Authors: Alexandra Hope
“I think I'm a little tired...”
Erika had stepped out of the trees and spoke so softly only Olivia could hear. “A little, huh? I'd rather you be shrieking in terror from the pain I'm inflicting on you.”
“What?” asked Olivia and in that same second she began screaming. Flames encircled her, roaring as they lashed out and threatened to touch her. There was nothing like the sight and heat of flames to inspire fear in her and as the circle grew smaller she screamed louder, falling to her knees. Troy turned around and saw Olivia's arms clasped around her body as she sat on her knees but he couldn't figure out why she was screaming. He saw nothing harming her and then narrowed his eyes as he turned to Erika.
“Simple hallucination, nothing to worry about.”
Olivia's shrills forced him to look back at the girl who for the first time to him looked truly frightened. For just a minute, he thought he saw a tear roll down her cheek.
“That's enough!” he yelled.
The flames grew stronger to Olivia and only from her reaction did Troy know that she hadn't stopped whatever she was doing. “Will you just stop?”
“I'm trying to get her to see through the manipulation. If she can do that, she'll be a much better vampire in the end.”
Troy was half ignoring Erika as he walked to Olivia who was screaming at him to get out of the fire. He bent down and swung her into his arms despite her protests and walked her to the pier, her face buried in his neck. When she could finally see what was going on, she immediately jumped from his arms and looked at him with wide eyes. Troy ignored her stare and plopped down on the planks, his feet dangling in the water. She took a cautious step toward him and sat down beside him. The soft rustle of the water filled their silence, comforting them as they looked up at the night sky.
“Thank you.”
“Don't thank me 'cause I didn't care whether you lived or died...I just don't like to see someone get bullied, murderer or not. And don't think of this as me forgiving you....” he trailed off, distracted by a sound from behind him. Olivia had heard it as well and jumped up. She darted toward the sound and held the person at their neck, her fangs bared.
The boy blinked several times, “Olivia?”
Eighteen
Olivia's fangs retracted and she looked at the boy in utter disbelief. “Noah?”
She thought she saw his mouth moving and imagined he was expressing his feelings on the reunion but her mind had muted his words as she wondered how he could have possibly found her here. She didn't even know where
here
was other than it was halfway between what she called home and where she had been staying. There was only a small dirt path that led through the trees to get here so she figured the only ones who would get to this place were those who already knew where it was. When her eyes settled back on his, sounds gradually poured back in until she was aware of everything around her, but he wasn't talking. He hadn't said a word, completely stunned at the sight of her.
She spoke softly. “What are you doing here Noah?”
The way she spoke to him was a stark contrast from how she spoke to Troy. She had been formal and regarded him as a stranger, which he was, but when he heard the familiarity and even a little apprehension in her tone, he took notice. He stood up but didn't walk toward them as he watched them.
“You're a vampire.”
“I am. Are you scared?” she asked nervously.
“Scared? I'm freaking excited!” he shouted, warming up. He bent down and swallowed her in a warm embrace, holding her tightly as they rocked from side to side. “I can't believe I found you!” When he pulled away, he was grinning from ear to ear and her body shifted from the brief warmth of his skin back to cold. She felt Troy's hand when he pulled her into his arms or when Erika yanked her and threw her but they had been so brief it was like she had never been touched but Noah's lingered.
“You've been looking for me?”
“Of course I have! I saw you when you came home...”
Olivia was tugging at the curls at the nape of her neck as Noah's voice lit up with each word. She felt uncomfortable at how he reacted to seeing her since it wasn't what she expected. When she saw him from the gates, he looked different, almost cold and here he was, gleeful Noah rambling so quickly she could barely hang onto his words.
“...and I've been walking around this city this whole time...” he continued. Not wanting to pretend she had been listening only to disappoint him, she raised her hand to stop him.
“It is nice to see you, but I'm confused. How did you find me here?”
“Yes, how did you find this place?” asked Erika, sauntering over to them.
Noah looked her up and down then scoffed. “And you are?”
“This is Erika, she is a
kitsune
.”
He took a step back, his eyes enlarging as if she had shifted into a bear. “A
kitsune
? They exist?”
“Apparently they do.”
He looked down at the ground and dug the tip of his shoes into the dirt, confused at what to say next. Olivia didn't know what to say as well and remained quiet as she watched him dig a small hole. The last time she had seen him do that was when they were little children and he was more worried about being caught by the Matriarch than by his mom. He finally swallowed and said his next words cautiously, “So you've been staying with her?” He hadn't acknowledged Troy's existence but felt something at the end of the pier, an unsteady heart beating.
“I have been staying with him,” she half turned and glanced back at Troy.
“A boy!?”
She gave a slow nod.
“What? I mean how, why? Do you even know him? Who is he?” he interrogated.
“Please, one question at a time Noah.”
Olivia's eyes were fixated on Noah's but his were drifting toward the boy who was now walking toward them. He didn't introduce himself as he stalked past them without so much as a goodbye to Olivia or a hello to Noah. Erika followed him, sliding behind Noah to the long pathway through a forest that led to a road but before she got too far, she turned and called to them. “I'd like to say that I have something witty to say but I'm all out of lines. I'm heading off so you guys can catch up.”
Olivia looked down, a barely there smile sitting on her face. “That's the first time she's said something that wasn't rude.” She looked up at Noah, “Let's go.”
Olivia didn't say anything when Noah asked her where they were going, mainly because she didn't really know. She just followed a particular scent through the town though there were a lot to go on. She had to manually strip away the scent of his blood in order to keep her thirst down and then she got rid of the scent of ocean and others until she could only focus on one thing. They passed rows of shops in the historical town center until they found one that was shaped like a boat.
“Dean's Crab Shack?” asked Noah with an eyebrow cocked upward. “I don't think I'll like seafood.” He eyed the sign that was tilting precariously from one of the sails.
She grabbed his arm and pulled him to the door. “Still, it's human food.”
Orange glowed throughout and small tea lights covered in orange paper wraps where situated on the wall of each booth and hung from the ceilings as well. It was an intimate space and scent was indulgent at least for Noah whose lips pulled back as he looked at the pictures of sea animals on the walls. There was a large bar to the right of them where a bartender flung a cloth from over his shoulders and wiped it down. Behind the man was a cabinet with shelves of glassed bottles and cups and they watched him turn around and run a tap that spilled bubbling golden liquid. There was a podium in front of them but no one was there. Olivia turned to him and after waiting for no one to show up, he gestured to a free table. They were stopped by a girl in all black, freckles on her face and her red hair pulled back into a pony tail underneath a cap.
“Hi!” she said enthusiastically, her eyes fixated on Noah.
“Hi yourself,” he said, returning the bright smile she had on her face.
It took more than ten minutes of them exchanging useless words for Olivia to catch on. She lowered her head, groaned and cut the girl off, “I am sorry, but we would just like to eat.”
“Oh, yes! Of course you do,” she bobbed her head around embarrassed.
Noah just stared at the girl with an intrigued expression, his elbow on the podium and his body bent over, studying her. The few girls of the colony just didn't react the way this one had and he had to admit that he was definitely fascinated. Olivia pulled him into a booth far off from the rest of the diners and sat across from him. Noah looked at his hand written menu. He understood it was probably for charm sake but he could barely make out a single word and just imagined they were all a variation of crab or some other seafood and as long as he said crab
something
he would be alright. Before they acknowledged the waiter, Olivia turned to him and asked, “Do you have money?”
“Of course I do,” he said, pulling out his wallet.
“What would you like tonight?”
Noah glossed over the menu one more time and ordered. He rattled off a list of things, half of them not even on the menu and the waiter wrote down what he could. “OK, I'll be back with your appetizer soon.”
Olivia hadn't given much thought to how strange she looked until Noah finally pointed it out. She pulled the sticks and leaves out of her hair, throwing them onto the floor beneath the table, prompting him to laugh. She tipped some water that had been sitting on the table into a napkin and scrubbed the dirt off her face until she looked half way decent.
“Stop being self-conscious, you're beautiful,” he said, still chuckling.
She smoothed out her hair, “I just do not want people to call the police for my strange appearance.”
He shook his head, amused and dug into his food when it arrived. “This is pretty good,” he managed to say between inhaling the bits of crab in some soup. She couldn't help but feel a sudden pang of envy watching him indulge in the food as she thought back to her own encounter with human food. He placed his spoon down and began speaking, “So how did this happen? How did you,” he leaned in and whispered “become a vampire?” She could hear the sadness in his voice but knew he was trying to remain lighthearted about the situation.
“I was killed by the
kitsune
, Erika, and made into a vampire. She believes I will fight alongside her against my mother.”
Noah's mouth had dropped open in genuine shock. “Kill the Matriarch?” he managed to ask after recovering from the initial shock.
“Her argument is that my mother is evil and must be killed...”
“No offense, but she
is
evil and cruel. I just don't know if she should die for it, but what do you think?”
“I think...that it doesn't matter what I think. I believe she will try to kill my mother with or without my help.”
“And would you be willing to stand in front of your mom to protect her?”
“Seeing as I am immortal...it wouldn't be hard to do.”
“So would you—protect her?”
Her fingers were scrapping the table and tendrils of wood gathered under her nails. She flicked them away, and they dispersed quietly onto the floor. “Of course.”
Noah had seemed almost disappointed but when he spoke he sounded far from it. “I can't believe you are....you know, what you are.”
“Yes, the transition was difficult,” she admitted. “But it would have been more difficult if I hadn't sought my sire out.”
“Your what?”
“The boy from the pier,” was all she said.
“What about him?”
“I was reborn with his blood.”
Olivia spoke in great detail of Troy and Erika and their plans, carefully omitting her mother's knowledge and the truth about Alexa as she was unsure of how he would react. By the time he packed his leftovers in a box and they were walking, out his head was spinning. It felt heavy from the weight of Olivia's words but he managed to walk and not trip. The information had been much easier to digest when he was taking it in bit by bit but when she laid it on him, it started to be a hazy blur of words that he only heard half of but still accepted with no inquisitions.
“I can't believe you've been living in a total stranger's house. He could have done anything to you.”
“As I said, he is bound by his word not to kill me.”
“I'm saying
anyyyythhiiing
,” he stressed the word but Olivia didn't react, instead she shrugged her shoulders and they walked to Troy's house. She suddenly felt a tight pull in his direction just as they were turning on street that led to Troy's house. He bent over and food began pouring out of his mouth. He coughed and spit, sure that he was done but another wave came and he heaved the crab out on the curb.
“Are you alright Noah?”
“I feel sick...” he grumbled.
She didn't know if her blood would help but she figured it was worth a try. Biting down, she let blood spill out of her wrist and brought it to his mouth. “Try to drink.”