by Cheree Alsop
“Where are you going?” she asked.
Confused, he turned with his hand on the doorknob. “Leaving, like I promised.”
“You need a shirt,” she replied. “You’re as white as a ghost. It’s a kind-of dead giveaway that you’re a vampire. Rule number one, they won’t treat you like a monster if you don’t look like one.” She gave a sigh of resignation. “And I should probably take out those stitches. You don’t need them anymore.”
At her motion, Everett walked back to the couch. He told himself he stayed because she had saved his life, but there was something else, something that worried him. He pushed the feeling away.
He listened to her rummage around in the kitchen. “I really can take care of myself.”
“I noticed,” she answered. “Finding food in the garbage at Dalia’s isn’t exactly taking care of yourself.” She came back out of the kitchen and hesitated at the look on his face. “Sorry. That was a low blow.”
Everett cursed himself for being so easy to read. He looked away. “Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t exactly a high point for me, either.”
She crossed to him, her bare feet barely making a sound on the worn carpet. “It’s not my place to judge,” she said, her voice apologetic. “I don’t know what you’ve been through.”
He looked up at her from his place on the couch. “I wasn’t paying attention to my blood level. It’s gotten me into trouble before.”
A half-smile crossed her face. “I’m sure that’s not the only thing that’s gotten you into trouble.” She caught herself and dropped to her knees next to the couch. “Turn, please.”
Everett did as he was told. He lifted his arm so she could reach his side better.
At her touch, a tingle ran through his skin. He sucked in an involuntary breath. “I really can do that,” he told her.
A small snip was followed by the slight tug of the first stitch as she pulled it free from his skin. “It’s not the easiest place to reach,” she replied, her tone unreadable.
He glanced down at her. She met his gaze for the briefest second. There was vulnerability in her eyes that stilled him. He could break her neck or drink her blood. If he attacked, she would be defenseless. The thought tightened his chest and he looked away.
“Done,” she said a few minutes later. “Hold on a sec.”
She rose and threw away the pieces in the small garbage can near the end table before heading to the closet. She ruffled inside for a moment. “I knew it was still here,” she said with a note of triumph. She pulled out a red and white striped button-up shirt. “Vanguard won’t mind,” she said, tossing it to him.
Everett caught the shirt and gave it an uncertain look.
She rolled her eyes. “It’s not like my closet’s brimming with clothing choices for hot guys.” Her eyes widened as if she realized what she had said. She shut the closet door with a loud bang.
Everett slipped his arms in the shirt and buttoned it up. He was finally starting to feel normal again. He let out a breath of relief and nodded toward the IV pole. “Do I dare ask where you got that, and these?” he asked, pointing toward the handcuffs that lay broken on the floor.
“You can ask, but I won’t tell you,” she replied.
Everett shrugged. “I can respect that. Pig’s blood isn’t exactly on aisle B in the local grocery stores. Believe me, I checked.” He gave her a warm smile, not caring that his fang showed. “Thanks again.”
“Thank you for trying to save me,” she replied with a small smile of her own.
He opened the door and paused. “Do you know where a payphone is?”
Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Why?”
“I need to call my mom.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Your mom? You have a mom?”
Everett knew the comment shouldn’t hurt, but it did. “Yeah,” he said shortly. He turned down the hall. “Never mind.”
He walked to the stairs. He heard her door shut, and a moment later, the sound of her footsteps.
“You don’t have to follow me,” he said, pausing at the bottom step. “I promised I’d leave. You won’t see me again.”
The girl appeared at the corner with a hint of chagrin on her face. “I was rude. Sorry. I’ll show you where the payphones are.”
She led the way along the short hallway and around the corner to the small lobby. Two payphones were at the end of the hall opposite the door. The windows and glass door of the apartment building were barred, giving the place more of a jail appearance than a home. Lights flickered on outside even though a glance through the closest window showed that the sun hadn’t quite set. Everett was glad nobody would see him in the striped shirt. He had no doubt whoever Vanguard was, he wouldn’t miss it at all. He wondered if he should burn it and save the world from such an eyesore.
At the phones, he reached in his pants pocket where he usually kept his coins, but it was empty.
“Here,” the girl said.
Everett glanced at her and found her holding out a coin on her palm. He accepted it with embarrassment at being caught unprepared. “Thank you. She’ll be worried sick. I was supposed to call last night.”
He dialed the number and waited a moment. A little voice answered that never failed to make him smile. “’llo?”
“Hi, Izzy, is Mom there?”
“Evy! Evy!” her little voice shrieked. He could hear her jumping up and down. “Mommy, Evy’s on the phone!”
“Oh, thank goodness,” his mother’s familiar voice replied. He heard her take the phone from the little girl. “Thank you, Isabella.” His mother’s voice was filled with relief when she said, “Everett, I’m so glad you called. We were all so worried!”
Her concern made him smile. “I’m okay, Mom.” He glanced at the werewolf. “I, uh, made a friend. A girl.”
The girl gave him a quizzical look.
“A friend?” his mother said in surprise. “Well, that’s good, a friend’s good!”
Everett wondered how much the werewolf could hear. His mother was never one to control her enthusiasm. “Yes, Mom. I’ll be home soon.”
“Bring your friend,” she said. “I’d love to meet her. We’re having dinner in an hour. I have your vitamin drink. Everett, we’ve been so worried. Hurry home, okay?”
“Uh, okay, Mom. I’ll be home.”
“And bring your friend,” his mother insisted.
Everett could feel the girl’s gaze between his shoulder blades. “Yeah, okay, Mom.”
“Bye, sweetheart.”
“Bye, Mom.”
He hung up the phone feeling relieved and embarrassed at the same time. He glanced at the werewolf.
“Everett, huh?” She twisted the name as she said it as though she wasn’t sure how she felt about it.
“You heard that?”
She gave him a meaningful look. “Werewolf, remember?”
“Most people call me Rett.” He realized something. “I don’t know your name.”
“Adrielle,” she replied.
“Adrielle,” he repeated. “I like that.”
She looked at the phone he had just hung up. “It’s the only thing my parents left me with.”
Everett didn’t know what to say. If she had heard his name, she had also heard his mom inviting her to dinner. He had never brought anyone home before. He guessed Adrielle could surmise that from their conversation. The thought of inviting a werewolf into his home was unsettling.
Despite his misgivings, something about the details of the paintings in Adrielle’s room stuck in his mind. He saw the beautiful faces of the children, the intricate work in the eyes to capture the smiles, the way the mother and father pushing the children on the swings looked as though they were having as much fun as their little ones.
She had saved his life. She could have left him to bleed to death in the alley and no one would ever know. Her fear of vampires was clear, yet she had risked herself to save him. Everett made up his mind.
“Come to my house for di
nner.”
Adrielle stared at him. “Are you crazy?”
He shrugged. “That’s still under debate.”
She kept silent.
He realized the darkness in her golden eyes was actually fear. His heart went out to her. “Come on, Adrielle. They’re nice. You might enjoy it. My mom’s an amazing cook, and I owe you for saving my life. What do you say?”
She lowered her gaze, shielding her emotions with her long eyelashes. “Is everyone in your family a vampire?”
He laughed and shook his head. “I’m the only one, thank goodness.”
His comment seemed to surprise her. She looked back at him with a curious expression, tipping her head to one side. “Are you so bad, then?”
Everett gave her a small smile.
She sighed and shook her head. “Okay, but I think this is a bad idea.”
“As bad as you bringing a bloodthirsty vampire into your apartment?” Everett countered.
She led the way to the street. “That’s still to be decided.”
Everett glanced at the sky. The sun was setting; its gray light reached between the buildings with weak fingers, casting shadows on the people hurrying home from work before the curfew. Everett figured the light wasn’t strong enough to be a problem.
He caught Adrielle watching him as they crossed a brighter patch between the buildings.
“What?” he asked self-consciously.
“Are you going to burst into flames or something?”
At his questioning look, she gestured at the fading sunlight.
Everett held out a hand, letting the light splay between his fingers. Mist began to rise with from his skin along with the burning sensation. He shoved his hand in his pocket and hurried to the shadows.
“What do you know about vampires?” he asked, keeping the question quiet so the people flooding around them wouldn’t overhear.
“Not much,” she admitted.
He decided to humor her. “Vampirism is like a cancer. For those of us born with it, when we hit puberty, it begins to attack our red blood cells, killing us from the inside out. We’re forced to drink blood to replenish our bodies and keep our organs from shutting down completely.”
“Does it hurt?” she asked quietly.
Everett nodded. “A lot,” he admitted. He closed his hand into a fist. The faint blue lines that made up his veins stood out in contrast to his pale skin. “Because I have so little blood in my system, I also lack the melanin responsible for protecting my body from UV radiation.”
“You sound like a professor,” she commented.
Everett chuckled. “My parents are scientists. I think I take after them.” He gestured toward the setting sun. “I’m just trying to keep from looking like a thousand year old mummy.”
That succeeded in bringing a small smile to her face. “That many wrinkles are only appealing on a Sharpei.”
Everett chuckled. “Leave it to a werewolf to know wrinkled dogs.”
She snorted, but her eyes creased with the smile she kept from her face.
Everett shoved his hands in his pockets. It felt strange to walk through the city with Adrielle at his side. The few people left hurrying home before curfew still moved around him as though he was invisible, but with her, it was almost as if they shared the invisibility together. Nobody wanted to look too closely at someone with pale skin in case their curiosity revealed something more sinister.
Monsters had surfaced near the conclusion of the Ending War. Too much chemical warfare combined with the nuclear fallout had created more subspecies than the government wanted to admit. The seventy-five years following saw the construction of the Pentagrin, the five great cities of the survivors. The Kingship had done what it could to reduce the number of monsters with drastic measures. Everett knew there had to be others in the cities, but he had never met one besides Adrielle.
A little girl clutched her mother’s hand as they hurried past. Everett ducked his head, reminding himself not to smile at her curious gaze. He led Adrielle down a side alley and to the tunnels.
“Are you sure we should go in there?” she asked, hesitating at the long steps to the network of underground passageways.
Though they had once been a vast subway system, the tunnels had been converted into survival housing during the Ending War. Everett peered into the darkness, grateful the war had ended before his time. He couldn’t imagine living beneath the earth for nearly a decade while the survivors waited for the fallout to dissipate. Vines snaked into the depths, the continuation of the jungle that attempted to reclaim the five cities for its own.
“It’s okay,” Everett told her. “We’re the monsters everyone is afraid to see in the shadows.”
She gave him a sharp look. Everett ducked into the tunnel.
Chapter Three
Though walking through the darkness wasn’t Everett’s favorite thing, he knew the tunnels well enough to bring them to the Neighborhoods without making any wrong turns. When they climbed the stairs back to the city streets, the sun had set and a few stars even peered through the light-polluted sky.
He heard Adrielle’s sigh of relief and fought back a smile. He had never met a werewolf before, but had heard plenty of rumors about the subspecies. Realizing that she wasn’t an instinct-driven rabid mongrel like the werewolves on the news was an eye-opener for him.
He caught the look of wonder on Adrielle’s face when he led her through the cul-de-sacs that made up the Neighborhoods.
“You grew up here?” she asked, unable to hide the shock in her tone.
Everett nodded. Families in the Neighborhoods were notoriously rich. Those families who had survived the Ending War with their wealth still intact had retreated as far from the crammed apartments and buildings of Nectaris as they could get and still be within the safety of the protected zones. He definitely understood her amazement that he had grown up within the Neighborhoods.
The Neighborhoods had been lucky to escape the worst of the wars, and the spacious luxury of the houses was a vast counterbalance to the space-conserving minimalist direction the rebuilding crews within the city had adopted. Everett always found it much easier to breathe away from the packed streets and dirty alleys.
The sound of chaos grew the closer they got to the house at the end of one of the furthest cul-de-sacs. Everett took a steeling breath and glanced at Adrielle.
“Ready?”
She shook her head, her eyes wide.
The bright moonlight reflected in her golden gaze, revealing the fear she couldn’t quite hide.
“It’s okay,” he said. “If it’s too much, you can always leave. I won’t hold it against you.”
She nodded without replying.
Everett set a foot on the bottom step.
“Evy, Evy!” Izzy shrieked. The little four year old blew through the door, slamming it open behind her. Everett dropped to one knee and caught her. She clung to him, her fists knotted tightly in his striped shirt. “I thought you weren’t coming back.”
Everett smoothed the little girl’s frizzy brown hair. “Of course I came back,” he reassured her. “I couldn’t leave my girl.”
He glanced at Adrielle. She gave him an amused smile.
Everett nodded at her. “Izzy, this is Adrielle. Adrielle, Izzy.”
The little girl jumped down and gave Adrielle a small, surprisingly skilled, curtsy. “Pleased to meet you.”
Everett stared at her. “Where did you learn that?”
Izzy shrugged. “I’ve been watching lots of princess movies. It’s the proper way to say hello.” She grinned at Adrielle. “I like your hair.” With that, she turned and dashed back inside as quickly as she had appeared. They heard her yell, “Evy’s home, Mommy! Evy’s home!”
“Get ready,” Everett said under his breath.
“For what?” Adrielle asked, her expression apprehensive.
The door burst open again and four kids ran out. Everett let two of them tackle him around the waist. He fell backwards
on the grass and the other two landed on top of him. He tickled the boys, twins with floppy, curly blond hair, and pretended to let the other two win. Pinned beneath the four of them, he gave Adrielle a self-suffering smile.
“Adrielle, meet Finch, Gabe, Hadley, and Donavan.”
Finch and Gabe, the twins, smiled at her, revealing the fact that both of them were missing their front teeth. Hadley, the little five-year-old redhead, ducked behind Donavan at the realization that there was a stranger in their yard. Donavan stood and held out a hand.
“Pleased to meet you,” he said. He winked at Everett. “It’s not every day Rett brings home a girl.”
Everett rolled his eyes. The other boy grinned.
Adrielle glanced at Everett and shook Donavan’s hand.
“Pleased to meet you, too,” she replied, her tone uncertain.
Donavan lowered his voice. “As Rett’s older brother, it’s my duty to inform you that he’s a vampire.”
“Donny,” Everett said with exasperation.
Donavan shrugged. “What? She has a right to know.”
“It’s not exactly an opener,” Everett pointed out.
“And I do know,” Adrielle told him. “But thank you.”
Donovan nodded and gave Everett an I-told-you-so look.
Hadley, apparently over his shyness, tugged on the edge of Adrielle’s shirt. At his beseeching look, she crouched so that they were eye level. “What is it?” she asked, fighting back a smile at his solemnness.
He put his hands around her ear and whispered something Everett couldn’t hear.
“That’s good,” she said.
Hadley nodded again, his blue eyes filled with all the seriousness a five-year-old could muster.
“Dinner,” a voice called from inside the house.
“Dinner!” Hadley echoed.
The little boy grabbed Gabe and Finch’s hands and pulled the six year old twins toward the house. Donavan followed them inside. He paused at the top step and gave Everett a searching look.
“Mom was up all night worried about you. You gave her quite the scare.”
Guilt filled Everett. “Thanks for the head’s up,” he replied.