Unafraid aa-3

by Michael Griffo

  “Not yet,” Michael replied, handing Ronan a much smaller box that was unwrapped but topped with a little red bow. “There’s a part two.”

  Beaming, Ronan began to rethink his long-held belief. Birthdays might lack significance to vampires, but maybe they shouldn’t be a human-specific holiday. After opening his second present, however, Ronan thought that maybe humans were the only ones who could understand them. “I don’t get it,” he said. “This is the ring I gave you for your birthday.”

  “Nope, it’s a replica,” Michael explained, waving his left hand in Ronan’s face and showing that he was still wearing his ring on his index finger. “I had one made for you.”

  “Two perfect gifts in a row!” Ronan grinned. “It’s beautiful and thoughtful just like you.” This time Michael didn’t interrupt Ronan when he leaned in to kiss him. Ever the romantic, Ronan asked, “Would you put it on my finger?”

  Blushing a little, Michael reached for Ronan’s left hand, but Ronan extended his right. “No need for us to be matching ring buddies,” Ronan said with a smile. So much for being Mr. Romance! Slipping the ring onto Ronan’s finger—on his right hand—neither boy was surprised to find that it was the perfect fit, just like their relationship.

  And what a perfect start to the day. The only thing that nagged at Michael was Rhoswen’s departing words, her final warning. He didn’t want to dwell on it; he only wanted to celebrate Ronan’s birthday.

  But why not combine the two? Yes! The only way to find out the truth about Rhoswen was to find out more about Ruby. What better way to do it than in the guise of a birthday celebration!

  “I know how to get to celebrate your birthday and get to the bottom of this whole Ruby / Rhoswen situation!” Michael shouted.

  “Sounds exciting, love,” Ronan said. “What’s the plan?”

  “We’re going on another double date!”

  chapter 23

  Two days later and Ronan was still pouting.

  “But I haven’t stopped having nightmares from the last double date, love,” he whined, sitting in the bleachers. “Can’t we do something safer? How ’bout an intervention?”

  “No can do,” Michael whispered, patting Ronan’s knee. “It’s all set. Tonight, you, me, Fritz, and Ruby are going to the movies.”

  It hadn’t even begun and the date already had disaster written all over it. “The movies?”

  Michael craned his neck and used his vampire sight to see through the crowd of students in St.

  Sebastian’s to find the other couple who was going to join them later on for a night of post-birthday fun, laughter, and of course, secret scrutiny of the spirit-possessed. No luck; he couldn’t find Fritz and Ruby, but he saw Ciaran and Saoirse climbing up the bleachers and waved to them.

  “Don’t worry, Ro, we’re not going to see some mindless action movie; I wouldn’t make you sit through that,” Michael said. “I think it’s a romantic comedy. Or a horror film, I can’t remember, but Ruby likes both so we’re good.”

  Good? There was nothing good about what Michael was saying, nor did it make any sense. “Ruby is blind, Michael. How can she possibly like the movies?”

  For such a smart vampire, Ronan sometimes didn’t understand the ways of the world. “She fills in the pictures with her mind,” Michael said as if he were drawing the most obvious of conclusions.

  Moving over to make room for Ciaran and Saoirse, Ronan muttered under his breath, “Whatever the bloody hell she is, she’s one strange bird that one.”

  Thanks to his mumbling, Ciaran didn’t catch Ronan’s comment, but since he looked exactly like the brooding, sulking teenager he had been before he met Michael, Ciaran knew he was interrupting some sort of disagreement between the two boys. “Lover’s quarrel?” Ciaran asked.

  “Nah,” Michael replied. “Just me being the party planner and Ronan being the party pooper.”

  “Still?!” Saoirse cried. “Time comes when we all have to grow up and out of our childish roles, Roney.” As if to illustrate her point, she smoothed out her hair and refastened a chic-looking black-and-topaz-colored Bakelite barrette that she had lifted from one of Edwige’s jewelry boxes when she first came to town. “Look at me,” she said, tossing back her hair. “Annoying little sister has grown into a sophisticated young lady.”

  Okay, let’s see just how sophisticated. “The party planner arranged for us to go on another double date,” Ronan conveyed.

  “Blimey, Michael, are you barking mad?!” Saoirse asked, her shriek showing not an ounce of sophistication. “Seriously, are you a glutton for punishment?”

  “Oh come on!” he protested. “What are the odds of this double date also ending up in disaster and having equally tragic consequences?”

  “Um, I’d say the odds are slanted in the favor of tragedy,” Ciaran deadpanned.

  “Thank you, brother,” Ronan said.

  Shrugging his shoulders, Ciaran brushed off the praise. “Just speaking the truth.”

  Now it was Michael’s turn to pout. Turning away from the group, he faced forward and crossed his arms. “Believe what you want to believe, but this date is going to be brill.”

  Saoirse slapped Michael in the shoulder. “Have you forgotten where you go to school? This isn’t The Academy For The Sunny and Preternaturally Happy! It’s Double A, Michael. If something bad or unexpected can happen, it probably will.”

  As much as he wanted to defend his plans for the evening, Michael had to admit that Saoirse had a point. Double A was a hotbed for unfortunate phenomena. Unfortunately, there was no way to cancel, especially when Fritz announced the plans were securely set in motion.

  “I bought our tickets online, gents. Consider it a birthday treat,” Fritz said proudly as he entered their row on the bleachers. Ruby was right behind him holding onto his hand, though it didn’t look like she needed any help maneuvering her way through the crowd. “And you can buy the popcorn and soda for everybody.”

  Smirking, Saoirse whispered to Michael, “Your double date might be tragic, but since you boys don’t eat, at least it’ll be cheap.”

  As Ruby got closer Michael and Ronan couldn’t help but forget about their disagreement regarding the evening’s festivities and come together in like-minded focus. Working as one, their minds and eyes zeroed in on Ruby and tried to see beneath her pale skin and red hair, go beyond the distracting physical characteristics and the body that was merely playing host to an intruder, and try to delve into the girl’s spirit, her soul, to connect with Rhoswen.

  “Do you think Rhoswen is controlling her even now?” Michael asked Ronan telepathically. “Or is she kind of asleep?”

  Ronan felt positively human. He couldn’t pick up on any unnatural presence around Ruby. Either this Rhoswen was like Michael suggested and was asleep, or she was so powerful she could camouflage herself in plain sight. Funny, Ronan had always thought being a vampire meant he was the most powerful creature on earth; it was a humbling lesson to learn that he shared the planet with many other species that were even more powerful than he was. “I don’t know,” Ronan answered honestly.

  “But if Ruby is still blind and isn’t acting as if she has no idea how she got here, then Rhoswen must still be in charge.”

  Okay, Michael had to take it back. Maybe Ronan did understand the bizarre ways of the world after all. “That actually makes sense.”

  What made sense to Ciaran was that this was his chance to try and get closer to Ruby. Thinking quickly and acting even faster, he gave his sister’s foot a kick and darted his eyes to the row behind them. Ever savvy, Saoirse got up and sat behind Michael, acting as if she was just giving Fritz and his girlfriend more room to spread out. What she was really doing was helping Ciaran secure a seat next to the girl he was pining over.

  As Saoirse vacated her seat, Ruby leaned over and grabbed Ciaran’s hand. “Did you cut yourself?”

  she asked.

  For a moment, Ciaran was confused. How could she know? Then he realized she must have
felt the Band-Aid in between his thumb and forefinger. “Oh that,” he replied. “Just a cut, no big deal.”

  “I’m glad to hear that,” Ruby said, smiling shyly at Ciaran. Fritz didn’t witness their connection, but Ronan did. Unfortunately, he didn’t know if Ruby was smiling on her own or if she was just following some otherworldly order. Just when he didn’t think it could get any more confusing, he noticed Nakano standing on the gym floor looking straight up at the group, but acting as if he couldn’t decide which way to move. Glancing over to his left, Ronan saw the reason for his dilemma.

  A few sections over, Morgandy was sitting in the crowd next to Brania, who Ronan figured must have finally decided to make a public appearance after lying low for months, and Alexei. When Alexei smiled arrogantly, revealing a pair of brand new fangs, Ronan was crestfallen. They had defiled another innocent student and added yet another body to their ranks. Turning back to Nakano, Ronan felt even worse, because it was clear Kano didn’t know whose ranks he wanted to join.

  Nakano knew that he would suffer repercussions, but he didn’t care, he wanted to sit by Ronan, Michael, and the others. It wasn’t like he was choosing sides, forfeiting his membership or something.

  It was just that Michael and Fritz and even Ronan’s kid sister were a lot more enjoyable to spend time with than Morgue and the Mistress of the Cave. He needed a break, and he was going to take it, whatever the consequences. “This seat taken?” he asked.

  Saoirse turned her hand over, palm side up, and waved it across the empty space on the bench as if presenting it to Nakano. “All yours, Nakanosan.”

  It felt good to laugh, and so he did. It was a nice distraction because the only other alternative was to look to the left and watch Brania, Morgandy, and the rest of their cronies glowering in his direction.

  And so what if they were? Who cared what they thought? Nakano didn’t even turn his head when most of the kids in the gym started to cheer, signaling their headmaster’s entrance. Whatever David was going to say was going to be boring; he just knew it. The only thing Kano cared about was that he was among friends.

  David wished he felt the same way. As the headmaster took to the podium to address his students and faculty, he felt the entire universe working against him as the gym was plunged into darkness. Not just shadow like the other times when he had spoken in front of an assembly, but as if a switch had been turned off and it was suddenly nighttime at nine in the morning. Hidden in the blackness, David clutched the edge of the dais, and he felt the blood from the previous night’s feeding drain from his face. Why was he suddenly weak? Why didn’t Zachariel have his back? This shouldn’t be happening!

  David heard the voice in his head whisper frantically. Doesn’t the world know who I am? The sun should be bursting upon my entrance, embracing me, not shrinking from view. This treason needs to end now!

  And it did. Ultimately, the interruption didn’t last long. It hardly caused a commotion among those gathered, but it was enough to rattle David even further than he already was. He hated disturbance; it signified a lack of control. Ever since Rhoswen had returned, somehow returned from wherever the hell she had been all these centuries, he had felt his control slipping away. It was time to reclaim it.

  “And then there was light,” David said, as sunlight once again filled the gym. “I guess that makes me your headmaster and Mother Nature all wrapped up in one.”

  There was a large burst of laughter, with most of the faculty members standing behind David joining in appropriately. However, there were a few mutineers, including Coach Blakeley and Sister Mary Elizabeth, who even before David spoke noticed that his appearance lacked its typical perfection. His suit was slightly wrinkled, and his complexion was spotty. Sister Mary thought he might be coming down with the flu; Blakeley figured the pompous oaf was finally feeling the stress of his position.

  In the bleachers, Brania and her troupe led the applause celebrating their leader’s quick wit, but there were many who declined to join in the ovation. Ciaran refused to make eye contact with David and kept his eyes squarely on Ruby’s hands, admiring her precise manicure, how the red paint was almost identical to the color of her hair. Fritz didn’t even notice Ciaran’s wandering eye, since he was too busy using the time to jot down notes for another issue of Tales of the Double A, this one having something to do with a sea creature who crashes the upcoming swim competition, but who in the end is defeated because even though he’s super powerful, he’s allergic to chlorine. Score one for humanity! In fact, score two, because despite Nakano’s genetic connection to the speaker, he had no interest in listening to anything David had to say, and he and Saoirse were engaged in a cutthroat game of tic-tac-toe.

  The only ones who looked at all interested were Michael and Ronan, but they weren’t drawn to watch David. Instead they were transfixed on Ruby, even more than before. Ever since David had walked into St. Sebastian’s, Ruby had followed him with her blind eyes as if she could see him enter from the locker room and take his place behind the podium. They would have simply thought she was being hypnotized by his magnetism like so many others had been, if it hadn’t been for the slight sneer that gripped her face and the way she was breathing through her nose. She looked positively disgusted, and it only made Michael and Ronan certain that they were in the company of Rhoswen and that poor Ruby was nowhere to be found.

  “In a few short weeks the Tri-Centennial Celebration will be upon us,” David shouted, his voice a bit stronger but not nearly as powerful as usual. “We must be ready to show the world we are invincible!”

  Stifling a laugh Blakeley turned his head slightly and whispered to Dr. Sutton who was standing behind him, “Bloke’s gettin’ a little full of himself.” The coach kept his eyes on David, so he didn’t see the doctor’s angry expression or his fangs peek out slightly and press into his thin, chapped lips.

  “Takin’ it right over the top he is,” he added.

  How Dr. Sutton wanted to teach the mortal a lesson, just like he wanted to teach most everyone in the room a lesson that they were all inferior, pointless. They might be God’s creations, but they had been created before God realized his mistake and built a mightier race, a race that he wanted to see rule the earth. Full of himself? Of course David Zachary was full of himself, but only because he had every reason to be.

  David wished he could remember all those reasons as he spoke. He knew his voice was booming throughout the gym. He could tell that many of the faces that stared at him were mesmerized. But there were too many that were drifting from him, gazing out the window, looking in another direction and not at him, not at his extraordinary face. He had to try harder, make them see that in a few short weeks the world was about to change.

  “Don’t worry, Father,” he heard Brania silently call out to him. “I will lead you to The Well. I can show you the way.”

  “Yes! Show me the way!”

  It was only after the words were out of his mouth that David realized he had spoken them out loud and not silently to his daughter. Finally, every face in the gym was looking at him, but for the wrong reason. They weren’t staring at him like disciples eager to drown in his every word, hungry to devour whatever morsels of wisdom he chose to toss at their feeble minds. No, they were ogling him like he was a sideshow act, an abnormality, something that would entertain, something that was ludicrous.

  A tiny bead of sweat trickled from his brow and traveled down the side of his face, turning inward when it met the edge of his beard, slipping toward the crook of his mouth. His sweat tasted salty, and it was innately repulsive because it reminded him of the ocean, home of those damned water vamps.

  That’s all that was needed to turn things around. Despite the foul taste that clung to the inside of his mouth, David smiled, broadly, knowingly. He was about to show them all that he was still their ruler, he was still in control, regardless of his momentary stumble.

  “In honor of Double A’s three hundredth anniversary,” David bellowed, “I challen
ge each and every one of you to show me the way to victory!”

  It was done. He had corralled his hatred to overcome humiliation; he had survived a foe that was more vicious than any he had ever done battle with: his own fear. The battle, however, was only just beginning. As the students began the trek back to their classrooms, one face stood out among the crowd, one face that David knew could not be trusted.

  “Headmaster Zachary, I’d like to show you something.”

  Flanked by Fritz and Sister Mary Elizabeth, Ruby stared straight ahead, her gaze meeting David’s chest. If she had had sight she would have noticed that it was rising and falling in an increased rhythm; it was definitely something that Sister Mary noticed, but Fritz was too busy seeing who was watching him stand next to his girlfriend in front of the headmaster to notice anything important. “Of course, Miss ...” David began, uncharacteristically forgetting a student’s name.

  “Poltke,” Ruby offered. “Penry’s sister.”

  “Yes, yes, of course.” David was flustered. He knew the girl was a liar, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it, not surrounded by all these people, not now. All he could do was search the gym for Brania, Morgandy, Dr. Sutton, a familiar face that could provide support. In the meantime while he waited he could busy himself by wiping away the additional beads of sweat that were starting to race down his face and make his temples glisten.

  “Are you feeling all right, Headmaster?”

  Damned inquisitive nun! In the instant that she spoke, David could not honestly say why he had let her live for so long. Religious zealot, fool! He wished he could pluck out her eyeballs with his fingernails instead of having to answer her condescending question, but he had to exhibit self-control, show them all how important it was to maintain composure and decorum. “I feel wonderful, thank you,” he replied. “It is a bit unusually stuffy in here, however.” Turning away from the old woman, David looked down at the girl. “What is it that you wanted to show me?”