by Myers, J. L.
Instantly I felt terrible. I had been so consumed by Ty’s presence that I had totally forgotten about my brother waiting for me in the cold. “Sorry,” I said pulling out the chair beside me. “I meant to come out and get you, but you looked busy.”
“You do know it’s freezing out there,” Ty mocked, throwing a glance over his shoulder at the glass door to the courtyard.
“Thick skin,” Dorian replied, shrugging as he sat down. The way he seemed so calm, so normal and so in control irritated me. “When you’ve spent your life growing up in Alaska, I guess you become somewhat immune to the cold.” He glanced up at Ty, then across at Vanessa with a broadening smile. “By the way, I’m Dorian. Amelia’s brother.”
“We know,” Vanessa spoke up. “That’s Ty and I’m Vanessa. I’m pretty sure we have chem together.”
They got onto the topic of teachers after that. Ty occasionally threw in a comment or question here and there while I sat in complete silence. It was all I could do to ignore his scent that flooded my mouth with saliva. My eyes burned to make eye contact or check out those unusual scars, speculating how he’d gotten them. So I forced my gaze away, coasting over the yellow-walled cafeteria. White rectangular tables ran in rows, fully packed with bodies. For a second, I almost felt relieved. Among the groups of herding teens, the one boy who had threatened Dorian and me this morning was nowhere in sight. In the situation I had gotten us into, we didn’t need any more conflict. Dealing with Ty and Vanessa and my growing urges was enough.
Beside me, Dorian was still talking with animation. He appeared totally unaffected by Ty’s proximity. My irritation grew to resentment. Why was this so easy for him? As an extra precaution, I had my feet curved around the chair’s legs. Still the physical restraint was not enough to deter my thoughts. Not enough to stop my mind from wondering how I could taste Ty’s blood and get away with it. Feeling my gums prickle in anticipation, I tore the wrapper off my bought chocolate bar and took a bite. If anything could distract me, it was chocolate. Though even with my thirst ebbing, nothing could remove the pressing weight of Ty’s eyes bearing down on me.
Shifting my attention to Vanessa wasn’t any better. She appeared completely relaxed, now throwing questions like live grenades at Dorian. She wanted to know everything, a quest to discover our whole life story. I couldn’t control my growing suspicion. Just friendly, or maybe too friendly?
Dorian, on the other hand, knew the drill. He answered every question without flinching, keeping our secrets hidden with his nonchalant attitude while lying and flirting like a pro.
I was still eying Vanessa with suspicion when Ty’s voice cut through my thoughts. “So, Amelia, what do you think?”
Under the table my free hand spasmed, hitting the metal frame. I fought the urge to wince, not from pain but for having been so distracted that Ty’s voice had startled me. “Sorry, think about what?”
“Dorian wants to join the swim team,” Ty said, and I almost imagined a flicker of gold across his irises. “So we’re planning a swim off.”
Dorian leaned into me with his shoulder. “Geez, where have you been? We’ve been hashing out the race details for the past five minutes.”
“Swim off?” Oh God don’t tell me.
“With Dorian’s not-so-humble boasting on how good he is at all sports,” Ty said, clear sarcasm tinting his tone. “I just couldn’t resist.”
Ty and Dorian were planning to race each other? My stomach dropped with a sudden swell of nausea. “I don’t think…”
“So, we’re thinking Friday,” Dorian said, cutting me off. “Ty needs to tee it up with the coach and get permission slips.”
I squeezed, fingernails slicing my forgotten chocolate bar in two. He couldn’t be serious! We needed to keep a low profile. Remain off the radar. Not draw attention. Uncurling one foot from the chair’s leg, I struck out, connecting with Dorian’s shin.
He twitched in his seat, a grimace hijacking his pale face. “What?”
The genuine confusion in his expression enraged me. “You know what,” I hissed under my breath.
“We don’t,” Ty said, causing the rate of my heartbeat to spike. “What’s the problem?”
I cringed at his expectant tone. My whispered words to Dorian over the noisy lunch crowd shouldn’t have been audible to anyone else. Still, whether I had expected Ty to hear it or not, he had. I tried to speak, to somehow explain, but any possible explanation died on my tongue. There were no words, no excuses.
“Oh, Amelia’s just worried I’ll show you up.” Dorian’s casual tone surprised me, yet again. He was so bloody calm. “It would be pretty embarrassing for the head of the swim team to lose against the new guy.”
Smugness curved Ty’s lips. “Oh, I’ll beat you, new guy, don’t you worry. I’m pretty fast.”
There was no doubt that Dorian would kick Ty’s butt. Vampire against human… With our incredible speed it was hardly fair. Though Dorian winning wasn’t the real issue; using our superior abilities around humans was. It was far too risky.
“I’m sure Ty can organize the whole swim team to watch too,” Vanessa chimed in.
“Of course,” Ty nodded, goading eyes shifting from her to Dorian. “What’s the use in racing if no one’s there to see me win?”
My insides began to ache at all the stress these two were causing me. I didn’t know how much more of this I could take. Dorian scoffed beside me, finding comedy in Ty’s words, while I fought the urge to dry-retch. Pleading with my eyes, I placed a firm hand over Dorian’s. “Please don’t.”
He waved me off. “You worry too much.”
It was clear that nothing I could say or do now was going to afford me the outcome I wanted. Dorian never shied away from a challenge. I bit my tongue hard. The pain and taste of my own blood distracted me from the nausea still curdling my stomach. This wasn’t over. Later and without spectators, I would make him change his mind.
As I began preparing a solid argument to sway Dorian, a dark figure moved at the corner of my vision. In the same instant, the intensity of Ty’s blood flared. I’d almost forgotten it throughout the stressful discussion. Now it was so strong that it filled my lungs and caused my head to swell. Tingles danced across my gums and without enough warning to hold them back, my fangs sprung free. Then I felt his presence; the dark figure stood directly behind me.
“What the hell is going on?” His voice cut through the air, disgruntled and familiar.
The screech of chair legs and numerous gasps reached my ears as action-hungry students turned in their seats.
My head whirled to find a tall, buff boy. His bare arms, scarred like Ty’s, were stiff at his sides. It was the very same boy I’d been scanning the cafeteria for minutes ago. With wide-eyes I stared at him then down at his hunting boots that matched Ty’s. How had I not heard his footsteps?
“Troy,” Ty said in a deep, even voice. “This is Dorian and Amelia.”
Troy stalked around the table, squaring up before Ty who remained seated, looking almost bored with the situation. Troy glared down, eyes skewering Ty with a cold and deathly stare. “They shouldn’t be here. You should have dealt with this when you had the chance.”
With the physical tension between them and the matching scars, I wondered suddenly if they brawled on a regular basis. Then panic over his cryptic words overrode my curiosity. The same fear that had plagued me earlier twisted my insides. I was right. He must know.
“Please excuse Troy,” Vanessa said, carelessly curling a lock of hair around her index finger. “Like a dog, he’s a bit territorial.”
Troy’s eyes whipped past Ty to her. Insult darkened his expression. “Did you just call me a dog?”
“Just calling it as I see it,” Vanessa shrugged.
Troy crossed his arms defiantly over his broad chest and turned his glare back to Ty. “I refuse to put up with this shit!”
“You’re out of line.” Ty’s voice was sharp as a blade. He rose to his feet, sliding his leather ja
cket off in the same movement. He wasn’t quite as tall as Troy. Still, the power emanating from every inch of his taut, bronzed muscles made one thing strikingly clear: he was not about to back down. “You have two choices. Behave, or leave.”
Troy’s arms dropped with tension to his sides. Was he backing down?
Regardless, I jumped to my feet, forcing Dorian up by the sleeve of his sweater. In this moment, I couldn’t contemplate their matched and overpowering scent. Or if Troy’s cryptic words actually meant what I suspected. It was time to leave. And really, I shouldn’t have let this happen in the first place. Agreeing to have lunch with humans… What was I thinking?
My voice emerged in a rush, lips covering my still extended fangs. “No. Stay.” Besides not wanting to be the cause for anyone to fight, I couldn’t stick around with their intense, coupled scent. “We’re leaving.”
Clutching Dorian’s arm, I spun and began walking, away from drama, away from temptation, and away from Ty.
~
After school, Dorian peeled out of the student parking lot and onto Ocean Boulevard. I slung my arms over my chest and clutched my sides. Because if I didn’t, the resent-clouded anger billowing within me would win, and I’d belt him across the face.
“I can’t believe you!” Too angry to look at him, I glared out the window at the miserable rain pelting down all around us. It sheeted everything in monotones, from the prestigious estates and their lavish grounds, to the expensive cars parked with surfboards along the shoreline. “We’re supposed to blend in, appear normal. Not challenge the head of the swim team to a swim off, with the intent of using your inhuman speed to win. Mom will never allow this.”
Dorian threw an arm over the seat to rifle through his backpack. A second later he’d pulled free two sheets of paper. They were permission slips for parental consent. One was to take part in a swimming race. The other was to observe from the stands. Their letterhead paper matched the permission slips hidden in my bag. They were for a geography excursion to the White Mountains later this week. “Mom wants us to do human stuff, and this is as human as it gets. And if you recall,” he added, keeping his eyes on the rain-slicked road ahead, “Ty challenged me to race. You know I can’t back down from a challenge.”
Wishing that the look alone could inflict tortuous pain, I propelled my icy glare onto him. The earlier irritation I felt toward Dorian took over. My lips spat with venom. “So he challenged you, who cares? And why is everything so freaking easy for you! Couldn’t you smell them? How could you not have wanted to bite them then and there, to drain every drop of blood from their bodies?” I was screaming, voice shrill and unrelenting. But I didn’t care. After fighting every instinct that seemed so natural to me now, the tether of my control was wearing so thin, it was on the verge of snapping.
Unshaken by my outburst, Dorian’s lips parted in a half-smile. “So, are you angry about the race, or because I didn’t kill Ty and Troy? ’Cause I’m getting a mixed signal here. Don’t draw attention by doing something normal, like competing in a sport, or draw attention by murdering in plain sight.”
Ouch! That hit a note. I hung my head, letting my blond locks fall around my face. I was being a total hypocrite, expecting Dorian to hide away like I felt I had to, while hating him for his lack of obvious struggle when it came to predatory instinct.
Dorian grasped a drink bottle from the cars cup holder and handed it to me. “Here, this’ll help.”
I eyed the black sports bottle in my hands, wishing the blood inside didn’t taste better than chocolate. This was the usual way we consumed blood these days, cold and dead. It was a daily necessity that quelled some of the rampant thirst. Our stock was provided by one of the Armaya owned blood banks and kept chilled like most human beverages. Though the only thing human about drinking blood was that the blood was human. My fangs extended while my body shuddered. The level to which I’d enjoyed hunting, it was so primal, so embedded in this creature I was. But after each kill, the crushing guilt set in. It gnawed away at my insides like poison melting through my organs. The black eyes of terrified deer and golden eyes of startled wolves forever lingered on the back of my eyelids. This way is better, I thought, lifting the bottle to my lips and wishing the words held conviction rather than uncertainty. Wishing the thought of fresh blood, and the memory of the one human’s blood I had tasted, didn’t instill in me a crippling sense of starvation.
Deflecting my thoughts I asked, “So, you and what’s-her-name? You didn’t waste any time.”
“Cindy,” Dorian said while slicking his dark hair back with his hands. “Pretty, huh? And why wait. I’ve been girl-less for six months. That’s like a lifetime in teen years.” A playful smile crept across his face. “So, what’s going on between you and Ty?”
The dead blood I had just downed spiked my throat, and I fought not to cough. “W-what do you mean?”
Dorian’s eyes gleamed with perception, an expression that made me want to slap it from his face. “You two couldn’t keep your eyes off each other.”
Without wanting to, I thought back. Ty’s calculating gaze had plagued me with nerves. On top of that, the sight and smell of him had invoked involuntary reactions in my body. I shook my head, grimacing. “It’s his scent. It’s just so—overwhelming.”
“Yeah, I picked up on that too,” Dorian said. “They’ve probably got a rare blood type, or something.”
“I guess.” Tears at feeling so out of control, of finding adaption so difficult when Dorian was breezing through, pricked at my eyes. “How is it so easy for you?”
“It’s not,” Dorian said absolutely, resting a cold, supportive hand on mine. “It’s a struggle. But I know I can keep it together, just as I know you can, too. You give yourself far too little credit.” His gentle expression transformed with a mischievous grin. “Now, back to you and Ty, what’s really going on?”
I jerked my hand from his. Inside I could feel my heartbeat elevating. “I told you.” My tone was icy and sharp. “It’s his blood. I literally want to kill him!”
Dorian gazed thoughtfully through the windscreen, barely slowing as he turned a sharp bend on the rain-slicked road. The Audi screeched in protest, sliding. Then its four wheels reclaimed the road. “If that were true,” he said raising an eyebrow, “you’d look at Troy the same way. But you don’t.” His mouth gaped as though he were rearranging the pieces of a puzzle. “Ah, I see,” he said, looking back at me with gleaming eyes. “You’re into Ty. You’re attracted to him.”
Fire seared up my neck and across my cheeks. The notion of wanting to kill someone while being attracted to them was utterly ridiculous. He was wrong. The urge to lash out seized me and I clenched my fists, narrowing my eyes at Dorian. “I am only going to say this once. Troy is a steroid-pumped jerk. Ty isn’t. That’s the only reason I look at them differently.”
Dorian raised a doubtful brow as we drove through the stone-barrier fronting our house. “Whatever you reckon, sis.” But the look on his face said, I’ll get to Mom before you do.
Knowing he’d lock me out of Mom’s office if he had the chance, I raced into the house, failing to slam the door before he leaped inside.
Mom smiled. “You just missed your uncle on the phone. He was calling to see how you’re both settling in. Unfortunately, he’s swamped with work at the Armaya. However he said he might be able to visit in a couple of weeks.” Mom was already dressed in a blazer and A-line skirt for her first meeting at the Portsmouth Vampire Council. “Now tell me, how was your first day at school?”
I threw my backpack down at the side of her desk. “Mom, please, you have to say no.”
“What is going on?” she demanded, nodding at the two chairs across from her for us to sit. “Did something happen?”
“What?” I suddenly realized the worry on her face came from fear that we’d failed to control ourselves today. Before I had a chance to voice my how could you send us to school if you thought we’d kill someone rant, Dorian spoke.
“No,” he said, “nothing like that. Amelia is just over-reacting, as usual.”
“Now, Dorian,” Mom spoke sternly. “You know being a vampire heightens your emotions. So far you have found most of the transition quite routine. Amelia on the other hand, has always been more emotionally charged. So her ability to control her influx of feelings will take more time and patience.”
“Whatever.” Dorian rolled his eyes and thrust the two forms into her hands. “I want to join the swim team, and to qualify I have to race their captain.”
“A race?” Mom pursed her lips in thought. “Well I don’t see the harm.”
“You don’t see the harm!” I shot up and kicked my bag. Everything spilled out: textbooks, pencil case, iPhone, and the damn excursion slips. It had an extended deadline of tomorrow morning, seeing as it was already well into the new school year. Every other student’s had been returned last week.
Mom snatched the permission slips up from the ground, scanning it over with narrowed eyes. “And I suppose you don’t want to go on this geography excursion either?”
“Mom, you don’t understand.” I threw clasped hands across her tidy desk, pleading. “Today was hard, really hard. I don’t think I…”
“Amelia,” she said, cutting me off. Her eyes were gentle but set with determination. “I don’t want to force you to do anything. But I will not let you hide away, believing you’re some despicable creature. You are not. You are a good person.” With a steady breath she pulled a pen from her blazer pocket and signed all three forms. “Learning to co-exist with humans is a process. And you and Dorian are doing so well. I am so extremely proud of you both.”
I cringed. The race was bad enough. Now I had to stress about the cons of being trapped on a human-packed bus ride to the White Mountains. Not enough clean air, too many bodies, and no escape…unless I dive out one of the windows. I knelt to stuff the spilled items into my backpack. Then knowing nothing I could say would change her mind, I snatched my two forms from Mom’s desk and stomped from her office.