The Emerald Talisman (18 page)

“You aren’t handling this very well, are
you?”

“No,” I hoarsely whispered, still feeling I
couldn’t catch my breath.

“You don’t have to be afraid,” he said with
overwhelming confidence.

“You’re kidding me, right?” I stated,
wondering if he was in the same alley I was a few minutes ago.

“I just wish you hadn’t have come into the
alley. What were you thinking?”

He clenched his jaw and gripped hard on the
steering wheel. The sudden anger both internally and externally
startled me.

“I didn’t mean to.” I bit my lip and turned
my head down. “I seem to be a magnet for trouble these days.”

Nicholas’ abrupt chuckle confused me; I
didn’t get the joke. But whatever I said eased his tension, so I
didn’t ask.

“So now you know why I couldn’t see you,” he
said matter-of-factly.

“What do you mean?”

He paused and took a deep breath. I could
sense his guilt.

“I couldn’t tell you what really happened.
You’d already found loopholes in my story. It was best to disappear
from your life. “

I felt a pang of dread in my heart. Nicholas’
disappearing was the last thing I ever wanted. Something deep
inside me needed him to be there. I needed the safety he gave me,
like a guardian angel.

He checked his rearview mirror again. The
lights of the cars behind us lit up his green eyes like the surf I
saw the night before. Their beauty stunned me.

We turned onto an abandoned dirt road that
wove through the woods and ended in front of a meadow. He parked
the car and shut off the motor. The sudden silence became
uncomfortable.

“Why would it matter if I knew?” I asked
softly.

“It’s not something you openly share. And
trust me; you wouldn’t have believed me anyway.”

“Maybe,” I said sheepishly, wondering if I
would believe him or think he was crazy. “So, is that why you were
rude in front of the theater?”

When I said the word ‘rude’, Nicholas felt
remorseful. It made me wish I’d chosen a different word.

“It wasn’t what I wanted to do. A pack of
parasites had just passed you and I couldn’t let them get
away.”

“So those were…
vampires
too?” I
uttered, choking over the word.

“You saw them?” He frowned. “I was afraid
they’d see me talking to you. If they had any idea you and I knew
each other… it would’ve been bad.”

“Why?”

“Because I think they’ve figured out who I
am,” he said, his voice cold. “This group is different than the
others – smarter. I’m usually able to eliminate witnesses.”

“Do you do that often?” I asked with concern.
“Hunt them?”

“When I can, I do.” His pride swelled.

I gulped hard, unsure what to say. It was one
thing to realize vampires existed, but to find out he hunted them
regularly was a whole different story.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you
eliminated
the ones hunting me, but don’t you think it’s a
little dangerous?”

He turned and smiled.

“Dangerous for me? No. Only when it comes to
you, then it can get tricky. This was not your first run in with a
vampire. You’ve had others.”

“I have?” I said startled. “When?”
And how
did he know?

Another chuckle and another smile.

“Do you remember the time you got lost at the
fair and the Ferris wheel guy offered to help you find your
dad?”

I remembered it like it was yesterday; the
creepy ‘wanting’ feelings he had for me. I may have only been ten,
but I knew he was bad news.

“Yeah, but I ran.”

“Vampire,” Nicholas said nonchalantly.

Suddenly it clicked and all the confusion
made sense. The feeling I had felt at the fair, in the forest, on
the beach and at the theater were all the same. The thirst, a cross
between lust and hunger, was the vampire craving what they
crave.

“Wait–you were there?”

He hesitated for a minute, like he’d
accidentally revealed something he didn’t want me to know.

“I’ve always been there.”

My heart raced.

“Whoa, what do you mean always?”

Sadness swept over Nicholas’ face. I looked
into his kind emerald eyes but the starry night sky behind him
faded in a shimmery mist. Where I was transported only happened in
my mind, but it felt real. I was no longer sixteen. We sat together
in the front bench seat of my parent’s old Plymouth that smelled of
aged leather and vanilla scented air freshener. He held my hand. I
was shivering and tears fell down my cheeks. Something bad had
happened. My blue pinafore dress was torn. Had blood on it. Not my
blood.

“No!” I exclaimed, as the blocked memory
surfaced.

I clutched my chest. I couldn’t breath. I
needed air.

I clawed at the door, tugged it open and ran.
Tears blinded me as my feet splashed through the wet grass. I
needed to get away – far, far away. My mouth became dry like cotton
and my muscles burned, but I ran on until I reached a cyclone fence
that stopped me. I grabbed it and screamed, beating against it
until my hands were torn and raw.

Then I felt his hand on my shoulder. He
pulled me off the fence and into his arms. I sobbed.

“Why?” I screamed into his chest. “Why?”

It was all there — the fear, the dark evil
eyes and the sickening cackle echoing in my mind. We were trapped.
She shielded me from him. He clamped down on her neck, but watched
me over her shoulder. I cried and stood in fear, feeling all her
pain and then her empty silence. He dropped her lifeless body onto
the ground. He wanted me next.

“He killed her…” I choked out of my tears as
my body heaved.

Nicholas held me tight and I sunk into his
body. The flood of emotion and anger cut so deeply I wanted to
vomit. How could I have forgotten? This whole time, the past was
locked in my subconscious. She was gone and never coming home.

“But how?” I asked in a whimper. “You were
there?”

“I was,” he said. “But too late. I’m
sorry.”

I felt his grief mix with mine and it tore my
heart in two. All I knew of my mother’s disappearance was somehow I
ended up on my parent’s front porch the morning after we were
missing. Later my mother’s car was found at the bottom of the
river. It wasn’t known if she dropped me off and left again, or if
someone else brought me home, but her body was never found and no
one saw what happened.

The case baffled the investigators. My dad
took a lie detector test to prove his innocence. No one else had a
motive to hurt her. She disappeared into thin air. It didn’t help
that I couldn’t remember what happened, even with counseling. But,
I believed my Dad never wanted to know what I’d blocked out, for
fear of what I’d say happened.

“You took me home?”

“I did.”

I leaned my head into Nicholas’ chest and
sobbed. The fact she was really gone hit me hard and I thought my
heart would stop right there. I’d always believed she was alive
somewhere and remained hopeful, like my father, that one day she’d
come home.

Nicholas stroked the back of my hair and his
comfort infused me like I’d just crawled under a pile of warm
laundry fresh from the dryer. Of all places and all people, it was
with him I wanted to be when I remembered.

. . .

12
- REVELATIONS

After I somewhat recovered, Nicholas helped
me walk back to his car. The distance seemed longer than I
remembered now that I was clear-headed and aware of my
surroundings. By the time we reached his car on the other side of
the meadow, I felt drained, wanting to curl up into a ball.
Nicholas’ guilt made it worse, but I didn’t want to be away from
him.

“It’s all my fault,” he said, after we got
settled inside.

I looked at him, confused and bewildered.

“Why would you think that?”

“I could have stopped him if I was sooner. I
was only in time to save you. She’d been bitten and... it was too
late to save her.”

I closed my eyes. The scene was still alive,
replaying in my head and the tears began. I fought the urge to run
again; I would’ve if I had the strength.

“How could you know?” I said to ease his
guilt. “It’s the animal-who-took-her-life’s fault. He should get
the blame.”

Nicholas hung his head. I sensed his
hesitation to agree.

“He didn’t get away, did he?” I asked with
gritted teeth, ready to become a vampire hunter too if the filthy
beast still roamed the planet.

Nicholas’s eyes tightened into a scowl.

“I gave him what he deserved.”

“Good,” I said, with a hard edge to my
voice.

Finding out Nicholas avenged my mother’s
murder strangely comforted me and made the pain soften for a bit.
But after my anger subsided, I found myself even more wore out. In
the last two hours I discovered vampires were real, the truth of my
mother’s disappearance, why Nicholas avoided me and why he was
there in the first place. My head felt like it was going to
implode.

“But wait a minute,” I blurted out. “How
could that be? You’d be only, what—“ I counted on my fingers. “Like
eight-years-old?”

He paused and looked like he didn’t want to
answer.

“I wasn’t eight,” he said sheepishly, “I was
eighteen.”

“But how is that possible?” I said
slowly.

“It’s because I’m not what you think I
am.”

My stomach dropped and I leaned away to study
his face. Could he be a vampire and just learned to control his
bloodlust? He did have unexplainable super human strength and
amazing agility.

“Are you one of them?” I whispered.

I cringed in anticipation of the answer. If
for some reason he was, there had to be an explanation. He waited
before answering and nervously shifted in his seat.

“I’m half actually,” he finally muttered out,
his stern face avoiding my eyes.

“Half?”

“It’s a long story,” he said with a sigh. “I
was born this way.”

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want
to,” I said, afraid to pry.

“I don’t see any reason not to tell you, now
that you know the truth.” He took a deep breath and the pain came
close to the surface.

“My father is a vampire and my mother, a
human. Most of the time, when a vampire falls in love with a human,
the human wants to become immortal so they can be together forever,
but my dad refused to turn my mom and insisted they try to have a
normal relationship.

“Vampires don’t procreate by having babies,
so when my mom found out she was pregnant with me, my dad assumed
she cheated and left her. When she went into labor, she refused to
go to a hospital and had complications, so – my dad raised me.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling insensitive for
drudging up his past. “That’s horrible. I’m really sorry.”

“Yeah … so, to answer your question, I age
slowly.”

“That’s good, right?” I said, in an attempt
to recover my blunder.

“Well, until you show people your driver’s
license,” he said, joking to cover the hurt. His mouth curled up at
the corner. “You don’t know how many times I’ve had it confiscated
as a fake.”

“And you’re super strong and fast.”

“I do have all the vampire abilities, plus I
can walk in the daylight – a very nice bonus.”

He flashed his white teeth and the next
question slipped out of my mouth.

“Do you drink blood?”

Nicholas turned with an inquisitive smile and
I became horrified at myself.

“Questions, questions,” he said teasingly,
“No. I don’t. My father believes if I ever did, the vampire side of
me would take over and I’d lose the ability to control my thirst. I
don’t care to find out.”

I was relieved Nicholas’ vampire traits were
more of a blessing than a curse and that he indulged my silly
questions.

But Nicholas exuded a new found freedom and
the guilt melted. I couldn’t imagine how difficult I must have been
the last ten years – to be near me, but stay anonymous and
invisible, unable to share the truth or the grief. I felt more
connected to him than ever.

“So, you followed me after my family moved?”
I asked.

“I did,” he said. “She didn’t deserve the
fate she received, so I’ve protected you ever since.”

Tears welled up in my eyes again. I was
grateful; not only for his valiant effort in trying to save her
life, but for killing her murderer and breaking down the wall in me
that held her memory. I could see her in my mind now. Smell her
sweet dewy fragrance. Feel her warmth. The healing could begin.

“Thank you,” I said as I blushed. I hated the
circumstances surrounding our friendship, but I couldn’t have
earned a more amazing guardian.

I wanted to ask him more about his special
vampire abilities but glanced at the clock on the dashboard and
almost had a heart attack.

“Is that the real time?”

“I believe it is.”

“I’m going to be so dead. I need to get
home.”

Before I could finish the statement, Nicholas
spun out of his parking spot and took off down the gravel road.

“What are you doing?” I yelled and grabbed
forcefully onto the arm rail with one hand and fastened the seat
beat with the other.

“Speeding,” he said, completely at ease. “…so
you won’t get in trouble.”

“Without your headlights?” I yelled louder.
“Are you crazy?”

Nicholas laughed.

“I do this all the time. I have natural night
vision,” he said, amused. “But I can slow down and put my lights on
if it makes you feel better.”

The thought of my irate Dad standing in the
doorway tapping his watch changed my mind.

“No, that’s okay. I do need to get home.”

My breath slowed back to normal when I
realized he was in complete control of the car, even when he
blindly turned onto the highway and weaved with precision through
the traffic.

I relaxed and trusted his instincts. We sped
through the streets and the dark night blurred past me outside. As
soon as we turned off the freeway, he flipped the headlights
on.