by Jaye Wells
I took a deep breath and nodded. He was right. Losing my temper wouldn’t do any good. I had to be crafty instead.
I poured another glass of juice, smiled at Callum—who looked suspicious—and strolled back to the teens.
The girl smiled shyly at me when I handed her the little plastic cup of orange juice. I returned her smile with a confident one of my own.
Alvin had just finished up with Jenn’s brother. I offered him the other glass on my tray.
“No, thanks, I’ll have a cookie,” he said with a cocky grin.
Gritting my teeth, I moved closer to the recliner he was on. His eyes ran over my body, giving me the creeps. What I wouldn’t give to get this kid in a dark alley and scare the shit out of him with my fangs.
“So what’s your name?” he asked.
“It’s Ra-Gabriella,” I said.
“What time you get off?” he said as he took the cookie from my hand. I leaned in as if to whisper to him and tipped the tray.
“Shit!” he yelled, lurching upright. Bull’s-eye! The little creep now spotted a huge wet spot on the crotch of his khaki shorts.
“Oh no,” I said in feigned concern. “I’m so sorry. Here, let me help you.”
Setting the tray on the table next to the bed, I grabbed a few napkins. I’m ashamed to admit that in my haste to help the poor dear that I “accidentally” punched him in the balls.
Whoops.
“Argh!” he yelled, curling up in the fetal position with his hands covering his tender bits.
“Oh my! Did I hurt you? I’m so clumsy.”
“Bitch,” he said in a high-pitched pant.
I bit back a smile and glanced over at Jenn. Her eyes were wide in shock. I winked at her, and her lips twitched.
“Gabriella! What is going on here?” Nancy’s voice broke in over the sounds of Romeo’s moans. “Are you all right, son?”
I opened my mouth to make up an excuse, but Jenn beat me to it.
“My brother accidentally knocked her tray. It’s not her fault.” Jenn’s normally timid voice suddenly sounded a lot more confident.
“Is that true?” Nancy asked me.
I shrugged. “Yeah.”
“Then why is he currently writhing in pain?” Nancy asked suspiciously.
“When he knocked the tray,” Callum cut in from behind me, “the glass fell and hit him in the ba—I mean between the legs.”
I spun around to stare at Callum. My mouth hung open in shock as I tried to process the fact he had just defended me.
“Well, Mr. Murdoch, if you say so, I’m sure that’s what happened,” Nancy said hesitantly.
“He’s right. My brother was just being careless,” Jenn chimed in again.
I must have hit the kid harder than I thought because the entire time the rest of us talked, he groaned. Although, after a few minutes he did manage to vomit in the wastebasket.
A real shame.
As I continued to stare at Callum, I vaguely heard Nancy tell me to get back to work. He returned my gaze, a small smile playing on his lips.
“Thanks,” I said when I’d finally recovered from my shock.
He glanced at the boy, who was cupping himself while his sister wiped his face with a napkin, a smile hovering on her lips.
“He deserved it.” I regarded him for a moment, confused about what just happened. Callum wasn’t supposed to be cool. I shook myself and decided it must have just been a fluke.
A throat cleared behind me, Jenn was trying to catch my attention. I had almost forgotten about her. I drug my gaze from Callum’s and turned to the girl.
“Thanks,” I said, appreciating her defense with Nancy.
“Thank you,” she said. She cast a distasteful glance at her brother.
“Don’t let him push you around so much,” I said, unable to help myself. “You gotta keep men in line, or they’ll walk all over you.”
“I wish I had as much confidence as you do,” she said.
“Hah, that’s funny. Sometimes I feel like I don’t know what the hell—I mean heck—I’m doing. But the key is to act confident even if you don’t feel it. Good shoes help too.”
“Shoes?” she asked, her brows knit together.
“Never mind, you have time before you’re ready for advanced footwear. Just stand up for yourself.”
“I know. It’s just hard. Everyone in my family is crazy. Do you know why we’re here? My mom is getting a face-lift. She insisted we donate blood in case she needs a transfusion.”
She laughed, a musical sound that made me smile.
“You’ve got a good head on your shoulders. Keep your sense of humor, and you’ll do fine.”
“Thanks again. Well, I guess I better get him home.” She motioned to her brother, who was lying very still with his eyes closed.
“Do you need any help?” Callum asked.
“If you don’t mind,” Jenn said.
Callum roughly dragged her brother up, eliciting a moan from the kid. As the trio left the clinic, I noticed Jenn had a little spring in her step.
For some reason, I felt pretty great. Who would have thought this volunteer gig would turn out to be kind of fun? Sure, I hated helping people. But I figured if I ran into any more mortals like Jenn, maybe I could handle it for a few months.
A few moments later Callum returned from the parking lot. Nancy was on the phone, and Alvin had disappeared into the break room. Callum and I were alone in the clinic. I busied myself cleaning up the rest of the mess from the spill as he walked to me.
When he reached my side, I glanced up at him. For some reason he was smiling at me.
“What do you want?” I demanded.
“What you did was pretty cool,” he said.
“Getting punched in the nuts is cool to you? I’d be happy help any time.”
He shifted his stance and moved back a little bit. Men were funny that way when it came to their balls.
“You know what I mean,” he said. “Maybe there’s hope for you after all, Gabby.”
I threw down the juice-soaked napkin and turned on him. “What did you just call me?”
“Gab-by,” he enunciated.
I got in his face. “Say it one more time, and you’re losing your tongue.”
“Why, Gabby? I think Gabby is much better than Raven. Don’t you think, Gabby?” He backed away chuckling as I advanced on him. It was strange. I was annoyed that he continued to torture me with that name—Gabby? Gag me. But something about his infectious smile, complete with dimples, and my residual good feelings after helping Jenn broke through my normal tough exterior. Suddenly I was laughing, too.
I grabbed a cookie off the tray and shoved it in his mouth. “There! Maybe that’ll shut you up.” He chuckled around a mouthful of cookie, sputtering crumbs everywhere.
“Gabriella, get back to work! Mr. Murdoch, I know you own this blood bank, but please keep it down.”
Callum’s arms stopped midreach, and we both turned guiltily toward Nancy.
Callum met my eyes, but we both quickly looked away. He wiped the crumbs from his face and apologized to Nancy.
“That’s fine, Mr. Murdoch,” Nancy cooed.
She turned to me, her smile replaced with a frown.
“Gabriella, we should go over that paperwork since it is quiet right now.”
My cheeks were burning, so I didn’t look at Callum before I walked away. What the hell had I been thinking? I had been flirting—flirting!—with Callum Murdoch.
Sure, he had a great ass, and his face was somewhat (really) nice to look at. And sometimes he was kind of funny. But mostly he was annoying. I also couldn’t forget the fact that he was my jailer. Flirting with him was not an option unless I was using my feminine wiles to get something I wanted.
I was going to have to be careful with him, that was for sure. I glanced over my shoulder at him as Nancy droned on and on about forms. He was talking on his cell phone. He paused midsentence when he saw me looking at him. Our eyes held for
a split second, and then he looked quickly away and continued talking.
Thank goodness he wasn’t my type. Because I had a feeling that Callum had some potent wiles of his own.
Chapter Seven
For the next three days, things weren’t so bad. Callum or Kira woke me up. I bitched at them. Then I dressed and went through my Brethren lessons (snore). In the evenings I worked at the blood bank.
Callum assured me that I wouldn’t be there every night for the next three months. He just wanted to immerse me in it for a while so I got used to it—or so he claimed. I suspected he was testing me. Making me be around blood and deal with humans until I cracked. But I was pretty proud of myself so far. Other than the couple of slips that first night, I was really getting into the rhythm of the place. Sure, the readily available blood distracted me—that place was like Willy Wonka’s factory for vampires. But it didn’t totally suck.
Alvin actually proved to have a decent sense of humor for a mortal. Nancy was another story, but luckily she left me alone most of the time. I would never admit this to Callum, but on my second night I “suggested” that she give me some space. Amazing how easy it is to manipulate mortals’ minds sometimes. I knew Callum would consider that cheating, which is why I did it when he was out of the room.
Anyway, things weren’t exactly what I would call exciting, but it wasn’t too bad. I was even getting used to the taste of bagged blood. Callum told me that he was still trying to get Lifeblood from Logan, who apparently was still acting like a big baby. It’s not like I was looking forward to depending on Lifeblood, but I didn’t get Logan’s deal. I mean, get over it already. Geez.
My body must have begun to adjust to my new sleeping schedule, too, because on the seventh day of my ordeal, I didn’t wake up feeling as bitchy as normal. I was far from perky, but no one was in danger of being maimed for talking to me before my coffee, either.
That is, until Callum announced our day’s agenda over breakfast.
“Well, Gabby,” he said, using the nickname he’d taken to using since my first night at the blood bank, “we have a full day today.”
I regarded him over the rim of my huge coffee mug and then took another gulp. Fortified with half a cup so far, my guard didn’t go up at his enthusiastic tone. Stupid me.
“It’s been a full week since you began on the Sun Shield therapy. Which means we’re going outside today.”
He barely got the word “today” out before I spewed coffee all over the table.
“The hell!” I yelled as Callum swiped his napkin over his face and shirt. Kira laughed aloud from her dry end of the table. I found nothing funny about the situation. Although, if the situation were different, Callum’s expression—a combo of shock and disgust—would have been knee-slapping hilarious.
“First of all, gross,” he said as he regarded his coffee-sprinkled eggs. As he looked up at me, a drop of brown liquid fell from his hair and onto his nose. He grimaced and wiped his face again.
“Second, I don’t know why you’re so shocked. I warned you about this when you started the therapy.”
I set my mug down with a thunk. “Yeah, but you could have at least warned me so I could prepare myself.”
He shrugged and pushed away his plate. “Prepare? It’s not hard. You just open the front door and walk outside.”
I sputtered at his casual dismissal. Kira stepped in before I blew a gasket though.
“Callum, dear, you are forgetting that Raven has never been in the sun.”
“Yeah,” I said, imbuing the word with indignation.
“I understand that, but it’s not like you can ease into something like this. You either go outside when the sun’s up, or you don’t,” Callum said to both of us.
“I vote for don’t,” I said.
He rolled his eyes. “You don’t get a vote.”
“I thought democracy was the Brethren way?” I retorted sarcastically.
“It is. But Callum’s way trumps the Brethren way when it comes to your rehabilitation,” he said.
“How about I show you a little of my way right now, you ass?”
He laughed, “Please. What are you going to do?”
I stood up to show him exactly what I could do, but Kira intervened.
“Sit down, young lady. Callum, stop egging her on.”
Plopping back in my seat, I settled for glaring at Callum. He smirked back, making my blood boil. In truth, I wasn’t so much angry with him as scared. Not of Callum. Of the sun. Kira was right; I had never been out in the sun. Ever. My whole life it had been a glowing orb of evil to be avoided at all costs. Now they expected me to just forget centuries of ingrained thinking and take a stroll outside.
“Raven, I know you probably have some trepidation about going outside today. However, I can assure you that the Sun Shield is quite effective,” Kira said.
I nodded, unconvinced but knowing I had no choice.
“Trust us. It’ll be fine,” Callum said.
Fifteen minutes later we stood in front of the French doors which opened onto Kira’s garden in the back of the house.
“I understand the sunglasses and the hat,” Callum said as he tried to ease my grip on his arm. “I even get the turtleneck. But don’t you think the rain poncho and gloves are a bit much?”
In my terror I didn’t even try to think of a snappy comeback. I might look ridiculous, but all I could think of was protecting every inch of my body from the sun’s rays.
“Hey,” Callum said, dipping his head to see under the brim of my huge straw hat. “Relax.”
“Easy for you to say,” I mumbled, not meeting his eyes as I gazed out the windows at the glaring light beyond. Despite Callum’s words, my hands trembled, and my heart beat a staccato rhythm. I knew thousands of vampires took Sun Shield and went outside during daylight without any ill effects. But my primitive brain wasn’t listening to logic.
“I promise you’ll be fine. A little hot maybe with all the clothes . . .” he joked. I frowned at him, letting him know I was in no mood for humor.
“Sorry. Look, I wouldn’t let you go out there if I thought there was the slightest chance you’d be harmed, okay?” he said, his deep voice taking on a soothing tone.
“Right. How do I know the pills you’ve been giving me are really Sun Shield? Maybe this is your way of getting rid of me,” I said, my voice sounding a little frantic.
“Now you’re just talking crazy. I’ve never seen you this nervous. Where’s the tough-talking bitch vamp I know and loathe?”
His words caused my quivering to stop in its tracks. Damn, he was right. I was a kick-ass chick. Kick-ass chicks didn’t quiver in fear when faced with a challenge.
Taking a deep breath, I snapped my spine into line and gritted my teeth. The sun was nothing but a star. Stars weren’t scary. They could even be pretty, I told myself.
I lowered my sunglasses and met Callum’s challenging gaze with one of my own.
“Let’s do this.”
I pushed the shades back into place and grabbed the handle. Without waiting for Callum to follow, I pulled the door open with a flourish and marched outside.
It’s just a star, it’s just a star. I chanted this mantra as my boots clicked down the flagstone steps and onto the grass. Or at least I thought I was stepping on grass. I wasn’t sure. My eyes were closed.
I stopped when I realized that tripping in front of Callum would totally ruin the brave front I was putting on for him. I heard a shuffle next to me.
“Gabby?” Callum asked.
“Yeah?” I said.
“Are your eyes open?”
“Of course they’re open. Why do you ask?”
A slight snickering sound came from my right. “Because you just trampled my mother’s chrysanthemums.”
My eyes shot open, and I jumped back, embarrassed. Lifting my heel, I saw clumps of dirt and bruised bright orange petals clinging to my boots.
“Shit.”
Callum laughed Aloud then.
“Shut up, Callum Murdoch,” I said, putting my hands on my hips.
He laughed harder then. I went to punch his arm, but he was too quick. He walked farther into the garden, which, except for a few splashes of orange or red, was pretty sparse due to the cold weather.
I started to follow him but stopped suddenly. My mouth dropped open as I took in the scene around me. My embarrassment over my mistake had completely distracted me from the fact I was standing outside—at ten o’clock in the morning.
A slight breeze blew the tree leaves, creating a kaleidoscope of fall color. The sun-dappled grass was a blanket of emeralds under my feet. Scanning the garden, dazzling orange, yellow, and red fall flowers caught my eye. I had never seen such vivid hues in my life—until I looked up.
Squinting, I scanned the sky—a deep, cool blue sky punctuated with a few fluffy white clouds. I had seen paintings of scenes like this, but they didn’t do the reality justice. A painting didn’t let a person feel the cool breeze, smell the sharp tang of mowed grass or the smoky smell of fallen leaves. Even the Impressionists couldn’t do justice to the vibrant reality of sunlit flowers.
I chanced a glance at the sun, careful not to stare for too long. Instead of being a ball of deadly flame, it appeared more benign—a glowing halo of warmth. My eyes started to leak a little bit. What could I say? Nothing I had seen in my entire life was as beautiful as that sun-washed garden.
I took a deep breath of the intoxicating air, which seemed to smell fresher in the daylight than it did at night. The air at night seemed more seductive somehow—dark and musky. I didn’t know which I preferred, but right then the crisp, clean scent was a novelty I wasn’t ready to give up.
Someone laughed aloud. I realized with a start it was me. I laughed again and spun around, throwing my arms in the air. I ripped off my hat and shucked my poncho. I rushed over to a small bed of bright yellow flowers and inhaled their scent, which was both spicy and earthy. Heaven. I picked up a crimson leaf from the ground and watched the light play across its surface as I spun the stem in my fingers. I sniffed and smiled, drunk off the aroma of sun and smoke.
I took another deep breath as I scanned the garden once again, looking for more visual treasures. That’s when I saw Callum—I had forgotten about him altogether. His dark blond hair was ablaze with golden highlights, and his eyes sparked with green fire. His smirk was gone, replaced by a serious expression I couldn’t name.