Blood and Guitars

by Heather Jensen

  I took one look at Aurora and immediately understood the anguish that was written all over her perfectly beautiful face. I squeezed her hand and without letting go, turned to face Damir. “You know, for a vampire, you really suck at the mind-reading thing. You don’t know the first thing about what I want.”

  Damir’s stony expression faltered for only an instant and then it hardened again. “You’re going to regret this,” he said calmly.

  I couldn’t see any reason to stick around and let the vampire threaten us so I led Aurora toward my car. I opened the passenger door for her, closing it after she climbed inside. I glanced up and saw that Damir was walking toward a limo as I climbed inside the driver’s seat.

  The drive to my house was a short one, but Aurora’s silence as she stared out the side window exaggerated every mile so that it felt like ten. I didn’t try to get her to speak. I wasn’t sure what I wanted her to say. I needed some time to think before we talked about what had just happened. I thought maybe she felt the same way.

  When we got to the house, I unlocked the front door and held it for Aurora who walked in and went straight to the living room. I closed the door behind me and found her pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace. Feeling like I was suffocating, I loosened my tie and pulled it off, draping it over the back of the couch. Then I took my suit coat off and undid the top buttons of my white dress shirt. I couldn’t deal with the silence any longer. I needed answers.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Aurora sighed heavily and turned to face me. “What was I supposed to say? That the head of the Emissary was trying to blackmail me into being with him by promising to protect you?”

  “That’s a start. I thought we weren’t keeping things from each other.”

  She shook her head. “It’s not that simple.”

  “When did this happen?” I asked.

  She pulled out her cell phone and pushed a few buttons before handing it to me. I read a text message from Damir, and saw that it was dated the night before Wes had been killed. The night Aurora had told me the truth about who she was.

  “Look, I get it,” I said. “The only reason you wouldn’t tell me about this is because you were tempted to accept his offer. The only part I’m not sure about is why.”

  She looked at me incredulously. “What do you mean?”

  “This Damir guy, he’s right.” The words burned as they left my mouth. “If you were to choose him, nothing about your life would have to change. You could stay here in Clearwater and paint at The Waking Moon every night. You’d have a powerful vampire by your side, especially if he’s the head of the Emissary as you say. If you’re having second thoughts about us … about me –”

  “No.” Aurora shook her head. “It’s not that at all. You’re the only one who makes me feel alive. I love you.” I breathed easier at hearing her declaration and waited for her to continue. She stepped closer to me, her hand cupping my face softly. “That’s why I’d never be able to forgive myself if something ever happened to you.”

  “If this is about keeping me safe, you can just rule out this Damir guy right now,” I said. But the look on her face told me she still wasn’t convinced. “I’m still alive, aren’t I?”

  “I want nothing more than to spend forever with you,” she said. “I want to watch you make your music. I want to go on tour with you and know that it’s me your singing about every night. I want to teach you everything I know about being a vampire so you can be my eternal companion. Most of all, I want to love you like I didn’t think I was capable of doing, but doing what I wanted is what got us into this mess to begin with.” She sighed and dropped her hand. “Can you look me in the eye and tell me that there wasn’t some small part of you who thought for just a moment that Damir might have the answer to all the problems I’ve created for you?”

  I pulled her hand to my chest where it slid just inside the open material of my shirt, resting flat against my racing heart. “Not the smallest part of me,” I insisted, willing her to hear the truth in my words, to read it in the way my heart ached with every beat against her palm. “Not for a second.”

  A slow smile spread across Aurora’s lips and she melted into my arms. I sighed in relief and held her close to me, breathing her in.

  “Promise me you’re not going to do anything crazy,” I said to her. “We’ll get through this together.”

  “I promise.” Then she rose onto her toes and kissed me like she’d never had a reason to pull back.

  Chapter 60

  I sat on the floor, leaning against the half-wall in the loft of The Waking Moon as I strummed my acoustic guitar. Aurora was only a few feet away, putting the finishing touches on the painting that would soon be known all over the world as the cover of Catalyst’s new album. The deadline to turn in the artwork was next week but the painting would need several days to dry, so Aurora and I had agreed to spend the night here until it was completed. As much as everything had changed recently, it was comforting to do something as familiar as playing my guitar while Aurora worked. It was something I’d made a habit of ever since we’d started dating. I’d been biting my tongue for the last two hours, not wanting to distract her from her work. But my head was swirling with questions; things I still didn’t understand about Aurora’s world. It was even coming out in my music. I’d just written a new song called “You Only Live Twice” as a way of dealing with the very near, very uncertain future ahead of me.

  “One of your strings is out of tune,” Aurora said nonchalantly, peering at me over the canvas on her easel.

  I paused in my strumming. “You’re serious?” She smiled, nodding. “What are you, a human tuner now?”

  She gave me a sly grin. “Hardly human.”

  I rolled my eyes at her in disbelief and fished my cell phone from my pocket. I opened the guitar tuner app. I had and found that, sure enough, the D string was flat. I’d always considered myself to have a good ear, but I hadn’t noticed that the string was a little out of tune when I’d sat down to play.

  “Thanks,” I muttered.

  “I wasn’t going to say anything, but its driving me crazy.” She grinned at me and added, “Soon you won’t need a tuner at all.”

  I made a slight adjustment to the string while I considered her words. “I guess vampire hearing will come in handy in my line of business,” I mused.

  “You have no idea.” Aurora set her paint brush down and looked toward the stairway that led down into the rest of the studio where her paintings were displayed and sold. “Speaking of fantastic hearing, we’re not alone.”

  “Who is it?” I asked.

  “Mark.”

  My eyebrows shot up. I wasn’t sure how to react. I’d only met the vampire doctor once, and as far as I could tell, he hadn’t liked me much. Of course, that had probably been because Aurora was offering to give me private painting lessons and it was obvious -even to my dull human instincts- that Mark had a thing for Aurora.

  “Not anymore.” Aurora said as she walked toward me. “I think Mark’s got himself a girlfriend now.”

  I furrowed my brow at her. I still wasn’t used to the fact that she could read my mind. She smiled at me apologetically.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean-”

  I set my guitar down next to me. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll get even with you later.”

  She bit her bottom lip and said, “I guess I’d better see what he wants.” I nodded, perfectly content to stay out of sight. “Don’t bother. He already knows you’re here,” she added. “He can smell you from outside.”

  I took a deep breath and sighed. “Right.” Aurora disappeared down the steps to my left but I didn’t budge as I heard the back door open and close.

  “Mark,” Aurora said, greeting him.

  “Tell me it’s not true,” Mark said. Wow, this guy cut straight to the chase. “You’re not seriously considering making him one of us?”

  It seemed word of our plan was spreading. I guessed it was a
good thing. The quicker the vampire community learned of Aurora’s intentions to make me one of them, the better my chances of surviving until she could do it.

  “It’s true.” Aurora said without pretense.

  I heard the other vampire sigh. He was silent for a moment, and I imagined his piercing eyes watching me through the half-wall that hid me from view. Of course, I was sure even vampires couldn’t do that. I’d obviously read too many comics as a kid, but surely x-ray vision was reserved for Superman.

  “Look,” Mark began. “I’m not here to tell you what to do. I’ve learned my lesson with that, but are you certain that forcing this human to become one of us is a wise move?”

  I took a deep breath and got to my feet, walking determinedly down the stairs. Neither vampire looked up at my approach, but Aurora’s face softened. Both their eyes had that incandescent quality that was hard to describe, and their fangs were in plain sight. I imagined it was only natural for Aurora to take on her true form when around other vampires.

  “I want this,” I declared, stepping up to take Aurora’s hand. “I may not understand everything about your world yet, but I’d do anything to be with her.”

  Mark fixed his penetrating eyes on me, his gaze so intense that I had to will myself not to look away. He studied me a moment and then to my surprise said, “Now that’s a sentiment I can understand.”

  I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding and gave him a small nod. He knew exactly what I was talking about. New girlfriend or not, I got the feeling he would still do anything for Aurora.

  “Thank you, Mark,” Aurora said. “For looking out for me.”

  Mark shrugged. “I know we haven’t been as close lately, but I’m still your friend. Our lives may be taking us down different paths, but that doesn’t have to change.” Then he gave Aurora a friendly kiss on the cheek and walked back out into the night without another word.

  Aurora seemed almost as relieved as I was that the encounter hadn’t ended in a confrontation. She took a deep breath and turned to me. When she spoke again, her fangs were no longer visible. “Come on. The painting is finished and I want to see what you think of it.”

  I’d been allowed to peek at the individual paintings she’d done for each of us on occasion, but I hadn’t seen so much as a glimpse of the front cover art. I was anxious to know what our new album would look like to the world. I followed her back into the loft and walked around the easel to see the image painted on the canvas. It was so bizarre that it took me a moment to take it all in. The largest object in the painting was a huge gnarly tree. Its limbs reached upward at odd angles, tangling in each other and twisting toward the sky. The tree itself wasn’t exactly out of the ordinary, but the weird and wonderful part was that guitars were hanging from its branches, drooping like fruit. Among them, I recognized Liza, my green Fender Strat, O’Shea’s white Telecaster, and Jonas’s sunburst Jaguar Bass. Other random guitars hung from branches as well. There were seven in all.

  My eyes followed the trunk of the tree down to where it disappeared into the ground. An amazing likeness of me was leaning casually against it staring back at me. Jonas was sprawled out on the grass that surrounded the tree, his hands behind his head as he gazed up at the sky. O’Shea sat near me, his back against the tree trunk. Chase was the only one who sat further away. Once I looked closer at the likeness of him sitting on a tree stump, I saw why. A bush to the right side of the canvas had the different parts of a drum set growing out of it. Cymbals, tom toms and a snare all protruded from it in the correct order and at the right levels. Chase was holding a stick in one hand, a knife in the other. It appeared he was whittling a drumstick out of it.

  The detail in Aurora’s painting amazed me. It was only then that I began to fully appreciate just how much of a photographic memory she had. The metallic paint accents made the instruments come to life. The copper and silver guitar strings shone in the light, as did the metal tuning knobs. The casings of Chase’s drums were mostly silver metallic paint, adding a dimension of reality to the fantastical image. In the space to the right of the tree, with the dark and ominous blue sky in the background, the album title Until Sanity was painted in cryptic letters. The name of our band was in the sky above the tree.

  I was so engrossed by the painting that I hadn’t realized Aurora was staring at me expectantly.

  “Well?”

  “It’s perfect,” I exclaimed. “It’s so much more than we could have ever dreamed up. I don’t know how you do it.”

  She gave me a satisfied smile and I made a connection between our chosen art forms just then. The process of writing a song is never complete for me until I can share it with an audience. I could tell by the look in her eyes, which had returned to the state I was used to seeing them in, that showing me the painting had been the final step in the creative process for her.

  “I can’t wait for the guys to see it,” I added. “I wish we could take it to them right now.” I pulled out my phone, a little overzealous. “Do you think they’re still up?” Aurora smiled while I checked the time. It was one in the morning. “Uh … maybe not.”

  “Tomorrow will come soon enough.”

  I sighed, resigned to wait. “I guess.”

  “Besides, I bet I can think of a topic that will take your mind off it.”

  “You know me too well,” I told her. “It’s scary. Really.”

  Aurora picked up her brushes and carried them to the nearby sink to rinse them. “Of all the things about me that might scare you, that should be the least of them.”

  I started with the question that had been burning in my mind since the night I’d found out about Aurora’s true nature. “You told me before that you’re still very young in the world of vampires,” I said. “What did you mean by that exactly?”

  “The first decade is spent learning to harness the special abilities that come with being a vampire.” She lifted my hand and began playing with my fingers as she continued. “We are encouraged to spend enough time using each one to gain control over them. When the end of the tenth year is up, the Elders test us to determine the extent of our control. In short, not all vampires are granted the privilege of using all of the powers available to us in the end. Those who have made poor decisions will be limited for the rest of their long lives. That’s why most vampires belong to a clan. It’s the job of the clan leader to help guide young vampires down the right path to achieve control over all the abilities.”

  “Wouldn’t you do whatever it takes to learn them all well?” I asked. It seemed pretty simple to me.

  “It’s harder than it sounds,” Aurora said. “Most new vampires find that they are naturally able to control one ability better than the others. That ability is called our moon-given talent. Mark, for instance, is a natural healer. That’s why it was an obvious choice for him to be the Synod’s contact at the hospital. Being a doctor is quite easy for him, compared to most. But the temptation to always choose the healing ability is great.”

  “What’s your moon-given talent?” I asked, although I thought I might already know.

  “I am able to shield my thoughts from others without much effort.” She smiled. “Reading other people’s thoughts is something I have to work for. We choose an ability to practice each month with the full moon. You’ll understand better when you attend a ritual with me.”

  As thrilling as it was to think about attending a secret vampire ritual with Aurora, it was also a little nerve-wracking. “I can deal if you’re here by my side.”

  “I will be.” She raised her hand to the back of my neck, raking her nails through my hair gently. “I’ll teach you everything I know.”

  I leaned down, pressing my lips to hers. My heart fluttered, which I knew she would hear, but I didn’t care. If you had told me six months ago that I could feel more alive than I do when thousands of fans are screaming for me at one of our shows, I never would have believed it. But the exploding feeling inside my chest every time I kissed Aurora was
proof enough that there is something even better than being a rock star.

  It had only been one week since I’d learned that my girlfriend was a vampire, but those were seven days I had managed to stay alive against all odds. In the little time I had left as a human, there was a lot for me to learn about what I would become. There were still so many questions, so many things I wanted to understand before I became a very real, very permanent part of Aurora’s world. If everything went well (and I survived the mob of angry vampires that wanted to kill me) I’d have Aurora, a new album, and a string of cities to tour. And to top it all off: a new pair of fangs.

  If you enjoyed the book, please let the author know by rating and reviewing it online.

  About the author:

  Heather Jensen lives in Southern Utah with her husband and son. She enjoys writing fantasy for teens and adults and is currently writing the sequel to Blood and Guitars and other works of fiction.

  Connect with Me Online:

  Heather’s Website: http://www.heatherjensen.info

  Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/BloodandGuitars

  Twitter: http://twitter.com/theedgeofwords

  Official Twitter Hashtag for Blood and Guitars: #bandg