by Alessa James
“I can’t say. I’ve never felt this way before.”
“Never?” I asked quietly, looking down.
“I’ve never felt the way I do in your presence.”
His answer left me silent.
“I spent hours watching you, oddly fascinated, unable to discern what it was I was feeling. Craving? Madness?”
“Gee, thanks.”
Will stopped picked up my hand and kissed it softly.
“Then he came after you that day in the woods—”
“Wait. What?” I gasped.
“Do you remember anything from the day before I arrived in school?”
My skin prickled.
“Yeah, I had a freakish nightmare. Something about chasing Darcy through the woods. … Wait. You mean … that was real?”
“You were jogging with Darcy, and Fidatov lured him into the woods. He was there waiting for you, and I was nearly too late.”
Bits and pieces were coming back to me, indistinct, but disturbing. I remembered an overwhelming feeling of terror, the sensation of something flying toward me from the trees above.
“When I took you from him, it only confirmed what he had already suspected, only worse. He knew then that he could use you to his advantage.”
“Why don’t I remember this?”
“You lost consciousness, and I thought it best that you didn’t remember two immortal creatures fighting over you in the woods.”
I stared at him, realizing that I probably would have thought I was completely insane. Will’s hands circled my waist.
“The thought that he or any other could take you from me left me with a rage I’ve never experienced before. And now that I’ve found you, I can’t bear the thought of losing you.”
I shivered, suddenly reminded of my mortality. Will bent down, his lips touching mine with the slightest pressure when the classroom door suddenly swung open, the lights flicking on. An unfamiliar teacher looked over at us.
“Out!” he grumbled.
Will lifted me from the counter and took my backpack before leading me from the room. I giggled when we reached the hall. Then, as we walked toward Ms. Gilbert’s English class, I suddenly remembered Lizzie’s invitation to lunch in the cafeteria. I looked up at Will, waves of anxiety coming rolling through me as I thought about going to lunch with a bunch of strangers—and Will.
Before I could say a word, he grabbed me, gently pushing me up against the lockers before taking my face in his hands. Then his lips were on mine, urgent and feverish. His hand fell to my waist, pulling me closer. He growled, his teeth nipping my lower lip before his tongue pushed past my lips. I moaned and felt myself opening to him, craving him.
“Get a room!” someone yelled from across the hall.
I pulled back, shaking and dizzy as a strange energy coursed through me.
“What was that?” I gasped. “Did you just …”
The bell rang, and Will bent down until his lips were at my ear.
“Yes,” Will growled in a low voice. “I needed you. Your emotion was more than I could bear.”
He pulled back, and his eyes were an even brighter, more intense blue. His expression made my knees weak.
“Now would you like to tell me what that was about?” he asked.
I frowned.
“Lizzie invited me to have lunch in the cafeteria with Sean and some of her friends.”
“Have you eaten in the cafeteria once, Aven?”
I made a face.
“Large groups of people, remember?”
It also didn’t help that, according to Lizzie, I was suddenly infamous for hooking up with Will Kincaid.
“Whatever you wish,” he smiled.
“We might as well go,” I sighed as we stopped outside the classroom. “I don’t have a lunch because I was kidnapped yesterday—” I lowered my voice “—by a flawless immortal. I should at least attempt to be normal.”
Will’s expression changed as he leaned down and pressed his lips to my forehead.
“There’s little chance of that for you now.”
He touched my cheek softly before disappearing down the hall. Frowning, I walked into Ms. Gilbert’s classroom and sat down. Most of the class was nowhere near finishing For Whom the Bell Tolls, so it was easy to let my mind wander. Usually I liked English. In fact, I looked forward to it, and it was easily my favorite class. Today, though, it just plodded along.
I knew why, of course. Will. The strangest part was how difficult it was now to imagine my life before him. His presence took up an excessive amount of space in my mind, and by the end of class, I couldn’t wait to see him again. I didn’t think I would ever get over the high of seeing Will waiting for me—and I knew the pain would be devastating if I lost him.
“Part of me keeps expecting you to disappear,” I said quietly.
“Only if you wished it so.”
“I would never wish for that.”
My tone was urgent, but deep down, I realized that eventually we would be parted. I would turn eighteen this year, nineteen the year after. And in another hundred years, Will would still be perfect and nineteen. When he looked down at me, his eyes searching mine, I was afraid he could sense the hopelessness I was feeling. Without thinking about it, I rushed ahead as we got closer to class. Will easily kept pace and pulled me to his side as we walked into Mr. Anderson’s room. I tried not to pay attention as most of the eyes in class turned toward us. Even Mr. Anderson’s glasses slipped down the bridge of his nose as he watched us. I glanced back and saw Sean, who shot me his ‘We need to talk’ look. I sighed. At least he wouldn’t have the opportunity to grill me during lunch in front of Lizzie’s friends. Not that it was much comfort since I was going to walk into the cafeteria with Will in full view of most of the school knowing they were all thinking the same thing I was: What’s he doing with her?
When Mr. Anderson asked if anyone was having problems with the papers, I thought about the week before when I had come so close to asking him if I could do the paper on my own. I wondered how different things would be now if I had actually gone through with it.
Or if Will had never come back to Winters.
In the middle of scribbling notes from Mr. Anderson’s lecture, I felt Will’s hand stretch across the desk behind me, his fingers grazing my shoulder blade and tracing the skin through my sweater. My eyes closed, and my pen faltered on the paper. Suddenly I couldn’t seem to understand what Mr. Anderson was saying, and it was a struggle just to slow my breathing. I jerked myself upright. He was going to kill me!
I looked around self-consciously before realizing that Will was the only one in the room who could feel my emotions spinning out of control. He knew exactly what he was doing. When Mr. Anderson finally asked for the rough drafts of our outlines, Will had to stop torturing me to retrieve ours. I sighed in relief, aware that I would never pass the AP test if Will kept distracting me.
At the end of the period, I got up and avoided the looks from Allison Monroe and her cronies only to catch eyes with Sean, who remained at his desk, smirking at me. I walked up to him with Will right behind me.
“Can anyone explain why I’m always the last one to hear about these things?” he asked mockingly as we reached him.
“Lizzie told you?”
Sean nodded with a grave expression. Then, to my surprise, he stood up and grinned at Will.
“You sure move fast for the new guy,” Sean laughed.
Will smiled as I turned and cuffed Sean on the shoulder.
“Shut up, Sean.”
“Relax, Casey. I was just giving you some well-deserved grief for not telling me anything. Licking my wounds, so to speak.”
“Yeah, yeah. Come on. You don’t want to keep Lizzie waiting. Are Matt and Jeff coming with?”
Sean nodded and rolled his eyes.
“Yup. It’s all part of Lizzie’s diabolical scheme. She’s trying to set them up with a couple of her friends, if you can believe that,” he snorted.
&nbs
p; I looked down. There was no way I was ever going to tell Sean that he had been the unsuspecting target of a set-up. When we were almost to the cafeteria, Sean saw Matt and Jeff and took off ahead of us.
“Were you trying to make me insane in class?” I demanded, looking up at Will.
“I was being very well behaved by my standards.
“Yeah, well that’s not going to help me pass the AP test.”
We reached the doors to the cafeteria, and I stopped, feeling panic overwhelm me. It was loud, and I could nearly feel the competing emotions of so many people threatening to swallow me. I took a quick breath.
“Maybe we can find another dark classroom,” I whispered, only half joking.
Will propelled me forward, his arm firmly around my shoulders as we walked through the doors. Had he not been holding me, I probably would have run in the opposite direction. As it was, I kept my gaze straight-ahead and unfocused to avoid the looks of those we passed. Finally I caught sight of Lizzie, Sean, Matt, Jeff, and a couple of girls I didn’t recognize. Lizzie jumped up to introduce everyone as we approached.
“Aven and Will, these are my friends Amy and Megan.”
Amy was about my height with long black hair and friendly almond-shaped eyes. She smiled warmly. Megan, who was several inches taller with golden blonde hair and light blue eyes, looked me over coolly before looking Will up and down. I was surprised when she didn’t lick her lips. Turning, I tried to figure out Lizzie’s matchmaking attempt. Matt, who had slightly longer, light brown hair and hazel eyes was shorter and slighter than Jeff, who had a more athletic build and short, dark brown hair and brown eyes. Whichever one of them Lizzie was trying to set up with Megan—I already felt bad for him, because Megan clearly wanted Will.
“Hi,” I said with a little wave.
I smiled, squirming a little bit when I noticed that Megan’s expression remained a few degrees shy of freezing as she looked at me. I turned toward Matt and Jeff.
“Matt, Jeff—this is Will.”
Matt straightened.
“Hey, didn’t I see you at the party at Jason Everett’s the other week?” he asked Will.
“It’s possible,” Will shrugged. “I wasn’t there for long.”
I grabbed Will’s arm.
“We’ll be right back,” I called over my shoulder as I hurried toward the line.
I hadn’t realized that anyone else had seen Will at the party, and the thought made my skin crawl with anxiety before I realized that there was no way that anyone had seen Will anywhere near Scott Adams—or me—since Will had literally flown in the window of a back bedroom. He caught my hand as we made our way through the line.
“What is it?”
“I just didn’t think anyone else saw you at the party,” I said distractedly as I looked over the cafeteria’s offerings.
I picked up a tray and grabbed a slice of pizza, a salad, and water. When Will set some items on the tray, I looked up at him.
“It would be customary for me to eat as well,” Will said as he took the tray and paid before I got a chance to take out my wallet.
Clasping my hand in his, he easily balanced the tray in his free hand as we walked back to the table, where Will waited for me to sit before taking the seat next to me.
“It was totally Mike Nickels,” Matt said. “Think about it. Mike was going out with Shelly Alton until the summer … and then she hooked up with Scott. Mike waited for his chance, and then he beat the living hell out of Scott.”
Jeff shook his head.
“No way. He’s not stupid. His hands would have been destroyed. He’s not taking that chance if he thinks he’s gonna be pitching his first year of college. Besides, how many guys would it have taken to obliterate all three of them like that? Whoever did it had a dozen guys with him. And they definitely weren’t from school, ’cause nobody’s said a word—and obviously none of ’em recognized the guys that did it.”
I winced as I realized what they were talking about, but when I glanced at Will, his eyes didn’t even flicker in recognition.
“Served him right.” I looked up at Lizzie’s friend Amy. “That guy’s a jerk. He got what was coming to him.”
Matt raised his hand in a high five, and Amy tentatively made contact.
“Remind me not to get on your bad side,” he smiled.
Lizzie started quizzing everyone about the fall formal. I looked over at her, wondering if that was why she was trying to set up her friends with Matt and Jeff. Group date? I looked from Matt and Jeff to Amy and Megan. If this was the first time they were all hanging out, it seemed a little early to assume Lizzie’s matchmaking attempt would work, but what did I know? I had fallen in love with a more than two-century-old energy vampire I had known for a matter of weeks. I wasn’t in a position to judge anyone. Besides, nobody ever seemed to fault Romeo and Juliet for insta-love followed up by double suicide.
“I thought it would be fun to go as a group,” Lizzie continued brightly, winking at Sean.
I could feel myself getting paler by the second, and I was already hoping I wasn’t being included in this optimistic little social experiment of Lizzie’s. Looking desperately at Will, I shook my head. He was the only one I had ever told about my problems in public places and with large groups of people. Of course, my dad knew, but it wasn’t something we talked about.
“Let’s make sure we know who’s in, so we can rent a limo and buy the tickets,” Lizzie pleaded.
A limo? I swallowed nervously. How seriously did they take this dance thing at Winters?
“Hey, Will. Do you play poker?” Jeff asked with a look on his face that said he was eager to change subjects.
“I try not to,” Will smiled.
“Not into it or what?” Sean asked.
“I take people’s money too easily.”
“That’s what I keep telling these guys, but they keep letting me rob ’em blind,” Matt bragged. “We get together and play once a month, and we could use a fourth, if you’re interested.”
“I’m game,” Will said.
I stopped and stared at him as the four of them continued talking. Seeing how easily Will had integrated himself into a group of high school students, it made me wonder how many times he had attended high school in the past two centuries. I shuddered. Repeating high school was my own personal version of eternal damnation.
“So, do you guys want to go into Portland to look for dresses for the dance?” Lizzie asked. “How about Friday after school? We can grab dinner somewhere near the mall …”
Will’s eyes darted in my direction as she said this.
“I can’t. Well, I mean, I’m not going to the dance,” I said nervously.
I noticed Megan’s lips curl into a poorly concealed smile as she glanced in Will’s direction. Amy, who didn’t seem to realize what a bitch her friend was, shook her head.
“You should come with to Portland. Shopping’s always fun—and it’ll be good to get out of town.”
I didn’t necessarily agree that shopping was always fun, but I didn’t want to be a complete social mutant.
“Sure,” I smiled.
The lunch bell rang, and everyone scattered. When we reached my locker, I noticed that Will appeared lost in thought.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t want you going into the city by yourself,” he said quietly, looking away from me.
I turned and stared at him.
“This is the first time I’ve had a chance to hang out with girls since I moved here! I can’t be a complete shut-in. I mean, I usually am, but I shouldn’t be.”
“Fidatov could use it as an opportunity. There are too many variables. I can’t take that risk.”
When he looked back at me, his eyes were filled with concern.
“So then come with. Follow me around. Pretend you’re still stalking me,” I smiled.
Will stayed silent as I pulled books from my locker.
“We’ll figure out something before then. I prom
ise. Aven?” When I looked up at him, his expression was apprehensive or eager—I couldn’t tell which. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you.”
My stomach flipped as we started walking.
“Okay …”
“Would you come back to the house this weekend?” He hesitated. “I have company arriving.”
I stopped, and my mouth went dry.
“Um, wouldn’t that be a reason for me not to come over? What if your company doesn’t like me, or likes me too much?” I asked. “I mean, your kind does eat empaths for breakfast, right?”
I smiled and started walking again.
“My kind?” he repeated in amusement. Then, more seriously, he added, “Anyone who is loyal to me would never harm you.”
“They’re loyal to you?”
“As I am to them,” he said evenly.
We stopped in front of Ms. Fielding’s classroom, and I tried desperately to think of a more effective argument. Before I could think of one, Will touched my cheek.
“I’ve already met your father, so it’s only fair that you meet my closest companions.”
“I don’t think that’s a valid comparison, thank you very much. Besides, when you met my dad, we weren’t … I mean you weren’t—”
I looked down.
“Your boyfriend?” Will finished.
My eyes shot to his face.
“Is that what you are?”
“Unless you would prefer undyingly loyal immortal beloved?”
“Shhh!”
“This weekend, then. It’s a date,” Will said triumphantly, taking my hand and bringing it up to his lips.
“I wouldn’t call it a date,” I grumbled.
He just smiled again.
“I’ll come for you after school, and we can pick up Darcy.”
He was halfway down the empty hallway before I could form another argument. I walked to my seat and found Lizzie nearly bursting with excitement.
“I think it went really well!” she said.
I scrambled to catch up with her enthusiasm. All my energy was now trained on meeting immortal strangers I desperately hoped would approve of—or at least tolerate—me. I shook my head, focusing on Lizzie.
“Okay, so who were you trying to set up?” I asked.
“Jeff and Megan and Matt and Amy.”
