by M. J. O'Shea
I’d been looking forward to seeing him all day. Pfft. Looking forward didn’t even begin to cover it. I couldn’t effing wait to see him again. The night before had been such an amazing dream that I felt like I needed to be back in his arms before I would know for sure it had actually happened. I was tired as hell when my sister came bounding in to wake me after I’d been asleep for maybe four hours, but I couldn’t even manage to be annoyed. All I wanted to do was smile, laugh, dance around in circles. Who cared if I was tired? Noah was back.
I knew there was no way I was getting out of the house after dinner without telling my mother what happened, so I confessed that I’d been out walking the night before and had run into Noah on the dock. I let her know I was going over there later that night to catch up with him. After she hugged me and told me she was glad I’d found my best friend again, she pinched me hard and told me not to go wandering around by myself at night. I hated when she did that. It hurt. She always told me when I was little that I’d remember how much it hurt before I did something stupid that might hurt worse. Mom logic, I tell ya.
The hours passed slowly. I couldn’t keep busy enough to make the time speed up. I fidgeted and fussed with my clothes and my hair and broke into grins at the oddest of moments. I swear my family must have thought I was possessed or something, but I couldn’t act normal. When I caught myself looking at the clock and realized it had only been two minutes since the last time, I laughed. How could I have it that bad already?
It seemed like my mom waited until it was practically midnight to start cooking dinner, but finally the food was eaten—by everyone but me—and the table was cleared. I rushed through helping Maya with the dishes; then I scrambled to my room to change into jeans and a clean shirt. I tried not to be nervous but there was no escaping it. My stomach had been tied in a knot all day. Some of the nerves were good, the butterflies that always flew around in my belly whenever Noah was near. Some of the nerves were bad. I tried to convince myself otherwise, but I was afraid things were so perfect they couldn’t last.
When Noah opened the kitchen door to let me in, I felt an instant jolt to my system. He was dressed simply, in low-slung jeans, flip-flops, and a button-down opened over a tank top, but his silvery-blond hair was mussed from his fingers, his eyes looked a little sleepy, and the smile he gave me was intimate and soft.
“Hey,” he greeted me and reached out to take my hand.
“Hi,” I answered, grinning foolishly. Kiss me, please, before I pass out. He didn’t disappoint. The second the door clicked shut, I was in his arms.
He twined his fingers into my hair and gave me a slow welcoming kiss. “I missed you today,” he murmured.
“Me too. I think this was the longest day of my life.” We both chuckled, then he ran his fingers down the back of my arms and took both of my hands.
“What do you want to do?”
“You know, I don’t even care. I’m just happy to be here.”
“I’m happy you’re here too.”
THE NIGHT was fun, but like I said before, Noah was acting a little strange. He was still gorgeous and attentive, sweet and wonderful, but I could tell there was something wrong. He’d look at me oddly, as if he thought I’d disappear, and whenever I asked him anything about his family or work he’d clam up and change the subject. It was a little unnerving.
The next night, he was acting strange again, and the night after that. It threw me off so much after the warm perfect guy I thought I’d reconnected with the first night on the dock, the guy I remembered from when we were kids. I tried to ask him about a million times if I could help him with whatever kept him busy all day, hang around and read in the yard while he made his phone calls or whatever. Waiting all day to see him was driving me nuts, but it seemed like he didn’t want me there except at night, when he wasn’t doing anything family related.
When we were younger, the weird family stuff had started before I ever kissed him, and it seemed to still be hanging over him even though his parents were no longer around. What could possibly be going on to make him not want me to be there? Why, no matter how many times I hinted for clues, would he never tell me what he did during the day? What was he hiding? I was starting to spin crazy scenarios in my head. Were the Harpers drug lords, spies, secret royalty hiding in the US from unknown assassins?
By the fourth night, I was ready to tie him down and torture some explanations out of him. I guess I got a little carried away with the spy scenario. Turned out I didn’t have to force the explanations out of him at all. Once he got started, he was more than willing to tell me what was going on and because of that, it may have ended up not only being the strangest night with Noah but the weirdest night, up to that point, in my life.
WHEN I showed up at his door on that fourth night, a half an hour late because I’d been outside pacing like a crazy person, the Noah who greeted me was the one I’d started to believe didn’t exist anymore. His face looked open and sweet and so beautiful. I saw no signs of the fidgeting, the shadows. At the same time, he seemed tired, like some huge weight was bearing down on him with unbelievable force.
He hugged me tightly and pulled me inside. “I was starting to get scared that you weren’t going to come.”
“I thought about it honestly. You’ve been such a head case the past few nights. But now it seems kinda like—well, like you’re you again.”
“I’ve been more than strange. I’m really sorry. It has nothing to do with you. Well…. I mean, it’s not about you.”
I nodded in vehement agreement. I know that. Just tell me what’s going on so this weirdness between us can go away. Please.
“Take a walk with me?” He held out his hand and I took it without hesitation.
Of course, we ended up at the dock. We stood there quietly for a few minutes, his arms circling me from behind and my head resting on his shoulder. Finally, I decided it was time to get whatever it was over with.
“All right, Noah. This is getting ridiculous. There’s something you’re not telling me. It’s Zack, remember? I know when you’re hiding something. I barely see you except late at night, and you’ve gotta know I want to be with you like every second of the day. You’re supposedly running the family business, but you haven’t said a word about what it is you’re even doing. You won’t touch food, and you look awful. Perfect, but like hell all the same.”
He scuffed the toe of his shoe on the dock. “Listen, I’ve just been really stressed about my family stuff, and I’ve been taking it out on you. I know that’s not fair and I promise to stop.”
“That’s good, but it’s not enough. You gotta tell me what’s going on. I want to help.”
“I really can’t tell you, Zack. I want to but….”
“But what? Don’t you trust me? I’ve never given you a reason not to. I mean, we can’t be anything if you aren’t going to trust me with—”
He put a gentle finger over my lips. “Of course I trust you.”
“Then what?”
“I don’t want to tell you because you’re gonna think I’m nuts, okay?” He gave me an imploring look. “I told you my family was weird, but you have no idea what the extent of it is. You don’t understand what we do. And it’s not over just because my parents are dead.”
“Is it illegal or something?”
“No—well, I don’t think so. I mean, we even work for the government sometimes, so even if it’s… unusual, it’s been above board.” Noah took a deep breath. “What we do is part of the reason I pushed you away before. Well, the whole reason, truthfully. My parents didn’t actually mind at all about us being together, in theory, at least. They loved you, and they did want me to be happy. They thought they were trying to protect you. I was trying to protect you.”
“Protect me?” All my crazy spy-royalty-assassin theories came flooding into my mind. I sighed and slowly sank with gelatin legs onto the old familiar dock, tugging on his arm so he would sit next to me. I reached over and held his hand, comfort for
both of us. I figured that the explanation, whatever it ended up being, wasn’t going to be short. I was more than ready to hear it.
“You do realize after all of the cryptic hinting, you’re going to have to tell me what you do and what the hell you were protecting me from.”
He sighed. “I know. If we’re really going to do this you-and-me thing, I can’t keep it from you forever.” He paused, shaking his head and laughing softly. “God, I don’t know how to even start explaining this. It sounds crazy to me and I already know it’s true.”
“Noah, I believe you. Whatever it is. I just need to know.”
“You might want to hold off on that until you hear more. I guess I’ll get the big thing out of the way.” He looked at me with sad eyes and reached up to trace my jaw. His touch felt sad too, as if he thought I would disappear.
“You remember all the stories about vampires and werewolves that my mom used to tell us to scare us when we were kids?” I nodded. I’d always loved listening to his mother’s stories. She’d have made a great author. “Well, they’re not exactly stories. Not in the fictional sense, anyway.”
My eyebrows knitted together. “What do you mean?”
“I mean they’re all true, Zack. Those stories of tracking down evil monsters were stories about us, my family. The Harpers are hunters. We’ve been doing it for hundreds of years.”
“Noah.” I gave him a “you can’t be serious” look and started to get up.
He pulled on my arm. “Please don’t go. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to tell you all of this since last summer. I always hoped we’d see each other again.”
I tugged on his grip, tried to turn away. Noah frowned.
“You started asking questions now just… hear me out. It’s only fair.”
“But, Noah, it’s impossible. You want me to believe that you’re like Van Helsing or something? C’mon! I’m from New York, not Transylvania!” He kept his hold on my arm, not letting me rise.
Man, he’s gotten really strong…. Didn’t mean he was out lassoing vampires for a living.
“I told you you’d think I was crazy but I swear to God, I’m telling the truth. I can prove it, and I will.” He cupped my face in his hand and looked at me. His eyes were nervous and worried, but I could see the truth there. If nothing else, it seemed like he believed what he was telling me. “Listen, if you still don’t believe me at the end of this, then you can walk away. I just need the chance to explain myself to you.” He looked like he was close to tears.
Whether I believed him or not, I couldn’t turn my back. I still felt way too much for him.
“Okay, let’s operate under the assumption that I believe you. I want to believe you. It’s just… well, you know. So tell me what happened last summer.”
Noah put his forehead against mine for a second; then he drew back and continued. “I always knew there was something weird about my parents’ business trips, when I was left with Mrs. Clooney for weeks at a time, but until my seventeenth birthday even I didn’t know what they were doing.”
“Why then?”
“Not sure what the significance of that age is.” Noah shrugged. “It’s just… when we’re supposed to find out. Join the family tradition, I guess.”
“You mean become a monster hunter?” I tried not to say it sarcastically. I almost succeeded.
“Yeah—the Harper legacy.” Noah sighed. “My parents sat me down that day and told me about our family. I would have had them carted off to an institution if they hadn’t shown me proof. Tons of it. They had photographs, contracts, research, journals back to the Middle Ages in Europe, letters, newspaper articles about wild beasts. It was obvious they were telling the truth. When I asked why they were loading all this on me after so many years, they said it was time for me to join them.”
“But you didn’t want to,” I murmured.
“Of course not. I wanted to finish high school and go to NYU with you. All I ever wanted was to be with you. I fought with them for weeks, Zack. I know you noticed there was something wrong. Then that night we kissed.” He paused, smiling. “You have to already know that was the best night of my life. I’d wanted to tell you how I felt about you since we were kids. I thought you felt it too, but I could never be sure.”
I squeezed his hand in mine. “Obviously I did. I still do.”
He brought my palm up to his mouth and rubbed his lips across it in a soft kiss. Any small part of me that hadn’t been melted by him already turned to liquid.
“You have no idea how happy that makes me, how happy it made me then too. I ran home that night ready to tell my parents to screw the Harpers and the stupid hunting legacy. I only wanted to be with you. I sat up all night, practically floating off my bed because I was so… euphoric. I spent hours trying to decide how I was going to tell you that I had been in love with you since, well, since practically forever.” He turned and smiled at me, sandwiching my hand between both of his. “I went to breakfast the next morning and confronted my family. I told them how I felt about you, that I wanted to be with you and not follow the tradition.” He stopped, looking out at the moon on the water.
“What did they say to you, Noah?” I needed to hear the rest of the story, all the way to the crazy end.
“They told me it didn’t matter if I joined them. That by being a Harper alone, I was already a target, and anyone who was close to me would be a target too. I wanted to protect you, Zack. My parents convinced me that pushing you away was the only way I could. They said that they felt awful, but that you weren’t equipped to deal with what we did. That it wasn’t fair to ask you to be a part of it.”
“So you pushed me away because you thought you had to protect me from… movie monsters?”
He sighed and tightened his grip on my hand, obviously not wanting me to bolt. “I told you, Zack. I can prove this is all true, and I will. But there’s more.”
“More? How can there be?”
“I was a wreck after I said good-bye to you. I barely left my room for weeks. Finally my parents convinced me to go on a hunting trip with them. I guess they thought it would be good for me, get me involved with the family or whatever. Anyway, they were after some vampires in Boston, huge contract. You’d be amazed at what city officials will pay for something like that.” I looked at him with my mouth wide open.
“Anyway, by that point I didn’t care if I lived or died, so I finally said yes. I went with them, supposedly just to watch and learn, but I was reckless.”
I held up my hand. “Wait a second. You went out on some government sanctioned vampire hunt?” I felt dizzy.
“Yeah, but I didn’t follow my parents’ directions very well. I snuck out looking for the vampires one night when they were working on a lead. Unfortunately, I got a little too lucky. My parents traced my path and caught up to me just as I stumbled on the vampires’ nest.” He took a deep breath. “That’s how they really died, Zack. You know how I said it was in a car crash? It wasn’t. My parents died trying to protect me from the vampires.”
“But you, uh, got away.”
“Well, not exactly.” I knew before he even opened his mouth that I didn’t want to hear it. There was only one place this was going, and it wasn’t good. “I didn’t die, but I didn’t get away free and clear either. One of the vampires bit me.” I sat stock still on the dock. I could almost feel the shockwaves from that last statement.
“Noah, are you trying to tell me—”
“Yeah. I am.” He took a deep breath. “Zack, I’m a vampire.”
I was speechless for a second, but then every little drop of incredulity I had been feeling came pouring out at once in a huge wave. “Okay, you know what? I can’t do this. There’s just no way.”
It was just too crazy, too much, too impossible. There was no such thing as vampires, werewolves, or supernatural bounty hunters. My life had turned into Thursday night on the CW and I couldn’t handle it. I needed reality. I jumped up, yanked my arm out of his, and stomped down t
he dock toward the leafy trail back to our cabin.
Why couldn’t he just say he was afraid of being gay, or that his parents didn’t want him seeing me anymore and he felt guilty because they died in some awful car crash before he could reconcile with them? Was it so hard to admit he’d been a chicken that he had to come up with some nuts-o story? I had to admit there was something weird going on with his family, but monster hunting? Give me a freaking break.
I slapped angrily at the branches that seemed to be strangling me and tried not to picture the pain I saw on his face when I turned away.
It couldn’t be true. It couldn’t. There was no way. ’Cause if it was, then everything I knew to be reality was just some surface world that most of us existed in while supernatural forces battled beneath our noses. If it was true, he’d been trying to protect me from everything that was beyond that thin film of reality. If it was true, then he really did love me and I had just walked away from him. The worst part, though, the part that was nearly unthinkable?
If everything he’d said was true, then Noah Harper, the guy I always figured I’d love forever, was a vampire.
Chapter Four: Summer Moon
IF ANYTHING, it was even more impossible to fall asleep that night than it had been the first night we’d gotten there. It had to be close to dawn before I started to feel my eyes get heavy.
I’d been so ready to forget the past. All it took was one look at his face and I just wanted to forgive him and move on. Why couldn’t it have been that easy? Why couldn’t he have hugged me and kissed me and said he made a huge mistake and he wanted us to be together? It was all I’d wanted since forever.
I squeezed my eyes shut. I needed to get some sleep. Maybe in the morning, which was coming awfully quickly, the whole thing would look different.