Blood Type (11 page)

I took an instinctive step back and held up a hand to stop him from advancing toward me or raising his voice again. “Whoa.
Hold on
t
here.
M
y relationship with Zach is
none
of your business.”

“The hell it’s not,” he said, the veins in his neck straining under the building pressure of blood. “He’s my best friend.”

“Yes, I know he is. But even so,” I said, hoping that my voice sounded a lot calmer than I actually felt, “it’s none of your business.”

I wondered momentarily if Gabe ever pulled this kind of macho, bully crap with Olivia and, if so, how she managed to deal with it. I felt like I had a very tenuous reign on a wild bull waiting to charge the gate, and I was quickly losing my grip.

“Do you think I’m supposed to just sit back and watch you hurt Zach?” he said. “Answer me this: If I all of a sudden broke up with Olivia and you saw her hurting and crying her eyes out, wouldn’t you want to know what the hell was going on?”

I refrained from pointing out that it would probably be Olivia who broke up with Gabe, but he did have a point. If he broke up with Olivia, seemingly without reason, and
she was
miserable
because of it
, I’d want to rip him to shreds. I glanced nervously at Gabe’s hands, which were easily the size of my head. I had no doubt he could twist it right off my shoulders without even breaking a sweat.

“So Zach’s still crying?”
I almost laughed,
despite feeling sorry for him.
I might have been the one doing the breaking up
, but w
hy was he being such a baby about this?

“Yeah,
Blake.
Do you know what it’s like seeing a quarterback
cry
? It’s all
because of you
!” 

I crossed my arms over my chest. I no longer
feared
that Gabe might blow his top, but I
was
angry that he
had
pinn
ed
this all on me. “Now just you wait one darn minute! Haven’t you ever heard the saying
it takes two to tango
?”

Gabe made a face like I was talking nonsense, which I sort of
was
. It takes two to tango? I shook my head and took a deep breath, hoping to get it right this time. “What I mean is, when two people break up, the fault is mutual.”

“Mutual, my ass.
What did Zach ever do to you?”

I opened my mouth to say exactly what Zach had done to me, and then closed it again. Well, he had me there. Zach had only ever treated me like the princess I so obviously wasn’t. He’d certainly never done anything to warrant
a break-up
.

I squared my shoulders and raised my chin to Gabe in defiance, though it did nothing to remedy the fact that I reached only to his shoulder. “Zach’s and my relationship is none of your business,” I repeated, “so I’d appreciate it if you left now. I don’t have to explain myself to you.”

An angry flush of red crept up Gabe’s thick neck, flooding the broad plains of his face. “You’re such a bitch,” he said, turning at once for the door.

My mouth fell open. I’d gone seventeen years without anyone using that awful and demeaning word to describe my
personality, and yet I’d been called it twice in less than a week, by
two
different guys. Granted, they probably weren’t in the best position to judge me, but it still hurt.

“And by the way,” he said before I could say anything in response, “your hair looks like shit.”

He stormed off and I slammed the door on his back. Then I raised a trembling hand to my curl
s
. All at once my legs gave way and I sank to my knees.

That night I called Olivia. “So Gabe came over this afternoon and read me the riot act,” I said.

She laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world. “No he didn’t.
When?”

“Right before you guys left for the movies. Didn’t he say anything about it to you?”

“No.
W
hat was he so pissed about?”

“Zach. He called me the b-word for breaking up with him.”

She laughed again. “I’m sorry. You know how Gabe gets.”

“I do. And I don’t appreciate you laughing,” I said
,
more snippily than I’d intended. “You’re supposed to be on my side.
W
hat in the world do you see in an interfering jerk like him, anyway? He’s, like, the dumbest mistake you’ve ever made.”

Olivia huffed on the other end. “You know what, Blake? Bite me.”

T
he phone went dead.

Olivia and I avoided each other the entire next day, and I grew angrier with her by the minute. So when my phone finally rang that afternoon, I half expected it to be her
finally
calling to apologize. But it wasn’t.

“I’m sorry I didn’t call earlier,” John said when I answered.

I put a hand to my chest in an effort to stop my skipping heart and then
counted to three before I spoke
. “John?” I said, as though I wasn’t exactly sure who was calling, even though I had recognized his
voice
immediately.
“Oh, hi.
You don’t have to apologize. You’ve got your own life to live, and I’ve got mine. No biggie.”

“Well, just so you know it’s not that I didn’t want to call you.
Something a little unexpected came up.”

“Oh?” I said, with what I hoped sounded like vague interest.

“Remember I told you about Ian?”

I did remember. “He’s like your brother or best friend or something, right?”

“Right,” he said. “Anyway, Ian
sort of
showed up out of the blue. He’s staying with me. I don’t know for how long, but he’s here. And I have to, um, entertain him.
So to speak.”

“Oh. That’s great,” I said, not really understanding. Something in John’s voice sounded off
. I sat
up a little straighter on the bed. “So when do I get to meet him?” I said, looking for any excuse to see John again.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

I was slightly taken aback, not to mention hurt. “Oh. Then
hy
did you call me?”

John’s sigh came through the phone like the sound of breath on a windowpane, and I felt a shiver run the length of my spine. “
I only called
to say that I’ve been thinking of you.”

My answering smile nearly split my face in two.
“Really?
So it’s not that you’re embarrassed for me to meet Ian?” I’d meant it as a joke, but John answered anyway.

“It’s not you who’s the embarrassment. Ian’s behavior can be a little
. . .
inappropriate
at times.”

“Oh, come on. I’m sure he’s not that bad. If I won’t get to see you again until he leaves, then just let me meet him. I promise I can handle i
nappropriate
.”

.John sighed again, this time in resignation.
“Fine.
If you’re up to it, there’s a concert on campus later this evening.
He’s likely to be better behaved in a public place
.”

I was dying to get out of the house,
and a concert on campus sounded perfect
. I’d been bored out of my mind for
too long
. Between my lackluster love life and unresolved tiff with my best friend, I suddenly had a lot of free time on my hands.

“Sounds like
fun
,” I said, trying not to come off as too eager
.
“
What time do you want me to meet you
there
?”

“We’ll pick you up.
” 

“Are you sure? I don’t mind driving,” I said, suddenly thinking of my parents. I really wasn’t ready for them to meet
John or to try to explain who he even was to me. I wasn’t entirely sure I could answer that question myself.

“No, we’ll pick you up
.
Can you be ready by six?”

I glanced at the clock.
Two hours
was more than enough time.
“Can do.
”
 

“Great. I’ll see you then.”

I hung up the phone and perched on the edge of my bed, thinking. I didn’t need two hours to get ready, but I definitely needed time to figure out how to persuade my parents to make
themselves
scarce for the evening. The less they knew about John, the better.

At least for now.

October 2
7

I drove on auto-pilot, steering my car to the heart of downtown where I parked curbside. I sat behind the wheel for a few minutes, letting the car idle and vents blow hot
air at high speed over my face as I debated about turning the car around and going home.
Finally, I killed the engine and got out.

Not knowing how long I’d have to wait, or if I’d even have any luck, I fed the maximum amount of coins to the meter before making my way to the fountain in the center of the square. I knew exactly who I was looking for, and I could only hope I didn’t have to wait long before he showed himself.

Halloween was less than a week away.
Strands of o
range lights
hung
from the bare branches of
trees
standing sentinel up and down the square
. The
lights
glowed brightly, even though it wasn’t quite noon
.
F
ake cobwebs and giant animated spiders, cackling witches and ghosts
dangling from
invisible fishing line
,
haunted
shop fronts
.  The air smelled strongly of mulled cider and hot, roasted peanuts, and I buried my nose in the collar of my coat to block the odor. People strolled
through
the square by themselves or in small groups to do their weekend shopping, and small children tugged on their parents’ hands, pulling them toward the maze of hay bales.

As I sat on the edge of the fountain,
which had been
turned off and drained with the coming of winter, I contemplated my relationship with John. Although I was sorry he’d gotten tangled up in Ian’s mess, thereby ensnaring me as well, I really
wasn’t
sorry that he had come into my life.
H
e’d made me feel things I’d never felt during my
time together
with Zach, and I could never begrudge him that.

My anger simmered at the surface of my emotions
, but I was
angrier
at Ian and the situation he had put me in than I was at John for not being completely honest with me in the first place. I suppose
d
I couldn’t really blame him. After all, how did one go about telling the girl
he’s
involved with
that
he’s really a vampire?

I shook my head. What I felt for John, the person I had
shared
a few fabulous weeks with, didn’t matter anymore. By omitting the minor detail of who he and Ian really are, he’d put me in incredible danger.
And now . . .

I looked down at my hands, so pale and frail-looking, the nails dry and peeling, and the skin around them cracked and weathered with the lack of adequate nutrition. I ran my tongue along the length of my gums and prodded the molar that had come loose in the back, tasting the faint metallic tang of blood.

I had dreams at night of losing all my teeth. They’d crumble in my mouth, and I’d wake up gasping for breath, frantic that it was actually true. My hair had begun to fall out, too. The curls
hung limp and lifeless down my back and clung to my face with static electricity. None of my clothes fit properly anymore, much to Olivia’s annoyance. She kept insisting we go shopping, but I didn’t see the
point
in spending money for expensive new cloth
es
when I’d most likely be dead before the end of the year. 

I was deep in my own pity-party when I saw him round the corner at the end of the square. I rose to my feet at the sight of him, my heart leaping in my throat
as the shock
that
he’d actually showed up hit me like a tidal wave. There was only one problem now: How
did I
approach someone I only
suspected
was a vampire?

I kept an eye on him from a distance, just to see what he might do or where he would go. When he’d come within fifty feet he paused and raised his nose to the air. His head swiveled about, searching for something, and at last his eyes came to rest on me. I had completely lost my nerve and planned to simply walk away without talking to him, but if there was any question before about whether or not Josiah
Butler
was a vampire, there was no doubt about it now.