and Adrian watch a movie until dinner’s ready?”
“It’s okay, I can help,” I said, stalling.
“No, no; it’s your birthday, you’re banned from the kitchen.”
Adrian smiled. “I’m up for a movie.”
I narrowed my eyes at him, but there was nothing I could do and he knew it. We headed into the living room.
“What’d you say to her?” I whispered.
“Nothing much.”
I gave him a look.
He shrugged. “Just that I was very happy you had come to Stony Creek, and I was having a wonderful time getting to know you.”
I scowled at him and he smiled at me. I rolled my eyes. “Fine then. What do you want
to watch?”
“It’s your birthday,” he said with a lazy smile. “Why don’t you choose?”
I grabbed a random DVD from the pile, and popped it into the player, then headed for the armchair. Before I could sit, Adrian grabbed my hand and patted the seat next to him on the couch. I looked at him and shook my head no.
“I’m cold,” he said. “I gave you all my body heat, remember?”
I snorted. “Way to play the guilt card.”
But I sat next to him. He took the throw from the back of the couch and wrapped it around me, then leaned into the corner of the couch and pulled me against his chest in a very non-platonic manner.
“Are you crazy?” I whispered in his ear. “My aunt is right over there!”
“Do you want to sell the story?” he murmured, looking at the TV. “Wouldn’t you rather have them wonder if something is going on between us than wonder if they should ever let you out of their sight because you might do something stupid?”
I gaped at him, fishlike.
“Besides,” he said, settling into the sofa, “I still need to warm up. And if I remember correctly from the effects of a certain Halloween party,” he murmured into my hair, “you like cuddling with me.”
I was blushing too hard to think of an elegant reply. With the blanket on top of me and Adrian’s chest beneath me, it was like a sauna, but in a good way. “Fine,” I grumbled. Then I sat up again, remembering his earlier comment. “Wait—what was that about being my shadow?”
He shook his head. “I’ll tell you tomorrow.”
“Adrian,” I warned.
“Caitlin,” he replied, staring back at me evenly.
After a long moment, he very sternly pointed at his chest, then pointed at me, then motioned for me to lie back down.
How the hell was I supposed to resist that?
7
SELLING THE STORY
I woke up to a variety of noises: the sound of silverware and glasses being set on the table, the drone of the movie sound track, my uncle speaking with my aunt, the bubble of a pot on the stove, and most vividly, the beat of Adrian’s peculiarly slow heart against my left ear. I stretched, waking slowly, and rubbed my face into his chest.
“You’re in a better mood,” he observed, looking down with a small smile.
“I forgot how incredibly comfortable you are.” I laid my face on his sweater again and almost drifted off. I could feel a chuckle trickle up through his chest.
