by Kailin Gow
They stopped just short of the school hall, and Briony saw Fallon patting his pockets, as though he were looking for something. He finally found it, in the shape of two boxes. The first turned out to be a corsage, pale white against the darkness of Briony’s dress once she put it on. It went with it so well that Briony had to wonder if he’d known what she would be wearing.
“Maisy told me,” Fallon explained without being asked. “I think she wanted this to be perfect. I don’t know if there’s much chance of that now though.”
“We can try,” Briony said, reaching out for his hand. “After all, it’s not like you’re about to lunge over and bite me, is it?”
Fallon was silent just a little too long.
“Fallon?”
“The hunger is there, Briony. It’s always there. So soon after being transformed, I need a lot of blood. I have been feeding on animals, things I could catch, lesser things. But it is barely enough, and you look so… tempting tonight.”
Briony edged back in her seat, just a little. She needed something to distract Fallon, and she needed it quickly.
“What’s in the other box?”
“What? Oh, right. I had forgotten.” Fallon opened the second box, which was much smaller than the first. Gold gleamed inside it. “You’ll have to take it out. I can’t.”
It was a crucifix. A small, golden crucifix. It hung from a chain of fine, golden links as Briony drew it out of the box. Fallon had his eyes firmly shut.
“Why would you buy me this?” Briony wondered aloud. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“I wanted you to be safe. Even from me. Here, if I keep my eyes closed, I can probably help you to put it on.”
Briony thought about pointing out that she already had the silver slayer cross George had given her, although it didn’t go well with her dress. She wasn’t wearing it though, and had it neatly tucked into her silver evening bag.
Fallon slipped the chain around her neck, fastening the clasp by feel. The movement brought him so close that Briony could smell the clean scent of the soap he used. Funny, she had almost been expecting an undertone of blood. The necklace, once it was in place, hung low enough to be partially hidden by Briony’s dress. Fallon pulled back and opened his eyes.
“Well,” Briony joked, “at least I know you won’t be looking anywhere you shouldn’t.”
“There is that,” Fallon said. “We should go in now. I think everyone else should get at least a brief chance to see how wonderful you look tonight.”
“You don’t exactly clean up badly yourself.”
Apparently, other people thought the same, because they attracted more than their fair share of stares as they walked into the dance together. The festivities were already in full swing, with the dance floor crowded with couples. Maisy was off in one corner with Steve, who didn’t seem to be having much success when it came to dancing. A quick glance around the rest of the floor revealed Claire, in a short dress that had probably cost a lot more than it appeared to, and Tracey, in the kind of overblown, glittery thing that only she could ever have gotten away with wearing. Ross and Bill, dancing with them, didn’t seem to mind.
Pepper was in the middle of a group of admirers, already wearing the homecoming queen’s crown at the top of an ensemble that looked like it tried just a little bit too hard. Briony didn’t feel any disappointment at that. Everybody had who it would be, and in any case, maybe it would be a good thing. If Pepper had a clear sign that she was still popular, maybe she wouldn’t feel quite so threatened by Briony’s presence. Her homecoming king was one of the jocks from the football team. Briony didn’t know his name.
“Would you like to dance?” Fallon asked.
“Is this the part where you turn out to know dances that are hundreds of years old?” Briony asked with a smile.
“Hardly. I was only turned a month or so back, remember? So unless the gavotte is a vampire power people don’t talk about much, I’m stuck with what I knew before.” Fallon thought for a moment. “Which isn’t much, when it comes to dancing.”
That at least turned out to be a lie, because Fallon danced at least as well as Briony did, seeming to catch the rhythm of the music and let it flow through him as he moved. Briony did her best to keep up, and despite her great aunt’s shoes, she felt she did quite well. They moved together, and Briony found that she could almost forget for a moment what Fallon was, what was going on in this strange little town.
Almost, but not completely. The slower dances were the worst part. Other couples pressed together tightly, close enough that it was often hard to see where one began and the other ended. Pepper’s partner was certainly enjoying it. Briony and Fallon, on the other hand, found themselves further apart, hardly touching when they should have been close, stiffly formal when they should have been at their most natural.
The strangest part was that it wasn’t even Briony doing it. There should probably have been some part of her reminding her of just how unnatural Fallon was, but for the moment she just wanted to forget that. She didn’t want to spend the dance with the vampire who had admitted to hungering after her. She wanted to spend it with Fallon, who liked her when almost no one else did and who swapped critiques of odd sci-fi programs with her friends.
The trouble was that every time Briony tried to move closer, Fallon edged back. Was it the cross? No, that was safely hidden in the folds of Briony’s dress. So it had to be something else. His hunger then? Was he really afraid of being that close to her? Briony considered simply kissing him, there and then, right in the middle of the dance floor. Maybe that would get across to him how she felt.
She didn’t do it though. Instead, after a while, Briony excused herself and headed for the bathrooms. Maisy was already there.
“Wow,” she said, “that dress looks even better tonight than it did in the store.”
“Thanks. You’re looking happy.”
“Oh, I am! Steve finally got the hint and kissed me. It was wonderful, Briony…”
The next five minutes filled themselves with talk of Maisy and her boyfriend. Somehow, it made Briony feel better. She practically bounced back out onto the dance floor, finding Fallon off to one side and taking his wrist firmly.
“Now, you’re either going to dance with me properly, or we might as well go home now.”
For a moment, just a moment, Briony actually thought he might go for the second option. Then though, another slow dance began, and Briony pulled him close.
“There, that’s not so bad, is it?”
“Bad isn’t exactly the word I’d choose, no,” Fallon admitted.
“Then shut up and dance with me.”
Fallon did, and Briony reveled in the feeling of him pressed close to her now as they moved to the music. Before, Fallon had been elegant, cool, and distant. Somebody to watch, but something separate. Now, it was like he was a part of Briony, or rather like the two of them were one being, drifting through the crowd of other dancers to a single beat.
How long that continued for, Briony didn’t know. Song followed song, and the two of them never seemed to break apart. Over Fallon’s shoulder, Briony saw some of the other dancers staring at them. She also saw Pepper taking in the attention that was being directed their way, her expression growing steadily frostier.
Right then, Briony didn’t care. The world containing Pepper Freeman existed somewhere else. Somewhere where she wasn’t busy reading every movement of Fallon’s body as they glided to the pulsing beat. Somewhere where time actually existed, rather than being something you ignored in the race to drink in this moment, this instant of perfect closeness.
Of course, it couldn’t last forever. Nothing did, and Aunt Sophie had been perfectly clear when it came to her curfew. It was Fallon who pulled back, looking at his watch and declaring that he should get Briony home if he didn’t want any elderly relatives coming after him. He wasn’t entirely joking.
The drive back held a more comfortable kind of silence than the earlier one. Fallon
kept glancing across to Briony, while she couldn’t stop the satisfied smile that crept its way onto her lips and stayed there right up to the point when they pulled into the Edge Inn’s driveway. With the car stopped, the two of them stopped too, just staring.
Briony wasn’t sure which of them started the kiss. It felt more like something that both of them had known would happen, like a moment when they were only playing out roles scripted well in advance. It started as the barest brush of lips, but it built. It definitely built. Briony kissed Fallon with all the passion she could muster, and in return he covered her with kisses, his fingers entwining with hers, and his body pressed down on hers. He groaned while he buried his face into her hair and kissed his way down her face.
Her lips, the line of her jaw, her throat…
Fallon pulled back so suddenly, Briony knew there was something wrong even before she saw his fangs protruding. His hands, which had just a second ago been running across her shoulders, tightened on them almost painfully.
“Your lips taste so good. So perfect. I can almost taste your blood, Briony.”
Briony tried to think of her options. The silver cross was still in her evening bag. She was too close to have a chance of kicking out with her stake-heeled shoes. Even getting to the small cross that hung around her neck would be difficult with Fallon gripping her arms.
“Fallon,” she tried, “don’t do this.”
Fallon’s face twisted into pain, anguish. “I don’t think… I can stop. I need you, Briony. Please.” His fangs edged towards her neck.
“No, Fallon.”
“I know I shouldn’t, but this hunger, this thirst is so strong.” He turned his head away briefly. When he turned back to look at her, his eyes had glazed over with hunger, trained on her neck. “It wouldn’t hurt. Not really. I could make it feel wonderful.”
“I said no. You need to stop, Fallon. You’re scaring me.”
“Briony…”
“You gave me a cross to keep me safe. Is this keeping me safe?”
Fallon paused. Briony could see the need in his eyes. The hurt. Unfortunately, those eyes were also starting to glow red, so she wasn’t really in the mood to pay attention.
“Let go of me Fallon. Right now.”
Fallon hardly hesitated. “Oh God! Briony, I’m sorry. So sorry…” For all his hunger, for all that he had hardly been a vampire long enough to fight it, he did as she asked. He did more than that. Almost faster than Briony could follow, he was out of the car. A second later, and he was running for the forest. Briony started to get out of the car, stopped, and paused long enough to get the silver cross out of her evening bag. She stood there, on the drive, until her aunt came out of the house for her, a long knife not quite out of sight against her robe.
“Where’s Fallon?” she asked.
Briony just shook her head.
Chapter 14
There was no sign of Fallon at school the next day. Briony had half expected it, and so, she suspected, had Aunt Sophie. At least, Aunt Sophie hadn’t bothered giving her any advice on getting away with staking Fallon on school premises. To say that her great aunt wasn’t happy with the vampire was an understatement. Only the fact that he had managed to stop short of actually biting Briony kept her from heading out with all the other members of the preservation society and hunting for him.
Briony’s feelings were a lot less clear-cut. Yes, Fallon had been close to biting her, but he hadn’t. He’d stopped in time, and she hadn’t even had to hurt him. More than that, before it happened, everything had been going well. So well that she couldn’t help wondering if one small bite would really matter that much. After all, people gave blood every day. Not that she was ever stupid enough to mention the thought in front of Aunt Sophie, or anyone else for that matter. Briony didn’t even dare to say that what she really wanted was to see Fallon again long enough for them to talk this through. Talking, apparently, wasn’t something you did with vampires when you could be busy staking them. As far as her great aunt was concerned, Fallon’s incidence with Briony had only proven that.
School wasn’t the same without him there. Maisy and Steve were still around, but in the couple of days after the dance they only had eyes for each other. As for everyone else, while they were mostly content to ignore Briony, some of them muttered behind her back about Fallon’s sudden absence. Since the last time they had been seen together was at the dance, people seemed to be assuming that Briony had done something to upset him, to drive him away. If they only knew.
The thought of telling everyone the truth amused Briony for about five minutes. How would people react if she told them what had really happened? How would she even put it? “Oh yes, Fallon and I broke up because he’s a vampire who tried to bite me” would probably get her laughed at, or even sent to have her head examined. It certainly wouldn’t do anything to dispel her image as the strange girl of the class. Like it or not, though, Briony had to admit she missed Fallon a lot.
Her work at the diner proved to be a safe haven. There was something reliable about it, unchanging. Maybe that was even what Aunt Sophie had in mind when she suggested it, given how strange everything else in Briony’s life was getting. Burgers didn’t let you down. Fries didn’t agonize over whether they were going to bite you. Side orders didn’t avoid you, unless Percy had accidentally moved them when he shouldn’t.
So Briony threw herself into her work. She showed up early for her next couple of shifts and stayed late afterwards. When she wasn’t working, she spent her time training hard with Aunt Sophie, determined to get better when it came to fighting the things that showed up in the town. She asked questions of George and the others, hearing stories of even stranger and rarer things, from Wendigos to Ghouls, hiding out in the Wicked Woods. None of them sounded like Briony would want to meet them at any point soon.
It was on the third day that a familiar face showed up at the diner. Briony hadn’t thought about Kevin since he had saved her. No, that wasn’t true. She had thought about him, right up to the moment when Fallon had asked her out. After that though, thoughts of the handsome college guy who wasn’t the hunter he had suggested he was had fled from her mind.
They came back now though, with him sitting at the same table he had occupied the first time, as though nothing had happened since. Briony’s eyes narrowed at that. Did he really think that Briony was so stupid that she wouldn’t have asked about him? Did he really believe that just being gorgeous was enough to let him waltz in here without a single explanation? Briony wasn’t about to let him get away with that.
She took as many other orders as possible before getting around to his. Partly, it was to make him wait, because she was feeling at least a little bit petty today. Mostly though, it was because that would give Briony the time she needed to make this guy answer some questions. She ignored George’s look over to her as she slid into the seat opposite Kevin.
“I might be remembering wrong,” he said with a wink, “but I don’t think this is supposed to be what happens when you take someone’s order.”
“Don’t be smart,” Briony snapped back.
Kevin raised an eyebrow. It was perfect, obviously. “And I’m almost certain that didn’t happen last time either.”
“No, but I can remember one or two things that did.”
“Ah, so you’re going to thank me. Well, if you have the sudden urge, you could always say it with extra fries.”
He was, it seemed, determined to be infuriating. Briony decided to spell it out. It wasn’t like anyone else who heard would care. The ones who knew were already in on the secret, while those who weren’t would just ignore her. She was only a waitress, after all.
“You more or less told me that you were a hunter in my great aunt’s society.”
Kevin shook his head, causing his thick dark hair to fall over his face, his hazel eyes looking down and then directly at hers. Briony wondered if he was doing it deliberately, and then cursed herself for noticing at all. “No, I didn’t.”
“You did.”
Kevin shook his head. “You assumed that. I hunt the things occasionally, but I’m not part of anyone’s society. The whole idea of someone telling me what to do all the time…” he shuddered theatrically. “Although obviously, I’m big on the idea of telling other people what to do. Particularly if it means they might bring me food.”
“In a minute,” Briony said. “I just want to know what you’re doing here. Don’t tell me that it’s a coincidence you’re back in here.”
“I’m hungry, this is a diner. It’s kind of how these things work. Oh… you think I’ve come in just to see you?”
He said that in just the right tone to make Briony blush. She shook her head. “Stop it. Don’t play games. Don’t you think I have a right to find it odd when the mysterious guy who turned out not to be what I thought he was shows up where I work?”
Kevin paused. He licked his lips. “Not what you thought I was?”
“Not one of Aunt Sophie’s society.”
“Like I said, I don’t like being told what to do. Besides, I don’t like hanging around in one place that much. Mostly, I hunt on my own. I should probably have moved on from here by now, only…”
“Only?” Briony echoed.
Kevin grinned. “Well, it seems that there are one or two things worth hanging around for.”
Was that a line? Of course it was. What kind of girl did he think she was? Him with his sudden appearances, and his casual flippancy, and his high cheekbones, muscles, beautiful eyes, great hair…
Briony stopped herself. She was not going to do this. Not when Fallon had just taken her heart on a roller coaster ride. Especially not given what she knew about Kevin already. He’d already told her that he moved around, so it wasn’t like there was any chance of anything real, and as for dating college age guys… she could just guess what her great aunt would think of that. Or Briony supposed she could anyway. Knowing Aunt Sophie, of course, she would probably say something along the lines of “oh good, at least I don’t have to stake this one.”