by Nicole Rae
“You’re right.” He may have agreed with her, but his somber expression didn’t transform. He gave away nothing as always.
Emily couldn’t help feeling taken aback. Now it was her turn for the dramatics. She threw a hand up clutching at her heart. “What? Just like that?” More seriously she said, “Okay, I might be right. That doesn’t mean you’re gonna explain things to me does it?”
“No it does not mean that. I will answer anything you want to know as long as I can. Let’s get you settled first.”
“I don’t really have stuff to get settled.” Emily muttered. “My bag is back at Tyler'sbut I don’t have clean clothes in it anyway.” Emily was still annoyed by the sleepover prospect but she was starting to soften just a little. She understood that it was probably the best and safest for her and even for Sam.
“Don’t worry about anything. We can acquire anything you need from your house or by other means if you are willing to use new things. The second is the safest option. It’s less exposure and less contact with Sam.” Right then was probably the softest Emilyhad ever seen Sebastian’s face.
“I don’t think I ever told you my dad’s name. How did you know that? You can read my mind.” The words came out in a rush but she didn’t care. Emily knew the answer to the last one before he even said it. It was something she had been trying to figure out a way to bring up for a while.
Sebastian looked surprised but quickly put his stone mask back on. “I told you we have plenty of time for questions later. I told Alexander I would show you your room and that’s what we are going to do,” he said evading her question. Sebastian turned and left the room without giving her a chance to argue.
Which for the record, she totally would have argued. First of all, she wanted, no needed answers. She had been pretty patient and understanding about all the Sci-Fi mysteries taking place. Second of all, his vanishing and storming off in the middle of a conversation was getting really old. When the going got tough, Sebastian got going and that just wasn’t going to cut it. The only thing worse would have been if they were on the phone and he randomly hung up on her. Emily hated that with a bright purple passion. Why couldn’t he be nice and sweet like the day he visited her in the book store? Sure he was still evasive, but at least he was friendly. Never once was he condescending.
Suddenly all Emily desired was a moment alone. Since the library she hasn’t had even one minute of solitude. There was so much going on and she just needed to get her head on straight. It felt like everything was drastically spiraling out of control. Nothing seemed sacred anymore and everything she thought was just make believe was now physical, solid and very much real.
Her mind was so conflicted that she truly thought it would explode, or at the very least, stop working all together making her fall away into the darkness. Without Emily’s permission, her breath began to come quicker and her chest felt constricted. Was she having a heart attack? That was ridiculous, she knew she wasn’t. Panic attacks were something she had become very familiar with when her mom had died but she hadn’t had one for just about three years. There was no doubt about it. She had to get out of there. Sebastian nor anyone else could never under any circumstance see her breaking down. “Hey, is there a bathroom in this place?”
CHAPTER 15 Okay, it wasn’t all together true that Emily had to go to the bathroom. It was stupid to lie,but she didn’t really want Sebastian to know what she was really up to. If she had been honest about the fact that she had been about to lose it there, he would have thought herweak and that wasn’t the case. Her mind had just reached its full capacity of drama and the paranormal.
The instant that she had been behind the safety of the closed bathroom door, she willed herself to relax. What she wanted more than anything else was to call her best friend. Lucy would understand all the crazy. Even if she didn’t understand, she would fake it well for Emily’s benefit and just then, that sounded like perfection.
It put her body in tremendous turmoil that releasing the information that was plaguing herwasn’t prohibited. None of the others would have got it. It didn’t matter that Emily trusted Lucy implicitly. It didn’t matter that Lucy would agree to take the secret to the grave,and it didn’t matter that it would help Emily regain some of her sanity.
Emily wondered what they would do if she did tell. Sebastian alone would more than likely go into tantrum high and mighty King mode if she had told him what she wanted. He had made it pretty clear that telling anyone about what was going on was forbidden.
Did that mean she had to listen? Realistically there wasn’t any proof that she was a slayer. If she wasn’t a slayer then did the same rules apply? There was actually no real proof she belonged in this world at all. Sure, Sebastian could do some weird mind speak with her, but did that mean she belonged?
How could she not call Lucy? And was it possible that Sam really wouldn’t know she was gone because of some mind zap thing? It all just seemed so… well for lack of a better word, not real. This was like a horrible waking nightmare that never went away.
Murders, rapists and robbers, those sorts of monsters Emily understood. Those sorts of crimes were always on the News and in the daily paper every day. It seemed completely unimaginable that someday on the News, the Anker would report about a murder in which the person was drained completely of blood and the lead suspect was an undead vampire that was thousands of years old.
Emily walked over to the small bathroom and turned on the cold water. She cupped her hands and splashed a healthy amount of the liquid on her face. It helped a little but didn’t take the feeling of melancholy away.
The bathroom was bright and it allowed her to get a good look at herself in the mirror. There were deep bruise like circles under her eyes, just above her high cheek bones. Where her cheeks were usually flushed there was no color. Her electric blue eyes looked wild and frightened.
She supposed the fear couldn’t really be avoided. Any person would be a little freaked after finding everything out that she had. It would have been strange if she didn’t feel a little overwhelmed. Who was she kidding? She felt like someone had knocked all the wind out of her and then twisted her mind into a pretzel.
After wiping her wet hands off on her jeans, she contemplated digging her phone out of her pocket. Just when she thought she had herself convinced that calling Lucy was the way to go, she squelched the idea. Something deep within Emily told her that divulging the secrets she had learned was a bad thing. It would make her feel better but at what cost?
Telling her friend would keep her safe, but it would also scare her. Emily really didn’t want to be responsible for that. Lucy rarely was out after dark anyway, so she was probably fine. Giving her exhausted reflection one last surreptitious glance, she shrugged inwardly and turned to head out of the small bathroom.
Sebastian was waiting out in the hall for her. He didn’t really look impatient, as much as concerned. The second he saw her the look evaporated like a passing wave. “Are you ready?”
He stood there so firm and tall that Emily wanted to look around for a commanding officer. She thought about telling him to drop and give her twenty and thought better of it.“Ready,” she responded sounding way more confident than she felt.
Emily’s room was absolutely perfect. It was totally surreal howwell the room fit its new occupant’s personality. If she had a choice of how she could decorate her room at home, this would more than likely be the way she would do it.
It was larger than her room at home. It wasn’t big enough to seem scary, or echo or anything. The walls were soft brown, almost tan. The carpet was deep blue and probably the thickest and plushest she had ever walked on in her life. She imagined forgetting the bed and just curling up on the comfy floor.
The bed looked just as inviting. It was a queen size with a dark cherry wood frame that looked like a sleigh. The quilt was a pattern of black, white and different shades of blue. Her favorite colors were blue and orange. Between the two though, blue was higher up o
n the list. Any shade, itdidn’t matter. There was a mountain of pillows that looked as fluffy as clouds. They were all different sizes but arranged meticulously.
The closet was medium sized with mirrored doors. Off to the side of that, was another door. Emily appraised it considering if maybe it was a bathroom. She made a quick mental note to find out how in the heck they got plumbing down there. In fact, how they got everything down there. Maybe they had a Genie in a bottle or something. In a world where vampires and their rival hunters could actually be real, magic must not be that far off.
The pictures on the wall were framed to match the wood of the bed. All the prints were done in varying stages of night time. There were cityscapes mostly but also a few sunsets on the beach type pictures. They were the types of photos she always wanted to own.
Lucy would seriously have freaked if she knew about this place. It was underground,but couldn’t be described as anything other than lavish. The cryptic nature of this world would have kept her friend guessing for a lifetime. This was exactly the type of puzzle that she would love a chance to piece together.
“Is this room okay? It seemed like something you would like. Plus I thought you would like to be close to Tyler. He will be next door.” His voice was thick with implication. Before she could comment, he continued. “I will also be a few doors down the hall,in case you need anything.” Sebastian’s gaze was piercing. Whenever he looked at Emily the look was always piercing.
Sebastian had a way of looking deep within her soul in a way she had never experienced before. Without a single word he could send her pulse racing a marathon. That unfamiliar feeling in her stomach was back too. Only this time,it didn’t hurt. It felt like butterflies were taking flight in her belly. She had heard that expression a thousand times. Emily never got it, until she met Sebastian. It almost made it difficult to even answer him. She knew his comment about Tyler should have bothered her. It was just so hard to stay angry when he was looking at her like that.
“This room is just right. It’s bigger than I thought it would be. The doors in the hall didn’t seem to be that far apart.” Emily was locked in a staring contest with Sebastian that she couldn’t win. Unwillingly thanks to her awkwardness she shied away from his intense blue eyes. She instead focused all of her attention on picking an invisible piece of lint off the sleeve of her hoodie.
“I’m sure you’ve heard the expression. Things aren’t always what they seem?” He waited obviously looking for a response before continuing.
Emily nodded. As she did her eyes widened and she made a circle motion with her hand, encouraging him to get on with it.
“Well, you will find that is a phrase very well understood in our world. Reality isn’t at all what humans think it is. If they saw for one minute what we see they would be institutionalized.” The left corner of his mouth tugged a little.
Emily imagined his crooked smile. Tyler’s was cuter though. It had a boyish charm that you couldn’t help but find adorable. “Do you always sound like a riddle wrapped up in a fortune cookie?”
It wasn’t that she wanted to be rude to him exactly. It was more like she just refused to let her guard down completely no matter how friendly it seemed like he was being. The niceties didn’t seem to ever last long with him. Getting hurt or rejected was not an option.
“Don’t you like to figure things out for yourself?” Sebastian shot back mirroring her sarcastic tone.
“Yes, but some things are impossible to figure out on your own.” The intensity of her stare should have burnt a hole right through him. He was a quick study. There was no way he didn’t realize she was talking about more than his earlier riddle.
The expression on his face turned blank, exposing nothing. “There is no such thing as impossible.” Sebastian turned his gaze to a picture on the wall. “Some things are just better left buried.” The words were under his breath but still audible.
Enough was enough. Emily decided to cut through the chit chat. There was way too much supernatural junk going on to waste time with small talk. It was clear that this dodge ball style conversation was going nowhere. “Sebastian, why can I hear you in my mind?” Nervous for his answer, she moved to a small arm chair by a table. She fidgeted, playing with her fingers, as if she could remove them one at a time. Then replace them in different positions like a Mr. Potato Head doll.
Silence. Sebastian wasn’t even looking at her for once. His eyes moved to a different picture on the wall and he shifted his weight uncomfortably. His body was rigid and his jaw clenched and unclenched reflexively.
“There’s no point in keeping it from me. I already know everything now. What’s one more detail?” Emily didn’t take her eyes away from her fingers even though she was attempting to sound strong and firm.
It was important to get the answers that she craved. The difficulty was in whether or not Sebastian would comply with her curiosities. It wasn’t likely and she knew it. He wouldn’t tell her anything he didn’t want to. Pushing him to far would just make her new life miserable. It was a definite possibility that she would have to depend on Alexander for the endless amount of conundrums that had been presented. Not knowing the older man very well, it was difficult to know if he would be any more informative.
There was no sound, but Sebastian was suddenly kneeling in front of her on one knee. His hand untangled one of hers and clasped it gently. “I’m not really sure. It’s, normal for hunters to be able to communicate in certain situations. Normally though it’s only true with hunters. Vampires can communicate like this also with their victims.” He stared intently up at her jump starting the contest again.
Emily’s body tensed with a little bit of confusion mixed in with irritation. “Well I’m neither a vampire hunter nor their victim. So what am I a freak or something?” Self-doubt was like a knife into her heart and tears pricked at her eyes.
“I assure you Emily you are far from a freak. You are so much more than that. You’re… special. You might not be a hunter fully but you are somehow connected through blood line or through some other fashion. I think that’s why I’m drawn to you so much. Hunters are drawn to other hunters so that we can better locate each other especially when we haven’t met yet.” His thumb softly rubbed the center of her palm as he spoke.
It felt good to let him do the comfort thing even in such a small way. Giving up on figuring out what she was, she moved to a new question. “So are there other hunters here right now?” Stupidly Emily looked around the room as if one would materialize suddenly through a magical puff of smoke or something.
“Yes there are other hunters here but not as many as there should be. The coven of Vampires in Lakeview seems to be growing. Before you even ask, there are no good vampires here and we don’t know their purpose. The leader of this coven is smart. They know we are here or they aren’t taking any chances. They cover their tracks better thanI’ve ever seen and I’ve been at this a long time.”
Emily couldn’t help a small chuckle. “Sebastian you can't be that much older than I am.”
“I’m ninety years old..” His hand pulled away from hers and he stood abruptly with indignation.
“What? Really?”
“Yes,” said Sebastian bitterly.
“Really?” Her look was one of utter shock. “Wow.” This had to be his idea of a joke. Yeah that’s it, a joke. Why did he have to ruin such a nice moment?
“Wow,what?”
“Um, it’s just, you look good for being a n old man andall.” Now she really couldn’t help the laughter that escaped from her lips. It was a full-fledged laugh that she tried uselessly to contain.
The look on Sebastian’s face was priceless. She waited for him to get angry at her for laughing at him but it never happened. Instead she watched as his eyes twinkled and his lips twitched fighting back a smile. Huh, looks like there’s a sense of humor in there after all. Of course though, it was quickly erased and the mask put back on. At leasthe didn’t look like a rock anymore.
&n
bsp; “It’s not that funny.” Even as he said it she could tell he was amused. “Once I retire I will regain the aging process. A real ninety year old wouldn’t be much in a fight.”
The idea that aging could be temporarily halted made Emily’s brain work in overdrive. It was almost as unbelievable as the reality that vampires existed. As she thought about Sebastian’s age, another thought moved to the forefront of her mind. “How old is Alexander?” As she asked her face scrunched up in confusion.
“That is a conversation you should talk to him about.” Sebastian smiled slightly. “Alex loves to tell his story.”
“Why can’t you at least tell me his age?”
Sebastian gave her a sardonic look. “You’re a girl. You know it’s rude to ask someone’s age.”
If that was his attempt at making a joke,Emily didn’t notice. “I’m not asking him. I’m asking you.” She crossed her arms defiantly.
“Alright fine, he is almost three hundred years old.”
Emily didn’t even have words for that information. Sebastian had rendered her speechless. Sure, it seemed logical that an immortal could live that long,but a slayer wasn’t quite immortal. Emily couldn’t even fathom how many battles Alexander must have been in and clearly won, judging by the fact that he was still alive. She wondered how long he had been retired from the fighting part of this life.
Abruptly he changed the subject. “Tyler should be getting ready to break soon. Alexander will want to see us then. Shall I take you to the training room?”
“Lead the way I’m all yours.” Emily gave him a flirty smile and in turn mentally scolded herself. What was she thinking? She never flirted with guys. Well, at least not intentionally and she never initiated the flirting. Sebastian was simply asking her a normal question. No flirting was required. This mandatory hostage sleep over wasn’t an excuse for her hormones to grab control of her and run. She’s been in co-ed situations before, she could handle this. At least that’s what she kept telling herself.