Family is Forever

by Stephens, S. C.

  Arianna held her breath as we stared at each other. Her heart rate spiked, and I momentarily felt bad that I could hear it. She’d probably be embarrassed if she knew I could. But then her eyes drifted to my lips, and I really didn’t care that I had a slight advantage. All I cared about was whether she wanted me to kiss her right now. Was she ready to see me as more?

  I leaned in, tentative and unsure. Maybe I was misinterpreting this. Maybe, because I wanted it so badly, I was seeing something that wasn’t there. My heart was thumping in my chest so loudly, Nika probably thought I was doing something much more strenuous than just sitting on a bed, staring at Arianna, and waiting for our second first kiss to happen.

  When I got to the point where it would be obvious to Arianna that I was about to kiss her, I paused. I needed her to actively engage in this. I needed her to want this too. Please, Arianna…kiss me. The hesitation as our mouths hovered just a few inches apart from each other felt like it went on for days. The energy in the room intensified with each second that ticked by. So did my breath. I was almost to the point of hyperventilating. Wouldn’t that be romantic?

  Just when I thought she was going to pull away, Arianna closed the distance between us, and our mouths connected. Hope and desire exploded throughout my body, pricking my skin like thousands of tiny insect bites. I felt dizzy, lightheaded, nauseous, like I was having heart palpitations. It was the best feeling in the world.

  Cautious to not move too quickly with her, I didn’t touch her except to lightly cup her cheek. It took a great deal of restraint on my part. What I really wanted to do was lay her down on the bed, and tangle our arms and legs together as I sprinkled kisses all over her body. It was way too soon though.

  She made a familiar noise in her throat that went straight to the lower portion of my body. I had to struggle to keep my fangs in. After her passionate moan, her lips pressed even harder against mine. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. She was responding…

  There was a gap in our lips, and I gently poked my tongue through, probing. She made another pleased noise, and her hand came up to fist in my hair.

  A groan escaped me as I slipped my tongue in again. She was receptive, warm, willing…it was just like it used to be. Even though the party was raging all around me, a party I needed to wrap up soon, I blocked out everything but her. She was my life, my air, my world. She scooted closer to me on the bed, and I ran my hand around her waist, pulling her tight.

  Our lips never stopping, I gently started to lean her back. Her shoulders had just touched the mattress when a couple of partygoers crashed into the room, slamming Nika’s door against the wall. I’d completely forgotten the door was even open. I snapped my head up to see it was my friends at the door…and my sister. Trey and Raquel were each holding one of Nika’s arms while she struggled against them with an anxious look on her face. I’d been so lost with Arianna, that I hadn’t even felt her approaching me. Now that she was here, and looking like she was having some sort of attack, I could sense other family members on their way here—Hunter. And Mom. And Dad. Shit.

  Arianna squirmed beneath where I was hovering over her. I looked back down at her, and she had an embarrassed smile on her face, like she was happy but mortified all at the same time. It thrilled me that she might feel that way, but I couldn’t dwell on that feeling, because Hunter and my parents were going to be here any minute. I had to get everybody out. Standing, I immediately said, “Nika, we need to clear everybody out of here.”

  Nika shook her head. She was panting as much as I had been earlier. “I can’t…go down there…he’s coming…”

  Right. Her bond with Hunter had obviously kicked in, and she was either going to rush to him, or spontaneously combust waiting for him. I suddenly remembered my ingenious plan to hide Nika in the shed when this happened. Only in my plan, Hunter was supposed to be arriving alone, so I’d have plenty of time to clear out the partiers and clean up the trashed house. Why were our parents rushing home too? Did they know? Crap.

  I jogged over to the door to close it. What Nika needed now was privacy. But before I could shut it all the way, Simon strode in. With narrowed eyes, he looked Arianna’s way, then mine. “What’s going on up here?” he asked, his voice haughty, like he already knew the answer and he didn’t like it. He didn’t know though. He had no clue what was really going on up here. I didn’t have time to deal with him. Nika had shucked off Raquel’s grasp, and was pulling against Trey. She was going to make a run for it. I grabbed her arm, holding her back. “Fight it, Nick.”

  “I can’t,” she moaned.

  Everyone in the room was staring at Nika like she’d just grown a second head. Trey looked over my writhing sister to me. “She started wiggin’ out, then told us to take her to you. She said no matter what, we had to make her stay in the house. What the heck is wrong with her, man?”

  Great. Another question I didn’t know how to answer. “Uh, panic attack,” I muttered.

  Arianna seemed to understand. Hope blossomed in me that she knew the truth, but it faded when she commented, “Too many people at the party?”

  I knew she was referencing her aunt’s illness, since I’d kind of told her that Nika suffered from the same anxiety. I smiled at her as Nika gave me a particularly good tug. “Something like that.”

  Simon crossed his arms over his chest. “I’ve never seen an anxiety attack that looked like this.” He tilted his head as he studied my sister. “It’s almost like she’s…turned on…”

  I felt my cheeks heat as my sister let out an erotic groan. Yes, that was exactly what it was like. Why I’d told my dad I could handle this, I had no idea. Watching Nika act this way was really disturbing, for both of us.

  Raquel smacked Simon’s arm. I adored her for that. “She is not. Don’t be crude. Panic attacks are different for everyone.”

  Simon rubbed near his elbow. Raquel had almost hit his funny bone. Too bad she missed. “Whatever…this isn’t normal.”

  Nika looked over at me with embarrassment and frustration on her face. “Make this stop, Julie.”

  I sighed as I watched turmoil and passion twist her features. “I wish I could, Nick.”

  Eyes sympathetic, Arianna asked me, “What did she mean by ‘he’s coming’?”

  I clenched my jaw, this was the worst possible timing for this to happen. There were way too many witnesses up here…and my parents… God, I was so screwed. “Um, I don’t…” I dropped it. I didn’t know how to answer anyway.

  Nika’s struggling increased. I thought she was two shakes shy of shoving Trey and I away and jumping out the window. She didn’t get the chance though. Her bedroom door exploded inward, the force breaking one of the hinges. Arianna screamed in surprise. Raquel and Simon both jumped. Trey squeaked like a little girl.

  Nika, unsurprised, looked up to see Hunter in the doorframe. A crowd was beginning to gather behind him. Nika became uncontainable with Hunter right in front of her. She easily jerked away from Trey. She made a move for Hunter, but I wrapped my arms around her waist and held her back. She was stronger than I was now that she was a pureblood, but I could give her a run for her money.

  Hunter was looking at me, but I was pretty sure he wasn’t really seeing me. Lowering into a crouch, he dropped his fangs and hissed. I stared at him in disbelief. He was exposing himself. Everyone in the room could see his teeth. Trey’s mouth dropped wide open while Simon cursed under his breath. The girls were too shocked to do anything. The crowd around the open door got even bigger as people nearby came to watch the showdown. How do I stop this?

  “Hunter! No!” I yelled, hoping to get through the fog.

  It didn’t work. Hunter wanted Nika, and right now, I was the only thing in his way. He blurred over to me with inhuman speed and yanked her free from my grasp. Knowing what would happen if they collided, I tried to get her back. Hunter shoved me, and I felt myself flying through the air. Then the wall rushed up to meet me, and I crashed into it hard, cracking it, and my skul
l. I sank to the ground, stunned.

  With hazy vision, I watched Trey nobly try to get Nika back. He had a slimmer chance than I did though. With one hand, Hunter tossed him across the room. He tumbled over the bed, landing on the other side of it. At least he hadn’t hit a wall.

  With no one left between them, Hunter and Nika melted into each other’s arms. Arianna was by my side in a flash, helping me to my feet while I groaned in pain. Hunter and Nika sank to the floor, clothes ripping in their eagerness to be together. The assembled crowd cheered them on. Horrified, I quickly realized that my sister wasn’t going to be able to stop this. Hunter either. They were going to have sex, right in front of a good chunk of the student body. Right in front of me. I couldn’t let that happen.

  Arianna was staring at Hunter and Nika with pale skin and red cheeks. Everyone else was watching them too. I didn’t have much time. Blurring to the bathroom, I turned on the water as hot as it would go. Cold water worked well to shock humans, but vampires would barely feel it—they were too cold themselves. To get Hunter’s attention, I needed the water to be scalding. The best I could do right now was to get the water mildly uncomfortable. That would have to do. And besides, he was so cold, it would feel like it was boiling.

  Emptying the trash nearby, I filled up the bucket, then darted back into the bedroom, praying the whole while that my sister still had her clothes on. Luckily, she did, although, Hunter was tugging at her jeans by the time I got there. Without missing a beat, I dumped the bucket of searing water over them.

  Hunter snapped out of it instantly. Gasping in surprise, he looked up at me. “Julian? What the hell?”

  Letting out a sigh of relief, I looked behind Hunter to the crowd of amused and amazed guests who had watched the entire thing. Trey stood from the other side of the bed; he appeared to be too dazed to really know what the heck was going on. Simon was more aware, he was staring at Hunter like he’d just seen something that wasn’t possible, which was exactly what he’d seen. I tried to lighten the mood by telling Hunter, “Just stopping you from having sex with my sister in the middle of a party.”

  Hunter looked down at Nika, and they both seemed chagrined. A voice nearby broke through the tittering and whispering. I didn’t want to look at the door—I already knew who was standing there—but I didn’t have a choice. Reluctantly, I lifted my eyes. Mom and Dad, both pissed, were standing just inside the room. Dad’s hard eyes shifted from Hunter, to Nika, to me. “Everyone needs to leave. The party is over.”

  Hunter stood up, his shirt was torn around the neck from where Nika had tried to rip it off him. Standing in front of her, Hunter used his body to offer some protection from the prying eyes hovering around the door. He wasn’t much of a shield though. My bedroom door was wide open now, and people were jostling for position in that doorway too. “Teren, I’m so… I’m so sorry.”

  Hunter shrugged in a defeated way, like he had no idea what to do anymore. Even though I was mortified over what I’d just witnessed, I felt bad for the guy. Nika pulled up her pants, then stood as well. “We’ll fix this. We’ll fix everything.”

  Dad’s eyes narrowed as he circled his finger to indicate all the lookey-lous watching. “Nobody remembers a second of this party. Got it?”

  Both Hunter and Nika nodded. I sighed as I locked gazes with Arianna. Great. Now she wasn’t going to remember our second first kiss either.

  Arianna’s face was an almost comical picture of confusion. She looked from me, to Dad, to Nika with her mouth opening and closing, like she didn’t know where to begin asking questions. Eventually, she just said, “Julian? What’s going on?”

  Because I was feeling frustrated that Arianna was never going to remember me, because I was depressed that we’d never have what we’d once had, and because I was angry at the world in general, I told her something I shouldn’t have. With everyone’s attention on me, I said, “Hunter is a vampire. He turned Nika into a vampire, and whenever they start coming toward each other, their sire-bond kicks in and they start going at it. Oh, and I’m a vampire too, I just still have a heartbeat.”

  Mom, Dad, Hunter, Nika, Trey, Simon, Raquel, Arianna, and everyone crowded around the doors who’d heard what I just said, gaped at me. Eyes wide, Nika snapped, “Julian!”

  Feeling embarrassed for my outburst, I shrugged. “What? You’re going to wipe them all anyway, aren’t you?”

  I knew I’d crossed a line. I knew it with every single cell of my body. Concealment was something Nika and I had been taught since birth. There was no excuse for what I’d just done. None. And even if nobody remembered me saying it, I’d still broken the trust of my family by opening my big, fat mouth. So much for proving to my parents that I was a mature, responsible man who could handle adult decisions. But then again, I’d ruined that the second they’d found out about the party.

  Trey slapped my shoulder. “Vampire? For real, or are you messing with me? Can I see your teeth?” Before I could respond, he slugged me in the arm. “Why didn’t you tell me you were a freak? Well, at least more of a freak than I already knew you were.”

  Wanting away from everyone, I ignored Trey and tried to elbow my way past the people blocking the path to my joint bathroom with Nika. Dad wasn’t about to let me escape though. “Stay here, Julian. I want to talk to you once everyone is gone.” I frowned but stayed where I was. Seemingly satisfied that I wasn’t about to sneak out the back door or leap out a window, Dad turned to Hunter and Nika. Beneath the thumping music from downstairs, he murmured, “Hunter, you start on the group downstairs…I think some are already leaving. Nika, you fix the people up here.”

  Trey was muttering that he’d suspected what I was all along. The stunned crowds around us were debating whether or not I was crazy. Some believed what I’d said though; I could hear heated conversations traveling down the hall. Pretty soon the careless words I’d spouted would be downstairs and out the front door if Hunter didn’t hurry. He gave Dad a stiff nod, then walked around him into the hallway.

  As Dad stared Nika down, Mom whispered, “I’ll go help make sure no one leaves before they’re supposed to.”

  Keeping his eyes on Nika and me, Dad nodded at her. Mom left, and I forced down a swallow. Dad wasn’t harsh or anything, but I’d still rather have Mom around. Nika seemed nervous as she turned to our classmates. “Everybody, can I have your attention?”

  I twisted Arianna so she was looking at me, not Nika…it wouldn’t save her, but I wanted one last minute where she remembered our kiss. Her face was scrunched into a strange expression, like she was also wondering if I was crazy. To ease her mind, I hurriedly told her, “I was just teasing about the whole vampire thing, but…I wasn’t about that kiss…”

  Arianna bit her lip. “Julian…I saw his fangs…”

  Nika’s voice overpowered ours. “None of you will remember coming over to my house tonight. You’re going to get into your cars, or walk, or…well, however you got here…and you’re going to go home, to spend some quality time with your family. All you’ll remember about the evening was that you were going to go to a party, but you decided to do something else instead…bowling or a movie, or whatever you want. You’ll forget about everything that happened here tonight and truly believe that you never came here, the second you step out the front door…or the back door…or however you choose to leave my house.”

  She sounded flustered, and I knew it was because she’d never done anything like this before. I’d probably be flustered too. The music downstairs stopped—Hunter was compelling his own group of teenagers. Without the music playing, you could hear a pin drop; everyone nearby was listening to Nika with rapt attention. She could tell them all to start line dancing and they would. Arianna had even twisted her head toward my sister. I turned her head back, then grabbed both of her hands.

  “We can talk about that later, Arianna,” I passionately whispered. “I just wanted to let you know that kissing you tonight meant everything to me. I’m here for you…just know that.”
I knew she’d forget that the second she left my house, but I still had to tell her. Nika was still droning on with her instructions. She moved out into the hall to include the people who perhaps couldn’t hear her.

  “Nobody will remember a thing about this house, or about anything you might have seen or heard while inside it…especially the vampire stuff. Everything Julian said about them, and the fangs you saw, and the super speed. And me making out on the floor! Definitely, no one will remember that…and if you happened to take a picture or record it on your cell phone, take your phone out right now and delete it!”

  Her voice grew heated as she erased a memory that was really embarrassing to her. A few people pulled out their phones and I briefly smiled at my sister. That was a good call on her part. Returning my attention to Arianna, since my time with her was running out, I said, “You don’t remember this, but we used to date. No…more than that. We used to be in love.”

  Arianna’s eyes widened. “What? No…that never happened. I would remember dating you. I would remember being in love with you.”

  I shook my head. “It did happen, but the memory was taken from you. That’s why you have holes, gaps where you can’t remember anything. It was erased, but I swear…you loved me once. And I loved you. I still…love you.”

  Arianna looked confused, bewildered, but at the same time, enlightened and…relieved. She was staring at me like I’d just flipped on a light switch, and she finally understood why there were spots in her mind that were vacant—and it made sense to her. “Erased,” she slowly murmured, like she was testing the word.

  Gripping her hands tight, I nodded. “Yes, you were altered, and—”

  I wanted to say more, but before I could, Nika gave her last command. “Okay, everyone needs to leave—right now.” Smiling, she dramatically swished her arms toward the stairs. The people around us started dispersing, and Nika started giggling. She was enjoying her power trip a bit too much. Dad brought her down a peg by narrowing his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest. Nika instantly bit back her laughter.