Blood Born (4 page)

“You will be attending a new school,” he added, and I nearly choked on the thick fog wafting up from the ground.

“What?” I asked with anger. “I’m not going to a new school!” I almost stamped my foot into the thick, damp grass for emphasis. I intended to stand my ground.

“Do you remember your old school?” Aldric asked.

“Well, no,” I said. “But that doesn’t matter.”

“Whether you remember or not is irrelevant. You simply cannot attend the same school where everyone thought you died. That’s impossible.” What Aldric was saying made sense, but I refused to accept it. I wanted to lash out and hit something—and by ‘something’ I meant a certain dead man walking—scream and go totally ballistic.

“Why?” I asked. “Why is it impossible?”

“Because you died, remember?” This time it was Chance who spoke up. “What would everybody say if you showed back up?”

“So they all know I died?” The thought weighed heavily on me. My past. It was over and I couldn’t even remember it. Aldric was right; whether or not I could remember was irrelevant. I couldn’t go back even if I wanted to, not after dying. “What about my family? My friends? Do they all know I died?”

“You had none of either.”

Aldric’s words cut me. No family? No friends? How could that be?

“That’s impossible,” I said, fighting desperately to hold back more tears. “I came from somewhere. I at least have a mother, don’t I?”

“Of course you do,” Aldric went on. “Everyone has a mother. Yours, unfortunately, did not keep you.” Again, more painful words that cut deep. My own mother didn’t want me. The day kept getting better.

“So I was what? Homeless? Living on the streets? Where did you find me?”

“We don’t have time to get in to all the details,” Aldric said, waving his hand for emphasis. “I promise you I will tell you all you want to know. But right now we need to get out of this cemetery before someone finds us here.”

“Who’s going to find us in the middle of the night?” Aldric cut his eyes at me and I knew who. Vampires. “Oh.”

“So you two get a move on. I’ll stay behind and take care of this.” He was looking down at the open grave beneath our feet; the grave where I came from. I supposed then that Earth was my only mother now.

“So about this whole ‘going to school’ thing,” I interjected.

“Don’t worry,” Aldric said, obviously sensing my nervousness. “You won’t be going alone.” I watched his eyes roll across the open area of the cemetery, coming to land on Chance, who had been idly watching our exchange. He had a peacefulness to his face that instantly calmed me. I hated the idea, but if Chance went with me, maybe going back to school wouldn’t be
so
bad.

Though I hated to admit it, I was all out of other options. I was now a vampire. The sooner I accepted it, the better off I would be. I now had to live life in two separate parts: one half of me would be a quiet and reserved teenager attending school and acting normal, while the other half would be a thrill-seeking vampire hunter whose mission was tracking down vampires and killing them to save her own life.

I had no clue how I would do either one.

Chance graciously offered to let me sleep at his house, swearing his mom wouldn’t mind. I had absolutely nowhere else to go since I had no memory of my life before the coffin, and no way in hell was I going back there, so I reluctantly accepted. Since it was well past midnight, he said he’d wait until his mom woke up for work to tell her.

“That way,” he had said as we drove to his house in his so-in-need-of-a-paint-job truck, “if she
does
get mad, she won’t have time to yell at me before school.” He smiled when he said it, and even though icy air was circling me in the frigid cab of his truck—I was getting some feeling back in my skin—I felt warm inside. I had agreed, on the condition that it would only be a temporary solution to my sudden housing problem. I planned on figuring out something else ASAP.

For the second time in less than twenty-four hours, I woke up in a strange place. This time, though, I felt calm and rested. And totally comfortable thanks to Chance, who proved that guys are chivalrous by offering me his bed and taking the couch. I stretched my arms wide, soaking up the early sun slicing through the sheer curtains hanging over the window behind me. Its warmth made me feel alive, which was so ironic seeing as how I technically was dead. Well, I don’t know if dead was the right word. Maybe
half
dead? Can a person
be
half dead? Another question to add to my ever-growing list.

I climbed out of Chance’s super-soft bed and carefully maneuvered my clumsy body across the room through the early morning haze of light and darkness. Chance’s room was what I imagined would be a typical teenage guy’s—complete with clothes strewn about—and I felt a twinge of jealousy that I apparently never had that. According to Aldric, I was an unwanted child who had been cast aside like an old newspaper. I pushed thoughts of the woman who abandoned me from my mind and left the room. Out in the hallway, I peered over the banister at Chance sleeping below. Somehow, maybe with the pale yellow light of the sun that had begun to peek through the windows, he looked even more beautiful and perfect than he did last night under the moonlight. I felt my stomach flutter as a smile spread across my face. It felt so nice knowing that he was there for me, even though I still didn’t understand why. I slowly made my way to the bathroom down the hall, trying my best not to make the floor creak as I walked. As I showered and dressed, my mind went over the past day of my life.

I was a half vampire, half human hybrid-thingy—I
so
needed to find a shorter word for what I was—I had to kill one hundred vampires to save my soul, and my new, and apparently
only
, friend was so hot I could barely stand being in his presence for fear of throwing myself at him. Now to top it off, I was about to step foot in a new school where I was positive I would just fit right in. Sure.

I finished up with readying myself for the rest of hell-week—I came up with that name while showering—when a sweet and familiar scent invaded my head. Blood.
New
blood. Oh crap. I swallowed hard and closed my eyes, trying to focus on anything other than that intoxicating scent as it drew closer and closer to me. When the smell was too much to bear, I swung open the bathroom door to find the source and ran into the one person I had been hoping to avoid.

“I’m so sorry,” I said, backing away and giving Chance’s mom a quick once over to make sure I hadn’t inadvertently gotten toothpaste or makeup on her clothes. All seemed well. At least with her outfit.

“Who are you?” she asked, anger woven into her words. She stood a good foot taller than me, with long brown hair falling in large, perfect curls that framed her porcelain skin. I instinctively brought a hand to my own brown hair, feeling its coarseness against my skin. A pair of emerald eyes, just like her son’s, with expertly-crafted brows sat atop a petite nose and full, pink lips. I was so jealous.

“I-I’m—“

“She’s a friend, Mom,” I heard Chance’s voice from the hallway. “Ease up.” He said it lightly, but apparently with just enough conviction to tame his mother; she stepped to the side and Chance joined us in the bathroom doorway.

Last night in the cemetery I could tell beneath the shirt he had been wearing that Chance was physically fit. But now, seeing him standing shirtless in front of me, I was way off on my estimation as to exactly
how
fit; he was perfect. Well-defined muscles created a body that would make even Hollywood’s leading men jealous (yep, TV again). I found it impossible to believe that he was single. Great personality on top of fashion magazine looks? No way he didn’t have a girlfriend. Not that it mattered to me. At least I didn’t think it did. I felt my face turn blood red, which instantly made me mad. Why couldn’t the fact that I get embarrassed easily be one of the things I lost in my new
un
life? Ugh. Chance obviously noticed my rosy cheeks. He smiled wickedly and stepped past his mother, planting his sweet-smelling self directly between us.

“This is Ava,” he said to his mother, his back to me. I watched the muscles in his neck twitch as he spoke. “She’s an old friend who moved back to town, so I told her she could crash here last night. It’s cool, right?” I half expected Chance’s mom to climb the walls and spit fire from her full lips, but she didn’t. She simply smiled and leaned into give her son a peck on the cheek.

“Okay, sweetheart. You be careful going to school. Nice to meet you, Ava.” And then she was gone. Luckily I caught my reflection in the bathroom mirror, so I was able to close my gaping mouth before Chance saw me. I mean, what had just happened? Either she was the coolest mom in the world, or she honestly wasn’t concerned with what her son was up to.

“Um, how did you do that?” I asked, watching him intently as he stepped back into the doorway.
Are all moms like this?
I wondered. I really had no basis for comparison. I had no mother—at least no mother I could remember. And even if I could, Aldric said she hadn’t wanted me anyway.

“I told you she’d be cool,” Chance replied, that sly smile still on his face. He ran a hand through his bed-head. “I’m gonna get out and let you finish up.”

“I’m done,” I said, reaching out to stop him from closing the bathroom door. My hand brushed his arm and that same exciting heat shot through my hand and across my body, sending a shiver down my back.

“You okay?” Chance asked with concern.

“Yeah,” I said with a shaky voice. “Yeah, I’m good.” He smiled again and walked toward me. With the sink on one side and a wall on the other, I had nowhere to go.

“Um, I kind of need to use the bathroom,” he said, now only inches from me. I could feel heat radiating off him. Just like last night.

“Sorry,” I muttered under my breath as I scurried like a cockroach when the light comes on (another useless memory). I squeezed past him—holding my breath to avoid the urge to taste his blood—and practically jumped into the hallway. I sprinted to Chance’s room as fast as I could without seeming like a total loon, stealing a quick glance over my shoulder before going inside; the bathroom door was already closed. Wow, I seriously needed to get a grip.

I waited patiently in his room for Chance to finish, and once he came out of the bathroom we were on the road and headed to school in less than five minutes. Anxious nerves were crawling all over me as we crossed town, making me feel nauseous. I kept my eyes glued out the window, trying my best not to think about what was coming.

“Try not to worry,” Chance said. I jumped when he spoke, his deep voice slicing through the silence of his truck.

“I’m not worried.”

“You’re a terrible liar.”

“Yeah, I guess I am.” I smiled and tried my best to look fine with the fact that I couldn’t be more scared about going to high-school. A new and unfamiliar high school on top of it.

“So talk to me,” he said after a couple minutes of awkward silence.

“About what?”

“About why you’re worried.” He kept stealing glances at me from across the cab of the truck, the early sunlight bouncing off the jade of his eyes like crystals.

“When you pulled me from that coffin,” I began, my nerves evident in my voice. “Your blood—”

“I know,” Chance interrupted.

“You do?”

“Yeah.” He fell into a line of traffic obviously heading to school. “You smelled it, right?”

“Yes.” I could feel the embarrassment creep into the muscles of my face. “And now, I don’t know if this is a smart thing for me to do.” I was of course referring to walking into a building full of hormonal, emotional teenagers whose blood would no doubt drive me crazy.

“You’ll be fine, Ava.” Chance said softly. “Remember, I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

“I think I might hold you to that this time.” For the first time since waking up in the cemetery, I was actually relying on him to be there for me; the feeling was a nice one.

“You do that.” He pulled his eyes from the road once more and smiled at me. “And try to look at the bright side, okay?”

“What bright side?” I asked.

“With no memory of who you are, you can be anybody you want.”

“I just want to be normal.” Chance nodded in agreement, but kept focused on the road. I tried to imagine myself being someone important or dignified or popular; anything but a blood-sucking monster trying to pass as human. Of course, being a vampire would probably come easier than fitting in as just an average teenager. I didn’t know which would be worse, but I was about to find out soon.

McCarver High School looked how I had hoped but feared it wouldn’t; absolutely ordinary. A large, red brick building with tall windows and double-doors, surrounded by lush trees and a parking lot filling up with cars, was sprawled out before us as we turned in. I don’t know what exactly I had been expecting, but plain and un-intimidating wasn’t it. I let the air I had been holding captive escape from my lungs and actually calmed down a bit as Chance wheeled his truck into a space farthest from the building as possible. Not that I minded the walk—it would help me stay in shape, though I had a feeling hunting vampires was going to do plenty of that—but I found it a bit odd. With almost every space at the front of the building empty, why would he choose to park so far out? I didn’t have time to ponder an answer. We climbed—well
I
climbed, he just stepped out—from his truck and began the trek across the black-topped parking lot, the frigid winter air swirling around me in a frenzy. I could smell blood instantly, its alluring and inviting scent invading my senses like an alien being. I swallowed the lump in my throat and forced my mind to ignore it, which was difficult to say the least. My stomach was fighting my body for freedom, trying to climb its way out of my throat as my nerves came rushing back. I kept swallowing hard to force it back down.

“Just relax,” Chance said, his voice deep and sexy and very calming. “You’ll be fine.” I felt his hand brush mine—almost like he wanted to hold hands—but quickly move away. Even that tiny touch made me shiver.

“Promise?” I asked, sounding more like a child asking her dad if she was going to get a pony for Christmas.

“Absolutely.”

We entered the school mixed with a dense crowd of scrambling teenagers, Chance standing tall and wide, I with my breath held tightly in my chest. I wanted to wrap myself around his arm and let him guide me through the maelstrom, but I resisted. Even though he had saved my life and had given me no reason not to, I didn’t fully trust him. Not yet, anyway. So I kept to myself as the barrage of warm bodies mulled around me, voices and smells coalescing in my brain. Chance had been right; even though I could smell blood, it wasn’t overpowering my control. I was okay. So far.