Blood Born (8 page)

“You’re right.” Now
I
was the one sounding defeated. “I need to protect myself. Protect the people around me.” I looked over at Chance as I spoke. He stood tall and still, like a soldier at attention. But his face was speaking to me, and it was telling me he wasn’t happy with my decision.

“Wise choice,” Aldric said with an eerie creepiness in his voice; worse than his normal creepiness. “If you hope to succeed in getting your human self back, having an arsenal of unstoppable force will only help you achieve your goal. I understand your reservations, but remember that you control what you learn and how you use it. Not me.” I wanted so desperately to believe him, believe that he was telling me everything. But I couldn’t. There was a nagging feeling in the bottom of my stomach that kept me from trusting his words. Something, somewhere, was warning me about him. I couldn’t place it, but I just knew not to allow myself to get too close. But for the moment, he was the only option I had.

“Will you help me?” I asked, trying to sound as sincere as I could.

“No!” Chance spoke for the first time during our entire conversation. Actually, he yelled. So loud it made me jump. Aldric and I looked at him at the same time. Chance’s chest was heaving, rising and dropping so fast I was afraid he would hyperventilate.

“It’s okay,” I said, confused as to why he was freaking out. He wouldn’t look at me at first, his eyes locked on Aldric across the room. After a few seconds, the hard edges of his face disappeared and he finally brought his eyes to mine.

“No, it’s not,” he said after slowing his labored breathing. “You can’t trust him, Ava. He’s a
monster
.” He was speaking so softly I had to focus on his lips to make sure I didn’t miss anything. A quick mental image of our lips pressed together flashed across my mind and I had to blink hard to make it disappear. What was that all about? I didn’t even know this guy, why was I thinking these things about him? I didn’t really have the time to worry about it at the moment.

“I know he is,” I answered, trying not to think about that image still fighting to enter my mind. “Don’t worry so much about me. I’ll be fine.” It was a
semi
-lie. I knew Aldric couldn’t be trusted, that part was true; I wasn’t too sure if I would be fine or not. “I don’t really have any choice here. If I’m going to be running around killing vampires, I need to know how to protect myself. You can’t be there ready to drive a wooden stake every single time.”

“Yes I can,” Chance said, his face softening even more. “That’s why I’m here, to help you. All I want is for you to be safe. That’s all that matters.”

“Why?” I had asked the question before and gotten nothing for an answer. Judging by Chance’s sudden nervousness— and the spike in the sweet scent of his blood— this time would be no different.

“Just trust me, Ava.” Chance looked everywhere but at me. “Please try to believe that all I want is to keep you safe.” I knew he meant every word, even if he wasn’t telling me everything. He did want to keep me safe, I believed that completely. ‘Why’ was the question he refused to answer.

“I believe you, Chance. And I appreciate that, honestly. But I can’t depend on you all the time. I have to be able to take care of myself.” I struggled to force my nose to ignore his alluring scent. “And besides,” I went on, “I’m stronger than you, so I win.” I smiled awkwardly at him, and thankfully he smiled back, though I could tell it was a bit forced.

“Think that if you want to,” he said with laughter. “And you might be,” he crossed the room and stood close to me, the electric pull between us undeniable. “But no way in hell am I letting you be alone with
him
.” Though he was standing next to me, his eyes were focused on Aldric, a trembling rage swirling behind them. “I’d die first.” Chance’s breathing grew deeper and more rapid, causing his blood to boil in his veins and drive my mind crazy. Something awful was going on beneath the surface—something these two were fighting desperately to keep from me.

“I know,” I said, searching both his and Aldric’s eyes for the truth. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

8

Chance and I didn’t say much to each other the rest of the day. We left Aldric to take care of my mess in the woods, picked up Chance’s truck from school and went back to his house—even though he told me to, I didn’t feel comfortable calling it home—with nothing more than a “you okay?” and “yeah” between us. I didn’t really know why, but after the things that were said in the cabin, I kind of felt awkward around him.

We ate dinner with his mom in near total silence, except for a couple of questions she threw at me about my first day at a new school. I lied and said it was fine. Then I felt like total crap for lying to a woman who had allowed a complete stranger to live in her house. The first of thousands of lies to come, I was sure. Chance refused to let me help with the dishes, so while he and his mom cleaned up, I went upstairs to get ready for bed. I was under the covers and very near sleep when he finally came in.

“If you want your bed back I can take the couch,” I offered, sort of hoping he would say no. As tired as I was, I couldn’t fathom having to move an inch. My body felt like it was tied to the mattress. Maybe it was sort of like jet-lag that you get when flying—another random, useless thing my memory bank decided to give me.
Dead-lag
. Chance quietly took off his shirt and tossed it into the hamper on the floor. The clean, fresh smell of soap mixed with the sweet scent of his blood and wafted into my nostrils. The fact that I wasn’t trying to kill him confused me. All I had wanted back in the woods was that girl’s blood. But I didn’t feel the same about Chance. It was really weird.

“No way,” he said, pulling a blanket from the top shelf of his closet. “You need your beauty sleep.” I couldn’t clearly see his face because of the darkness in the room, but I knew he was smiling.

“If anyone needs a good night of beauty sleep, it’s you,” I said— lie number two. If he were any more beautifully perfect, I would have to move away.

“Oh trust me, you are definitely the one who’s going to need a full night of uninterrupted sleep.” Even though his words were light and jovial, I could hear a hint of seriousness behind his kind-hearted tone.

“And why is that?”

“Because tomorrow is gonna be hell.” He shoved his bedroom door against the wall, the crashing sound it made when making contact wreaking havoc on my super-sensitive hearing. I had to get Aldric to teach me how to get
that
gift under control, too. I assumed Chance was referring to another day of hunting down vampires, and my happy mood quickly began to dissipate. Just knowing I had to go through what happened today ninety-nine more times made my skin crawl. I had no clue how I was going to pull it off.

“I promise next time I’ll make the kill.” The statement came out cold and heartless, like I was indifferent to what the words meant, even though my stomach was doing somersaults. I guessed subconsciously I was already trying to separate myself from the monster I was ultimately going to become.

Chance laughed and took a couple steps toward me, his face appearing in the light of the bedside lamp like a ship in the mist. “That’s good to know,” he said smiling. “But I was actually talking about your second day at school.”

“What’s so important about the second day?” I tried not to sound scared, but was failing miserably.

“It’s kind of a tradition at McCarver. Your first day is cake. But the second? All bets are off.” Chance half-winked at me and left the room, closing the door behind him. My nerves went into hyper-drive, my mind racing through scenarios that would no doubt play out tomorrow. After nearly an hour of painful anticipation, my body finally gave into the persistent demands of sleep.

I had an unusually high amount of fear walking across the parking lot at school the next morning. Chance was mere inches from me, but I felt totally alone. I clutched my books tightly against my chest, focusing on the cadence being made by my trembling footsteps. Luckily Chance’s mom let me invade her closet for some more updated outfits until I could go shopping on Saturday, so I felt a bit better about my appearance compared to yesterday. Not enough to hold my head high, but a slight improvement.

“Just remember,” Chance said as he opened the large double doors, “you have no reason to answer any questions. You tell them what you want to tell them. Keep the rest to yourself.”

“Tell who what?” He had thoroughly confused me, which was becoming an easy thing to do. He didn’t have to answer, though. Coming down the hall like a sea of waxed legs and blond hair were Lacey and her two clones, parting the crowd of people like she was Moses and they were The Red Sea. I stopped dead in my tracks as I watched the kids move and shift and practically throw themselves out of the way of the oncoming pack. It was like Lacey was the Queen of England, and we were all her loyal—but
inferior
—subjects. I felt rage climb my spine as the trio stopped in sync in front of us.

“What happened to you yesterday?” Lacey asked. I almost answered until I realized she was speaking to Chance. “We missed you in gym class.” She was laying on some seriously thick flirting, every once in a while cutting her eyes at me to see if I was getting jealous. Oddly enough I was, but no way was she going to see it.

“I was busy,” Chance responded, neither cheerful nor rude. He, too, looked over at me. I kept my eyes busily studying the top of my notebook, nearly biting my tongue to keep from saying something I might later regret. Not an easy task, mind you.

“That’s too bad,” Lacey said, tossing her hair over her shoulder; Laceybots One and Two copied her move perfectly. I actually bit my tongue that time to keep from laughing. “But we’ll see you there today, right?” Her doe-like eyes somehow grew bigger as she playfully twisted a strand of hair in her well-manicured fingers. She smiled seductively at Chance, and I was impressed to see that he seemed unaffected.

“Yeah,” he said, taking my arm and pulling me away from the group. “We’ll be there.” He smiled mischievously over his shoulder at Lacey and her crew as he moved us down the hall. I waited what I thought was a respectable amount of time before speaking.

“She likes you,” I said matter-of-factly. I know he said there was nothing going on, but I just couldn’t imagine someone being as persistent as Lacey if there was no hope of achieving anything.

“I don’t like her,” he answered. “I told you that already.”

“I know,” I said, sounding a bit defeated despite his reassurance. “I heard you.” We walked into homeroom and took our seats in the back. I hadn’t realized I was sulking until Chance pointed it out.

“Oh wow,” he whispered, leaning over to me. I got a huge whiff of his delicious scent, causing my head to spin. “Are you jealous?” I jerked my eyes up at him when he said that, shock written all over my face. He had a wide smiled plastered on his; I wanted to smack it off.

“Of course not!” I had to fight to keep my voice to a low whisper. “Are you insane? What would I have to be jealous about?” I looked away from him and laughed a little as I spoke. I began feverishly shuffling my books around on my desk, trying to find anything to occupy my mind so I wouldn’t look at him sitting there swooning.

“Yes, you are,” he continued, further embarrassing me. I could already tell my cheeks were bright red from the heat I felt in them—which made me mad since obviously being a vampire didn’t stop me from getting embarrassed. I doubted they could get any worse, but I didn’t want to find out.

“I said I wasn’t and I meant it.” I didn’t mean to be so snappy, but I figured it was the best way to get him to drop it. “Let it go,” I added, a bit softer with my tone.

“Okay, okay. I’m letting it go.” He threw his hands up in mock surrender and leaned back over in his desk. After a few seconds I glanced over at him; he was still wearing that overly-confident smile. I couldn’t help but smile myself at his cuteness, which somehow managed to climb a few points. I also couldn’t help but notice that even though I had no clue who this guy was, I was slowly becoming more and more attached to him.

We made it to lunch without another
‘Laceygate’
incident. I was actually feeling somewhat comfortable in my new surroundings, even laughing at a couple of Chance’s jokes. Although he didn’t have what I would call friends—which I couldn’t understand seeing as how he was totally gorgeous and very charming—there were a few guys that spoke to him in a friendly way. A couple of them even walked with us to lunch, laughing and cutting up with Chance like they were best friends. One in particular—Trent? Trevor?—seemed closest to him.

“So how do you like it here, Ava?” he asked as we crossed the threshold into the cafeteria. It took me a moment to adjust to the noise and crowd level of the rather tiny lunchroom. I found myself moving a bit closer to Chance. He picked up on my uneasiness and moved next to me.

“Um, it’s okay,” I said. “A lot bigger than what I’m used to.” I had no idea what I was ‘used to’ as far as my old school was concerned. I couldn’t remember
anything
about my past, but I didn’t think telling this guy was a good idea.

“Oh yeah? Where’s that?” Of course he was persistent. I took a minute to try and come up with a believable answer before opening my mouth to speak.

“She’s from the west coast,” Chance interjected. I cut him a what-the-crap look; he responded with a tell-you-later one. I kept quiet, thankful that his friend didn’t seem to notice. Obviously he wasn’t really concerned about my past, just making small talk. Chance and I got our food, said goodbye to Trent/Trevor—who joined his jock buddies on the other side of the cafeteria—and I followed Chance out the far doors to a tiny patch of grass beneath a couple of trees. We were halfway done eating before I spoke.

“Okay, two things,” I said after swallowing some fries. “One, what’s that guy’s name?” Not knowing was starting to bug me.

“Travis,” Chance said, swirling a fry in some ketchup. At least I had the first letter right.

“Two, what was that back there?” I was thankful I didn’t have to elaborate, since I was busily stuffing fries in my mouth.

“Sorry about that. I was supposed to tell you.”

He finished up his fries, tossing the container into a trash can a couple of feet away. “Aldric kind of made up this past for you, just in case anyone asked.”

“Oh he did, did he?” I sounded like a mother, questioning the teacher who accused her child of cheating. “Why didn’t you mention that this morning? And why don’t I know about my ‘past’?”

“He just didn’t want anyone questioning where you came from.” He stole a fry from my tray and doused it in way-too-much ketchup. “He didn’t want someone finding out about your ‘death.’” I was mad that Aldric took it upon himself to create this whole new life for me.

“What gave him the right to do that!”. I stood up and threw my fry container toward the trash can, missing it by several feet. Only fueling my rising anger, I stomped over, picked up the cardboard container, crushed it in my hand and tossed it into the can. Chance was at my side in a flash.

“We gotta get you out of here,” he said calmly but urgently. His hands were groping my arms.

“What? Why?” I was confused and mad all at the same time, firmly planting my feet as he tugged on my arms. I was shocked to see that even though he towered over me—and seemed to be
really
pulling hard judging by his flexed muscles—I didn’t move an inch.

“Ava,” he said, fear drenching his words. “Your fangs are showing.”