"Very well,” the man finally said. “Don't go too far."
"Thank you, Father.” Warrenna turned her gray eyes onto Thomas as she walked past the man.
She didn't slow down as she glided past Thomas, too. “Walk with me, won't you, Thomas?"
It took Thomas a couple of strides to catch up to her as she made a beeline for the Beatermobile.
"I thought I told you to leave me alone."
"I-I was just bringing you the notes. You're welcome."
She looked up to the night sky and shook her head. “Notes. You don't have any idea what kind of danger you've put yourself in by coming here."
"You're right, I don't have any idea. What kind of danger? From who? Your parents?"
"No, you idiot.” She finally looked at him. “From me!"
Thomas stopped, but Warrenna kept walking until the Beatermobile stood between her and the front door.
"I don't understand,” he said. “What do you mean?"
Warrenna just shook her head and covered her eyes with her hand.
"Listen,” Thomas said, “all I know is that something's wrong, something's really bothering you, I can, well, I can just feel it. I'm worried about you."
Warrenna lowered her hand and glared at him. “I'm not the one you need to be worried about."
"Then who is?"
"You are, you numbskull!” She winced and glanced back toward the house, then lowered her voice and pointed to the road behind him. “Just get the hell out of here while you still can."
"Tell me why!” Thomas didn't care that he was yelling now. “Just tell me that and I'll leave you right now and never speak to you again. Just tell me why."
Warrenna grinned, her eyes wild. “Fine. I'll do you one better, Thomas. I'll show you why."
She stepped away from him and tilted her head back. Her shoulders twitched, her sides convulsed and her eyes rolled about in circles. A choking gasp escaped her throat, as though she were trying to vomit up a live cat.
The shaking continued for a couple of achingly slow seconds. Warrenna's grunts were swallowed into the silent forest around them. When the tremors finally stopped, Warrenna hunched her shoulders and dropped her chin to her chest. Her breathing became a deep, regular wheeze, and she slowly lifted her eyes to Thomas.
Her gray irises were gone, replaced by pulsing crimson. Her pupils were narrow, vertical slits of black. She barred her teeth, revealing two sets of inch-long canine fangs, and slowly fanned her hooked talons mere inches from his face.
"You see?” she grunted. Her voice was a low, raw rasp. "This is why you should be afraid of me."
Thomas watched the changes in numb amazement, wondering if he was dreaming. There she was, looking for all the world like a vampire!
And then each of the strange, gloomy feelings he experienced in the past week resurfaced. He felt them all again, one after the other, until they combined into an overpowering sorrow. But the feeling was warm. It glowed comfortably in his chest.
This must be why I've been so sad around her and why she kept telling me to stay away. It's so obvious. Why didn't I think of this before? She's a vampire, and no one in their right mind would want to be.
His eyes were wet with familiar tears. But this time, warmth spread to his arms and legs. “Oh, Warrenna. I'm so sorry."
The beast frowned in confusion. “You're not afraid?"
"No.” The words came easily, like he wanted to say them for a long time. “No, I'm not afraid. I know you won't hurt me."
She leaned closer and licked her fangs with a forked purple tongue. “How can you be sure, little man? Maybe I would really like hurting you."
Thomas shrugged. “I don't really know why I'm not afraid of you. But I know where all of my tears have come from now.” He wiped his streaming face. “You're cursed, and that makes me sad. But I'm not scared. I know you wouldn't hurt me, or anyone for that matter. It's not in you. Am I right?"
Warrenna sputtered and gestured to her mouth. “Not in me? I'm a monster. I can tear you apart in a heartbeat. I can suck you dry within a minute."
Thomas placed his hand on her shoulder. Her sweater was hot to the touch, but he didn't recoil.
"Renna, something's happening to me. It has something to do with you. Maybe with my dreams, too. But you've been clear about not wanting anything to do with me. So if you can tell me that nothing special is happening to you because of me, then I'll go. Get back in my car, drive home, go to sleep, and forget I ever met you. Your secret will be safe. You can trust me."
Warrenna bowed her head. When she looked back up, her gray eyes returned, the canines withdrew, and the claws retracted. She stared at him with her jaw hung open in astonishment.
Thomas sniffled. “Well?"
Warrenna looked at her small, now-human hands and shook her head. “Unbelievable,” she whispered. “Yeah, I fight the curse, like my parents do. So we don't hurt anyone. Somehow you knew that."
He moved closer to her. “But do you feel any different? Being around me?"
She looked at him. The floodlights sparkled in her watery eyes like stars shining through a cloudy night. “That morning when you apologized to me, I felt relieved. Like I'd finally found something. Something safe. But more than that, when I'm around you, I forget."
"Forget? What do you forget?"
A tear rolled down her pale cheek. “I forget that I'm a vampire."
Thomas smiled. Am I sure I'm not dreaming?
"So,” he said. “Um, what do you think is happening here?"
Warrenna spread her arms out and shrugged her shoulders. “I have no idea. But you're not scared of me, and that makes me really happy.” She rubbed her bandaged wrist. “I haven't been happy in a long time."
"Warrenna?” The man's voice boomed from the front door.
She glanced back at the door and backed away. “I have to go, but I will see you tomorrow. Here, after seven? Please come."
"Of course,” Thomas said loud enough for anyone to hear. “Good night, Renna."
She smiled at him, wiped at the tears, and skipped back to the door.
Thomas climbed into the Beatermobile, barely feeling the seat beneath him, or the wheel in his hands. Maybe there was such a thing as fate. Maybe fate had brought him into the depths of Tebon Canyon to see what he saw, to say what he said.
He carefully drove back up the dirt road, and reached the Highway 20 stop sign. He clicked the turn signal on.
Wait a minute. Did I really just talk to a vampire?
Chapter 8
Thomas rubbed his eyes and read over the sloppy words one more time. There was nothing in his journal about Tebon Canyon, a bright dirt road, or whatever Warrenna had turned into.
And so, for the first time, Thomas was sure he didn't dream about a vampire.
The clock buzzed, but Thomas was lost in the sorrow that overwhelmed him when he saw those scarlet eyes. The sadness felt comfortable, as though it was the most natural and appropriate response to what he saw.
But that made no sense. I didn't even believe in vampires until last night. How could I be comfortable with Renna being one?
Two emotions emerged as his alarm continued its whine.
Naturally, he was scared. Warrenna and her parents were vampires, or something that looked like the monsters in the movies. Some form of the legendary creatures truly did exist, and probably hunted people for food. What's more, she walked through the Chiricahua parking lot with him in the sun. So much for the old myths. He wondered what else was out there stalking humans like him. Did he have to worry about ghosts, demons and werewolves now? I'm never leaving the house again.
The unbidden thought made him chuckle, because Thomas was also excited. He couldn't wait to see Warrenna again, to find out more about what she was and why he wasn't afraid of her. He remembered the tingly feeling in his eyes, and the way his words came so easily. He wanted to feel that way again, so confident, so energized.
It's like I've been half-asleep all my li
fe, and finally woke up all the way last night. For a little while, anyway.
He wondered what, if anything, his dreams had to do with all this.
He touched the snooze button to silence his alarm. There was more to think about before he showered. He didn't want his memories of last night to melt away in the water like his dreams did.
He wanted to go see Warrenna right then, after a shower, and breakfast, and probably after brushing his teeth. He guessed he would be safe at her house. She could protect him. She had to know about all the supernatural stuff out there.
But she asked him to come over in the evening, and he had to honor that. So what could he do in the meantime? Going to school felt like a joke. He could never learn anything important there. And it was Friday, a perfect day to skip.
Thomas bolted upright. People will notice if I stay home. The school will call, then my parents will ask me what happened, and more questions will follow.
He found his pile of clothes and dashed to the shower. I gotta act normal. Gotta keep her secret. Warrenna's life might depend it.
And that meant going to school as if nothing strange happened last night.
* * * *
Warrenna gently dabbed the size four brush into the puddle of acrylic paint and held its head to the canvas. She blended the orange around the horizon, brightening the painting's outline and giving the landscape a larger, more expansive feeling.
More attention on the sunset for what it is, not for the night that threatens it.
She took a step back. Homecoming was giving her that rare right feeling, like the images were pouring directly from her imagination onto the canvas. It reminded her of the feeling Tommy gave her last night. Belonging.
She touched her cheek to her shoulder. He saw what I really am, and he wasn't afraid.
She shifted her focus to the man in the center of the painting. The sunset was in the background, but she wanted his form to be more than just a shadowy blur. She decided to rotate the perspective a tiny bit.
There was a knock on her open door. Leaning in from the hall was a smooth face wearing small spectacles with bright orange lenses.
"Hey, Renna."
"Oh. Hey, Aunt Tammy."
"You got a sec?"
"Depends. Got good news?"
"Sort of.” Aunt Tammy dragged a stool up to Warrenna's easel and perched herself on it. “How are you feeling?"
"Kinda tired.” Warrenna looked back to the painting. “I slept really well last night. I can't remember the last time I slept that hard."
Aunt Tammy nodded. “You put yourself through quite an ordeal, and your body needs to recover.” She ran her index fingers through her black hair to hook the locks under her ears. “How about the craving?"
Warrenna froze. She hadn't pictured the marble since Thomas left. It was still beneath her heart, hard, inescapable. But it wasn't as dark.
"I haven't felt the craving all morning,” she said. She looked back at Aunt Tammy. “It was so overwhelming yesterday."
"Yeah, that's pretty strange for it to vanish like that. Wanna hear something else strange?"
Warrenna smirked. “I dunno. Do I?"
Aunt Tammy drummed her fingers on the underside of the stool and rocked her small frame from side to side. “I think you want to hear it. Your uncle Vince just gave me your test results from this morning. You know those hook-cells I told you about?"
"The dirt in our blood. That's the stuff you measure to get a rough idea of how badly someone is affected by our curse."
"Pretty much. So, Vin tells me your hook-cell count is actually lower than the last sample we took two weeks ago."
"Lower?” Warrenna blinked. “You'd think it'd be higher, right?"
"Yes, I'd think.” Aunt Tammy folded her arms. “When people like us lose a couple pints of blood and survive, the levels get higher. Just like if we taste living human blood. The craving gets worse, so we need cleansings more frequently, and the cycle continues. Your parents performed the ritual in a timely manner, but your levels should be higher after all that happened. Not lower."
Warrenna grinned. “I've always been bad at math. Maybe my blood is too."
Suddenly Aunt Tammy sprang from the stool and grabbed Warrenna's smiling face by the chin. “Those marks on your gums,” she growled, her nails pinching Warrenna's mouth open. “You've transformed."
She released Warrena's chin with a shove. “Oh, that's just fantastic! Why didn't your mother tell me about this?"
"I didn't do anything like that."
"You know better than to lie to me, Renna. If you do, how can I help you?"
Warrenna rubbed her bandaged wrist, feeling ashamed and small. “Okay,” she mumbled. “It was last night, outside. I didn't tell anyone. Mom didn't tell you because she didn't know."
Aunt Tammy shook her head in disgust. “Ugh, Renna! That is so dumb. What if you were seen? What if you lost control and killed someone? You'd expose all of us."
"I know that."
"It'd be San Francisco all over again,” Aunt Tammy continued. “That idiot Hank thought he'd blow off some steam by running in the hills in his other form, and do you know what happened? He was seen. And not only that, he was video-taped! We had to totally abandon our Northern California organization. There were infected people there, people that needed us, and thanks to that idiot they never got..."
She stopped in mid-rant, her entire body freezing in position. Then, with a quick swivel, Aunt Tammy turned away from Warrenna and chewed on the knuckle of her index finger.
"Wait a minute,” she said, the anger gone. “You bled, were cleansed, and transformed. But still, your hook-level went down."
Warrenna rubbed her neck, relieved that Aunt Tammy had stopped yelling. “Maybe your test has a problem?"
Aunt Tammy shook her head and rubbed her pale hands on her sleek black pants. “Vince said he ran it three times.” She sighed. “But I have to assume something went wrong. I'll get him up here. He'll have to take another sample."
"Can't you do it?"
Aunt Tammy smirked. “I'd rather not test my self-discipline. Blood is still blood. It's safest to have someone not afflicted with our curse do the procedure. Vince should still be in town. I'll go give him a ring right now."
She turned to go, stopped, and turned back, looking through her bright orange lenses into Warrenna's eyes. “Unless there's something you're not telling me."
Warrenna looked away. She had no idea how her father would react to hearing that a human boy knew about her curse, other than that he would be furious. He might hunt down Thomas himself, for all Warrenna knew. It wouldn't matter that Thomas promised not to tell anyone.
Aunt Tammy's hand was on her shoulder. “I know something's up, Renna. You aren't acting like someone who just tried to end her life. You're entirely too happy. What's going on? Why'd you transform?"
Warrenna wouldn't look at her. It didn't matter if Thomas wasn't afraid of her true form. She had put him in terrible danger.
"You can tell me,” Aunt Tammy said. “I won't be angry."
Warrenna turned and saw Aunt Tammy's patient smile. The same smile Warrenna remembered from Bellingham, and San Francisco, and Reno, when she asked her “aunt” all those questions she was too embarrassed to ask her mother. Aunt Tammy would touch her shoulder, peer through those orange glasses and patiently explain why Warrenna's baby teeth were falling out, or how boys were different, or why the other girls bled for a few days every month.
Warrenna sighed again. I have to tell her. But maybe I can convince her to leave Thomas alone.
"This boy at school was acting weird around me, as if just being around me made him really sad. He even started crying in front of me. Anyway, he thinks my paintings and his dreams are connected somehow. I don't think they are, but he kept bothering me about it. He even came here last night.
"I told him to leave me alone, for his own good, but he wasn't having any of it. So, I kinda wanted to scare him, so I transformed. I
didn't really mean to. It sort of happened on its own. But he wasn't scared. He didn't even look surprised, just sad. And then I changed back."
Warrenna's eyes brimmed with tears. “And I remember this feeling I got the second or third time I saw him. Like a whole mountain of worries were lifted away from my shoulders. It only lasted a moment, but last night I had it again, when I saw that he wasn't scared of what I really am. I had it the rest of the night. Woke up with it this morning."
She peered up into Aunt Tammy's face. “Maybe it's what let me sleep so well. And I can't wait to see him again. I don't really know why. My life isn't any different. I mean, I still have no control over how I'm going to live and what I'm going to do. But I like this feeling. I really, really like it."
Aunt Tammy smiled and gently pushed the hair away from Warrenna's gray eyes. “That's amoré."
"What?"
"Oh, nothing. Hmm.” Aunt Tammy chewed on her knuckle. “You said he thinks his dreams and your paintings are connected?"
Warrenna sniffled. “Yeah. He said he dreams really vivid every night, and that he always has. And that he's never seen anyone he knows in them. He saw my painting on display at school, and he said it did something weird to him. Like he saw a different angle in the dream or something."
"Hmmm.” Aunt Tammy stared at the floor, a small smile playing around the corners of her mouth.
"Aunt Tammy?"
"Mmm?"
"I asked him to come over tonight. You don't think my father will hurt him, do you?"
Aunt Tammy lifted her head and grinned. “No! No-no-no. No, I have a feeling that'd be really foolish."
"Why? Do you know something?"
"I know lots of things. But I've never heard of anything like what's happened with you and your friend."
"Really? Is that good?"
Aunt Tammy just smiled, tousled Warrenna's hair, and left the room.
Chapter 9
As Thomas walked up the concrete footpath to Warrenna's house, he realized the only sounds he could hear belonged to him. His quick breath, his shuffling feet, his beating heart. Even though he stood in the midst of a forested canyon, he didn't hear any crickets, birds, or rodents. He just heard himself.
The Cure for the Curse Page 7