The Emerald Talisman (21 page)

“Fine, let me think.” He exhaled sharply and
paused. “Do you know where the tunnel is over off of Ravine?”

“Yes.”

“Park in the middle of that tunnel, so he’ll
come to you. Just crack your window when he approaches. But stay in
your car and leave it running. I’ll only be a minute.”

“What are you going to do?” I asked, my heart
beating faster.

“I’m going to park above the tunnel and take
care of him when he leaves.”

Take care of him meant killing him and I
hadn’t even confirmed he was a vampire yet. I couldn’t let Nicholas
murder him arbitrarily.

“You aren’t going to hurt him, are you?”

“Julia, he’s a vampire,” he said, his voice
laced with annoyance.

“But he’s my friend.”

“And wants to suck your blood. I need to take
care of him.”

There was emotional finality in his voice I
couldn’t argue with. If I was to stop a needless murder, I needed
to come at it from a logical angle.

“Well, then answer me this, can a vampire
choose to be good and not kill humans?”

Nicholas took longer than I wanted to answer.
The silence lingered for ever.

“Yes, but it’s rare.”

“Okay, so before you
eliminate
him,
can we see first? Please?”

Nicholas took a deep breath and I crossed my
fingers.

“I’ll talk to him,” he said reluctantly. “But
if he tries to leave, I can’t promise anything.”

I didn’t have to read his emotions to know I
frustrated him to no end but knew we needed to at least try. I was
sure, with my encouragement, Phil could be good. Becoming a vampire
couldn’t have changed him that much.

“Okay. How will I know when it’s time to
drive away?” I asked, feeling high from the adrenaline surging
through my veins.

“I’ll send you a text message.”

“Okay,” I said, my breath quickening. “Wait,
what type of car is he driving?”

“He’s not. He’s flying.”

“Flying?”

“Yes… I’ll explain later, just get to the
tunnel and be ready to act.”

“What if something goes wrong?”

“Honk your horn, but whatever you do, don’t
open the door,” he said, his words giving me courage

I hung up.

Nicholas’ Chrysler abruptly turned left, as I
continued straight towards the underpass, his car disappearing into
the black forest. I figured he’d turned off his headlights to drive
stealth again. With white knuckles, I concentrated on the winding
mountain road with growing consternation, convinced I’d crash if I
attempted to peer into the night sky. The dark tunnel seemed to
swallow me whole as I parked inside to wait.

Even though Nicholas told me not to, I shut
off my engine. The only excuse I could think up was car trouble. I
cautiously looked around and waited for Phil to walk up to my car.
Something rapped on the glass of my window and I jumped, letting
out a squeal in surprise.

“Sorry to startle you,” he whispered. “Having
car problems?”

Close up and without a hood over his hair, I
got my first good look at Phil’s transformation. Every inch of his
skin was flawless and translucent and his deep, dark, majestic eyes
danced with excitement and power. White perfect teeth glinted in
the night, as his smile beckoned me to trust him.

“Um… yes,” I said, completely mesmerized by
his angelic beauty and terrified at the same time. He was taking
the bait without hardly any effort on my part.

“Well then why don’t you come out and I’ll
take a look at it for you?”

He tried the door handle.

“Um… that’s okay. I’ve called someone.
They’re coming to help me. They should be here any minute,” I
stammered, grateful I’d locked it earlier.

He studied me suspiciously, his dark eyes
pulling at me, trying to hypnotize me.

“Parker, please… I just want to talk to
you.”

“No,” I said, shaking off the spell. “I can
hear you from here. Just tell me what you want to say.”

“Fine…”

He shifted closer to the front of my car and
leaned against the side of my hood. With his head cocked to the
side, he watched me, analyzing every angle.

“I’m curious,” he finally asked with a soft
and golden voice. “How do you know about us?”

“I just know,” I said, not thinking of a
better excuse.

I kicked myself for accidentally revealing I
knew his secret earlier.

He shot me another seductive grin but unknown
to him, his aching thirst washed over me, instead making me
nervous.

“Oh I don’t think so…” he said with a
scandalous smirk, eyes alive “…because if you did…”

His penetrating gaze of desire caused my
heart to erupt in a fury. He wanted me and it wasn’t just for my
blood.

“What do you mean?” I asked. My voice
cracked. I struggled to shake off his invisible advances.

“I wish you’d come out of the car, so I could
show you…” He flashed another mischievous flirty grin, “… stuff
that would blow your mind. I’m not all bad, honest.”

From nowhere, I felt an overwhelming desire
to get out of the car, like an unseen hand pulled mine to turn the
handle. I had to break eye contact in order to regain my
senses.

“I’m staying in here,” I choked out, unsure
how much longer I could spurn his requests. “I don’t believe
you.”

It hurt to resist him, like when all you want
to do is sleep, but can’t and have to force your eyelids to stay
open. I had my hand on the lever ready to pull when he moved away
from my car. He turned to scan the front opening of the tunnel and
then the back.

“You little sneak…” he seethed. He glared at
me through squinted eyes, his face instantly stony and cold. “This
isn’t over.”

He disappeared.

Panicked, I picked up my phone, flipped it
open to find I had no service. I turned the ignition key and put my
car into reverse. Once outside the tunnel, the service returned.
The phone vibrated with a message.

- Leave now

Was this message intended for earlier? I
didn’t care. I threw the car into drive, and headed home. It was
the only place truly safe from any vampire and suddenly where
wanted to be. I forced myself to concentrate in order to keep my
car on the road as I drove. Did he find Phil? Were they fighting? I
flinched and refused to think the worst.

Phil’s amorous feelings lingered and grabbed
my inner being as I concentrated on the road. I tried to shake it
off, but a part of me couldn’t help but enjoy the attention. Any
time anyone had feelings like that for me in the past, it left me
feeling dirty, but with Phil, it was different, sexy even. I
scolded myself for indulging a second thought.

Nicholas is the one for you, not Phil. Are
you crazy?

I wondered what Phil actually wanted to show
me, if he even intended to show me anything other than how tasty of
a snack I’d be. But I might never know if he didn’t survive tonight
for some reason.

I looked at my phone again to ensure I had
reception wishing for an update.

Call me!

As I approached my home, I felt the knot in
my stomach tighten. What if Phil had eluded Nicholas and flew above
me, just out of the reach of my powers? The thought made me scared
and elated all at the same time.

I parked closer to the front of the house
than normal. Before shutting off my car, I looked up into the sky.
All I saw was stars and a few wispy clouds. My laughter bubbled to
the surface and I sat amazed for thinking somehow I was safe in
this little tin can. The front door was my beacon of safety.

I quickly grabbed my things and sprinted
across the lawn. But just as I was about to reach the porch, my
phone rang. The distraction caused my foot to snag on the wooden
step and I sprawled forward with both hands, dropping everything on
the ground. Ignoring the searing pain in my palms, I scrambled to
collect my stuff, threw open the door and went inside. When I spun
around to shut it, I glanced back at my car and thought I saw Phil
crouched next to it. When I took a double take, no one was there.
My phone rang again.

“Is that you, Julia?” Dad called from his
office.

“Yes,” I said, trying to keep my tone from
coming out in a high-pitched breathless frenzy.

I glanced at the phone and flipped it
open.

“Hold on,” I whispered and held the phone at
my side.

“What’s all that racket?” he asked, his voice
closer than a second ago.

“Sorry,” I said and turned towards him,
forcing a smile. I tried to act natural as he joined me in the
hallway. “I tripped outside and fell. That’s all.”

My dad furrowed his brow.

“Are you feeling okay? Your head’s all
sweaty.”

“It is?” I reached up and smoothed my damp
bangs away from my forehead. “I feel fine. But my ice cream is
melting.” I moved towards the kitchen and tried not to limp.

“Try to be more careful. You don’t want to
re-injure your ankle,” he said behind me.

I felt his hesitation, so I stuffed the soft
ice cream in the freezer and headed for the stairs. Halfway up, I
heard the wheels on his office chair squeak as they rolled against
the floor.

Whew.

“Sorry about that,” I said into the phone and
softly closed my door.

“Everything okay?” Nicholas asked.

“You called just as I was coming in the
house. My dad wanted to talk to me first,” I said nonchalantly. “So
what happened?”

“He got away,” he said in a low and angry
tone. “Why didn’t you drive when I texted you?”

“I didn’t get it… until later. I didn’t have
reception in the tunnel.”

“You didn’t get it?” he asked rhetorically,
letting out a huff. “Well, we have bigger problems now,”

“What do you mean?”

“He saw me, so my cover’s blown. And, he
knows you know what he is and that we are working together. ”

I sensed the danger in his voice, but I
didn’t feel threatened. Vampire or not, Phil was still my friend. I
knew he didn’t want to kill me.

“…what did he want anyway?”

I fumbled for an answer. I didn’t want to
tell him Phil
wanted me
wanted me and that he almost got me
out of my car against my will.

“Well...” I laughed nervously. “He’s curious
how I know about vampires and he’s enamored with his new powers.
But mostly, he just tried to get me out of the car.”

Nicholas inhaled and exhaled sharply. I
didn’t know if it was a good or bad thing. Then he chuckled.

“Good thing you didn’t. He is an interesting
one. When you said he was in an accident, what happened?”

I explained everything that went down that
night, from the shifty people in the crowd, to the change in Phil’s
demeanor at the hospital.

“Phil was never meant to be sired,” Nicholas
said in revelation. “Maybe he
is
working alone.”

“Is this good?”

“I’m not sure yet. Vampires don’t let their
new sires wander around unsupervised. It’s not smart. They cause
problems….”

“But even still, he’s targeted you for some
reason and if he goes and tells the others about us, we won’t be
safe.”

I gulped.

“We need to talk privately,” he
continued.

“We do?”

I gulped again.

“Are you free tomorrow?”

“Yes?” My heart fluttered in anticipation of
what he was going to say.

“Be ready at eight tomorrow morning and I’ll
come pick you up. Don’t tell anyone you’ll be with me.”

“Okay.”

“And don’t leave your house tonight,” he said
firmly. “I need to go. Have a good night and don’t worry. We’ll
figure this out tomorrow.”

He hung up.

I closed my phone and swooned, holding it
with both hands gently to my chest. My heart flittered in elation.
Nicholas and I were actually going to spend time together alone. I
flung myself on my bed and began to plan what I was going to
wear.

. . .

15
– COMPLETE

My first order of business for the day was
figuring out how to manipulate my dad into ungrounding me. Missing
a dance was one thing, a date with Nicholas was entirely another.
After playing every possibly scenario in my head, I discovered my
safest bet was to ask if I could go and hope he was in a good
mood.

My next big problem was figuring out what to
wear. Too embarrassed to text for fear I was making a bigger deal
of this get-together than I should, I ended up putting on jeans and
a tee-shirt –after eighteen outfit changes of course.

Nervous about the outcome, I waited until the
last possible minute to come downstairs – the plan being, the least
amount of questions from Dad, the better.

“You’re up early,” he said in surprise over
the top of his morning newspaper.

“I am,” I said sheepishly, happy he was in
another great mood. I helped myself to a cup of coffee, but put it
in a travel mug.

“Do you have plans today?”

“That depends,” I said while adding cream and
sugar.

“On whether or not you’re still grounded,” he
said, putting his paper down on the kitchen table.

I turned to face him and shook my head up and
down, trying to keep a straight face. Dad hated it when I gave him
doe-eyes or begged in any sort of way. If I could get a flicker of
amusement, I knew he’d let me off the hook, but I couldn’t smile. I
needed to keep looking remorseful.

“Where are you going?” he said, keeping a
gruff exterior.

“I don’t know, it’s a surprise, but I can let
you know when I get there,” I said quickly, not wanting to cause
any alarm.

“And who are you going with?”

“Nicholas, the boy who helped me home the
other day,” I said with a smile I couldn’t help.

“He finally called, huh?”

For some reason, even though they’d never
met, I felt approval from my dad when Nicholas’ name was mentioned.
I think he trusted him since he’d already saved me once. But I
didn’t want a big interrogation because Nicholas had asked me not
say anything.