The Purity of Blood: Volume I (27 page)

“So have you
been studying?” he asked.
 
“I’m thinking
about a quiz tomorrow.”

I chuckled under my breath.
 
We seemed so normal on the outside.
 
It was on the inside that we were both so different.
 
I only hoped if he ever knew all there was to
know about me, that he would feel the same as he did right now.

We sat there for a long
time.
 
So long that I heard the
grandfather clock in the hall strike seven.
 
If I was going to go, I should probably get moving.
 
That is if I was going to go at all.
 
I wasn’t really sure what I was doing here at
this point.
 
I mean, where was all this
going anyway?
 
I had my doubts there was
a future for two people so very different as we were.

“We should
probably be getting you back to campus,” he said softly as he lifted his arm up
from my shoulder.
 
“You need your rest.”

“I was
comfortable here,” I answered, my face pouting a little.

“Yes well, I
have no excuse to keep you here like last time.”
 
He reached down and gently patted my
ankle.
 
“So back you go.”
 

He got up and
gallantly offered me his hand.
 
After
taking it, he pulled me up and I followed him out the front door and over to my
car.
 
When I started round to the
drivers’ side, he stopped me.
 

“Your keys?” he
asked putting out his hand.
 
As I looked
at them in my hand, he silently took them.

“What are you
doing?”

“I’m going to
drive you home,” he answered, ushering me over to the passenger door, which he
then opened for me.
 
After I reluctantly
got in, he gently closed the door behind me.
 
I’d never ridden in the passenger seat before.
 
This would be different.
 

When he slid
into the driver’s seat, he looked around the
cars
interior.
 
A frown crossed his face, his
lips setting into a hard line.
 
Shaking
it off, he put the key in the ignition and started her up.
 

“How are you
going to get home?” I finally asked as he looked over his shoulder and eased
off the break.

“Don’t worry
about me,” he smiled my way.
 
“I could
use a good run anyway.”
 

I let it pass,
but it didn’t escape my notice that it was about a twenty minute uphill drive from
campus, so that would be a long run.
 

“Besides a
gentleman always sees a lady to her door.”
 

He backed out
and slowly started up the long driveway towards the road.

“You know,
that’s not the norm anymore,” I added for his edification.
 
“Gentleman like behavior, I mean.”

“Much to the
detriment of the race, I assure you,” he answered solemnly, but with a trace of
a smile playing at the corner of his mouth.

After a few
minutes I asked “So 1905.
 
Did you date a
lot back then?”

He laughed.
 
“Is that what you were thinking about?
 
No, I can’t say that I did.
 
Around here people didn’t date, they
courted.
 
A man would state his
intentions for a woman to her father and request permission to court her.
 
It was a much more civilized time.
 
But no, I never courted anyone either.
 
I was young and wanted to make my fortune
first.”
 
He sighed, remembering something
unsaid.
  
“So are you sure you’re not
dating
this Ben guy?
 
Because I think he has feelings for
you.”
 
He tried to sound humorous, but I
could tell it was a serious question.

“No, I’m not
dating Ben.
 
We’re just friends.”

“Good, let’s
keep it that way.”

“Alright, but as
long as we’re on the subject, let’s talk about your legion of female
admirers.”
 
This time he really laughed.

“God help me, if
I was ever going to kill anyone, they would be at the top of the list.
 
I continually brush them off, but they keep
coming back.
 
I just don’t get it.”

I looked over at
his face.
 
It was true, he really didn’t
get it.
 
I was surprised to say the
least.

“You’re kidding
me, right? Because it’s obvious to me.”

He glanced my
way as if asking me to explain myself.

“Well, you’re a
very good looking man …or vampire … whichever you prefer.
 
You get a sort of look in your eye sometimes
and in the tone of your voice.
 
Well,
whatever it is, it draws us in like moths to a flame.
 
Some of us can resist, but others continually
fly into the fire.”

“You can
resist?” he asked with a suggestive tone in his voice.

What was this I
was seeing in his eyes?
 
Hope, fear,
curiosity?
 
I couldn’t tell in the
shadows.

“I’m not saying
it doesn’t take effort, but yes, I think I can.”

“
Humm
… That’s too bad,” he mumbled to himself causing me to
smile.

After a pause in
conversation I asked “So what happens tomorrow?”

“What do you
mean?”

“We’re … friends
now, right?”
 

He looked over
at me as if to ask
that’s all we are?

“Well, last week
you kind of gave me the brush off and I was a little confused.
 
I guess I’m just looking to know where we
stand now.”
 

Oh, God!
 
How was he going to answer?

“Yes, we’re
friends,” he said, looking back at the road.
 
“What more, I don’t know.
 
Like I
said, it’s complicated.”

I sat silent for
a moment.
 

“I feel like
we’re more,” I finally whispered.

“We are,” he
whispered back as he reached over and took my hand to give it a gentle
squeeze.
  
“I just need time to figure it
out.”

My heart began
to race again.
 
I think he
did
have feelings for me.
 
I suddenly felt myself breathing faster.
 
This was all happening so fast.
 
Did I like him?
 
Yes, I did.
 
Of course, he was the first vampire I’d ever met, I was fascinated by
him.
 
But what was there other than this
odd fascination I had with him?
 

I kept feeling
an odd tightness in the muscles of my belly.
 
I wasn’t sure what it was, except that it somehow felt good and I’d only
ever felt this way around him.
 
This was
wrong and I knew it.
 
I should put a stop
to it now, before … well, before it was too late.
 
Too late for what, I wasn’t sure, but
whatever ending we were building to, I didn’t see a rosy outcome for the human
half of this equation.
 

I sighed as I
turned my head and looked out the side window.
 
As he gently held my hand in his, he tenderly caressed my knuckles with
his thumb.
 
I wasn’t sure I could walk
away from him now even if I’d wanted to, not when he looked at me that way.

Help me, God.
 
Show me what to do!
 
I’m lost.

He came to a stop behind Capen in
the same spot he’d parked last night.
 
After he jumped out and opened my door for me, we walked over to the
back door in silence.
 
When we came to a
stop at the bottom of the cement stairs, we looked up at each other at the same
moment.

“How about going
in the front entrance tonight?” Daniel asked with a raised eyebrow.

I assented with
my eyes and we strolled up the hill around to the front of the building.
 

When we
approached the main entrance no one seemed to be around.
 
It was quiet and the air strangely
still.
 
He looked down at me just as he
had the night before, like he wanted to express some affection for me, but just
like last night, something seemed to hold him back.
 
Meeting him half way, I reached over, took
his hand and gave it a squeeze, then letting it go, I turned and walked up to
the front doors.
 
I couldn’t find the
words to say goodbye, so as I pulled on the handle, I looked over my shoulder
and smiled.
 
He was watching me, a small
smile hiding at the corners of his mouth.
 
But his eyes said so much more.

Friends?
 

After giving him a shy smile of my own, I went through the
door and headed upstairs to curl up in bed alone.

When I woke in the morning,
although I’d slept well, I didn’t feel rested.
 
Taking a deep breath, I got out of bed.
 
My body seemed filled with a strange nervous energy that made me
unusually fidgety.
 
I think I was just
anxious to get to class and see Daniel.
 

I sped through
my morning routine so fast I was early enough to arrive on the steps of the
lecture hall even before early bird Tabitha.
 
A first for me.
 
While waiting for
her arrival, I pulled out my text book and scanned the last few chapters we’d
gone over.
 
I wasn’t taking any chances
Daniel hadn’t been kidding about that quiz.
  
When I glanced over the top of my book to see Tabitha approaching, I
jumped up to go, but she held up her hand to stop me.

“Look who’s
early today?
 
Sit back down there.
 
We’ve still got fifteen minutes before class
starts and I’d rather sit out here than in that stuffy lecture hall.”
 
She took a seat beside me.
 
“So what happened to you yesterday?” I looked
at her with a question mark on my face.
 
“You never called me back.
 
Darcy
promised she’d tell you I called.”

“Oh, she
did.
 
I’m sorry.
 
I guess I had a lot to do and kinda
forgot.
 
Forgive me?”
 

“I’ll think
about it, but seeing as you also blew us off for the festival too …”

“I guess it was
a busy weekend,” I mumbled.
 
I still felt
a little guilty even though I knew she’d already forgiven me.
 
It was probably because of my glaring lies of
omission.
 
Fortunately, she wasn’t the
type to hold a grudge.

Then she kind of
laughed and said “What, have you got a secret boyfriend or something?”
 

She was joking
of course, but as I tried to laugh back, I turned my head so she couldn’t see
my expression.
 
I wasn’t sure it wouldn’t
betray my curiosity to know the answer to that question myself.

“Let’s head in,
shall we?” I got up and started up the steps.
 

As we took our
usual seats in the lecture hall, I pulled out my notebook while simultaneously
watching the side door like a hawk.
 
Tabitha was talking but I didn’t hear a word she said, all my attention
was focused on the handle of the door.
 

After what
seemed like an eternity, Rodney finally stumbled in through the doorway
followed by Daniel, looking as confident and sexy as ever.
 
I watched as he gracefully strode up to the
podium and set up his notes.
 
Then he
looked up at the class, scanning the room as if appraising the alertness of the
student body on this particular morning.
 
When his eyes finally fell on me, he paused for a long moment, then
quickly smiled before moving on and beginning his lecture.
 
Next to me, Tabitha ever so slightly shifted
her position in her chair.
 
I didn’t look
at her.
 
This time I knew she’d caught
the look I’d exchanged with Daniel and I didn’t want to see what she was
thinking on her face.

“Alright
class.
 
I hope you took some time to
study over the weekend because we’re having a quiz this morning.
 
So, books away.”
 

As Rodney
started up the aisle, passing out the quiz as he went, Daniel glanced up and
winked at me.
 
I blushed horribly and hid
my face behind my hand.
 
It did no good,
Tabitha caught me red handed, or red faced as the case may be.
 
When I passed the pile of quizzes her way, I
again avoided her gaze.
 

As she took the
papers, she leaned over and whispered “Don’t even think we’re not talking about
this later, because we are!”

One day in, and I was already so busted.
 

The quiz was a short one, and
afterwards Daniel picked right up where he’d left off on Friday.
 
When he finally finished and dismissed the
class, I watched the usual gaggle of females that occupied the front row rush
on him like vultures to a dead carcass.
 
I couldn’t help but stifle a laugh knowing what I now knew.
 
After I shoved my books in my bag, I started
towards the aisle with Tabitha close behind me.
 
I knew once we were on the stairs she’d start her interrogation.
 
Fortunately, I caught a momentary
reprieve.