Hadrian's Wall (70 page)

I protested, of course. I
did not want to separate him from his friends, although he had
neglected them all evening in order to spend time with me. Above
all, I didn’t want to give him false hope. However, Jonathan wasn’t
willing to let me go alone. He argued that strange sounds echoed
around the town, especially at night and a pretty girl like me
shouldn’t venture out into the deserted streets without an
escort.

Of course I couldn’t tell
him, “No need to follow me, dear. I already have a supernatural
bodyguard that can literally eliminate anything that might put me
in danger.” So I had to restrain myself and accept his
terms.

Jonathan asked permission
to say goodbye to his friends, so I took the opportunity to look
for Delilah to tell her that I was leaving with him. I thought she
was on the dance floor with Troy, but after searching the area, I
found her on the other side in the game room. She was engaged in a
lively dispute with a cute guy I didn’t know.

“I’m leaving,” I told
her.

At the moment, a video game which obviously
had military theme provoked enthusiastic shouts around us. Two guys
were furiously maneuvering their remote controls and the numbers on
the score display at the top of the big screen turned without
stopping.

“Now?” she asked, acting surprised and
sorry. She might have thought, and rightly so, that Stephen would
leave with me.

“Sorry...” I said.

She cocked her chin. “No,
it’s okay. I’ll stay a little longer.” The guy put his arm around
her waist. Delilah forced a smile, but said nothing.

“Are you sure?” I screamed in her ear, to
make myself heard over the noise.

Yeah, I’ll play a little
longer and then come back with Abby and David.”

“That’s how we talk.” I
gave a pat on her arm. “But take care! Don’t do anything I
wouldn’t.”
And what the hell was that,
girl?

With nothing else to say, I
turned around and started down the stairs. That’s when I saw
Stephen leaning against the wall across the lounge. He was hardly
distinguishable because of the flashing lights and his black
clothes. It took a few seconds to grasp that it was him standing
there like a statue.

Stephen’s presence would
have gone unnoticed if I hadn’t turned my ankle as I started down
the stairs. Hmmm... He didn’t seem concerned about keeping himself
hidden. His expression was one of pure melancholy. I followed the
direction of his stare...Stephen was watching Delilah and her cute
friend.

I would have pretended not
to see him, but before I could disguise my face, his gaze met mine.
His jaw stiffened; however, his face quickly resumed his usual
enigmatic expression...enigmatic and cold.

I understood that this
wasn’t the ideal time to warn Delilah about his presence. She had
to keep acting naturally, even though apparently Stephen had
already rebuilt his defenses. I took a deep breath and marched back
to our table. Before he had time to put the strap of my bag over my
shoulder, Jonathan joined me.

* * *

The trip back to McPherson
House was fun and went much faster than I expected. I couldn’t deny
that Jonathan was a great guy—confident and witty. He talked about
college and his future career with enthusiasm. Undoubtedly, he
would become a wonderful doctor if he continued to meet his goals
and, it seemed, he was well determined to do just that.

From the bar to the cable
car and then from the cable car to McPherson House, he told me many
good jokes, as well as stories of the bizarre situations he’d
witnessed during his first month of college, such as the one about
a freshman who trips on his shoelace and falls flat on his face in
the hallway of a hospital.

When we arrived home, Gibbs
has behaved like a perfect gentleman. After being so blunt with me
all evening, I thought I’d have to fight him off, something
like...I dunno...defend my honor, but I didn’t.

“You must be wondering why
I haven’t tried to grab you,” he whispered, as if he’d read my
mind. Valenciano is around and I suspect that he is not of this
world, since he seems to have eyes everywhere.”

“Who is Valenciano?”

“Giuseppe Valenciano is an
employee of McPherson House.” Jonathan pretended to outline a human
form with his hands. “The man’s a big guy...a bouncer, right-hand
man, security guard, whatever...I don’t know! Nobody knows for sure
where he came from and what his job is. Some people say he worked
for the Mafia and others say that he’s an ex-professional
assassin.”

People are creative!

“In the absence of information, everyone
collaborates in building his profile,” he said, in a derisive
tone.

We laughed softly. He put
his index finger to his lips. I made an effort to be quiet as he
looked around cautiously and jokingly at the same time. Still
smiling, he continued. “Mrs. McPherson relies entirely on the guy
to keep order and discipline in place. In other words, no sex,
nothing arrives after eleven, no one walks half-naked through the
halls.” He sighed. “I thought we’d catch a break, but today I
learned that he’d returned from his vacation.” Jonathan gave me an
insinuating glance, wrapping his finger in a lock of my hair. “If
you want privacy, we’ll have to look elsewhere.”

I pulled back a step and he lowered his
hand.

“Very funny!” I said, forcing a light tone.
Deep down, I felt intimidated by his attitude. “And I was beginning
to believe you were a gentleman.”

“Me? A gentleman?” He threw his head back.
Horrified, I thought he would release a thunderous laugh and I
prepared myself for the worst. However, he whispered, “God
forbid!”

“I’d better I go to my
room. I don’t want to have to be accountable to Mister...
Valenciano.” I reinforced my comment by taking another step
back.

Jonathan nodded, still smiling. When I left
the lobby, behind me I heard him mutter, “I bark more than I
bite.”

I turned around again. He was still standing
in the same place. Only this time, there was no shade of irony in
his face. I considered his comment to be an apology, although done
in a rough way.

“That’s okay,” I nodded
slowly. “If that’s true, I think we can be friends.”

Friends...the word sounded
so inconsequential
compared to
those more elaborate expressions like “I’ll call
you” or “I’ll see you soon.”

He gave me a wan smile. I
had the distinct impression that he was mentally calculating how
many blunders he’d made tonight. By making the same review, I
realized that there were not many. If I hadn’t been educated by
‘50s movies and if I hadn’t been so wrapped in Adrian’s mystery and
his supernatural town, I would have appreciated Jonathan Gibbs’
company much more.

* * *

Time seemed to be
steamrollering over me. A thousand things were happening every
moment. I couldn’t digest even a third of these events and because
of that, I was sleepless again. Strange because I almost fell
asleep sitting in the noisy bar. Anyway, I envisioned a night like
that, possibly populated by nightmares—winged creatures, red and
yellow eyes, and so on. I decided to study a little in order to
delay the inevitable. I passed by my room just to check my notes
and then headed toward the office.

I crossed the hall, trying not to make
noise. The place was completely silent and except for moonlight, it
was dark. The high windows projected light on the floor, giving me
a broad view of the yard and the forest. Outside, the trees swayed
wistfully in the breeze.

The sound of leaves...the only thing I could
hear until a roar came from somewhere in the distance. I shivered
and hurried away from the windows.

It was scary to walk alone
in McPherson House at night or was every place scary in the dark?
Is it basically that we’re afraid because we always imagine that
the darkness belongs to evil creatures?

No Mr. Valenciano or Mrs. McPherson in
sight. No yellow eyes watching me to kill me with fright. Relieved,
I walked into study room and flipped the switch. The sudden light
blinded me for a moment. I blinked a few times to get used to the
brightness as I threw my stuff on the table. I went to the
computers, looking for the one that would be easiest to use. One of
them was already connected to the wall jack.

While the machine made the
noises that are characteristic of the system running, I shut the
door slowly, thus avoiding hearing hinges creaking. The last thing
I wanted was to draw someone’s attention. The silence was so
intense that the unusually subtle noise of the computer now sounded
like the roar of a powerful engine.

When all the icons
appeared on the screen, I clicked on the symbol of the Internet and
laid my list of questions, which were many, next to my notes.
Somewhat absentmindedly, I thought:
researching will make me sleep better
. I sighed wearily. At least that was what I
expected.

Glancing at the list, I
contemplated the possibility of visiting the university library on
Monday after my interview. There was no escape. I couldn’t complete
the course outlined by Walter if I didn’t have extensive access to
reference books. I don’t like to memorize text, but ...I winced,
gritting my teeth.

I opened my PDA and wrote:
“Visit to the library: Don’t forget to bring bibliography and list
of questions.”

Suddenly, I noticed a
little icon flashing on screen, next to the time of the entry
regarding Monday’s interview. I recognized it was the same symbol
as on Adrian’s ring. I was sure it wasn’t there before and I
suspected that someone had touched the controls... but how? Tapping
my finger on the screen, I clicked without knowing what to expect.
There a message from his cell: “Everything will be alright
tomorrow. Remember, You can! Good luck, A.”

I smiled, relieved. According to the message
properties, it had been sent exactly three hours ago. Regardless of
what he was doing, he had time for me. I closed the device with a
smile dancing on my lips, but it quickly faded.

Vampire...

Well...Nobody’s perfect,
girl!

If he really is a vampire, I mean...

Get used to it!

Could I?

If you really like him,
you will accept this
...

Will I?

My mind wandered, taking twists and turns
around the question...I had to gather all my strength to
concentrate on the task at hand, starting with the threads of the
mandatory national test.

An hour and a half later,
it felt like my head was on fire, but I’d already gotten a
satisfactory head start on the things on my list.

At one point, when I was solving a
particularly difficult problem, my thoughts again became distorted.
Almost without realizing what I was doing, I opened a window to the
alternative site search.

Vampire.
Damn it!
If only I could
prove to Delilah that she was wrong.
Wake
up, girl! So you too ended up in the “vampire yellow pages” while
chasing flying myths!
Unfortunately, I had
to admit that she was only being consistent with the information
available on the network.
Unless you’re
willing to consider the possibility of aliens and unidentified
flying objects
.

No! They were dark gods.
Somber people. Are “
Vampire” and “Somber”
different names for the same thing?

I typed the two names as
keywords and clicked “enter.” The result was immediate: pages and
pages of references to mythological and fictional characters with
similar names—creatures of darkness, of dimness, of horror, of rot,
of salacity, of the underworld, of the shadows, of the night. There
were all sorts of witches, vampires, monsters, fallen angels,
avenging angels, dark angels, somber angels, demons, creatures of
the umbra. They had at their service callers, priests, healers,
druids, necromancers, sorcerers, voodooists, seers...entire
brotherhoods and secret sects.

Our Lady, not missing nouns and
adjectives!

All matter of semantics...and my decisions
in relation to Adrian Cahill could not be based on semantics. To
begin with, even if I wanted to have a relationship with him, I
need to go over any sort of classification.

I clicked on some links and when I realized
I was visiting a site about various mythologies. I clicked twice
and there appeared a beautiful illustration of Thor, the Norse god
of thunder. For a second, I admired her “professionally,” thinking
of the codex and my own work as a draftsman. The painting was
perfect—filled with vibrant colors, in harmony with the ideal of
strength associated with that myth.

But it was not exactly what I wanted. I
rolled the bar by the text below and suddenly I realized I was
subconsciously looking for the darker figures of the pantheon.

Some parts stood out
before my eyes: (...)
They had super
accurate vision and hearing, being able to hear a dove flapping its
wings several miles away or even the sound of a sheep’s hair
growing. They had visual acuity sharper than the eagle during the
day and the owl at night. They never slept, though possibly they
could hibernate
(...)
The somber were considered the kings of strategy and the
cunning—they lie, dissemble, deceive, manipulate, and tend to
cruelty of all kinds. Perhaps remnants of the savagery of the first
times
(...)