Davy Harwood (The Immortal Prophecy)

by Tijan

  “I still feel like crap. Why do I feel like this? I hate being sick. I have too much work to do.” Emily moaned and fell into one of the chairs.

  A thought occurred to me. “You can come with me and Adam.”

  Disgust first flashed over her features, but then a bright smile lit it up. “You’re right. It’s not awkward then. I won’t even have to talk. You like to talk. You and Adam can talk, but no mushy stuff. I don’t think I can stomach that tonight.” She pressed an open palm over her stomach and I feared she was going to actually throw up.

  I remembered my night of vomiting and grimaced. My stupid body had been changing and I felt a tingle in my palm. My body was still changing.

  When I turned towards the closet, I muttered to myself, “I don’t know if I could stomach it either.”

  “What’s he wearing?”

  “Who?”

  “The guy!”

  “I didn’t go through the lounge. I snuck up the back stairs.” I shrugged and grabbed my shower bag. Then I toed off my shoes and slid on my flip flops.

  “Where are you going?” Emily gasped with a hitch in her voice.

  “I’m going to take a shower and then get ready. Adam can wait.”

  “What about the guy?”

  “He can wait too. We’re worth it.” Then I proved how overjoyed I was with a long yawn.

  Emily narrowed her eyes, but didn’t comment.

  Was I overjoyed? Not anymore. Could I be overjoyed with the idea of a date with Adam? I was hoping. I wanted normalcy before and I still wanted normalcy. What was messing it all up was Roane and the Immortal stuff. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I was a human now. I’d be the Immortal another day. Human. Date. But first, a shower.

  When I entered the room after a quick cleaning, I saw that the chairs all remained the same and Emily was dressed now in a pair of khakis and a red sweater. I considered making a joke about Target, but thought better of it. In her state, Emily wouldn’t register the joke or she would’ve been even more horrified.

  “I’m freaking out,” Emily rushed out.

  “Yes. Yes, you are.” I nodded to myself.

  “What kind of guy comes to a girl’s dorm? How did he even know who I was?”

  I had one answer for that. He was a vampire. They could sniff down their adversary. “I’m pretty sure Kates introduced you guys or Roane did. It’s not that big of a campus. There are only a few dorms for freshman girls.”

  “Roane?” Emily asked, confused.

  “Oh—Luke, right? That’s what you call him.”

  Emily sighed wistfully, “I wish he were downstairs.”

  My hand stilled as I reached for a black lacy shirt. My stomach flipped on itself, but I took a deep breath and pushed past the moment of shame. My roommate had a crush on Lucas Roane. I knew that and I still kissed him. Could I take it back? I don’t think that was the question I needed to ask myself. I should’ve asked—did I want to take it back?

  “But he’s not and this guy is. I like this guy—he’s… I don’t know how to explain it.”

  I’d heard it so many other times. Emily wasn’t the first to have fallen underneath a vampire’s attraction. It was ensnaring and powerful. We were both doomed.

  “Okay, I’m ready!” Emily announced and I turned to see that she was glowing.

  “What happened to the ‘we have too many chairs?’”

  She blushed again. “I don’t know. It’s silly, right? I should be excited that a guy is here. He took the time to find me and wants to have dinner. It’s dinner. That means something, right? Right?” The glow quickly slipped to show befuddlement.

  “It means something, yes.”

  She smiled and her panic lessened again. I’d never seen her so frazzled. It was so human of her and I found that refreshing. “Are you ready to make him eat his heart out?”

  Emily smoothed a shaking hand down her shirt and chuckled.

  I grabbed my purse and posed. “How do I look?”

  Emily blinked. “You look great. Wow, you really do.”

  I chose a cream silk shirt that hugged my body. A layer of black lace had been sewn over it and the shirt rested low on my hips where I felt the snug fit of my jeans. I had eyed the high heeled black boots, but the black ballet slipper shoes won. I felt comfortable. I knew I wouldn’t be mistaken for a Target employee.

  As we left the room, I tried not to ask myself the question of whether I was dressing for Adam or the hope of Adam? I sucked in a breath. I didn’t want that—I didn’t want to start thinking about things like that. I was normal for the night.

  Emily had walked ahead, but turned back. Her eyes widened dramatically and she stopped abruptly to place a soothing hand over my arm. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m good. Thanks.” I was a taken aback at the concern in her voice. It was real. I always thought Emily ran in the opposite direction of emotion. I squeezed her hand in reassurance and then we both turned towards the boys who were waiting. Adam straightened from the wall and smiled that adorable grin.

  I felt a calming breath go through me and remembered the reasons why I had liked Adam in the first place. He was sweet and kind. He wasn’t evil. There was no hidden agenda.

  “You look great, Davina.”

  “It’s Davy.” Emily clarified, “She likes to be called Davy.”

  Score one in the friendship category for my roommate—and from the looks of her leering vampire, she scored a point with him. Unlike Adam’s golden curls, this vampire’s blond locks looked greasy. Some went for that dirty sex-craved look, but I was glad this one wasn’t there for me.

  “Emily.” The vampire moved from across the room and took her hand gently to rub against his black tight-fitting shirt.

  Emily blushed. “Oh my.”

  “You look beautiful,” he crooned as he pulled her towards him and placed a hand around her waist. Well well well… Emily had more than a devoted vampire on her hands.

  I eyed him questioningly and wondered if I should slip inside. Then I remembered Roane’s words. I was human with human traits and that meant no powers, not even my empathic ones.

  “Are you ready to go, Davy?” Adam emphasized my name this time.

  “I am and you look good too.” And he did, wearing a white pressed shirt over a pair of dark blue jeans.

  Emily squeaked when the vampire bent his head and whispered something in her ear. Whatever he said produced another blush and she sounded breathless. “We’re going with them.”

  “We are?” The vampire lazily lifted his head and smiled charmingly.

  “We are.”

  Adam coughed to cover up his surprise. “We’re going to the Alexander Restaurant.”

  “I heard that’s divine eating.” The vampire was smooth. I had to give him that.

  “I don’t know if you remember Davy, but this is my roommate. Davy, this is Bennett. He was at that bar we went to with Kates.”

  “It’s nice to meet you this time.” I made sure to be polite, but Bennett had no interest in me.

  When we got to the cars, Emily insisted all of us go together. As we started off, I sat in the front passenger seat and moved the mirror so I could watch Bennett. I started to realize that something about the vampire bothered me. Of course, it might’ve been the fact that he was a vampire, but there was something else. He had his hands all over Emily—which I wasn’t surprised she allowed. Vampire charm meant vampire addiction. Not many girls could fight the lure once bitten. I knew Emily had no chance so I was secretly happy about the driving status. I could keep an eye on Bennett and make sure he didn’t sneak anymore lovebites against Emily’s wishes.

  Then as we neared the restaurant, I caught some furtive glances that Bennett kept shooting towards Adam. His hands were on Emily, but his eyes were on Adam. What the—? “Bennett, did you and Adam know each other before?”

  Bennett lifted his eyes to stare long and hard at me through the rear view mirror. Adam had a look of confusion. He had no clue. So tha
t meant the vampire was up to something. I switched my gaze back to Bennett’s in the mirror and wasn’t surprised to see him reassessing me.

  “Did you guys?” Emily rasped out. “I guess we never introduced you two.”

  Adam looked like the idea had never occurred to him.

  Bennett lied, “We have a class together.”

  “We do?”

  “Yeah. Social work.”

  “Oh, yeah. The class with Moser?” Adam played into Bennett’s hand.

  “That’s great!” This new Emily was easily satisfied.

  I wasn’t, but I quieted when Adam pulled into the parking lot. As we got out of the car, I found myself alone with Bennett. Somehow, in the blink of an eye, Emily and Adam had approached the restaurant without us.

  “Wha…?” I managed out before Bennett stepped right in front of me.

  “You know who I am.” He tried to pierce me with his blue eyes. They reminded me of Kates, how fierce and crystal blue they could be at times….

  I recovered quickly and snapped out, “I know what you are.”

  “If you’re smart, you’ll keep that to yourself,” he threatened.

  “I’m not smart. A lot of people think I’m dumb, really dumb, bimbo dumb.” I backed down quickly when I remembered Roane’s warning. Loathing vampires drew attention and it certainly wasn’t normal. They were used to being feared.

  He ran an aggravated hand through his greasy hair. “What do you want?”

  “Stop taking lovebites out of my roommate.” How many times does a person get to say that?

  “Fine. You won’t say anything to her? She doesn’t know what I am. I’d like to keep it that way.”

  “You had to have realized that I’d know what you are. Kates was at the bar that night.” I knew every vampire knew who and what Kates was.

  “What?”

  “Kates. She’s one of my best friends. She’s a slayer, remember?”

  “Oh yeah… I never thought… Kates is one of us. She’s loyal to Lu—there’s a lot of humans that know our secrets and a lot that don’t. I’d like Emily to be one that doesn’t know.”

  Whatever he’d been about to say, I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear it. By the look of his sudden nervousness and quick catch, I knew Bennett wished that he hadn’t slipped what he had.

  I stepped closer. “She’s loyal to who?”

  “Lucas Roane. The Hunter. She’s loyal to him like everyone else.”

  I knew that was a load of crap. He hadn’t been about to say Lucas. “She’s loyal to him, huh?” I told myself to let it go. My insides screamed that this vampire was bad news, but I was a human that night. Roane made me promise. I couldn’t do anything, absolutely anything, to give any suspicion. So that meant I needed to accept that Bennett had lied through his fangs to me.

  “She is and so am I. There’s no problem, right? I won’t hurt your roommate. If I do, I’d have to be killed, remember?”

  Right. The whole decree thing… and yet, as he turned and left me behind my gut didn’t agree with him.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  “I wasn’t sure where you went.” Adam pulled my chair out for me.

  “Uh… yeah…” I didn’t think I could tell him a vampire had threatened me.

  Adam frowned, but sat beside me as Bennett arrived behind me. There we were. Two couples based on lies and supernatural coincidences. As I looked around, I realized that we were at the best table. The restaurant was nice and by nice—I meant expensive. A fountain was in the middle of the restaurant and each table had a crystal goblet with three small goldfish swimming inside. Our glasses were diamond encrusted.

  “Did you request this table?” I asked Adam.

  “What?”

  “This is the best table in the restaurant. Did you ask for this?”

  Bennett lifted his whispering head. Emily fanned herself.

  “No. I mean, I called and asked for the availability tonight. They weren’t doing reservations. We just got here. I couldn’t have… what was the question?”

  “Nothing.” I shook my head with an easy smile. It didn’t matter, but I wondered if Roane had anything to do with the table. I hoped not. It didn’t help my confused emotions.

  “Shall we order?” Bennett suggested.

  I fixed him with a glare. “Right. You’re a big fan of… what? Salad?”

  “Davy.” Both Emily and Adam reprimanded me.

  I was nonplussed. “Maybe you can order the meat rare. You can tell them not to cook it, just slap it on a plate for you.”

  “Davina.” Emily had remembered her prim and proper standards. She looked nauseous.

  I arched an eyebrow, ready for whatever Bennett threw back, but Adam caught my hand and dragged me from the table.

  “What is going on with you?” Adam tried to be nice, but he still sounded aggravated. It was somewhat endearing. He was like a gentleman that needed to ask something ungentlemanly, but couldn’t figure out the words.

  “I don’t like him.”

  Adam sighed and scratched the back of his head. A surge of warmth speared through me. He really was unlike everything else in my life. Stable. Honest.

  “Hey.” I caught his hand and pulled it between us. “I like you.”

  He was startled, but delight spread over his features. “Really?”

  I squeezed his hand and moved closer. “I know that it’s sudden and fast and this is our first date, but… I just wanted to tell you that. I like you.”

  “I like you too.” An anchor seemed to have lifted off him. “Wow. That feels good to have that off my chest.”

  This is what I wanted, right? I wasn’t sure, but I held tight to his hand anyway. Adam glanced from my eyes to my lips and back again. I held my breath. I knew what he was going to do—he waited for a signal, any signal. If I moved just an inch he would’ve been a happy boy. I was stricken. Adam was what I wanted. I’d taken one look at him at the hotline and knew he would be mine. I enjoyed the chase and now the chase was done. Adam was mine. So why wasn’t I happy? Giddy? I was just…nothing.

  Then I glanced over Adam’s shoulder and knew it would have to wait. Kates was at our table.

  “What the—?” I straightened away from Adam and stepped around.

  “What?” He looked too and froze in place.

  I wasn’t sure why he seemed paralyzed, but I know that the sight of Kates whispering into Bennett’s ear wasn’t going to make my life any easier. What in the hell was she doing here? I didn’t wait to ponder and marched across the room. “What are you doing here? And with him?”

  Kates gasped, “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m on a date.” I jerked my thumb over my shoulder. Adam looked like he was caught in a pair of headlights.