Dominion (Re-edition)

by Melody Manful

  WARNING BELLS

  He’s going to kill you Abby.

  No he’s not! Look at him. He looks completely normal… well, except for the unearthly beauty and the coldness in his eyes.

  OK, so maybe he was going to kill me.

  Even though I didn’t want to admit it to myself, Gideon’s presence had me rattled. Could he really be the killer from my nightmare? I tried to shake off my unease. After all, what were the chances that the new guy was going to ask me for directions and then immediately decide to kill me? Pretty slim, I’d imagine. Slim enough that I should stop worrying about it.

  I stole another glance at him. Mysterious, good-looking guys weren’t all killers, right? Of course not.

  The bell rang signaling the end of history class, and I had five minutes to get ready for my next lesson, English literature, which was also with Mr. Bernard. Those who had other classes this period gathered their books and left, while a few new students filed in. I couldn’t concentrate when Mr. Bernard started teaching again.

  I wanted to turn and see if Gideon was staring at me, but I decided against it. I’d decided to avoid him. Forever.

  Eventually, the bell rang for lunch. Most of the students rushed out like a pride of hungry lions.

  “Doreen, baby,” Jake cooed to a freckled brunette, trying to sound smooth and worldly, “walk with me.” He wrapped his arm around Doreen’s waist.

  “Ewww!” Doreen pushed Jake away, glaring at him. “Don’t ever touch me again!” She walked briskly away.

  Jake watched her go with wide puppy dog eyes. “She so wants me.”

  We laughed. Out of all the girls in school that he could have had a crush on, he had fallen for Doreen, who didn’t even want to breathe the same air as he did.

  “Yeah, in your dreams,” Danny teased.

  “Well, yes, actually,” Jake said without missing a beat. “Every single one of them.”

  Tristan turned his attention back to me. “Aren’t you coming?”

  “No… um, just go on ahead. I’ll join you later.” I cleared my throat and looked down, careful not to say anything else and push my luck, since that was the most comprehensible sentence I had said to him all day.

  Jake’s voice made me snap to attention. “Yo, Gideon, care to join us?” Oh, Jake. I loved my friends, but their overwhelming desire to make every new student feel welcome wasn’t sitting well with me today.

  “Later. I have to take care of something.” Thank God. He could go take care of whatever he had to take care of, and if I were lucky he wouldn’t come back.

  “We’ll save you guys a chair,” Jake said to Gideon and me, and then walked out with Danny. Tristan looked a little hesitant, and he glanced from me to Gideon before he walked out as well, leaving me with Sarah.

  Sarah had her I’m-in-love expression on her face, so I asked “What?” The last time she’d looked like that, she was crushing on one of my mother’s models, and I’d got stuck playing Cupid.

  “Gideon is burning up the place.” She nodded in Gideon’s direction, fanning her face. “Can I have a piece of that? I want a piece of that.”

  I laughed. “Aren’t you crushing on Caleb?”

  “Caleb who?”

  I pushed her playfully away from me. “Have you no shame?”

  “None at all. Oh, lighten up, Abby. Don’t tell me you don’t think he’s hot. I know you and Tristan have this thing going on, but still, look at him.”

  He was hot all right, and I would have happily joined Sarah in her fantasizing, if it weren’t for the little fact that part of me was somehow certain Gideon was there to kill me.

  “Tristan and I have nothing going on,” I answered, and Sarah would have believed me if my voice didn’t sound a little bit overjoyed at the thought.

  “Don’t sound too happy.” Sarah gave me her ‘I know you’ look. “I’ll go and put in a good word for you. You’re welcome.” And then, without waiting to hear what I thought of her generosity, she rushed out, laughing at me.

  Sarah was like a dog with a bone, and so I knew nothing I’d say from this point on would cause her to butt out.

  Across the room I overheard Doreen asking Gideon, “So, do you want a tour of the school?”

  Gideon did not appear to be impressed. “Who’s asking?” I watched them out of the corner of my eye.

  “Well… ” Doreen leaned on Gideon’s desk, facing him. “I am,” she said, and I could only guess why she was in that position.

  “Well, I am,” Gideon echoed her in a nasal, sarcastic tone. I almost snorted. “I’m good. There was a map in the student brochure.”

  Doreen stood up, reached into her left bra cup, and pulled out a card “Just the same, call me if you change your mind. I’ll be waiting.”

  Gideon took the card, holding it gingerly between his thumb and index finger. “I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you,” he placed the card on the table.

  “Don’t count on it,” Doreen said in her sexy voice—the one I’d heard her use whenever she wanted something from someone. “I’ll see you around.”

  “I hope not.”

  Although I couldn’t see Doreen’s expression, I was sure she was surprised and maybe a little embarrassed by Gideon’s refusal.

  “They always come around.” Doreen sniffed, and walked out the door.

  I turned away from him then. “What a jerk,” I mumbled under my breath as I collected my things. That was no way talk to someone who wanted to help you, even if that person’s intentions weren’t exactly innocent.

  “Now, Miss Cells, that’s a bit judgmental, don’t you think?”

  I jumped at the sound of Gideon’s voice. I didn’t know when he got there, but Gideon now stood directly beside me. I had been a good four seats away from him. Breathe in, I told myself, breathe out—I thought I might collapse. Maybe if I closed my eyes and prayed really hard, a meteor would crash into Earth. Yes, widespread destruction wrought by an interstellar death rock sounded to me like the best-case scenario, given my current situation.

  “Do you have a problem with your eyes?” he asked, and then without warning, he sat down beside me.

  “Excuse me?”

  “It seems, Miss Cells, that you have a hearing problem, too,” he took my history book from the table.

  I was going to apologize for calling him a jerk, but now? He could just forget it. “I don’t have a hearing problem, and there’s nothing wrong with my eyes.”

  “Are you sure?” he asked. “You did run into me.” He opened my book and started flipping lazily through the pages.

  I had no idea how I’d gone from wanting him to disappear to talking with him. Now I wished I had only thought he was a jerk rather than saying it out loud. “I was going—” I decided to leave the pee thing out of it.

  “On second thought, don’t tell me,” he cut me off, his eyes focusing on the pages of the history book.

  I snatched my book away from him and I stood. “You don’t have to be rude.” I didn’t want to go and risk facing the crowds, but if it meant I’d be away from Gideon, I’d take it.

  He stood, too. “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just that I’m not—”

  “Not used to thinking before you speak?” I finished for him, feeling a surge of confidence.

  He gave me a sheepish look. “No, I was going to say ‘not used to human conversations’.”

  “Human conversations?” What the hell was that supposed to mean?

  As I shoved my books and my laptop into my bag, he leaned in toward me. “So, where are you taking me?” he asked, a cocky smile playing on his lips. “I figure since you practically ran me over, you owe me a tour.” He grabbed one of my notebooks and dangled it in front of me, just out of reach.

  The nerve of this guy! He was crazy if he thought I’d be giving him a tour. “I’m pretty sure I heard Doreen offering to take you.”

  “Eavesdropping doesn’t suit you, Miss Cells.” He handed me my notebook.

  “Abigail,�
� I snapped. “And I wasn’t…” Suddenly I couldn’t breathe because he’d stepped closer toward me.

  “Abigail.” The sound of him speaking my name was bewitching. On his lips my boring everyday name seemed intimate and special. I wasn’t trying to get away from him anymore. I don’t think I could move at all. “Breathe,” he whispered, and then he proceeded to tuck a loose strand of my hair behind my ear.

  Come back to Earth, Abigail!

  “I… I can’t take you on a tour.” I turned away from him and untucked my hair in an attempt to hide my face. I glanced up hopefully at Mr. Bernard, but he was lost in a book, and wasn’t paying us any attention.

  “Why not, Abigail?”

  I zipped my bag. “Because,” I hissed, shaking off my sudden shivers, “I’m trying to avoid going out into the crowds, and because you’re…” A stranger? A jerk? Scary? All of the above?

  “That doesn’t sound like much of a reason.” Even though I was kind of annoyed with him, I wasn’t completely immune to his charm. “Come on,” he insisted, “it won’t take long.”

  My no wasn’t coming across as strongly as I wanted it to. “I just… ” I just can’t because you freak me out. “Well, I’d like to give you a tour, but frankly, you’re kind of a jerk.”

  He sat on the edge of the table. “Heard that this morning.”

  “And arrogant.”

  “My middle name.” He smirked, making my knees wobble.

  “Are you a serial killer?” I asked without thinking. His smile quickly disappeared before returning with less enthusiasm.

  “Miss Cells, do you always open conversations like this? That’s an odd question. But no, I’m not.”

  Well, at least he hadn’t said yes.

  I dusted myself off just for something to do and slowly shrugged on my jacket. I didn’t know what else to do to fill the silence, so I grabbed my bag and started to walk away.

  He called after me, “I know you think I’m a jerk. I wasn’t trying to be. Jake seems like a really nice guy, and I didn’t want to ruin any chance of becoming friends with him. I could tell he liked that girl. That’s why I had to decline her invitation.”

  OK, so maybe I had misjudged him. Maybe that explained why he’d been rude to Doreen, but it still didn’t explain why he’d been rude to me. “I have to go,” I said firmly.

  “Miss Cells?” he called again. “You forgot this one.” He pointed at one of my books, which was still lying on the table. “That vision problem I was talking about.” He tipped his head to the side. He was being a jerk again, but he was a handsome jerk.

  “The jerk thing I was talking about,” I smirked and walked back to him. I snatched the book away from him when I reached him. I turned back around to head out.

  “I think the word you are looking for here is ‘thank you’,” Gideon called after me.

  I didn’t even bother to stop and acknowledge him. The nerve of the guy!

  I finally made it out of the classroom. The moment I hit the fresh air I swallowed a large gulp of it, not remembering at what point I had started holding my breath.

  I knew at that moment it was going to be a very long day.

  LAIR, LAIR

  Tristan

  I was an awful person. Er, angel. A really, really awful angel.

  I was the most awful angel in this cafeteria, and that was saying something, because Gideon was sitting right across from me.

  Gideon was being, for Gideon, nice. He wasn’t throwing fireballs or insults at me. He’d even asked me if I wanted some of his food. Of course I said no, because knowing him they were probably poisoned, but it had been a nice gesture. Seeing him here, laughing and smiling with my new friends, I could almost believe he wasn’t a murderous horror.

  Almost.

  Today was the day. Today was the day my life went up in flames.

  Today was the start of my new life, the one that I’d neither asked for nor wanted. Today was the day that was likely going to define me forever. What would happen today might very well be what my legacy would be built upon. Today, I’d learn how to dig my grave, and if I were lucky I’d push myself into it.

  This was the end, the ending of the first chance I never got to have, and this was a beginning, the beginning of the second chance I didn’t ask for. Today was my moment to leave a mark. Also, it was a Monday.

  Given time, I could completely run out of breath just listing the ways that today was going to be momentous.

  “Hollywood, huh?” Jake was asking Gideon, his mouth full of food.

  Gideon told them he had transferred from Pacific Hills, in Hollywood, because his father, a surgeon, had taken a position at the Cardiac Care Center at John Muir. He told the lie with such a straight face that even I believed it.

  “Do all the guys in Hollywood look like you?” Sarah asked. She sat beside Gideon, and she hadn’t looked away from him at all, not even to touch her food.

  “I’m pretty sure they have lots of jerks in Hollywood,” Abigail muttered under her breath. Sarah didn’t appear to have heard her, but Gideon certainly had.

  Gideon couldn’t let something like that go. “Speak up Miss Cells. We can’t hear you.”

  “Abigail,” Abigail looked up at him. “My name is Abigail.”

  Danny and Jake pulled exaggerated versions of Abigail’s serious facial expression and laughed. I didn’t.

  I knew why she was being so cold toward Gideon. It was my fault. I was the reason she felt the need to push him away.

  I had planted a nightmare in her head. Invading her mind like that was intrusive and completely unethical, but I’d thought that the best way to protect her from Gideon was to make her afraid of him, make her want to avoid him. I was willing to frighten her with an imagined danger to protect her from a real one.

  I’d stood by her bedside and watched as her dream-self had burnt to ashes. I hadn’t comforted her when she’d screamed. I hadn’t caught her when she came plunging to her doom, because, in truth, at that moment I was her doom. I’d wanted her scared, wanted her to be haunted by her nightmare. She was. But so was I.

  “So, Miss Ce-e-e-ells” Gideon stretched out the name to make sure that Abigail understood he was going to keep calling her Miss Cells specifically because she didn’t like it. “I’ve noticed that you have to do your share of dodging the paparazzi. Are you also from Hollywood?”

  “Oh, no one’s staring at her today. Today all eyes are on you. You’re the new obsession.” Danny answered before Abigail could.

  Jake nodded in agreement. “Especially with the girls. Notice how all the girls look from Tristan to you?” We all turned to see if what he’d said was accurate. It was. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you opened your locker and found some digits. Tristan gets them every day.”

  “He always gives them to Danny and Jake.” Sarah finally came back to her senses and joined the conversation. “So, are you going to use them if you get any?”

  Beside me, Abigail picked up her glass of spring water, abandoning her food.

  “Well, I could use a number or four.” Jake and Danny cheered him on. “Would you be putting your number in my locker, Miss Cells?”

  Abigail almost choked on her water when she heard this. She knocked the glass off the edge of the table and, to the surprise of her friends, who knew nothing of her nightly training, she caught it deftly before it hit the floor. Not a drop spilled. In spite of himself, Gideon was impressed. He was trying hard not to show it.

  I had grabbed a napkin for her, but I set it aside. It wasn’t needed.

  “Definitely not!” Abigail grumbled, not even realizing that she had just demonstrated the lightning reflexes of a tiger. She took another sip from her glass. The nightmare I’d given her had worked. It was only lunchtime, and Abigail already hated Gideon.

  “Hmmm.” Gideon picked up one of Sarah’s french fries. “I’ll take that as a challenge,” he said, and popped the fry into his mouth.

  When I next looked over at Abigail, I was surprise
d to see that she was blushing. Crap. I thought she was repulsed by him! Obviously things were a little more complicated than easy, straightforward hate.

  “Don’t bother, Gideon,” Sarah said, slapping his hands away from her plate. “I think Abby has something going on with Tristan.”

  Abigail quickly looked away, leaving me to face Gideon, who had his ‘Are you serious?’ look on his face.

  “What? Abigail’s like a sister to me,” I said, looking everywhere but at Abigail, because somehow I was sure if I did, she’d notice I was lying.

  “Tough luck, then. I have a sister. That’s a harsh assessment,” Gideon said.

  And part of me agreed with him. It did seem a little harsh. Abby seemed to think so, too, which bothered me. Damn, it shouldn’t. I’m her guardian, not her boyfriend. But it did bother me. Just a lot little.

  RAPUNZEL, RAPUNZEL

  Gideon

  “Better to reign in Hell

  than serve in Heaven”

  John Milton

  

  See you tomorrow Miss Cells,” I shouted after Abigail as she walked out of the classroom with her friends.

  The smile she gave me in response was clearly fake. She obviously didn’t want to see me tomorrow. I didn’t quite understand why she was so uncomfortable with me when we had only just met. She didn’t seem merely annoyed at my sarcasm, she seemed deeply uneasy. On the other hand, whatever the reason for this human’s discomfort might be I didn’t care to ask, because when I’d left home this morning, I’d made a bet with Valoel that I’d kill her before the day was over.

  After Abigail and her friends had gone, only Tristan and I were left in the classroom.

  “Why does your human seem to hate me?” I asked him. I was curious.

  “I don’t know. Maybe it’s the whole ‘annoying charm’ thing you’ve got going on.” Smart ass.

  “Charming? You think I’m charming? Yeez, thanks! Though you shouldn’t get your hopes up. You’re not my type.” There. Two can play this game.