Nocturnal (26 page)

“Technically he's a noctalis.”

“What?” She rolls her chair closer.

“He's called a noctalis. It's a mash-up of nocturnal and immortalis. I didn't make it up, I swear.”

There's a pause while I watch her think.

“Are you going to be okay?”

“I think I need a minute. Or an hour.” She looks up at the ceiling, as if it holds the answers. 

“Take your time.”

“So, let me get this straight, okay?” She holds up one finger. “You're hanging out with a vampire.” She holds up another. “And you believed him. And now you expect me to absorb all of this. Do I have that right?”

“Pretty much.” She puffs out her cheeks and lets a breath out. “Well, shut the front door.”

“So you're good with this?”

“I wouldn't go that far.” I think it's time for reinforcements. 

“Hold on just a sec.” I dash out the door before she can stop me. Suddenly I feel like I can't do this alone. It's his secret too. And I haven't even gotten into the Claiming part.

“Wait, what?” She calls after me.

Peter's sitting the car staring at me. It makes my stomach flutter and I have to stop myself from smiling.

“Can you come in with me and help explain this? I thought I could do it alone, but I need some help.” What I really need is him.

“Of course.” He slides out of the passenger side and takes my hand as we walk back into the bookstore. I freeze for a second, but he just keeps walking and I'm forced to move. As if we've done this hundreds of times. Instead of this being the first. His thumb rubs against my knuckle and I forget for a second who I am and what I'm doing.

“Are you guys like, together?” Tex says as we walk in holding hands. I'm a little distracted by how nice his skin feels. Every time it's a surprise, as if I forget what it's like.

“Uh,” I stutter as I try to speak.

“Yes,” Peter says.

“You are?”

“We are?” Tex and I say at the same time.

“Yes.” He looks down at me. No blinks.

“Well this is all different kinds of crazy.” Tex crosses her arms. I can see her out of the corner of my eye because I'm too busy staring at Peter. God, he's so beautiful. Why is this news?

“Where'd you come from?”

“I was born in New York City.” 

Tex flaps her hands, dismissing that.

“No, I mean you, your race or whatever you want to call it. I'm sure you didn't fall from the sky or a comet or ascended from hell. Or did you? Because that would be cool too.”

“There is no one origin story agreed upon by noctali. Is there one for humans?”

“Depends on who you ask,” Tex says. Yeah, that's what I said. 

“But no, it was no comets or hell. At least, I don't think so.” I file that away.

“How do you go out in the sun?” She directs it to Peter. Of course that's the first thing she asks. I answer. 

“That whole thing is a myth. He actually needs the sun. Like a plant.”

“He needs the sun.” She says it like she doesn't believe a word of it.

“Or those special lights.”

“Or tanning beds,” he adds. I look at him, startled.

“Tanning beds, really?” He blinks. Tex clears her throat.

“He's okay with you telling me this?” She gives Peter an uneasy look. 

“I am.” He finally looks at her. We both see her tremble a little. Of course she's afraid of him.

“Did you hurt her?” Bang.

“Yes. But I don't want to do it anymore.”

“So I'm supposed to be okay with this? What's done is done and we hug and hang out and I learn to live with this?” Neither of us respond. She starts pacing. 

“What about the fangs?” Bang.

“No.”

“Crosses and garlic?” She fires them off like bullets. I'm pretty sure she wishes she had a gun. 

“Fake.” This sets her tapping her chin and walking around the store. I hope she's not having some psychotic break.

“Huh. So Bram Stoker and Anne Rice had it wrong all along.” She turns back around and stares, as if she's remembered we're both there.

“Pretty much.”

“And you don't just want her for her blood?”

“No.” He is still holding my hand. It makes my heart jump and do funny things that make me feel like I'm having a heart attack. He gives it a squeeze, which only makes it worse. 

“Okay, I'm in. I'll take a first class ticket on the crazy train.” She throws up her hands as if she's got no other choice. 

“So you're okay with it?

“Ava, please. I read Interview with a Vampire when I was seven. I had a poster of Dracula in my room.” It was true. She'd gone through a vampire phase. I think I'd been in my unicorn phase at that time. The two things hadn't gone well together, but we'd stayed friends anyway.

“Um, there's more.”

“Dear god, don't tell me you're knocked up with a half-vampire baby.” That makes me giggle. I look at Peter. His mouth twitches. It's as good as a smile for me. 

“What? How am I supposed to know.” Tex slumps back into her chair. 

“I think I should explain this,” Peter says, letting go of my hand. It makes me want to take it back. He walks toward Tex. She freezes in her chair. He holds his hands in the air, palms facing out.

“I'm not going to hurt you.”

“Sure, whatever you say.” She pulls her knees up and wraps her arms around them like she's protecting herself. Her eyes are wide.

“Here,” I say, putting myself between them. Without further ado, I wheel Tex's chair to one side of the room. I put myself in the other chair in the middle of the room. Peter gets the idea and stands on the other side, with me between him and Tex. 

“Better?”

“The super fast thing isn't a myth, is it?”

“No. But I will not hurt anyone who matters to Ava.” I fight the urge to grin like an idiot. Tes isn't impressed.

“I wish that was more comforting.”

“So do I,” he says.

Stay with Me

“Shut the front door!” She says it for the sixth time this evening. I would ask her to stop saying it if it wasn't so funny. Peter takes her on a crash course on noctali, including the wings, which she makes him show her. Her eyes are so wide I'm afraid her eyeballs are going to fall out. She's taking it pretty well, especially after he shows her the wings. 

“Do you all have wings? Cuz that's totally freaking awesome.”

“No. We do not.” Tex tries her best for an elaboration, but gets nowhere.

Then we get to the Claiming part. She's not so cool with that.

“How am I supposed to be fine with the fact that he gets to snack on you whenever he wants? I don't care if she likes you and thinks you're hot. I swear if you drain her or,” she sputters, trying to think of what else he might do, “I don't know, do anything weird to her I'll kill you.” He hasn't told her how, but that doesn't seem to bother her in the slightest. The show of friendship is kind of endearing. 

“Is there anything else I should know?” I look at Peter. 

“Nope, that's pretty much it.”

“Then I have one more question.” She says it with a sly smile. I don't like the look of that smile. “Do you have any brothers?”

***

Her friend took it well. Much better than many people would have. She is loyal to Ava. I liked that in her. Texas has a sharp wit that I also find amusing. I would not mind spending time with her. 

I don't know what made me take her hand. Whether it was to comfort her or myself. I liked having something to hold onto. Like a boat with an anchor in a storm. I felt as if I was about to be in the middle of a storm. I gripped her hand tighter, but released it again, so I wouldn't crush her delicate fingers. She is delicate, no matter what she says. Her spirit is the strong part of her. The human body is a fragile thing. I must protect hers. I am going to need help.

***

“There's another reason I came here. I wanted to ask you about Jamie. How's he doing? He doesn't seem to want to talk to me anymore.” We're all sitting closer than we were. Tex is still leery of Peter, but you can only be freaked out of your mind for so long.

“Yeah, he doesn't want to talk to me, but I just chase after him and won't leave him alone.”

“I tried chasing him too. He was gone by the time I got to the parking lot. It was very dramatic.” I twist in my chair. It makes me uncomfortable that Peter's still standing. I know he doesn't get tired, but it bugs me he's standing while we're sitting. But I'm not going to tell him what to do. And then he comes over and sits next to my chair. Just like that. 

“How's Cassie?” I say.

“She's good. She had a fight with their dad, but instead of taking off, she went back. I think that's the first time she's done that. He didn't hit her either.”

“He probably doesn't want to hurt her since she's pregnant.” He's even more distracting when he's sitting next to me. Is this ever going to change?

“Ugh, I hate to think that's his reasoning.”

“I know. I hate that Jamie has to stay at that house.” When Jamie and I had first become friends, some of the teachers at school had been suspicious of the marks on his arms, and why he was absent so often. Social Services was called, but nothing ever came of it. I guessed that if you only hit your kid a few times that wasn't enough to do anything. There was probably some reprimand involved, but we never heard any more from it, and Jamie got better at hiding his bruises. Once he'd gotten older and bigger, his dad had stopped hitting him. I hated to think who he'd turned his anger on, if he didn't have Jamie. 

“It would be great if they could get his dad out of the house. If it was just his mom and Cassie and Jamie, I think they'd be okay.”

“Do you think his dad would go to rehab?”

“Hell no. Then people would know, and the whole town would know what they know already, but he doesn't think they know.”

“It's so stupid.”

“It is.” All of a sudden I'm exhausted. Completely wiped. I just want to go to bed and have Peter  on the roof watching out for me. It's not the typical vision of nighttime bliss, but it's as close as I can get. 

“It's really late. I was supposed to be home a while ago,” Tex says. She must be reading my mind. I give her a grateful smile and we share a best friend look. It was stupid thinking that something as small as me being involved with a noctalis would damage our friendship. This was the girl who had saved me from the embarrassment of peeing my pants. We could get through anything.

“It was, um, very nice to meet you Peter. I know there was that other time at the party, but I feel like this was really the first time.” She smooths her skirt down, like she's not sure if she should shake his hand or something.

“It was a pleasure meeting you both times. I am glad Ava has such a loyal friend.”

“So am I,” I say, getting up. “I hope I didn't give you anything to think about that's going to keep you up all night.” 

“You know I'm an insomniac. At least tonight I have something to think about other than the glow-in-the-dark stars on my ceiling or what I'm going to have for lunch tomorrow.”

“So I've done you a service?”

“Absolutely.” There's a grin on her face that I don't like. Peter shrugged off the question about brothers. Or rather he blinked it off and I deflected. We'll tackle that later. He sort of got into the reasons for the Claiming, but he didn't mention his other brother. He told me Viktor was more of a brother than Ivan, but I don't know what that means. I don't have anything to go on. He still hasn't mentioned his mother. Maybe he has mommy issues, which must be way worse when you're a Noctalis. 

I wave to Tex as we drive away.

“That went well,” I say. His only reply is to take my hand. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For whatever vibes you're sending me.”

“Vibes?” He's confused. It's about time he was the one in the dark.

“You know. I know you can feel when I'm upset, but I can feel you all the time. It's not very strong, but I can feel it more now that we're touching. You're very zenned out. It's nice.”

“I am not trying to feel any particular way.”

“Oh, well.” I don't let go of his hand until we have to get out of the car. I shiver a little. It's cold tonight. And I still have homework to do. And dinner to eat.

We stand outside the pool of light from the porch.

“My dad's home, so I don't think you can come in. One of these days I'll have to introduce you for real, but I'd like to put that off as long as possible.” Although Mom's interrogation would probably be worse than his. He'd just spend all his time glaring at Peter and trying to figure out if we've had sex yet. Yeah, I wanted to put that off as long as possible.

“You could introduce me as your boyfriend.”

“Oh.” I'm taken aback. His unblinking stare makes me squirm. “You wouldn't mind?”

“No.” He's straightforward. It's good sometimes and others not so much.

“If you're sure.”

“I've never been anyone's boyfriend.” He says is casually, but it means more than that, I know. 

“Never?” I feel like we're getting near sensitive territory. I feel like we should be in the cemetery for this. “You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to.”

“Ava? What are you doing out there?” My dad peeks his head out the door.

“Nothing. Just looking for an earring I lost.” I thanked my brain for being so quick as to think of something. Peter blends into the dark so well, I'm sure Dad didn't see him.

“I've got to go in,” I say to the dark. I can still see him, even though he's hiding in shadow. 

“I will see you later.”

“Goodnight, Peter Mackintire.”

“Goodnight, Ava Sullivan.” I smile as he uses my last name. I hate walking away from him. But it has to be done. I close the door and instantly I feel empty. 

I have a quiet dinner with my family. My mother keeps giving me the eye, and I try to signal back that I'll tell her later. She nods imperceptibly. Message received.

I decide to I do need to concentrate some, so I go up to my room and lock the door. I slog my way through my assignments, suckiest first. I kind of get into the groove, playing some Muse on my iPod to keep me going. It's a nice break to focus on something that isn't life threatening. When I get to the good stuff, my English homework to read Catcher in the Rye, I'm feeling good.