That’s bullshit, said the voice. YOU are the hard choice. Neither of you understand what you can accomplish together. You need her. She needs you. Make her see that!
“Stop it!” Nick said, unsure to whom he was speaking.
“Stop what?” Nicole asked, frowning.
“Being with me isn’t your hard call. Being with me is the decision that would make people look down on you. The easy way out is pushing aside what your heart wants and choosing the stable, reliable career. If that’s the way you feel, I won’t try and change your mind. I’m honestly just trying to be honest with you, and I have been.” His voice petered out, as did his train of thought. What was he saying? Where was all this coming from. It felt so…familiar.
“Wow, that’s some passive aggressive BS you’ve just delivered there, Nick.”
“I—that’s not what I meant to say. I’m sorry. I care a lot about you, is all. And I want to say that even if all the stable things you’ve counted on in your life come crashing down around you, I’ll still be there.”
*
Nicole took a few seconds and tried to judge Nick’s face. He was such an enigma. His tone was so genuine, but the look on his face was one that he was almost in pain as he spoke, again as if forcing his words through the veil of an intense headache.
“Thank you. I really appreciate that. But there is nothing you can do. It’s my fault and it’s my issue. I guess I just have to see how bad the storm will be or wait for it to pass.”
“My mum always said life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s learning to dance in the rain.”
“Hmm,” Nicole nodded thoughtfully. “Even your shadow leaves you when in darkness. That’s what my mum used to tell me.”
“That’s why dreamers, or your true leaders, learn how to steer by the stars. Any good captain would tell you that.” Nick cracked a crooked and apologetic smile at her.
She wanted to believe him. “Look, I don’t know what my heart may or may not want right now. I only know what I need. And what I need is a friend.” There were risks in everything, the difference is what the individual was willing to fight for, and give up. There will always be another career, but maybe only one guy who looked at her like he did. “I’m hoping you can be that, Nick.”
Nick closed in on Nicole, who faced him, unmoving. If he goes in for another fucking kiss, I’ll slap him, too, she screamed in her head.
But he didn’t. Nick entwined their thumbs and wrapped his fingers around her hand, bringing it to his lips and then held it against his chest. “I can do that. I promise.”
Nicole looked at him. So many things going through her head, so many things to say and yet she felt none of them mattered. She gently let her hand out of his grasp and patted him on the chest as she turned to leave.
She continued on, thinking that he had done a hell of a number on her. He was driving her crazy. Her heart ached wanting to believe in the relationship he envisioned. She had grown up thinking the same way, and if she was truthful to herself, her ex was the reason she stopped believing in romance. Loving someone was like giving them a gun to point to your heart in the hope they would never pull the trigger. She wanted someone to wake up next to, not sleep with.
Who didn’t want to be cared for unconditionally, safe in the knowledge that, bar everything else, your heart was in safe hands? But no matter how much she wished it, the world was not like that. And no amount of rising tensions between two people would change it.
*
Melina sat with her back to the door. She wondered if Julian and Vincent intended to leave her here to starve. There were only a few ways to kill a vampire, and most of Hollywood lore was bullshit, but starvation was an effective method.
She used her to time to meditate on what she had learned of the situation. Admittedly, it wasn’t much. Firstly, Julian was a pathetic little shit. Whatever their relationship (if it even could be classed as that) had been, it was over now. He had betrayed her for his father, Vincent. He must have known whatever was on the other side of that door was the key to her visions, otherwise why would he be so quick to shut her up? Julian, too, must know what was behind the door.
She couldn’t find out from here, nor go against the king, not by herself anyway. She rattled off names of the other vampires in the mansion, and not one could she count on for support against him if she survived this shoebox.
“Who’s there?” she called. A vampire approached. She heard them stop just outside the door. She couldn’t be bothered moving. That, and she didn’t have the strength. “If you’re going to kill me, get on with it!”
“Melina, whatchoo doin’ in there?” came a squeaky voice.
“Nathaniel? What are you doing here, darling boy?”
“I am…not supposed…to…talk to you. Under…any circumcisions,” he said. Melina imagined the 90-year-old vampire with the mind and body of a four-year-old boy straining, trying to do his best mocking impression of Julian.
“So then…why are you?”
“Don’t you know?” He sounded annoyed that she should even ask.
Then Melina understood. “Because he’s a boy,” Nathaniel’s hatred of men was legendary. He and Alejandro were the only vampires she knew of to defy the king. Alejandro was the only male vampire Nathaniel trusted. In fact, he adored him. If Julian had ordered Nathaniel not to talk to Melina, it was the best way possible of ensuring he did. Stupid fuck had proven useful after all.
“Yes!” Nathaniel answered proudly. Again she imagined him with his fists on his hips, staring at the door. “I hate Julian. He’s a boy, a bad boy. He can’t put a girl in a room. I wanna bash him!”
“No, sweetheart, listen to me.” Melina tried to soothe him, making her voice become dreamy. “I have a plan but I can’t do it alone. Please, will you help me?”
“Yes,” he replied as if in a daze. “Wait…no. Nope nope nope!” he said, stomping his little feet. “I know what you’re gonna do! You’re gonna go back to him!”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s a stupid eshhole! I’ll only help you if you never EVER kiss Julian again”
Melina smiled. At four, Nathaniel valued a kiss from a girl the same as someone would a cure for cancer. Which coincidently is what would have killed him had his mother not changed him.
“I promise, my darling. My first kiss when I get out will be you.”
Nathaniel gave a guilty giggle. He told everyone he liked her kisses best of all. He told her he loved the way they tickled. Melina heard him creep closer to the door. “What do you want me to do?”
There was only one key, held by Julian. There was no way Melina could see Nathaniel claiming the key to give to her without getting hurt or worse.
The dungeons doors had been specifically designed by Julian. The doors themselves were solid stainless steel, and the inner surface was covered with pure iron, preventing any magical or undead creature locked inside from touching it. They opened inward, and there was simply no way Melina could muster the brute force to break them down. But from the outside…
Melina asked Nathaniel to come down just before sunrise, take a run at the doors and kick them as hard as he could. With any luck, he would be able to break through the deadbolts.
“But you won’t be able to go anywhere. Duh sun will be up.”
“I know.”
“How you gonna get owt if duh sun is up? When it goes down, dey will get you.”
“Trust your auntie Melina, darling. When they get up, I will be gone. No one will know what’s happened or that you helped me, as long as you don’t say anything.”
“Can you take me too?”
“I wish I could. But your mummy loves you very much and she would be sad if you left.”
“Not forever! Jus a lil while…”
“Once I leave here, I am not coming back.”
“You mean…I’m not goin to see you again?”
Melina paused. If Nathaniel thought he would miss her too much, he may
refuse to help her leave. “I can’t stay, Nathaniel. If I do, they are going to hurt me. You don’t want that, do you? Once I escape, it’s important they not know where I am, because they are going to look for me. I promise I will try to see you again one day, but never think that I will forget you.”
Nathaniel said nothing. Just as she was about to speak again she heard his footsteps disappearing up the steps, carrying her only hope of survival with him.
Several hours later, however as Melina lay almost motionless, she heard the thump-clunk of the deadbolt giving way, and was thankful this room was so far from the rooms the other vampires in the house spent their time. The door swung ajar.
“Nathaniel…” she croaked.
She heard him creep into the room, sniffling.
“Come here.”
He lowered himself, squatting by her head, she reached for him and brought him down to her lips, keeping her promise. “My hero. Thank you.”
“I don’t want you to go,” he whimpered.
“I will see you again,” she managed, her strength continuing to fail.
“Promise me,” he said, wiping one side of his face.
She kissed his cheek, licking her lips as she felt his blood-stained tears. “I…” her head lowered and turned away from him.
“Melina? Melina!” he hissed. “What’s wrong?”
She licked her lips again, moaning absentmindedly, trying to get any remaining blood into her mouth. “I haven’t fed…in so long.”
“Hey…why aren’t you sick?”
“I don’t get sick from drinking vampire blood.”
“Like Dante?”
“Yes.”
“Yuk.” He looked like he was contemplating something. Suddenly, he shoved his wrist towards her. He said it was still weird to him that a vampire could drink another vampire’s blood, but he trusted Melina to know what she was doing.
Melina grasped his arm and bit, too desperate to think about anything else but the blood flowing into her mouth. She let him go, knowing at least not to take too much. Nathaniel wavered a little but steadied himself. Just as he started to walk out, feeling the heat of the sun only minutes away, Melina grasped his ankle.
“One day, I will repay you for this. Run off to bed now.”
“I’ll miss you, Auntie.”
Then he was gone. Melina lay on her back, the weight of the rising sun flattening her into immobility.
She did not believe in god. What sort of god would answer a vampire’s prayers? But, she found herself praying none the less for one last vision to wake her. Without it, her plan would come to nothing. Maybe, just maybe if she awoke early again, she might have to rethink this business about a divine being in the universe.
Chapter 23
Position The Pieces
Nick ignored the burning in his legs as he pushed on. The sweat from his brow stung his eyes as trees and bushes smacked his face, disappearing from view as he rushed on. His chest heaved and his breath came in short, wheezing bursts. He felt like he had been running forever, spurred on by panic. The last of his energy reserves was for survival alone. He felt as though struck in the ribs by a blunt object, such was the pain of the sudden stitch but he heard his pursuer right behind him, closing quickly. His knees cracked with each step, the muscles of his thighs tensed with lactic acid build up, feeling like they would explode at any moment. Finally, they gave out and Nick could go no further. He crashed to the ground exhausted, hoping he would have a few seconds to think of something, anything, but his pursuer was already upon him.
“You can’t run forever Nicholas,” a voice said. His own voice, but not from his mouth.
Nick could only lie there and let the sweat drip from his nose to the soft ground covered in sweet-smelling autumn leaves. He wasn’t sure he even wanted to look up. But he did. What he saw, he expected on some level, but he still had a hard time believing it. He was looking at himself. Only this other Nick was walking, no, sauntering around him, sneering and looking smug. This impostor stopped just ahead of him and lowered himself to a knee. Nick recoiled.
“There’s no need to be afraid. I am not your enemy.”
Easy for him to say. The impostor looked exactly like Nick, except he seemed to be a good deal thicker and bright silver eyes shone in the dark, but the “whites” of his eyes were instead black. When he spoke, Nick noticed two pointy under fangs touching his top lip. He had seen that before. In his father.
“Who the hell are you?” Nick asked.
The impostor tilted his head to one side. “I’m the wolf inside you, the one that changes the course of your life, my friend. The one who has helped you. I am you—well, what you will become.”
“No,” Nick breathed. “I’m not like my father. I’m not a monster.”
“Such harsh words for something you never understood. You can’t fight me forever. The longer you do, the worse the transformation will be. You are running out of time as it is.”
“I have spent my whole life thinking I wasn’t one of them. I had already come to terms with that. In fact, I was happy to not become what my father was. Now you tell me it’s not true. How?”
The wolf shrugged easily. “Simple, it’s your time. It wasn’t before. But now it is. You know what it is now to feel rage, to hunt, to desire, to crave. I am charged with bringing that out in you. That is, unless Nicole can do it for me—”
“You stay the hell away from her! I won’t let you hurt her!”
“I would never hurt her. But should you continue to deny who you are, you will. This can only end in one of two ways, Nicholas. You will either become the wolf you should be or the monster you could be. Make your choice.”
Nick raised himself into a sprinting position, sneered and charged at the wolf who gave a carefree smile as he closed in. Nick saw the canine fangs in his upper jaw as well when the top lip unveiled them.
“Mr. Slade, will you kindly wake up!”
Nick yelped as he snapped awake. Several members of his class snorted and tittered.
Mr. Shubert, the Physical Education teacher stood over him, looking stern. The class was doing sprint training in the playground in the practical part of the curriculum.
“Sorry, sir.” Nick mumbled.
“I should think so. Need I remind you that this,” he said, indicating the out of breath students behind him, “will be on your half-yearly exam which is only a few weeks away?”
“Yes, sir,” he mumbled. “I mean, no, sir.” More stifled giggles. Nick’s face felt hot. He really wished Mr. Shubert would take his too-tight shirt and shiny-cranium self-back up to the head of the class and leave him alone.
“Very good. I would appreciate you trying to pay just a little attention. I don’t talk just to hear myself think, mate!”
Anger burst through him. “Ok, I get it already! I fucked up! Can we move on, or what?” Several people jumped. Nick realized his voice had erupted into an almighty shout that pierced the air around him.
The giggles stopped and the entire class went silent.
Mr. Shubert dramatically crossed his arms. He simply stared back, not moving for several seconds. The silence was almost as deafening as the lack of movement increased the tension in the air. Nick didn’t know where that anger had come from. Was it really necessary? No. But…why did it feel so good?
Mr. Shubert moved away from the class with a determined stride. This wasn’t over.
“Come here, Mr. Slade, and bring your bag with you.”
Nick did as he was told, beginning to feel even warmer, and now fuzzy in the head. Certainly not in a good way. He faced Mr. Shubert with his back to the class, the inevitable one-on-one confrontation about to commence. Hushed, and away from the others.
“I don’t know what you’re playing at, or who the hell you think you are, but there is no way in hell I’m going to cop behaviour like that.”
“I would imagine so,” Nick said slowly, eyes closed, trying to control his breathing.
“Imagine a
ll you like, son. You will learn a tantrum gets you nowhere in this school. I’d expect this from Trent Miller, but not you. You’d especially do well to be reminded not to copy him. You will see me at the end of the day.”
Nick couldn’t stop the fire building up in him again. He felt his heart threatening to burst out of his chest. “Yes, sir,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Are you listening? Look at me.”
Nick opened his eyes. Mr. Shubert froze. Nick could smell a hint of urine as Mr. Shubert slowly stepped back, unable to look away from Nick’s eyes, keeping out of Nick’s reach. “Leave my class,” he said, merely breathing the words.
“The end of the day?” Nick asked softly, wondering what had made the PE teacher change so suddenly.
“I don’t care where you go, as long as it’s not here.”
Nick did not hesitate to walk away from the playground, and when he was out of sight of the other students, he broke into a run and dashed around the corner of the main building. He fanned himself with his collar, trying to cool his body already slicked with sweat. He had never lost control like that before, never lost his temper for such a stupid reason. His head was aching from his dream. It had frightened him. Seeing himself like that, as the wolf, wasn’t nearly as bad as even the thought of hurting Nicole. Something he could not conceive of doing in any circumstance. It couldn’t be the change, could it? He was too old.
His mind, though killing him, began to work through all the strange phenomena he had seen over the last few months as he headed up the stairs, carefully. His quick healing, the nail marks on the café desk, the way he’d envisioned biting Nicole.
Day Dreamer (Undeadly Secrets Book 2) Page 18