Being Human (17 page)

“Does it hurt much?”

“My fingers hurt more than my wrist.” He curled his fingers up, twisting his wrist this way and that. “It feels numb now, like when your foot falls asleep. It's like there’s something on your teeth that numbs skin.”

Carefully, I took his hand. He flinched, barely, but let me examine his fingers, and then his wrist. His face remained calmed, even when my fingers lingered over the drying blood.

“You said survival was stronger than our bond, but you stopped. As soon as I said I didn't want to die, you stopped,” he said softly.

“I know, but I...” I thought back, trying to understand how I had been able to stop. I had never done that. If I needed blood, I took it until there was no more. Stopping never entered into the equation.

“You don't know how I made you stop,” he finished my thought.

I looked into his eyes, being truthful. “I shouldn't have stopped.”

“I bet I know why you did.” In the dark, his eyes sparkled, a sliver of light from outside the door catching them. “It's much sooner than I thought, but I told you so.”

****

Gray and pink lined the horizon, the tree line slowly becoming visible. The air warmed, chasing away the chill of the night. Birds started chirping, rejoicing the start of the day.

I saw no reason for happiness. After spending the whole day above ground, my aversion to daylight had multiplied tenfold. I refused to stay above ground for a second of it. Fallen waiting for me or not, I had to get underground now.

“I imagine you don't want to spend the day again?” My brother yawned, silencing the alarm that beeped next to his bed.

“No.”

He laughed and yawned again. “I figured as much. Well, gimme a minute and I'll drive you to wherever.”

“What?” I asked as he shuffled to the bathroom. I followed, peeking in.

“I'm gonna drive you to your resting place.” His speech was muffled, a toothbrush in his mouth. “What?” he asked when he noticed me staring. “You spent all of yesterday in here; it shouldn't be a mystery to you.”

“What’s the point of doing that?” I motioned to the toothbrush.

He rinsed the toothbrush off and spread more toothpaste over it. “To clean your teeth.”

“Why do you need to clean your teeth?”

“Because if you don’t, your breath can smell really bad. Sometimes I keep my distance because your breath could knock over an elephant,” he replied and held the toothbrush out. “Brush.”

I stuck the toothbrush in my mouth, instantly pulling it out. “It tastes nasty.”

He pushed the toothbrush back in my mouth and wiggled it. “Just do it.”

I obeyed, making a point to show my dislike for the taste. Why he put something that tasted this horrible in his mouth was a mystery. How it would make my breath smell better was a bigger one. “Do you do this all the time?”

“Every morning. Girls will be more willing to kiss you if you don't have nasty breath. Okay, spit and rinse,” he instructed, filling a glass of water. He exchanged the water for his toothbrush, dropping it in the trash. He never used something after I did.

I rinsed and spat, wiping the water away in amazement. It worked! The bad tasting paste and foam was washed away, leaving a clean feeling in my mouth. It was oddly refreshing in a non-satisfying way. “I don't care about girls.”

“One night you might care about a girl. Then you'll be glad I taught you how to brush your teeth,” he said with a grin.

“Why would I care about a girl? Humans are only food to me.”

“Maybe you'll meet a vampire lady.” He clasped his hands, fluttering his eyelids. “You'll fall madly in love with her and run off into the sunset.”

“You're making a joke right? I can't run off into the sunset, I'd die,” I replied slowly.

He dropped his hands, shaking his head. “Yes, I'm joking. But you never know, you may meet a special someone one day.”

“I doubt it. If you’re taking me, then we need to go. The sun's about to come up.”

He paused by the door, pulling a dark shirt down and tossing it at me. “Put this on and the hood up. Oh, and try to act human.”

I smirked at him. “I thought you said I did act human.”

“You occasionally do human things. You don’t move like one though. Watching you move, it's pretty obvious you’re not human. Although, anyone out might be thrown off by how close to sunrise it is.” He poked his head into the hallway looking both ways. “Coast is clear.”

I followed him as he rushed down the hallway and stairs. At the door to the lobby, he peeked out again, checking for humans. We made it to his car without seeing a single one. The small sedan came to life with little coaxing and soon the college was shrinking behind us.

“You cool with this?” he asked. “I know where you rest is something you don't want anyone to know, not even me.”

I watched cars pass, most heading to the college. “I trust you. Besides, I won't show you the exact spot.”

“As curious as I am, that’s a good idea. That way I don't risk letting it slip while I'm drunk. You have no idea how often I'm threatened to have my mouth duct taped at parties,” he laughed.

I laughed with him. “You do talk a lot. Left.”

“Maybe you don't talk enough,” he teased, following my direction.

“I only talk when I need to.”

He snorted. “How much farther?”

The road stretched straight ahead of us. Thick trees surrounded us on both sides. Other than a few reflective markers, there were no other signs on the road.

“See up ahead, about four markers, there's a driveway. That's it.”

The driveway we turned down was overgrown. Grass grew thick between twin ruts of dirt that were marred with potholes. The car bounced as it hit the holes, crawling to a stop out of sight from the road.

My brother turned to me, eyes full of questions. “Do you want me to go farther?”

I shook my head. “This is fine.”

“And you just dig into the ground?”

“No, there's a cellar that's perfect.”

“Ah! I’ve been wondering. It used to be you’d show up and your clothes would be caked with dirt.” He picked at the tattered fabric of my shirt. “You need some new ones. I'll pick up some up for you this weekend.”

“Thanks.”

“Well, I figured if I didn't, you'd strip your victims or something equally disturbing.”

I didn’t reply.

He shook his head at my silence. “After three years, I shouldn't be shocked. They find bodies drained and naked all the time.”

I scrambled for something to say, something not typical of my vampire thoughts that would wipe the shocked look off his face. If I was lucky, maybe I could make him laugh.

I jabbed a finger at him. “You should be ashamed for thinking such a horrible thing. I'd never do something like that. Those humans were my meals, why would I degrade them like that? I can't believe you'd think that!”

His face wavered. A grin filled his face, laughter cutting up his words as he shoved me out of the car. “Get out of here. Go rest.”

****

It felt good to be back underground. I didn't feel like I was being slowly baked alive or vulnerable to discovery. I curled in the corner of the cellar, resting peacefully and debating whether I should hunt or not.

I was border line on the idea. The day above ground had whipped me bad. I was weak from the draining heat, but the small taste of my brother's blood had staved off the hunger that had roared to life. If I wanted, I could skip.

But if I wanted, I could hunt.

“Decisions, decisions,” I muttered to myself.

As the day progressed, I thought of hunting less and less. Unease curled through my stomach and I knew the feeling wasn’t mine. I had no reason to be agitated while I was safe in my cellar. Something had upset my brother and it resonated through our bond.

Hunting could wait another night.

At sunset, I took the shortest route back to the college. Recklessly, I darted under lights and across open parking lots. I scrambled up the side of the dorm, forced to stop by the closed window. I lightly tapped on the glass, but the window stayed shut, the other side dark. I pressed my ear to it, only hearing the rhythms in rooms around me.

I looked for the note my brother always left, then dropped down to scan the ground where it must have fallen. Frustration welled as my search yielded nothing. Why hadn't he left me a note? He always did, always let me know if he wasn't going to be around.

Maybe something happened to him.

I scrambled back up, tugging at the window, trying to open it, but it refused. Feeling frantic, I broke it and crawled through. I searched the small, dark room, scouring every inch in my quest for clues to my brother's whereabouts. I paced back and forth when nothing appeared out of place. Where was he? Had someone taken him? Grabbed him while he was on his way here? Why would a human want to take him? Had Vampire Forces found him?

I whirled around as the door slowly opened, expecting Vampire Forces, but seeing my brother instead.

“Tommy!” he yelped, quickly shutting the door. His eyes stopped on the shattered glass at my feet, eyes widening. He rushed to the window. “Did you break into my room? Ah hell, how am I going to explain that?”

“I didn't see a note and you always leave one,” I replied.

“So you broke my window?” He fell on his bed, gripping his hair. “Do you know what
overreaction
means? Because you do it. All the time!”

I stood there, not knowing what to say. Finally I said the only thing I could. “I'm sorry, I was worried.”

“It's fine.” he muttered, picking up large pieces of glass and tossing them in the trash. “It's just been a long, eventful day.”

Should I be helping him clean the mess? I decided yes and started picking up pieces. “What happened?”

“Your girlfriend,” he replied and I growled. “She followed me all day. Even went to all my classes. That's why I'm so late; I was trying to lose her. I finally did when I ran into the admin building and found a spot to hide. But that's not the worst part.” He held out his hand, showing me his bandaged wrist. He pulled it off. Dark bruises surrounded the two punctures that had scabbed over. “The worst part was she saw this.”

“What did she do?”

“Apparently, you're not very fair,” he replied icily. “I told her it was nothing; I banged my wrist up on something stupid. She didn't believe me. She said I didn't deserve that
honor
and
why did you pick me
and all this other crap that wasn't true. The only good thing was she knew to keep her voice down so everyone wouldn't hear. Her two friends tried to calm her down, but that made things worse. She told us,
Just you wait until he turns me
.”

A cold feeling settled in my chest as I remember other words she said.

Find them first.

I understood what that meant now. If Fallen was turned, she'd find her friends first. The memories would be there, fading, but that would be enough to get her to her friends and kill them. Would the memories also get her to my brother?

The cold feeling died, replaced by heat. I was done hiding from her and trying to salvage the fragile friendship. I knew what I needed to do.

I stayed all night with my brother. A few times he tried to sleep; tossing and turning only to turn the light back on and talk to me more. Worry was etched on his face, his eyes darting to the door. He worried Fallen would finally call Vampire Forces. His reasoning was if Fallen couldn't have what she wanted, then she might believe no one should.

As the sky started to lighten, he climbed out of bed. “Come on, I'll drive you back again. I don't want her sneaking up on you and catching you as the sun comes up.”

“She was good at sneaking up on me.”

He shook his head. “I thought vampires had super senses.”

“I have good senses,” I protested. “She was lucky.”

He scoffed. “It wasn't luck, it was stalking. She probably camped out, watching my room and waiting for you.”

Like the other night, we snuck to his car and escaped the campus and Fallen.

“I think I'm skipping classes today,” he sighed, eyes checking the mirrors.

“You didn't sleep much.”

He yawned. “This whole thing with her is unsettling. I've never heard of a wannabe being so...”

“Insane?” I offered.

He laughed. “She's something. You know, I think everything that's happened lately proves people aren't as scared of vampires as the news makes us out to be. I mean, no one called VF when you crashed the party. I think people could learn to co-exist with vampires.”

“Can you learn to live with something that might kill you?”

He shrugged. “Animals in the wild do it. Maybe the most people could do is learn to accept the existence of vampires. We'd never be able to truly live together, but we'd learn to deal with each other without the fear.”

“I think vampires and humans should stay separate.”