Few Are Angels (12 page)

“Fifty years is a long time to be a slave, no matter how long you live,” I said, as if from experience.

Kale looked at me, and it seemed that he agreed. “Once the deal was sealed, the two men returned to the nomad leader and presented him with the Frenchman’s eighteen-year-old daughter.”

“What the hell?” I yelled, surprising both of us. Worried that I might’ve disturbed Lea, Sarah, or Eric, I went over to my door and listened to see if I could hear anyone moving around, but all was silent. Before I returned to the bed with Kale, I locked the door.

“I can’t believe it. Why would he give his own daughter? Why did she even go?”

“She was full of love and pure of heart, Ella. She trusted her father beyond all reasonable doubt.”

“Oh. She was told where she was going and she still went?” I struggled to believe someone could be that naïve. Then again, I had followed Kale far into the woods, and I’d only known him for a day.

“Yes. Her father said that she needed to go with the men to meet the Eternal Ones.”

“Eternal Ones? Is that what the nomads were called? How did the Frenchman know what they were called?”

“The two men never caught on that the Frenchman knew more about the Eternal Ones than he had let on. The Frenchman knew exactly why the nomads wanted someone like his daughter. He knew the power that they would give her, and once he retrieved her from the nomads and achieved eternal life, he would have power that no one else possessed.”

“Power to do what?”

“When the men presented the girl to the Eternal Ones’ leader, he performed a ritual that allowed her to see the past.”

“She was the first?” I asked.

“No, you are the first. You all share the same soul, and that is why you feel emotions that she once felt.”

At first I’d believed that it was just Hélène and I, but now I knew the truth. I was the first Arc and every one after that—same girl, different body.

“The Eternal One’s leader explained to the men that the girl’s power was to be used wisely. It could save humans or destroy them. Knowing this, the men thought to take her back to their homes to use her to save their home from—” Kale didn’t finish.

I thought I saw the same pain in his eyes from earlier, but at a second glance I could see that it was much more. “What is wrong?’ I asked sympathetically, but he didn’t respond, and he wouldn’t look me in the eyes. I couldn’t understand why he had stopped. Who were the travelling men trying to protect their homes from?

“What did the men want to do with the Arc?” I asked, afraid of the answer.

Kale finally spoke. “
Nosophoros
.”

The word stirred emotions of fear, sadness, and unequivocal loss in me. I didn’t know the word, but I’d heard one that was similar. “Nosferatu,” I whispered.

Kale’s face fell, and he shifted away from me.

“I think I have taken everything that I’ve learned pretty well so far, so what is your fear about this?” I tried not to seem to upset by his withdrawal. Suddenly, I remembered the first night that I met Kale and his fight with the blond-haired man in the front yard. He had spat the word at Kale as they fought. “That man with blond hair called you Nosferat.” I barely kept the accusation from my voice. “Why?” The word was familiar, but not just from Kale’s fight with the blond man.

“Jace.”

“That’s his name? So you two know each other?” I was getting tired of asking questions. I wanted him to spill his guts, stopping only to breathe.

“Yes, I know him. He is part of the Council of Immortals. He was supposed to be your Guardian, but I sent him away.” Kale sat up and rubbed his hands through his hair.

“I have a Guardian? You told me about the Council, but not about a Guardian. Didn’t you say he was trying to break into my house? Would a person who is supposed to be a guardian try to break into the house of the person that they are supposed to guarding?” I asked.

Kale stiffened at my accusing tone.

I stood up and faced him, wondering what else he was keeping from me. “Seriously, you told me that you were protecting me from him when all along he was trying to protect me from Nosferat—which is you,” I said, finally putting more of the pieces together.

Kale said nothing to deny the accusation, and I sat there silently, arms crossed. Kale inched closer to me. His eyes were dark and laced with sadness, but I didn’t let it chip away at my icy demeanor. I was angry, and I wanted him to know it. I had been nothing but honest with him about myself, and I wanted the same from him no matter what.

“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t know how to, Ella, not because I was trying to be deceitful.” He sighed. He took my hand and squeezed it lightly. Warmth enveloped me. I wanted to be angry with him, but it became harder because I could hear the truth in his voice, and I could feel it in his touch. He wrapped him arms around my back and placed a hand on my neck, sending shivers down my spine. He leaned toward me, allowing his lips to touch my ear before he spoke.

“I am Nosferat, Ella. I was made by the Dark Prince in 1884, the same time Hélène died. He made me this way because he knew that whatever was left of the Council would not allow me to be near her in the future. It was punishment for loving you.” His scent was familiar, as was his touch, soft and hesitant. His lips moved softly against my ear.

I fought the urge to turn my head to feel his lips on mine. It had been too long since I’d tasted his breath, and my heart begged me to kiss him.

“He brought me to you and showed you what he’d made me, and you called me Nosophoros. It means disease-bearing. You looked as if you were ashamed of me.”

Kale moved his hands to my face so that I was looking directly at him. His gaze branded me, and the tears on my face were cooled by his breath. He waited for my response, but there was nothing I could say. I couldn’t find the words to express what I felt for him, and I didn’t think that I ever could. I stood on my tiptoes and leaned into Kale, never letting his gaze leave mine. I could feel his chest pressed flush against mine. I reached around and ran my fingers through the soft hairs at the nape of his neck. His soft moan begged me to continue, and I was powerless to stop. Kale leaned into me, his soft lips caressing my cheek.

“Kale,” I whispered. I knew I wasn’t ready to go any further than kissing, but it seemed like I would have to convince my body of that fact. Kale seemed cautious and unsure, but as I pressed closer, his lips molded to mine. He moved his hand from my face to my back, pulling me even closer. His taste was so familiar and warm that it was hard to hide my disappointment and embarrassment as he pulled away. Kale looked at me, seemingly judging my reaction. A few emotions played across his face as we stood close and struggled to catch his breath. I tried to look away, but Kale placed his hand on my chin.

“Don’t look away.”

“Sorry, I just…” I buried my head into his chest. I breathed in his scent. It made me feel even closer to him, though there was no space between us.

“It’s okay. I just need to tell you the rest.” He kissed the top of my head. “The name you called me has a special meaning to it.”

“Is that what you meant when you said that I was the one who thought you had a disease?”

“Yes. The word is meant for bad people, Ella.” Kale pushed me away. “It’s meant for vampires, Ella.” Kale looked at me to gauge my reaction.

I couldn’t look away from him, though I wanted to. I didn’t move. I hoped he was joking. “Wait, are you saying that you are a-a-a…” I tried to finish, but my throat locked up in disbelief, and I backed away from him. I could see the hurt in his eyes as I moved away, but I couldn’t stop my body.

He stood with his hands still out where they had held me. “Vampire,” he finished for me.

The vision of him crumpled on the floor of the shed with dried blood on his face flashed through my mind, and I clutched my stomach. There were some things I could believe and others I just couldn’t. Kale moved closer, and I held my hands up to stop him.

“Don’t.” I turned away from him. I wasn’t afraid of him or what he had told me, but I couldn’t wrap my mind around what he had said. Vampire was asking too much from me. I needed time to think. “I think you should leave, Kale. I need to think or something.” When he didn’t reply, I turned to see the window was open, and he was gone. Relief and sadness flooded me, and I went to close the window. I shivered, not just from the cold, but from the sudden feeling of loneliness. I sat down on the chair in front of my laptop to think.

If I were to believe Kale, I would have to believe that this all started in the Middle Ages, when Laurent had sold his daughter to gain eternal life and the ability to use me to see the past. I would also have to believe that he man not only succeeded, but became such a problem that the Council of Immortals was created to stop him from using my abilities. Not to mention I would have to believe that Kale was a vampire. I couldn't wrap my head around it all. The logical side of me said that I should never see Kale again, and I should call Doctor Lithe to have Nurse Laura come with her needle and take me back to Ocean Trace. I didn’t want to think about anything other than Kale and our kiss, but the one good thing of the night was weighed down by everything else.

The logical side of me won out. I went to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom to get the pills that I had sworn I wouldn’t take. I hoped they could take away the memory of that kiss because it came with thoughts of Kale growing fangs and drinking blood. I wanted to be normal, not an Arc with a vampire crush. I swallowed the pills and lay down on the bed, closing my eyes. I focused on the wind as it moaned outside of my window and the branches as they slapped the side of the house. Images of fangs and blood plagued my brain as I tried to fall asleep. I couldn't see Kale again, not if I wanted to get better. I didn't believe in vampires. Maybe I shouldn’t have believed anything Kale said, no matter how real it felt.

I woke up at eight thirty Monday morning for my first day of work. Just a few days until Thanksgiving and Alex’s homecoming. I was still a little groggy, but that was to be expected after taking the medicine Dr. Lithe had prescribed me. After I showered and spent some extra time on my hair—which badly needed to be cut—I made my way downstairs for some cereal and the morning news. Problems in Libya and Britney Spears’s new marriage were the only things being announced, and I wasn’t interested in either topic. I opted to watch
SpongeBob SquarePants
instead. The stress of the world was something I didn’t want to factor into my life just yet. I had fallen into a nice, basic routine: breakfast, a little yellow pill, online classes, study, lunch, reading, dinner, study, a little yellow pill, and then bed. Today was my first day working. It was back to the basics for me, and I loved it. I’d only had two hallucinations. I no longer called them memories. The hallucinations were cryptic, so I ignored them and hoped they would go away. No one died in them, but I still had no clue what they were about. Kale and Hélène were not in the hallucinations, but the pale blond man that fought with Kale made an appearance. I’d even called Dr. Lithe and scheduled a follow-up appointment that I would attend when we went to pick up my car in Virginia Beach.

***

I went upstairs to my medicine cabinet to take a pill, then checked my e-mail. There was a message from my friend Diyan from ODU reminding me to visit her when I went back to Virginia Beach. I was thinking that I would stay overnight and pack the rest of my things, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to stay in the old house that long. Dr. Lithe had said it would do me good to stay and pack and face my fears. It was supposed to bring me closure, but I wasn’t sure I was ready. I wanted to forget everything, including Kale, and he had made it easy for me by vanishing into thin air. Maybe I had imagined him all along. I was tempted to go see if he was still sleeping in the mausoleum in the Elmwood Cemetery, but I quickly decided against it. If I went and Kale wasn’t there, it didn’t prove anything. His disappearance could mean I’d imagined him or just that he’d left. Whatever, I had more important things to worry about.I checked the time and had just enough time to see if my professor had posted the first required reading for my American Literature class. There were three books listed. The class consisted of thirty students, and once ten students chose one of the books, it would automatically be pulled from the list. I was one of the first students to view the assignment. The login list showed four others had already logged in and two of them had picked their reading assignment. The class was going to be hardcore. The requirements included a final examination, a four-page paper due two days before the middle of the term, a seven-page paper due the day of the final, written reflections on the readings, and two quizzes between the beginning and end of the semester. I wrote down the three books:
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
by Harriet Beecher Stowe,
Moby Dick
by Herman Melvin, and
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
by Fredrick Douglass. I chose
Moby Dick
for my first paper. It was a lazy pick because I’d already read it. It would be easy to write a four-page paper on a book I had read two years ago.

Eric was excited about my choice of classes: American Literature and Creative Writing. American Lit was probably my toughest class, and the other would be easy to pass because it was a fluff class for me since I’d been taking it at my old school before the incident I ordered
Moby Dick
online at Amazon with overnight shipping because I wanted to start my reading before Thanksgiving break. A tinkle from my phone caught my attention. I pulled the phone from my pocket to read the text, which was from Alex.

Hey, I should be there Wednesday morning around eight thirty. My classes end earlier than I expected. Can’t wait to see you. It’s been way too long.

I was excited to see Alex. Some of my best memories were of hanging out with him whenever my parents and I came to visit, and they didn’t hurt, which was definitely a plus. I texted back how I had enjoyed our little conversations during the past week. Lea had given me his new number and he was pleasantly surprised when he got my first text. He called me in the middle of sending my second, and it turned into an hour-long conversation about the past, the present, and the future.