“Let me in, Lu. Please.” His voice was soft, gentle. “Talk to me.”
“Why do you care? About me, about any of this?” she asked. “Are you getting attached to me just because it feels like I’m the only person in your life? Well, that’s going to change as soon as we go into town and find your family and friends, and as soon as you get your memories back.”
“I don’t care who or what I have waiting for me out there,” Alastair insisted. “It doesn’t change anything.”
“It changes everything!” Lu exclaimed. “You’re going to go back to your life and I’m still going to be here. And it’s going to be even harder for me to be alone, because I had you with me for a little while and then had to say goodbye to you.” Her voice grew quiet as she said, “Don’t you see? I can’t open up to you or get attached to you, Alastair. Because if I do, it’s just going to hurt way too much when you leave.”
“I won’t leave, Lu. Not if you let me stay.”
“Stop it, Alastair! Of course you’re going to leave and I can’t--” her voice broke and she swore under her breath as tears splashed down her cheeks. She turned her back to him, angrily wiping her eyes with the old t-shirt.
Alastair rested his good hand lightly on her waist, his cheek against her hair. “Please let me in, Lu,” he whispered.
Lu turned to look at him. And that was her unraveling. She wanted to trust this beautiful boy with the kind eyes and sincere expression. She needed to trust him. And when he took her in his arms, she started to sob.
Once the tears started, there was just no going back. As she let her guard down she relived a torrent of memories, precious bits of her life that she hadn’t allowed herself to think about for fear that it would just be too painful. But now she let them come. And as she did, the memories and the tears pushed some of the numbness out of her. She was so grateful for that.
After a while Alastair guided Lu to the little twin bed in one corner of the spare bedroom and lay down with her in his arms, cradling her, stroking her hair. He said nothing as she cried, just held her gently. And when she eventually exhausted herself and fell asleep, he just went right on holding her.
Chapter Six
Lu awoke to find herself in Alastair’s arms. Warm light from a fading sunset seeped beneath the heavy curtains. She pushed her hair from her face and mumbled, “Did I really sleep the whole day away?” Her voice was raspy with sleep and with the earlier exertion of crying.
“You needed it,” he said softly against her hair.
“The propane system must be working again, it’s warm in here,” she said, and reached up and flicked the wall switch, bathing the little room in light.
He reached over her and turned the light off again, and smiled sweetly as he said, “Let’s pretend it’s still out.”
She snuggled against his shoulder and said quietly, “I’m sorry I lost it like that, Alastair.”
“You needed to let those tears out.” His voice was so gentle as he ran his fingertips over her cheek.
“It was selfish of me to act like that,” she persisted. “You have plenty of your own problems right now. I shouldn’t have burdened you with mine.”
“It’s not a burden.”
“We should have been taking you to the hospital today. My drama could have waited.”
“I wasn’t going to let you take me to the hospital anyway,” he said with a smile, “so don’t feel guilty. Besides, it’s not like you planned this, it just happened.” Then he asked, “Do you feel a bit better?”
“Yes, thanks.” After a moment, she said, “I cried so much in the weeks after my aunt died. At some point I couldn’t take any more pain so I made myself stop crying, I tried to shut down all my grief. But I wasn’t over it, not by a long shot. And until today I didn’t even realize how much I needed to let it out.” She tentatively reached up and touched his cheek. “Thank you, Alastair.”
He tilted his head and lightly kissed her fingertips, then whispered, “No need to thank me.”
She closed her eyes and snuggled against his shoulder again, and he hugged her securely. After a while she murmured, “This feels so good.”
“I think so, too.” He paused before saying softly, “Lu, no matter what happens, no matter what I find out about myself -- I still want to pursue this. You and me. It feels so right, like this is where we both belong.”
“Ok,” she said simply.
“Ok?” he smiled and pulled back to look at her.
“I still think you’re going to find out that you have a girlfriend. But if that doesn’t happen, I’d…” she felt herself blushing, “I’d like to pursue this, too.”
“I know I don’t have a girlfriend…though the way things are progressing, I don’t think that will be the case for long.” He smiled shyly, and she couldn’t help but grin, too.
She sat up then and tucked her tangled hair behind her ears. Her eyes felt swollen, her face puffy from all that crying. She was sure she looked totally disgusting and suddenly felt self-conscious. “Um, I’m going to take a quick shower, then I’ll make us some dinner,” she said as she swung her legs off the bed.
“Ok. I’ll help,” Alastair said. Then he added hastily, “With dinner I mean, not the shower.” He covered his eyes with his hand. “God I’m an idiot. I wonder if I’ve always been this smooth.” Lu smiled and gave his shoulder a quick squeeze before heading down the hall.
She emerged from her bedroom fifteen minutes later dressed in her usual uniform of black yoga pants, a long-sleeved pink t-shirt, and thick wool socks. Her wet hair was stuck behind her ears. She’d briefly considered dressing a bit better, maybe busting out a tube of mascara. But Alastair had already seen her at her red-eyed, runny-nosed worst, so there was kind of no point in trying to impress him now.
Lu found him still lounging comfortably in the little bed in the guest room. “I’m going downstairs to make dinner,” she said. “Do you want to come down too, or stay here?”
“I’ll come with you.” Alastair rolled out of bed and swayed a bit, finding his balance. His body was still incredibly and inexplicably weak, and in fact was growing weaker. Maybe Lu had a point about seeing a doctor, even if something about that filled him with dread.
She helped him down the stairs, an arm around his waist to make sure he didn’t tip over and go tumbling down. And she flipped every light switch they passed, since the sky outside was now a deep indigo blue.
Lu drummed her fingers on the door of an open kitchen cupboard, trying to think of something interesting to make out of the few miscellaneous cans and boxes she found there. “This is a pretty uninspiring assortment of ingredients,” she said, mostly to herself.
Alastair came up beside her and she noticed the way he was holding himself up with the kitchen counter. She asked him, “Are you feeling worse?”
He nodded, and pressed his eyes shut as a wave of dizziness washed over him. “I don’t understand what’s happening, why I feel even weaker,” he murmured.
“Come on, let’s get you to the couch,” she said, sliding an arm around his waist. He grabbed onto her to steady himself, which almost knocked both of them over.
“Wait,” he whispered, pressing his eyes shut as the room spun. “I need just a minute.”
“Ok.”
Please don’t let go of me.”
“I won’t.” After a few moments she said, “We really should have gone to the hospital today.” She held on tight as his body trembled in her arms. He took several deep breaths as he tried to steady himself. The shaking only grew worse.
As he clung to her, he became acutely aware of her scent. After a moment he whispered, “You smell like sunlight and a warm spring day and some kind of pretty blue flowers that I can’t remember the name of.”
“Actually, I smell like the grapefruit soap they sell at the Shop-N-Kart,” she said, trying to make him smile.
It worked. He grinned as he told her, “Not the soap, I know that’s grapefruit. I’m talking about what y
ou smell like. And if you’re about to ask how I remember the scents of spring, I just do.”
“Are you feeling better?” she asked after a while, still holding him.
“Not really,” he admitted.
“We need to go to the hospital,” she told him.
“You’re right.” Another tremor shook his body and he rested his head on her shoulder, breathing her in as he pressed his eyes shut.
She rubbed his back soothingly. “It’s going to be ok, Alastair.”
He nodded against her shoulder, his mind reeling. He held her to his body, his heart racing as he clung to her.
And then, with no conscious thought, he pulled aside the collar of her t-shirt, exposing her shoulder.
And he bit down.
He heard Lu’s sharp intake of breath, followed by her sigh of pleasure. Her blood filled his mouth and by instinct he drew deeply, moaning as warmth and nourishment and energy flooded his body.
“Yes,” she whispered, her voice rough.
Hearing her speak focused his attention somehow, and in the next moment he realized what was happening.
Alastair staggered back, horrified at what he’d been doing to her. He bumped into the far wall of the kitchen, reeling with confusion and with a blinding need that was trying to force him back across the kitchen, back to continue drinking from her.
Lu held on to the kitchen counter to steady herself when he let go so abruptly. She took several deep breaths, feeling dazed, her body awash with desire, then opened her eyes to see where he’d gone.
He was clear across the room, pressed against the wall, his eyes wide with terror. “Alastair, what is it?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”
His voice shook as he said, “I bit you.”
She glanced at her shoulder. The t-shirt had slipped back up into place, and two little spots of dark red were spreading through the pink fabric, seeping together. “It’s ok, I’m sure it was an accident,” she murmured. It was incredibly hard to focus for some reason.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered.
Lu was about to take a step toward him. But then she noticed her bright red blood on his mouth and hesitated. She watched as his lips parted.
Two long, incredibly sharp fangs glistened where his canines should have been.
She gasped and exclaimed, “Oh my God, you’re a vampire!”
And an unfamiliar voice from the doorway said, “Well, duh!”
Chapter Seven
Lu and Alastair both spun in the direction of the voice. A cute blonde guy leaned casually against the kitchen doorframe, arms crossed over his chest. “Really?” the stranger said, a smile playing on his lips. “You just now figured that out?”
“Who are you?” Lu gasped.
“I’m Joey,” he told her. “But a much better question is, who are you?” He remained perfectly still, his extraordinary pale green eyes sparkling.
Anger prickled in Lu. “My house, my questions,” she snapped. “What are you doing here?”
He grinned at that. “Fair enough. I’m here to rescue Alastair.”
“From what?” Alastair asked, putting a hand against the wall to steady himself.
“Now that,” said Joey, “is an excellent question. When you disappeared I assumed the worst. But here you are, all cozied up in a love shack with a hot babe.” He winked playfully at Lu, who scowled at him.
“How did you find me?” Alastair’s voice was unsteady.
“Well, obviously I sensed it when you started feeding,” Joey told him. “Finally! I don’t know what you’ve been up to for the past few days, but I couldn’t get a read on you. For a while there, I thought you’d flatlined. Or imploded. Or, you know, whatever that thing is that vampires do when they get themselves killed. Well ok, I figured you hadn’t actually imploded cuz I’d get a little blip from you now and then, you know?”
“No,” Alastair said flatly.
Joey knit his brows and said, “Dude, what is up with you?”
Alastair went to take a step toward Joey, but his knees buckled and he started to fall. Suddenly Joey was catching him, in a move so fast Lu’s eyes couldn’t register it.
Even though he was a lot smaller than Alastair, the boy scooped him up effortlessly and carried him into the living room, where he set him gently on the couch.
In the next instant Lu’s head hit the cabinet behind her as she was pinned with a hand at her throat. Joey glared at her, his face right in hers. He was only an inch taller than Lu, but he was incredibly strong. “What the hell are you doing?” she growled as she tried and failed to push him off of her.
Joey’s smile showed off a pair of dangerously sharp fangs. “My turn to ask questions. Did you do something to Alastair?”
“I took him in and kept him from freezing to death, that’s what I did to him!” Lu snarled, and went to knee Joey where it would do the most damage. He easily halted her assault by pushing her leg back down with his.
“Stop it, Joey!” Alastair demanded from the kitchen doorway. Without a moment’s hesitation Joey let go of Lu and stepped back from her, eyes lowered.
Lu stepped around Joey and went to stand beside Alastair, who put a protective arm around her. She could feel him trembling slightly, but he kept his voice firm and level as he told the newcomer, “Never hurt Lu again or I’ll kill you. Do you understand?”
Joey nodded, his eyes still lowered. “Yeah, I get it. I thought she’d done something to hurt you. Apparently I was mistaken.” He peeked out from under his lashes and asked, “Allie, what’s going on?” When there was no reply, Joey implored, “Please talk to me.”
“Let’s go in the other room,” Alastair said after a moment, and Joey immediately headed for the living room.
Alastair sat on the couch while Joey perched on the edge of the wide hearth in front of the fire place. Lu stood at the far end of the sofa, arms wrapped tightly around herself, trying to process the total shift in reality she’d just experienced. Part of her was seriously considering bolting for the door, but she had the inexplicable urge to stay and protect Alastair from this stranger.
Protect him? Really? She asked herself. Alastair. Who’s a vampire. Who just bit me. Oh. My. God! And oh my God, what the hell is wrong with me that I actually enjoyed it?!
Still, she made no move for the door as she watched Alastair closely. He was trying to conceal the shaking in his good hand by pinning it under his thigh, his burned hand held carefully against his stomach. Fear was evident in his wide dark eyes, but she could tell he was trying to appear brave as he set his jaw and squared his broad shoulders.
Lu shifted her gaze to Joey. He was maybe fifteen or sixteen, with short golden blonde hair and a solid, muscular build. He wore jeans, muddy sneakers, and a red and white letterman jacket over a white t-shirt, and met her stare with a friendly smile. The fangs were gone, replaced by perfectly normal-looking teeth.
“You’re a Grizzly?” Lu blurted.
“I’m a what?” Joey stared at her.
“You went to Ashland High School? I graduated from there in June, but I don’t remember you.” He continued to stare at her so she added, “Their mascot is a grizzly bear?” She pointed at the big red “A” on his letterman jacket.
Delighted laughter burst from Joey. “Oh! Jeez, for a minute I thought you were totally nuts. No, I never went there, but I guess the dinner I had when we first rolled into town did.” His expression was pleasant and cheerful.
Lu’s mouth hung open. “You killed and ate a member of the football team?”
“Ew!” He wrinkled his nose. “God no. Killed and ate, good lord! I really would have to be a grizzly to pull that off.”
“But you just said--” Lu began, and Joey cut her off.
“I just took a few sips. He’s fine. Also, I might have convinced him that he wanted to give me this jacket. It really suits me, don’t you think?” Joey beamed at her.
She knit her brows at him. “And you’ve been wearing it around town? That must have at
tracted a lot of attention.”
“Why? Don’t I look like a football player?” Joey struck a pose with one arm extended, the other bent back to throw an imaginary pass.
“Ashland’s a small town, and everyone knows the local athletes. I’m surprised you weren’t confronted within two minutes of wearing that in public.”
Joey sighed. “I wasn’t, but I suppose you have a point.” He removed the jacket, setting it beside him on the hearth.
By now Alastair had regained his composure enough to sound calm as he said, “Tell me again exactly how you found me.”
Joey raised an eyebrow at him and said, “I found you because I felt it when you started to feed. I just started running toward you, and here I am.”
“And why did you feel it when I -- fed?”
“Seriously, Alastair?”
“Just answer the question.”
Joey sighed again and interlaced his fingers, then ran his hands over his short hair as if he was pushing it back from his face. He rested his hands on the crown of his head as he said, “Because we’re connected.”
Alastair asked, his voice low and emotionless, “What does that mean, connected?”
“You know. Connected. I don’t know how else to say it.” Joey shifted uncomfortably.
“Why are we connected?” Alastair’s tone remained flat.
Joey knit his brows and looked like he wanted to ask a question, but instead he said, “Because you killed me and used your blood to bring me back as a vampire. So because of our maker bond, we’re connected. Meaning we feel what the other is feeling when it’s really intense -- extreme pain, extreme pleasure….” He waited for Alastair to say something, twisting a silver ring he wore around his index finger as he fidgeted. When Alastair remained silent Joey elaborated, “And when that’s happening, when you’re experiencing a really strong emotion, it’s easy for me to tell exactly where you are.”
Alastair’s voice sounded choked as he whispered, “When did I…kill you?”
“Six years ago this month, right after my fifteenth birthday.”
Magic & Memory Page 4