How long that continued for, Briony didn’t know. Song followed song, and the two of them never seemed to break apart. Over Fallon’s shoulder, Briony saw some of the other dancers staring at them. She also saw Pepper taking in the attention that was being directed their way, her expression growing steadily frostier.
Right then, Briony didn’t care. The world containing Pepper Freeman existed somewhere else. Somewhere where she wasn’t busy reading every movement of Fallon’s body as they glided to the pulsing beat. Somewhere where time actually existed, rather than being something you ignored in the race to drink in this moment, this instant of perfect closeness.
Of course, it couldn’t last forever. Nothing did, and Aunt Sophie had been perfectly clear when it came to her curfew. It was Fallon who pulled back, looking at his watch and declaring that he should get Briony home if he didn’t want any elderly relatives coming after him. He wasn’t entirely joking.
The drive back held a more comfortable kind of silence than the earlier one. Fallon kept glancing across to Briony, while she couldn’t stop the satisfied smile that crept its way onto her lips and stayed there right up to the point when they pulled into the Edge Inn’s driveway. With the car stopped, the two of them stopped too, just staring.
Briony wasn’t sure which of them started the kiss. It felt more like something that both of them had known would happen, like a moment when they were only playing out roles scripted well in advance. It started as the barest brush of lips, but it built. It definitely built. Briony kissed Fallon with all the passion she could muster, and in return he covered her with kisses, his fingers entwining with hers, and his body pressed down on hers. He groaned while he buried his face into her hair and kissed his way down her face.
Her lips, the line of her jaw, her throat…
Fallon pulled back so suddenly, Briony knew there was something wrong even before she saw his fangs protruding. His hands, which had just a second ago been running across her shoulders, tightened on them almost painfully.
“Your lips taste so good. So perfect. I can almost taste your blood, Briony.”
Briony tried to think of her options. The silver cross was still in her evening bag. She was too close to have a chance of kicking out with her stake-heeled shoes. Even getting to the small cross that hung around her neck would be difficult with Fallon gripping her arms.
“Fallon,” she tried, “don’t do this.”
Fallon’s face twisted into pain, anguish. “I don’t think… I can stop. I need you, Briony. Please.” His fangs edged towards her neck.
“No, Fallon.”
“I know I shouldn’t, but this hunger, this thirst is so strong.” He turned his head away briefly. When he turned back to look at her, his eyes had glazed over with hunger, trained on her neck. “It wouldn’t hurt. Not really. I could make it feel wonderful.”
“I said no. You need to stop, Fallon. You’re scaring me.”
“Briony…”
“You gave me a cross to keep me safe. Is this keeping me safe?”
Fallon paused. Briony could see the need in his eyes. The hurt. Unfortunately, those eyes were also starting to glow red, so she wasn’t really in the mood to pay attention.
“Let go of me Fallon. Right now.”
Fallon hardly hesitated. “Oh God! Briony, I’m sorry. So sorry…” For all his hunger, for all that he had hardly been a vampire long enough to fight it, he did as she asked. He did more than that. Almost faster than Briony could follow, he was out of the car. A second later, and he was running for the forest. Briony started to get out of the car, stopped, and paused long enough to get the silver cross out of her evening bag. She stood there, on the drive, until her aunt came out of the house for her, a long knife not quite out of sight against her robe.
“Where’s Fallon?” she asked.
Briony just shook her head.
Chapter 14
There was no sign of Fallon at school the next day. Briony had half expected it, and so, she suspected, had Aunt Sophie. At least, Aunt Sophie hadn’t bothered giving her any advice on getting away with staking Fallon on school premises. To say that her great aunt wasn’t happy with the vampire was an understatement. Only the fact that he had managed to stop short of actually biting Briony kept her from heading out with all the other members of the preservation society and hunting for him.
Briony’s feelings were a lot less clear-cut. Yes, Fallon had been close to biting her, but he hadn’t. He’d stopped in time, and she hadn’t even had to hurt him. More than that, before it happened, everything had been going well. So well that she couldn’t help wondering if one small bite would really matter that much. After all, people gave blood every day. Not that she was ever stupid enough to mention the thought in front of Aunt Sophie, or anyone else for that matter. Briony didn’t even dare to say that what she really wanted was to see Fallon again long enough for them to talk this through. Talking, apparently, wasn’t something you did with vampires when you could be busy staking them. As far as her great aunt was concerned, Fallon’s incidence with Briony had only proven that.
School wasn’t the same without him there. Maisy and Steve were still around, but in the couple of days after the dance they only had eyes for each other. As for everyone else, while they were mostly content to ignore Briony, some of them muttered behind her back about Fallon’s sudden absence. Since the last time they had been seen together was at the dance, people seemed to be assuming that Briony had done something to upset him, to drive him away. If they only knew.
The thought of telling everyone the truth amused Briony for about five minutes. How would people react if she told them what had really happened? How would she even put it? “Oh yes, Fallon and I broke up because he’s a vampire who tried to bite me” would probably get her laughed at, or even sent to have her head examined. It certainly wouldn’t do anything to dispel her image as the strange girl of the class. Like it or not, though, Briony had to admit she missed Fallon a lot.
Her work at the diner proved to be a safe haven. There was something reliable about it, unchanging. Maybe that was even what Aunt Sophie had in mind when she suggested it, given how strange everything else in Briony’s life was getting. Burgers didn’t let you down. Fries didn’t agonize over whether they were going to bite you. Side orders didn’t avoid you, unless Percy had accidentally moved them when he shouldn’t.
So Briony threw herself into her work. She showed up early for her next couple of shifts and stayed late afterwards. When she wasn’t working, she spent her time training hard with Aunt Sophie, determined to get better when it came to fighting the things that showed up in the town. She asked questions of George and the others, hearing stories of even stranger and rarer things, from Wendigos to Ghouls, hiding out in the Wicked Woods. None of them sounded like Briony would want to meet them at any point soon.
It was on the third day that a familiar face showed up at the diner. Briony hadn’t thought about Kevin since he had saved her. No, that wasn’t true. She had thought about him, right up to the moment when Fallon had asked her out. After that though, thoughts of the handsome college guy who wasn’t the hunter he had suggested he was had fled from her mind.
They came back now though, with him sitting at the same table he had occupied the first time, as though nothing had happened since. Briony’s eyes narrowed at that. Did he really think that Briony was so stupid that she wouldn’t have asked about him? Did he really believe that just being gorgeous was enough to let him waltz in here without a single explanation? Briony wasn’t about to let him get away with that.
She took as many other orders as possible before getting around to his. Partly, it was to make him wait, because she was feeling at least a little bit petty today. Mostly though, it was because that would give Briony the time she needed to make this guy answer some questions. She ignored George’s look over to her as she slid into the seat opposite Kevin.
“I might be remembering wrong,” he said with a wink, “but I don’t th
ink this is supposed to be what happens when you take someone’s order.”
“Don’t be smart,” Briony snapped back.
Kevin raised an eyebrow. It was perfect, obviously. “And I’m almost certain that didn’t happen last time either.”
“No, but I can remember one or two things that did.”
“Ah, so you’re going to thank me. Well, if you have the sudden urge, you could always say it with extra fries.”
He was, it seemed, determined to be infuriating. Briony decided to spell it out. It wasn’t like anyone else who heard would care. The ones who knew were already in on the secret, while those who weren’t would just ignore her. She was only a waitress, after all.
“You more or less told me that you were a hunter in my great aunt’s society.”
Kevin shook his head, causing his thick dark hair to fall over his face, his hazel eyes looking down and then directly at hers. Briony wondered if he was doing it deliberately, and then cursed herself for noticing at all. “No, I didn’t.”
“You did.”
Kevin shook his head. “You assumed that. I hunt the things occasionally, but I’m not part of anyone’s society. The whole idea of someone telling me what to do all the time…” he shuddered theatrically. “Although obviously, I’m big on the idea of telling other people what to do. Particularly if it means they might bring me food.”
“In a minute,” Briony said. “I just want to know what you’re doing here. Don’t tell me that it’s a coincidence you’re back in here.”
“I’m hungry, this is a diner. It’s kind of how these things work. Oh… you think I’ve come in just to see you?”
He said that in just the right tone to make Briony blush. She shook her head. “Stop it. Don’t play games. Don’t you think I have a right to find it odd when the mysterious guy who turned out not to be what I thought he was shows up where I work?”
Kevin paused. He licked his lips. “Not what you thought I was?”
“Not one of Aunt Sophie’s society.”
“Like I said, I don’t like being told what to do. Besides, I don’t like hanging around in one place that much. Mostly, I hunt on my own. I should probably have moved on from here by now, only…”
“Only?” Briony echoed.
Kevin grinned. “Well, it seems that there are one or two things worth hanging around for.”
Was that a line? Of course it was. What kind of girl did he think she was? Him with his sudden appearances, and his casual flippancy, and his high cheekbones, muscles, beautiful eyes, great hair…
Briony stopped herself. She was not going to do this. Not when Fallon had just taken her heart on a roller coaster ride. Especially not given what she knew about Kevin already. He’d already told her that he moved around, so it wasn’t like there was any chance of anything real, and as for dating college age guys… she could just guess what her great aunt would think of that. Or Briony supposed she could anyway. Knowing Aunt Sophie, of course, she would probably say something along the lines of “oh good, at least I don’t have to stake this one.”
“Not going to say something?” Kevin asked. A crowd started to come into the diner. Mostly kids Briony knew from the school. She ignored them for the moment, particularly since Pepper was among them, and would no doubt take great delight in bossing Briony around.
“What do you want me to say? You’re not really going to tell me that you hung around just for me, are you?”
Kevin shrugged. “I keep my promises.”
“And what is that supposed to-”
“Briony, customers.” George’s voice wasn’t angry yet, but you could tell that he was used to people obeying orders. “You can gossip on your break.”
Briony knew that Pepper would be smirking without even looking. Picking up her order pad, she stood to go over to her.
“Hey, don’t I even get my food?” Kevin demanded.
“Maybe once you can give me a straight answer.” Briony hurried off to do her job. George might be a friend of Aunt Sophie’s and he might be a good employer, but if anything, those things just made it all the more important that she did her job well. Besides, the repairs to Aunt Sophie’s car weren’t paid for yet.
Pepper was everything that Briony had suspected that she would be. She ignored Briony as she approached the table. She kept her waiting while she poured over the menu, despite the fact that Briony could probably have told her what she would end up having. She waited until Briony had written her order down and then changed it. She made pointed comments about the wonderful time she’d had at the dance, and what a shame it was some people didn’t seem to have had such a great evening. None of them were aimed at Briony directly, but they were definitely made with her in mind.
George only interfered once Briony had taken all the orders from that table, saying that he would take them their food. Presumably, leaving her alone for the first part of it had either been some kind of punishment for ignoring customers or George’s idea of an important life lesson. Whichever it was, Briony was glad that it was over, even though he sent her on to the next table of customers rather than giving her the chance to talk to Kevin.
It was a busy evening. Half the school seemed to have come into the diner. It was good news for George, obviously, but it meant that Briony hardly had a moment to herself for the next hour. By the time the rush died down, Briony wasn’t in any kind of mood to put up with backtalk from Kevin, and was determined that she would get some kind of answer out of him if it killed her.
That, however, proved a little awkward.
“George,” Briony asked, “you haven’t seen the guy I was talking to earlier?”
“What, the one who had you ignoring customers?”
“Sorry.”
“He ate his burger and left twenty minutes ago,” George said.
“And he didn’t leave a message?”
“Should he have?” George paused, giving Briony a long look. “You’re not in any trouble there, are you?”
Briony shrugged. “I really don’t know. That’s kind of the problem.”
Chapter 15
When Briony got back from the diner, she was tired, and not entirely happy about Kevin’s disappearing act, and irritable from having to put up with Pepper. The last thing she needed was more trouble. Unfortunately, Briony knew as well as anyone that trouble tended to hang around waiting for exactly the moment when you least wanted it before making itself known.
Aunt Sophie met her at the door to the Edge Inn. She looked grave, even by her usual standards, and Briony could see that she had something in her hand.
“What is it?” Briony asked.
Her great aunt held out a letter, unopened, with just “Briony” written in place of an address. “The vampire boy has been around.”
Briony looked past her. There weren’t any suspicious looking piles of dust lying around, were there? “You didn’t… do anything, did you?”
“Well, I gave him a piece of my mind, certainly, but if you’re asking whether I staked him, the answer is no. To be honest, my heart wasn’t even in haranguing him. The boy looked upset enough as it was.”
Briony let out a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding. Aunt Sophie gave her a sympathetic look. “He left this letter for you. I’m sorry.”
“You’ve read it?” Briony demanded.
“No, but I can guess what is in it. Take it, Briony.”
Now that Aunt Sophie had said it, Briony found that she could guess at one or two of the things that might be in the letter too. She took it anyway, heading up to her room with the envelope cradled in her fingers. There were times when you just needed to see things for yourself.
Briony waited until her bedroom door was firmly shut before ripping open the envelope. It held a faint, clear scent that reminded her of the way Fallon had smelled just before he had kissed her. Just the thought of that made something tighten in Briony’s heart. Hardly daring to look, she took out the folded notepaper within and started to rea
d.
Dear Briony, it read, I know I am a coward to handle things like this, but I can’t think what else to do. The homecoming dance proved that what I am counts for more than what I want, and if I stay around you, sooner or later I will end up hurting you. I cannot let myself do that. I will not let myself do that. I care too much for you.
You will not see me again. I will not be returning to the school, and I will stay away from the inn. I can guess at how much that will hurt you. I can only say that it would hurt me more to see you dead. Goodbye.
I love you,
Fallon.
By the time Briony had finished reading, the first of her tears was ready to hit the page. It soaked through the thin paper, blurring the ink. Briony didn’t care. In fact, she screwed up the note into a ball, flinging it as hard as she could at the opposite wall.
How could he do that? How could he just fling away everything they had in one moment? More than that, how could he dare to claim that he was just doing it for Briony’s own good? He didn’t want her hurt? Well what did Fallon think this was doing to her, because as far as Briony could tell, it hurt worse than practically anything? Somehow she felt hollow, as though her heart was wrenched away from her. She didn’t realize it. She hadn’t expected it. She loved Fallon.
More tears fell, and Briony didn’t even try to stop them. She lay on the bed and sobbed until her throat was raw with it and her eyes were red. It wasn’t just for Fallon. It was as though he had been the thing holding back the worst of the sadness that had been threatening to overwhelm her since her parents disappeared. It all rushed back now.
Briony remembered how bad things had been on those first days, and this was worse. It was like feeling the pain of her grief all over again, mixed in with the fresh pain of Fallon’s abandonment, the loneliness of being the odd girl out at school, and the anger that came with Fallon making decisions like this for her.
How long she lay like that, Briony didn’t know. She didn’t care. As far as she was concerned, it didn’t matter if she stayed there until the house decayed into a ruin around her. The rest of the world could go away. It wasn’t full of anything but pain and strangeness, vampires and evil anyway.
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