I opened the apartment door, slamming it behind me in frustration. I couldn’t believe the sick joke my life was turning into. I used to be the all American girl-next-door, (Well, maybe not too next door. I did grow up in a mansion after all. But…you know what I mean.) and now I might as well be a long lost relative of the Munster’s.
I stalked through the parlor and into the kitchen. I needed ice cream, cake, or any other calorie rich substitute. Maybe if I got fat, I wouldn’t have to worry about this anymore. I know, I know. It wouldn’t help anything. I’d just be a fat witch with things trying to kill her.
Pulling open the freezer, I looked for something to drown my sorrows in. How could Ryan do this to me? I couldn’t date a vampire. Who dates a vampire? My life had suddenly become a young adult series. But I wasn’t that girl. Could I really date a member of the undead, even if he was charming and gorgeous?
I slammed the freezer door after realizing we were out of ice cream. Great. Death by chocolate wasn’t even an option. What a lousy witch I was. I couldn’t conjure ice cream and I didn’t want to date a vampire. Someone was going to strip me of my broomstick if I wasn’t careful.
Leaning back against the refrigerator, I tried to hold back the tears I felt coming. What was I going to do? I really liked Ryan. Why did he have to be an immortal bloodsucker?
“What’s going on?”
I looked up at Van, standing in the entrance way, her hands on her hips. I quickly tried to wipe at the moisture seeping from my eyes, but I knew it was too late. She had already seen them.
She took a few steps closer, sympathy on her face. “He told you, didn’t he? It’s about time.”
“You knew? This whole time you knew?”
“Of course, we knew,” she said with an apologetic shrug. “Everyone in the supernatural community knows what he is.”
I sniffed as I straightened up from the fridge. They knew what he was and had kept it from me. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
The sympathy on her face faltered a little at that. “We all told you to forget about him. We said he wasn’t good for you. What more do you want?”
I pulled out a chair at the table and sat down, hard. My legs were shaking and I couldn’t trust myself to stand there. I was so confused. Finally, when things started going good in the love department, I had to find this out. I didn’t know what was going on inside of me. I loved Ryan, or at least I thought I did, yet every instinct was telling me to run.
“Are all vampires really that bad?” I heard myself ask. Maybe Van would tell me I was overreacting. Sure, you can keep a vampire as a boyfriend. Just keep the fridge stocked with blood and cut down on your garlic intake.
Van watched me for a minute before nodding. So much for that fantasy. “Most of them are, Max,” she told me softly. “They’re selfish creatures controlled by their own wants and desires. They’re unnatural.” She studied my face a moment, trying to gauge what I was feeling. “Haven’t you had any doubts about him?”
I started to deny it, but then realized she probably knew what I was feeling anyway. It was no doubt a pixie thing. I took a deep breath and voiced the thing that had been bothering me. “The first time we kissed, there was this intense pain, almost like I had been struck by lightning. And not in a good way,” I told her, realizing it didn’t sound good even to my own ears. It still happened to some extent every time we touched. It was like I was hooked up to a live wire. Every nerve sizzled with it. I had gotten good at blocking it out. The pleasure he brought me was worth it, but…was that sensation natural?
Van nodded, not surprised at all. “That’s your witch’s instinct kicking in. It’s shouting ‘Danger, Will Robinson.’” She frowned when that failed to get a chuckle out of me. She sighed and continued, “It’s trying to tell you that nothing but danger lies down that road.”
I shook my head. I couldn’t believe it. Not about the guy I had gotten to know. “But Ryan’s not bad. He loves me,” I told her. And I knew deep down it was true.
“I’m sure he does,” Van admitted as she took the chair across from me. “But a vampire’s love is different. They get blinded by it. It becomes an obsession. And generally speaking, they have no moral compass. They’ll do anything to keep that love.”
I frowned as I thought about that. He might have blindsided me with the vampire thing, but I knew without a doubt he was a good guy. “Ryan’s different. He’s the exception to the rule.”
“Bat’s don’t fall very far from the cave, Max.” She was silent for a moment, leaving me to wonder what else she had to tell me. “You know who his father is, don’t you?”
“No.” Ryan had never given me a name. I knew there were reasons he wanted nothing to do with his dad. Reasons I had hoped that one day he would feel close enough to share.
Van looked at me, a heaviness to her eyes. Oh, boy. This was bad. Wasn’t this situation bad enough already? “His father is Richard Everheart.”
“The shipping magnate?” I managed to get out. He was one of the most powerful men in the world. He made my family look like bums living in the street. Which, of course, is saying something. “That’s Ryan’s dad?”
“He claims him as his son and heir. Richard is the East Coast godfather of vampires. If you’re a vampire living in his domain, you do what he says.”
I shuddered at the images strolling through my mind. What had I got myself into? I could see now that there was nothing cute and cuddly at all about vampires. I don’t know why teenage culture had decided there was. Yet, I couldn’t help what I felt. I wasn’t ready to give up on Ryan and what we had together.
Van wasn’t going to back down. She wanted me to know everything. And I couldn’t blame her. That’s what friends did. They tell you the truth even if it hurts. “That’s why we leave them alone. They leave the rest of the Supernaturals alone as long as no one makes any trouble for them,” she told me, fear etching her features. “But you’ve crossed into vampire territory. All bets are off now. Let’s just hope that Richard Everheart had no idea who you are.”
“What would he do if he did?” A sudden thought popped into my head. Was he the one sending the attacks on me? Was I in danger simply because I was dating his son? I knew now the guy in the elevator had been a vampire. And he had a Jersey accent. East Coast, huh? Had Daddy Everheart sent him in to get rid of me? The pieces were certainly beginning to fit together.
“I need to get my powers under control. And as soon as possible, don’t I?”
“Yes, you do,” Van agreed whole heartedly. “You should go see Jensen. He’s at the bookstore right now.”
I nodded absently. That’s exactly what I needed to do. I was done running from my destiny. I didn’t want to die because I refused to admit what I was. Jensen could help me. He could teach me how to use my powers, instead of them using me. I stood up, and suddenly my shoulder was on fire. I cried out in pain as I sat back down.
“What’s a matter,” Van asked, appearing next to me faster than any human could. She grabbed my hands, as I swatted at my shoulder, trying to put out the flames that engulfed my entire left side. It was probably for the best, all it was doing was making it worse.
She pulled my tee-shirt aside and stared at my bandage. “Have you had anyone look at this?”
I shook my head, gritting in pain. Now wasn’t the time to ask me questions. Couldn’t she see I was dying? She pulled back the bandage, tugging at my skin as she did. I bit back a scream as it felt like my whole shoulder came off with it.
“Oh my Gods,” Van said, staring down at the wound in my flesh. That wasn’t good. Maybe she had peeled off my whole shoulder.
I looked, my head crowding Van’s as I tried to see what the damage was. I gasped in horror when I saw the red, puffy flesh. It peeled and oozed, festering right before our eyes. It was infected. There was no doubt about that. But that’s
not what had me scared.
Black swirls swam out from the wound, covering my well tanned skin from breast bone to my back. It looked like a child had used me as an art project.
“Can that come off?” I asked.
She licked her finger, rubbing lightly at one of the swirls. I cried out in pain at her touch. She pulled her hand away quickly and looked back at me. “No.” The infection in my shoulder was spreading, turning my skin black as it went.
I was going to die.
Van ran to the bathroom and back, slipping a new bandage in place, before pulling my tee-shirt back down. “We’re going to see Jensen. Now!”
Twenty Nine
Bell, Book, and Sandals Page 34
