by Noelle Ryan
“Wait a sec—you get turned into a vampire and now all the sudden you have a private jet? Shit, sign me up!”
I laughed. Ava must not be too traumatized if she was able to crack jokes like that.
“No, it’s not mine, it’s Temora’s—and don’t ask me who she is right now; it’s too complicated.”
Ava looked at me, and I shrugged.
“Alright—I guess the more important question is whether I’m about to be turned into someone’s breakfast.” She paused, quirking an eyebrow at me. “Am I?”
“No. The rest of the vampires who are here with me—they’re all the good guys. Er, good guys and gals, I guess,” I amended, thinking of Valerie, Jade, and Orchid. “Cesar’s an evil bastard, of course, but he’s been knocked out with a powerful neurotoxin and won’t be a problem anymore.”
“You mean that dart thing I saw the one guy fire didn’t kill him?”
“No,” I said, then realized I couldn’t actually be completely sure. Tom had wanted to kill him after all. “Well, I don’t think so, at least.”
“Does it make me a horrible person to kind of hope it did?”
I laughed, thinking of the anger that had welled up and shoved my foot through his collarbone. I guess I didn’t need to worry about having freaked Ava out with that display after all.
“No, it doesn’t.” I paused, unsure how to ask my next question, and whether I even had the right to. “Did he—are you okay?”
She looked up at me, surprised.
“Yeah—you were the one I was worried about. He made a few obnoxious passes at me, but nothing beyond that. He spent most of his time fantasizing about how he couldn’t wait to kill you, how I was the perfect bait, how he planned to torture you, and all I’d ever see of you would be a pile of ashes—” She stopped, shuddering. “That’s why I was so relieved to see you standing there when I got off the plane, alive and well.” She paused, her face mouth twisting wryly. “Well, as alive and well as you get these days, I guess.”
“So you—you’re still my friend, even knowing what I am?”
“Of course I am,” she said, popping off the couch and walking over to where I was leaning against the cabin wall, giving me another hug. “I’m sorry I was such a shit to you before.” She stepped back, giving me a sly look. “I’m actually kind of curious about it now, what it’s really like. Is the garlic thing true?”
I nodded, wincing as just the memory of garlic made my stomach churn, and she grinned.
“No more Luigi’s for me when I’m hanging out with you then, I guess,” she said.
I couldn’t believe how well she was taking it now. It literally didn’t register; I went over to the sofa and sank into it, trying to convince myself this wasn’t just some insane dream that I’d wake up from to discover that I was actually still on the plane on the way down to Argentina. Ava came over and sat next to me, tentatively resting her hand on my shoulder.
“Hey, what about you? Are you alright?”
“I guess,” I said, my voice sounding hollow even to me. I dropped back against the couch, my eyes shutting.
As soon as they did, I became immediately and painfully aware of her heartbeat, of the scent of her blood running just under her skin, or how kind her fingers felt on my shoulder. Surely she wouldn’t mind sharing just a little, a voice within me rationalized, and I bolted upright, shaking.
“Aly?” Ava said, leaning closer. The scent was unbearable; I froze, afraid that if I moved, if I opened my mouth to speak, it would destroy my last inches of self-control and I’d launch myself at her neck.
Aly, hold on, I’m coming. Tom’s voice echoed softly, barely registering in the back of my mind, and a few seconds later I heard steps vibrating the metal stairs outside the elevator. He zipped in so quickly that he was beside me before Ava even registered his presence, and I saw her eyes widen in my peripheral vision. Now the scent of her fear blended with the enticing pull of her heartbeat, and it was everything I could do not to lunge at her that second. Tom slipped his hand down and clenched my wrist in an iron grip.
“I won’t let you,” he whispered, too quietly for her to hear, and knowing he would hold me back helped me relax just enough to close my eyes and lean my head forward, resting it against his stomach.
“What’s wrong with her?” Ava asked.
“It’s been too long since she fed, and the stress of the day is catching up to her. I need you to grab four packs from the cabin fridge over there and bring them to me,” he said.
“Okay,” she said, sounding confused. She stood, and as she moved away from me I fought two warring emotions. Part of me was relieved—the further she was, the easier it would be for Tom to stop me if I lost control. Another part of me, however, raged at the sudden loss of her nearness, the slight fade in volume of her heartbeat, the slight lessening of her fear. When she returned, the first part of me tensed, and the latter part rejoiced.
I felt Tom gesture to the couch beside me. “Drop them there. And then you should probably step out onto the stairs for a few minutes. She won’t want you to see this.”
I thanked him silently.
Once I heard the clang of her feet hitting the metal, I opened my eyes. Tom lowered himself onto the couch beside me but still didn’t let go of my wrist. He snagged a bag with his free hand and passed it to me. This time, I didn’t need any more encouragement than that.
I finished all four bags in seconds, slumping back against the couch in relief. The entire time I’d remained aware of Ava’s heartbeat, pulsing nearby, so vulnerable and accessible. Now, finally, it was just background noise that I could ignore along with all the other sounds that swept by me.
“You can come back inside if you want,” I told Ava as I walked to the bathroom to rinse my mouth out. I didn’t want her to be repulsed by the sight of blood on my teeth.
As I walked back into the cabin, I noticed Ava was sitting down as far from Tom as she could. I guess she wasn’t quite as comfortable with the vampire idea as it had seemed.
“There are only six more bags in the fridge,” she said slowly. “Is that going to be enough for everyone?”
Oh, so that’s why she was freaked out again. It made sense. She’d gotten some inkling of how my bloodlust affected me—the idea of being trapped in a plane with several potentially hungry vampires probably now seemed a hell of a lot more frightening.
“They’ve all fed recently enough that it won’t be an issue,” Tom reassured her, though I could hear from his thoughts that what he meant was that they were all feeding inside before returning to the plane. I guess while they were willing people to forget what they had seen anyway they might as well get a meal out of it.
Careful, Tom teased, you’re starting to think more and more like us.
He was grinning at me, but the comment was still disturbing. I’d kicked Cesar after he was already down, I’d yearned for my best friend’s blood, and now I was thinking it sounded perfectly reasonable to drink from unsuspecting victims in an airport while brainwashing them. What the hell was happening to me?
Now that this is all over, you should really talk to Damian about that once we get home, Tom told me. I flashed him an irritated glance and tugged up my mental walls. I needed to be alone in my head for a little while at least, even if I couldn’t be alone in person.
The rest of our party began filtering in then, and Ava, wide-eyed, got up from her seat and came to join me on the couch. Better the vampire you know, I guess. Everyone got settled and we took off. No-one spoke, and eventually the stress of the last few days caught up with both Ava and I and we fell asleep on the couch, awkwardly leaning against one another, and didn’t wake until the plane began its descent into Louisville.
As I stood to leave the plane, Marcus grabbed my wrist, stopping me. Ava hesitated, looking at me, but I nodded for her to continue off the plane without me. Once she was out, Marcus spoke.
“Jade, Orchid and I are bringing Cesar back to Atlanta for Temora now. But som
etime soon you and I are going to have a little chat about how exactly you ended up with Marielle and just what broke her bond with Cesar.” I nodded, trying to pretend the prospect of having to lie to someone like Marcus didn’t scare me senseless. “And you’ll want to tell me the truth, because I can promise you Cesar will tell us his side of things before he dies.”
I nodded again, and pulled my wrist from his grasp before he could make any more threats. Then I walked off the plane slowly, as if the only thing I had to worry about was fitting my sunglasses over my eyes to block the last of the day’s sunlight.
Twenty-nine
It took another hour before I was finally able to flop down on my own couch, book in hand, and begin to unwind. Ava was back at her place, Beckett and I were settled back into ours, and Tom had finally finished fussing over my apartment a few minutes before, making sure there weren’t any nasty booby traps waiting for me anywhere. I could tell he’d hoped for an invitation to stay the night, but I wanted some time alone more than anything right now.
“Well,” I amended, as Beckett jumped into my lap. “Alone time except for you, of course.”
I scratched him under the chin, adjusted the pillows behind his head, and settled in with my Jane Austen book. I had a stack of unread vampire novels by the other side of the couch, but for once a classic comedy of manners seemed far more appealing to me than a supernatural adventure. Funny what a few days could do.
I found the novel so soothing I was actually unsurprised when I looked up to see Marielle sitting at my dining room table, a look of contentment on her face.
“Ever heard of knocking?” I asked wryly, too tired to be genuinely irritated.
“You’re almost better than my tree when you’re at peace,” she murmured, ignoring me.
“Speaking of your tree, I’m pretty sure Damian and Valerie have it. I bet they’d be willing to give it back to you.”
“Really?” she arched an eyebrow gracefully. Between her and Valerie, I was starting to feel downright frumpy. “That would spare me a bit of trouble. And what about my horn? Would they be willing to give that to me as well?”
I decided not to comment on the fact that she’d referred to it as hers already. As much as Damian might try to persuade Valerie otherwise, I just couldn’t see her giving it up completely. And as much as I knew I should probably leave it up to them to sort out, I couldn’t help myself: I had to try to pave the way.
“Uh, about that—Valerie is also desperate to have children, so I think she was hoping—” Marielle cut me off.
“Really? A vampire? I hadn’t considered that. Does she truly think it will work?” I was relieved to notice that she seemed more curious than angry. Maybe I could back off and let them sort it out. I did, after all, have homework to grade. Besides, I really didn’t want to think about her question—that whole baby vampire thing still creeped me out.
“You should really talk with her. She wants to share; that’s about all I know.”
“Share?” Marielle laughed, a gorgeous genuine laughter that immediately cheered me and deepened my sense of relaxation. I wondered if everything about her—her beauty, the amazing effects of her smile and her laugh—existed in order to elicit or intensify the emotions she needed to survive. I also wondered what my reaction would be if I were to ever meet a male Light Elf. Unconsciously, a pleasurable tingle thrilled through me at the prospect, and I was glad Tom wasn’t nearby to hear the tenor of my thoughts. Even though we had only just begun dating, I was pretty sure he’d be jealous.
“Sharing with a vampire,” she mused. “It could make for an interesting story to tell my children.”
She laughed again, and disappeared, the echo of her laugh hanging in the air even after her body was gone, leaving me to feel like Alice with the Cheshire Cat.
“Actually, I do rather feel like I just came back through the looking glass,” I told Beckett.
Beckett jumped up and sauntered over to his food bowl, meowing at me plaintively. Pouring his food and grumbling about how his appetite never changed reminded me just how drastically mine had I wasn’t an Alice after all—there was no leaving this side of the mirror for me.
About the author
Though the phrase “Mom, I’m going to be a writer” was purportedly her first complete sentence, Mirror is Noelle Ryan’s debut novel; she’s currently hard at work on her second. Noelle currently lives in Florida with three cats, a parrot, and a very patient husband. You can find out more about her by visiting her website, NoelleRyan.com, where social media fans can also find a link to her facebook page.