The Purity of Blood: Volume I (48 page)

Looking to
change the subject, I asked “So, tell me about your family.
 
Where do they live?”

“Montana.”

I waited for him
to elaborate but he didn’t.

“Where in
Montana?
 
Is it just your folks there?”

“Yes, and my
brother.”

Again I waited
for a longer answer but none came.

“Older or
younger?”

“My
brother?
 
He’s younger, but only by a
couple years.”

“I get the
impression you don’t like to talk about them.”

“It’s not that …
well, maybe it is.
 
I love them, but
we’re not exactly on speaking terms at the moment – my father and brother at
least …. I still talk to my mother … sometimes.
 
If it’s all the same with you, I’d rather not talk about it.”

“Alright.”

He got a far off
look in his eyes as I sat there watching him beside me.
 
It didn’t take a genius to see he was
thinking about the family he didn’t want to talk about.
 

After a few more
minutes of comfortable silence we finally headed back to the car.
 
He was a good friend and tried to cheer me up
again on our way back to campus.
 
To be
honest it was kind of cute, but I was in a much better mood by the time we got
in the car so it wasn’t really necessary.
 

Ben was by nature a very upbeat person.
 
There was a liveliness to his personality
that was infectious if you stayed around him long enough.
 
Even in his silence you could feel it.

When we finally pulled onto
campus, it was getting on towards dinner time so we parked behind Gage Hall
where he lived then walked over to Hasbrouck for dinner.
 

Tabitha and Mike
were already there so we took seats across the table from them.
 
Mike glanced up from his meatball sub only long
enough to say hello, but Tabitha looked from me to Ben and then back before
smiling and returning to her salad.
 
I
had the feeling I’d be hearing about this later.
 
I didn’t mind.
 
There wasn’t anything to tell other than we
were friends, good friends now I think.
 

We parted ways
at the dining hall exit, and in the cool breeze of the setting sun I walked back
over to Capen Hall to settle in for the night.
 
I had emails that needed returning and a call to my mother on the
agenda.
 
When I opened the door to my
room Darcy was there sprawled out on her bed with books scattered around
her.
 
The first thing I noticed was how
she was strangely dressed from head to toe entirely in bright purple.

“Hey, where have
you been?” I asked, happy to see her.

“Pledging is
getting old.
 
I can’t wait for it to be
over.
 
I needed a break from them for a
night so I came back here to study.”
 
After a pause, she added “Oh, Daniel called.
 
He said he couldn’t reach you on your phone,
so he left a message here that he was back in town and to give him a call.”
 

“I must have
missed his call.
 
I was out hiking with
Ben and I don’t think there is any service up in those hills.”
 

I turned around,
walked down the stairs, out the door and into the quad where it was quiet.
 
After I took a seat at a nearby picnic table,
I pulled out my phone and stared at it in my hand.
 

What was I going to say to him?
 

What was he going to say to me?
 

I was almost too
afraid to find out.
 
At least now, in
this limbo, I didn’t have to know the truth for certain.
 
In my ignorance I could pretend that
everything was going to be fine, and that my apprehension was only a product of
my imagination working in overdrive in the wrong direction.

Summoning some
elusive inner strength, I dialed.
 
It
rang so long I thought it was going to voicemail, but he finally picked up.

“Sara!” he said
as if he was almost surprised it was me.
 
“I got back into town this afternoon.
 
I wanted to see you but couldn’t get hold of you.”
 

Was that
anxiousness or anger I heard in his voice?

“Yes, I was
working on a project in the library all morning and then went hiking with a
friend for a while.
  
Darcy just gave me
the message you called.”
 

The wind blew
and I pulled my coat closer around my neck to keep the chill away.

“I was hoping to
see you today, but it’s getting late now.
 
How about tomorrow?”

“Sure.
 
I’m really beat so I think I’d like to sleep
in.
 
How about after lunch?”

“Okay, I’ll be
by at one.”
 
I think he sounded
disappointed but was trying to hide it.
 

I went back inside.
 
I
was the disappointed one.
 
He hadn’t even
tried to explain where he’d been.
 
When I
got back I was thankful Darcy was still there to distract me from my growing
pessimistic thoughts.
 
Darcy was indeed
many things, including the infallible cure to my melancholy.
 
Her crazy outfit alone made me smile.
 
I was sure if I worked up the courage to ask
her about her attire, there’d be a long and humorous story to hear in reply.

When I woke in the morning, Darcy
was already gone.
 
My alarm hadn’t gone
off and it took me a minute to remember that I hadn’t set it so I could enjoy a
few precious hours of extra sleep.
 
In
the end, they didn’t seem very precious.
 
Listless was probably a better adjective to describe them.
 
After rolling out of bed, I took a long hot
soothing shower.
 
I took my time doing
everything, drying my hair, picking out clothes, arranging my hair.
 
Not because I was trying to look especially
good, but just because I could.
 
I had
time to kill and wanted to enjoy the sensation of it.
 
I wanted to enjoy the illusion that I was
happy, and not the reality that for some reason I felt like I had a ticking
time bomb inside me.

I didn’t call
anyone to see if they were going to lunch at Hasbrouck.
 
I figured no one was, but I kinda thought a
little more alone time this morning even for lunch might be preferable.
 
Putting on my sneakers and coat, I headed on
over only to find it relatively empty just as I’d expected it would be this
early on a Sunday.
 
I suspected most of
the student body were still in bed recovering from a Saturday night on the
town.
 

Deciding to
treat myself to more of a brunch than a lunch, I piled waffles, bacon and a
grilled cheese sandwich on my tray along with a fruit cup.
 
It felt like an odd combination at first, but
somehow it seemed to match my mood.

I even decided
to further disassociate myself from the mundane and chose not to sit at our
usual table, opting instead for one next to the large windows with a better
view of the room.
 
After I smothered my
waffles in butter and syrup, I dug in.
 
I
was about half way through my feast when Ben showed up to drop down in the seat
opposite mine.

“What are you
doing here?” I asked, pleasantly surprised.

“I was about to
ask you the same thing.
 
Where’s
everybody else this morning?”

“I don’t
know.
 
I never called them.
 
I just felt like winging it.”

As we ate our
lunches, we bounced around ideas he’d come up with last night for the
project.
 
When the topic exhausted
itself, he told me about a few other places he said he’d like to take me
hiking, some more caves and falls he’d discovered last year while out with some
buddies.
 

We’d finished
the last of our food but found ourselves lost in the enjoyment of the easy flow
of our conversation.
  
Sipping on our
drinks and laughing about something one of his professors had said, I looked up
to see Daniel appear over the top of Ben’s shoulder.
 
He smiled at me, but I could tell it was
forced over gritted teeth.

“Daniel!” I got
to my feet as he walked around the table and gave me a polite hug.
 
“You’re early.”
 

“Actually,
you’re late.”
 

I looked at my
watch.
 
It was 1:15.

“Oh, sorry about
that, I must have lost track of time.
 
I’m finished eating, we can go.”

Daniel reached
down to take my tray, but Ben put his hand on it first.
 

“Don’t worry, I
got it covered,” he said in a low tone.
 
For a moment, the two of them stared each other down in stony
silence.
 
Daniel finally turned back to
me only to possessively take my arm in his and walk me out of the hall without
a word.

When we got
outside, he said “I thought I told you I didn’t want you to spend time with
that guy,” while still retaining a tight grip on my arm.
 
It hurt a little, but what hurt more was the
absolute ice cold passiveness in his tone and the way he held me.

I could think of
a few choice words I’d have liked to have said in response, but decided to hold
my tongue instead – for the time being.

“We’re working
on a project together now so I have to.
 
Besides, he’s part of my circle of friends here.
 
Despite what you might think, it’s not up to
you who I associate with.”
 

Daniel bristled
at this, but perhaps sensing that a tactical retreat would allow him to fight
another day, didn’t say anything else.
 
When I glanced down at his hand on my arm, he released it and I watched
as he closed his eyes for a moment, I think internally trying to control his
temper.

“So what are we
doing this afternoon?” I asked, looking to change the subject.

“I wanted to
introduce you to Lucy.
 
She’s back at the
house.”

“Yes, you
mentioned her before.
 
She’s your …”

“She’s part of
our family.
 
She’s a little older than I
am.
 
Randall found her before me and by
the time he took me in, she’d already left the house.
 
But she comes back every now and then and
stays with us for a while.
 
Don’t mention
that I went to get her when you see her.
 
She was in a bad way when I arrived.
 
She kind of fell off the wagon so to speak.
 
That’s why she came home to spend some time
with us.
 
She’s a little sensitive about
it.”

I looked at him
with trepidation in my eyes.
 
“Is it safe
for me to be around her?”

Exactly what happens when a vampire falls
off the wagon anyway?

“Don’t worry” he
smiled.
 
“I’ll make sure you stay
safe.
 
So will Randall.”

“What about the
Professor? Is he going to want me around?”

He paused before answering. “He’d probably say no if I asked
him, but he has to start getting used to the idea of us being together – and he
might as well start right now.”

Daniel didn’t say much on the
drive up to the house.
 
He seemed to
fidget about a lot which made me think he was nervous about something.
 
I was pretty sure I knew what it was.
 
When he pulled into the garage, he turned off
the motor, but before he opened his door he reached over and put his hand on
mine.
 
When I looked over at him, he
smiled as if to reassure me that everything was going to be alright.
 
I had to admit, I was nervous.
 
I was more or less used to Daniel being a
vampire, but I had yet to reconcile the Professor as one, let alone meeting
this Lucy.

When we entered
the house, I could hear soft music playing and that same high pitched
laughter.
 
Turning the corner, I saw the
Professor sitting out on the balcony with a dark haired woman whose back was to
me.
 
The Professor looked up at our
entrance.
 
He didn’t appear surprised to
see me, but he certainly didn’t look happy about it either.
 
It was hard to tell at this distance, but I
think he may have rolled his eyes before they really locked onto mine like a
vice.

I froze when our
eyes met.
 
Beside me I could feel Daniel
take my hand and start to pull me forward.
 
As we walked onto the balcony, the Professor gracefully rose from his
seat to come greet us.
 

“I see you
brought
more
company, Daniel.”
 
He was smiling, but I could feel Daniel
grimace at his words.
 
“Sara, so nice to
see you out of class.
 
Here.
 
Please, take a seat.”
 
He gestured toward the chair next to the dark
haired woman.