“I dunno. They’re terrible. I’m a lot more proud of my short stories, but only Nick has ever read those.”
“And they’re great,” Nick assures me as his fingers lock with mine under the table.
Lily nudges Alyssa with her elbow, and says, “Allie is the same way with her poetry. She’s shy about it, but I love all of her work. Even the poems about y-“
“Breadsticks!,” Alyssa interrupts as the waiter approaches, carrying a warm basket of them. She shoots Lily a dirty look, and frees her hand from Lily’s as the basket is placed in the center of the table.
Lily smiles at us like nothing out of the ordinary happened, and asks, “How long have you guys been together?”
“Nearly a year and a half,” Nick replies. “How about you?”
“Going on four months this Sunday. It doesn’t even feel like it’s been that long.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean.” I can feel Nick looking right at me as he speaks, and I have to fight not to roll my eyes. I love him, but he’s annoyingly cute sometimes. Without taking his eyes off me, he asks, “How did you guys meet?”
“It’s the damnedest thing. I was browsing through Search and Destroy on St. Marks, and I overheard Allie talking to herself, debating whether or not to buy this eighty dollar pair of boots. I turned to her and said she’d look sexy in anything on the racks, and she took that as a challenge. We spent at least two hours playing dress up, and I got her number after making her try on nearly everything in the store.”
I glance at Alyssa, who’s slowly turning pink. I have to admit, it’s a cute story. Well, cute compared to mine and Nick’s, anyway. He found me breathless and collapsed on the ground after fending off a pair of vampires that were trying to kill me. He saved my life, and the next day, I saved his. I don’t remember what happened the second time we saw each other, but Nick’s explained it to me before; I couldn’t control my powers just yet, but I used them anyway to save him, and wound up accidentally killing one of the vampires assaulting him. I can’t even remember my first victim’s face, but I can imagine him being ripped asunder as my spell hits him, black blood and body parts spraying all over the room.
Just the thought is enough to make me feel sick. The other three continue chatting, but I tune them out, trying to focus on quelling the wave of nausea before it gets any worse. I can’t get sick. Not here, not now. After a few minutes with no progress, I stand and announce, “I need some air,” then make a beeline for the exit, ignoring everyone’s curious stares.
The minute I push my way out through the front entrance, I try to breathe as deeply as I can, hoping I’ll be able to keep my food down. I don’t know why the mental image of a long dead vampire effected me so much; gore has never really bothered me before. And I never actually saw what happened to him, so it’s just my imagination that’s making my stomach turn. After a few minutes of deep breathing and ignoring the stares of countless people walking by, I’ve stopped sweating, and my insides no longer feel like they’re trying to climb out. I breathe a sigh of relief; my gag reflex has been far too easy to set off lately, and I’m starting to get sick of being sick.
Once I’m confident that lunch won’t be making a reappearance, I turn around to head back into the restaurant. That’s when I spot Lily near the entrance, leaning against the window with her arms crossed. “Are you alright?,” she asks as I approach the entrance.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just started feeling a little sick. I guess I can’t handle dairy like I used to.”
“It happens to the best of us.” Lily reaches into her pocket and pulls out a carton of cigarettes, one of which she offers to me. I shake my head; the one time I did try smoking a few years ago, I coughed until I saw spots. I took it as a sign not to get into the habit. Lily shrugs, and lights one up for herself, then exhales a puff of smoke as she says, “I’m sorry the claws came out a little when we met on your birthday. I’m not normally that bitchy, honest. I just didn’t feel like being in the same breathing space as you when I was so jealous of you.”
“You were jealous of me?”
“Yeah. Allie may be dating me, but we both know at least a tiny piece of her heart will belong to you forever.” Lily flicks some ash onto the ground, and continues, “Now that I know you a little better, I’m not as worried. You don’t seem to have any interest in my girlfriend, so we’re cool.”
If only she knew. If only I knew; I’m never sure exactly how I feel about Alyssa. The one thing I am sure of is that for the most part, I’m happy with Nick. So I smile at Lily, and tell her, “Don’t worry. She’s all yours.”
“Good.” There doesn’t seem to be anything more to say, so I try to make my way to the door. Before I get very far, Lily asks, “How do you actually feel about Nick?”
“What?”
“You seem like you’re tired of him, even though he’s clearly got it bad for you. I’m just wondering, are you as invested in your relationship as he is?”
That’s a hard question coming from a near stranger. But I mull it over for a moment, and answer, “Yeah, I’m invested in it. Things have just been rocky on my end lately, and most of it has nothing to do with him. But… I dunno, you ever just wake up one day and realize that someone isn’t as perfect as you thought they were?”
“No yeah, I get that. Don’t get me wrong, I love Allie to death, but sometimes she drives me up the fucking wall.” Lily takes another drag from her cigarette, and says with a smile, “That’s the thing, though. You don’t fall for someone because they’re perfect. You fall for them because they’re broken in all the right ways.”
I shove my hands in my pockets, and walk a little further from the door. “Yeah. Doesn’t mean loving them isn’t a challenge sometimes.”
“Depends. If they’re worth fighting for, it’s most important to love them when it is a challenge.”
“I guess that’s true.” I’m about to try making for the door again, when a new thought occurs to me. I’ve been worried about something for a couple of weeks now, but I don’t want anyone else freaking out, so I don’t want to involve them. All the same, I need answers. And Lily might be practically a stranger to me, but she’s probably the best person for the job. So before I head inside, I gather my confidence, and say, “I have two questions for you.”
Lily looks over at me, but doesn’t respond.
“One: Can you keep a secret?”
She nods.
“Okay… Two: Would you mind doing me a favor?”
8
I don’t know exactly what I expected to see when I make it back to the table. Nick and Alyssa sitting in awkward silence, maybe. Maybe arguing. Maybe the two of them in the midst of a heated knife fight. I certainly didn’t expect what I’m actually seeing unfold; the two of them are sitting peacefully, having a conversation. And either my eyesight is failing, or Alyssa is actually smiling.
I suppose if the two of them can be friendly, anything’s possible.
Alyssa notices me coming, and asks, “Are you alright?,” as soon as I’m within earshot. Nick turns around to look as I take the seat next to him, the same question looming behind his eyes.
“I’m fine,” I answer, waving off their concern. “I was just a little nauseous. What were you guys talking about just now?”
“Nothing much. Nick was just telling me about the last double date he was on.”
“It was back in high school,” Nick says with a rueful smile. “Believe it or not, it was even more awkward than this one.”
“What happened?,” I ask as I slide a little closer to Nick.
“Long story short, my date went home with my friend Mike… and his date. Turns out I was just a fourth wheel the whole time. I didn’t even know that was possible until then.”
I can’t help laughing, and trying to imagine Nick as a dweeby high school kid. It isn’t that difficult; I’ve seen a few pictures of him pre-vampirism. A little too skinny, with no real muscle tone yet, his shaggy brown hair still down to his shoulders in
his sophomore year. I can easily see him getting screwed over at the end of a double date, and the face he would make thereafter.
Alyssa’s laughing too, but I can see she’s scanning the restaurant at the same time. Once we’ve calmed down, she asks, “Where’s Lily? I thought she’d have come back up with you.”
“She said she wanted to finish her cigarette, then check something out at Walgreens before coming back.” Which is the truth; I just neglected to mention that the Walgreens trip was for me.
Alyssa shrugs, and says, “As long as she gets back before her food gets cold.”
“Say… how much do you trust her?” I may have asked Lily to do something important for me, but I’m still not entirely sure how smart it was to put my faith in someone I hardly know.
“I’d trust her with my life,” Alyssa says without skipping a beat.
“Even with your… well, your condition?”
Alyssa’s expression hardens, and her eyes drop to the table. An understandable reaction; it’s a touchy subject with her. Alyssa may be a fellow spellcaster, but she’s unlike any other. Some say her strength is comparable to that of a Conduit, but she’s unable to maintain control of it indefinitely. When she loses control, her eyes and her aura turn bright red, and she loses all sense of reason. Forgets who’s a friend and who’s an enemy. And the only thing that keeps her powers in check is a necklace with a pewter pendant shaped like a pentagram. A necklace that, along with the rest of her dark-and-gloomy attire, she hasn’t worn since Selene’s death.
“I haven’t had the chance to tell her,” Alyssa answers after a few seconds of contemplation. “I haven’t even told her that I’m a spellcaster. She’s as normal as they come, so I want things between us to just be… well, normal.”
“Oh.” I understand Alyssa’s instinct to protect average human beings from the truth. It’s an instinct that’s been keeping me from telling my friend Jenna that anything’s been amiss.
“And besides, I’m not sure my ‘condition’ is going to be a problem anymore.”
“Why not?”
“I’ve been teaching myself how to maintain control when my powers start getting out of hand.” Alyssa sighs, and rests her head on one of her palms. “The necklace was just a means of restraining it, Selene’s way of doing things. Now that I understand how my powers work, I’ve been working at keeping them reigned in until they’re needed at full force. And they’re amplified when my emotions run rampant… so much so, that I could probably even kick your ass, Nephilim.”
“Yeah, right,” I mutter as I roll my eyes. “You couldn’t take me in a million years.”
A dangerous smile spreads across Alyssa’s face. “Is that a challenge, Santos?”
“Maybe. It’d be nice to spar with someone other than Krystal, for once.”
“We’ll see.” Alyssa slides further into her side of the booth, and Lily takes the now open seat. “Hey stranger,” she says once Lily’s settled in.
“Hey. Sorry that took so long, they were out of Marlboro Reds. Not once in the history of smoking has that ever happened.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure.”
“I’m serious! There’s been research done…”
I watch Alyssa and Lily bicker, amused but hardly listening, and occasionally try to catch a glimpse of our waiter to see if our food is done yet. Something taps my leg under the table, and I reach under to see if I can grasp it. Instead of finding Nick’s hand, my fingers wrap around a long, thin box in a plastic bag. Maybe Lily is trustworthy after all. I take the bag and slip it into my back pocket, thankful for the timely arrival of both our waiter and our orders. Lily winks at me over her plate of shrimp alfredo, but neither of the others seem to have noticed our exchange at all.
The rest of the meal passes without incident. Alyssa, Nick, and Lily indulge in conversation, while I take my time with a massive plate of lasagna primavera. I offer a few comments here and there, but I have too much on my mind to really participate much. I realize part of the way through the meal that Lily’s getting particularly chummy with Nick; she laughs a little too hard at his jokes, and they both seemingly forget their food for minutes at a time when they delve into topics of mutual interest. Alyssa doesn’t seem bothered by their behavior, so I keep my mouth shut. All the same, I watch the two of them closely. I may have decided to like Lily, but I sincerely hope I won’t have to watch her around my boyfriend.
Once everyone is done, we split the check, and decide to go our separate ways. Alyssa and Lily want to go bowling on 44th street, but Nick and I want to call it a night. I wrap Alyssa into a tight hug before they go, and offer one to Lily as well. Surprisingly, she accepts the gesture; she didn’t really strike me as a hugger. As we release each other, she murmurs, “It was nice to meet you, Heather.” And this time, it sounds sincere. She and Alyssa then disappear into the endless crowd occupying Times Square, while Nick and I start walking in the direction of the subway.
It isn’t until we’re sitting on the shuttle to Grand Central that either of us comments on the evening we just had. “That was more fun than expected,” Nick says as the subway car starts to fill.
“Yeah,” I agree, “I was a little worried a fight would break out for a minute there.”
“Nope, no fighting. Alyssa is a lot more tolerable when she’s dating someone else.”
I grunt in response.
“Where are we going? Want me to drop you off at your place, or would you wanna sleep over at mine?”
The train doors slide closed while I think about my answer. I haven’t really been alone with Nick in a while, not since Navarro got his hooks into him. I suppose sleeping over couldn’t hurt. Besides, there’s something I’d like to talk to him about. “I’ll come with you to the condo,” I answer as the train starts moving.
Nick smiles, and says “Alright,” and pulls me in closer so that my head’s on his shoulder. It’s a completely different experience now that actual body heat radiates through his clothes. I’m even more comfortable lying against him now than I was when he was a vampire.
One uptown train transfer and six stops later, Nick and I are finally above ground again. It may be dark out, but the city is just as undeniably alive as ever, with music blasting from cars on the street, people out shopping at stores that refuse to close before ten, and the street lights on the corners casting a soft orange glow on the world as we know it. So naturally, I’m not surprised that there are people around and behind us until we turn onto a side street, heading towards Central Park and Nick’s place. I hear footsteps other than mine and Nick’s on the pavement behind us, and turn to him as if I’m whispering something in his ear to peek behind us.
I count seven people walking in unison, their eyes all trained on me. All of them in black goth attire.
I squeeze Nick’s arm tightly, and whisper, “Don’t turn around, and don’t freak out. We’re being followed.”
“By who?,” Nick whispers back.
“Doesn’t matter.” I frown, and fight the urge to call out an insult to get our assailants riled up. I’m itching for a good fight, but we’re still in public, still clearly visible. And besides, Nick’s humanity came at the price of his speed, reflexes, and durability. He’s essentially a walking target.
Protecting Nick is a priority, but I can’t teleport him home; Krystal has the condo warded against anyone’s spell-based entry but her own. So, I think of the next best alternative. I concentrate on the mental image of a general, heavily wooded area of Central Park, and tell him, “When I say run, you find a dark corner and hide. I’ll take care of them.”
“What are you talking a-“
Nick never gets to finish his sentence. In the blink of an eye, we’ve traveled from a somewhat well lit side street to a nearly pitch black expanse of forest, surrounded on all sides by trees. “RUN!,” I yell to Nick, and without question, he obeys, disappearing between the trees with alarming speed for an average human being.
No sooner does Nick disappear
than the trees come alive with the spellcasters that were following us. This time, I don’t wait for any of them to speak, or ask them what they want; I take aim at the closest one to me, and fire off a burst of energy that takes a massive chunk out of the tree he was hiding behind. While he’s recovering, I pin him to the tree, and use a spell to dissolve the wood around his body, until he’s practically one with the tree, nothing but his face exposed.
Six contenders left.
My heart hammers against my chest as I scan the night for the other spellcasters. Surely, they haven’t turned tail and fled already… have they? No, a poorly aimed spell whizzes by my ear, and I fire one of my own back in the general direction it came from. A loud groan emanates from the darkness, but I’m not satisfied that my victim is down for the count just yet. Two dark shapes materialize from the trees on either side of me, and time seems to slow down as one of them aims a kick at my midsection.
Faster than I ever thought possible, my hand wraps around the spellcaster’s leg, and I bend it backwards with the intent to leave him incapacitated. Instead, a loud snap reverberates through the otherwise quiet woods, followed by a shriek as my opponent registers that I’ve snapped his tibia in half. I only let my shock immobilize me for a split second, taking advantage of the other spellcaster’s paralysis to swing her partner right into her, sending them both crashing to the ground hard.
Three down, four to go.
I look down at my hands, surprised at what they’re apparently capable of. Navarro did warn me; I can almost hear his quiet, pensive tone as his words repeat in my head: Like with some people that are bitten but not turned, you might enjoy the benefits of vampirism like agility and night vision under duress. And just like that, the world around me comes into stark clarity, what little light there is to be found growing brighter until it nearly looks like daytime. I can feel a slight tingle in my jaw, but I ignore it, hoping that my tiny excuses for fangs won’t show themselves this time.
Now I can see my four remaining attackers, rushing at me from their hiding spots between the trees. Rather than rush towards them, I let them come, even clasping my hands together behind my back as they approach. It quickly becomes clear that my newfound speed is too much for them to match; I successfully dodge each of their attacks, even ducking out of the way so that they’ll accidentally hit one another at least once. It’s become child’s play.
Shattered (the Spellbound Series Book 2) Page 6
