by H G Lynch
Slowly regaining the function of my brain cells, I focussed on the questions piecing themselves back together in my mind. Like, why did her brother attempt to attack me? Why wasn’t she at school, yet she’d shown up in time to kick her brother’s ass? Where did she learn to kick her brother’s ass like that? That was some serious action-movie style fighting, and the speed and accuracy with which she’d moved was astounding. And Lyle seemed just as well trained. Where the hell had they come from, the witness protection program? I’d still never met their father, but I couldn’t believe that a simple fisherman would teach his kids martial arts. Maybe he was in hiding from the Russian mob or something.
The sun had disappeared outside the window, so my room was pitched in dimness. I moved to switch on the lamp sitting on my desk while Poppy settled herself on my bed. I took up a seat at my desk across the room. I folded my hands together on the back of my chair, straddling it backward so that I could watch her with my chin resting on the backs of my hands. Poppy transferred her gaze to the window, looking out at the empty street and the embers of the dying sun burning somewhere on the horizon beyond the lines of houses and trees. The sky had turned a shade of golden pink off in the distance that matched her hair.
Finally, she spoke, keeping her eyes transfixed on whatever had captivated her attention outside of my dim little room. “Lyle…Well, he found out I was on a date with you last night, and he wasn’t really happy about it. He’s kind of…protective. He thought you had, you know, taken advantage of me. When I tried to tell him he was wrong, he wouldn’t listen. He grounded me. That’s why I wasn’t at school, but then Leo—my, uh, cousin, who’s living with us for a while—came home from work early and told me Lyle had called him, saying he was going to have a chat with you. I know Lyle, and he has a nasty temper sometimes, so I figured he was planning on more than just talking to you…” She bit her lip and shrugged. “I didn’t want you to get hurt because of me.”
I wasn’t entirely sure what to say to that. Pursing my lips, I thought of my next question. “Where did you learn to fight like that? I thought you said your dad was a fisherman. Did he pick up some moves in order to defend himself from rogue marlins?”
She laughed a little at that and shook her head, grinning. “No, no. Lyle and I took martial arts classes when we were younger. He started first, and then I was determined to be able to beat him, so I joined up to his class, and we’ve been sparring ever since. That’s just how we settle most of our arguments these days,” she explained with a slight shrug.
I opened my mouth to ask my next question—who was Nathan?—but then I paused. I’d already mistaken Lyle for her boyfriend, so if I questioned her on every male in her life, she’d probably think I was jealous. Was I jealous? Right then, no. Not in the least. With her looking at me with bright eyes, smiling in a way that made my bones melt, I couldn’t imagine feeling jealous of another guy. Surely I was the only one she looked at like that. She was so perfect. I could hardly believe she was real.
But that was the thing with falling for someone—they always seemed perfect because you were blind to their faults, you dismissed the things about them that would stain your perception of them. I guess that was why it took me as long as it did to piece together all the strange things about Poppy—because I was indeed falling for her, and falling hard.
Chapter Seven
As I saw Poppy off at the door, she took my hands in hers, gripping them tightly, and an urgent look fell across her face. “Tomorrow’s the last day of school,” she observed.
I nodded, wondering where she was going with this.
The urgent look abated for a moment and her mouth quirked. “Any stunts planned?” she asked.
I rolled my eyes, thinking. I hadn’t really thought of anything so far, but I always pulled an awesome stunt at the end of the school, so I was expected to come up with some messy prank I suppose. I could probably whip something up with the supplies hidden under my bed.
“Not yet, but I’ll think of something,” I said, grinning. Alistair would be chuffed. I could do something with huge quantities of glitter, just for him.
The urgent spark came back to Poppy’s face, and she frowned. “I might not be there tomorrow, you know, after Lyle deals with me tonight. But promise me something?”
She gripped my hands tighter, so tight it was almost painful, and I wondered at how much strength there was in those little female hands. Helpless, I nodded. I’d promise her the moon if that was what she wanted.
“Promise you’ll meet me on Sunday. Behind the school at nine pm.”
I blinked, startled by her request and her vehemence in saying it, but nodded. “Sure, of course,” I replied, my voice coloured with surprise.
She nodded brusquely. “Good. I should go now. I’ll see you on Sunday, if I don’t see you tomorrow. Bye!” Giving my hands one last squeeze, she turned and slipped out the gate, then bolted down the street. In the blink of an eye, she was half-way down the street, and then she was gone into the night.
And I was left wondering what precisely she wanted to meet me for on Sunday.
** Poppy **
After I was out of Anson’s sight, I slowed to the slowest walk I could possibly manage. I knew that if I’d hung about Anson any longer, it would have been even more painful to tear myself away from him. I wanted to spend all night with him—not like that, but just talking. Well, maybe not just talking, but nothing too far. God, my brain was a mess. I felt my cheeks getting hot as I thought about the things I totally didn’t want to do with him. Yeah, right. The word forbidden didn’t even cover it.
Changing my train of thought quickly, I focussed on the reason I was wandering down the street at the speed of a turtle: Lyle. I did not want to get home any time soon. Lyle was going to kill me. I’d blatantly disobeyed him by leaving the house, I’d openly used my fighting training to circumvent his operational plans, and I’d done it in such a way that could have exposed us to a human. I wondered how many rules of the Academy I had left to break—surely not many.
Still, I hadn’t told Anson what I was, I hadn’t told him about the Academy, and I hadn’t had sex with him. And I mentally tagged yet onto the end of every one of those. He would eventually find out what I was and all about the Academy, because I was certain I couldn’t keep it from him forever, and I couldn’t keep Lyle from Turning him for much longer, especially after my little stunt earlier.
What else was I supposed to do? The minute Leo had come home, I’d told him what was going on, and he’d informed me that Lyle had called him to tell him to get Oryn on the phone because they were about to have a new recruit and it wasn’t Alistair. I swear, once I knew Lyle was planning on ambushing and Turning Anson, the ten minutes that Leo spent redoing my protections were the longest of my life. I hated to even think about what would have happened if Leo had come home just a little later, if I’d been just a little slower, if Lyle had been a little faster.
If Anson was Turned now, and he found out about me and my job, he’d hate me. He’d never believe that my feelings for him were real and not just faked for the purposes of recruiting him. Worse, he would be hurt. I didn’t think I could stand to see him hurt because of me, or see the look in his eyes when he found out everything and turned his back on me. God, it would kill me if he walked away from me thinking I’d just been playing with him like a cat with a mouse.
That very real worry was why I’d pleaded with him to meet me on Sunday. I was going to tell him how I felt about him, before everything got blown to bits. If I told him how I felt, he’d have to believe me, even when he found out about the Academy and my fangs. If he felt the same way I did, he’d understand. He’d have to understand.
But it wasn’t all worries and dread.
Between the secrets, the kissing, and the rule breaking, it was all pretty thrilling. Even as I dreaded what awaited me at home, I was wickedly, undeniably euphoric about my forbidden relationship with Anson.
I had barely shut the front
door behind me when Lyle began raving. He wasn’t even in the hallway. He started the yelling from the living room and then strode through to the kitchen, where he waited before training his glare on me with scary force. His dark eyes were like lasers skewering me, and I bit my tongue while he ranted. He was like a force of nature, pacing around the room, throwing his hands up, tucking them behind his back, or raising one hand as if he might hit me. He wouldn’t dare, especially not with Leo standing in the doorway, watching with silent anger as Lyle chewed me out, but I still flinched.
“What did you think you were doing, Poppy? You blatantly disregarded my orders, you roped Leonard into helping you disobey me, and you used training skills in public—in front of a human, a target no less!” Lyle roared, slamming a hand down on the marble countertop so hard I thought he’d crack the marble.
Silently, I hid my fear. I wasn’t scared of Lyle. I was scared of what he was going to do. As soon as he calmed down, he would call Oryn, or worse, Kell. If he called Kell, I was screwed six ways from Sunday. He was a mean bastard, who liked to punish those who stepped beyond their duties and went rogue. That’s what he’d done to Nathan, anyway.
Lyle’s voice was louder and fiercer than I’d ever heard it. “You’re damn lucky that boy’s too blindly in love with you to notice just how impossibly fast you were in stopping me. If he finds out about you before he’s Turned, we’re all screwed, Poppy! If that boy found out, he’d run his mouth to everyone, and our secret would be out! That’s why we wait until they’re Turned, and it’s in their best interest to keep it a secret, to tell them everything, or have you forgotten that? Tell me you haven’t told him already, Poppy, because if you said one word—”
I couldn’t bite my tongue any longer. “He’s not just another boy, Lyle! He has a name! Anson, remember? And he wouldn’t tell anyone, he’s not like that!” I yelled back, furious. Lyle’s eyes flashed with anger, but I was even angrier. My fangs popped out, and I just about cut my lip open on them as I spoke.
“So you’ve thought about this, thought about telling him? Jesus, are you out of your mind? Dammit Poppy, this has gone too far. I know you think you like this boy, I know you’re looking for someone to patch up the damage that Nathan left behind, but this has gone way too far!”
Right then, I really lost my temper. “You bloody arrogant prick!” I snarled. He’d gone way too far.
He jerked, taken aback by my outburst. Even Leo, at the edge of my peripheral vision, flinched in surprise.
“You have no right to tell me how I feel! I don’t think I like Anson. I know I do. How many times do I have to say it? This has nothing to do with Nathan! This is all about Anson, just Anson. And you know what? It hasn’t gone nearly far enough as far as I’m concerned!”
“Poppy!” Lyle growled, his eyes going wide in shock.
Hovering on the edge of my vision, Leo leaned forward, his brow creasing. He unfolded his arms and took a step forward, reaching out as if to put a hand on my shoulder, but I cut him a glare that warned him not to bother. His green eyes sparked with brief hurt, and I promised to apologise to him later. I didn’t want to fight with Leo. It wasn’t him I was mad at.
I shook my head violently, making my hair fly into my eyes, and I swept it out of my face angrily. “Don’t Poppy me! I don’t want to hear it, Lyle! You’re not my dad, you’re not my boss, and you’re not really my brother. So stop acting like you have power over me because you don’t! You’re my partner, and however much you hate to admit it, that makes you my equal. I will do what I want to do, and you can’t stop me! Go ahead and call Oryn or Kell, I don’t care! You know why?”
I was on a roll, all but screaming at him. The words I wanted to say were right there on the tip of my tongue. I knew, somewhere in the part of my mind that was still rational below my rage, that once I said the words aloud, it made them real. I wouldn’t be able to take them back, even if I wanted to. It was a scary thought, but at the same time, thrilling. Thrilling in that dangerous, forbidden way that I’d developed an addiction for.
Lyle’s face had gone very red, and I swore his curls were tightening into little black corkscrews under the tension. Impulse took over, and the words fell off my tongue easily, while Leo and Lyle gaped at me in horror.
“I don’t care about what you say, or the rules, or the Academy, and you know why? Because I love Anson! That’s why! I’m in love with him, and I don’t care that it’s wrong and forbidden!”
As soon as the words were past my lips, I slapped my hands over my mouth in shock. I’d said it, I’d actually said it. And I meant it, too. I loved Anson, no matter how wrong it was, or how little time I’d known him. Three weeks was long enough for me to know I loved him.
The room was struck with such silence after I shut up that the sound of a needle dropping would have been as loud and startling as a gunshot. On the other side of the breakfast bar, Lyle had his lips pressed tightly together into a white, bloodless line. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. It was like looking at a beautiful, pale statue. It was scarier than when he’d been raving at me.
By the kitchen doorway, Leo looked shell shocked, as if a mine had just exploded in front of him. His mouth was hanging open, and his eyebrows were raised high into the messy fringe of his hair. One of his hands was partially raised, and he seemed to have forgotten what he’d been about to do with it.
Well, I thought, I admitted it. I love Anson. And I discovered how to shut Lyle up at last. Add that to the snogging session earlier, and I think this has been a pretty good night after all.
Though I was sure Lyle wouldn’t see it that way. I didn’t know what Leo thought, but I assumed he’d be happy for me once he recovered from the shock. Everyone at the Academy knew I’d been upset over what had happened with Nathan, but only Leo really understood because he’d been the one holding my hand while I cried for three weeks. He should be glad I was happy, that I’d found someone else. In comparison to what I felt for Anson, what I’d felt for Nathan was like a distant affection.
Surprisingly, Leo was the first one to compose himself, while Lyle continued to stare at me as if he had no idea who or even what I was—as if I was some strange alien. Leo stepped forward cautiously. He hesitated a moment, opening and closing his mouth twice before he finally spoke.
“Poppet,” he murmured, “Are…are you sure that’s what you feel? I mean, it’s just that…it hasn’t been that long since…” He didn’t say the name, but I knew what he was saying. “You know what this means, Poppet, so you have to be sure before you go doing something you might regret.”
I stared into his earnest face unwaveringly and nodded. “I’m sure, Leo. I’ve never felt like this before, not even with Nathan. It’s…he’s…brilliant. It’s as simple as that. I can’t stand the thought of Turning him when he’s so perfect as a human.”
Slowly, Leo nodded and a faint smile touched his lips. He put an arm around my shoulders and squeezed me. “In that case, you know I’m on your side, Poppet. If you want your man to stay human, I’ll do what I can to help. And Lyle,” he added, turning a sharp glare on the dark-haired boy. “Before you go trying to stop me, remember that, without me, you can’t leave this house until sundown. Even then, you’d be risking the Wolves getting your scent without my Protections on you.”
Oooh, Leo was in a fighting mood. I guessed he didn’t like having been used as an unwitting pawn in Lyle’s earlier evil plot, sent off on useless errands while his best friend worried herself sick over her boyfriend’s safety.
Scowling, Lyle straightened his shoulders and set his jaw, his eyes narrowed as he stared at us both probingly, thinking. The moonlight coming in the window slicked the blue streaks in his hair. “Okay, I won’t stop you,” he said, “But I won’t help you either. Oryn will be back to see that the deed is done in four days’ time, and I’m not going to lie to him about what’s going on. He’ll decide what should be done, and you’d better pray he’s in a good mood. You have until he arrives to either Tu
rn Anson or come up with one hell of an argument as to why you should be allowed to keep him human.” Lyle shook his head, and sighed heavily.
I started to smile, but he held up a hand.
“One more thing,” Lyle added, frowning.
I met his dark eyes evenly, waiting and tense.
“Don’t tell Anson about us, or the Academy. His ignorance might be the only thing that can save him.”
** Anson **
I was in a very, very good mood at school on Friday. I was edging on damn near ecstatic. It was the last day of school after all.
When I finally got to Art, I couldn’t keep the grin off my face, and Alistair noticed. He raised a dark brow at me as I sat down at our table, cocking his head so that the tiny skull-shaped charm on his silver hoop earring swished.
“Dude, you look like you got laid last night,” he commented, rolling his charcoal pencil between his fingers. “Did you and Poppy…you know?”
I shook my head, feeling my ears burn, but I was still grinning helplessly. “No, nothing like that,” I said, running my fingertips across the smooth table surface in agitation. I glanced at Mr Gabe, the art teacher, fumbling through the various papers and vials of sequins and buttons on his desk. He was dressed in his usual pinstripe suit trousers and matching waistcoat. Under the waistcoat, he was wearing a paint-stained t-shirt.
Mr Gabe was my favourite teacher. He was awesome. After the thing with the paint-balloons, he’d stayed late after the bell had rang to help me clean up. He found my stunts amusing, though he’d never admit it aloud because that wouldn’t be professional.