Eternal Dawn (12 page)

He was so ferocious in his passion. His intensity made my words stick in my throat.

‘Why me?’ he asked.

‘I don’t know,’ I stuttered, because I didn’t want to lie. ‘Why must there be an answer?’

‘Evil be he who thinketh evil,’ he continued gently. ‘Do you believe that?’

Rhode moved his palm to the back of my head. He was going to kiss me.

‘I believe in the intent,’ I said. ‘I believe that if you wish harm on others you’ll bring ruin upon yourself.’

‘What if you want to love someone so badly that you conjure them out of nothing?’ Rhode asked.

His mouth was nearly on mine. I could almost taste him. I inched my mouth closer towards his face.

He whispered softly and his breath touched my lips. ‘Maybe I just wanted so badly to love you that I made you up. And now you’re here. Dancing with me.’

We could have been alone in that room; we
should
have been alone. I was going to kiss Rhode. Here. Now.

‘You . . . love me?’ I whispered.

His lips parted to reply. He was
just
about to say something when a shadow above him stepped into the light. On the balcony, just behind Rhode’s head, was the
vampire.

He would not get away this time. Rhode followed my eyes.

‘I’ll be right back. Damn it. I’m sorry,’ I said.

Once he spotted me, the vampire ran. Dodging as many people as I could, I pushed dancers out of the way just as the slow song transitioned back to dance music.

I ran past Tony and Tracy. ‘Lenah, wait up!’ Tony called.

‘Don’t wait for me! Go!’ Tracy cried from behind us. I assumed she was talking to Tony, but I couldn’t wait up – I had to keep pace.

On the balcony, the vampire tried to sidestep all the people, to get outside, but he couldn’t. He had to stop and edge through a crowd.

My feet pounded across the sticky tiles. I was almost at the end of the dance floor, where I could run up the stairs and try to cut him off.

‘Where is he?!’ Tony yelled. He was next to me, trying to keep pace. ‘Excuse me, excuse me,’ he said as we pushed our way through the dancing crowd. I ran up the stairs
two at a time and stopped at the top. The vampire and I were both the same distance from the door. If he was faster than me then he would escape and I would lose my chance to get him alone.

He stood below a black light, the kind that made everything purple. Vampire eyes usually remained the same colour as when one was alive. His were definitely silver.

‘Where the hell . . .’ Tony panted.

The vampire and I both waited for someone to make the first move.

‘. . . is this guy?’ Tony finished.

He continued to catch his breath next to me. ‘Do – you see – him?’ he stuttered.

Just wait for it. For the propelling forward. One movement of the body forward. You know when to run.

‘
Now!’ I cried.

‘I’m right behind you!’ Tony called.

I ran the width of the balcony while Tony yelled behind me. I had never asked this human body to run so hard and fast.

I was going to beat him!

I pumped my arms. My legs burned from the strain. I would make it to him first. I would.

Hand outstretched, I threw myself at the vampire.

I slammed on to his back and he fell forward on to the wall.

He flipped over to me at the last second. I threw all my body weight against him and pinned him under the throat. He needed no breath, but I hoped my force would stop him anyway. His silver eyes
moved like little pools of mercury. I flinched even though I was trying to stay formidable. I couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the shifting colour within his pupils.

‘Renoiera,’ he said in an accent that sounded Italian.
What?
This was not a word I understood.

‘What do you want from me?’ I demanded. ‘No more mystery.’ I pressed my elbow into his neck even harder.
Great, my dagger is in my boot just when I need it.

Tony pointed at the vampire and said, ‘Yea! You’d better tell her everything you know, punk.’

‘You’re not helping, Tony,’ I said out of the corner of my mouth. The vampire wasn’t fighting me. ‘Tell me, why are you following me?’ I repeated.

Silence.

I removed my elbow from his throat and held the pendant he wore around his neck between my thumb and index finger. It was the same necklace I had noticed at the farm the other day. A small
circle with an R in the middle. It was made of weathered silver and no larger than a dime. I dropped it so it lay flat against his skin.

‘It turns out you need more help than I thought,’ he said, and I noticed his Italian accent again. ‘You come to see me at the Wickham chapel tomorrow night. At
midnight.’

‘The
chapel
?’ I asked. ‘I’m not putting those students at risk.’

‘They were at risk the moment you returned to Lovers Bay.’

That truth stung and immediately silenced me.

‘I have wanted to orchestrate our meeting another way but it seems it’s no longer possible. As you have so gracefully made your concerns about me known to the public, it’s
safer for them and for you if we speak at length,’ he said. He seemed genuine, though there was no way to tell for sure. He could have been working for Justin. I had been fooled many times by
the most beautiful and innocent of faces.

‘I promise I will tell you what you need to know,’ he said, standing up straight.

‘What do you mean, need to know?’ I asked, though this time my tone was much more gentle.

He bowed his head goodbye and made his way to the door.

I decided to try a different tactic.

‘
Perche non si fida di me?
’ Why should I trust you? I asked in Italian. He turned with his fingertips on the door. The hint of a smile played at the corner of his mouth.

‘You have no choice left but to trust me, Renoiera,’ he said. There was that word again.

It was strange, but I didn’t sense animosity from him.

He had that waxy appearance of all vampires, but something about him was different. Besides the eyes, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

The light touch of someone’s hand grabbed on to mine. I glanced back at Tracy, who had joined the group of onlookers. I expected to find Rhode among the faces, but he wasn’t
there.

The vampire straightened his shirt, and just as he reached the exit at the end of the hall he looked back.

‘You be careful tonight. Others are watching,’ he said, and pushed the door open. This time his strange gaze landed on Tony and Tracy. ‘And, tomorrow, come alone.’

With that, he disappeared into the night.

‘Why do you have to go alone?’ Tony muttered to me, but loud enough so that Tracy could hear. ‘Because it’s easier to
kill you
if you’re
all by yourself,’ he concluded. Tony and Tracy followed me to the railing overlooking the main dance floor.

I didn’t care any more what Fire thought. I was telling Rhode what was going on, and I was telling him tonight. He needed to protect himself.

‘And his eyes,’ Tony said.

‘Yeah, what was up with them?’ Tracy asked.

‘And what did he mean that “others are watching” – way to be cryptic,’ Tony said.

The music boomed around us, and as we stood on the balcony I wanted nothing more than to leave. In my six hundred years I had never seen a vampire with eyes like that. His demeanour was strange
as well. He had followed me and watched from afar, yet he wasn’t attacking.

Tony tugged gently on my arm. I looped it through his and Tracy took her position on his other side. ‘Let’s get out of here,’ he said, leading us down to the ground floor.
‘
Others
are watching.’

Back in the car, Kate sat between Rhode and me. Rhode had waited till last to get in so he wouldn’t have to sit next to me for the ride home. I couldn’t blame him, after I had run
off the dance floor. I let everyone else chat around me on the way home. I kept my focus out the window and on what lay outside. I avoided it for so long but I knew what I needed to do.

I would tell Rhode the truth. Tonight.

We made it back to campus with only fifteen minutes until curfew. ‘I’ll catch up with you later,’ I said to Tracy as we got out of the car and she and Tony walked from the
parking lot to the pathway. He threw an arm over her shoulder, and I hoped that now that they were alone, he was filling her in on everything that happened tonight.

Rhode was already halfway up the path to the library. I was doing him no favours by putting him in harm’s way. There were too many scenarios in which he would be attacked.

‘Rhode!’ I called, but he didn’t acknowledge me. I jogged after him and said, ‘Will you wait?’

He spun to me and said, ‘No. Talking to you is ridiculous. You run off the moment I touch you.’

I held out my hand to shake his. ‘I won’t run,’ I said. He sighed. After a moment he met my gaze and shook his head a little. Instead of taking my hand, he moved a few strands
of hair out of my eyes. My stomach swooped.

We stepped off the path and walked on the quad.

‘Curfew is soon,’ he said as we passed the library.

‘Right. Of course.’ From a second-storey window, someone picked at an acoustic guitar and the delicate notes spread over the air.

Rhode took my hand. I expected him to hold it and keep walking, but instead he spun me like we were dancing in a ballroom. He pulled me to him, and as our unseen musician played, he dipped me.
Out of instinct, I wanted to see if our touch would heat up like it did in our vampire bodies. Yet, it was not necessary as we were already so warm.

Rhode pressed his hand against my back and laughter erupted through me. His hand moved from my back to the base of my neck. His touch was so gentle. We stood on our campus, together.
Wasn’t it ours? Hadn’t our youth been cut short? Didn’t we deserve just to
be
teenagers, even for one minute? He was fixated on my lips. I couldn’t kiss him while
keeping the truth from him. It wasn’t right.

‘I have to tell you something,’ I whispered. Rhode, still focused on my lips, leaned closer just for the briefest of breaths. I froze, wanting his kiss so badly that I could barely
stand it. Rhode pulled back and the expression in those blue eyes startled me – he really did love me.

‘So tell me,’ he said, but those three words sounded like
I love you
. That’s what they should have been.

As we walked, a symphony of conversations echoed out of dorm windows. The soundtrack of Wickham was the voices and laughter of students, our friends. Here we could be what we truly were,
seventeen and eighteen years old, not generations old. But could we be
who
we truly were, I wondered? Fire, why did you have to put this on our shoulders?

‘If you do not kill Justin, someone will take my place who does not care for you as I do.’

‘You’re quiet,’ Rhode said, ‘for someone who tried to tell me something.’

‘I’m figuring out how to say it.’

We crossed the pathway towards the star tower. At least, I thought that he was leading me to the tower. Or perhaps the greenhouse. No, that’s what old Rhode would have done. Old Rhode
would have shown me the plants, the herbs and flowers. He would have explained their medicinal uses as well as their symbolic meanings. Like lavender, the flower of freedom. This Rhode was leading
me to . . . the beach?

I almost said, ‘I really don’t think we should leave main campus,’ when Rhode said, ‘You’re a good dancer.’

I laughed aloud at this.

‘That’s funny?’ he said.

‘It’s just, well, no, it’s not. Thank you.’

We started talking about the club and the ridiculousness of the people there. It was almost a normal conversation. We crossed the main path and Rhode stepped down the stairs to the Wickham
beach. We wouldn’t venture off too far.
Others are watching.

‘I only came tonight to dance with you,’ murmured Rhode.

‘I’m sorry I ran off. I saw an old friend,’ I said, trying to lead the conversation in the necessary direction.

‘An ex-boyfriend?’

‘No, just a friend. Before I tell you what I have to tell you . . . I want you to trust me. You said you couldn’t earlier.’

I stopped at the line of the private beach and Wickham school beach. I didn’t think it wise to go any further. Rhode still held on to my hand.

‘You said you loved me—’ I started to say, but he didn’t let me finish.

‘You know I do, and I don’t even know why,’ he said quickly. Rhode drew me against his body. Our chests touched. He said nothing, but my need for him coursed through me in
heartbeats.

His lips met mine, sending chills all over me. The palms of his hands trailed up my back. I met his kiss by pressing myself against him harder. I relished his arm around me, and settled into
that new heat between us. Just for a second it was OK if I enjoyed this.

Old words. Ancient words Rhode had once said in an opera house in the 1740s echoed back at me.

Anywhere you go, I will go.

He shook his head a little a second time.

‘Lenah, tell me – why this is so familiar . . .’

‘That’s the reason I wanted to talk to you. We know one another much better than I admitted. Quite well actually.’

Rhode kissed my nose and he tilted his head down to graze my lips with his own.
Take me anywhere. Fly away with me. Be with me. Anywhere you will go, I will go.
Yes, this is another
reason why I came back, even if it wasn’t my original purpose. To protect Rhode, to love Rhode, to make sure nothing happened to him. It was delicious to see his tall frame, clad in black, so
close to me.

‘I’ve loved you a long time,’ I said but my words trailed away. Rhode’s gaze latched on to something behind me. He walked towards the beach grass that ran up to the
Wickham woods. ‘Rhode?’ I asked, following after.

I gasped. A hand extended from the grass and dangled lifeless against the sand. Rhode bent down next to the body. ‘Holy hell!’ he said, barely above a whisper. ‘She’s
dead. Stay back,’ he ordered, and raised a hand, gesturing for me to stay away. ‘Someone
stabbed
her. There’s a knife.’ He pointed.