Lacing Shadows

by Tina Smith

  “We can drop by the campus office, they have it.”

  “How do you...?” I realized, “you called them.”

  “All your stuff is there.”

  “Okay.” As I walked, Joe fell in beside me. He was tall and the coat her wore accentuate his wide shoulders. His skin was a pale grey color, even on his hands. I stuck to the halls because to short cut across campus would put us in full sun.

  The office lady handed me my bag. I was lucky. “Looks like everything is there,” I told Joe as I exited the building, he fell in beside me. “So are you kinda like my body guard now?” I shyly watched the pavement.

  He raised his brows. “I suppose so.” His marble jaw dimpled.

  “So I can expect grilled cheese sandwiches every morning then?”

  “Well, until Cyrus loses interest.”

  I slowed. “Will he?” I had been considering leaving school.

  “I couldn’t tell you, all I know is it will take some time, and then he might just wait for me to turn away, think it’s over and then just to spite me he might…come back. I can’t rely on the Guard to stop him.”

  “The Guard?”

  “Never mind.”

  “He seems vindictive?”

  “Yeah, I’d be willing to call him that.”

  “So what if he never loses interest?”

  He seemed to decide. “I’ll have to kill him.”

  “How?”

  He walked on.

  I persisted increasing my pace to match his. “How would you kill him?”

  “Farren,” he warned.

  “I should know. Should I—I mean, what get him in the sun?”

  “You are oddly preoccupied with death for someone so young.”

  “Maybe it will be the only thing that saves my life,” I said with conviction.

  “When you need to know I’ll tell you.”

  We had reached class, so I didn’t argue the point further. I was surprised to see that Joe not only followed me in but also sat beside me. I noticed the stares coming from a few girls in other seats. I took out my notebook. He sat silently throughout the whole lecture.

  I checked my phone to see I had a missed a call from Jack. “Let’s eat in the park.” I didn’t want to risk running into him. I felt chagrin for assuming. “I mean, did you want to get lunch?”

  “We aren’t dating.”

  I blushed. “Oh, I know. I just didn’t want to bump into Jack or Hank or Sadie and her boyfriend. We can walk to a café?”

  “No.”

  “Oh.”

  “I have a better idea.” He popped on a pair of sunglasses. I followed as he went out to the parking lot. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled a set of keys. The lights on a silver sports car flashed.

  I slowed, “Are you taking me to your lair?”

  He paused, facing the breeze. “Something like that.” He got in.

  Despite my reservations I followed suit. “Where are we going?”

  He didn’t answer.

  We took off. He stopped at the kebab place near campus, locked the car with me in it and went in. I watched as he came back with a couple of bags.

  I switched on the radio, feeling nervous.

  He got back in, still wearing the sun glasses. “I’m driving, I choose the music.” He pressed a button and a C.D played.

  “What is this?”

  “The Killers.”

  “You listen to The Killers?”

  He didn’t answer.

  I looked at the C.D’s in the console. “Vampire weekend?”

  “Yeah.”

  I found another “Wait, wait, Bon Jovi?”

  He tried to snatch it back as I laughed.

  “Everyone loves Bon Jovi,” he pouted.

  “Really?”

  “Yes, secretly...”

  “What century did you die in anyway?” I noticed a Chili Peppers album in the pile. “You know, no one listens to C.D’s anymore...”

  He pulled over, ignoring my taunt. We went into an apartment block and climbed six floors. At the top in a gentlemanly gesture he held the door open for me and led me into a loft.

  The inside was spacious. There were the usual things, a couch and a kitchen and a huge plasma. He pulled a ladder down from the roof and climbed up. He reached down and I handed him the bag and followed, curious.

  I expected full sun at the top but a huge shade stunted the light. There were ferns and a pond, chairs, a table and potted plants. As I went over to look at them I spotted a decent sized rectangular swimming pool. We sat by the pond, which I saw was filled with fat goldfish.

  He pulled out the food and I started to eat.

  “So, this is your place?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You own it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Nice.” I laughed. I wondered if he tended it. “You don’t talk much do you?” The water glinted on the green pool.

  “Actually, I need to rest.”

  “Oh.” He did look greyer.

  “I will sleep here until the sun starts to go down. Then I’ll be able to protect you.”

  I noticed he didn’t touch his kebab. “Won’t Cyrus know we are here?”

  “He can’t get in.”

  *

  He led me down the stairs again and I wondered if I would be safe. I watched as he turned on the flat screen TV.

  “You can watch what you want, satellite. I have a computer, kitchen...” He gestured, taking off his coat and hanging it. “Feel free to use it but don’t leave the apartment.” I hadn’t realized I would stay. I didn’t know how to feel about that. He walked into the kitchen.

  “What are you doing?”

  “You'll be safe here.” He moved something in the refrigerator and put in the left over kebab.

  “What if Cyrus comes over?” I watched as he went to the door. He punched numbers on an alarm. It beeped and the doors latched.

  “Nothing can get in.” He came back over as it timed and bolted. “Don’t go onto the roof.”

  “Where are you going?”

  He turned as he went into what looked to be a bedroom. “To bed.” He closed the door, leaving me alone standing in his lounge room. The blinds were drawn. With several hours to kill, I wondered what to do. I had my bag, but I didn’t feel like studying.

  Frustrated, I channel surfed and then I took to wandering around the apartment. There was a framed picture of a woman with Joe, one of Cyrus and Joe. I wondered who she was.

  I ran my eyes over the many dusty books when I spotted his coat on the rack. I wasn’t normally a snoop, but he had read my diary. I felt in the pocket. He had left his phone inside. It was unfortunately locked.

  I went through the kitchen cupboards, they were empty. It seemed vampires didn’t eat. He had a sparse amount of plates and bowls, cutlery. The pantry was empty. But when I opened the fridge I saw bags of blood. I closed it. Had I seen what I thought? I opened the fridge again to make sure. I dared to look in the freezer, only to see more bags of frozen blood.

  I wondered momentarily if this was a trap but Joe had rescued me at least twice against Cyrus. I decided to do research. I was Googling vampires on his P.C when his phone rang. I sprinted over and I wondered whether to answer it, but out of curiosity I pressed the ‘Answer’ button and held it to my ear.

  “Jesus Christ, Joe!” It was a sharp female voice. “You’re going out of your way to save a human! I’ve had to listen to Cyrus ranting all night about you. If I get my hands on you it’ll be worse than the guard! You Sh—”

  I hung up and shoved the phone back in the pocket. I wondered what to do if it rang again.

  When I was in the bathroom I looked in his cabinets. There were no razors, just mouth wash, disinfectant, ordinary nail clippers and an oddly small tooth brush that I examined and placed back on the glass shelf next to some floss. There was a large bottle of bleach under the sink and a broom in the corner. It appeared he was in the only bedroom of the immaculate apartment. There was a
study but nothing to alarm me, except sparseness, a lack of human existence. I wondered with a shiver if he slept in a coffin.

  When Joe finally appeared at 5.30pm I was watching Shark Week on his couch—in hindsight it wasn’t a wise choice.

  “Did you find everything?”

  “Yeah, um.” I didn’t know how to put it. I sat up, “I answered your phone.”

  At lightning speed he was at his coat checking his calls.

  “Some chick sounded really pissed.” I looked over the couch. I wondered if it was his girlfriend.

  “Dammit,” he cussed.

  I guessed that he would be annoyed with me. “In my defense you did go through my diary.”

  “That was to save your life.” He seemed pissed.

  “Really, was it?”

  He took out the Kebab from the fridge and stuffed it on a plate. Before I knew it he was microwaving it. I tensed waiting for the backlash. His back to me he stared at it until it beeped and before I knew it he had plonked the warm plate it on my lap, with a napkin.

  “Eat.”

  “You’re not joining me?”

  He sat down across from me and gave me a tired look.

  I started to pick at it. “You know I don’t even get you. Are you going to bite me?”

  “No.”

  “What am I, a pet?” I tasted some of the warm kebab meat.

  “Are you always this irritating?”

  “Only when I have been locked up all day.” In a vampire lair.

  He glanced over his shoulder at the T.V. “I see.” He sat back. “I always liked Dolphins better.” He grabbed the remote and flicked channels, then sat back with his feet crossed.

  “So what now?”

  He ignored me.

  “I didn’t choose to get into this.” Then I said what had really worried me. “Are you going to drink my blood?” It came out timid.

  He turned his dark eyes on me. I watched as he got up and opened the fridge. He squeezed a bag of syrupy blood into a large cup and microwaved it. He drank it down with a long sip and sat back on the couch placing it on the coffee table.

  “Does that taste good, to you?”

  “It’s alright, a bit like reheated takeaway…”

  I looked at the plate and because I was hungry I ate, while he searched the T.V guide.

  “Fight Club?” he asked. “It’s a classic.”

  “Do I have a choice?”

  He flicked it on. I found myself in the vampire’s loft watching movies with him. Turns out I got second choice.

  He suggested, “What about Batman?”

  “I’m not a fan of Batman!” I grabbed the remote scanning the TV guide, “Bon Jovi documentary?” I joked.

  He gave me a look.

  We watched Looper instead.

  After that, I complained of needing to stretch my legs.

  He shook his head. “Cyrus will be out.” He gave an apologetic look; his eyes were troubled. I knew what he meant.

  But it didn’t change that fact that I felt a little antsy. Lying around was getting boring. I watched as he went over and pulled out a large table from the wall. I recognized it was table tennis. The room was big enough to fit it easily.

  He gave me a paddle. “No vampire cheating,” I warned before I served the first ball. I missed as he sent it back. “I’m a little rusty.” I cringed.

  “Have you played before?”

  “Yes, believe it or not.” My brother and I had spent one summer playing in the garage and we had gotten pretty good. “The muscle memory should kick in...” I hoped.

  I missed again.

  “Maybe we should try something else,” he laughed.

  I narrowed my eyes taking up the challenge, serving the ball back. Soon we hit a bit of a groove and when he wasn’t using his vampire powers to zoom for the ball we were evenly matched.

  *

  Flustered at the end of a match that Joe had won, I asked. “Got anything to drink except blood?” I realized he might know I had been snooping.

  “Tap water, coffee and red wine,” he offered.

  “Gross.” I considered. “On all counts.”

  I followed him over to the kitchen. He pulled out a huge wine glass regardless of my comment and filled it up. I swirled the opulent glass.

  “Should I sniff the bouquet?” I teased as I took a sip with my pinky finger out.

  To my surprise he poured himself one too.

  He held it up and gave a cheeky grin, “Solute!” He swigged half of it down.

  Encouraged I took another sip. “Cheers big ears,” I snickered.

  The rest of the night my playing became decidedly worse but I became increasingly happier as we laughed our butts off. It seemed the immortal weren’t immune to the effects of drink. My face flushed from exertion and wine.

  “Want to see how I play?”

  I watched him serve the ball then he was at the other end, hitting the ball back and rushing to the other end to hit it again.

  “How do you go that fast?”

  “It’s a vampire thing,” he said smugly.

  “What else can you do, apart from play with yourself?” I laughed and clasped my mouth, I really was sloshed.

  “Need to know basis only.” He smiled. “Why do you hate Batman?” he asked me as he sat on the couch and lay back, his arm behind his head.

  “I don’t know, it’s just so ridiculous—you know all the way the villains are made.” I sat beside him.

  “Do think I’m a villain?”

  “Isn’t Cyrus the villain?” I sat on the coffee table.

  He sat up to face me. “I’m a vampire, doesn’t that make me a bad guy?”

  I looked at his face and touched his cheek with my hand. A lock of his hair tangled in my fingers. I brushed it back from his face. I realized he was watching me, his dark eyes staring into mine. I stared back, I could taste his sweet breath.

  “You should get some sleep,” he said getting up. “You can have the bed.” He walked out rigidly. I was too zonked and drunk to protest. I entered his bedroom feeling woozy and crawled up to the soft pillows and inhaled the beautiful scent.

  Chapter 6. Over Shadowed

  I woke up, unable to tell the time. I was startled to see him staring at me. “Hey, sorry for getting you drunk,” he said softly.

  “Don’t be, that’s the best fun I’ve had in forever.” I was still groggy as I eased up. “What time is it?” My mouth was a little furry.

  “I’m afraid you’ve missed your morning class.”

  “Shit.” My head felt fuzzy.

  “Here.” He got up and brought over a tray. He had bought more food and thankfully bottled water.

  I ate breakfast in bed. My eyes scaled the tattoo on his arm and I could see another peeking from underneath his singlet. He looked at me, raw-eyed.

  My brain was throbbing “Ouch my head...”

  “Aspirin?” He got up and returned with a pack.

  “I guess I’d be dead if it weren’t for you...” I accepted it.

  “You’re here with a killer.”

  “You haven’t killed me yet?” I drank down the pill.

  He looked sadder as his eyes fell. Then he seemed to resolve his thoughts. “I could lose control and you’d be dead in ten seconds.” He sat on the bed.

  That was a sobering comment. “Ten?” I considered it. I cleared my throat.

  “I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

  Despite myself his comment had affected me.

  He sighed. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

  “What would it take?” I considered my words. “For you to lose it?”

  His expression changed, his brow rippled as he shifted. “I think you aren’t to be trusted with all our secrets.”

  *

  I sculled the bottle of water and he drove me to class, with the heat turned up.

  We went in together, something had changed between us. I could hardly concentrate; I gave up taking notes when I notice
d Joe was watching me. By the time we exited class Joe took my hand. It felt nice. His thumb caressed mine and my heart flipped.

  Jack was exiting class as well. I heard him remark, “Is that what you like?” I turned surprised at the remark. Hank was trying to calm Jack but he was fuming. “Everyone knows he hits her,” he said shoving Hank off from his shoulder.

  “Nobody hit me,” I said angrily. Joe touched my shoulder. But I was peeved. “Jack, shut up, you have no idea.”

  “Really ’cos that’s not what Sadie said.”

  “Jack, don’t,” I warned “You don’t know.”

  But Jack was livid. He turned his words on Joe. “It’s sick, man, you better not take her down with you.” It was a clear threat. It drew stares.

  I felt Joe tense. I watched him clench his jaw. But to my relief he moved to walk away, my hand in his, but clasped more tightly.

  “Yeah that’s right, walk off like the chicken shit woman-beater you are.”

  Joe broke away and was suddenly in Jack’s face, he shoved him to the wall. “For the last time, you don’t know what you are on about. Just because she wouldn’t go out with you doesn’t give you a license to be a little jerk.” Joe lowered his voice. “I have never laid a hand on her.” He shoved him back and let him go. “Get your facts straight.”

  Joe walked back up to me brusquely and took my hand again. I looked back almost apologetically at Jack, who was being consoled by Hank. There was a small group of students watching the scuffle. The professor was making his way out, eyes wide. But Joe pulled me along, leading me away.

  “I’m sorry about that. Sadie assumed because of the bruises,” I tried to explain. We were outside making our way along the large shaded veranda corridor.

  “Let’s get out of here?” he asked me.

  I nodded.

  We got in the grey Porsche. Joe took off, tyres spinning and his erratic driving started to make my head sway. I held the door as we sped. Mt whole body tensed.

  I had a sick feeling. “Stop,” I pleaded.

  He glanced at me.

  I held the door handle “Stop please, you’re going too fast.”

  The car slowed.

  But I was already in tears. “Stop!”

  He pulled the car over confused. “Farren?”