by Donna Flynn
Aidan’s expression softened as he stared down at the bundle in his arms. All of the darkness that seemed to surround him just moments before began to fade. His face became flushed with color, his eyes morphed from black to the startling blue that was familiar to me, and he looked almost triumphant.
The room grew quiet. Everyone seemed on edge as they stared at their prince, waiting for his decision, and when it came everyone let out a sigh of relief.
“The child will remain in your care. It will be your job to protect her and raise her as is fitting for her position in our society.” Having made his decree, he handed me back to my mother with a great carefulness that seemed out of place for such a strong, powerful being. The man beside him opened his mouth to argue, but Aidan cut him off abruptly with a wave of his hand. “I have made my decision, none here shall sway me.” Whispers began in the crowd before him and he stood to address them, silencing them all. “From this day forth, this child will be protected and cared for by our people, hidden from those who would harm her. If any here have an issue with this, let them speak now.” The room remained silent. He nodded to my parents then walked out, leaving behind hushed whispers and looks of disbelief.
Chapter Two
I awoke to a cold and rainy morning that was the start of another school day, but instead of allowing the weather to get me down and slump back in bed as I might have done in the past, I jumped up eagerly. I dressed, ran downstairs, and ate quickly. Then I rushed outside to meet Paul at his truck, anticipating seeing Scott once again now that I had permission to go out with him.
“Good morning,” I said, trying to put our dispute behind us. He growled something under his breath, clearly still upset with me, so I tried again when he got into the cab of the truck. “You know, I get that you don’t like Scott, but it isn’t like we are getting married or anything, so why don’t you calm down?”
He turned to look at me, his eyes flickering between their normal brown hue and the black of his vampire. It was scary and intimidating, but I had seen it many times before so it didn’t faze me in the least. “You’re too young to be dating.”
“I’m almost sixteen!” I cried.
“You’re still a child,” he argued.
“God, Paul, why can’t you let me grow up.”
He looked almost sad as he turned to address me. “Don’t rush it. There are things being older will entail that are not going to be easy.”
“Yeah, I know,” I muttered.
“I wish you did,” he said softly.
I didn’t know what to say. He was my big brother and I loved him, but he was suffocating me with his overprotective ways. Instead of replying, I turned up the radio and stared out the window the rest of the way to school.
Jess was waiting in the parking lot when we arrived. She was almost as excited as I was about the prospect of Scott asking me out, and we took off to our lockers together almost immediately.
“So, Paul’s still mad, huh?” she asked as we walked down the hall.
“Yeah, he thinks I’m too young to date and was really pissed off my parents relented.”
“That sucks.”
It really did. As much as we argued, Paul and I were close, and it hurt that he didn’t support me.
We turned down the hall where our lockers were situated, and I saw Scott leaning against mine. Waiting, I hoped, for me. My heart began to beat faster and my palms grew sweaty as I approached, stumbling slightly, much to my embarrassment.
“Hey,” he said as I stopped before him, my cheeks flaming with embarrassment.
I forgot to breathe and felt faint, but managed to answer. “Hi,” I said softly, opening my locker and getting out my books, which he promptly took from me and shoved under his arm.
“Can I walk you to class?” He held out his hand and I took it, acutely aware that everyone in the hall was staring at us. It was like a fantasy come to life. Everything was perfect, and I couldn’t imagine anything ruining such a perfect moment. But I should have.
“Katie, you forgot your book,” Paul called out, running up behind me and shoving my algebra book, which I suspected he had taken from my book bag while I was not looking, at me.
I wanted to scream, to tell him to stop being an ass, but I couldn’t confront him there in the middle of the hall without making a scene, and his smug smile told me he was counting on that.
“Thanks, Paul,” I answered stiffly, turning back to Scott, who had let go of my hand. He looked extremely uncomfortable now that my brother was there.
Paul put his hand on my shoulder and turned me away from Scott. There was nothing I could do to stop him. He was stronger than me and I could not pull away. “Since I’m here, I’ll walk you to class.” He placed himself firmly between Scott and myself, practically dragging me down the hall with him.
I fumed inwardly at his behavior but remained silent, vowing to speak to my parents once again about his behavior.
I looked to Jess for help, but she just chuckled and kept pace behind us. She was used to my brother being overbearing, overprotective, and a pain in my butt. She actually found it “endearing.”
At the door of my Algebra class, Paul finally let go of me. “I’ll be here when the bell rings to take you to your next class,” he warned, looking over my shoulder to Scott, who backed away and went to sit down far across the room with his friends.
“I’m going to kill him,” I said to Jess as I sat down, too embarrassed to even look at Scott after how my brother had behaved.
“No, you won’t. You love the big goof,” she chuckled.
She was right. I was mad, but I would never want to see Paul hurt, even if he did deserve it for humiliating me before the entire school. “Maybe, but he’s making me crazy.”
“Maybe you should talk to him about how you feel?” she suggested.
I sighed. “I tried, Jess, but he told me I’m too young to date.”
“Well, at least you have someone who cares what happens to you,” she reminded me.
I felt bad for complaining. Jess had no siblings. Her parents were divorced, and her mother worked two jobs to keep them afloat, so she had no real family life. When we became friends, she spent so much time at my house that my family kind of adopted her. They loved her as much as I did, but they didn’t replace the family she longed for. I decided it was better not to upset her so I didn’t say anything more.
To my surprise, as soon as the bell rang signaling the end of class, Scott came to my seat and grabbed my books off the corner of my desk. He took my hand in his and pulled me toward the door.
I smiled, happily following him past the rows of desks, hoping we could outrun my brother.
“Ready for gym?” he asked, with a charming smile that changed to a frown when we walked out of the door to find Paul leaning against the nearest lockers, waiting for my exit.
“Thanks, man,” Paul said taking my books from Scott before grabbing my arm, and pulling our hands apart.
“Paul,” I hissed angrily, but he ignored me and instead pierced Scott with his cool gaze.
“You can go, I got her from here,” he said, practically dragging me down the hallway beside him.
Scott nodded and walked away without even saying goodbye.
“What do you think you are doing?” I asked, tripping as I tried to keep up with his long stride. “Did you compel him?”
“I don’t like that guy: stay away from him,” he warned.
I tried to pull my arm away, but he held on with a tight grip. “You can’t keep doing this! I am allowed to date now, remember?”
“Not him! Date anyone but him, Katie. There are lots of guys at school that would date you.”
“Gee, thanks,” I muttered.
“You know what I mean. How about Matt? He would go out with you if I asked him.”
I knew he was getting desperate if he offered up his best friend as a sacrifice. We arrived at the gym, and I grabbed my books from him with a droll look. “Great! A date with your
best friend? I bet that would be fun. He would probably take me to Kelly’s, buy me dinner, then drop me off at home with a handshake and a thoughtful goodbye.” I gripped my books tightly, trying to remain calm. “You would obviously threaten to kill him if he so much as touched me, so no thanks. I do not need you to pick my dates! Just stop it with the overprotective big-brother act, and leave me alone!” I was frustrated by the entire conversation and walked quickly into the girls’ locker room before he could respond, knowing that at least he could not follow me there. Well, he could and probably without being seen, but even Paul had his limits.
Jess was already in the locker room, shaking her head, trying not to laugh as I approached. I slammed my locker open and pulled out my shorts and T-shirt, before tossing my books inside carelessly. As we dressed and walked out to the gym, Jess listened patiently as I ranted about Paul and all of the ways I would get even with him. She was a good listener and didn’t laugh or point out the many flaws in my plans, for which I was grateful, but I still didn’t feel better.
As we entered the gym, I had just finished my tirade and Scott ran up behind me. “I see your bodyguard couldn’t follow you in here,” he said with a grin. “I guess he couldn’t get past the coach.”
I held back the laugh that bubbled in my throat. Paul was a vampire: he could go anywhere he wanted with little effort, but it was not information I could share with anyone outside of my family. “I guess not.”
“You know…” He looked me over, his eyes glistening with appreciation as he took in my newly curved figure, making me squirm uncomfortably. Although I knew my look was what had drawn him to me, the raw desire I saw in his eyes made me shiver. Every word Chris and my brother had said about him reverberated in my mind, but I shook it off, refusing to allow them to scare me away from dating Scott. “I was thinking we should go out sometime real soon.” His hands slid down to my hips and he pulled me firmly against him.
It was the closest I had ever been to a male who was not family. I should have felt giddy, excited, but instead I felt very uncomfortable.
“Ah…yeah…sure, just let me know when,” I answered nervously.
He lowered his head to mine, our lips barely brushing, when his friends called out to him to get back into the basketball game. “I gotta go. See you later,” he said, before running off to join his companions.
Jess stood next to me, grinning from ear to ear. “Someone is giving you the evil eye, and I bet you know just who I am talking about.” I turned and saw Brenda pointing in my direction, her face fire-engine red as she ranted to her friends about Scott almost kissing me.
“You are so lucky. I wish Josh would ask me out,” Jess sighed, looking at the object of her affection longingly.
Was I lucky? Now that Scott had walked away, I wasn’t so sure, but I wasn’t going to admit that to anyone. “I’m working on that for you,” I told her, wondering how I was going to get the two of them together when both of them seemed so shy. As I pondered that issue, I saw Josh staring at Jess with as much desire as she did him, and I knew that somehow I had to make it work for them. After all, she was my best friend and I wanted her to be happy.
*****
Paul was furious when he met me outside the gym after class. After chewing me out, he spent the rest of the day doing everything possible to keep Scott away from me. I was furious, but Chris seemed almost pleased by my brother’s actions.
“I can’t believe he’s even still trying to date you, with Paul being so protective,” he said as we stood at my locker between classes.
“Tell me about it,” I said, slamming my locker closed, glancing to where Scott stood with his friends.
“Can’t you talk to your parents about Paul?” Jess said. “I mean, he would listen to them, right?”
“He knows I’m allowed to date Scott if he asks me out, but he’s doing everything he can to keep that from happening.” Paul stood a few lockers away talking with his friends, and I glared at him. But he was focused on Scott, who stood far away from me, and didn’t seem to notice.
“Maybe we can distract him for you,” Jess said.
“No way. I’m with Paul on this one,” Chris told her.
“Jerk,” she muttered under her breath.
“Jess, Chris is entitled to his own opinion. Even if it is wrong,” I said, sticking my tongue out at him then almost biting it off when Scott walked by, staring at me with confusion. “Oh, great, now he’ll think I’m a freak,” I muttered.
“Who cares? We have to go. Today is our first lab and I can’t wait to blow something up,” Chris told me.
Immediately I was thankful the teacher had made me switch partners.
“See you guys later,” Jess said, walking off toward her own class.
“Later,” I called out, before turning to Chris and looping my arm through his. “Promise me you won’t blow anything up.”
“Aw, you’re no fun,” he teased.
“I just want to live to see my own graduation,” I told him, as we walked through the door and went to our seats.
“We’ll see,” he said with a laugh, before letting go of my arm and walking to his seat.
“Hi,” Josh said as I took my place beside him.
“Hey, Josh, how are you?”
“Good, uh, I was wondering…”
Here it goes, I thought, he’s finally going to ask about Jess. “What’s up?” I asked with a knowing smile.
“You’re not going to go out with that Scott guy, right?”
His question floored me. I hadn’t seen it coming. “I…uh…”
“I just ask because I know he’s been paying you a lot of attention, but there’s something about him that’s off, you know?” His cheeks flushed. “I wouldn’t say anything, but you’re a nice girl and I wouldn’t like to see you hurt by him.”
It was nice that he cared, but really, I was getting tired of defending Scott to everyone I knew. Sure, he was cocky and, I supposed, arrogant, but it wasn’t like I was making a lifetime commitment with him. It was just one date, and that might not even come to fruition if Paul had his way. “I appreciate your concern, but yes, I do plan on going out with him if he asks.”
“I really wish you wouldn’t. I mean, he’s kind of a jerk and I get a bad vibe from him.”
He and every other male I knew seemed to feel that way. Thank god I had Jess on my side. “I’ll take that into consideration,” I told him.
“Okay,” he said, turning his attention back to the experiment and saying nothing more about Scott.
When the bell rang at the end of class, I went directly to my locker to get my things. Paul was waiting when I got there, so Scott walked by and waved, but did not stop to talk. Not that I blamed him one bit. My brother was seriously imposing when he was angry, and I could feel his rage boiling as he stared down the guy I so badly wanted to date.
“Thanks a lot, Paul,” I muttered, as he walked me to the car.
“He’s no good, Katie,” he warned.
“Prove that, and I won’t go out with him,” I challenged.
He shook his head. “I can’t, it’s just a feeling I have about him.”
“Then back off and allow me to make my own decisions,” I told him, as he helped me inside of the truck.
“If only it was that easy,” he said, closing the door behind me.
Chapter Three
With all the turmoil in my life and my horrible nightmares plaguing me every evening, I was so tired I struggled to remain awake at school over the next few days. If it weren’t for my friends, I probably would have slept through every class, but thankfully one of them was always there to poke me or shake me awake when I nodded off. Jess, because she was generally concerned, and Chris, I suspected, because it was just fun for him. Unfortunately neither one was around, when I fell asleep on the bleachers while everyone else was playing basketball, to save me from the embarrassment of having Scott find me sound asleep on the bleachers.
“Are you staying up all nigh
t dreaming of me, Katie?” Scott asked, shaking my shoulder to wake me up.
“Oh, sorry. I did not sleep well last night,” I explained, brushing the hair from my face and sitting up, embarrassed he had caught me catnapping.
“Do you think I could walk you to your next class?”
I was surprised he asked. He had given me a wide berth since my brother’s antics a few days before. “Sure,” I mumbled, still trying to wake up.
“See you after the bell rings then.” He patted me on the leg and rejoined the basketball game, leaving me yawning on the bleachers.
“Girl, what is wrong with you lately,” Jess asked, taking a seat next to me.
“What?”
“You’re tired all of time and you look like hell.”
“I’m trying to sleep, but these horrible dreams I have are making it impossible.”
“What dreams?”
I bit my lip, inwardly cringing at my own stupidity. I loved Jess but she wasn’t the best at keeping secrets, and I didn’t want her saying anything about my dreams to my family. They tended to overreact, and that would lead to my brother increasing his vigilance and my parents smothering me with concern. “It’s not important; just don’t tell anyone, alright?” The bell rang, ending our conversation, and we had to hurry to the locker room and change so we would make it to our next class on time, so she never answered.
Scott was waiting for me as we exited the locker room. Fortunately, Paul was nowhere to be found. So I took Scott’s offered hand, and he escorted me to my next class without interference from my well-meaning but domineering brother.
The rest of the day, Paul was uncharacteristically absent. Although I was concerned, Scott took his absence in stride, telling me how glad he was to finally spend time alone with me.
