Brynne, Non-Vampire (The Non-Vampire Series Book 1)

by Jennie Taylor

  He has a point there. How would I feel if my friend just ran off without any explanation? It would suck. Plus, I know she likes me. I can imagine how painful it would be if Jess did that to me.

  “Please tell me if you have any other idea of how to stop them.” I told him.

  “Give me a couple of days to think about it.”

  “And let them kill more people?”

  “You can’t rush into this, you have to take time to plan it correctly or you just get killed and then they go on killing anyway.”

  “Well,” That actually makes sense. “Okay. I’ll think about it. You think about it. Barney, I can’t let them keep killing. And I might be the only one who can stop them.”

  “Are you sure there aren’t more?”

  “Maybe. And maybe they’re like those two.”

  I was in bed already when Jess got back from her date with Tony. She was pretty upset, so I didn’t tell her about there being more attacks. Instead I sat up with her and listened to how insensitive Tony is, and how she’ll never go out with him again. As if she really meant that.

  Friday, June 10

  I spent the day shopping with Jess and Teresa. I bought Teresa some new clothes that she wanted. I kind of like buying her things. It makes her happy.

  Jess ate lunch with us, then went off on her own, promising to see me at home. I think she was planning on calling Tony. I still don’t know what they were arguing about, but I think she’s getting over it.

  Teresa and I snuck into an R rated movie. We paid for a PG, then just switched theaters once inside. They wouldn’t let us in otherwise. Which is just plain stupid, because I go to school with the girl who was selling tickets, so I’m sure she thinks I’m her age.

  It was a good movie. There were some love scenes that were slightly embarrassing to watch. And the people sitting behind us were totally making out, right there in the theater. Teresa grabbed my hand and leaned over against me as the movie was playing. It was sort of nice, actually.

  We walked home after the movie, discussing what we each thought about it. She had a totally different take on it than I did, but she still liked it. I thought it was sad because the girl lost her boyfriend, she thought it was sort of a happy movie because the girl had finally allowed herself to completely fall in love with him before he died.

  “Well, see you tomorrow.” I said.

  “Yeah.”

  I reached for the doorknob, but she yanked me back by my hand that she was still holding. Some day I’m going to show her that I’m stronger than her. Just to show her she can’t push me around.

  “Teresa,”

  “I’m going to kiss you.” she said. She glanced away, blushing.

  “What?”

  “I’m going to kiss you.”

  “Um,” I’m not sure how I feel about that. Also, what do you say to that? “Was there a timeline you had in mind for this?”

  “Oh, right now.” she said. She was staring into my face now, still blushing.

  “Oh. Are you sure you want to do that?” She’s really, really close to me.

  “Definitely.”

  “Oh.”

  “What are your thoughts on that?”

  “I don’t know.” I told her.

  “If you don’t want me to, I won’t.” she said. She’s taller than me. I never paid much attention, but she is. A couple of inches. “Do you want me to?”

  “I...”

  Do I want her to? I’ve spent almost all my time with her for a week, and she has made it clear in that time that she likes me. And I can’t say I don’t feel attracted to her, because I do.

  “Do you want me to?” she asked again, almost a whisper this time.

  I couldn’t answer, so I just nodded. And then she did it. It wasn’t a long kiss, and not even all that hot of a kiss, just a short kiss on the mouth. But then another real quick after it, and then a third. And then she backed away.

  “Goodnight.” she said.

  “‘Night.”

  “I’ll be here early tomorrow, okay?”

  “I’ll be waiting.”

  I stood there and watched her go, and I contemplated the chances that someone like me could possibly ever make someone like her happy. I’ve always wanted to be completely, over the top in love, and I never have been. I’m not now, but this is the first time I think I’ve ever felt like it could grow to that.

  “How was your date?” Barney asked, like always. Ted and Peggy are sitting on the sofa, watching a movie with him.

  “Um,” I felt myself blushing and smiling. “Good, thanks. Goodnight.”

  I hurried up the stairs, not listening to the questions he followed that with.

  Saturday, June 11

  I guess I fell asleep early last night, because I was out before Jess got home. She was up before me in the morning, too. So when I woke, she was waiting to jump on me about last night, wanting details. I told her everything.

  “So wow.” she said. “I was right.”

  “Yeah yeah.” She was. “So what about you and Tony? How is that going?”

  “Not well.” she said. She sort of smiled. “Doesn’t matter. I’m not really feeling it anyway.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s cool. I’ll find someone else. I mean we still hang out, so maybe he’ll pull his head out of his rectal region and things will be okay.” She shrugged. “Who knows.”

  “Your parents are watching the news.” I said.

  “What are you... you can hear them?”

  “Yeah. There was another attack. A young girl is dead.”

  “But it’s not your responsibility, honey.” she said. “You didn’t cause this.”

  “But nobody else can stop them, Jess.”

  “You can’t stop them, either! They’re going to kill you if you try.”

  “I know. I didn’t say I was going to do anything. I just wish they’d stop.”

  “Me too.” she said.

  “Teresa is here.” The doorbell rang. “See. Look, I have to get more blood soon. So like, I may have to go somewhere so I can nab some from a blood bank tonight.”

  “You don’t need to, we can all give some like before.”

  “Ya know you actually sort of need your blood, Jessica.” I said.

  “Last time you took off you went after those horrible people.”

  “I’m not going, Jess. I promise.”

  “You better not.” She gave me a hug. “I believe Teresa would miss you.”

  Teresa! Oh, I better get up and make myself at least a little more presentable. Crap, she’s coming up the stairs. I hurried to the bathroom and brushed my teeth and hair. When I came out, she was sitting with Jessica, chatting while she waited for me.

  “Good morning.” I said.

  “Morning, love.” she said. She hopped up and hugged me, then gave me quick kiss. “We’re going out, get dressed.”

  “Jeesh,” Jessica said. She put her hand on my shoulder. “You’re new girlfriend is demanding, Brynne. You two have fun.” She left the room.

  Girlfriend. Ugh. I really wish she hadn’t said that. I’m probably about as red as a brick right now. Teresa is smiling, at least. I think I’m going to be sick.

  “So is that what you told her?” she asked me.

  “I... no, I never... I...”

  “So then,” She grabbed my hand and kissed it and stared at my eyes. “Are we officially girlfriends?”

  “I... don’t know.”

  “I would like that.” She kissed my hand again. “Would you like that?”

  I couldn’t speak. When she looks into my eyes like that it gets really hard for me to make my mouth work. I’ve never, ever experienced that phenomenon before. It makes me nervous, too.

  “Brynne?”

  “What?”

  “Would you like to be my girlfriend?” I nodded. “Good. Now do you need help getting dressed so we can go?”

  “I think I can dress myself.”

  “But I want to help.�
� she said.

  I finally got the strength to shove her out of the room. She may want to help me change, but I’m not sure I’m ready for that. I mean what would happen if I started getting naked around her? I may heal quickly, but scars take a long time to go away, and I’m really scarred from the attack. It’ll probably take close to a year for those to completely disappear.

  I didn’t even bother to try to hide how I felt about her when we were shopping. I guess I’m pretty into her too. So we held hands and even kissed a few times, and pretty much ignored anyone that seemed to have an issue with it. There aren’t exactly a lot of gay people around here, so I imagine there’ll be a lot of people having problems with this. I know we’re getting a lot of weird looks.

  “Who’s this?” Halle, a girl I know from school, asked me.

  “Oh, um, hi.” I said. “This is Teresa.”

  “You’re not from here.” Halle said to her.

  “I’m from Georgia.” Teresa said.

  “Huh. Wow Brynne, I would never have pictured you with someone like this. Someone from the south, I mean.” She laughed a little. “Well good for you. Anyway, ladies, there is a huge sale going on upstairs, you should check it out. See ya’ll later.” she said, putting on a fake southern accent.

  That went really well. The world is slowly changing, and people are becoming more and more accepting. If I had shown up with a girl when my parents were still alive they would have made me leave. My own parents would have disowned me. Not because they were bad people, just because that’s how everyone was back then and that’s how they were taught.

  “Who was that?” Teresa asked.

  “Halle. She was in my history class.”

  “She seemed nice.”

  “Eh, I guess. Wanna go check out that sale?”

  “Let’s do it, girlfriend.”

  We took the stairs. We could have taken the escalator or waited for the elevator, but I sort of like the slower pace of taking the stairs sometimes. The place is becoming packed, maybe because of the sale. There are several stores up here having sales. Sales are great, even if you can afford to pay the higher price. It always feels good to feel like you’re getting a bargain.

  “So why don’t you have a heavy southern accent?” I asked Teresa. She was holding up a sequined tank top.

  “My mother is from Massachusetts, and my dad is from California. And then I spent every summer away from home. We used to visit Mom’s family in Mass or Dad’s in Cali in the summers. The last couple I’ve spent with my aunt and uncle here. Plus we lived two years in Wyoming when I was little. So yeah, sort of kills any chance of an accent.”

  “I’ve lived all over, too.” I told her.

  “Oh yeah? Where?”

  “Everywhere.”

  “Like?”

  “Miami, Cleveland, L.A., Portland, Milwaukee. I spent some time in Canada, lived in the middle of nowhere in Alaska for a while, lived in basically every state at one point or other.”

  “Wow, you’re parents moved that much?”

  Oh crap. See what happens when I let my defenses down and I talk too much? Stupid! Okay, this isn’t a problem, I just have to cover up good. Now I have to lie to my girlfriend. Nice way to build a relationship.

  “They did. And then I moved around a lot after they died. It seemed like staying in one place too long would be bad.”

  “‘Cause they’d make you go into foster care?”

  “That would be bad, I think.” Not untrue.

  “So how long ago did they die?”

  “Gosh, it seems like forever.” I said.

  “You’ve been here for two years?” I nodded. “You must have been really young when they died? How have you lived alone so long?”

  “I just... get by.”

  “Hey,” She kissed right next to my eye, then wiped my cheeks with her hand. “Sorry I brought it up. I didn’t mean to upset you, love.”

  I spent three hundred bucks on clothes, mostly for Teresa. It’s always fun to shop. But I heard some woman warning her daughter and a friend to stick together and not wander off away from everyone, because it’s too dangerous right now with all the attacks in the news.

  I have to stop Joanna and Julius. I just have to.

  We shopped for a while longer, but I couldn’t get into it. It really is depressing that those people keep killing. I don’t want to deal with this. Why do I have to deal with this? Why can’t someone else do it? It’s not fair.

  Teresa’s smiling face stopped smiling so much by the end of our shopping trip. When we left, she seemed really unhappy. I guess my mood is rubbing off on her. I should leave before I do something to hurt her. Not physically, I’d never, but I would hate to continue this and then her be even more upset later on, if she were to find out the truth. Or if those two come looking for me I guess they might hurt her physically.

  “Shouldn’t you avoid the sun?” she asked. She was nudging me toward the shaded area, just off the sidewalk.

  “I guess.”

  “Hey, what’s going on?”

  “Nothing.”

  “I thought you were having fun earlier, and then... I don’t know.”

  “Hey,” I leaned against her and sort of hugged her. “I was.”

  “Are you always moody like this? Be honest, I’m your girlfriend now.” she said. She tickled my side until I pulled away laughing.

  “Maybe.” I shrugged.

  She pulled me against her and hugged me. And something about the way she was holding me made me feel really protected for a minute there. And sort of vulnerable. And I sort of let go and was crying against her shoulder.

  “What is wrong, love?”

  “Everything. Everything is so messed up, Teresa.”

  “You can tell me.”

  “I... I can’t really talk about it right now.”

  “Okay. Brynne, do I need to call someone to come pick you up?”

  “What? No, I... why would...”

  “You seem really upset. I’m sure Mr. or Mrs. Sloan, or even Barney, would come get you. Or I could call Tony. He’d give you a ride.”

  “No, I’m fine.”

  We walked a while again, once I calmed down. She seemed angry at me. I guess because I didn’t tell her why I was upset. I can’t, though. I really, really can’t.

  “You want to see the house I was living in?” I asked.

  “What house?”

  “I still have it rented. If you want to see it. But you have to promise not to tease me.”

  “Hmm.” She smiled again. She bent forward and bumped her forehead against mine. “I already know about your doll collection, love.”

  This may not be a good idea. What if those two come back to look for me, and now I’m leading her right to them. Plus I’m sure there are things in my house that she will see that I may have a hard time explaining.

  “So here we are.” I said.

  “Nice. So are we going in, or just standing here all day?”

  “Um, yeah.”

  I opened the door and we stepped inside. Why is it always so embarrassing to show someone your personal space for the first time? I guess I feel like I’m going to be judged.

  “Wow, and I thought you had a lot of clothes at home. Or at the Sloans’.”

  “Yeah. I sort of like clothes.”

  “Doesn’t everyone? Oh these are cute.” she said.

  She found the little villages I make out of clay. Oh this is so embarrassing. Jess never said anything about these. Jess took some of my posters down, and they’re at her house, so there are all these bare places on the walls. It makes the room feel different.

  “These are good.”

  “Thanks. For lying, I mean.” I said, laughing.

  “No, love, they’re really good.”

  I like the way she calls me that. It sort of seemed odd at first, but now it just makes me feel special. She’s such a sweet girl. I wish I were normal, so we could have a normal relationship.

  “So this place is
kind of out there.” she said. “No bed? And your clothes are everywhere. Wow, you really did live alone, huh?”

  “Um, yeah.”

  “Cool. So we could like hang out here when we want to be alone.”

  “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

  “You don’t want to be alone with me?”

  The way she says that just sounds so suggestive. No, I don’t want to be alone with her. Not like she’s saying it. Not yet. I’ve never had any kind of relationship with anyone, let alone an intimate kind of relationship.

  “So you ready to talk about what had you so upset?” she asked.

  “No.”

  “Oh. Okay.” She said angrily. “Well, I guess we should get going. The Sloans are going to wonder where you’re at.”