by Lana Melyan
Still in shock, Jess nodded, then grabbed the third vampire, pulled him up, and dragged him out, following Nate and Logan.
“What did you mean they are not dead?” asked Leia. “You broke his neck!”
“Can you do it?” asked Connie, looking at me. “Can you erase her . . .” Connie inclined her head toward Leia. “You know.”
“Only in theory. I haven’t tried it yet, so maybe we should wait for Nate.” I drew closer to her and looked at her neck. “Does it hurt? Do you want me to heal it now?”
“It burns, but it’s okay. She’s seen enough already. This can wait.”
“Stop talking to each other like I’m not here!” shouted Leia.
“Sorry.” I glanced at her. The gym door opened, and two guys came out. “Let’s go back into the bathroom. We can talk there.”
“Logan’s face, and that other guy’s . . .” Leia went on as I lead her through the bathroom door. “He looked like . . . you said he was a vampire. And you did that thing. Nicky, how—”
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out.
“Nate,” I said, answering the call.
“Nicky, this will take a while. You should wait for us at Connie’s place. We took Jess’s truck. So Connie’s car is still there.”
“Okay.” I hung up and turned to Leia. “You know what? You’ve never been at Connie’s new place. It’s really nice, and she wants to show it to you. Let’s go.”
“I need a drink.” Rummaging in her bag for her car keys, Connie headed for the exit.
6
The whole way to Connie’s place, Leia tortured us with questions. At first we tried to come up with some explanations, but Leia burst all our feeble attempts like soap bubbles.
“I’m not an idiot, you know!” she shouted at Connie from the back seat, who tried to convince her that Logan just got angry, and that’s why his eyes turned red. “I saw his fangs. He growled, for God’s sake.”
We had no choice but to give her at least something to think about so she would finally shut up.
“Yes, Leia, those guys were vampires, and so is Logan,” I said. “Vampires are real.”
She threw herself forward, and her head popped between mine and Connie’s.
“So you’re dating a vampire?” She stared at Connie. “Are you crazy?”
“Nicky.” Connie clenched her teeth. “Do something.”
“What?” I shrugged, looking at her sideways.
“Stun her before I knock her out with my fist.”
“What?” Leia spread her hands, almost poking us in the eyes. “I’m just worried about you.”
“Logan is a good guy, Leia. He would never hurt Connie. Or any of us.”
Connie hit the brakes, stopping the car in front of her house. The moment we walked inside, she dashed to the cabinet. She pulled out a bottle of whiskey and three glasses.
“This is the second time I almost got killed by those bastards,” she muttered, putting the glasses on the coffee table in front of the fireplace.
“What do you mean, the second time?” asked Leia.
“Leia.” Connie poured whiskey into glasses and pushed one into her hand. “Have a drink. You’re in shock. This will help.”
We sipped from our glasses, then Connie sank into the armchair, and Leia and I dropped down on the couch.
“Nicky, how did you do it?” asked Leia. “How did you . . . you knocked out that guy without even touching him.”
“She’s a witch,” fired Connie.
“You mean she can move objects? Like telekinesis?”
“I mean she can do magic. Like this.” She pointed her hand at the logs in the fireplace and said, “Incendio.”
Leia’s jaw dropped as the logs caught fire.
I rolled my eyes.
“What?” Connie rounded on me. “It’s chilly, and I’m still shivering. It never works when I do it with matches.”
“How did you do that?” Leia gaped at her.
“I just told you. She’s a witch, and so am I, and we can do magic.”
“Seriously?” I glared at Connie. “You’re making it worse.”
“Worse?” Connie gazed at me. “You just snapped someone's neck in front of them. It can’t get worse than that. Relax. It’s nothing Nate can’t fix. Cheers,” she said, taking another sip of whiskey.
Nate and Logan might be away for most of the night, and I could tell Connie was on edge. It might help if we could actually talk about what happened, but that was impossible to do with Leia around.
While Leia sat frowning like she was trying to figure out what it was Nate needed to fix, I got up and headed to the kitchen, beckoning Connie to follow.
“Listen,” I said as we closed the kitchen door behind us. “It’ll take time for guys to come back. I could put her to sleep. You do have a guest bedroom, right?”
“Oh, thank God. I will go crazy if we have to entertain her the whole night.” She dashed back into the room. “Leia, I have this magical bed upstairs in the bedroom. Do you wanna see it?”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Leia stared at her.
Connie headed to the stairs.
“Listen, Leia,” I whispered. “I think she’s drunk, could you help me put her to bed?”
“Yeah, sure,” Leia whispered back with understanding.
God, I’m evil.
We climbed up the stairs and followed Connie into the bedroom.
“You need to lie down on the bed,” said Connie.
I barely suppressed a giggle as I looked at her serious face.
“You first,” said Leia, playing along. “I want to see what the bed does.”
Connie threw at me a desperate look, and I burst out laughing.
“Just catch her,” I said to Connie. Standing behind Leia, I held my hand above her head and murmured, “Ut somno suo.”
“Nicky, what are you—” Leia swayed before she could finish her question, and we both grabbed her under her arms, dragged to the bed, and put her down.
“Bless you, Nicky,” said Connie, pulling Leia’s legs up on the bed.
“We are mean.”
“What? Why? I wasn’t lying. There was magic involved.”
We went back to the living room and dimmed the lights. Connie dropped down on the couch and I sat next to her. Then I pulled back her long, black curls and held my palms around her neck.
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t do anything to stop him,” I said, watching the red spots vanish. “He was holding you in front of him, and I was afraid that whatever I did—”
“Don’t sweat it. All’s well that ends well. It was my fault. I should’ve hexed him first, then shouted that he was a vampire.”
“We’re not used to being attacked.” I removed my hands. “Nate and Logan, they react instantly. We still have a lot to learn from them before getting into a real fight.”
“I’ve never seen Logan that angry before.” Connie grabbed her glass and gulped the rest of the whiskey.
“Did it freak you out?” I asked, watching her nervously rub her thumb against the glass.
“It probably should have, but no, it didn’t. I don’t look at him the way others would. It’s just that too many people witnessed it. Nate can remove those memories from Jess’s and Leia’s mind. But you.” She raised her eyes to me. “I saw your face. And you looked scared.”
“I was a bit startled because I thought I was about to see someone’s heart get ripped out. But I wasn't scared of Logan. Is that what you’re worried about?” I chuckled. “Connie, I just snapped someone’s neck in front of my ex-boyfriend who thought that I was a sweet, nice girl. The four of us, we are all freaks. We’re not normal people. Logan saw someone hurt you, and I’m not surprised he went mad. He loves you so much. I’m afraid to think what I might do if I saw someone hurt Nate. Believe me, I wouldn’t look gentle and fluffy in that moment. I would’ve done the same for you today, if I had been sure I wouldn’t end up hurting you even more.”
&n
bsp; Connie threw herself at me and locked her arms around my neck.
“I love you,” she said into my ear. “You’re the best best friend ever.”
“You’re sick, you know that?” I laughed, hugging her.
“This is going to be a long night.” She pulled back. “Let’s make some coffee.”
She got up and headed to the kitchen.
“Yeah,” I sighed, following her. “They have to bury three bodies. At least this time Nate isn’t alone. Last time he had to bury those two vampires all by himself.”
“Nicky, doesn’t it seem strange to you that we’ve been attacked both times the vampires showed up in town?” Connie asked, fixing the coffee maker with water.
“I was thinking about that too. We haven’t had anything remotely close to vampire attacks in River Stones for . . . well, ever. And now it’s happened twice in a few months, and we nearly became their dinner both times. But it didn’t seem like they were looking for us, did it? We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“I agree about the first time. But today . . . I don’t know. There was a gym full of people, and I’m sure we weren’t the only ones who went to the bathroom.” She pushed the button on the coffee maker and leaned on the counter.
“It still seems like an accident. There’s nothing strange about them showing up at the party. They would probably have had a buffet if we hadn’t stopped them. I just hope no one got killed before that.”
“I suppose we’ll find out in the morning paper.”
“This is so strange,” I said, suddenly realizing how much had changed since that day in the park where we saw our first vampire. “Only a few months ago, we were just two single girls excited about becoming seniors. Now we’re dating immortals, practicing witchcraft, and fighting witches and vampires.”
“I know. Let’s just hope we win at the end,” chuckled Connie.
7
We talked for another couple of hours and then dozed off, each cuddled in one corner of the couch.
I woke up from the touch of Nate’s lips on my temple, and I opened my eyes to see him sitting next to me and Logan bent down over Connie.
“You’re back.” I pulled Nate’s face closer and kissed him. “Oh, God,” I sat up. “Jess, where is he?”
“I’m here.”
I heard Jess’s voice and looked back toward the door. I stared at Nate. “Did you . . .” I pointed my finger at Jess.
“No, not yet. Where’s Leia?”
“She’s asleep, upstairs. Not naturally, though.”
Nate raised his eyebrows, looking from me to Connie.
“We had to,” said Connie. “She wouldn’t stop asking questions.”
“Jess, are you okay?” I slid my legs down from the couch.
“Yeah.” Jess shrugged. “I’m fine.”
“Listen, I’m sorry you saw . . . that thing I did,” I said, getting up.
“He’s taking this all much better than we expected,” said Logan.
“Can I talk to you?” said Nate. He took my hand and lead me into the kitchen. He closed the door behind us and pulled me in. “First things first.” He kissed me.
“Nate, I did everything wrong tonight.”
“What do you mean?”
“With powers like mine, I could have gotten rid of all three of them by myself. But I called you because I didn’t know how to free Connie without hurting her. I still have so much to learn.”
“Nicky, your friend was in danger, and you chose the safe way to help her instead of putting her in a coma.” He chuckled. “You did the right thing.”
“I did?” He kissed me again. “Still, you need to teach me some tricks.”
“I will.”
“I wish I had your instincts.”
“Most of it comes with practice and experience. You’ll get there. The important thing is that you're safe, and so is Connie. Now,” he said, still holding me. “Nicky, I don’t think we should erase Jess’s memories.”
“I was thinking about that too. Dad said mind control is a privilege and we can’t abuse it. And I think we can trust him.”
“As long as he doesn’t know anything about the mission, he’s not dangerous. And we could use an extra pair of eyes and ears.”
“What does Logan think about this? Does Jess know he’s a vampire?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Because Connie might not like that. She doesn’t want people to think her boyfriend is dangerous. Leia saw Logan change, and I’m not surprised that she freaked out. But then she called Connie crazy for dating him.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll make sure she forgets she even went into that bathroom.”
“I think I should talk to Jess and you should talk to Connie before we make our final decision.”
“Okay.” He brushed my hair. “I’m sorry. I wanted you to have a normal evening, have some fun. Instead it turned into such a mess.”
“We did have fun. Then we did what we had to do, what others probably couldn’t, and I’m sure we saved a few lives by doing it. That’s a very good thing.” I looked into his eyes and ran my fingers through his hair. “Don’t be sorry, it wasn’t your fault.” I kissed him.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you too.”
Nate went out and Jess came into the kitchen. For a moment, we just looked at each other.
“How are you doing?” I broke the silence.
“I’m okay, Nicky. You don’t have to worry.”
“But I am worried. And mostly because you saw me do something that probably scared you, and maybe disappointed you. And I never wanted to disappoint you. You’re my friend, and I don’t want to lose you.”
“Don’t be stupid. You’re not gonna lose me. Nothing you do can make me . . .” He looked down and pushed his hands into his pockets. “Nate explained it all.” He raised his eyes to mine. “They were vampires.” He chuckled. “It still sounds funny, even though I know it’s true. To prove it, Logan showed me who he is, and then I saw what happened to those guys after Nate and Logan staked them. Of course, it scared me. But I knew that I was safe, because I knew that if you trust them, I can trust them too.”
“I know it’s hard to believe these things are real.”
“Was it hard for you when you found out about them, about yourself?”
“No. I grew up knowing it all.”
“Really? I never noticed anything unusual.”
“I didn’t have my powers before. They kicked in only after my parents died.”
“And that’s when Nate showed up. You and him, you two have a lot in common. I understand now. Did you know each other before?”
“You mean if I broke up with you because of him? No. He knew my dad, and he knew all about me long before that. But I’d never seen him until he showed up at the start of school.” I leaned on the counter and pressed my palms against its edge. “Jess, I’ll be honest with you. Knowing these things . . . It isn’t an easy life, and if you want to forget all about what happened tonight, we can help you.”
“What? You mean erase my memory of tonight?” He frowned.
“Yes.”
“You could do that?”
“Yes, we can. If you want.”
“Nicky, you don’t need to make me forget.” He stepped closer, looking alarmed. “You can trust me.”
“I know I can. Otherwise we would just do it, and we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I know you’d never do anything to hurt me, Jess. But there’s also Connie, and Logan, and Nate. You won’t look at us the same way you did before. Especially Logan. But he’s a good guy, he’s our friend, and Connie loves him. We can’t put him in danger.”
“Your secret is safe with me. I promise.”
“I believe you. To be honest, I want you to know. Now if you come across one of them, you’ll know how to protect yourself.”
He shook his head and leaned against the fridge.
“I can’t believe this. Nicky, you’re a wit
ch.” He grinned. “Can you do anything besides break necks?”
“Are you asking me to show you a trick?” I smiled.
“Yeah, do something.”
I took a glass from the dishwasher and filled it with water.
“Okay, just this once,” I said, putting the glass on the table. I held my palms around it, and a couple of seconds later the water boiled.
Jess shook his head. “How did you—”
I stared at the candle on the table and it lit up, then I turned my eyes at the door, and it swung open. Jess jerked.
“Let’s go.” Laughing, I headed to the living room.
“You’re creepy, you know that?” Laughing with me, he followed.
Nate looked up at me from the armchair.
“We’re good,” I said, then I glanced at Connie, curled up on the couch next to Logan. “Connie, what do you think?”
“Jess.” she tilted her head. “If you tell someone about us, I’ll turn you into a toad, and believe me, no kiss would bring you back from that.”
Jess chortled.
“But just so you know, we can’t let Leia remember any of this,” said Nate, getting up. “So you won’t be able to talk to her about tonight. All she’ll know is that she had a nice evening with you, and then you took her home.”
“That’s actually a relief,” said Jess. “I don’t think she would understand.”
“Nicky, let’s wake her,” said Nate, and the two of us headed upstairs.
The moment I removed the spell, Leia stared at us, then slowly pulled herself up.
“What’s going on?” she asked, frowning at Nate.
“Nothing,” said Nate. “It’s nearly morning, and it’s time to go home. Nicky.” He looked at me.
“You want me . . .”
Nate nodded.
“I’ve never done it before. What if I do it wrong?”
“Do what?” Leia stared at me. “And what the heck am I doing here?” She jumped out of bed. “It was supposed to be Connie—”
“Be quiet,” said Nate, his eyes fixed on hers.
Leia stopped talking.
“I know you haven’t,” said Nate, turning to me, “and it’s time you try. It’s not hard. You just need to believe in what you say. Mean it.”
