CHAPTER 2 THIRSTY

Jessica groaned. She raised her hands to Gabri’s shoulders and shoved him away.

“Hey—” he cried out, startled by her strength. His fangs still gleamed in the shadowy moonlight.

“You idiot!” Jessica snarled, pushing him again. “I’m an Eternal One too!”

“Huh?” Gabri took a step back, bewildered.

Jessica’s eyes widened, glowing red embers against the darkness. Her fangs lowered, curling down toward her chin. She laughed scornfully. “Idiot,” she repeated, shaking her head, her long, thick hair swinging behind her.

“Well, how was I to know?” Gabri asked angrily, his features tightening in a dark scowl.

The light faded from Jessica’s eyes. “I bought a new dress and everything,” she muttered.

“Well, why didn’t you say something?” Gabri asked, crossing his slender arms in front of himself.

“What was I supposed to say?” she cried heatedly. “Hello. Nice to meet you. I’m an Eternal One. How about you?”

He groaned and kicked at the sand, avoiding her stare.

“A blind date,” Jessica muttered. “I should’ve known better than to go on a blind date with a townie.”

“You wasted my whole night,” he said peevishly, his arms still crossed.

“Boo-hoo,” she replied nastily. “Break my heart, why don’t you? You really are pitiful, you know? Is that how you do it all the time? Have someone arrange blind dates with poor, unsuspecting girls? You’re too pitiful to get a date on your own?”

“Why don’t you shut your fangs?” Gabri snapped, staring out over the water. “I’m not the pitiful one. You’re the one who agreed to go on the blind date. I can’t believe you. Acting so sweet and innocent.”

Jessica laughed. “I am sweet,” she insisted. And then she added coyly, “But it’s too late for you to find that out.”

Gabri uttered a cry of disgust. “But I need the nectar!” he cried, turning to her. “Without the nectar, I’ll perish.”

“Where’d you get that line? Out of an old horror movie?” Jessica joked, shaking her head. She repeated it in a high-pitched, desperate voice, imitating him meanly. “Without the nectar, I’ll perish.”

“You’re not funny. You’re pitiful,” he said softly. “Really.”

The wispy cloud trailed away from the moon, and the beach brightened as if someone had turned on a light. In the white light, Gabri aged a hundred years.

He has a teenager’s face, like mine, Jessica thought, studying him. But his skin is so pale and brittle, stretched so tightly over his bones. And in the light his eyes are old—ancient and evil.

“Listen, Gabri,” Jessica said, softening her tone a bit, “I need the nectar too, you know. It’s been a long, cold winter here.”

She pushed her hair back over her shoulders as a group of teenagers, carrying drink coolers and Boogie boards, walked past. One of the boys, a straggler, stopped to stare long and hard at her before hurrying to catch up to the group.

“Guess this dress isn’t bad,” Jessica said, smoothing the front of it with both hands. Her eyes followed the boy who had stared at her. “Fresh blood,” she said hungrily.

“Fresh blood,” Gabri repeated in a low voice that barely carried over the wind. “Fresh blood all up and down the beach—and I end up with you.”

“Sucker,” Jessica said.

He scowled again.

“Idiot—that was a joke!” she cried, shoving him playfully into the dune. “Don’t you even have a sense of humor?”

“Don’t shove me again,” he warned, his tone turning menacing. He seemed to float up from the sand, weightless like a kite, and hovered over her. “I don’t have a sense of humor, not where the nectar is concerned.”

“Back off, will you?” she yelled. “I don’t care if you’re an Eternal One or not. You’re the biggest jerk I’ve ever met.”

He stared at her coldly as if trying to decide how to react to her, as if trying to decide what to do to her.

He’s trying to frighten me, Jessica thought.

Well, he’s got a surprise coming. He can stare at me all he wants. I don’t scare easy. And if he tries anything, I’ll slash him to pieces.

She and Gabri slid into the shadows as two boys walked by their dune. The boys were hurrying to join a group of kids who had started a small bonfire down the beach.

“Fresh blood,” Gabri said, his voice a whisper. “Maybe it isn’t too late. Maybe I haven’t wasted the whole night with you.”

“What are you going to do?” she asked, not even trying to keep the mockery from her voice. “Try to get another blind date?”

He ignored her. “I need the nectar,” he whispered, not bothering to hide his desperation. “I need it.” Then, raising his arms above his head, he began to spin.

Clouds drifted over the moon, casting the dunes in total darkness. The ocean roar picked up. The wind swirled in wide circles.

Invisible in the dark swaying dune grass, Gabri spun. When the clouds drifted away and the pale light filtered down again, and the ocean hushed, and the wind calmed, he emerged as a bat, purple and black. The dark animal eyes stared down at Jessica with the same intensity, the animal mouth open, revealing pointed fangs covered in white drool.

He hissed at her, swooped at her face, forcing her to stumble backward and shield herself with her arms. Then, still hissing, up he fluttered until he disappeared against the black sky.

Seconds later Jessica was spinning in the tall grass. Moments after that she fluttered up to join her winged companion in the sky.

I’m so thirsty. So thirsty.

I need the nectar too, she thought.

I need the nectar. I need it so badly.

• • • • •

Monica Davis carried her sandals as she walked, her feet sinking into the wet sand, studying the rippling light on the ocean as the clouds moved across the moon. Her friend, Elly Porter, bent to pick up a smooth, white stone, then skipped it across the water.

“I’m cold,” Elly complained, jogging rapidly to catch up, her knees high, as if that would keep her warm.

“Feels good,” Monica said, closing her eyes, ocean spray clinging to her curly blond hair. “I’m just glad to get away from the cottage,” she added, picking up her pace, enjoying the sound her feet made squishing over the sand.

“When did you get here?” Elly asked, turning to face her friend, walking backward, the wind fluttering her oversize T-shirt.

“Late last night,” Monica replied. “And, of course, Dad threw a fit. He always does.”

“What was it this time?”

“Two of the screens were torn. And there was some kind of bug nest in the house. Wasps, I think. So he started ranting and raving about how we’re paying all this money for a summer house, the least the owner can do is make sure the screens aren’t torn. Poor Dad,” Monica said, shaking her head. “He’s just so stressed out. It always takes him a month to unwind. And by that time—”

She stopped suddenly.

Elly stopped too, and followed her friend’s gaze up to the blue-black sky. “Oh!” Elly cried out, grabbing Monica’s arm. “Are those—bats?”

Monica let out a silent gasp as the two dark forms hovered above. Their wings flapped like bedsheets on a clothesline.

“Run!” Elly screamed, pulling Monica’s arm.

Monica held back. “The beach is full of bats at night,” she told her friend, keeping her eyes on the two hovering forms. “They live on that island over there. See?” She pointed to a dark, wooded island out in the ocean beyond a small dock, its outlines visible against the purple horizon.

“Do people live on the island?” Elly asked. “It’s completely dark.”

“I think there used to be some beach houses there,” Monica replied. “But you can only get to the island by boat. I don’t think there are any people left. Only bats.”

“They’re so creepy,” Elly said, close to Monica, her eyes trained on the two bats that seemed to be flying together.

“They flutter around,” Monica said softly, “but they’re harmless.”

As she said that, one of the bats plunged toward Elly.

Elly didn’t have time to move or cry out.

She saw gleaming red eyes.

Heard the hiss of wind, a shrill whistle, a screech of attack.

She felt it grab her hair. She felt it brush her face. Hot and wet. Hairy. Sticky.

It scratched her.

It beat its wings against her cheek.

“Help me!” she shrieked. “Oh, Monica—please help!”

Date: 2015-04-20; view: 777