There he was. Seth Halkias stood in the doorway surveying the membership of the Occult’s Addict. His near-black hair was falling into his eyes and brushing his white cheek. Juliet could not believe her good luck as she stood, hypnotized by him. She could hardly focus, but she wanted to remember everything: the brown khaki pants, the layers of gray and green T-shirts, the red rose in his hand. He was holding a red rose? Who was that for?
Juliet nearly screamed as his sherry colored eyes settled on her and focused on her green sweater. Then he walked up to her with steady, even strides and extended the rose to her.
Then, it clicked. Was it possible that Seth Halkias was ReadyEyes808?
“Hi,” he said easily. “Thanks for agreeing to meet me, though we’ve met before. Your name’s Juliet, right?”
Juliet took the rose and touched its petals with her fingertips. She gulped nervously before responding. “Thank you. Yes, I’m Juliet. I remember you walked me home last week. You’re Seth, the director of Safewalk. So, that explains why you’re allowed to instant message and play video games when you’re at work.”
“Basically.” Seth laughed. “See? I told you. It’s very respectable.”
“Very.”
He put his hands in his pockets, completely ignoring everyone else in the room, even though they were all staring at him. Then a half-smile played upon his lips in self-ridicule. “Yeah, if I’d known Pearl Moon was going to be you, I would not have got you a red rose.”
“Why not?” she asked, slightly affronted.
He smiled weakly before locking eyes with her and saying unabashedly, “I would have gotten you a bouquet of white lilies. Red isn’t really for you.”
“Aren’t lilies for funerals?” Fiona said, interrupting their exchange and making her presence known.
Seth turned his head slightly toward her, “Depends on your culture, doesn’t it? For some of us, they symbolize youth and beauty.” His voice was smooth and completely unruffled by Fiona’s challenge.
“You know about that sort of thing?” Fiona gushed, changing her tune. “You really belong with us tonight. We’re discussing plants and their medicinal properties. Please join us.”
“That was the plan all along,” he said, putting his hand in the small of Juliet’s back and guiding her toward the knot of members in the center of the greenhouse.
Everyone sat together on the floor in a circle on straw mats that the three witches had brought. The witches provided the food. The menu, though small, was delicious. They served mango and pomegranate on large green leaves. When the mango slices reached Seth, Rylan perked up. Juliet knew he was watching carefully to see if Seth would eat the fruit. He wanted to see if he was really a vampire.
Seth declined saying, “Sorry, I gag on mango.” But he willingly accepted the pomegranate which was served scored and still attached to the rind. He broke off and ate the kernels expertly. Juliet had never seen anyone eat anything so beautifully. There was one moment when a drop of red juice dripped down the side of his chin.
Juliet stared.
“Is there something on my face?” Seth asked, smiling broadly. So broadly in fact that the corners of his mouth spread like a curtain to unveil two very sharp-looking canines.
“Blood,” Juliet mumbled, completely mesmerized by the red on the powder-white of his flesh.
“What did you say?” Seth asked, leaning forward.
Juliet pulled herself together and said, “You’ve got a little juice on your chin.”
“Really? How crass!” He pulled a handkerchief from one of his cargo pockets and wiped his face.
But Juliet couldn’t get the vision of his fangs and the red dribble, like blood, out of her mind. Her rational self told her that he probably wasn’t a vampire, especially since he ate fruit with enjoyment, but for the romantic appeal of that picture, he might as well have been.
The group talked about the different plants in the greenhouse, but Juliet couldn’t focus on their conversation. She saw only Seth. When she wasn’t looking at him, she felt his eyes on her, but she had to push that idea out of her head. There was no way he could be interested in her. He was clearly completely out of her league.
By the end of the meeting, Fiona was working hard to recruit him. She explained how Blanche, Cerise and Tawnee were witches and then she told him about her and Halona’s psychic powers. He didn’t look at all surprised or doubtful of the truth of her words, but when she explained about Taylor and Rylan being conjoined twins, he gave a disgusted sigh.
“They’re lying,” he said scornfully.
“Beg your pardon,” Taylor said, popping her head around Tawnee’s back. “What did you just say?”
“You’re lying,” he said without apology, looking directly into her eyes.
Fiona was a little confused at his hostility and shifted her position to back-up Taylor and Rylan. “They have the scars from when they were separated. Do you want to see them? You’re probably just thinking that conjoined twins have to be the same gender. I should warn you, one of them is cross-dressing. It’s a game they like to play.”
Seth didn’t look one iota impressed or deterred. “No. They are lying. Taylor is a woman and that,” he said, pointing to Rylan, “Is male.”
“Prove it,” Halona challenged.
Seth gave her a funny look like he couldn’t believe what she was requesting.
“Without stripping them,” she amended after an awkward moment passed. “Explain why you think they’re lying.”
Seth took a deep breath and began. “I admit that both Taylor and Rylan each have a sort of androgynous quality to them. Rylan doesn’t have facial hair and Taylor isn’t curvy, however there’s a lot about them to prove they’re not faking their genders.” He lifted his hands and started counting his reasons on his fingers. “If they were conjoined twins they would need to be identical. They’re not. I know a lot of identical twins don’t look exactly alike even though they’re supposed to, but Taylor and Rylan have too many differences in their features. Rylan’s mouth is wider; his earlobes are detached while hers are attached. Most obvious of all, they have different eye colors.”
“He’s wearing contacts,” Halona countered.
“No, he isn’t,” Seth contradicted. “His eyes are red. Ask him to take out his contacts.”
Everyone’s attention switched to Rylan. He was stretched out on one of the mats, flipping through a book of photographs.
A muscle around his mouth twitched while everyone waited for his response. “Since it doesn’t constitute dropping my pants, I’ll do it once he’s finished. I want to hear the rest.”
Seth shrugged his shoulders and said, “You want me to go on? The rest might be too embarrassing.”
“Yes,” Rylan said confidently. “Finish.”
“Fine,” Seth said, continuing. “Taylor can’t be pretending to be a girl. She has to be a real one. She turned bright pink when I came in.”
“What does that prove?” Taylor squeaked, blushing furiously.
“A guy pretending to be a girl would never be able to turn that color. At least, his cheeks wouldn’t. If you were a guy your ears would have turned pink while your face would have stayed white as a sheet. Like Rylan here, who had a reaction to my entrance, but not like yours.”
“Are you saying I’m attracted to you?” Taylor flared.
“Are you saying you’re not?”
She bit her lip. “Yeah.”
“I realize I’m teasing you publicly and you don’t like it, but your sweet brother did ask me to continue. So, with that said, what about me is unattractive—besides the way I’m speaking right now?”
Taylor’s head drooped. “Nothing, I guess.”
“Thanks,” Seth said nicely.
“And what was Rylan’s reaction to your entrance?” Fiona asked, making sure she was still part of the conversation.
“He took one look at me and turned his back. He doesn’t like me. It’s just my hypothesis, but he seems to think I’m up to something.”
“Are you?” Fiona questioned, her eyebrows in the air.
“Not really. I came here to meet my favorite blogger and have a look at her student group. That’s about it.”
“Are you going to join our club?” Tawnee asked shyly, flicking her long blonde hair with her fingers.
The entire group perked up at Tawnee’s question and the challenge for Rylan to take out his contact lenses was completely forgotten.
Seth smiled at her and shook his head. “I can’t. I’m the director of Safewalk. I can’t join a club that meets every Friday night at midnight. I have work to do. I skipped out tonight and that’s fine, but I can’t miss work all the time.”
“Ah, that’s too bad,” Tawnee moaned, real disappointment flashing through her eyes.
“And I really should be ducking out now. I have to stop by the office. Juliet?” he asked turning toward her. “Can I walk you back to your dorms now, or were you planning on staying here longer?”
“No. Please walk me. We haven’t had much time to talk.”
“That’s true,” Seth agreed as he got to his feet. Then he spoke specifically to Fiona, “Thanks so much for letting me visit and thanks for the pomegranate. It was delicious.”
“Our pleasure,” Fiona said.
Juliet picked up her jacket and followed Seth.
“Juliet!” Rylan suddenly interrupted. “Are you really going to leave now? I was going to show you my photo album. Remember?”
Juliet shifted her eyes around the room as if she was looking for a way out, or at the very least, a polite way to refuse Rylan, but no plausible excuse came to mind.
After she had stalled about ten seconds, Rylan gave a disgusted sigh. “Never mind,” he said briskly. “If you get bored and decide you’re interested in my pictures, come by the clubroom this week.” Then he turned away from her.
Juliet felt awkward holding her coat and staring at Rylan’s contorted shoulder-blades, when Seth abruptly took her coat from her and helped her put it on. He helped her with each arm and then he rested his hands briefly on her shoulders before he pulled away. Juliet felt her heart race as Seth stole her attention from Rylan. She was breathless. She had never had a man help her with her coat before. Not only that, but she could hardly remember the last time a guy had done anything to treat her like a lady.
“Good night,” Seth said softly to the crowd before he pushed the glass door open. “After you,” he whispered into Juliet’s ear.
She stepped through the door, but his warm breath close to her ear was doing irrational things to her system. With his breath down the back of her neck she was getting so hot that she wanted to take her coat off, but she didn’t dare remove it when he had put it on her so carefully.
Then they were alone in the dark hallway, with only the sound of their footfalls on the tile floor.
“It’s kind of cold out. Do you mind if we stop by my locker to pick up my coat before we go outside?” he asked, suddenly sounding casual.
“It’s no trouble,” she said, her breath uneven. She held her red rose and blankly touched the thorns protruding from the stem. Even though it was difficult for her, she managed to say, “Is this really you? Are you really the type to meet a girl on the internet, bring her a beautiful flower and help her with the door like a gentleman? Your post online made it sound like you were a bad guy who took advantage of women and hated himself because he couldn’t help it.”
Seth grimaced and shook his head cynically. “I’m sorry. I expected tonight to go much differently. I expected you to be a different sort of person.”
“Really? Who did you expect?”
He paused before he answered her. He seemed to be thinking very carefully. “Would it be all right if I told you the truth?”
Juliet’s mouth went completely dry, but she nodded and gave him an encouraging smile. “You can tell me anything.”
“It’s just that if I explain it to you... I don’t know how you’ll react. You might not believe me.”
“Do I look like the sort of person who would have a hard time accepting something unconventional? You’ve just met my friends.”
Seth smiled like he was thinking something ironic. “What I want to confess isn’t really in the same class as your friends’ secrets. It’s a little more unrealistic.”
“And you think those guys are realistic?” Juliet smiled. She was trying to predict what he was going to say. It seemed too outrageous for him to come right out and admit to being a vampire, but after being with those crazy people who thought they were witches, one soul separated by two bodies, and conjoined twins to boot, then maybe it wasn’t that strange. Would he tell her his secret? But what about the pomegranate? Wasn’t he a blood drinker?
“This is different,” he said after a moment. “You might think it is an act I use with every woman I meet.”
“You’ll have to take a chance,” she said, flirting.
“All right, here goes,” he said, sucking his breath in and making his chest puff out. “Last Friday night,” he began, “I posted my blog about meeting my goddess, the post you responded to. It was about you. I have seen you around campus several times and I’ve always been... drawn to you, but I…”
Juliet frowned deeply. “So, you think a relationship between the two of us would end in heartbreak and ruin?”
“Yeah. I was coming here tonight because I thought Pearl Moon would be the kind of woman I could complain to about my problems and she would take my attention away from what I really wanted... you.”
“You’re saying, you wrote about me on your blog after you walked me home last week?” Juliet asked, skeptical. She had been expecting something much different.
“Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?”
“Sure does,” she mumbled, trying to remember what he had written about his goddess. She had been so mesmerized by her vampire that she hadn’t given ReadyEyes’ posts much thought until this second. “So, I look innocent?” she continued, once she remembered his exact impression.
“Extremely.”
“A blank sheet of paper that you have no business writing on,” she said, trying to quote his post.
“You read that carefully, huh?”
“I’m sure every girl who reads your blog reads it carefully.”
“Well,” he said, touching her waist briefly and drawing her eyes to his eyes. “I need to amend what I said then. I don’t think you’re a blank piece of paper, but maybe more like a spring after a long winter—a new beginning that hasn’t been trampled on or spoiled. A piece of paper sounds pitifully plain and you are far too lovely for that.”
“You sound like you’ve thought about this a lot,” she commented dryly. He was right, she wasn’t convinced it wasn’t a line he fed every girl he met.
“Maybe,” he said running his fingers through his hair and leaving his hands behind his head as he walked.
Something triggered in Juliet’s brain just then and she suddenly understood. “This isn’t a line you tell every girl, is it?”
“No.”
“You’re saying all this because you are trying to scare me away, aren’t you?”
“Is it working?” he asked hopefully, dropping his hands and giving her the most charming smile.
“I did not expect a romance out of you,” she said forcefully, getting his attention. “I said on the internet that I wanted to be friends. I don’t believe your story about me being your goddess. It’s not true. You’re just using it as an excuse so you can pardon your way out of a romantic relationship you don’t want because I’m not the sort of woman you expected. You’re not attracted to me, and in reality I’m so far beneath you that you don’t even want to play around with me. Well, don’t worry about it. Just walk me home and get on with your life the way you were going to.” She stomped down the hallway three steps before she blurted, “I hate these awkward moments when a guy I’m not even dating dumps me. Especially after getting me a rose and saying those nice things to me in the greenhouse. Where do you get off?” By this point, Juliet was staring straight ahead and she was getting more and more angry, angry enough to tell off a conceited jerk—no matter how handsome he was. “You know what? You don’t have to bother walking me back to my dorm. I can manage quite well on my own. See ya!” Juliet dropped the rose on the tiling, turned around and started walking the way they had come.
“Where are you going?” Seth asked, scooping up the rose and hurrying after her. “Aren’t the dorms this way?”
“Yeah, but I’m going back to Rylan. He won’t mind walking me back, and when he spends time with me, he doesn’t try to fill my head with crap.”
Seth caught her by the elbow. “Rylan? Don’t do that. Something is wrong with that guy. Didn’t you hear me say that he has red eyes—naturally? Pink eyes occur rarely, but not blood red.”
Juliet rolled her own eyes and tried to pull her arm away. “Yeah, well, he never took his contacts out, so you didn’t prove that little theory.”
“It’s not a theory. Something is wrong with that guy.”
Juliet stopped resisting. “And you’re perfect?”
Seth held onto her arm and gave her a serious look.
She faltered. “Okay, fine. What’s wrong with him?”
“He’s... not what he seems to be.”
“So, he is a chick?”
“No, no, no,” Seth said, shaking his head. “I can’t explain it.”
“Well, could you please explain to me why you couldn’t be civil enough to simply take me to my room without making sure that I knew there was no possibility I could be your girlfriend? Because I’ve got news for you. I already knew that. Probably every girl who looks at you simultaneously knows she’s not good enough for you.”
“No! You are the one who is too good for me!” he said, desperately seeking her eyes.
“Whoa,” Juliet laughed, squirming in his grasp. “Did that lame excuse actually come out of your mouth? I think everyone knows what that line really means, so you might need to learn a new one for letting the girls down easy. That one doesn’t work. Sorry.”
He looked at the ceiling and seemed to be frantically searching for a solution. “I can’t convince you?”
“No, but don’t let that bother you. Since your object is to get away from me as quickly as possible, you shouldn’t have any problem letting go of my arm and going to your office, or wherever the heck you were planning to go once you had dropped me off. I get the hint, so let go already.”
He took a deep breath. “I can’t. I can’t leave you to go back to Rylan. You would be better off with me.”
“Well, what if I don’t want you? What if you’ve offended me so badly that I never want to hear from you again? Ever think of that?”
“Wait!” Seth said. His face lit up slightly. He looked like he had just discovered the answer he had been searching for. “You said in your post that you fell in love with a vampire. Was it him?”
What?
Now Juliet was the one who was stuck since she had written those posts about Seth and not Rylan. She took a deep breath to prepare herself for what she had to say. “No,” she said, her voice sounded like she was under water.
“But you are attracted to dark things?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?” he asked, and when she didn’t answer he went on. “You know if you keep walking down that road, you’ll end up dark too.”
“How is that any of your business?”
“You are Spring and you want to make yourself Autumn? Why?”
Juliet fought his arm harder and when her voice came out, it was much louder than she expected. She was panicking. “Couldn’t you tell from my posts?” she practically yelled. “You look at me and you see Spring. I look at myself, and I see that something is missing.”
“Missing?” Seth yelled back. “What could be missing from the purest of beginnings?”
“Experience... Pain... Love... Joy... The white moon’s body against the black velvet of a midnight sky? An ageless passion that would fill the void of loneliness I want to escape from? That’s why I am interested in the dark side of life. I want a love that’s agonizing in its sweetness, untamable, eternal,” Juliet belted out. Now she was saying things she had never put into words and expressing opinions she didn’t know she had. “I want a love that will not turn its back on me or change its mind about me. I want a love as strong as blood and just as hot.”
“Is that what your love for your vampire is really about?”
“Huh?”
“Who is that guy? You said you first saw him at school. Have you had the courage to introduce yourself to him when you like him so much, or are you choosing to live with unrequited love?”
“I met him,” she claimed hotly.
“And?”
“He turned out to be a jerk,” she accused without thinking. “It was really disappointing. He wasn’t dark at all. I wish I could find a guy who would treat me properly. I want to be seen as a real woman with needs instead of an adorable kid who has to be sheltered, but what does that have to do with you?”
Seth suddenly planted both feet right in front of her and put his face close to hers. His scent went straight through Juliet’s head like he had put a gun to her forehead and pulled the trigger. She couldn’t think straight with his heady cologne infecting her senses. He was too close to her. What was he doing? He no longer looked like a pearly statue crafted to look like a vampire. Now he appeared a demon from her dreams whose shadow covered everything. It was the flicker of violence in his eyes. It was the wetness of his bottom lip and the way he towered over her. Even though she wasn’t cornered, she couldn’t possibly escape.
“Choose me,” Seth said, finally sounding sincere.
“What?” she muttered, quite out of breath.
“If that’s how you feel, then I want you. If you’re just going to run out and let some monster like Rylan ruin you, then I want you.”
“Be real,” she said, closing her eyes and trying to brush past him.
“I am being real,” he said, clasping her elbow.
Her shoulders fell. “Are you saying you want to be my boyfriend?”
“Sure. If that’s how you want to classify the love you want, then sure, I’ll be your boyfriend. I’ll be whatever you want.”
“Weren’t you going to ruin me?”
“Better me than anybody else,” he said persuasively.
“What if I don’t want you?” she