Temptation (10 page)

“Gabri—” she started, but the fog descended.

The only light now came from his eyes.

He moved closer still, until he appeared to hover over her.

“Gabri—where are your reflections?” April asked dreamily.

“It's too dark for reflections,” he replied, sounding so far away, miles away, far across the fog.

“But I can't see your reflections.”

“I'm right here,” he said, the cold gray light from his eyes penetrating hers.

April backed into her reflections. As Gabri moved nearer, she could feel herself slipping into the infinity of images, growing smaller and less distinct as she blurred into the mirror world, a world growing darker.

As she slipped back, Gabri leaned forward.

Then, uttering a moan of triumph from deep within his throat, he hungrily lowered his head for the kiss.

“What's happening?” April wondered, floating in the darkness of the mirror world. “Is someone kissing me?”

Then she heard the thunder of sneakers on the metal floor.

Laughter. Shouting kids' voices.

The fog began to lift. The mirror images grew clearer, brighter.

A loud
crack.

A little girl began crying, loud sobs of pain.

“What's that?” April cried, the mirrored chamber suddenly blindingly bright, all of her reflections opening their eyes and asking the question at once.

Six Aprils stepping away from the glass, six mouths asking, “What's that?”

Gabri turned his head, willing the fangs back into his mouth, trying to stop his breathless panting, to stifle his groans, to hide his disappointment.

When he turned back, April was running to the little girl who had smacked her head on the glass. She picked her up and tried to comfort her as several other kids gathered around.

Feeling vulnerable without any reflections in this mirrored chamber, Gabri darted around a corner. “Meet you outside,” he called to April, shouting over the crying little girl, the squealing kids, the echoes of other footsteps approaching in the maze.

He burst out of the exit into the warm night, moving into the shadows, his features still tight with disappointment.

So close. So close.

He thought of Jessica and that eager boy Todd. Was Jessica having success tonight? Was Jessica tasting the nectar, satisfying her thirst, winning their bet?

He snickered, remembering how he had ruined Jessica's chances a few nights before, how he had interrupted her just at her moment of triumph, how he had attacked the girl, how the girl's terrified screams had denied Jessica her nectar.

Keeping to the shadows, his eyes on the exit from which he had just emerged, Gabri sighed. He enjoyed thwarting Jessica, but he knew that Jessica was ahead. Jessica had already tasted the nectar. The unsuspecting boy was nearly in her power, nearly an Eternal.

He couldn't let Jessica win. He couldn't.

Perhaps I'll have to do something drastic to stop her, something a little more exciting than creating a diversion on the beach, he thought, watching as April stepped out of the House of Mirrors.

Fixing his mouth into a pleased smile, Gabri stepped out of
the shadows and approached her. “There you are. Is the little girl okay?”

“Yeah. Fine,” April said, hurrying to join him. “You certainly bombed out of there fast.”

“Yeah. I know,” he replied sheepishly. “I—I mean, that place gave me the creeps. I can't stand seeing myself so close up like that.”

She laughed. “You look perfectly okay close up.” They started to walk across the carnival grounds, having to dodge excited kids, making their way past groups of teenagers lured from town and the beach by the discovery that the carnival had opened.

“I felt kind of strange in there too,” April admitted, taking Gabri's arm. “All those mirrors and weird lights. My eyes started playing tricks on me. I thought I saw you—without any reflections!”

“Weird,” Gabri said, smiling.

They walked past the game booths. She pulled him to a stop in front of a refreshment stand. “I want a Sno Cone,” she said. “A blue one. How about you?”

Gabri made a disgusted face. “No, I don't think so. Nothing for me.”

Pulling a dollar from her bag, she stepped into the line. “Didn't you ever wonder why there are no blue foods?” she asked. “I always eat blue Sno Cones,” she continued, not giving him a chance to answer, “because they're about the only natural blue food found in nature.”

She waited for him to laugh. When he didn't respond, she had to tell him that she'd just made a joke. He seemed suddenly distracted, as if he hadn't really heard anything she said.

They were walking past the kiddie rides, a small passenger train going round in a tiny circle, jet planes that rose up about six feet off the ground as they circled, and laughing at the excited little kids. April was enjoying her Sno Cone. “It doesn't taste blue,” she said, offering Gabri a taste.

He declined, then, glancing at her face, smiled broadly. Blue lips. The ice had given April blue lips.

She looks dead, he thought. Dead already, and I haven't even sunk my fangs into her throat.

Her blue lips taunted him, teased him, tortured him.

I must get her alone, he thought, his mouth so dry, dry and powdery, dry as death.

I must try again.

And this time I must succeed.

“How about the Ferris wheel?” she asked, tossing the paper cup into a trash basket, wiping her blue lips with the back of her hand.

“Yes!” Gabri cried. Too quickly. Too enthusiastically.

She laughed, startled by his reaction. “You really like Ferris wheels? Don't they make you dizzy?”

“No,” he replied, leading the way toward the Ferris wheel revolving at the front of the field near the parking lot. The line was short. They wouldn't have long to wait. “I love to be up high, to feel as if I'm flying.”

“We should be able to see the ocean from the top,” April said, picking up Gabri's enthusiasm. “And all of the town.”

“When I was a little boy, I used to pretend that I could fly,”
Gabri said, fingering the tickets as the line moved forward a few feet. “I would spread my arms and soar over the treetops. The other kids made fun of me, but I didn't care. I pretended I could fly away from them.”

“Funny,” April said, “I can't picture you as a kid.”

She didn't really mean it seriously, but he appeared stung by the remark. His frown lasted only a second, just long enough for April to catch the hurt in his eyes.

She started to say something, to apologize, but the Ferris wheel operator, a fat guy with long, oily hair, wearing a sweatshirt that came down only halfway over his stomach, motioned for them to step into the waiting car.

April leapt into the swaying car, then turned and helped pull Gabri in. He glanced at her uncertainly, then settled himself back against the plastic seat, still warm from the last occupants. The safety bar was slammed down over their thighs.

Then the car swayed harder and lifted up, traveling only a few yards until it came to an abrupt halt. Someone was being loaded into the car under theirs.

“Can't see much from here,” April joked.

Gabri smiled, a strangely distant smile, as if his thoughts were once again far away.

April suddenly thought of Matt. No doubt he was slouched in his movie seat at that very moment, watching teenagers being hacked to bits and enjoying every blood-soaked minute of it.

And here she was with a new boy. A strange boy. A boy she realized she felt attracted to even though they had barely spoken.

“Do you have a girlfriend or anything?” she asked, the words popping out of her mouth before she had a chance to think about them. Maybe he's thinking about someone else, she thought. Maybe that's why he keeps drifting away, looking so thoughtful and serious.

Her question seemed to snap him out of his thoughts. “No, not really,” he replied.

Their car swayed again, rocking back and forth. Then it was lifted to a higher position before abruptly stopping again.

The air was cooler up off the ground, April realized, turning her head to let the gentle breeze blow through her hair. Gazing up at the sky, she searched for the moon, but it was hidden behind a curtain of low clouds.

“I hope it isn't too dark to see the ocean,” she said to Gabri, who was also staring up at the sky.

When we are at the very top, he thought, there will be time.

We will be too high for people to see into the car.

We will be too far away for anyone to wonder, to protest. Too far away for anyone to stop me.

When we stop at the very top, April will be helpless.

I will taste the nectar, taste deeply of the sweet, precious nectar without being interrupted.

He smiled at her. “I'm enjoying being with you,” he said, raising his arm behind her on the seat back.

“I'm having fun too,” April said as the car jolted, then floated up to the very top.

It suddenly became darker.

April leaned forward, resting her arms on the safety bar, and gazed out toward the ocean. The beach appeared as a silver ribbon. The rolling blue-black darkness behind it was the ocean.

“Wow,” April said quietly. “What a view.”

Now!
Gabri's silent cry rang loudly in his mind.
Now!

He turned her head and kissed her lips.

She started to pull back in surprise. But gazing into his wide, glowing eyes, she felt weak, drained of any power to resist.

Besides, why should she resist?

He kissed her chin.

Was she dizzy from the kisses? From the view? From being so high in this gently rocking cart?

I'm so dizzy, she thought, her head tilted back, his face above hers now, his eyes glowing down into hers.

So dizzy and weak.

Please—kiss me again. “Kiss me again, Gabri,” she heard herself whisper. “Please.”

He kissed her again.

Then he sank his fangs deep into her throat.

When he removed them, dark ruby droplets clung to his smiling lips.

Matt stretched and yawned. He made his way to the bedroom window and, blinking against the bright light, peered out. The sun was already high above the trees in a clear sky. His bedroom felt hot and sticky.

He yawned again, bumped into his dresser, opened a drawer, found a bathing suit, and sleepily stepped into it.

Padding heavily into the kitchen, brushing the hair out of his eyes with one hand, he found a note from his parents on the kitchen counter. They had gotten up early to go fishing with friends. Didn't want to disturb him. Wondered what time he had gotten in. Would see him later.

What time
did
I get in? Matt wondered.

He wasn't sure. After the triple feature, he, Ben, and some other guys had headed to the carnival grounds to check it out. But the field was dark, the rides all shut down, the booths covered for the night.

It must have been well after midnight. Back in town, Matt
met some friends who had been to the carnival. One of them started teasing him about April.

“What are you talking about?” Matt asked, confused.

“April was there all night. With another guy. A tall guy. Straight, black hair. You'd better watch out, Daniels.” The boys walked off, snickering and making jokes at Matt's expense.

Gabri. She was there with Gabri, Matt realized.

As he made his way down Seabreeze Road, kicking clods of sandy dirt as he walked, he decided he'd better apologize to April. He probably shouldn't have spent the night with the guys, even though he had really wanted to see those movies badly.

He realized he hadn't spent much time with April since they'd arrived at Sandy Hollow. And now this townie with his dark, romantic eyes and slick smile was moving in on her.

He'd put a stop to it, Matt decided, sneaking into the cottage, hoping his parents wouldn't hear him come in. He'd call April first thing in the morning.

Now it wasn't exactly first thing in the morning. It was ten-thirty, to be exact. But he gulped down a glass of orange juice—too quickly, for it gave him a sharp pain between his eyes—and then dialed April's house.

The phone rang three times before someone picked it up. “Hello?” April's mother said.

“Hi, Mrs. Blair. It's me. Can I talk to April?”

“Oh. Hi, Matt. She's still asleep.”

“Huh?” April was a morning person. She was usually up at dawn.

“The twins tried to rouse her for breakfast more than an hour ago,” Mrs. Blair said. “She muttered something about not feeling well, said she felt like sleeping for weeks. That's not like her. I figured I'd better let her sleep.”

“Yeah. Well . . . ” Matt was surprised. He wanted to ask, “How late was she out with Gabri?” But instead he said, “Tell her I hope she feels better. If she wants to, she can meet me at the beach.”

He hung up the phone, feeling troubled. He scratched the back of his neck. His skin felt all prickly. The air in the small kitchen was heavy and wet.

It's really going to be hot today, he thought. I've got to get to the beach.

He called Todd, who had also just pulled himself out of bed, and arranged to meet him at the beach. “Bring your Boogie board,” he told him. “Maybe the surf will be good this morning.”

But when he arrived at the beach, already crowded with morning sunbathers, several swimmers diving and darting through the low, blue-green waves, Todd was stretched out on a beach towel in the shade of a yellow- and white-striped beach umbrella.

“Hey—” Matt called.

“How's it going?” Todd asked sleepily.

“Where's your Boogie board?”

Todd raised his head and looked around. “Guess I forgot it.”

Matt sighed impatiently and dropped his Boogie board to the sand. “What'd you do last night? See that girl?” He dropped onto
his knees, then sat down on the Boogie board, the sun warm on his back.