Bite Me! (12 page)

“You believe in vampires?” And, more to the point, how the hell does he know all that? Was Mr. Charles a vampire? No. There was no way.

“I believe in a great number of things, AJ. Now, tell me about your family history.”

I squeezed my injured hand shut and took a deep breath. “Mr. Charles, I lied. It wasn't my grandmother who told me that story. I've never even met my grandmother. I actually picked up the story from a conversation I overheard at Starbucks when I was in Memphis. I thought it would sound more authentic if I said it came from my family.”

Wow. Lying seemed to be the only thing I could do right these days.

 

“Why didn't you tell Mr. Charles the truth?” Malia asked as she drove me home.

“I did.”

“AJ, there is no way you heard that story at Starbucks. C'mon. You can tell me.”

Actually, I couldn't. I couldn't tell anyone. Mom had always warned us about confiding in people about “our truth.” I didn't want to take the chance that I would lose the only people I really could trust right now.

“It's true. I overheard it the day before school started, when Mom and I went shopping. I thought the story was cool and I decided I would research the Serpentines for my thesis. I figured if I couldn't find anything on them, no harm.”

“And then you hit the mother lode with Mr. Charles?” she asked.

“Yeah. I knew if anyone could help me, he could. I swear he knows everything about the occult.”

“Maybe there's a reason he believes in vampires,” Malia offered.

I let that thought ricochet through my mind as Malia pulled into the alley behind my house. My mom's car wasn't in the driveway, which actually surprised me. But I couldn't take any chances walking through the kitchen door, just in case she'd let someone borrow her car, or she was trying to trick me by making me think she wasn't home.

I had Malia drop me off behind the house. “Thanks for everything, Malia,” I said as I opened the car door. “I don't know what I'd do without you and Bridget.”

“I hate that Bridget didn't come tonight,” Malia said. “But honestly, I think this stuff would freak her out. She probably wouldn't be very open to the possibility of vampires. Hey, I meant to ask, what happened to your hand?”

I looked down at my closed fist but didn't remove the paper towel or look at the damage. I tend to heal at an extraordinarily fast rate and really didn't have a clue if I had a mark on me or if my palm was back to normal. No matter how “open” people claim to be about the paranormal, seeing it happen in real life tends to be a little overwhelming.

“Oh, nothing. I just cut it. It'll be fine.”

“Well, I'll see you after school tomorrow.”

“Take it easy. And thanks again.”

She drove away, and I tiptoed through our backyard to the living room window. There was another window box planted with the same herbs that were in my own room. I plucked a bit of sage as I snuck a peek inside to see the twins and Oz playing Xbox and Rayden sitting on the couch reading. Aunt Doreen was bent over the coffee table, fussing over a tray of cookies. She straightened and turned to look directly at me. With a smile, she waved me to the kitchen.

How on earth did the woman do that? I swear the woman has eyes on every side of her head.

I turned back toward the driveway, and had to stifle a scream when I nearly walked smack into Noah.

I
jumped back, but I guess I didn't need to because he stepped away from me, as if he was repelled.

“Wha-what do you want with me?” I sputtered. I took another step toward him, and again he took another step back.

He looked the same, only paler. His eyes were no longer those beautiful warm, blue pools. They were icy and hard and red-rimmed.

“Do you like what you've done to me?” he hissed.

“I didn't do anything.”

“Didn't you?” He reached out and grabbed my wrist but jerked his hand away with a yelp, then disappeared. So I hadn't dreamed up the disappearing act the first time.

Great.

Not only was he dichampyr, and stalking me, but he also could evaporate into thin air.

I hurried around the house, but Noah appeared again before I could reach the carport. He sneered at me and bared his fangs. “I can't wait to bury my fangs into that hot little neck of yours. We have unfinished business.”

“Why aren't you doing it now, if you're so eager?”

“It's not time,” he said. “Soon, though.”

“If I did this to you, then you have to obey me. Sit!” I commanded.

He hissed.

“Too complicated a command? Let's try this one—play dead.” I laughed. “Good boy.”

His lips peeled back in a snarl. “Go ahead, laugh now.”

“So if
I'm
not your master, who is?” I asked, trying to keep my composure. My hands were shaking and my heart was racing, like I'd just had a double shot of espresso for the first time. “It must be hard having no control over your own actions.”

He just sneered. “I can't wait to taste you.” I stepped forward and he shrieked and disappeared. Again.

“Hide-and-seek is for kids, Noah,” I called.

His growling laughter echoed around me. My skin tingled, and the air pressure seemed to drop. I couldn't move. It was like a magnet pulled at my feet, preventing me from making my escape.

Aunt Doreen stepped outside. “Ariel, dearie. Is that you?” The moment she spoke, the magnet seemed to disengage.

I ran through the carport, past Aunt Doreen.

“There ye are,” she said with a warm smile. “Yer mum was called into emergency surgery tonight, so she isn't here yet. Which is to yer benefit, aye?” She winked.

“How—?”

“When ye've lived this long and ye've raised as many wee ones as me, then ye learn a thing or two about their mischievous behaviors. Now come in, eat, and get to yer room before Mum punishes us both.”

Aunt Doreen fixed me a heaping plate of fried chicken, roasted potatoes, and spinach salad while I went to the bathroom to wash my hands, check out the damage to my palm, and calm the fear racing through my veins.

What had stopped Noah from attacking me? He had reached for me, but it was like something invisible was keeping him at a distance. But what?

My wound had mostly healed. But there was a fresh
pink scar, which was unusual because I never scarred.
Ever
. I healed and the wounds just went away. That's how it has always been. But this time, I had a mark.

Not just any mark, either—it was in the shape of a backward S, like my birthmark. Except this one had a thin forked tongue at the tip of the S.

It was like the scrolls had branded me. What did this mean? Could they track me? Watch me? Hear me?

Dread seized my belly. Whatever it meant, I didn't like it.

I opened the medicine cabinet and pulled out the emergency kit. I placed a small square of cotton in my palm and wrapped the white medical bandage around my hand. I couldn't risk having someone notice I had a snake on my palm.

Seriously. If I were planning to get a tattoo, it would not have been a snake and it definitely wouldn't have been on my palm.

After I inhaled my dinner, I headed up to my room to shower and then hide from my mother.

No matter how good at this lying thing I was becoming, I still had a hard time keeping the truth from Momma. But I couldn't tell her. If I did, Mom would probably chain me to my bed and never let me leave again. Which might
keep
me
safe, but it would definitely put the rest of the family at risk. And I know Noah wasn't bluffing. He'd left me the ribbon to prove it.

This was totally not cool.

I entered my room and smiled when I heard my stereo blaring the verse “I don't like your girlfriend.” I hoped Ryan heard it. Sure, it was passive aggressive, but whatever. Who was I to care? He chased Lindsey after he kissed me. And not just any kiss, either. He made me knock-kneed.

And to make a girl loopy with your tongue and then run after another one was just not okay.

Spike was curled up on my pillow, and he purred extra loudly for me when I scratched his head. My cell phone rang, so I picked up the remote for my stereo and muted the volume, then answered.

“Hey. We missed you tonight,” I said.

Bridget laughed. “Did y'all have fun getting your geek on with Mr. Green Eyes?”

“It was—interesting,” I said.

“Oh? That sounds like it has juice potential. Spill.”

Okay, so here I was at another one of those life-altering forks in the road. Bridget had been my best friend since forever, basically. She knew everything there was about me to know, except for the whole “vampire” thing. I wanted so
bad to tell her everything. I knew I couldn't tell her about Noah, but maybe this stuff with the scrolls would be okay. She loved me enough to believe in me, right? I mean, Mr. Charles believed me, and he didn't even know me.

“Mr. Charles had the scrolls that Jill had shown us the other day.”

“Boy, so far this isn't a yawner at all,” she commented.

“Shut up and let me finish, cow!”

“Moo.”

“He had the scrolls laid out and the one I had touched before still had the writing on it that had appeared after I touched it.”

“Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about the magical AJ ink.”

“Anyway, he asked me to tell him about what happened to me when I touched the scroll before, so I did.”

“And he believed all that woo-woo about voices and reappearing ink?” she asked. My heart sank a little. Woo-woo was not the reaction I had been hoping for.

“He didn't act like it was crazy. But he wanted to test it out again.”

“Mr. Charles wanted you to touch it and see for himself that you were making all that crap up in your head.”

“Do you wanna hear this or not?” I asked, getting a little frustrated.

“Yeah, sorry. You know I want to hear it.”

“Like I was saying, he wanted to test it out so he asked me to touch the seal of the second scroll like I did the first one. So I did. And it got really weird again. There were voices, and the seal burned me and, um, drew blood.”

“And Mr. Charles heard the voices?”

“No. But when he pulled my palm off the seal, that's when it cut me.”

“Hm,” Bridget said.

“Hm. What?”

“It just seems odd that you're the only one hearing the voices, that's all.”

“Mr. Charles wonders if there might be some family connection somewhere in my past.” There. I opened the door to the conversation. If Bridget was ready for this discussion, she'd step through the door. If not, she'd slam it shut.

“Family connection? As in, someone in your family might've been a vampire? You're a descendant of the undead? Your great-great-grandmother could've been the Queen of the Damned? Seriously?”

“Something like that, yeah. What? You don't think it's a possibility? Even a remote possibility?”

Bridget laughed. Giggled, actually. She was near howling and gasping for breath after a couple of seconds. She finally calmed herself and replied, “I'd believe in shape-shifting worms before I'd believe that vampires were real.”

“Technically speaking, caterpillars are shape-shifting worms,” I said with a hollow laugh. Boy, had I read her wrong.

“Um. Yeah. Thanks for splitting those hairs for me, Mistress of the Dark.”

I sighed. “Whatever. I guess Malia was right. You're not willing to be open about this. Thank God I have one friend who is.”

“AJ! That's not fair—I…”

“Good night, Bridget,” I said, cutting her off. Tears knotted in my throat as I powered down my phone. I didn't want to be tempted to answer if she called me back. This had been the worst week ever and Bridget's rejection was the cherry on top of a shitty sundae.

I walked into my bathroom and turned my shower on as hot as it would go. I pulled the shade down, but I could still hear Noah's laughter in the wind as I stripped off my clothes and stepped under the water to cry until the shower ran cold.

I
wrapped myself inside my warm terry cloth robe and brushed the tangles out of my wet hair. The shower hadn't washed away the hurt, nor had it disguised the tear stains on my face. But I still felt a little better.

As better as any vampire could feel after having her BFF drive a stake through her heart.

Yeah, yeah, it was a proverbial stake and Bridget didn't do it on purpose, but still. It hurt like a bitch. I guess I'd always fooled myself into believing that I could share
all
my secrets with her. I guess I was wrong.

“AJ?” Momma said with a knock to the door. “May I come in for a minute?”

“It's your house,” I answered.

“Nice attitude,” she said, closing the door behind her. She was carrying a package wrapped in brown paper. “This was delivered to you today.”

I took the package, but there was no return address. “Thanks,” I said, ripping through the paper. “I don't remember ordering anything.”

It was a book. By all appearances it was a very old book. I opened it and a note card fell out. “Oh, it's from Jill, the bookstore lady over in Yellow Pine. Cool.”

“What kind of book is it?” Mom asked.

“Well, I'm trying to find out more about our family history, so I'm researching. I'm assuming the book has something to do with that mysterious prophecy you told me about.”

“Ariel, I was serious when I said you need to be very careful with this research. We can't risk being discovered. There are some very bad guys out there.”

Who was she trying to talk to about bad guys?

“Don't worry, Momma. I'm being careful. The only people who know what I'm researching are Jill, Mr. Charles, Malia, and Bridge—and they all think it's for my paper. And since Mr. Charles was the one who suggested I go with an occult theme, it was the perfect cover.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“I dunno,
Mom
. Isn't the ‘surprise, you're a descendant of an evil vampire clan' enough of a reason? It's bad enough that I'm worried I could've killed Noah, but then, thanks to Auntie Tave's vision, or lack thereof, it seems highly probable I did kill him. And you're not full-blooded Serpentine, so the only thing you can do is give me more answerless questions. And Dad, well, he's nowhere to be found, and I couldn't trust him, anyway. So, that leaves me with two options: Find Dad and ask him these questions and risk everyone's necks, or do some good old-fashioned research on my own.”

“About Noah,” Momma said, patting the bed beside her.

Uh-oh. I had to be really careful here. Mom couldn't find out Noah was a dichamp. Not yet. He was very clear that he couldn't touch me, but all bets were off when it came to my family. If I told Mom, I had no doubt he would suck them lifeless. I couldn't risk that.

I sat next to Mom and she put her arm around me. “We got the test results back today. It definitely was
not
Serpentine venom.”

Relief crashed through me like a flash flood. I had tried not to dwell on the possibility that I had done that to
Noah, but honestly, when you're being stalked by the evil undead, it's kinda hard not to think about it.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. Serpentine venom is a lot like a fingerprint. It contains certain markers that are unique to the vampire it belongs to. It's pretty much venomous DNA.”

“But if I didn't kill Noah, what did?”

“Believe it or not—a snake. Actually, the venom in his system is extremely rare and hasn't been seen in this area for a very long time. They have experts combing the O'Reily farm looking for the snake.”

I sighed. I knew for a fact that wasn't true. But God knows I couldn't tell Mom.

And I had to know about the prophecy; I had to try to understand what was in my history and how I was connected to these documents. After today's episode, there was no doubt I was connected somehow.

Who had done that to Noah and why was he after me? Why me?

“Mom, will you be mad at me if I don't stop my research?”

She smiled. It was warm, but touched with a little sadness. “Would you stop if I asked you to?”

“Honestly? No.”

“I didn't think so. But please don't trust anyone. You need to be very discreet. It's way too important that we stay hidden.”

“Yeah, we wouldn't want the Serpentines to discover our location or the PTA to discover our fangs.”

She chuckled and kissed my forehead before she stood to leave. “AJ, we've tried to have a family dinner all week and have failed miserably. This has been a terrible week for everyone. So I need you to promise me you'll be here tomorrow night.”

“I will. What time?”

“Seven.”

“Done. Mom, can I have permission to work with Mr. Charles while I'm suspended from school? I promise I'll just go to his classroom and back home. He's got some ancient texts that he's helping me decipher for my thesis.”

“Okay. But please,
please
be careful. Don't trust anyone.”

Careful was my middle name.

“One more question,” I said as she started to leave. “Is there any way possible that Noah could've been bitten by a non-Serpentine vampire? Could he have, you know, been turned?” Of course, I knew the answer to this, but I wanted to hear her theory.

“Honey, are you worried about that because his body is missing?” she asked.

I nodded.

“The evening news reported that the funeral home he was sent to is under investigation for cremating bodies when the family asked for closed casket services. Apparently they're running a scam where they cremate the bodies, sell them multi-thousand-dollar coffins and plots, but bury empty pine boxes. They make a mint off their deception.”

“That's terrible!”
And convenient.

“Bad people are everywhere, not just in the vampire world,” she said.

Mom left, shutting the door behind her.

I was about to put on my pj's when there was another knock at my door. “Did you forget something, Mom?” I asked as I opened it.

Ryan stood there with sad, puppy-dog eyes.

“Go away.” I tried to close the door, but he was way too quick with his foot.

“AJ, can we talk? Please?”

“No. We tried to talk earlier, but that turned into tongue ‘rasslin'. And since that is
never
gonna happen again, we can't talk.”

“I promise I'll keep my tongue to myself.”

“I don't care where you keep your tongue,” I lied. I totally cared. I wanted him to keep his tongue in my mouth and away from that soul-sucking void of a human he was currently “not really dating.”

“Please, AJ?”

“What the hell do you have to say to me? I can't be near you, Ryan. I let my guard down with you. I trusted you and then you chased after
her
? Acting like our kiss was a mistake? So I'm stopping it before it gets started again. Sorry, but I can't be your friend right now. And I certainly can't watch you be with her.”

“I just wanted to apologize. Again,” he said. “I miss you so much, and today in the kitchen, well, I couldn't help myself.”

“Well, I hate that for ya, but from now on, resistance is not an option; it's mandatory. Good night, Ryan.”

I kicked his shin. He jerked his leg back with a yelp, and I closed and locked the door.

He was still there, on the other side. I could feel him. I leaned my cheek and my palm against the cool wood and closed my eyes and listened to him breathe. I allowed myself to imagine he was mirroring me, and then I felt him—his warmth, his heart—reach out
through the solid door and flow into me.

In that moment, he wasn't my stepbrother—he was just the boy I loved.

Too bad that moment couldn't last forever.