The evening drew on, the mood mellow and gay, and when the market closed at eight, we all went to a bar together. We encountered our fellow students Astrid and Alexandra. Salzburg was a real village sometimes! Andreas didn’t even say hello, but greeted them with a straightforward: “Do you maybe have a piece of paper and a pencil?”
Astrid actually did, and so I agreed to draw him. I started with his curly hair and his pronounced chin. It took me a while to get it right, but I was satisfied with the result. When I handed him the piece of paper, he stared at it for a long time, before looking around the room and asking with a laugh: “Which of the patrons did you draw, Melanie? Your caricature looks nothing like me.”
At first I thought he was bullshitting me, but when the others agreed that my drawing bore no likeness to him, I grew insecure and took it out of his hands. His nimble fingers grabbed it back, and then he folded the paper and put it in his back pocket. I tried to snatch it from him a few times, but he simply leaned into the physical contact, enjoying my reluctance to touch him. I finally gave up and focused on my drink instead. Since we didn’t have any lectures or courses the following day, we decided we’d hit a club next. When the others were out of earshot for a moment, Tanja leaned in and asked me whether I possessed any other special abilities. I wasn’t too happy about her curiosity regarding my second nature. “No, I don’t have any cool abilities at all. I heal a little more quickly than other people, it’s hard to work magic on me, and I’m annoyingly vulnerable. And every Peri I’ve met has been trying to convince me I should give them my energy.” I had spoken in a whisper, but I couldn’t help scanning the room to make sure that we weren’t overheard. I met Andreas’ eyes. He’d been watching me, and now he made his way over to us. I had taken off my turquoise coat. Andreas took my arm and examined the fresh scar, which I had Nikelaus to thank for. I was surprised that he didn’t drop a sarcastic comment. Instead he stroked my cheek and said: “If you have problems, you can talk to me.”
Did he think I had tried to commit suicide? “It’s not what you think. And my problems are my own.” That was when I spied someone else. I took an instinctive step backwards and dropped to my knees, hiding behind Tanja. Andreas squatted next to me: “Who are we hiding from?” he asked in a stage whisper. He seemed to find it all very amusing, a weird little adventure. Tanja on the other hand understood my behavior in the blink of an eye; she shielded me with her body as best she could. Without a word, I turned my back on Andreas. Nikelaus was blocking the exit, so I crept towards the restrooms in a crouch. I was terribly scared of what Nikelaus would do if he found me without Michael. Once I had made it around the corner, I straightened and breathed a sigh of relief. I closed my eyes and tried to control my panic. I needed a level head. When I had regained my composure as much as possible, I opened my eyes and jerked backwards in fright, hitting my head against the wall. Andreas stood before me, but I had mistaken him for Nikelaus at first. Another sigh of relief. “It’s you.”
“Who did you expect I was?”
“Never mind, I’m just jumpy. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
He knit his brows and stared at me with a pig-headed expression. I tried to step past him, but he grabbed me by my upper arms and forced me to look at him. “Nikelaus. His name is Nikelaus Dravko. Would you please let go of me now!”
His eyes widened, and then he put an arm around me. “Come, I’ll get you out of here unseen.” He knew where the fire exit was. At the end of a hallway, we found an unmarked door that led outside. I followed him and saw my caricature sticking from his back pocket. I quickly stole it back from him. He probably thought I was holding on to him for balance. Once outside, I pulled my phone from my pocket. When I looked up to thank Andreas, he was gone. I dialed Michael’s number. “Your uncle is here. He hasn’t seen me … okay, I’m coming to meet you.” We met at the bus stop.
Nikelaus was after me. Tanja was not in danger, but I asked Stefan for her phone number anyway. She was okay, and already on her way to join us. Michael didn’t want to wait for her, but when I asked him to, he stayed. When she joined us, we all went back to the mansion together.
In the kitchen, Jeremeia, Iveria, Stefan, and Alessandro were talking. Jeremeia rose from his chair and greeted me with a kiss on the cheek: “Nice to see you again.”
He ignored Tanja. I had another question, one I had been wondering about since the audience with Martellius. “Jeremeia, can I ask you a slightly delicate question?”
“Of course, my dear,” he replied with an expectant smile.
“Were you the one who made an offer for me, the vampire Nikelaus mentioned at the audience?”
“Of course I was.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you and Michael are friends, aren’t you? You two contrived to make it look like you wanted me, all just to prove that I don’t possess any special abilities?”
He laughed. “And we all know how well that plan worked.”
I was sitting on Michael’s lap, while Tanja told Stefan everything about our evening so far. She didn’t leave anything out. She even recalled my confession that I was more than just human, and she showed him the photos. So much for ‘This has to stay between you and me.’ I rolled my eyes in frustration and got up to fetch me something to drink. I stood leaning against the counter.
“Melanie, was Andreas being presumptuous again?”
I raised my head and looked at him with a bemused expression. “No, why?”
His voice held an edge when he said: “I’m asking because he is kissing you in this picture.”
I had forgotten all about that, and promptly blushed. “Oops, yeah, but that was just him being silly.”
Tanja went on to tell them about my caricature, which she claimed didn’t look like him at all. I piped up sheepishly: “I still think that I captured him quite well.”
The drawing was back in my possession, but I wasn’t in the mood to be laughed at, so I left it in my coat pocket. I looked around the room. “Jeremeia, I don’t see you that often.” He was curious what I had up my sleeve. I asked politely, and hopefully not too suspiciously: “Do you have any idea where Sarah is?” His expression was blank, innocent, clueless, but I wasn’t convinced by his shrug. “Then I’m going to call the police now and report her missing.” I had barely finished my sentence, when my phone rang.
“Melanie, hi, it’s me. Sarah.”
I took a deep breath, relief flooding me like a wave. “Oh, thank God! How are you? Where have you been? What’s going on?” I blurted. The sound of her voice took a load off my shoulders. Only now did I realize how deeply worried I had been.
“I met someone. He’d been dumped by his fiancée, and was left with his honeymoon trip. Six weeks in Africa! Do you have any idea how much such a trip costs? Anyway, I spontaneously agreed to tag along, and I forgot my phone at home, plugged in to be charged. Do you know that you called me more than a hundred times?!” She sounded reproachful, and so did I. “Sarah, I almost reported you missing.” What had she been thinking, vanishing for weeks and not a peep?!
“I came home a few minutes ago. I’m going to bed now; I’m so tired. Let’s talk next week, once I’m over my jetlag,” she yawned into the receiver.
“You’re joking! You can’t cut me off like this after such a long time.”
“I’m sorry, pumpkin, but I’m really exhausted. We’ll talk soon,” she murmured into her phone and hung up on me. Was I dreaming? Did she really just cut me off like that? I stared at my phone in outrage. I couldn’t believe it.
Shortly after that, I retreated into my den. There was an email from the university in my inbox. One professor was ill, so my Monday morning seminar in the Nawi would be canceled. I smirked, glad that I didn’t have to face Andreas and his questions again. Michael’s hands snaked around my waist from behind. I closed my eyes and reveled in his touch, his gentle kisses in my neck. His lips tickled my ear as he whispered: “This Andreas guy is starting to really get on my nerves. If you wa
nt me to, I can make sure that he stops bothering you.”
I looked up at him, feeling puzzled for a moment. “How did you know what he looked like? You’ve never met him.” His expression confirmed a hunch I’d had for a while. I saw no reason to beat around a bush: “The men who were watching me around campus, a short while after you and I met, they weren’t there to protect me, were they? They were there to spy on me.”
“I had to know whether I could trust you.”
He’d asked me to trust him, so many times. But I wasn’t up for a fight. It was a mere six days until Christmas, so I changed the subject by asking: “Do you have any wishes for Christmas presents?”
He smiled sheepishly. “I wouldn’t say no to a bottle of that home-brewed liquor you mentioned.”
18 POISONING
The week went by without any further drama or danger. I had lots of time to study. Michael came home for an hour or two during the day, just to be with me. Magda was tolerable, almost friendly, once I had figured out how to deal with her. I also spent some time in the hospital, visiting Katja once a day. Sometimes I found Iveria already at her bedside. I had the feeling that Katja’s condition worsened with every passing day, and unfortunately both Iveria and the doctors thought so, too.
Two days before Christmas, I had my last Thursday shift for the year. The guys from the earlier shift had forgotten to refill the snacks at the kiosk, so I started my shift my hauling up boxes of M&Ms, gummy bears, chips, and candy bars from the downstairs storage. It was too late to stack the shelves however, because people were already lining up to buy candy. I kept rummaging through the boxes and scrambling to get everyone what they wanted quickly. Once the movies had started, I could finally put all the snacks in their designated containers on the shelves. When I was done, I checked with the ticket counter, but there was nothing else that needed attending to, so I hung around until the next admittance, bored. During the week, the shifts were less busy than on the weekend, which made the hands on the clock crawl in slow motion, or so it seemed. Before one showing, a young man bought two bottles of Coke, even though he was alone. He handed me one of the drinks with a smile, asking me if he could invite me for a glass of wine after my shift was finished. I was friendly, but I declined, saying that I was taken. Once I had checked the tickets for the last showing of the night, I said goodbye to my colleagues and headed out.
I didn’t watch where I was going and bumped into a man in passing. I apologized, but he still seemed annoyed. But then he inhaled, his nostrils flared, and he asked in a velvety voice: “Why in such a hurry, pretty lady? May I buy you a drink somewhere?”
I nodded no and smiled, walking on. Mere seconds later, he was at my side again. He tried to make me look into his eyes. “I’m sure you’d love to have a drink with me, wouldn’t you?”
I took him in – his smell, his appearance, the way he moved. He was a vampire. Unsure of how to deal with the situation, I merely uttered a firm “No, thanks,” and headed for the train station with quicker steps. Even though he didn’t seem to follow me, I immediately called Michael, but couldn’t reach him.
Then I heard the vampire’s voice behind me again. I was on Werkstättenstraße, a street that’s practically deserted at night. “You’re acting like I’m a monster. All I want is have a drink with you, nothing more. Do I really look that frightening?” He probably meant that he wanted to drink from me. How could I defend myself if he decided to attack? Screaming and running would do me no good, but rebuking him politely wouldn’t cut it either. I could pretend that he’d managed to hypnotize me, and then allow him to have at my life elixir, but I didn’t think that would be a good idea. I simply had to put my cards on the table. Once I had decided on that, he launched a new attempt at hypnotizing me.
“Save yourself the trouble; it’s not going to work.”
He gave me an astonished look. “Who or what are you?”
“I have no idea, but I do know that I’m immune to your little tricks.”
He flashed a superior smile. “What a shame. If I could manipulate you, I didn’t have to kill you. I would have liked to keep you, for you smell fantastic.” I swallowed. Maybe one of the other strategies might have been smarter after all. I registered that I was getting used to situations like this. Two months ago, I would have simply stood there, unable to move or speak. I tried projecting confidence, but before I could open my mouth to say something, he clamped his hand over my mouth, threatening to break my neck if I screamed. Why did they always have to threaten you right away? I rolled my eyes to show that I was irritated, but unimpressed, and gestured to let him know I wouldn’t scream.
He took his hand away. “Why don’t you react like the others? Where is the fun in that?” he complained.
“I couldn’t care less whether you have fun or not. You can kill me now, but you will wish that you never met me, once the Peri Michael Dravko or the vampire Jeremeia Pirini hunt you down!” I stressed the words Peri and vampire, and wouldn’t you know it, he suddenly didn’t look quite as smug as before. He pulled his phone from his pocket and quickly dialed a number. He held me in a painful grip while he talked. “Jeremeia, I have a blondish girl here …” I interrupted him: “Melanie.” He gave me a thoughtful look. “She says her name is Melanie and she’s under your protection, and Michael’s as well? I’m sorry to bother you with crap like this, but she smells so damn good.” He made a face and then handed me the phone, grumbling: “He wants to talk to you.” I hoped Jeremeia wouldn’t be annoyed that I had claimed he would come and avenge my death.
I shyly took the phone from the vampire and said: “Hello, I couldn’t reach Michael. I hope it was okay that I mentioned you as well.”
Jeremeia laughed. “You’re a quick learner, as you should be. I told him to get you home safely, to make up for his blunder. He won’t touch you; you have my word on that. But I have to say, you draw trouble like a magnet, don’t you think?”
“Just to be clear, I never was in any trouble before I met Michael.” That might have sounded a little ungrateful, so I added a hasty: “Thank you, see you soon.”
The vampire introduced herself as Janosch. I gave him a look that made it clear that I was unimpressed, before turning and heading in the direction of the station once more. He grabbed me by my arm. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Thank you, but I’m taking the bus.”
“No, you’re not! It’s my responsibility to get you home unharmed.”
I was so sick of being ordered around. What if I had a date? I heaved a frustrated sigh and ignored him.
He grinned, incredulous. “You’re not actually serious, are you? You must be a special kind of spoiled brat. Either you’re coming to the car with me now, or I’ll break every single bone in your body.”
“You know, I’ve heard that one before, not much more than a month ago. Maybe you can come up with something more original. If you want to make sure that I’m getting home safely, you’re going to have to take the bus.” I knew that my behavior was irrational and immature, but I didn’t care the least bit.
Affronted, Janosch whipped out his phone again. “She refuses to come with me.”
Jeremeia laughed at him. “She’s only a little girl. Put her in your car and take her to Michael’s, or do you need me to send you backup?”
My burst of anger and defiance was fizzling out. I threw up my hands and huffed: “Okay, okay, I’m coming. But just for the record: I forbid you to drink my blood.”
“As if that could hinder me if I wanted to. I don’t know what Michael sees in you.”
I was silent on the way to his car, got in without a word, and remained silent for the next few minutes. Then we were flagged down by a policeman. Obviously a stop and search was in progress. There it was again, the cold shiver in the back of my neck, making my skin crawl. I frantically reached for Janosch’s hand. “No, don’t stop!” He gave me a perplexed look and concluded in a somewhat offended voice: “You’re more scared of the police
than of me.”
“We can talk about your hurt feelings later. Step on the gas! If you stop, we’ll be dead soon!”
We were almost past the squad cars and policemen, when we came to a jerking stop.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing; I’m flooring it already. Must be magic that’s stopping us,” he professed. I wished I had tinkered and experimented with my talents, but I had no idea what to do. That’s what you get when you avoid the obvious, was all I could think. The tires were spinning like crazy on the asphalt, smoke was starting to rise, and the smell of burned rubber was stinging my nose, but the car wouldn’t budge. It was as if an invisible wall was holding us back. And that might just be the solution: I pictured myself breaking through the wall, solely through the power of my mind, and suddenly the car shot off at full speed. Janosch jerked the steering wheel to the side, and we flew around the next bend, tires screeching. My nose was bleeding, as it had done before when I’d exerted a lot of mental energy. I felt weak. Janosch fumbled for his phone and called Jeremeia a third time. He quickly briefed him on what had just happened, and then told me: “The plan has changed. Michael is not even in town. We’re going to Jeremeia’s. You’re bleeding; are you injured?”
“No, it’s just that my body reacts when I break a spell. The stronger the magic, the more intense the reaction. At least that’s what I think is what happens.”
“I see, but how did you know that it was a trap?”
“It’s hard to explain. Let’s just say, I have a sixth sense for danger.”
“What did you say you were?”
Peris Night: Terakon (Secret Language) Page 25
