Bite Me! (5 page)

N
oah was dead?

My hands went cold and my heart stuttered from slow to stop.

Was I the last person to see Noah alive? Is that why they had called me to the office?

The office door opened, and Mrs. Blanchard motioned me inside.

“Your mother called. You need to pick up your sisters from school today,” she said, handing me the message. She looked at me, “AJ, are you okay?”

I nodded. “Um, yeah. Mrs. Crandall told me to come see you because she said I was disrupting class.”

“Well, this isn't a good time for that. Here, take this to
Mrs. Crandall and tell her to get over it,” she said, scribbling a note onto a piece of paper. “Actually, strike that last comment. Please don't tell her to get over it, otherwise you'll both wind up back here.”

“Yes, ma'am,” I said, my voice cracking.

“And one more thing,” she said, handing me the note. “You park illegally again, you're going to have detention for a week, okay?”

I nodded and turned to leave, but she grabbed my hand, stopping me. “You're as pale as a ghost, AJ.”

My throat burned, and no matter how hard I swallowed, I couldn't dislodge the lump of fear.

“How did he die?” I asked.

“Oh, honey. I'm so sorry you found out like this. Sit down,” she said, guiding me to Miss Mandy's office chair. “He was found in a coma yesterday morning at O'Reily's farm. They're not sure what killed him. He was pretty beaten up, it seems. But then, it also appears he was bitten by a snake. We'll know more after the autopsy.”

“Bitten?” I sobbed. Tears burned my lids as a picture of my spattered tank and the blood on my pillow flashed through my mind.

Oh my God. What had I done?

“Miss Mandy, get AJ some water,” Mrs. Blanchard
said, never letting go of my hand. “AJ, do I need to call your mom?”

“No, ma'am,” I whispered. More tears spilled down my face, and suddenly I was very cold. “A snakebite? Where?”

“On his wrist.”

I gasped. The vampire neck fetish was mostly glamorized by Hollywood. Sure, if there was a neck available at the time, vamps would go for it. But if they wanted to disguise the bite, they often went for the ankle.

Or the wrist.

“I've gotta go,” I said as Miss Mandy handed me a Dixie cup full of water. I shook my head and pushed her hand away. “I'm sorry, but I really have to get out of here.”

I rushed out of the office in a flurry, nearly knocking Malia over as she entered.

“Hey! Watch out,” she yelled.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, not even looking back.

I had to get out of there. I ran to my car at full speed, jumped in, and started it up. As I backed out of the parking lot, I pulled my phone out and dialed the hospital.

My mom's secretary answered.

“Laura, this is AJ. Is Mom around?”

“She's in a patient consult right now, AJ.”

“I'm gonna be there in ten minutes. Please tell her it's an emergency. I need her.”

“Okay, darling. Can I do anything for you?”

“Just get my mom,” I said, snapping my phone closed.

My birthmark burned and my head ached as all sorts of things ran through my mind. I still didn't remember getting home after the bonfire. I just remember being pissed off at Noah for forcing me to touch him.

I
had
been drinking…was it possible that I was so angry, I went back after Noah? I watch TV—people black out and kill all the time. I just never thought that
I
was capable of blacking out and biting.

Sacred Heart Hospital loomed two blocks away. It's ironic that most hospitals are religiously sponsored and that many doctors are vampires. Vampires really are totally misunderstood by the religious world. Sure, thousands of years ago we were evil, but now? Not so much. Okay, we have a few bad eggs left in our bunch, but overall, we're just souped-up humans.

Kinda like superheroes. With fangs. And, um, a slight penchant for blood.

Was I one of the bad eggs? I had always assumed the bad guys
know
they were evil. You know, they were just
born that way. But maybe that isn't the case. Maybe the bad guys just have no control over their instincts. Maybe they black out every time they do something evil. Is that what happened to me?

If so, my next confession could prove to be interesting. Maybe I should've gone to Mass yesterday instead of the mall. How many Hail Marys would it take to erase the sin of sucking the life out of someone?

I pulled into the parking deck and found a spot on the first level. My head continued to throb as I shot through the lobby to the elevator. I punched level four and waited.

And waited.

The doors finally closed and the elevator began to creep upward. I probably could've walked up the stairs faster than taking the elevators. I always forget how slow these stupid things are.

Finally, the box lurched to a stop and the doors opened. I stepped into the hallway, turned right, and headed toward Mom's office.

She was waiting for me at Laura's desk. “Are you okay?” she asked as I rushed in.

“Yeah. No. I don't know.”

Mom wrapped her arms around me and led me into her office. “Laura, hold my calls and reschedule all my
morning appointments.”

The plump brunette nodded. “I hope everything's okay, AJ. If I can do anything, just holler. Oh, and AJ? The kids were asking about you the other day. You're their favorite babysitter,” she said.

I turned and smiled at Laura as Mom closed the door behind us. I walked to the oversized leather sofa and collapsed into a ball of tears as panic snaked through my body.

“AJ, you're starting to scare me. What's this about?” Mom sat beside me and I buried my head into her lab coat, staining it with my runny mascara.

“Momma, I think I've done something terrible. I mean, I think I
could've
done something terrible,” I heaved.

She reached over to the side table and picked up the box of tissues. “Sit up, blow your nose, and start from the beginning. I can't help you if you keep speaking in riddles.”

Dread threaded its way up my spine as I tried to figure out how to break my mom's heart. I mean, what mother could love pure evil? I've seen
The Omen
. I know.

Of course, it wasn't my fault if I hadn't evolved like the rest of my race. Maybe my genetic strands were just stunted. Great. I was a Cro-Magnon vampire. As if
being evil wasn't bad enough, now I had underdeveloped evolutionary growth. Wonder if there's a nunnery for evil Cro-Magnon vampire girls?

I sighed, wiped my puffy eyes, and broke the news to Mom. “I think I'm evil.”

Mom's eyes went wide, then her laughter bubbled around me like carbonation. “Honey, what are you talking about? You don't have an evil bone in your body.”

“I think I killed Noah James. I don't remember it, but I think I did it. I mean, I must've done it. I was so mad at him. He tried to force me to touch him and he called me a tease, then I blacked out and then I woke up with blood everywhere and he was dead.”

Mom's laughter fell flat. “The snakebite victim? That was the boy you made out with at O'Reily's?” she asked.

I nodded. “You heard about him?”

“I was called in for a consult before he died. The venom was stopping his heart and we were looking at surgical options. But he'd lost a lot of blood from internal bleeding. There was nothing we could do.”

“Internal bleeding from a bite? Isn't that unusual?” I asked.

“He had bruising on his chest and abdomen. They think the battering is actually what put him in the coma.
When he was bitten, chances are he wasn't awake.”

“Oh,” I gasped, remembering the rage on Ryan's face as he stayed behind to chat with Noah.

“There is no way you could've inflicted that kind of damage to him. You aren't big enough or strong enough, and you haven't exhibited any superhuman strength, have you?”

I shook my head.

“So there's no way you could've been involved.”

“But a boy could have?”

“Maybe, if he used a crowbar. The bruising was pretty excessive.”

“What about the snakebite? What if I'm venomous?”

“Well, that is something we definitely need to find out. Because, I'm sorry to say, that could very well be true.”

“What are you saying, Mom?”

She looked at me.

“I'm saying your father is full-blooded Serpentine, so it's possible you inherited the venomous bite. I'll need to run some tests—and I guess it's time you learn about some dark family history.”

 

I'm a descendant of the Serpentine Clan? I reached up and touched my birthmark, then did a mental head slap.
Well, duh. Of course I am. I knew the Serpentines had the S-shaped mark—it just never dawned on me that my backward S was their mark as well. I guess I've been swimming in the River Denial my whole life.

“Make your fangs descend,” Mom ordered.

“I can't.” Okay, I could. It just took some concentration. But I didn't want to.

“AJ, just do it. Not knowing doesn't do you any good. I can test your venom against the venom in Noah's body. We have to know if it's the same.”

“What if I'm evil?” I asked.

On an evil scale from one to ten, the Serpentines rated a twelve. They're the vamps you hear about—the ones who kill simply for the thrill of it. They're also race purists who believe they're the only vampires worthy of life, and they rule their clan with an iron fist. No Serpentine is allowed to breed outside of the race—if they do, they're immediately excommunicated. And in some cases, executed. Some family, huh?

And I was a descendant. Another moment of irony as I realized I had not only fallen for someone outside my clan, but someone outside the vampire race completely. Methinks the clan elders definitely would not approve.

“You're not evil; now pop out those fangs for me.”

So, you know how on Animal Planet that crazy snake dude “milks” the venom from whatever rare and endangered serpent he just caught in some remote jungle off the coast of wherever? Well, my mom milked me.

That's just not right.

“There,” she said, sealing the syrupy clear liquid up in the tube. “It will probably take a few days to run the tests, but until then, I don't want you to worry. I
know
you didn't do this, AJ.”

“I wish I could be as sure about that as you are.”

She smiled. “Hang on just a second,” she said, walking over to her desk. She clicked the intercom button on her phone. “Laura?”

“Yes?”

“My rounds today are at three, is that correct?”

“Yes, ma'am.”

“Okay, thanks.” She disconnected and then dialed another extension. “Octavia?” she asked. “Can you come to my office for a minute?” She paused to listen. “Yes, bring it with you. See you in a second.”

“Was that Auntie Tave?” I asked when she hung up. “I haven't seen her since you finished your internship. I was surprised she wasn't at the wedding.”

“She was on her way home from a blood bank inspection
on Saturday. We're actually pretty lucky to have caught her, since she travels so much. You know, I couldn't have survived your father leaving without Octavia. And if you want proof that you didn't bite Noah, Auntie Tave is just the person who can give it to you. She's on her way.”

“W
hy didn't you tell us that we were Serpentines?” I asked while we waited.

Growing up, I'd done my best to disregard my vampire side, but there are some parts of our past that can't be ignored. Overall, vampires are well educated in the ways of the reportedly “evil” clans. It's no different from being taught about the Nazis or Jim Jones, I guess. It's just an ugly part of our history and we're taught about it in the hope that we won't make the same mistakes.

You've got the Serpentines with their deadly venom and their superiority complex. The Shifters and their ability to shapeshift into other beings. And then there were the old-timers, the vampires who were created by being
bitten, direct descendants of Judas, if you believe that theory. Infected humans, so to speak. They're few and far between now, but their history is so gruesome that humans believe all vampire-kind are the same. Blood-thirsty, unfeeling killing machines.

Genetic vampires refer to the old-timers as dichampyrs nowadays, because they struggle with their dichotomy. It's not easy being half-human and half-vampire. (Okay, technically, I'm part-human and part-vampire, but it's different because I was born this way. My human DNA doesn't treat the vampire DNA like it's an infection—theirs does.)

Oh, and genetic vampires aren't immortal, either. We have beating hearts. As long as a vamp feeds, its heart works. I suppose we
could
live forever, but like with any living thing, when you stop the heart, you die. It's the one organ that doesn't seem to heal. Don't ask me why. Google really ought to come up with a special vampire search engine.

And it doesn't matter what you drive through the heart. Wooden stakes work, but they're not required. Hollywood sure likes them, though. I guess there'd be no onscreen conflict if Buffy could've used anything within reach to dust a vamp.

There are dichamps who allow the infection to take
over and they completely stamp down their human side. But it's the ones who can't let go of their human side who have the hardest time with the change. They can't feel, they can't breathe, they can't taste, and they only find joy in consuming blood. They lose their connection to the little things that made life worth living. But they still remember those things, which makes it damn miserable for them to exist. They're the ones who go crazy. Eventually, they stop feeding. It's like vampire depression.

Wonder if GlaxoSmithKline makes a pill for that?

Genetically born vampires' human and vampire sides are fused together. We're just as much human as we are vampire.

And frankly, I consider myself to be
way
more human than vampire….

“Your father and I wanted to protect you,” Mom said, interrupting my train of thought.

I couldn't help but laugh. I hadn't seen my dad since I was in single digits, and the thought of him wanting to do anything but abandon me was funny as hell.

“Dad sure stuck around for the whole ‘protection plan' thing, didn't he?”

Mom's eyes got a little cloudy. “I loved your father, but he wasn't ready for the hand we were dealt.”

“You weren't, either, Mom, but somehow you managed to be great at it.”

She smiled. “Some people grow up faster than others. Your father was passionate and rebellious. And we fell hard for each other. Of course, we were forbidden to see each other. I wasn't full-blooded Serpentine. Even though I had the mark,” she said, lifting her pant leg to expose the S-shaped mark on her calf.

I touched my neck. It had never dawned on me that my birthmark was more than just something I'd inherited from my mother. Clearly, denial was my new BFF.

Mom continued. “I had too much human in me, therefore I was ‘unclean.' The clan elders had already arranged your father's future marriage. But your dad loved me. We kept seeing each other. And then I got pregnant….” Her voice trailed off slightly before she added, “And I don't regret that one bit. I'll never regret my children.”

I smiled and laid my head on her shoulder. “That's a given, Mom.”

“Your father was so happy about you. We ran away and got married. The clan came after your father, but he stood by us. He told them to take a hike. They kept coming back, kept mentioning some prophecy, but your father
just pooh-poohed it and ignored them. I never understood exactly what they were talking about, but this prophecy was directly responsible for their views on breeding outside the clan.

“We moved to a college town, where we both got our degrees, and then I started med school. The clan seemed to finally give up on your father and left us alone. Then, not long after you turned nine, your dad just up and left. I never really understood what happened exactly. He sent me divorce papers and I heard he eventually married the woman the elders had handpicked for him before.”

“Dad remarried?”

“Yes. You know, I really can't blame your father. He did try. But we were both young, and stupid to believe we could defy the clan.”

Mom's intercom buzzed. “Octavia is here, Liz,” Laura said.

Mom stood and walked to the door. “Are you ready for this?” she asked as Auntie Tave rushed inside.

“Lizzie! I'm so glad you called, but you know you didn't have to. I was about to head this way when my phone buzzed.” She turned to me and her elfin smile doubled in size. “And AJ, I haven't seen you in forever! Come here
and give Auntie Tave a hug.”

Octavia wrapped me into a bear hug. She was surprisingly strong for such a petite little thing. I couldn't gauge her age, but she was probably somewhere in her sixties. Not that she looked it.

Her hair was cropped super short and it was flaming orange. She had a splotch of gray at her right temple. She wore lipstick that matched her hair and she had the grayest eyes I had ever seen.

When I hugged her back my head was suddenly filled with memories of drawing on the driveway with chalk, eating red licorice ropes.

“What happened to your blue-tipped black hair?” I asked with a laugh.

“Oh, that was ages ago.” She laughed. “I've matured since then,” she said with a wink.

She sat in the chair across from me and answered the question I hadn't asked. “So you didn't know I worked here? Well, I do—when I'm not doing quality checks at the other facilities, that is. I'm the blood bank goddess around these parts. How much do you know about hemoshake production?” she asked me.

“Um. I know they're packaged like V8s or tomato soup. That's about it.”

“I suppose that's all you really need to know, huh? Well, if you ever want a tour of the hemoshake plant, let me know,” she said. “It's located beneath the hospital and I can get you the VIP tour.”

“Okay,” I said. “I had no idea the plant was here. That's kinda cool.”

Octavia leaned over and patted my knee. “You also have no idea why I'm here, do you?”

“No, ma'am,” I answered truthfully.

“I'm here because your momma knows I can tell if you've bitten someone. I have a gift.”

Hope blossomed in my chest. “Awesome! Because I
really
need to know what happened.”

“I know you're worried; I felt it all the way in my office when you stepped into the hospital.”

She reached into her bag and pulled out a box. “Let's get this going. I'm going to do two things with you, okay? The first thing I'm going to ask for is a venom sample.”

“Seriously? But I just gave one to Mom.” I looked over at Momma.

“How much do you need, Tave? I've got a vial, but I'm still planning to run a test against the venom in the boy.”

“Just a couple of drops.” Octavia opened the box and
pulled out a stick that looked amazingly like a pregnancy test.

“Do I have to pee on that?”

Octavia's laugh was deep and full of warmth. “No, honey. I'm working with the Vampire Commission to get a patent for this little test. If you bit Noah, there will be some of his DNA residue in your venom. But this test is only about seventy-five percent accurate, so I have to continue to develop it until I get much more precise results. I think we're going to call it Clearbite Easy. Clever, huh?”

“Uh, sure. The Vampire Commission?”

Tave stared at Mom.

“Lizzie, have you not told this child anything about our world? Shame on you.”

My mom just laughed as she handed Octavia the vial. “Don't blame me. This
child
is much happier pretending that vampires are just a myth. I've given her the history, and I promise to tell her more in the future. It was just easier to let her pretend, until now. It felt safer that way. You know, with Clive going back to the Serpentines and all.”

Tave waved her hand dismissively. “Your husband was weak. Good thing you had me to get you through. Now,
AJ, I need you to close your eyes and hold out your hands, palms up. I'm assuming your mother has taught you how to focus on the white? I need you to do that for me now. And I have to warn you, whatever you start seeing I'll see as well. Are you ready?”

“I guess so.”

I did exactly as she instructed. Octavia held my hands in hers, and I focused on the white.

It took a few minutes to get the canvas behind my eyes to go blank. I'm sure some part of me was resisting. Part of me didn't want to know if I had bitten Noah. A very strong part of me.

But finally the white appeared, and I relaxed a bit. My palms grew warm. The heat spread from my hands, up my arms, into my body.

The white sparked bright, and suddenly it was Saturday night again. I was watching myself with Noah. I saw his anger when I stopped things. The more I watched, the more alive my own anger grew.

My mind flashed forward. But the only thing I could see was darkness. I felt only fury. Fierce anger like nothing I'd ever experienced before.

Suddenly, I was no longer standing in the dark; I was running through the woods—crying. My shirt was soaked
with blood and I was hysterical. Where was everyone? What had happened?

Octavia released my hands, startled.

“AJ, AJ!” she said.

She and my mom were both calling to me, but I couldn't seem to come back to them. I couldn't find them.

I heard a smack and my face stung. “AJ, dammit! Wake up,” Mom yelled.

The connection was finally broken, and I collapsed back in the chair, exhausted. I looked at Octavia's face, and a sense of dread bloomed inside me.

“Did I bite Noah?”

“Honey, something definitely happened, but I have no idea what. I couldn't tell if that was a real memory or a dream. This has never happened before,” she said. “I saw you running, I felt your panic, but your thoughts were blank. Empty. There was nothing but fear and anger. And blood.”

She picked up the Clearbite Easy test and said, “The good news is, the test is negative.”

“Yeah, but with only a seventy-five percent accuracy,” I said. “And I did slice his tongue, so shouldn't it read positive?”

“The DNA transfer happens when you actively inject
someone with your venom. An incidental slice to the tongue wouldn't do it,” Tave assured me.

My mom looked at me. “If Octavia's test says you didn't bite Noah, then I believe it.”

I wished I could be so sure.