Midnight Blood (Born Immortal) (11 page)

     Shayna gathered Sid’s reins and squeezed his sides, and told him, with her mind to run, and to run fast. The horse didn’t hesitate. As soon as Shayna had projected her thoughts to him, he was off in the direction of the trees. Within seconds they were running next to Cain and Glytter.

     “He is a beautiful animal,” Cain said to her, “But he belongs to you,” he slowed his horse to a walk, and Obsidion slowed too, at Shayna’s silent command, “I don’t know at all, what he or you are thinking, but I can definitely sense that there is a connection between the two of you.”

     The horses walked side by side, on a trail, that was surrounded by pine trees.

     “You didn’t happen to find my fathers necklace anywhere, did you?” she asked him hoping the answer would be yes.

     “No,” he said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t.”

     “I think I have an idea of where I lost it,” she told him and sighed quietly, “I’ll have to go there and look tomorrow,” she knew he would know where she thought it was. She didn’t have to tell him.

     Cain did know, “Do you want me to go with you?” he asked, thinking she wouldn’t want to go alone.

     She looked at him, smiling at the gesture, “I think I need to go back alone. I didn’t want to
ever
go back, and now that I know I have to I feel like I should do it alone. I think I’ll be okay,” she said believing herself.

     Cain understood how she felt, “Very well,” he simply said.

     Shayna told Obsidion to trot ahead in her special way, and he immediately obeyed. She wasn’t sure of the trail they were on, but she trusted Obsidion not to lead her into danger. She wanted to forget about what had happened in the cemetary, but it seemed to be impossible.

     “Shayna,” Cain called ahead to her, “I want you to know something.”

He wanted her to know exactly
why
, he was such a danger to her. He needed her to understand. But when Obsidion turned back toward him and looked at him like Cain was talking to
him
, and he saw Shayna’s beautiful face, eyes focused on him and full of happiness, he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t ruin the moment she was in. He would save it for another day. His mind raced for something to say to her instead, he finally said the only thing he could come up with.

“Shayna,” he began, “I want you to know that he is yours,” Cain pointed at Obsidion. “He belongs to you now. I believe he was meant for you.”

     The look in Shayna’s eyes was all that Cain needed as a ‘thank you’, “What?” she asked, dismayed, “Are you kidding me?”

     “Well, I can’t do anything with him,” he said, catching up to Shayna and Sid again, “He hates me.”

     “That’s not true, he seemed just fine with you earlier,” she told him. She didn’t want to take his horse from him.

     “Only because somehow, this damn horse knew you were coming,” he was frustrated thinking about it, “I don’t how, but he knew.”

     “I agree, there is something between us for sure,” she told him, “But, are you sure?”

     Cain nodded his head, “Yes,” he said.

     “Wow. Okay, I guess I can’t really argue,” she said. The horses were close enough for them to touch and Shayna reached out and took Cain’s hand.

“Thank you,” she told him. “You don’t know how much this means to me.”

     “Trust me, I might not know what’s on your mind or that horses,” his ice cold hand squeezed hers gently, “But I can
see
how much it means to you.”

     “The only problem is, that I don’t have a place to keep him,” she said this, knowing the response she would receive, and smiled at him.

     “Well,” he said, and  smiled back at her, “I have to get you out to my place somehow, don’t I?”

     “That’s right,” she said with a laugh. “So, where are you taking me?” she asked him. He had begun to become more curious. She didn’t think there were very many places he could take her, that she hadn’t already been to in this area.

     “I told you, you’ll see,” he said with a mischievious smile.

     His dark hair was falling around his face, and his eyes caught every bit of light and reflected it back out like a gemstone. God, he’s gorgeous! She thought. She didn’t care where he was taking her, she would go anywhere with him.

“Fine,” she said, “Can I ask you some questions then?”

     “You can ask me anything Shayna, and I will try to answer the best that I can,” he told her, although he was a little nervous. He knew she was very inquisitive, as to who she was, and he knew he was walking a fine line.

     “Okay,” she began. The horses led the way, they seemed to be on a  game path, and the horses were following it on their own. “I don’t know where to start, I have so much to ask, but I don’t know what to ask first,” she sighed in frustration. The sun began to peek through the trees at them, and she took it as a cue, “The sun,” she said, “What does it do to us?”

     “Didn’t you read the book you bought?” he asked with a smirk.

     “How did you know I bought that book?” she asked. She had trusted that Aunt Mill wouldn’t tell him, and she still believed she hadn’t. He couldn’t enter her mind. So how? She didn’t have anything to hide anymore, but she was curious how he knew.

     “I do the inventory,” Cain said, “I assisted the only other two customers in that day, and they didn’t buy it. So, I knew it was you.”

     “Oh,” she said, blushing a little. “Well, to tell the truth, I just skimmed through it, mainly to find out, if I had to spend my days in the dark,” she laughed quietly, “You know what I mean?”

     “Do I!” he nodded his head. He had spent the first seven months of his immortal existance hiding from the sun until he found out about bloodstones. “Well, the sun does do
something
to us,” before he could finish, Shayna interrupted him.

     “It doesn’t make our skin sparkle does it?” she asked laughing.

     “Sorry, no,” he laughed himself, a little, at her joke, “But it does burn us.” he saw Shayna’s eyes widen, and thought twice about continuing. He didn’t want to frighten her, but he knew she needed to know. He wished he would of had someone to teach him about the life he lived, “You won’t turn to ash and die immediately, unless you’re stupid enough to stand in it for an excessive amount of time,” he said, and waited for her to ease up and relax a little before he went on, “It
will
burn your skin though, it reddens and blisters pretty bad.”

     “Like a sunburn?” Shayna asked.

     “Yes,” he answered, “But a really bad instant sun burn, that is noticeable within minutes.”

     “And my bloodstone will protect me?”

     “Yes, if you find it,” he would give her one of his if she was unable to find it, but he sensed that she would.

     “Okay next question,” she said, moving away from the subject of the cemetary again, “How did you become a vampire?”

     Cain tried to think of a way to tell her without lying to her, and without telling her his secret to early.

After a few silent moments he said, “Someone tried to kill me, and a vampire changed me right before I actually died.” 

The horses started up a hill, leaving the path behind them. “I can’t imagine anyone wanting to kill
you
,” Shayna said to him.

     Cain closed his eyes briefly thinking back to that night.

“It was a stranger,” he said, “I was attacked from behind one night, while returning home from attending errands for my father,” Shayna could see the pain in his eyes as he spoke. “I loved my family, I was of noble blood, and it was a big ordeal when I disappeared. I refused to go home to them. I was different, and they would have known it.”

     “So you never saw your family again?” She asked, sad for him.

     “No.” he said softly, but not truthfully.

There was one family member that he continued to see after his mortal death, but Cain wanted to keep this person a secret from Shayna as long as he could. He knew and feared, that it was only a matter of time before she found out.

     “Will it be that way with me?” Shayna asked him. It made her sad to think of not seeing her family. She had thought about it a lot, since she found out she would be a vampire.

     “It doesn’t
have
to be,” he said, “But, they would know you were different, and you would constantly have to battle your instincts not to kill them,” he looked at her knowing this was all very hard for her, “It’s best that you at least leave here, until you know how to control yourself.”

     “Will you go with me?” she asked him.

     He looked into her eyes and said, “Nothing would make me happier Princess,” he knew how hard things would be for her, and he wanted to be there for her to make everything as easy as possible for her, “You know Shayna, I didn’t ask for this life, and if I had been given a choice that night, I would have chose to die.” Cain became quiet, he was lost in thought, thinking about the past, and thinking about the night he changed. Finally he said, “Shayna up until I saw you for the very first time, I had always wished that I
had
died that night. But now, I believe you were my reason for carrying on. No one has ever made me feel, the way that I feel when I am with you,” Cain couldn’t believe that he was revealing his soul to her, he couldn’t help it. He knew he could tell her this, and definitely not ruin her day.

     They had come down another hill, and Shayna had decided she was officially lost. She had lost track of what direction they were heading in, after the horses crossed the highway. She knew then, that they were heading east, but she stopped paying attention after that.

     “Why did you want to die?” she asked, as they followed a creek into a gully. She didn’t understand. She would be lying to herself if she said the thought of living forever, didn’t excite her a little.

     “I never wanted this Shayna,” he said. She saw him wince as if in pain, “Up until this moment, I believed that this was not my true fate, and that I should have died that night,” he drew in a deep breath, although breathing was unnecessary for him. He was breathing her in. “But seeing you sitting on that horse right now, I know that
you
are my fate.”

     The horses had been making their way up a hill, and before Shayna could respond to Cain, they reached the top, and came out onto a bluff that looked out over, what Shayna knew, was the Manistee River.

     “Isn’t it beautiful?” Cain asked her.

     Shayna knew of this place well, she had heard about it all her life, but had never came in person until he brought her.

“It’s called the High Rollaway,” she said, staring down at the river, which looked like a horse shoe, from the top of the bluff. It rolled in, around a bend and rolled back out, and disappearing from veiw, “I hear it’s absolutely beautiful in the fall.”

     Noah pulled up to Shayna’s house around noon, and parked his purple El Camino at the curb. She better be here! He thought, as he walked up to the door. The Prelude was parked in the driveway, but that never meant Shayna was home, Melina always had it. Shayna preferred to walk whenever she could.

     After two knocks, Melina answered the door.

“What’s up Noah?” She asked him, and leaned against the door frame, fidgiting with her straight blonde hair.

     “Hey kiddo,” he said, and winked at her. “Where’s Shayna?”

     “Seriously?” Melina said, “You don’t know?”

     “No,” Noah said, shaking his head in confusion.

     “She’s with Cain.”

     “What?!” Noah was flabergasted. He knew Shayna liked this
new kid
, but he couldn’t believe that she was already out with him. “Already?” he asked. “I thought she would at least take her time.”

     “Yeah right!” Melina laughed, “Are you kidding? They’ve been inseparable since Wednesday, or at least it seems that way,” she told him, “It’s kinda weird.”

     “No wonder,” Noah said under his breath.

     “What?”

     “She hasn’t answered my calls, or called me back, or anything,” Noah said, and sat down on the porch swing the twin’s father had put up, the year he ‘died’. “I thought she was upset with me, but now I see she has traded me in for a better model,” Noah said with a pout.

      Noah valued his friendship with Shayna dearly. He thought of her as a sister. He thought she was attractive, very attractive. But he knew he wasn’t the one she needed, and he accepted that, and settled for being her best friend.

     “Nah,” Melina said and, came outside to sit next to him on the swing, “You’re a classic, she would never trade you in,” she smiled at him, he was always upbeat, and funny, and cared about his friendship with her sister. Melina could see why Shayna would rather be around Noah, over anyone else. Until she had met Cain, “So what brings you by?” Melina asked Noah.

     Noah leaned back against the red pinstriped swing cushion, feeling a little frustrated, “Well, Shayna was supposed to go to Traverse City with me today,” he said, “To help me pick out a tux for the Winter Formal.” Noah looked at Melina with an idea, he was going to Traverse City regardless, but he wanted a females opinion, “Do you want to go?” he asked Melina.

     “To help you pick out a tux?”

     Noah nodded his head and smiled.

     Melina wasn’t sure what to say, normally she didn’t hang out with Noah, or anyone else besides her ‘Girls’, but she thought it might be fun, and said “Sure let’s go.”

     “Cool,” Noah said. He was a little surprised, but glad nonetheless.

     “Let me grab my bag, and put on my shoes,” Melina stood up.

     “I’ll be in my car,” Noah said, and also stood up, and headed toward his El Camino.

     When Melina climbed into the El Camino after getting her things, she immediately filled the small cab of the car with the aroma of what could only be Calvin Klein.

“So I have to tell you something Noah,”  she said closing the door, “I love your car.” This was something that Melina would never admit to anyone again. If Noah told anyone, she would say he was lying.

     The purple car had black, gold trimmed, lightening bolts on the sides, and the inside was all black leather, with a fuzzy black dash, and two Purple dice hanging from the rearview mirror.