by Aidan Wayne
Darren grinned. “You drive a hard bargain.”
“We’ll just go out to the back porch,” Vlad said, turning and leading Darren out of the house. “There. How’s that?”
Darren took a deep breath and held it before just collapsing on the porch, hands and legs splayed out. “Ooooh this was such a good idea.”
Vlad sat down next to him, eyes questioning. “You don’t want to go into the yard?”
Darren shook his head, eyes closed. “No way, not when I’m like this. Tabby would kill me.”
“Why would she do that?”
“Growing things,” Darren explained. “My control’s not so great. When I’m like this, plants tend to like me. And Tabby’s garden has a plan. I’m not about to mess that up. I mean, I can control it, but it takes concentration and I’m already running on empty this week. I’m probably gonna eat, like, my body weight in dinner and crash hard tonight. That tends to help.” He opened his eyes to find Vlad watching him. His eyes were really green, a stark contrast against his dark skin. Darren closed his own eyes again. “Ugh, I just need it to rain.”
“Rain?” Vlad asked.
“Yeah. Rain helps. Really windy days too, for some reason. But rain.” He sighed. “My skin buzzes when it rains, but in the best way.”
“I think you are babbling,” Vlad said.
“Shhh,” Darren murmured. “I’m communicating with nature.”
“Communing with nature, you mean?”
“That too. And you gave me half an hour.” He waved a finger under Vlad’s nose. “No take-backsies.”
“I would not dream of it,” Vlad said with a laugh.
“Good. Great.”
Chapter Five
DARREN MADE good on his promise to introduce Trisha and Vlad five days later, when she and Bethany were over for a study date. For once Darren wasn’t moaning over something math-related. Instead he was helping them both with research for a paper on weather rituals, something he absolutely knew a lot about. Baby Darren had taken an interest in the weather, and he’d spent years learning about it.
Trisha was the one who suggested he call Vlad. “You did promise, after all.”
“No, yeah, good idea,” Darren said, looking up from the article Bethany had thrust under his nose. “Lemme just—”
He pulled out his phone and walked into the foyer.
“Hello?” Vlad answered, sounding uncertain.
“Hey, Vlad! It’s me, Darren.”
“I know,” Vlad said. “I do have caller ID. I just thought you wouldn’t be calling on school nights right now. Since you are so busy.”
“That’s actually why I’m calling,” Darren said. “Trish and Beth are both over. We’re writing papers. And you did say you might be cool with meeting them? I mean, I know you meant just Trish, but Beth’s cool too.”
There was a long pause, and for a moment Darren was worried that Vlad had hung up. Then, “Okay,” Vlad said quietly. “I’d like to meet them. I—I’ll be over in a little while.”
Darren beamed, even though Vlad couldn’t see it. “Great! You remember how to get here?”
“I turn left out of Tabitha’s walkway and walk straight for two blocks,” Vlad said dryly. “Yes, I think I can manage it. Tabitha liked the cake, by the way,” he added after a moment. “I told her you helped.”
“Good to hear,” Darren said with grin. “Glad we didn’t accidentally poison her. So yeah, just come on over, then. And I’ll make sure I invite you in this time.”
“I do not think you need to do it every time,” Vlad said.
“Hey, can’t hurt.”
“That is true. All right. I will see you soon.”
Darren maybe went back into the dining room grinning his head off. “He’s actually coming,” he said.
Trisha clapped. “Oh, that’s great!”
Bethany grinned too. “After how much you haven’t talked about him, I can’t wait to meet him.”
Darren shrugged. “It’s just a lot of stuff isn’t my business to tell, that’s all.” He sat back down. “Which part of this article did you even want to use?”
When the doorbell rang ten minutes later, Darren leaped off his seat to answer it, Bethany and Trisha laughing behind him.
“Hey!” he said when he yanked the door open. “Glad you came over. Come on in. Come on, they’re in the living room.”
“You are very excited over me meeting your friends,” Vlad observed as he followed Darren inside.
“Uh, yeah? Is that weird? I just—you’ve been here two months. You should know someone else besides me, right?”
“I met your mother that one time,” Vlad pointed out.
“For like three seconds. That doesn’t even count.” And then they were in the living room. “Here we are!” Darren said, throwing his arms wide. He felt strangely nervous. “Vlad, meet Bethany and Trisha. Trish and Beth, Vlad.”
Vlad swallowed, eyes darting around before he inclined his head, hands behind his back. “It is nice to meet you both,” he said. “In person.”
Trisha giggled and waved. “Same.”
“Hi,” said Bethany, standing up and sticking out her hand.
Vlad stared at it for a second too long, but he held out his own hand and shook. “Hello,” he said, trying for a smile.
Trisha pulled out a chair. “Come on and sit down. How are you liking it here?”
Vlad perched on the edge of the chair. “I am liking it fine. Tabitha is a very gracious host.”
The rest of the study date spiraled mostly into small talk and ended with Vlad exchanging numbers with Trisha and Bethany. Darren felt really proud, even if they didn’t get their papers done.
“VLAD?” TABITHA called from the other side of the door. “Can I come in? I’ve got some mail for you.”
Vlad got up from the bed where he and Darren were sprawled with Darren’s homework and opened the door. “Mail?”
She handed him a tube. “That poster you ordered.”
“Oh.” He took it. “That was fast. Thank you.”
“Sure thing. Call me if you need anything.”
“I will. Thank you.”
Once Vlad had closed the door again and come back to the bed, Darren asked, “Hey, so I’ve been wondering about this for a while, but why do you do that?”
“Why do I do what?”
“Open the door for Tabby every time. Instead of just telling her to come in.”
“Oh.” Vlad picked at the hem of his shirt. “It gives me more privacy. I get to control who comes in and out of my room. After I was turned, I did not have that for a while.”
“Wow, I’m sorry. That….”
Vlad shook his head. “Moth—Kat—” He clenched his fists. “The vampire who turned me had very specific ideas of how I was to act. She was not always… nice when I failed to meet them.”
“I’m sorry,” Darren said again, at a loss.
Vlad swallowed. “Thank you. For listening.”
THE NEXT few days passed in a blur of school, studying, magic, and hanging out with Vlad, Trish, and Beth in the few moments of downtime Darren had. It was getting even harder for him to concentrate on stuff, and he felt twitchy all the time, energy buzzing under his skin without a way for him to tap into it. He also kept noticing weird things, like how Bastian, a water nymph in Darren’s nature affinity class, moved his hands when he talked, or the way Natalie’s hair brushed the feathers at the nape of her neck whenever she turned her head.
Mostly, though, because they spent so much time together, Darren noticed Vlad. His eyes and the way they flashed gold whenever he practiced his powers, how his lips quirked when he was not-quite smiling, and, most alarmingly, the way his arms looked whenever he wore short sleeves, which was pretty often now, since it was almost mid-May.
Darren spent a lot of time dutifully trying to ignore this. And also trying to tune out the new, almost constant litany going on his head. He knew it was spring, sure, but this was ridiculous. He rubbed absentmin
dedly at his arms and wished again for rain. He could feel it building up, and it was making him antsy, the whole world heavy and waiting for a storm.
“Did I do something wrong?” Vlad asked.
Darren jerked up from his textbook so fast he almost tipped backward. “What? No! I mean no, of course not,” he said again, more calmly. “Wait, why?”
Vlad gestured at him. He was wearing short sleeves again, and Darren absolutely did not stare at his biceps. “You’ve been… strange. More than usual.”
Darren snorted. “Thanks for that. No, I’m just… I dunno. It’s not you, I promise. I’ve just been feeling kind of weird. Remember how I said the season was making it hard for me to concentrate?” He rubbed the back of his neck and kept going. “My dad thinks it might be puberty. I mean, I already started going through the human kind a few years ago, duh, and the fae usually don’t start maturing until they’re in their thirties or something? It depends on the clan. But he thinks that my being halfsies triggered an early change. I’ve got some signs of it, is all.”
“Oh.” Vlad thought this over. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Don’t think so, unless you can make all the birds and bees shut up. But thanks.”
“Birds and bees?”
Darren huffed out a sigh. “It’s a slang thing. Sex. For sex, I mean. ’Tis the season, and all of nature is going crazy, and since I’m all one with nature and also maturing apparently, I keep noticing. It is actually the worst. Stupid fae genes.”
Vlad looked visibly alarmed. “Your fae side is making you want to have sex with birds?”
“No! Oh my god,” Darren said, horrified. And Vlad was totally hiding a smile, that—“You jerk! You’re messing with me!”
“A little,” Vlad said, smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “What did you really mean?”
Darren crossed his arms and mock-glared. “Like I’m going to explain now.”
“Please?”
“Fine, but you don’t deserve me. It’s just”—Darren waved a hand—“you know how you can’t help but notice people now, ’cause of the vampire thing, even though you’ve mostly got a handle on it? I’ve got some of the same thing going on, but with reproduction season. All of nature is busy making more nature. And—and pollinating and stuff. And I keep—it’s like—a feeling? I dunno.” He frowned down at his hands, shoulders slumped. “I’m just thinking about it all the time, and it’s super distracting, especially since I never thought about this kind of thing before, at least not this crazy often.”
Vlad actually started laughing. Laughing. “Not that you laughing is not great, ’cause it is, but it’s not so great when you are laughing at me. I am baring my soul here, Vlad.”
“I’m sorry,” Vlad said, calmed down but still grinning. “I’m not laughing at you, I swear. It’s just—that does sound like puberty. Thinking about sex all the time. Congratulations. You’re a real boy now.”
“How do you not know the ‘birds and the bees’ but you can quote Pinocchio at me?” Darren demanded. “Also, I have always been a real boy, screw you.” With a smile, though, since it was a joke. Mostly.
“Disney films were an excellent way to study English,” Vlad said. “Speaking of which….” He jabbed at the textbook. “You have a section to finish reading.”
“Ugh, this is so stupid,” Darren whined, clutching at his hair. “Why can’t it be June already? I don’t even care how I do on the tests anymore. I just want them to hurry up and get here.” He eyed Vlad. “How do you do this for fun?”
“Do you want to take a break?” Vlad offered.
“Nooo.” Darren threw a hand over his face. “I’ll just hear things louder. I’ve been hiding inside for days.”
“Maybe that is part of the problem,” Vlad tried. “You can’t just… deny what is there.”
“You trying to get me to leave the house, instead of the other way around,” Darren said. “This is bizarro world.”
“Maybe just a break from studying, then?” Vlad said. “A snack break?”
Darren pursed his lips but finally sat up. “Yeah, okay. I could eat. You want anything?” he asked, as they headed into the kitchen.
Vlad raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think you have anything I should have.”
“Wanna bet?” Darren said, grabbing a pitcher of nectar out of the fridge and pouring himself a glass, before opening the freezer and pulling out two packets. “You want cow or sheep?”
“I—what?” Vlad asked, nonplussed.
Darren wiggled the packets. “What, you thought that we wouldn’t have food for you? Come on, we hang out all the time. Of course my parents are gonna stock something you can eat. My mom just asked Tabitha for her supplier.”
“Oh,” Vlad said faintly.
“So? Cow or sheep?”
“Um. Sh-sheep, please.”
“Okay, cool.” Darren put the cow blood back in the freezer and then grabbed a large mug out of the cupboard. It was plain white, with a little cartoon of a bat on one side and the words Not a morning person written in red on the other. Vlad stared at it.
“I am… guessing the mug is new?” he asked in a strangled voice.
“Hm?” Darren looked up from where he was sticking the mug, now holding the bag of sheep’s blood, into the microwave. “Oh, yeah. It was my mom’s idea. This way we always know which one is yours. Also my dad’s… uh, a little squeamish about blood, so…. The actual mug was my idea, though.” He took a long drink of nectar and sighed. “I really needed that.”
“You didn’t have to,” Vlad said quietly.
“Why wouldn’t we?” Darren asked, frowning. “You’re my friend. The mug doesn’t bother you, does it? It’s a joke, see, because—”
“No, no, I get it,” Vlad said. “It’s fine. Thank you.”
“Of course,” Darren said. They were kind of staring at each other, standing in the middle of Darren’s kitchen, and Darren felt his stomach feel kind of flip-floppy for no reason. He opened his mouth, though he wasn’t really sure what he was going to say, when a trilling song suddenly rang out, making Vlad wince and Darren jump.
“That’s my cell,” Vlad said apologetically, taking it out of his pocket. “It’s Tabitha. May I—?”
“Oh sure, yeah,” Darren said, waving a hand. He turned to the pantry, looking for something that sounded good. He kind of wanted something chocolate. That sounded really good. Maybe he could make himself chocolate oatmeal or something? That or flowers, maybe. He could really go for some tiger lily.
“Oh, that’s—that’s wonderful,” Vlad was saying. “No, no, yes. Thank you. I—yes. Of course. No, I’d be happy to, as soon as possible. He’s—now? All right. Thank you, Tabitha. I’ll come home right away.”
Darren paused, halfway out the door to the backyard to pick himself a snack. “You have to go?”
Vlad nodded, his face a mixture of emotions. “You remember a few weeks ago, how I mentioned Tabitha was looking for a tutor for me?”
Darren nodded. “Yeah.” His eyes widened. “Wait, did she find someone?”
“Yes,” Vlad said, looking down at his phone. “He, um, he is there now, apparently. He flew in to meet me.”
Darren restrained himself from asking if “flew in” meant by plane or by vampire powers. “That’s great,” he said instead. “You’ll finally have someone to really show you the ropes. And you’ve already figured out some stuff on your own, so you’ve got a good base to work with, hopefully.”
“I—yes.” Vlad didn’t look that excited, though. He looked more—scared. Abruptly Darren remembered how Vlad had become a vampire in the first place, and why he was here instead of home with his family in Ukraine.
“Are you worried about meeting another vampire?” Darren asked quietly.
Vlad hesitated for a long time before eventually nodding. “I know I shouldn’t worry,” he said, looking annoyed with himself. “I know Tabitha has been very careful. She says this vampire is part of a group of soloists who
do this sort of thing regularly. He passed all the tests for having no connection to the one who turned me. He even came up clean on his blood; there was no overlap at all. I just….” He glared at the floor. “I don’t want to be affected by her anymore. And I’m still—” He cut himself off, clenching his hands into fists.
Darren put a hand on Vlad’s shoulder. “Hey, hey, from what I’ve gotten from your story, a lot of… bad stuff happened. There’s no shame in not wanting to face all that down again. Would it make you feel better if, uh, if I was with you?”
Vlad’s shoulders sagged under Darren’s touch. “If you would not mind. I would appreciate that.”
“No problem,” Darren said. He flashed Vlad a grin, trying for levity. “Hey, looks like you’re getting your wish after all. I’m taking a break. Just… don’t let me linger over the flowers we pass on the way.” The microwave chose that moment to beep, and Darren grinned for real this time. “Speaking of which, can’t let good blood go to waste, right? I’m going to just pick a snack for the way over.”
“Thank you,” Vlad said. From how relieved he sounded, he wasn’t just talking about the sheep’s blood.
THE VAMPIRE tutor turned out to be a guy named Charlie. He looked like he was maybe in his early twenties, with light brown eyes and skin, and about an inch of tight, curly black hair. Tabitha said he was a soloist—living without a main vampire clan, and that he’d moved to the States from Ireland after being turned and trained in the ’70s. He worked with a team of other soloists as impartial diplomats in affairs between other vampire clans, and instructing orphaned new-turns was apparently part of his duties. Tabitha assured Vlad that Charlie came highly recommended, very well respected, and sworn to secrecy.
“I’m pleased to meet you, Vlad,” Charlie said, holding out his hand. He had a hint of an Irish accent. “I’m proud to have the honor of being your teacher.” He glanced at Darren. “Though I don’t know if having your girlfriend here for the first lesson is such a good idea? She might be a distraction to you.”