Don't Forget Me (9 page)

“Vuk, you’re such a sneak, we didn’t hear you,” Stella replied self-consciously as both she and Jamie spun round to look at him.

“I just wanted to check you’re ok, Stella. Listen, I need to shoot off to the library soon, but let’s meet for lunch. How does noon at Warren Towers sound? I don’t want to risk leaving you alone,” he said, gently ruffling her hair.

“Are you asking me on another date, Vuk?” she laughed, touched. Jamie discreetly turned away to listen to the lecture and give them some privacy.

“I wish, babe, but as Jamie’s coming with us, too, you can’t exactly call it a date…” He gave her an intense, meaningful look. Then he got up and went to sit in the empty seat in front but backwards so he could see her.

“Vuk, jeez, stop messing or Professor Hallison will roast you!” Stella exclaimed, thinking she saw the light of the full moon already reflected in his eyes.

“A risk I’m willing to take,” he said, his eyes radiating a warm glow that deepened to fiery gold.

“Have you completely lost your mind, Vuk?”

“If I have, it’s because of you, Stella,” he replied, feeling a searing heat rush through his veins and ignite his body.

“Vuk, I think Professor Hallison has seen you.” She glanced at the far end of the class where the professor was standing next to the lectern.

“Stella, I don’t give a damn, the only thing I care about is you, don’t you get it?” He took hold of her hands impulsively and squeezed them in his.

“Well, sure, put like that…” she said, feeling herself tremble in his grip.

“God, Stella, I love to watch your face as you listen to the lecture.”

“And I like to shut everything else out and just gaze at you, too, especially when you look out for me and I feel how much you care.” She gazed intently at him, nibbling her lower lip.

Suddenly Vuk hugged her boldly, making Stella flush with embarrassment as she felt the eyes of Jamie and some other students swivel round to stare at them.

“If I’d known you liked it that much, I would have done it every day…” His lips caressed her ear, then he sat back down, twisting his body round and leaning toward her.

“No, really?” she murmured uneasily, breathing in Vuk’s usual earthy aroma mixed in with the minty smell of his chewing gum.

“I want to try to see how it goes tomorrow night, Stella. I want to try to spend the night of the full moon with you…” He pulled away from her slightly, turned around and let himself fall back, so his head was on her desk. “It’s not quite full moon yet but I can already feel my instincts start to dominate me,” he continued earnestly. “The fact is that I no longer seem to have the strength to stay away from you, Stella.”

“Vuk…” she tried to warn him not to come any closer, but he pretended not to hear her and, leaning closer to her, he put his fingers lightly to her lips which closed sensually around them. He could feel the warmth of her breath; he kissed each lip with a burning desire. She blushed, trying to hold back a groan of pleasure. Then Vuk quickly stood up and returned to the seat behind her.

A the end of the first hour of class, Vuk slipped silently out of the room, unnoticed by an oblivious Stella, who was looking out the window at the pouring rain, thinking of what had happened between them in the kitchen. All at once, however, it was as if Jason had broken into her intimate thoughts, imposing himself in her mind and chasing away any other thought of any other person from her brain.

At that moment, Jason was attending a meeting in Boston at the famous commercial bank he worked for. He too was watching the drops of rain chase each other down the window. His thoughts were concentrated so hard on Stella that he had managed to open a powerful connection, which broke suddenly, though, when Stella felt a hand behind her lightly touch a lock of her hair.

Initially thinking it was Vuk, she started to turn with a smile on her lips, but jerked to a halt the instant she saw Ian staring at her from outside the window with an evil sneer. She turned and was paralyzed with terror when she saw Drake, with his usual leather jacket, leering at her from Vuk’s vacated seat. Jamie, still bent over her notes, hadn’t noticed a thing. Stella turned again towards the seat with a tense, circumspect expression.

“No, this can’t be happening to me, not again…” Stella said in a thread of voice as she sensed him slowly move his face toward her neck.

“But it is, and even more so than you think, Stella, as you’ll discover soon enough…” he whispered forebodingly in her ear.

“Drake, what the hell do you want?” she exhaled tensely. In prey to her fear, she was unable to think clearly.

“You, Stella, I want you, of course.”

She closed her eyes in terror as Drake extended his tongue, touching the tip of her chin with his piercing.

She was so frightened that tears were welling in her eyes. She opened her eyes and looked over toward the window. Ian was no longer there. When she swiveled back round to check on Drake, she saw only the classroom door as it swung shut behind him.

Jason, whose tormented thoughts had again returned to Stella, remembered the kiss he had seen her and Donn exchange a few nights earlier; throwing his colleague and friend Aaron Dale a meaningful look, he excused himself from the meeting to go call her. He was overcome with the urge to hear her voice, he needed her to tell him what was really going on.

Stella felt her cell phone vibrate and was astonished to see it was Jason calling. She hurried out of the classroom to take his call, still shaken to the core by her latest encounter with Drake.

“Hi, Jason.”

“Hi…” he replied tenderly.

“I’m sorry about the other night, but I had to hang up.”

“Stella, I’m not upset about that, but that you never told me about him.”

He sensed her discomfort. “Stella, what’s wrong?”

“Jason, I’m so confused about what I really want but, apart from that, I have so many other things on my mind at the moment…”

Jason paused pensively. He noted something odd in her voice.

“Has something happened, Stella?”

“Jason, you still worry about me!” she smiled, surprised.

“I never stopped, Stella. I always worry about you. But now, please, tell me what’s wrong.”

“Nothing, Jason.”

“I can tell you’re not being honest with me, Stella, so tell me what’s up, otherwise how can I help you?” he asked, troubled.

“I wish I could trust my feelings as much as you do.”

“Is it the man I heard you with the other night? If so, I’ll have a really good reason to get mad at him this time,” he continued protectively.

“No, Jason, it’s not him”.

Jason did not insist. He would stop by in order to understand what was going on.

“Where are you right now?”

“At BU. I just came out of class to talk to you for a second.”

“Then what are you going to do?”

“Lunch with a friend at Warren Towers.”

“With Vuk, I guess…” Jason surmised.

“Then I’m going running,” continued Stella, avoiding the subject of Vuk as the twinge of jealousy in Jason’s voice did not escape her.

“Where?” he asked, his voice slightly irritated.

“Green Mountain National Forest.”

“Stella, I’ve told you a thousand times that you’re not to go running alone in that forest!”

“Then try to stop me, Jason, if you can…”

“Don’t provoke me, Stella…”

“You know how much I love to…”

“Watch out, Stella, this time I might just respond to your sweet provocation.”

“I really hope so, Jason…”

“You know I’m always here for you, right?”

“Then I hope to see you today, but I really have to go back to class now.”

“Later, Stella.”

Returning to the meeting room, he waited for it to end, then, as they were leaving, he told Aaron he had to go take a trip and asked him to go with him.

Aaron realized something was wrong and agreed right away, getting Jason to fill him in as they took the elevator down to the garage, got on their motorbikes – Jason’s an MV Agusta F4 and Aaron’s a BMW S 1000 – and rode to Warren Towers at 700 Commonwealth Avenue as fast as they could.

Warren Towers

S
tella met Vuk
in front of the cafeteria and waited there with him for Jamie to catch up after she’d finished talking with her mother on the phone.

Looking at the day’s menu written on the board outside, she let them go ahead to grab a table. Suddenly, she glanced up to see Jason approach her; his figure blurred, disembodied, the smiling expression on his face knowing and wistful, his dark eyes incredibly alluring. He stopped dead in his tracks and vanished into thin air, before her brain fully registered what she’d seen.

Then she saw him again, sitting at the same table in the cafeteria where they used to meet after morning classes, over a year back, like he was still waiting for her. After a first brief glance, he paused, then looked her way until his magnetic eyes found hers and his lips curved into a soft smile; the vision faded into a mere memory once more. After that, she continued to see him, still sitting there waiting, each time wearing different clothes according to the changing seasons visible through the window behind him, but he never changed. Then she saw her own reflection walk past and go kiss Jason deeply, swept away with passion. She gave an ecstatic jump, spellbound by the hazy illusion, marveling that something so ephemeral could seem so real, so palpable.

Throughout this whole mirage, Jason was darting through the busy Boston streets to reach Stella. He once again materialized in an hazy form before her.

“Stella, look behind you,” he whispered, appearing about a hair’s breadth from her, his face creased in concern. She reached out to caress him, thought she felt his gentle touch on her skin but winced at the cold, immortal feel of his hands.

“Don’t be frightened, Stella, you are not alone. I’m with you always,” he exhaled slowly before fading away once again, leaving an empty space in front of her.

Stella realized in that same instant that someone had actually come up to her from behind.

“Stella, don’t yell, I’m not going to hurt you,” she heard a low voice say.

“Who is it?” she asked, turning slightly, startled to see that it was the other werewolf she had seen with Drake and Ian that morning in front of her house. Her face turned scarlet and her heart leaped into her throat, adrenalin rushed through her body.

“You need to come with me now,” the wolf said coldly, his face immobile, circling her waist with firm hands.

“You’re Nathan, right? You were with Drake last night and this morning.”

“That’s right, Stella. But now, please come with me…” And he pushed her a few steps toward the exit.

“No, Nathan, wait!” Stella hesitated to try to buy herself some time.

“Stella, don’t force me to get heavy-handed. I’m sure you don’t want to find out how persuasive I can be when I want to…” he warned, pulling out a knife, and resting the tip of the blade against her lower back.

“Can you feel that, Stella?” He pressed the tip onto her skin.

“Yes…” she said with a frightened whisper.

“Then let’s go.” He was about to force her to the exit but was blocked by Vuk.

“Let her go, Nathan! Right now!” he said, moving menacingly toward the werewolf. Then, worried, he asked Stella if she was ok.

“Erm, I have a knife poking into my back,” she replied, in shock, but still managing a trace of irony.

“How dare you point a knife at her, you despicable excuse for a wolf!” Vuk was losing his self-control; the menace in his tone forced Nathan to retreat a few steps, still grasping the girl.

“Stella, get rid of him, otherwise you’ll find out just how painful my knife can be…” Nathan spit into her ear, making his point by pushing the blade in far enough to pierce her skin.

“Vuk, please, get out of the way…” she begged, her breath ragged, feeling the trickle of blood on her skin as the knife broke the surface. Pain creased her face and made tears well up in her eyes.

“Nathan, I’m the one who’s blocking the way, she has nothing to do with it, so don’t hurt her…” Vuk was shocked at his aggressive behavior, and tortured as he sensed Stella’s blood seeping out.

“Then move it, Vuk, it’s your fault she’s hurting,” he said, pushing the tip of the blade against her back again. Stella felt an acute pain. Determined not to be seen crying, she closed her eyes tightly.

“Vuk, he’s hurting me!” she gasped.

“Nathan, try threatening me with that knife, not her…” His tone became furious.

“Thanks for the offer, Vuk, but I’m already having myself a shitload of fun just being up close and personal with Stella…” Nathan smirked, trying to bait Vuk, one hand spitefully fondling Stella’s hips, the other firmly keeping the knife to her back.

“Please, Vuk, get out the way! Just let him take me.” she begged.

“No, Stella, never.”

“You’ll be to blame if I hurt her now, so move it, dude. Think about it, do you really want to see more of her blood?” And he raised her shirt, crushing it excitedly in his fist, to point ecstatically to the fine red line his knife had made.

Vuk pulled Stella from the wolf’s clutches and furiously shoved Nathan against the wall. She dashed over to Jamie, who had been watching the scene in consternation and dismay.

Nathan rose from the wall and advanced threateningly toward him, his knife once more in his pocket.

Nathan whacked him on the back of the neck, making him crash into some of the cafeteria tables. He caught Stella on the way, grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the cafeteria with him, down the hall.

Vuk, now out of his mind with rage, raced after them. Reaching the pair at the bottom of the stairs, he yanked Nathan away from Stella. He then grabbed Nathan by the neck, squeezing him so hard he almost throttled him, until a security guard came running to break up the fight.

“What the hell are you doing, pal? You could kill him!” the guard yelled, holding Vuk by the shirt as Nathan gradually got his breath back.

Vuk, annoyed, pulled out of the guard’s grip to go to Stella.

“Stella, are you ok? Let me see.” He raised her shirt just enough to check on her injuries.

“Don’t worry, Vuk, nothing serious…” she tried to calm him as he examined the stab wound. He addressed the guard:

“Can I go now?”

“No, I have to detain you.”

“You don’t understand! I can’t leave her, now.” Vuk feared that Drake and Ian were in the neighborhood and that they were just waiting for him to leave her on her own, his suspicions confirmed by the sinister grin on Nathan’s face.

“Not my concern. You and this other boy caused a disruption in the building.” The guard was resolute. He grabbed Vuk by his arm, pulling him away from Stella. She realized that he was on the brink of losing control again, and tried to make him reason.

“Vuk, it doesn’t matter. Go with him. I don’t want him to call the police.”

“Stella, don’t forget that you are all I care about,” he said passionately, his eyes filling with unbridled desire as he tilted his head toward hers.

“If that’s true, then go with him. Please, for me…” she whispered persuasively. She was staring at his mouth. She put her hand on his chest; Vuk looked at it. He thought of running away with her but then saw a man walking confidently toward them.

He was tall, thin, had blonde hair that glinted gold, green-blue eyes and a fine-featured perfect face that smiled reassuringly and infused a sense of security. He seemed an angel plagued with torment, which made him even more charming. He was wearing a pair of jeans, a blue shirt and casual shoes. He was a vampire. His name was Aaron Dale.