The Keeper's Vow (37 page)

“La—Larry?” Allison stuttered.

“I told you to get a new boyfriend, Katie.”
He waved them in.

“Thanks gentlemen, I’ve got it from here—oh
I know he’s got a temper I think we’ll be fine from here.” Larry
closed the door and offered them a seat on the cream colored couch
next to a large window that over looked the city. “Please, do sit,
from what I understand you’re probably exhausted after wrecking my
club.”

“S—sorry,” was all Katie could say. She
still couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact that Larry was walking
over to a mini bar and grabbing two cokes. Allison’s purse fell and
everything splattered across the floor. The noise was louder than
anyone had expected.

“Excuse me,” Allison said, picking
everything up quickly.

Silence.

“I’m guessing you don’t want one,” he said
to Tristan. “You usually like your drinks stronger, right?”

Tristan’s eyes were burning holes through
Larry’s head. “What’s your game?” he said, flexing his fist.

“Well I was sitting at my desk doing
paperwork when I got the message that
you
started throwing
one of
my
customers around
my
club.” Larry handed
Allison and Katie a can of coke. He started to sit down, but took
off his jacket first. “Please, Katie, put this on.”

Katie was mortified. She looked like a
hooker. She’d known Larry long enough that it was like being caught
by an uncle. An uncle that did not just own a ice cream shop with
delicious ice cream, but also a club. In Gray City.

Tristan stood up and took off his own
jacket, holding it out, roughly, to Katie. He was staring Larry
down.

“Just take it,” Tristan said between his
teeth. Why was he making this already awkward situation worse?

He looked at her. “
Goddamn it, can’t she
just trust me for once?”

Katie squinted her eyes, “
I did that and
got burned,”
she thought back.

“Damnit, Katalina.” Tristan held his head.
His hand still twitched a little from the taser.

Larry looked between them and a dark look
crossed over his face. He folded his jacket in his hand and nodded
for her to take Tristan’s. She put it on. His smell covered her and
she almost choked. Her heart pulled and twisted as if encased by
barbed wire.

“I guess it has become obvious to you that I
am not just an ice cream shop owner,” Larry said, smiling at Katie
and Allison.

Tristan shifted in his seat. He wanted to
leave. He wanted to grab her and leave, he was contemplating it and
thinking hard on it. Katie wished he’d shut up. His thoughts were
beating at her making it hard for her to think.

Larry looked between them again. “In fact I
didn’t buy that shop until I moved here.”

“Let’s go.” Tristan grabbed her hand.

Katie didn’t move. Fear was sinking into her
like maybe she should run, but she couldn’t just stand up and walk
out the door. She knew Larry.

“It’s not your choice, Tristan.” Larry
looked tired.

“She doesn’t care about what you have to
say,” Tristan spat. “Now, Katalina.”

Katie looked to Allison, but Allison
shrugged.

She pulled her hand back. What was wrong
with him. He’d spent two months ignoring her and now he was acting
like a raging lunatic on steroids beating people up and deciding
what she did and did not want to hear.

“For once, will you stop thinking about
yourself and just trust me.”

“When did you take the vow?” Larry said it
abruptly.

All three of them turned to him. How did he
know. How could he possibly know.

“I can see it in the way you two look at
each other. Not many can recognize the signs, but I was one of the
last few to ever take the vow. I thought it was no longer in
practice, now I see—I’m wrong.” He cut a dark look at Tristan. As
if maybe it were Tristan’s fault that he was wrong.

Katie shuddered. Who was this man. This man
that smelled so powerful. Katie blinked back the thought. How could
she smell power?

“It doesn’t matter who he is. Let’s go now,”
Tristan said, but she wasn’t looking at him. She was staring at
Larry, his accent—the reason she couldn’t place it. The textbook
said the vow hadn’t been used since the dark ages. He was a
vampire—that she had figured out the moment she stepped into his
office. But vampires couldn’t walk out in the day time. Not unless
they where half—or pure.

Tristan pulled her out of the chair, and she
decided maybe he was right. Maybe they should leave. Something
about Larry didn’t sit right. A pure blood vampire running an ice
cream shop. Giving her free ice cream every Friday…it was beyond
creepy.

“Your friend is worried that I’ll say
something he’d rather keep quiet. But, I only want to ask when Ivan
did it. When did he bond you both?”

This time it was Tristan who stopped. “Don’t
talk about my father. Don’t ever say his name.”

“He was my friend before he was your
father,” Larry said. “I thought we’d already reached that
understanding. You’re too old to play that game Tristan. Let
me—”

“I still don’t want or need your help.
Katalina is no different.” Tristan said.

“You’ve—you knew him? Before you met him at
the ice cream shop? That’s why—who are you, Larry?” Katie said.

Larry and Tristan watched each other for a
while before Larry said, “A friend. I knew his father. When I found
out what happened—I decided I’d best keep an eye out on you
two.”

Tristan’s grip on her hand eased a little.
Was this the man Tristan stayed with? Larry? Why didn’t he ever say
anything.

“Please sit back down. I only want to talk,”
Larry said.

Katie moved her hand from Tristan’s, and sat
back down. Whether he wanted to or not was his own prerogative.
She’d known Larry for years, if he’d wanted to kill her or do any
number of demented things, he would have done it a long time
ago.

Tristan hovered by the couch but didn’t
sit.

“Why did he do it?” Larry said almost to
himself. “Do you know why we ended the Keeper’s Vow? Why we made
sure our fathers were the last to ever utters the words?” He was
looking at Tristan, but his eyes ended on Katie.

The words
keeper
and
vow
rolled over and over in Allison’s mouth. They all listened to her
as she tried to remember something they all knew.

Tristan was rigid again. He was about to
open his mouth, to deflect the conversation. He still didn’t want
her to know, but his eyes widened as he listened to the answer rise
in her mind. Yes, she knew why they’d stopped doing it, how
barbaric it was, and how it forced one person to protect the life
of the other.

“Because, if I die he dies.” Katie said.

“So you know?” Larry said, raising an
eyebrow.

“Only because I read books.” It was a gibe
aimed at Tristan but Larry looked apologetic. “I mean, I had to
find out from a book. No one bothered to tell me.”

Now it was Allison who looked offended.
Katie tried hard to pretend she didn’t see the stern look on her
face. Katie forgot she’d never told Allison. No—not forget—she
never wanted to. It felt like a dirty secret—a secret she never
wanted to be true.

“I can’t imagine why he’d speak the words
that tore so many families apart.” Larry was talking to
himself.

“He felt obligated,” Tristan said, burning
holes through Larry again.

Larry’s face went apologetic again. “You’ve
had to endure a lot no doubt. It’s not an easy burden to bear.”

“I’m not listening to this crap,” Tristan
laughed cruelly and left.

Katie was caught in between running after
him and sitting awkward with Larry the ice cream man turned
vampire. It was odd, after the initial shock it really didn’t
bother her. Her shock levels were recalibrating again.

Katie stood up. No, her body did. She meant
to stay sitting because it was the polite thing to do.
“Sorry—uh—he’s—not easy to get along with,” Katie said, feeling him
move further and further away. He wasn’t moving fast though. He
wanted her to catch up.

Larry released a deep breath. “You used to
be a caterpillar. Now I can see you’ve turned into a butterfly.
Strange, I thought when it’d happened I’d be delighted, but it
saddens me in a way.”

Creepy.

Super creepy.

What was she supposed to say to that. Could
he tell she’d taken her first drink only hours ago?

“I suppose you’d like to go check on him?”
he said.

“Uh—yeah, sorry,” Katie said, a bit out of
sorts. Could she ever go back to that ice cream shop now?

Katie turned to leave, but not before waving
at him awkwardly.

Allison stood up. “I’d like to apologize for
the damage we caused, and say thank you for all the discounted ice
cream. I hope what we’ve done hasn’t changed your opinion of
us.”

“You’re just children being children. The
next scoop is on me, alright?” Larry said, crossing the room to
open the door for them.

Why hadn’t Katie thought to apologize? Why
hadn’t she thought to say thank you for not busting them? She was
almost angry at Allison for being so damn good in situations like
this. Why did Allison always know what to say or do?

Katie said goodbye again and walked in
silence to the elevator, through the club—avoiding eye contact with
Yellow-hair, who was staring at her for way too long—and out onto
the street where she followed her Tristan-compass.

Allison didn’t say anything and Katie didn’t
want to touch whatever she was fuming about with a ten-foot pole.
Not when Allison probably had a knife in her pocket and knew how to
use it.

It wasn’t long before they caught up with
Tristan, he wasn’t exactly making it hard to follow him, but as
soon as they were close enough he picked up his pace and led them
out of Gray City.

It was strange to Katie how completely
different she’d felt when she’d taken the elevator into Gray City.
She’d been overflowing in excitement and adventure. Now she was
quietly cooking. Even though she was standing in a small elevator,
moving towards the above world, she couldn’t hear Tristan’s
thoughts. Maybe he’d caught on that she could hear them easily.
Maybe like Larry he could tell she’d drank blood. Maybe she looked
different—or smelled different.

Anyway, his silence was undeserved. If
anything he had gotten them into this mess. So she showed up at the
same club as him. He didn’t own the place and she had the right to
dance with whoever she wanted—

Tristan banged his fist against the elevator
wall and Katie and Allison jumped. The doors opened and a morning
haze drifted in. They had to squint and adjust their eyes.

“Anyone have the time?” Allison said,
opening her purse. She searched through it faster and faster. “I
don’t have my phone. I lost my phone. Katie call it.”

Katie?
Allison
was
pissed.
Katie looked at her own phone. It was dead.

Tristan was off walking again. He always had
a watch on. He could have told them the time, but as Katie looked
closer, it wasn’t there. Maybe he’d given it to one of his
girlfriends. Or maybe the girl he slept with every Tuesday—

Tristan spun on her like a cornered cat.
“SHUT UP!” His voice travelled down the empty street.

“Don’t tell me what to do. It’s not my fault
you can hear me and I don’t give a damn. Hear it all, Asshole.”
Katie’s voice grew louder and louder with every word.

“Why did you follow me here tonight? To
prove a point? Well you did, and you looked like a slut while you
did it.”

“Why are you here? WHY TRISTAN? Why did you
ever come back? You should have just stayed where ever the hell you
were and left me alone. No one wants you around! My dad hates you.
You only piss off Lucy and you’ve ruined her life, Will’s life,
Brian’s life, and the numbers keep growing because you’ve
completely
destroyed mine.”

As Tristan stared at her his eyes went dead.
He walked toward her, past her, and back into the elevator. He
pushed a button and the door shut severing everything that held
them together. The magnetic pulse she felt, his thoughts, the sense
of him. It was all gone.

She’d gone too far. What the hell had she
done. She’d gone too far.

She pushed the elevator button but it wasn’t
working. “Allison, how do I get back into the el—” Allison was
walking away. “Allison!” Katie shouted. She needed to get back down
there and find him. She’d gone to far.

Allison kept walking.

“Allison!” Katie reached out and touched her
arm.

Allison grabbed Katie’s arm and flung it off
her.

“Alli—”

“When were you going to tell me?” Allison
grinded her teeth. What was she talking about. This wasn’t the time
to get upset because she didn’t tell her
everything
. Allison
wasn’t her personal diary. Katie could keep whatever she wanted
from her.

“Tell you what?” Katie was out of breath. It
was her heart. It had been pounding ever since she’d gotten out of
that elevator.

“The
Keepers Vow
, Katie.” Allison
said her name like it was a joke. “I read books too.”

“Allison, get off it. So I didn’t tell you
it’s not something to tell.”

“Not the
vow
you idiot. The fact that
only vampires can take it. The fact that you have to at least be
half-vampire to be bonded that way.” Allison flexed her hands in
and out of fists. “You’re half-vampire and you didn’t tell me. You
dragged me out tonight not because you wanted to hang out with me
after being a complete and utter bitch for the last two months, but
so you could follow
him
down there and make him jealous.
It’s
always
about Tristan. I am so sick and tired of taking
a back seat to whatever boy is in your life. We were never friends
I was just someone you bitched and complained to when Brian made
you angry, and when Tristan showed up—don’t even get me started. Do
you even
know
what’s going on in my life? Do you even know
that my parents are filing for divorce because my dad has been
cheating on my mom for a year? That he missed my Preliminaries
because he was picking up that woman’s son from a baseball game? Or
that I broke up with my boyfriend two days ago?”