Authors: Zachary Rawlins
And it wasn’t a lie, not completely. Alex had agreed, after all, to see her again, and to spend more time with her. It didn’t matter that she’d told him that it would help her convince the Hegemony that she was doing her job, and therefore make them leave both of them alone. That was a detail, and if it was an unpleasant detail, it was also a minor one. The important thing, she reminded herself, was that she had made progress.
“Really? That’s awesome,” Sarah enthused, grabbing Emily’s shoulder and squealing. “I was worried for you. He seems a little, uh, shy. Spacey, too.”
“He is,” Emily agreed cheerfully. “I mean, I don’t know that much about him, but given how he got here, and what it must be like, with everyone knowing who is and all, I don’t think it’s too surprising that he’s a little nervous. It’s okay. It’s even cute, sort of.”
Margot looked up from the towel she was using to dry her face.
“Do you like him?”
The vampire’s voice was flat and devoid of interest. Emily wanted badly to take a quick look at her halo, to look for the reassuring silver flash of curiosity, but she was a little intimidated by Margot, and decided not to, afraid that she might notice.
“Maybe. I think that I might,” Emily answered, being as upbeat as possible while still telling the truth.
“Did he spend the night?”
Sarah nudged Emily, her eyes sparkling.
Emily’s pride and pleasure at being the center of attention wavered.
“No,” she admitted reluctantly, trying very hard to put Alex’s confession of inexperience and the bizarre story about his family out of her mind, as thinking about it made her feel weirdly sweaty and nervous. “I was kind of upset. Therese and I got into a fight, and I didn’t want to be there when she came back, so we came back up to campus.”
Sarah looked puzzled.
“But, I thought that your plan was…”
“It was,” Emily acknowledged, freeing her hair from the last of the curlers, and then frowning at her reflection in the mirror like it had done something to her. “But, the mood was all wrong, and anyway, I don’t want him to think that I’m… oh, I don’t know. Desperate or something. I wanted it to be, you know, good.”
Sarah’s hair brushing became more agitated.
“Are you sure about that? Don’t get me wrong, but you need this to work, right?”
“Well, yes,” Emily said, feeling her cheeks burn, unable to look up from her lap. “But… well, I’m not… not like that.”
“Come on. I know perfectly well what you’re like,” Sarah said, sounding a bit exasperated. “Remember that boy at the start of last session, what was his name? Kurt something? He followed you around for like two months before he finally gave up on you because he thought you weren’t interested, and I know you liked him. You have a lot of good points, Emily, but being assertive isn’t exactly one of them. Did you even let Alex kiss you?”
“He didn’t, uh, he didn’t try,” Emily said, trying not to sound discouraged or pathetic. “Actually. I thought he would. I was standing right there. I would have let him.”
“He
is
shy,” Margot observed, carefully squeezing toothpaste onto her toothbrush.
“Look, don’t take this the wrong way,” Sarah said carefully. “I know that this is a weird situation. And I know that you like to take these things slow. But, you have factor the rest of the world into your thinking, Emily. This isn’t just some boy you’re crushing on; he’s a strategic asset for the cartels to fight over. Anastasia and the rest of them are serious about recruiting this kid, you know?”
“I know,” Emily acknowledged quietly.
“And just because you want to wait for the right time and make sure that you have feelings for each other and everything is special, that doesn’t mean that some other girl won’t hop right into bed with him, you know? It’s probably not going to be roses and candlelight dinners.”
Sarah looked at her with what Emily pretended wasn’t a trace of pity. Sarah was her friend, Emily reminded herself firmly, and she was trying to help.
“He’s a guy, Emily. You know how guys are.”
“I know,” Emily acknowledged, in a steadily meeker voice.
“I’m not saying you have to throw yourself at him, but if he thinks you're never going to put out, some bitch is going to steal him from you. I’m not trying to be hard on you,” Sarah said firmly. “That's how it is, hon. You do know that, right?”
“Yes,” Emily said, fighting off a looming wave of self-pity.
“There are a bunch of other Hegemony girls who are waiting for you to fail so they can take your place. And there is nothing that Anastasia will not do to get what she wants,” Sarah said urgently, putting one hand on Emily’s shoulder. “She will have no trouble whatsoever finding someone who will do whatever it takes to get Alex to join the Black Sun, if Anastasia decides that’s the way she wants to handle it.”
“Why do you think Anastasia hasn’t done that?” Margot asked, only somewhat intelligible through the toothpaste.
It was always weird to watch Margot brush her teeth, because it was the only time Emily could actually see her oversized, pointed canines. Not that she was scared of Margot or vampires in general; well, not
very
afraid. But her teeth were the starkest reminder of how very different Margot was.
“No idea,” Sarah admitted. “You’d know better than I would – you still work for her sometimes, right, Margot? I don’t try and out-think cousin Ana, I’m just glad my branch of the family stayed with the Hegemony. She probably has some other plan for Alex. But that doesn’t change what I’m saying. Even if Anastasia doesn’t interfere, somebody else will. You know how many power-hungry bitches there are here at the Academy? You do your usual good-girl routine, Emily, and you’re going to get lost in the shuffle.”
“I know. I know you’re right,” Emily said, doing her best not to sound miserable and failing. “But, I already screwed up my chance. I don’t know when I can get the house to myself again, and I don’t know if he’d even come over again...”
Sarah looked stricken, and patted her on the shoulder sympathetically. For a moment, she said nothing, and then she suddenly cried out excitedly.
“Of course!” She grabbed hold of Emily’s shoulders as if she was going to shake her. “I’ve got it. A perfect opportunity!”
“What?”
“Hey, Margot, when does Alex start that class with Mitsuru? You know, the bad one?” Sarah asked, nodding excitedly as she spoke. “Combat-whatever-it’s-called?”
Margot’s response was made unintelligible by toothpaste, and they had to wait until she had a chance to rinse out her mouth before they could hear the answer.
“You mean the Program,” she said curtly, looking, to Emily’s eyes, unhappy about something. “And he starts this week.”
“Perfect!” Sarah enthused. “So what you do is, on his first day, you get the proctor to let you into his room while he’s in class, right? So you are waiting for him when he gets out. Say you were worried about him, Alex will like that. His proctor is Li, so it won’t be any big deal getting him to let you in. Anyway, I hear that class is pretty fucked up, especially at first. Don’t you think he might want some company after, Margot?”
“Yes,” Margot admitted, speaking a little too loudly, her flat voice echoing throughout the tiled bathroom. “It would be a good idea for someone to be there for him. It is difficult for many people at first, emotionally.”
“But if it’s in the dorms,” Emily said slowly, “and we…”
“Right!” Sarah crowed. “So you can’t, so you don’t have to, but you don’t come off like a prude either. He’ll know about the dorm rules, so he won’t expect you to do anything. It’s perfect, right?”
“I guess so,” Emily said, thinking it through, and wondering if Sarah might be right. “I mean, it’s not like I’d get in trouble just for kissing him or something, right? And even Margot said he shouldn’t be left alone…”
“No, he shouldn’t,” Margot said, again speaking more loudly than was necessary, gathering her things and heading for the door. Emily was too occupied with Sarah’s scheme to wonder much why she didn’t shower, even though it seemed like she’d planned on it. “Someone should definitely be there.”
It was cold in the bathroom, and Eerie had started trembling long before Sarah and Emily finished chatting and gossiping and finally left. She’d been standing in one of the shower enclosures, naked except for the bath towel she was partially wrapped in, shivering in silence since Emily arrived, somehow unable to face the girl that Alex had gone home with. Eerie stayed completely motionless until they left, except for her chattering teeth. She didn’t even dare reach for her bathrobe, afraid that they would hear her open the shower door to reach for it. Eerie waited until she was certain that they were gone, and then she turned on the water as hot as she could stand. She was grateful for the warmth pouring down her back, but it was a while longer before she stopped trembling.
--
“I’m not trying to force you into making up your mind. I understand that this is a difficult decision.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I don’t want you to feel like we are talking you into anything.”
“You aren’t.”
“Good.” The kid composed himself and looked as if he was about to continue on, then the other kid, the quiet one nudged him. “Ah, right. Then, if it is alright with you, can I move on to the substance of our visit?”
Alex wanted to laugh, but he couldn’t. Alex toyed with idea of throwing a punch at the kid, what’s-his-name, Nathan something. But, he knew that even if he didn’t hurt him, that Michael would never let him get away with it.
“You mean you didn’t come down here to hold the bag for me?” Alex asked, gesturing with one gloved hand at the water-filled punching bag that Nathan was holding cautiously, almost fearfully.
“Err, no. Well, not wholly,” Nathan said seriously. Alex had thus far seen no evidence that Nathan had even a shred of a sense of humor. “I am here as a representative of the Drava Cartel, and Frederick is here as a representative of the Gehrig-Moore Cartel. Our cartels are members of an alliance known as the...”
Alex threw a left-right-left combination at the bag, making as much noise as possible when his gloves smacked the leather bag, startling Nathan and rocking him backward a bit as he struggled to hold it in place.
“The Hegemony, I know. That’s a stupid name, by the way.” Alex shuffled his feet, trying to change stances the way he’d seen Michael do it yesterday. It didn’t work. “I thought the cartels were forbidden to conduct business at the Academy?”
“We are here in an unofficial capacity, of course!” Frederick shrieked, his brow shining with perspiration. Alex was guessing, but he didn’t think the moderately rotund German saw the inside of a gym too often. Not that Alex had ever made a habit of it before he’d come to the Academy, himself. But Michael and the machines in his blood had conspired to make some serious changes in him over the last several weeks.
“Right, and?” Alex said, trying a couple more straight right hands, more for the way the noise made them jump than anything.
“Well, we wish to discuss,” Nathan said, and then frowned, and leaned close to whisper conspiratorially. “We wish to discuss your plans for your future.”
Alex laughed, and Nathan paused, looking indignant.
“I’m sorry,” Alex said cheerfully. “But, I have to know –what exactly is it you want me to do? I mean, which cartel do you want me to join? Yours,” he said, pointing at Nathan with his gloved hand, “or his?”
He nodded amiably in the direction of Frederick, who continued to watch in open-mouthed dismay.
“Well, that is to say that I –”
“You brought him for moral support, right, Nathan? I get that. It’s always easier to face rejection if you’ve got more people to spread it around. That makes sense. But, if I understand all of this correctly,” Alex said, sitting down on the mat in a heap, dripping in sweat and not in the mood, “then your boss won’t be too happy with you unless I sign on with your outfit. I mean, it’s not like I can just join the Hegemony, you know? Did they even tell you anything about me at all?”