I snorted. “Sure. Porsche could have if she hung onto Liam. But what were we supposed to do, ask her to hang on and close her eyes while we got hot and heavy?”
“Can he catch…” she trailed off, and I knew she was referring to my disease; the bane of my existence. Well managed, but looming; one day the HIV would turn to AIDS and I’d have a whole different set of problems on my hands.
“No, which I guess is the only good thing about this.” I laughed, despite myself. “To have a normal relationship, I have to be sleeping with a vampire.”
Her face turned sympathetic. “Amy, I didn’t mean…”
“No, I know. It’s fine. It’s just… I don’t know, something to think about. Any idea what you’re going to do your senior project on?”
“Probably alternative theater. We can use any resources the school has, right?”
“Sure. It’s a new program, so we pretty much have free reign.”
“Hmm,” she said, and then laughed. “So… it would be in extremely bad taste to do a mimed emo version of Dracula?”
That made me laugh as well as I headed out the door. “I don’t know. Liam could always mime you a zero as your grade then.”
My mood lightened from earlier, I shut the door behind me, shoved my hands in my pockets and headed towards the library.
The library had its own building, isolated from the rest of the campus. It was the oldest building on campus, and the tunnel connecting it was only recently built. Taking my ID badge out, I swiped it at the doors to get through.
Since school was just starting, the tunnel was empty, no one wanting to start their studying before they had to.
I moved quickly, wanting to make my scheduled time, my footsteps echoing through the concrete. One of the lights was flickering and I was making a mental note to tell Liam to get it fixed when I realized that there was another set of footsteps, echoing mine.
I turned around, a smile on my face to greet whoever was making the trek to the library with me. But there was no one there.
I stopped moving and the sound of footsteps stopped. Shaking my head, I started to walk again, telling myself I was going crazy.
But the footsteps were now coming from behind me. They clearly were not mine, out of sync and heavier. I could see no shadows and yet I knew someone was there.
I quickened my pace, trying to hurry to the library, where the friendly librarians and cozy atmosphere would chase away any cobwebs. But before I could reach the double doors at the end of the wall, I heard a very timid voice call out, “Excuse me?”
I turned around and found an unfamiliar face. Probably 16 or 17, tall and lanky, with shaggy brown hair, the boy staring back at me was not a student that I knew. It’s possible that he was new, but there was something about his stance, his dark state of dress, the paleness of his face that told me he was not. All in black, he had safety pins holding his pants together, and a necklace made of an old bike chain. The rings on his fingers were enormous, and one of his ears was pierced at least 10 times.
“Yes?” I asked, trying not to panic. Although he was lean, and I might be able to outrun him. I could see power resting in those limbs.
“Are you Amy?”
This was getting creepier and creepier, but I nodded, standing up straight.
“Yes. C-can I help you?”
“Perhaps.” He held out his hand.
Cautiously, I shook it. It was cold as ice, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up.
“You belong to Liam, the headmaster of this school?”
I raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t put it like that, but yes. Liam is my boyfriend.”
“My name is Connor.” He dipped his head and held his hand out to the side of the wall. From the shadows emerged a thin, tiny girl dressed in a purple sun dress. She must have been no more than 14 or 15, although the eyes she looked at me with seemed full of wisdom. “This is my wife, Isabelle. We have come to seek your assistance.”
“Your wife?” I asked, in disbelief. “Our assistance? What?”
“Amy.” He drew closer, lowering his voice. “It is not a secret in the vampire world that you and Liam are formulating a plan.”
I had suspected they were vampires, but this had confirmed it. Despite her appearance, Isabelle must be a lot older than she looked.
“What plan?” I asked cautiously, in case this was a trap.
“A plan to kill Selene, and free us from this curse,” Connor said.
My shoulders relaxed. “Yes. We are.”
“Then,” he said, putting his arm around Isabelle, who had still not said a word. “We would like to offer our assistance.”
I relaxed completely. “Selene is your sire too?”
“Yes. Many years ago, too many to remember. But Isabelle and I are tired of living this vampire life. We have been immortal and lived as immortals should. We have lived under Selene’s thumb, controlling us like puppets. We are now ready to return to a human life, to grow old and have children together.”
“She’s controlling you?” I asked, surprised.
Connor looked to his wife, who nodded. “Selene uses all of her vampires to her will.”
“Not Liam!” I cried.
Connor raised an eyebrow. “No? Selene successfully managed to use Liam to lure in the DeRitter Shield, a threat to her immortality.”
My eyes widened as a thousand thoughts swirled in my head. No, it couldn’t be. We were in charge of that plan, we were the ones who made sure…
“No!”
But Connor’s steely gaze told me everything I had believed was wrong. While we thought we had the upper hand, Selene had used it to her advantage. It made me hate her even more.
“I can take you to Liam,” I said, pointing in the direction I had just come. “Come on.”
I took a few steps forward, and they followed, in sync. My mind whirled as I led the way to Liam’s office. I wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved that we were getting help or frightened that these random strangers knew about it.
The following morning, there was a knock on my door. Looking at the time, I figured it was Sarah wanting to come in and discuss the excitement of the night before. I had brought Connor and Isabelle to Liam, who took one look at them and shut the door behind us. He had asked for privacy, and although the last thing I wanted to do was leave, I let them be. I figured they had a story to tell and feelings to share. Things that I could not yet hope to understand. While he didn’t seem to have known them from before, there was some sort of understanding between them, some sort of vampire link I wasn’t privy to.