Night World : Secret Vampire Chapter 13

He doesnt understand, Poppy said softly as crowdunlocked the door to his flatcar. He salutary hasntgrasped that youre risking your life, too.The apartment was very b be and utilitarian. Highceilings and spacious rooms announced that it wasexpensive, scarcely thither wasnt over a good deal furniture. In theliving room there was a low, unanimous couch, a desk with a computer, and a couple of Oriental-lookingpictures on the wall. And books. Cardboard boxes of books stacked in the corners.Poppy turned to face crowd together directly. Jamie Iunderstand.James pull a faced at her. He was sweaty and vexing and banal-looking. plainly his expression said Poppy made it all worthwhile.Dont blamePhil,he said, with a gesture of dismissal. Hes actually discussion things pretty well. Ive never broken cover to a human before, provided I pretend closely of them would run screaming and never come back. Hes trying to cope, at least.Poppy nodded and dropped the subject. James wastired, wh ich meant they should go to sleep. Shepicked up the duffle bag bag that Phil had packed withher clothes and headed for the bathroom.She didnt change right a charge, though. She was toofascinated by her own reflection in the mirror. So this was what a vampire Poppy looked analogous.She was prettier, she noned with absent satisfaction. The four freckles on her nose were gone. Herskin was creamy-pale, wish well an advertisement for facecream. Her look were green as jewels. Her hair was wind-blown into riotous curls, metallic-copper.I dontlooklike whatsoeverthing that sits on a buttercup eithermore, she thought. I look raving mad and dangerous andexotic. Like a model. Like a rock star. Like James.She leaned forward to examine her teeth, pokingat the clearines to happen upon them grow. Then she jerkedback, gasping.Her look. She hadnt realized. Oh, God, no wonderPhil had been scared. When she did that, when herteeth extended, her eyes went silvery-green, uncanny. Like the eyes o f a hunting cat. exclusively at at a time she was overcome by terror. She hadto cling to the sink to stay on her feet.I dont indispensability it, I dont indirect requestit.Oh,dealwith it, girl. moderate whining. So what did you expect to look like, Shirley Temple? Youre a hunter now. And your eyes go silver and breed tastes like cherry preserves. And thats all there is to it, andthe otherwise choice was resting in peace. Sodeal.Gradually her breathing slowed. In the next few minutes manything happened inside hershediddeal.She found acceptance. It felt like something giving way in her throat and her stomach. She wasntweird and dreamy now, as shed been when she hadfirst awakened in the cemetery she could thinkdearly almost her situation. And she could accept it.And I did it without racetrack to James, she thought short, startled. I dont need him to comfort meor aver me its okay. I canmake it okay, myself.Maybe that was what happened when you faced the very conquer thing i n the world. Shed lost herfamily and her old life and maybe scour her childhood, but shed found herself. And that would gift to do.She pulled the white dress over her head andchanged into a T-shirt and sweatpants. Then shewalked out to James, head high.He was in the spangroom, lying on a full-sized bedmade up with light brown sheets. He was still corrosion his dirty clothes, and he had one arm crooked over his eyes. When Poppy came in, he stirred.Ill go sleep on the couch, he said.No, you wont, Poppy said firmly. She flopped on the bed beside him. Youre dead tired. And I kip deck Im safe with you.James grinned without moving his arm. Because Im dead tired?Because Ive always been safe with you. Sheknew that. Even when shed been a human and herblood must sop up tempted him, shed been safe.She looked at him as he lay there, brown hair ruffled, body lax, Adidas unlaced and caked with soil.She found his elbows endearing.Iforgot to mention something before, she said.I onlyrealizedI forgot when I was . . . personnel casualty tosleep. I forgot to mention that I love you.James sat up. You only forgot to say it withwords.Poppy felt a smile tugging at her lips. That was theamazing thing, the only purely good thing about what had happened to her. She and James had cometogether. Their relationship had changed-but it still had everything shed treasured in their old relationship.The understanding, the camaraderie. Now on top ofthat was the new excitement of discovering each other as more than best friends.And shed found the part of him that she hadnever been able to reach before. She knew his secrets, knew him inside out. Humans could never know each other that way. They could never really get into another persons head. All the talking in theworld couldnt even prove that you and the otherperson both precept the comparable color red.And if she and James never merged like ii dropsof water again, she would always be able to touchhis mind.A little shy, she leaned again st him, resting on hisshoulder. In all the multiplication theyd been pane of glass, theydnever kissed or been romantic. For now, expert sitting here like this was enough, tho feeling James breathe and earreach his heart and absorbing his warmth. Andhis arm around her shoulders was almosttoo much, almost too intense to bear, but at the same time it was safe and peaceful.It was like a melodic line, one of those sweet, wrenmentumgsongs that makes the hair on your arms stand up.That makes you want to throw yourself on the floorand just bawl. Or fall backward and surrender to the music utterly. genius ofthosesongs.James cupped her hand, brought it to his lips, andkissed the palm.I told you. You dont love somebody because of their looks or their clothes or their car. You love them becausethey sing a song that nobody but you can understand.Poppys heart swelled until it diminished.Aloud she said, We always understood the samesong, even when we were little.In the Night World theres th is idea claimed thesoulmate principle. It says that every person has onesoulmate out there, just one. And that person is perfect for you and is your destiny. The job beingthat almost nobody everfindstheir soulmate, just because of, distance. So most people go by means of theirwhole lives feeling not complete.I think its the truth. Ialwaysknew you wereperfect for me.not always.Oh, yes. Since I was five. I knew.Id expect known you were perfect for me-exceptthat everything Id been taught said it was hopeless. He cleared his throat and added, That iswhy I wentout With Michaela and those other girls, you know.I didnt care about them. I could get dose to themwithout recess the law.I know, Poppy said. I mean-I think I alwaysknew it was something like that, underneath. Sheadded, James? What am I now? almost things shecould tell instinctively she could feel them in herblood. But she wanted to know more, and she knewJames understood why. This was her life now. She had to ascertain the r ules.Well. He colonised against the headboard, head tilted back as she rested under his chin. Youre pretty much like me. Except for not being able to ageor havefamilies,made vampires are basi blazon outy like thelamia.He shifted. Lets see. You already knowabout being able to see and hear better than humans.And youre a whiz at reading minds.not everybodys mind.No vampire can read everybodys mind. Lots oftimes all I get is a carve up of general feeling for whatpeople arethinking.The only certain way to make aconnection is to- James opened his mouth andclicked his teeth. Poppy giggled as the sound traveled through her skull.And how often do I haveto-? She clicked herown teeth.Feed. She felt James getting serious. About at a time a day on average. Otherwise youll go into thebloodlust. You can eat human food if you want, but theres no nutrition in it. Blood is everything for us.And the more blood, the more power.Basically, yes.Tell me about power. Can we-well, what canwe do?We have mor e control over our bodies than humans. We can heal from almost any kind of injuryexcept from wood. Wood can hurt us, even kill us. He snorted. So theres one thing the movies haveright-a wooden stake through the heart will, in fact, kill a vampire. So will burning.Can we change into animals?Ive never met any vampire that powerful. Buttheoretically its possible for us, and shapeshifters andwerewolves do it all the time.Change into mist?Ive never even met a shapeshifter who coulddo that.Poppy thumped the bed with her heel. And obviously we dont have to sleep in coffins.No, and we dont need native earth, either. Myself, I prefer a Sealy Posturepedic, but if youd likesome dirt Poppy elbowed him. Urn, can we cross runningwater?Sure. And we can walk into peoples homes with out being invited, and roll in ail if we dont mindlosing friends. Anything else?Yes. Tell me about the Night World. It was herhome now.Did I tell you about the dubs? We have clubs inevery big city. In a lot of small ones , too.What kind of dubs?Well, some are just dives, and some are like cafes,and some are like nightclubs, and some are likelodges-those are mostly for adults. I know one for kids thats just a big old warehouse with skate rampsbuilt in. You can hang out and skateboard. And there are poetry slams every week at the Black Iris.Blackiris,Poppy thought. That reminded her of something. Something unpleasant What she said was, Thats a funny name.All the dubs are named for flowers. Black flowersare the symbols of the Night People. He rotated hiswrist to show her his watch. An analog watch, witha black iris in the center of the face. See?Yeah. You know, I noticed that black thing, but Inever really looked at it before. I think I assumed itwas Mickey Mouse.He rapped her lightly on the nose in reproof. Thisis serious business, kid. One of these will identify youto other Night People-even if theyre as stupid as a werewolf.IYou dont like werewolves?Theyre considerable if you like double-digit IQs. But you let them in the dubs.Some dubs. Night People may not embrace out oftheir own kind, but they all mixlamia,made vam pires, werewolves, both kinds of witches Poppy, who had been playing at intertwining theirfingers in contrastive ways, shifted curiously. Whatsboth kinds of witches?Oh. . .theres the kind that know about theirheritage and have been trained, and the kind that dont. That second kind are what humans call psychics. Sometimes they just have latent powers, andsome of them arent even psychic enough to findtheNight World, so they dont get in.Poppy nodded. Okay. Got it. But what if a human walks into one of those dubs?Nobody would let them. The dubs arent whatyoudcallconspicuous, and theyre always guarded.But if they didJames shrugged. His voice was suddenly bleak. Theyd be killed. Unless somebody wanted to pickthem up as a toy or pawn. That means a humanwhos basically brainwashed-who lives with vampires but doesnt know it because of the mind control.Sort of like a slee pwalker. I had a nanny onceHis voice trailed off, and Poppy could feel his distress.You can tell me about it later. She didnt wanthim ever to be hurt again.Mm.He sounded sleepy. Poppy settled herselfmore comfortably against him.It was amazing, considering her survive experiencegoing to sleep, that she could even shut her eyes.But she could. She was with her soulmate, so whatcould go wrong? nothing could hurt her here.Phil was having trouble shutting his eyes.Every time he did, he saw Poppy. Poppy asleep inthe casket, Poppy watching him with a hungry catsgaze. Poppy lifting her head from that guys throat toshow a mouth stained as if shed been eating berries.She wasnt human anymore.And just because hed known all along that shewouldnt be didnt make it any easier to accept.He couldnt-he couldntcondonejumping on people and ferocious up their throats for dinner. Andhe wasnt sure that it was any better to charm people and bite them and hence hypnotize them to lug it. The whole system w as scary on some deeplevel.Maybe James had been righthumans justcouldnt deal with the idea that there was somebodyhigher on the food chain. Theyd lost touch with their caveman ancestors, who knew what it was liketo be hunted. They thought all that primal embrace wasbehind them.Could Phillip tell them a thing or two.The bottom line was that he couldnt accept, andPoppy couldnt change. And the only thing that madeit sufferable was that somehow he loved her anyway.Poppy woke in thedim, curtained bedroom the next day to find the other half of the bed empty. Shewasnt alarmed, though. Instinctively she reached out with her mind, and . . . there. James was in the kitchenette.She felt energetic. Like a whelp straining to belet loose in a field. But as soon as she walked intotheliving room, she felt that her powers were weaker. And her eyes hurt. She squinted toward the painful brightness of a window.Its the sun, James said. Inhibits all vampirepowers, remember? He went over to the windowa nd dosed the curtains-they were the brownout type, like the ones in the bedroom. The mid later onnoon sunshine was cut off. That should help a little-butyoud better stay inside nowadays until it gets dark. Newvampires are more sensitive.Poppy caught something behind his words. Youregoing out?I have to. He grimaced. Theres something I forgot my cousin ash is supposed to show up thisweek. Ive got to get my parents to head him off.I didnt know you had a cousin.He winced again. Ive got lots, actually. Theyreback east in a safe town-a whole town thats controlled by the Night World. Most of them are okay, but not modify.Whats wrong with him?Hes crazy. Also cold-blooded, ruthless-You sound like Phil describing you.No, Ash is the real thing. The ultimate vampire.He doesnt care about anybody but himself, and heloves to make trouble.Poppy was prepared to love all Jamess cousins forhis sake, but shad to agree that Ash soundeddangerous.I wouldnt desire anyone to know about you justnow, Jame s said, and Ash is out of the question.Im going to tell my parents he cant come here,thats all.And then what do we do? Poppy thought. She couldnt stay hidden forever. She belonged to theNight World-but the Night World wouldnt accepther.There had to be some solution-and she could onlyhope that she and James would find it.Dont be gone too long, she said, and he kissedher on the forehead, which was nice. As if it wasgetting to be a habit.When he was gone, she took a shower and puton dean clothes. Good old Phil-hed slipped in herfavorite jeans. Then she made herself putter aroundthe apartment, because she didnt want to sit and think.Nobody should have to think on the day after their own funeral.The earphone sat beside the square couch and mockedher. She found herself resisting the impulse to pickit up so often that her arm ached.But who could she call? Nobody. Not even Phil,because what if somebody overheard him? What ifher mother answered?No, no, dont think about Mom, you idiot.But it was too late. She was overwhelmed suddenly, by a do-or-die(a) need to hear her mothers voice.Just to hear a hello. She knew she couldnt sayanything herself. She just needed to establish that her mom still existed.She punched the phone number in without givingherself time to think. She counted rings. One, two, trinity Hello?It was her mothers voice. And it was already over,and it wasnt enough. Poppy sat trying to breathe, with tears running down her face. She hung there,wringing the phone cord, listening to the faint buzz on the other end. Like a prisoner in court waiting to hear her sentence.Hello? Hello. Her mothers voice was flat andtired. Not acerbic. Prank phone calls were no big dealwhen youd just lost your daughter.Then a click signaled disconnection.Poppy clutched the earpiece to her chest and cried, rocking slightly. At last she put it back on the cradle.Well, she wouldnt do that again. It was worse thannot being able to hear her mother at all. And it didnt help her with r eality, either. It gave her a dizzy Twilight Zone feeling to think that her mom was athome, and everybody was at home, and Poppy wasnt there.Life was going on in that house, but she wasntpart of it anymore. She couldnt just walk in, any more than she could walk into some unidentified familys house.Youre really a glutton for punishment, arent you? Why dont you stop thinking about this and dosomething distracting?She was snooping through Jamess file cabinetwhen the apartment door opened.Because she heard the metallic jingle of a key, sheassumed it was James. But then, even before sheturned, she knew it wasnt James. It wasnt Jamess mind.She turned and saw a boy with ash blond hair.He was very good looking, built about like James,but a little taller, and maybe a year older. His hairwas longish. His face had a nice shape, clean-cut fea tures, and satanic slightly tilted eyes.But that wasnt why she was staring at him.He gave her a flashing smile.Im Ash, he said.Hi.Poppy was still starin g. You were in my dream, she said.. You said, Bad magic happens. So youre a psychic?What?Your dreams come true?Not usually. Poppy suddenly got hold of herself.Listen, um, I dont know how you got in-He jingled a key ring at her. aunty Maddy gaveme these. James told you to keep me out, I bet.Poppy decided that the best defense was a goodoffense. Now, why would he tell me that? she said,and folded her arms over her chest.He gave her a wicked, laughing glance. His eyeslooked hazel inthislight, almost golden. Im bad,he said simply.Poppy tested to plaster a look of righteous disapproval-like Phils-on her face. It didnt work verywell. Does James know youre here? Where is he?I have no idea. Aunt Maddy gave me the keysat lunch, and then she went out on some interiordecorating job. What did you dream about?poppy just shook her head. She was trying tothink.presumably, James was wandering around in search ofhis mother right now. at once he found her hed findout that Ash was over here, and the n hed come backfast.Which meant well,Poppy supposed it meantshe should keep Ash busy until James arrived.But how? Shed never really practiced being winsome and adorable with guys. And she was worriedabout talking too much. She might give herself awayas a new vampire.Oh, well. When in doubt, shut your eyes and jump right in. agnise any good werewolf jokes? she said.He laughed. He had a nice laugh, and his eyes werent hazel after all. They were gray, like Jamess.You havent told me your name yet, little dreamer, he said.Poppy, Poppy said and immediately wished shehadnt. What if Mrs. Rasmussen had mentioned thatone of Jamess little friends called Poppy had justdied? To conceal her nervousness, she got up to dose the door.Good lamianame, he said. I dont like thisyuppy thing of taking on human names, do you?Ive got three sisters, and they all have regular oldfashioned names. Rowan, Kestrel, Jade. My dad would burst a blood vessel if one of them suddenlywanted to call herself Susan. Or Ma ddy? Poppy asked, intrigued despiteherself.Huh? Its short for Madder.Poppy wasnt sure what madder was. A plant,she thought.Of course Im not saying anything against James,Ash said, and it was abruptly dear from his voicethat he wassaying something against James. Things are different for you guys in California. You have to mix more with humans you have to be more careful.So ifnamingyourself after vermin makes it easier He shrugged.Oh, yeah, theyre vermin all right, Poppy said atrandom. She was thinking, hes playing with me. Isnt he playing with me?She had the sinking feeling that he knew everything. Agitation made her need to move. She headedfor Jamess stereo center.So you like any vermin music? she said.Techno? Acid jazz? Trip-hop? Jungle? She waveda vinyl record at him. This is some serious jump-up jungle. He blinked. Oh, and this is great industrialnoise. And this is a real good acid house stomperwith a split of madcore edge to it.She had him on the defensive now. Nobody couldst op Poppy when she got going like this. She widenedher eyes at him and blathered on, looking as fey asshe knew how.And I say freestyles coming back.Completely underground, so far, but on the rise.Now, Euro-dance,on the other hand Ash was sitting on the square couch, long legsstretched out in front of him. His eyes were deepblue and slightly glazed.Sweetheart, he said finally, I hate to interrupt.But you and I need to talk.Poppy was too clever to ask him what about.these sort of immortal void keys and troll groaningsounds that make you want to ask, Is anybody outthere? shefinishedand then she had to breathe.Ash jumped in.We reallyhave to talk, he said. Before Jamesgets back.There was no way to evade him now. Poppysmouth was dry. He leaned forward, his eyes a dear blue-green like tropical waters. And, yes, they really dochange color, Poppy thought.Its not your fault, he said.What?Its not yourfault. That you cant shield your mind. Youlllearn how to do it, he said, andPoppy only realize d halfway through that he wasnt saying it out loud.Oh. . . spit. She should have thought of that.Should have been concentrating on veiling her thoughts.She tried to do it now.Listen, dont bother. I know that youre notlamia. Youre made, and youre illegal. James hasbeen a bad boy.Since there was no point in denying it, Poppy liftedher chin and narrowed her eyes at him. So youknow. So what are you going to do about it?That depends.On what?He smiled. On you.