Bound in Blood 1 Clandestine (11 page)

Emily’s words sped up, as she told her story.“Like a
clumsy idiot, I totally tripped over the curb and cracked my
head. I passed out and somehow I ended up at home in my bed.
When I was out, I had some crazy dream about this gorgeous
place,where this old guy gave me advice.” She finally took a
breath, it felt amazing. It usually was Lucy that talked ninety
miles an hour.
For a while there was silence until Lucy finally regained her
thoughts. “Um... I don’t even know what to say.”
“Oh, and I’ve run into the guy that saved me a few times
now. His name is Sebastian and he is totally gorgeous. His eyes
are deep blue like the ocean. He’s totally mysterious. I also think
he knows something about the weird stuff going on around
here.” Emily sighed. “He’s not really a plethora of information
though. Well he might be,but he doesn’t offer any to me.” Emily
blew out a big breath glad to have most of it all out in the open.
“You believe me right Luce? You don’t think I’m crazy or
anything right?”
Lucy laughed. “Of course I think you’re crazy. I still believe
you. I know you wouldn’t screw with me when it comes to
paranormal stuff. You would never tease me like that. That
would be cruel.”
“Paranormal stuff?” Emily a
sked confused by the reference.
“Well yeah, paranormal stuff,” Lucy replied. Her tone
added in an unspoken but clearly evident, duh. “Think about it.
People disappearing and showing up out of nowhere? Eyes
outlined with bright ass red? Trance like states…” Lucy ticked
down the list, supporting the theory.
“Emily!” Sam’s booming voice called from somewhere
near the house.
“Ugh,” Emily sighed. “Sorry Luce gotta cut this short.
Sam’s looking for me,” she apologized regretfully.
“No problem. Don’t worry Em,I’m on the case. I’ll do
some research on this. Be careful okay?”
“Emily!” Sam’s voice was getting much louder and more
insistent.
“Crap! He’s yelling again. K Luce I’ll be careful. Gotta go,
bye.” Emily quickly hung up the phone and hopped off the
washer. “Coming dad!” Emily yelled, hopefully keeping him
from releasing the search dogs. It would make things so much
easier if their house had a garage that was attached to the house.
By the time she returned inside the house, Sam had retaken
his usual position on the couch in front of the television. Their
eyes met, and then his returned to the game that was on. Well
alright then, he apparently was just checking to see that she
hadn’t run off and joined the circus or something. Whatever.
Later on that night after her blissful shower, Emily lay wide
awake in bed. She couldn’t help but think about her father’s gift.
She clutched the cross that hung just below her collar bone while
she thought about the day, and what a weird day it was.Sam’s
gift was a gesture that she would have never expected in a
million years. Even when he wasn’t being impossible, he could
never be considered the sentimental type. No matter what his
motives were, the thought was totally sweet.
Before she knew it, her mind drifted yet again to Sebastian.
His drop dead gorgeous face kept sneaking passed herself made
wall like it was nothing. She didn’t want to think about him. He
kind of seemed like a jerk. Plus, for whatever reason her dad
seemed quite adamant about his distaste for him. In Sebastian’s
defense, who knew if she could take what her father said
seriously. He was kind of crazy most days and it might just be
that he was afraid of his little girl getting deflowered. Whether
he liked her or not,that is every dad’s nightmare.
The flower metaphor never really made sense to her. It was
a known freaking fact with evidence and everything that there
were no flowers in the female anatomy.Why can’t people just
call things what they were? She wasn’t condoning vulgarity by
any means. It was just incomprehensible why people couldn’t
use technical terms at least.
She couldn’t believe Sam with his not wanting her to go out
after dark business. What was that? Does he think girls only date
at night? Things aren’t how they used to be. Even if they were,
she wasn’t dating anyone anyway. It had never been a priority.
Sure she has thought guys were cute, hot even. Regardless, the
superficial didn’t matter much in the big scheme of things. Soon
she would be leaving, so attachments would have to be severed
anyway. She didn’t plan on coming back once she got out of
Lakeview’s wretched clutches.
It wasn’t like she had a model example to follow. Her
parents had been sublimely happy.In the end it didn’t matter,
look at what her mother’s death had done to Sam. Going through
something like that would be unbearably horrendous to say the
least. And she would never bring kids into this world for fear
their
daddy
might someday turn out to be like hers. She loved
Sam but she refused to marry a carbon copy. If it ever came to
that, becoming a Nun would be a much more viable choice.
As her hands massaged the braids on the cross a light
clicked on in her brain like a camera’s flashbulb. Pieces of the
terrifying puzzle seemed to be falling into place right before her
eyes. Her mind became a dizzying blur of thoughts that were
almost indecipherable. Her dad bought her a
silver
cross. He
didn’t want her to go out at night because there were things out
there she apparently wouldn’t understand. Sebastian knew way
too much and it seemedimpossible. She didn’t really know
exactly how that fit in, but somehow she just knew it did. The
man that tried talking to her on the sidewalk, under the street
light had that red glow thing going on… OH MY GOSH! Her
mind suddenly exploded.
In the
dream
, that Alexander guy who had told her that
there was danger when
ruby bordered emeralds
. That man’s eyes
were
green
and when he got angry, she swore that the
red
in
them was real. There was no way it was just a weird reflection of
the light. Sebastian’s eyes were blue and so were Alexander’s.
She thought that meant something too but what? Sebastian could
somehow disappear or at least run really fast. He avoided talking
with her and was vague and mysterious.
Emily’s mind spiraled out of control, working fiercely to
make some sort of connection, when it hit her with a jolt. Holy
Hell! Was her dad trying to tell her there really is such thing
as…? No that can’t be possible, it goes against everything she
believed in. Emily couldn’t bring herself to even think the word.
It was just crazy. The people in town must be right about her
father. They all think he’s crazy. Melissa’s death knocked him
off his rocker, that was the way most of them put it.
He couldn’t have been trying to say- There was no way
something like
that
could be out there. Could it? It would sort of
explain what had happened on the bus. The fear that radiated
from those people was tangible, absolutely not her imagination.
The couple that was weirdly too perfect and scarily intimidating,
was highly unusual. The pallor of their skin looked, as though
they had never seen a single day of sunlight. Their movements
were so controlled and precise, as if they had been planned out.
They were definitely attractive, but there was something very
off
about the couple.
As her mind raced on, she avoided the possible conclusion
she had already come up with. There must be a better
explanation than that, but nothing gelled. No idea became solid
and nothing else made sense. Just as her mind was utterly
defeated,it froze on the original theory. Her dad hadn’t been
warning her about
sex
. He hadn’t even been talking about rapist
or serial killers. He was trying to tell her that she, Emily Marie
Jameson, was living amongst vampires.

The next day at Blake’s was fairly uneventful, weekends
usually were though. Emily wished Lucy was there. At least it
would help pass the time. They could play cards or something.
Lucy had these awesome playing cards that had Braille labels on
them, but print for sighted people. Creepy Lucy had always
wanted Braille Tarotcards. Emily didn’t think they even made
such things but if so, stranger things had happened. Thinking of
her friend made her smile. She really didn’t understand how
someone as wonderful as Lucy could come from someone as
terrible as George.

The perpetually cranky owner of Blake’s Books wasn’t
always nasty, just most of the time as far as Emily could tell
anyway. The only time there was an exception was when he was
talking to Lucy or customers, of course. She didn’t think you
could really count customers though, since most of the time he
was trying to scam them for higher prices. Maybe something
happened to him that made him so cranky. She guessed it was
possible that maybe he didn’t get hugged enough when he was a
kid or something. Emily used to think that she could crack his
hard shell and get to the soft caramel inside, but so far she hasn’t
had much luck. Anytime George even suspected she was getting
too personal, he conjured up some reason to scold her.

Emily was starting to feel completely drained by boredom.
She had already vacuumed, dusted, straightened up shelves and
cleaned the windows. She reached down under the counter and
grabbed a paperback she had in there in case she decided to ride
the bus. After the last excursion however, that wouldn’t be
happening any time soon. She really wasn’t supposed to read
while on the clock but in her opinion it was just good
advertising. It was a book store for crap’s sake. It wasn’t like she
would ignore the customers or make them wait until she finished
a chapter before she rang them up. George really needed to
lighten up.

Emily really enjoyed authors that always gave a happy
ending, or at least left the reader feeling good about the book.
She reallywasn’t a Harlequin Romance kind of girl, though she
did like love stories. Crime novels weren’t too bad, as long as it
was solved and not a cold case. Unsolved mysteries creeped her
out because they make her imagination run wild and that can
sometimes be worse than reality. They imply that crimes happen
and the bad guys don’t get caught. Although that was probably
true,that didn’t mean she had to read about it. Currently, Emily
was reading a book by
Nicholas Sparks
. His books are so easy to
get lost in, for hours at a time without even noticing.

She was just starting to dig into a chapter, when the bell
clanged against the door letting her know a customer was
coming in. She quickly finished the paragraph she was on and
tossed the book on the counter.

“Don’t stop reading on my account.” A liquid voice spoke
from behind the shelves. The store had row after row of book
shelves that stood about six foot high.

Emily craned her neck around but couldn’t see where the
voice came from. They had to be behind one of the shelves. It
almost sounded like Sebastian. He said he never came in Blake’s
though. “That’s okay… I don’t mind,” Emily replied hesitantly.

Then, he was there. Standing at the end of the book case to
her left was Sebastian. It should seriously be illegal to look that
good. He wore blue jeans with a skin tight black T-shirt. His hair
was short and spiked but preppy not punk. Light reflected off his
watch and what little she could see of a silver chain that hung
around his neck.

“Oh, I’m just browsing.” He stared at h
er for a long
appraising second.
Her face flushed at his words. Before speaking she cleared
her throat nervously. “Well, if you change your mind let me
know.” What an idiot she thought. There was no one else in the
store. There would probably not be a better chance to talk to
Sebastian and pick his brain. She was seriously blowing it. As
she gave him an equally appraising look, she couldn’t see how
something that looked so angelic could be as evil as a vampire.
There was just no way blood had ever tainted the beauty of those
lips.
Sebastian came back around the corner then with a paper
back in his hand. He held it up by his chest, cover facing out, but
she couldn’t look away from his eyes. Her heart was pounding in
her chest. If he really was a vampire he could very easily kill her
without anyone ever knowing. Vampires probably have ways of
making a victim disappear. She squelched the thought as soon as
it took form. That was just silly. There was no such thing as
vampires and her dad was just crazy, which was no surprise
whatsoever.
She let her eyes fall to the book Sebastian was holding. In
the hands of the big muscled model slash possible vampire, was
a novel by
Danielle Steel
. She couldn’t help the escape of
hysterical giggles at the irony of the situation. She tried to stop
but couldn’t help herself. Crap, she was being rude. He might
like romance stories. It was wrong of her to pigeon hole him like
that. She clamped her lips together halting the laughter. Well, at
least sort of.
“Can I help you find something?” Emily asked
mechanically. She was supposed to say that after all. Granted, he
had clearly already found something, but that was beside the
point.
“Do you have this in a hardback?”
His voice was so serious Emily almost burst out laughing
again. “Well, if it’s not by the paperback copy then we must be
out.” As Emily spoke she had to choke back another escaping
giggle.
Sebastian raised his eyebrows at her. “What’s so funny?
You don’t like romance?” He gave her a look that pretended to
be offended.
Despite her wariness of him, the innocence of the look
made her dizzy. “No, romance is good. You just don’t strike me
as the fairytale romance kinda guy,that’s all.” Emily said trying
to back track.
This time she got only a single raised brow. “Oh? What type
am I then?” He asked expectantly.
Emily blushed. “Oh, I just meant…”She felt like a total
idiot.
He waved away her explanation. Her blundering seemed to
amuse him. “The world would be a lot more peaceful if they
used romance novels for a guide book ya know. Besides, didn’t
you hear?All the fairy tales are true.”
Emily noticed that while he spoke his eye lashes fluttered
like a butterfly’s wings. Stop it, she scolded herself. If her theory
was true, the guy could seriously jump over the counter at any
moment and suck the lifeblood right out of her. Even so, she
couldn’t help but notice the overwhelming sense of calm that
flowed over her entire body as he watched her. It was like she
had known him her whole life. He didn’t seem like a monster
and Emily wasn’t one of those girls, who flocked to the bad boy
type. She was the annoying girl that no one wanted to watch
scary movies with, constantly yelling for the actress to run. She
knew herself, or at least she thought she did. She was normally a
very good judge of character. Sebastian just didn’t seem like the
Dracula type.
“Are you still there?” Sebastian asked, as he waved a hand
in front of Emily’s face, trying to get her attention.
“Oh. Sorry,I guess I spaced. What did you say?” Emily’s
face grew hot with embarrassment,
again
.
“I guess,I shouldn’t have said anything.” Sebastian said,
averting his eyes from hers.
“Why?” Emily asked curiously. What was that supposed to
mean?
“Well…” Sebastian let out a long sigh. “I was admitting
that while I’m not opposed to this author, it’s not what I came
here for.” Sebastian’s head bowed, hiding his expression.
“So, why did you come? Were you really looking for a
hunting magazine or something?” Emily asked sarcastically. It
was a weak attempt at regaining some cool points. “If so, you
should know George doesn’t carry magazines in here. He thinks
they’re junk.”
Sebastian chuckled. “Nope, nothing like that, ironically.”
His laughter seemed to be at an inside joke that apparently she
wasn’t privy to.
Emily gave him a questioning look. He said nothing in
response. The only sign that he saw the gesture was that his
laughter stopped short. He cleared his throat awkwardly and
turned mildly sheepish.
After a long pause he finally said, “Sorry, I guess you had to
be there.”
“Maybe you’ll fill me in some day.”
Sebastian’s face grew immediately serious. “Something’s
are better left unsaid. You know, secrets of the trade and all
that?” He turned around and walked back to the other side of the
shelves again, leaving Emily clueless.
What was that? Emily could respect a good inside joke as
much as the next person. Usually there’s at least a hint of humor
behind the words even to the unaware, letting them know a joke
is in progress. When there’s not, it can leave you feeling like
you’ve missed something. In Sebastian’s case, he sounded
obtuse and sarcastic. What did he mean by the information might
be necessary? She wished he would talk straight with her. He
didn’t have to make cryptic remarks all the time.
Just then, he came back around this time with empty hands
and a controlled smile. “Sorry about that. I figured I better put
the book back,since I’m not going to be purchasing it today.” He
stood in front of the counter now. His hands rested on it casually
and he was watching her again.
Emily had never been around someone before that was this
silent. Lucy was her best friend and all, but she never shut up
most of the time. There was George, except he was only silent
with her. He always chatted up the customers. Sam was always
blathering on and on about something or another too.
What was he doing? Those blue eyes of his seemed to be
scorching her under their powerful stare. Did he know what he
was doing? It was like he was a car enthusiast sizing up a new
purchase. Or, a hunter with his prey…
Stop it
, she scolded
herself again. He wasn’t a monster. There was no such thing as
monsters, not the kind Sam had implied anyway. There was just
no possible way her father was right. He was rarely right about
anything so why should this time be any different?
“So, anything else? You never said what you came for.” She
asked, sheepishly.
Sebastian seemed to be thinking about his answer for a long
while. “I came to see you of course.
Emily’s breath stopped and her heart began to pound
rapidly. He came here to see her? Why? She wasn’t saying she
wasn’t an attractive girl. She justwasn’t anywhere near his
league.
As if he could read her mind and knew she was battling
with herself doubt, his eyebrows rose ever so slightly. That was
crazy though, it wasn’t possible for someone to hear another
person’s thoughts. His eyes held a very well-defined question
mark in them. Emily knew she should say something, anything.
No matter how hard she tried,she couldn’t get her mouth to
work properly.
“I can leave, though. If you are toobusy to talk…” He
sounded unsure. There was a hint of hurt in his eyes, which he
masked quickly.
Standing from her stool abruptlyshe blurted, “oh no!”
Emily cleared her throat embarrassed by her eagerness. “I
mean… you don’t have to go anywhere. Stay,” she continued
frantically and then immediately regretted her enthusiasm.
He didn’t seem to mind though. Instead, it seemed to be the
exact opposite. In fact, his answering smile lit up his whole face
and in turn the entire room, making her a little breathless.
Dizziness began to overtake her again. The butterfly’s that had
been in her stomach before, took a vacation making room for the
giant birds that now flew in there. She was also very aware that
if she didn’t get a handle on her heart rate, it would be a good
thing he was there. He would have the pleasure of calling the
ambulance.
After she collected herself, Emily slid a stool around the
counter to him so he could get more comfortable. He started to
protest, but she did it anyway and he eventually sat. Time went
by in a blur. They talked for the remainder of her shift. They
talked about everything; books, movies, family, Lucy, school
and God knew what else. Emily couldn’t believe it, but before
she knew it, it was closing time. No one else had come in the
shop, thank goodness.
The only problem was,she couldn’t seem to gather enough
courage to ask him more about the night in the alley. She could
mostly remember it all now. There were some blank spots but
from what she could tell, that was fine by her. That night would
be starring in her nightmares for the rest of her life.
After Emily locked up, they walked together down the
block. She wondered if he would walk her home again. Before
she could ask they were halted by a person storming out of one
of the buildings. He seemed to come from one of the stairwells
that led to the apartments above the shops. When he saw that
they were in his path he stopped on a dime. Good thing he did,
because he was moving as fast as a bowling ball. Unfortunately,
that would have made Emily and Sebastian the pins in that
equation. Ouch!
“Sorry,” the bowling ball said panting slightly. “I’m just in
a hurry.”
“Hey! You’re that guy that came in the bookstore the other
day.” Emily said,as recognition dawned. He didn’t respond, so
she continued. “You know, you bought that book that didn’t
have a tag… I’m the one that rang you up.” Her eyes widened as
if to say,
duh am I that forgettable jerk?
His expression morphed into one of understanding. “Oh
yeah, that’s right. Sorry. I guess,I forgot.” He offered an
apologetic smile that made his eyes crinkle.
“My name’s Emily,and this is Sebastian.” She gestured
between the two of them. She had never really known the
protocol for extending a hand or not. She decided against it.
Sebastian gave him no greeting except a manly nod. Emily
wasn’t sure,but it looked as though Sebastian wasn’t pleased to
have the interruption. He actually kind of looked like he wanted
to bolt. Part of her wondered if maybe he had a jealous streak.
The smarter more rational part knew that was stupid. He would
have no reason or claim to be jealous and she really needed to
stop jumping to conclusions.
“Yeah, I’m Tyler. Tyler Simms.”
Emily searched her memory banks,but couldn’t call up any
recollection of that name. “Are you new to Lakeview? I’ve never
seen you around here.” Of course she had seen him at Blake’s,
though she didn’t think that counted.
Tyler nodded as he scuffed a foot impatiently on the
sidewalk. “Yeah I’ve been here a few weeks. I live up there,” he
gestured vaguely to the building he had burst out of. “Well it was
nice to meet you, but I gotta go.” He gave Emily an awkward
smile and a quick nod to Sebastian. Tyler didn’t wait for any
goodbyes to be exchanged. He just set off behind them back at a
sprint.
“He seemed…” Emily’s voice trailed off as she struggled
with the right word.
“Interesting?” Sebastian supplied helpfully.
“Yeah. Interesting.” Emily gave Tyler another second
glance. She could just barely make out his shape as he rounded a
corner in the distance.
They continued talking the whole rest of the way to her
house. She did manage to say goodbye to him before he could
vanish this time though, so that was a plus. Emily only allowed
him to walk her to the corner. It was possible that Sam could be
home from the bar already. If he saw her with Sebastian there
would be Hell to pay. She wished she didn’t have to say
goodbye. She badly wanted to keep talking to him. It was like
they had been friends forever. Actually, it was almost like
talking to Lucy, only better because he was hot. There was an
undeniable connection between the two of them. If only she
knew why that was, things would make so much more sense.
Of course, she never got the answers that she wanted. In his
defense, she hadn’t really worked that hard to get them.
Something told her deep in her gut that Sebastian wasn’t hiding
things for the wrong reasons. There was some kind of method to
his madness. Emily got the weird feeling he was trying to protect
her.
She had asked him if she would see him again. All he said
was that
time would tell,but it probably wasn’t for the best
.
What on Earth did that mean? She toyed with a million different
ideas in theories in her head for a long time. Unfortunately,
nothing made more sense than the V word she couldn’t even
bring herself to say. Just about anything could have been
possible. In this case, they all just seemed crazy.
Emily wished she could talk to someone about it. All of the
thoughts had built up so much pressure in her head that she felt
like a shaken up soda bottle. The only person that would be
willing to take her seriously was Lucy but Emily in no way
wanted to get that ball rolling. Once her perky pixy like friend
got a hold of the information, she would never let it go.
Honestly, Lucy was kind of OCD when it came to that kind of
stuff. Emily didn’t want to be under Lucy’s very relentless
microscope even if that meant she could have helped Emily sort
this out. Also, there wasn’t any point in freaking her out. She
would just have to go at it alone. Just before Emily walked the
rest of the way to her house by herself, Sebastian called out to
her.
“Yeah?” She spun back around much too quickly. Man, she
must really seem like an over eager little puppy. If she had a tail,
it would probably be wagging profusely.
A sort of knowing grin slowly spread across his face. It
quickly returned back to serious. “Try not to go out after dark
anymore.” He stared at her intently. “Especially not alone.”
Sebastian’s eyes flickered slightly as if he were trying to hide
something. Not giving any chance for rebuttal he continued.
“You take care of yourself and keep your head on straight ok?”