The Reluctant (7 page)

A shiver ran up my spine. She stepped
aside, releasing me in the process, and jerked her head towards the
back room. What I did not realize was that Will had witnessed the
exchange.

“Go back to Luka,” he said quietly,
his glare fixed on the girl.

“I’m fine, Will,” I insisted. “Come
on, I’ve got the triangle. Let’s rack ‘em up and play.”

“I’ll be there in a
moment.”

“You shouldn’t be with her, Will,” the
girl said.

“I make my own decisions,
Brooke.”

Her eyes glittered strangely,
remarkably like Will’s in color, only lit with anger instead of
laughter. I wondered fleetingly if they were brother and sister,
but her red hair and fair complexion instantly rejected that
notion.

“There are other options.”

“And I do not desire
those.”

“You weren’t so quick to dismiss me
before.”

Will shrugged. “You are not for me,
and I am not for you. You just haven’t realized it yet.”

She growled, “I’m like this because of
you, you impertinent bastard.”

“I let go of that guilt a long time
ago when you embraced what you have became.”

Brooke’s face turned blood red. I
backed away, partly worried that my presence only exacerbated the
issue at hand, but this issue obviously was an old one between
them.

“Calm down, Brooke,” Will hissed. “We
don’t need the entire world knowing about us.”

His words had merit. Everyone in the
arcade had turned to watch what seemed like a potential catfight.
Oh, how wrong onlookers could be.

Her fists clenched and unclenched as
she spoke levelly. “But it’s okay for you to whore around with her,
who should know nothing about us or the way we are. She hasn’t bled
like we have for the privilege.”

Will’s hand snaked out and pulled her
to him. I repressed a savage stab of jealousy, though he did not
hold her as a lover. Rather, his arms around her middle suggested
the likelihood of an impending explosion on her part.

But she softened in his arms. I knew
the power of that body against my own. Her eyes, snapping with that
overwhelming green, cut to me.

“This isn’t over. The Lycanthrope
won’t Change you.” She stared deep into Will’s eyes and I felt my
eyes drop. I knew instantly that their relationship had been
desperately sexual. “You know that, Will.”

He released her, allowing her to
saunter off with only a few nasty looks cast back my way. Will
tenderly took me by the waist.

“Come on. Let’s go have a good time.
She won’t bother us anymore tonight.”

“Just tonight?” I asked
shakily.

“Just tonight,” he agreed.

Luka fought to suppress a smug grin as
we approached.

“Trouble, eh?”

“Just the usual,” Will
answered.

“I saw her on my way in, but hoped
she’d mind her manners.”

They remained calm, so I did not dwell
on Brooke. It helped that Will and Luka’s company intoxicated me. I
felt untouchable with them laughing and joking with me.

We spent the evening in closeness. I
felt like I had known Luka all my life, something of a brother who
had just been absent for a while. Whereas my relationship with Will
made my body hot, Luka made my insides warm. His quick, dry wit
considerably reassured me that nothing would happen to me tonight
by some psycho bitch. Brooke did not reappear in our quiet
sanctuary of pool and foolery, but I felt like I could feel her
malevolence stalking me every time I moved. My tension became so
palpable that Will would touch me lightly on the arm every few
moments to gauge my mood. The evening seemed normal in many ways
and by the end of it, I knew that Luka and I would be good friends.
It was impossible to not like the guy.

Will haphazardly slung an arm over my
shoulders as we walked to the car, Luka flanking us at a polite
distance. Will’s nice little Civic awaited us and Luka familiarly
untangled my hand from Will’s embrace.

“Emily,” he began in his usual
rascally tone, “I am impressed. Only you could start a bar fight
with a perfect stranger while completely sober.”

I grinned until I thought my cheeks
around split open. For some reason, I took a certain pride in
Luka’s comment.

The car’s hum and the metal band on
the radio lent a backdrop of normalcy to the closing of our
evening. Will held my hand tightly over the console, as if I would
jump out the window. If only he had known then how completely
entranced I was with the way he made me feel. He brought my hand to
his lips to kiss, and I felt this gave me license to speak about a
particular obsession of mine. The rest of America loves it, too, so
don’t judge me too harshly.

“Ever read
Twilight
?” I asked
innocently.

“
Yes,” he answered with
wry amusement. “Although the movies were pretty bad. That Taylor
Lautner makes one pretty hot werewolf though.”

I laughed. “Oh, Team Jacob, are you?
That comment came out too smoothly. You knew this was
coming.”

He chuckled. “Yes. You can’t live in
America and know a Lycanti without thinking about those damn books,
can you?”

“Well, not really,” I admitted. “And
now that I know there are wolves running around disguised as
people, I have to ask: Are there vampires, too?”

Will was nonplussed by my question.
“Yep. They call themselves the Children of Dacre.”

I paused a moment. Honestly, I was
blown away, but I handled it like a real trooper.

“Why not the Children of Dracula?
Wouldn’t that make more sense?”

“You got me. They’re just vampires.
It’s not like a different name will change what they really
are.”

What they really were? So they did
exist as something other than the butt of a joke! I had devoured
the Twilight series in one delicious gulp of a weekend. Stephanie
Meyer’s vision of beautiful vampires danced around in my head. Yes,
I had to ask:

“Are they hot?”

He gave me a long, serious look.
“Sometimes. They actually look pretty normal. They’re paler and
downright anorexic-looking. It depends on what you find attractive,
I guess.” He reached forward to slide his hand down the curve of my
hip. “I, personally, do not like the Kate Moss look.”

“Oh,” I said dejectedly, pushing his
hand away. How disappointing. So Meyer didn’t hold the secret of
Immortals; obviously she just had a really good imagination. And I
still didn’t like my hips, no matter how much he did.

“I promise,” he said softly. He looked
away. “You’re not missing out.”

But I had found something that
interested me.

“Do they live forever?”

“No.”

“Do they have superhuman
powers?”

“No.”

“What about flying?”

He snorted. “That’s semi-ridiculous,
Emily. No.”

“Well, what’s so special about
them?”

He shrugged. “Some people consider
their diet pretty special.”

“Do they drink blood?”

“Of course they drink blood,” he
growled playfully. “What do the vampires you know drink? Banana
smoothies? Very creepy—if you’re terrified of the random rampaging
Bunnicula. I bet you have a complex about that, huh?”

I pursed my lips. I didn’t like being
mocked. “That’s not funny, Will.”

“I thought it was pretty
funny.”

I smiled a bit. “Okay, it was a little
funny, but bananas are overplayed in jokes. Everything’s funnier
with kiwi.”

He gifted me that sardonic half grin
that I was coming to enjoy. “Everything?”

“Everything,” I insisted.

“Okay, how about kiwi bikinis? Bikinis
are pretty serious pieces of clothing,” he said
impishly.

I snickered. “Like kiwi flavored?
Someone’s boyfriend would definitely be in heaven after the
swimming. What if there were kiwi jock straps?”

“Then that would make some tight ends
happy, probably.”

“
You are so seriously
disturbed.”

That won me a full smile.

“Yeah, I know,” he said lightly.
“Comes from being a ‘hair’-brained mammal half of the
time.”

“Oh, you are so pun-ny. And I still
don’t believe you anyway about that whole wolf thing.”

When he chuckled, the light glinted on
his perfect teeth. “Oh, well I was talking about the human part of
me being harebrained.”

“But you’re so normal…” My words
trailed off. He was normal until he lost control. That would always
create a gulf between us in my mind. I didn’t want to bleed every
time he wanted to hold me.

“What, so you want proof?” he asked,
ignoring my sudden hesitation to continue the banter and enjoying
my willingness to speak so carelessly with him. “You want me to
Change in front of you or something? I promise, it’s not pleasant.
Sometimes I even smell.”

And he might not be a vampire, but I
was instantly intrigued by his relaxed candidness. “Can you Change
whenever you want?”

He shook his head, bristling a little.
“No. I wish.”

“Oh.”

“The Lycanthrope can.”

“The Lycanthrope?”

“They’re the pure-blooded clan of
South America. Some still live in Mexico, too.”

I still couldn’t let go of my first
obsession. “Do vampires live there, too?”

He rolled his eyes. “No,” he replied,
adding with obvious distaste, “they’re distinctly
American.”

“Oh. I thought they were British,” I
said.

“Complete myth. They’re imports from
Europe, but now are now more American than apple pie, and they
always stay away from us.”

“Why?” I asked immediately, Jacob
versus Edward propaganda from my teen years hitting me
hard.

He wouldn’t meet my gaze. “They just
do.”

I had read very little of the
literature out there on men who changed into wolves, but vampires
had always intrigued me.

“Okay, so vampires are real, but Team
Edward sucks—literally.”

He seemed a thousand miles away as he
smiled wanly. “Keep going and your puns will be as good as
mine.”

I shrugged at his detached statement.
What was one more myth coming to life for me? One had already
explored my body intimately, and I his. There was nothing abnormal
about that body and he did not seek to harm me in his animal form.
What more could I ask for?

Will

A big party between the dorms caught
my fancy for New Year’s Eve. An upperclassman mixer, I’d need no
date. They’re would be plenty of coeds to choose from.

Do you remember the girl from the
arcade? Of course you do, my God, Brooke would be unforgettable to
all but the most unobservant of onlookers. I carried the guilt of
her Change for years, even thinking I’d be mated to her because of
it, but she was never the sweetest person. Her fiery temper kept me
interested in her sexually as a human. As a newborn Lycanti, she
found a prime way to release and exploit her passions.

She showed up at the party a little
before midnight. Deep into the cups by now and giddy because of it,
I knew my bed would most likely not be so cold tonight. As always,
she looked ravishing in her leather pants and white tank top—casual
dress for her. I guess I’ve always had a thing for you punky girls.
In my drunken state, I did not notice the changes in
her.

Not that I would have noticed any
other time, but now I know that the full moon shone brightly that
night. How incongruous, I later thought—a full moon on the last
night of the year. Mischief abounded. The pull of the moon combined
with the holiday liberated people.

Brooke kissed me fully on the mouth as
soon as she approached me. “Let’s go,” she said with lust darkening
her eyes.

I had no objection to her
forcefulness. In fact, that night it rather turned me on. I
wondered what awaited me in bed that night.

She yanked me into the dorm room and
we stumbled in the dark, fumbling at each other’s clothes and
kissing as if our lives depended on it. Oh, I don’t want to tell
you this, but it’s a vital part of the things you must know to live
with me, to be a part of this world.

She threw me down on the bed. I loved
it more by the minute. Usually she let me dominate her, pulling at
her hair and initiating the final act. Now she operated in full
control, and my young body responded very appropriately. She took
me into her mouth and bit down, hard enough to make me worry but
not kill my hard on. I squeezed her neck to warn her. She moaned
deeply and drew her warm, wet mouth from me. I groaned in the back
of my throat as she pulled away from my body.

“Come on, baby,” I begged.

“No, no, no,” she said playfully.
“I’ve got a surprise for you.”

At that, the lamp beside the door
snapped on. Brooke still lay beside me on the bed.