The Purity of Blood: Volume I (30 page)

But he
didn’t.
 

Still staring down at me, he tilted his head to one side as
if he’d made a decision, and letting his hand fall from my face, he reached
down with it, and took my hand as he started along the path back towards Capen
Hall.
 

We walked for a while in
silence.
 
He was holding my hand.
 
I could feel it.
 
I glanced down and saw it.
 
Did he know he was the first man to ever hold
my hand?
 
When I looked back up, I caught
him watching me.
 
He smiled.
 
Oh, how I wished I knew what he was
thinking.
 
Oh, how thankful I was that he
had no idea what I was thinking.

Passing my dorm
without stopping, we continued across the quad then towards the large lake on
the far side of campus.
 
Nestled up
against a thickly forested section of town, a dimly lit walking trail circled the
lake’s black edges.
 
Without asking, he guided
me in that direction and we started down its path.
 

We’d walked in
silence for a few minutes when out of nowhere, I asked “Do you want to suck my
blood right now?
 
That’s not an offer by
the way, just a question.”

He stopped short
only to stare down at me.
 
In the shadows
I couldn’t read the subtleties of his expression.
 
Had I said something horrible?

“What – ?”
 
He started to say something, but suddenly
stopped himself, obviously flabbergasted at my question.
 

“That’s like
asking if I
want
to be a
monster.
 
The answer is no, I don’t want
to be a monster.
  
My whole life, I’ve never
wanted to be human again more than I do right now.”

He was angry but
trying hard not to let it show, leaving me to wonder if his anger was directed
at me, or at the situation in general.
  
Then in his eyes, I suddenly saw a new desperation.

“If I were a man
I could take you in my arms.”
 

He grabbed me by
the waist and pulled me flush against his body.
 

“And I could
kiss you without worrying I might change my mind and tear out your throat
instead.”
  

I stared up at
him, shocked by his behavior, by his words, but not frightened.
 
As he looked down at me with such pain in his
eyes, all I could do was bury my head in his chest without saying a word.

“Look what I’ve
done,” he murmured, smoothing out my hair.
 
“I’m sorry”.
 

“I think I
understand” I said to his shirt.
 
“Well,
at least I understand as much as I think is possible under the
circumstances.”
 
I put my ear to his
chest and listened, but as hard as I tried, I couldn’t hear a heartbeat.

Suddenly, I
pushed away from him.
 

“I’m sorry,” I
quickly apologized when I realized I was probably dangerously dangling the
carrot.
 
“I probably shouldn’t do that.”

“No, don’t
apologize.
 
It’s not
your
fault.”
 
He reached out
and gently pulled me back into his arms.
 

“I’m working on
it,” he quietly said over my head.
 
“I
can do this.”
 

Even I could tell he was trying to convince himself of it more
than me.

A few moments later we started
walking again.
  
As we slowly progressed,
I watched as a breeze blew across the top of the lake creating ripples in its
silvery black surface.
 
Beside me, I
could hear Daniel walking.
 
He was quiet
now, his mind lost in thought.
 
I wanted
to reach over and take his hand again, to feel his presence physically, but
something about this need deeply concerned me.
 
I’d only known him for a short time.
 
I shouldn’t feel such a strong need for him and that’s exactly what it
was.
 
I think I needed him like I needed the
most basic of human necessities.
 

When we got to
the farthest point on the path he stopped, and looking off into the darkened
woods, cocked his head to the side.

“What is it?” I
asked in a whisper.

Was something
out there?
 
Someone?
 
I took another step closer to him.

At first his
face appeared worried, then he frowned and finally I watched it fade into a
goofy smile.

“Oh, you’re
going to want to check this out,” he said taking my hand and quietly leading me
into the woods.
 
We’d walked for a few
minutes when I started to hear it too.
 
Voices, female voices.
 
One was
saying something loudly then there was a murmuring of other voices.
 
When we approached the edge of a clearing, we
stopped in the dark shadows of a large stand of oak trees.

In the center of
the clearing were about twenty five girls standing in a tight circle.
 
Most were dressed in black with six or seven
others standing in the middle of the circle all in white.
 
One girl in black was yelling at the ones in
white.

“I think you’re
roommates in trouble,” he smiled.

“Darcy?” I
looked again, but couldn’t make her face out in the shadows.

“She’s one of
the ones in white. Well, the one getting yelled at to be specific.”
 
He was trying hard not to laugh.

“What is all
this?” I asked.

“The sororities
and fraternities are in these woods all the time when they have pledges.
 
Only place they can go on campus and not get
spotted by security.”

“And she was
trying to talk me into this,” I muttered sarcastically.

“Cut them some slack.
 
Most of them don’t take it too
seriously.
 
Believe me; far worse things
go on around here than this bunch.”
 
Reaching over, he took my hand and we started back towards the trail.

There was just
something about the way he held my hand that seemed to make me tingle all
over.
 
I’d felt it before.
 
Actually I’d felt it every time our skin had
touched.
 
Even now, I could feel it
sparking around inside me.
 
I didn’t understand
what it was to put a name on it, but whatever it was, it was wonderful, exciting,
scary and a hundred other feelings I didn’t have words for.
 
I looked up at his face as he walked beside
me.
 
Did he feel it too?
 
Were vampires even capable of experiencing
what I was feeling?

Eventually we
walked back to Capen Hall and stopped at the base of the cement steps leading
up to the back door.
 
He’d been holding
my hand again for a while now and when we got there, he didn’t let go.
 
When I looked up at him and realized our
evening was drawing to a close, something in my chest tightened.
 

“So, I guess a
goodnight kiss is not in order.”
 

Oh God!
 
Did I just say that?

“No.
 
I’m afraid not,” he smiled, surprised and
amused by my comment.
 
“Besides, it
wouldn’t be right anyway.”

“Why?”

“In my day, I
would be taking a trip to Long Island to meet your father first, to introduce
myself and state my intentions.”

“Yes, I can see
where that might be a problem.
 
I have to
say I’m not sure how he’d react to all this.
 
Not well would be my guess.”

He didn’t laugh,
but looked down at my hand in his.
 
Deep
in thought, he looked up a moment later to pin me with his clear, sky blue
eyes.

“I know it must
sound strange to you, but the way I feel about you … I’m not even sure how far
this can really go – but as long as it exists, I want to treat you the way I
would have treated a woman I had intentions for before I became … well, what I
am now.”

With something
of a sigh, he took the keys from my hand and we walked up the stairs to the
door.
 
Without a word, he unlocked the
door and held it open for me, and as I took a step in, he handed me the keys
back.
 
When I reached out to take them
from him, he captured my hand in his, causing me to look up and meet his
intense gaze.

“Be careful,” he
said.

“About what?”

“There’s
something I haven’t told you.”
 

He paused as if searching
for the right words. Something was wrong.
 
I could tell by the tension behind his eyes.

“Some of my kind
are more dangerous than others.
 
We call
them blood hunters.
 
There aren’t many of
them, only a handful, but their sole purpose is to seek out people like you,
pures.
 
Once they locate one, they stalk
them until the time is right, and then –”

“Then?”

“They
attack.
 
They’re killers, vicious
murderers.
 
They fast as much as possible
and in between kills will survive on the blood of animals, saving themselves
for that moment when they can savor the blood of a pure.
 
One’s been here on campus recently, so please
don’t wander off into the woods alone.
 
Try to stay in crowds, around as many people as possible.
 
I don’t know if he’ll be back, but if anything
ever happened to you, I’d …”
 
Unable to
finish verbalizing his thought, his voice trailed off.

“Alright,” was
all I could say.
 
Yes, he was
worried.
 
Should I be as well?
 
I couldn’t think about that right now, not
with him standing so close to me.
 
“Will
I see you tomorrow?”

“Ah, that’s
right, no class tomorrow.
 
Yes, you’ll
see me.”
 

He smiled and squeezed my hand before finally letting it
go.
 
With great reluctance, I turned and
went inside.
 
As the door closed behind
me, I stole a glance through the small window in the door to see Daniel jump
off the top of the stairs down to the ground below, only to then disappear into
the night.
 

When I dropped down on my bed, my
head was spinning.
 
I had so much to
think about.
 
Daniel.
 
My
Daniel now.
 
It hardly seemed
possible.
 
I knew I had messages waiting
for me on my phone.
 
I’d felt it vibrate
several times during the evening.
 
My
friends had been expecting me for dinner and I’m sure were wondering what had
happened to me.
 
Tabitha might have
guessed correctly.
 
What was I going to
say to them?
 
I couldn’t keep it a secret
for long.
 
Eventually, I was going to
have to come up with something to tell them and soon.
  

I suppose I’d
just tell them we were dating and hope they didn’t ask too many questions.
 
Besides, I didn’t think Daniel would want to
socialize with them anyway, especially if Ben were around.
 
I wasn’t sure what it was between the two of
them, but for some strange reason they really seemed to have taken an instant
dislike to one another.

Were we
dating?
 
It felt a little presumptuous to
say so.
 
We’d only been out on one date,
two if you counted the festival. Well, three if you counted our hike.
 
I wasn’t sure if that counted, but maybe it
did since I’d spent the night.
 
I rolled
my eyes at myself.
 
This really was
absurd.
 

After getting ready for bed, I curled up under the covers and
drifted off to sleep.
 
I dreamed of blue
eyes watching me and then of gray eyes.
 
They were a penetrating gray that seemed to know mine so well, so
intimately.
 
And yet they seemed strangely
familiar, like old friends.

As I was zipping up my backpack
to leave for class the next morning, there was a knock at my door.
 
The first thought that ran unbidden through
my mind was –
Please, let it be him!

“Since you don’t
seem to answer your phone anymore, I thought I’d pop over to make sure you’re
still alive,” Tabitha greeted me with.
 
I
forced a smile on my lips to cover my disappointment.
   

“Sorry about
that, I guess I forgot,” I lied as I picked up my backpack and we headed down
the hallway together.

“Look I don’t
want to pry, but – Oh heck, I’ll admit it, I want to pry.
 
What was that yesterday with you and
Daniel?”
 

I couldn’t
believe it took her that long to ask.
 
Part of me wanted to shout from the rooftops that I was happy.
 
Some small corner of my soul that had been
dark was now in light, but I wasn’t sure how reciprocated that light was, or
was capable of being.
 
Its mirror wasn’t
human after all.