Forget parasitic infections; forget rogue sects of vampires and slayers born on a Saturday. Forget the fact that I’d foreseen my friends in the clutches of vampires who would kill them as sure as look at them, who expected me to shove a stake through Aidan’s heart.
No, instead I had to fake normal teenage angst — or, at least, normal by Winterhaven standards. I had to pretend that Aidan and I were fighting over stupid stuff like him trying to get some ass, and me playing hard to get.
I took a deep, steadying breath. In through my nose, out through my mouth. “It wasn’t much of a fight,” I said at last. “I’ll get over it.”
“So, what do you guys do?” Sophie asked. “You and Aidan, I mean. You’re always off somewhere together, but no one really knows what you’re up to.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, we just hang out and talk, mostly.”
Kate lay back on the bed, propping herself up on one elbow. “Yeah, but about what? I mean, I don’t mean this to sound bitchy, but do you even have anything in common?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, hedging. I mean, it’s not like I could say, Well, he’s a vampire, and I’m a vampire slayer — there you have it. “Like, our taste in music and movies and stuff like that?”
“Just. anything,” Kate said with a shrug. “You two seem so. different.”
“I guess we are pretty different, but you know what they say — opposites attract, and all that.” I laughed uneasily. “It’s not like you and Jack have all that much in common either, do you? I mean, he spends almost as much time in the lab as Aidan does.”
“Touché,” Kate said with a scowl. “Actually, I’m pretty sure that’s where he is right now.”
“But the two of you must do something other than sit around talking all the time,” Sophie pressed. “You’ve been disappearing with him every single night lately.”
I couldn’t tell them about the training, so I needed to think up a lie, and fast. “He’s been tutoring me again. I’m still a little behind in some of my classes, and—”
“Oh, give me a break!” Sophie waved one hand in dismissal. “I’ve seen your grades; you’re doing great. If you don’t want to tell us, fine, but at least you could come up with a better lie than that.”
“We’re not the virtue police, you know,” Kate said, a wicked gleam in her eyes. “Apparently, that’s Marissa’s job. If the two of you are busy hooking up, it’s not like we’d blame you.”
I feigned an embarrassed smile and shrugged. “Maybe we are, and maybe we aren’t,” I said coyly. Let them think whatever they wanted; it was better than them knowing the truth. “Hey, you want to go to the café?”
“Sure,” Kate said.
“Yeah, I guess,” Sophie agreed, but I could hear the reluctance in her voice.
She’s worried about me, I realized, feeling like a total jerk. She knows there’s more to the story, stuff I’m keeping from her.
But really, what choice did I have?
“Okay, try again,” Aidan said, and I closed my eyes while he studied the photograph he held in his hand. We’d been doing this for nearly an hour now — he would look at the picture, and I was supposed to describe exactly what he saw. Apparently this was different from simply reading his mind — more visual. Whatever it was, I couldn’t seem to get the hang of it.
I took a deep breath and attempted to focus, to see the picture through Aidan’s eyes. But all I saw was a blur, muted colors swimming in and out of focus in my mind’s eye. I concentrated harder. Something green. Like a solid blanket of color, dotted with colorful little splotches. But what was it?
“I don’t know,” I finally said, shaking my head. “A field of wildflowers, maybe?”
He sighed loudly, and I could hear his frustration. Wrong again.
“You’re not focusing, Violet. C’mon, keep trying.”
“I can’t.” I let out my breath in a rush. “Enough for today, okay?” Exhausted, I collapsed back against the blanket spread on the loft’s dusty floor.
The sun was just beginning to set, and candles lit the space, throwing flickering golden light about us. I’d just handed in a big research paper in English class that morning, one I’d been working on for weeks, and I was totally brain-dead.
“You’re a slave driver,” I said, glaring up at him. “How do you find time to work in the lab anymore?”
He sounded slightly annoyed when he answered. “I make time.”
Which meant he didn’t sleep.
Two days after our big “fight,” we’d made up. Correction— Aidan had made up. He’d apologized profusely, nearly to the point of groveling — and I’d accepted. How could I not? He was so contrite, and let’s face it, the guy hadn’t had a real relationship in more than a century. I had to cut him a little slack. Besides, two days of total telepathic silence from him was about as much as I could take.
Ever since then, we’d spent every evening in the loft, training. He must have been working in the lab late into the night. The shadows under his eyes were the worst I’d ever seen them, and he seemed constantly irritated with me, as if I weren’t trying hard enough.
“When are you going to admit that I’m not ready for this yet?” I snapped, knowing that as far as Sâbbat legend went, I hadn’t come of age. I wasn’t supposed to be able to do this stuff yet. Still, he insisted on trying to teach me, which only made me feel like a failure when I couldn’t get it right. “Ten tries, and I got, what? Two right? I just can’t do it.”
“You can do it,” he countered. “You can breach my mind and hear my thoughts. This isn’t all that different. Which reminds me, did you ever try with Dr. Blackwell?”
“Yeah, in class the other day. Nothing.” More failure.
He nodded. “I didn’t really expect you to be able to. Like I said, he’s a special case. It’s too bad there aren’t any other vampires around for you try it out on.”
“Are you kidding me?” I asked, my voice rising. “Anyway, I should be in the gym right now, practicing. For the upcoming tournament. We’re in the regional finals, you know.” I had a title to defend.
His steely gaze softened. “I know, and I’m sorry, Vi. Maybe I have been pushing you too hard.”
“You think?” I said acidly.
“It’s just that spring’s almost here, and we need to be prepared. Just in case. I can’t take any chances with your life, not when—”
“According to my visions, it’s your life we should be worried about,” I snapped. “Yet you refuse to even talk to Dr. Blackwell about it—”
“I’m taking every precaution necessary, Violet.” He reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose, and immediately I felt bad. He looked exhausted.
Paler than usual, his eyes the only bright spot of color in his face.
“I’m sorry, Aidan,” I said, my voice breaking. “I’m tired, and I miss just hanging out with you. You know, staring at the stars, talking about whatever.
All this training is killing me.”
He reached for my hand, and I shivered when he laced his cold fingers with mine. An electric jolt went through my body at his touch — our connection. So it wasn’t totally gone, not yet.
“You’re right, it’s too much. It’s easy to forget that you’re not. well, that you’re a mortal, with a mortal’s limitations.”
He looked so sad, so lonely. I gave his hand a squeeze and scooted closer to him. “So, is it happening yet? You know, your feelings for me, changing?”
He smiled — a slow, bittersweet smile that made my breath hitch in my chest. “Do you want to check for yourself? Go on, read my thoughts,” he offered.
“I’d rather you just told me.”