“What?”
“Line?” I asked again, pretending that he simply didn’t hear me.
Nina must need some sort of nourishment, and food wasn’t going to cut it, even during the day, that was all. He had told me that, on rare times, a vampire’s human form will take blood to speed up a healing process. I could understand why he was a little distracted by all of it.
“Oh, sorry,” he said, and gave me one of those smiles that sent chills down my spine. “Where?”
“End of act 1. Sarah just asked if I knew the ticket sales for the show?”
It was a bit weird and confusing doing a show within a show. But Liam understood instantly and flipped through the pages until he found the line.
“It’s a full house,” he fed to me.
I nodded, stepping back into the part. The stumble-through resumed, and everyone went back to their characters. But I couldn’t help but feel like eyes were glancing to Liam and Nina to me the whole time.
Chapter 10: Liam
“Sarah is stronger today,” Nina had been telling me when Amy had called for a line. She was right, and I had been noticing it all morning. Our little unnamed Shield seemed to be living up to her full potential after all. We still didn’t have a heritage for her, a background that linked her to the Shield families, but she seemed to be growing stronger by the day.
Of course, some of it was due to the fact that she was using her ability nearly nightly with Connor. I disapproved, but there was nothing I could do to stop either of them. God knows I had enough flings with women wearing wedding rings to last me a lifetime; I wasn’t going to lecture her. I just hoped Isabelle didn’t decide to go on a jealous rampage if she found out.
But it was more than focusing her ability. Sarah’s life force was growing, constantly, day by day, which was good for our cause, but unexplainable.
It was Saturday, normally a day when we didn’t have classes. However, due to the upcoming show, I thought it would be a good opportunity to hold a mask workshop. Masks were such interesting props to work with, creating a whole character simply by tying a string around your head. I was always intrigued by them, and one of the greatest theater actors in the world had taught me how to work with them.
The students were already waiting for me when I got there. I had a box full of various masks in my arms. The day before, I had wandered the school with the box, raiding every department of the various masks they had. As a result, I had everything from dust masks to fully decorated Venetian masks. This was going to be interesting.
Or at least I thought so. The students were half glaring at me, annoyed at the Saturday morning class.
“See the great thing about masks,” I said, as I entered. “Is that you can glare at me all you want, but it’ll be hidden and I won’t have to yell at you for contempt.”
It got a few chuckles, as I put the box down. Sarah and Amy were curled up on the side, and I gave them a smile as I reached in the box. Trying not to show any more favoritism to Amy, I pulled out a mask I had gotten from the dance department, neutral face but painted green, and called up Sarah.
I held out the mask and she got to her feet reluctantly. I waited until she was beside me before stepping behind her and placing it over her face. “Now this is a neutral face mask, as you can see, there’s no expression on it. But it’s painted green, which mean it could be used to represent any number of things. Anyone?”
A hand went up, and I was surprised to see it was Isabelle’s. They were on the far corner, as far away from Sarah as they could get, no doubt deliberately. Isabelle rarely answered questions in class, she often needed translation. But she seemed determined to answer this one, and so I pointed to her.
“Jealousy,” she said, heavily accented, and I made eye contact with Amy, who winced.
“Jealousy is one of them.” I stepped back, the mask firmly on Sarah’s head. “How about another one?”
“Liam, I don’t feel so hot.”
“That’s another one.” I pointed to the cheekbone of her mask. “Green could also be used to represent illness, perhaps seasickness or…”
“No, Liam, actually…” Sarah reached out a hand to mine and I barely had time to react before catching her. She heaved twice, flailing at the mask and managing to lift it from her face before vomiting on the floor.
“Sarah!” Amy cried, rushing towards us.
I had her around the waist, feeling her stomach muscles contract several times before she could straighten up. My mind began to play a hundred possibilities, the main one being about Selene. I was worried she had found out about my Shield, my trump card, and had made her sick, somehow. I wouldn’t let her suffer the same fate as Porsche. It wouldn’t be a spell, though, luckily for Sarah. If she had been poisoned, then she could be fixed.
“Alright?” I asked Sarah, who finally nodded, pulling the mask off. The rest of the class was sitting in shocked silence.
“Liam, I’m sorry…” Sarah started, but I shook my head.
“Amy, why don’t you take her to the nurse?” I said, gently. “See if there’s something in her system that’s making her sick.”
Amy understood immediately, her eyes widening as she took Sarah from me and began to lead her out of the room.
“Charlie, run and fetch a janitor,” I said, trying to restore order to the class, who were now babbling in shock. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes. If I got through this, I deserved at least a double shot of age old whiskey with Amy in my arms. At the very least.
************
My reward came at noon, when we finished the workshop early, and I let them head out to their normal Saturday afternoon activities. Waiting until everyone was gone, I kicked the mask box in a corner, and locked the room behind me, stopping in my office for a bottle of whiskey and a box of chocolates I had brought yesterday.
Where are you? I texted Amy, and the response came immediately.
Room. Come here?
Yep. I slipped my phone into my pocket and took the back passage way through the dorms. Just because the whole world knew we were dating didn’t mean they actually had to see it happen.
I knocked on her door four times, our code, and she opened up, looking absolutely adorable in a baggy tee-shirt over spandex shorts. Given that the lights were on in her living room, I assumed she had been rehearsing.
“Hey.” I wrapped her in my arms, my muscles immediately relaxing as soon as I did. Amy was like a muscle relaxant, a good massage, fine wine and a hot tub all at once. I was quite sure, if anything ever did ail me, she would be my cure. “How’s Sarah?”