Juliet and Rylan stepped onto the street. Above the city lights, Juliet could see the full moon. That was right. It had been about a month since the Occult’s Addict had gone moon-gazing at the campus observatory. Juliet got an idea.
“Hey Rylan, can we go back to the university? Do you think we could go to the observatory again and have a look at the moon?”
“No,” Rylan laughed, his tone slightly mocking. “It’s probably all locked up and it’s way too late to get permission.”
“Oh,” Juliet mumbled, disappointed.
“Besides, I’m worried about you. It’s freezing and you’re not properly dressed. What a thin jacket! My car is parked a few blocks away. You’ll be an icicle if we don’t hurry.”
Juliet held onto his arm tightly as they rushed down the street. The shoes she had borrowed from Halona didn’t exactly have the best grip and the sidewalks were icy.
“I should buy you a fur coat to keep you warm. You never dress properly,” Rylan reproved.
Their footsteps sounded lightly on the pavement and the street lamp above them flickered. The wind curled around Juliet’s face and she put her bare hand to her cheek to warm it. It was quiet as they approached the entrance of an alleyway, but in the eerie silence she heard a lilting voice in the alley from behind a dumpster.
“Hello pretty,” it said.
Rylan froze. Juliet clutched his arm and tried to make him move along, but he paused at the mouth of the alley. He craned his head to see who had spoken to them.
“Let’s go. I’m really cold,” Juliet urged.
“No, I want to see who that was,” Rylan said as he pried her fingers from his arm. “Just wait here, while I go have a look.”
Juliet crossed her arms and tried not to think about the way her frozen earrings kept swinging against her naked neck. She should have brought a scarf.
Rylan walked back to the alley and peered inside. “Huh,” he said, “I thought someone was there.”
“So there’s no one there. Can we just go?”
“One sec,” he said as he stepped into the darkness of the alley.
Juliet took a deep breath for patience. What was he doing? Besides it being late, there was also no one else walking on this particular street. Everywhere she looked there were nothing but closed banks and black-windowed corporate offices. The only bar on the street had probably been Hugo’s. Seconds were passing and Rylan still hadn’t come back. Juliet started tapping her toe. In two minutes, she was going to whip out her cell phone and call for a taxi.
Suddenly, long arms wound around her from behind and pulled her backwards. She would have slipped, but she was lifted clean off the ground. One large hand gripped her wrists, squashing them together, and their other hand covered her mouth. When she breathed, her nostrils were filled with the most putrid stench she had ever experienced. The same lilting voice whispered, “Hello Pretty,” into her ear.
Then the monster began to do the most impossible thing. It began to run, while holding her. Juliet struggled, but the smell was too much for her and she was weak from giving blood that day. She just didn’t have the same fight in her she normally had.
Before she knew it, she was thrown inside a garbage bin. Her head struck painfully against the side of the crate as she slid off a slippery black trash bag onto the empty bottom.
“Ouch!” she screamed.
“Shut up!” the monster rasped as it jumped in on top of her. Once again, its hand clamped over her mouth to keep her from calling out.
Shadow covered its face, she could only see the moon hanging over its shoulder. She focused on the white, shining sphere to steady herself because she couldn’t move and that disgusting smell was still assaulting her senses. Even her eyes were watering.
“I know you. You’re the girl with that siren’s scent all over you,” the thing said as it bent down and sniffed Juliet’s throat. “You’ve had your blood drained recently. But, your lover was good to you—no bite marks.” The thing laughed softly as it licked the side of her neck. “He left enough for me.”
Juliet heard its lips smack as it enjoyed the moment before it made good on its threat to bite her. Juliet screamed through her nose, trying to make any noise she could before the monster attacked.
“Juliet!” she heard Rylan shout.
She wasn’t sure if he heard her. His voice didn’t sound alarmed. She tried screaming again, but the thing muffled her voice by plugging her nose and smothering her.
“Juliet!” Rylan tried again. He seemed to be standing right beside the garbage bin. Juliet suffered a tortured second where she agonized over whether or not he was going to find her.
BANG!
The metal container shuddered. Rylan must have kicked it. Juliet’s ears rang painfully at the sound. The thing’s fingers loosened enough for Juliet to get breath to try to scream again.
Rylan hefted himself up on the lip of the dumpster to have a look inside and as he did so, his head eclipsed the moon. His white-blond hair lit by the moonlight looked like a halo, and in the shadow of his face shone two sparkling red eyes.
The monster turned and regarded him. “Bloody hell,” it whispered. Then it turned to Juliet and shook her. “What the hell is wrong with you? You hang out with sirens during the day and then at night, you’re with him? Are you insane?”
Rylan grabbed the thing by its dirty collar and dragged it out of the bin with two hands and a heavy struggle.
“Let go!” the thing hollered as it tumbled over the side.
Once it was out, Juliet got to her feet.
“Stay in there,” Rylan instructed darkly, as he headed into the darkest part of the alley with the thing in tow.
“I wasn’t going to kill her,” the thing whined as Rylan forced it along.
“Oh?” Rylan asked, sounding doubtful, but in complete control.
“No way. She just looked so delicious wearing those high heels. You’re with her, so you must understand the attraction.”
“You’re saying the wrong thing,” Rylan informed it callously.
“Uh... I mean... I didn’t know who you were. I would never have touched a woman who was with you—never.”
“Still wrong.”
“I screwed up!” the thing finally screamed.
“Fucked up,” Rylan corrected coarsely. “My guess is that you still have no idea who you’re dealing with and who exactly you have pissed off. If you weren’t such a pathetic little gimp, you’d realize that an apology isn’t going to do anything. How dare you put your filthy fingers on her! Come here, you little bastard,” Rylan said as he jolted the thing around the corner.
“I didn’t know!” Juliet heard the thing yelp desperately.
Screams and curses echoed down the alley and Juliet was only left to assume that Rylan was beating the living daylights out of the thing. It was a vampire. Juliet was certain of that now. It was exactly what Seth described—loathsome.
She was so relieved Rylan had come to her rescue that she hadn’t noticed exactly how badly she had hurt her head. Now that the danger was gone, she gingerly fingered under her hair where a bump was growing. She was also missing a shoe. She guessed she lost it somewhere in the vampire’s mad dash. She stood with one foot on tip-toe in the dumpster waiting for Rylan to return. Shivering, she wished he would come back and take her home.
When he finally reappeared, he ran lightly down the alley with an air of weightlessness that seemed entirely inappropriate considering the circumstances. His hair reflected the moonlight and his eyes still appeared as two pin-pricks of red in the dark shadow of the alley. His coat was open and his throat bare.
“Juliet,” he called, with genuine concern. “Are you okay? That freak didn’t hurt you, did he?”
“He hurt my head,” Juliet said, trying to control her disorientation. Things were getting stranger and her head was throbbing. “Why is your coat open, Rylan?” she asked weakly.
He shook his head wearily and smiled broadly. Looking down at his chest, he said, “I was suddenly too hot to leave it done up. Don’t fret it. Here, let me help you out.”
Rylan put his arms around her and helped her out of the bin.
“Do y-your coat up. You’re freezing,” she chattered.
“Nah, I feel fine. Let’s go find your shoe.”
“Yeah. Especially since it’s Halona’s shoe.”
Rylan let her walk a few steps and then he swept her up in his arms. “I can’t let you walk like that, now can I? You’ll get frostbite on your foot.”
They walked like that for a few steps before Juliet asked, “That was a vampire, wasn’t it?”
“Seth told you about real vampires, didn’t he? That’s why you changed your mind about him being one, right?”
“Yeah,” she agreed quietly.
“Did he tell you what I am?” he asked calmly, his voice sounding lower than usual.
“No. I don’t think he knows.”
“I’m sure he does.”
After several seconds, Juliet said, “Your eyes glow red, Rylan. Because of the deal you made with that guy in the afterlife? What did it do to you? Are you human, like me?”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, kissing the side of her head. “I’m human.”
“Then why are your eyes red? It’s unnatural.”
Rylan didn’t answer her, but instead, slid her out of his arms and set her one foot on the ground beside her fallen shoe. She balanced by holding onto his shoulder while he bent down and helped her slide her foot into the delicate high heel.
“Let’s go back to your place,” he said evenly.
“What about you? Don’t you need to clean up? I mean, shouldn’t we go to your hotel?”
“I don’t need anything special to clean up. I don’t need anything except you,” he said gently as he took her hand and led her back down the street toward his car. His coat flapped open in the wind and snowflakes fell against his white shirt. His shirt was slick with sweat and molded to his body perfectly. It would have been a beautiful sight, except the whiteness and his contoured torso reminded her of something, of someone.
***
As they drove, Juliet turned the heat up full blast. She put her ice-cold fingers over the heater. Rylan didn’t seem to notice the cold. He was drumming his fingers against the steering wheel to the melody of nothing. The radio wasn’t even playing.
“I’ve never seen you like this before,” Juliet said, trying to sound dreamy, like she liked him, like she liked the moment.
“Well, you’re going to think I’m a sadist, but killing that vamp was a really good time,” he said, his white teeth flashing.
Juliet nearly choked. She had thought that he merely beat it up. She had no idea that he’d murdered it. “How could you do that?” she asked brokenly.
“Easily,” he laughed. “You shouldn’t feel sorry for a disgusting creature like that. No matter what he said, he was going to kill you. I mean, I knew he was lurking around, but I never imagined he would be so stupid as to come after you. Besides, the death of a cursed creature like that is so cleansing. I’ve done the world a favor.”
Juliet swallowed her fear and asked the question that was on her mind. “How did you do it?”
“Vamps are practically falling apart as it is. It’s not hard for a mere human like me to take one out. I took off my coat. He thought I couldn’t control him when I let him go. I didn’t even get my shirt sleeves rolled up before he charged me. So, I slammed the heel of my hand through his ribs and tore out his heart. Well, it’s not quite that simple, but you know, the less gory version for you.”
“Thanks,” she said, holding her stomach. “Then why aren’t you covered in blood?”
“It’s not like it sprayed,” Rylan laughed. Then he went on to explain, “Their blood doesn’t pulse through their bodies like ours. It’s old blood, brown and half mucus. I took his heart and crammed it through a manhole. I can still feel the slime of his blood in the cracks of my hands. I’m gonna have to clean off my steering wheel and have my coat dry cleaned and probably fifteen other things because of what I’ve done tonight, but what the hell?”
Juliet forced herself to calm down. Seth said that he would have killed the vampire if he’d encountered it, and Seth made it sound like he would have done something more disgusting, like he would have eaten it.
“You never thought Seth was a vampire, did you?” she asked.
Rylan hesitated for a moment before he answered. A little of the excitement had come out of his voice. “No, I didn’t.”
“Well, then why were you investigating him?” she asked, just as Rylan pulled into the visitor parking outside her dormitory.
He shrugged his shoulders. “Doesn’t really matter now, but I was hoping he’d lead me to you.”
He got out of the car to open Juliet’s door for her. She got to it before he did and stood outside the car, taking an inventory of her borrowed dress in the blaring white lights of the parking lot. It needed cleaning, too.
***
Rylan went to the community bathroom to wash the remnants of blood smeared all the way up to his elbow. When Juliet saw the vampire’s blood, she understood why Rylan had nothing to fear, walking around in public with splatters of brown up his arm. It looked like mud or paint, and the smell was rancid, not like fresh blood.
When Juliet stepped into her room, she was alone, if only for the moment. She shook off Halona’s heels and as she bent to pick one up, her head swam. She realized she’d have to check the damage to Halona’s finery the next day, because that night she was going to be lucky to get herself out of her dress without Rylan’s help. Determined to do it herself, she put her fingers to the zipper. She got it down as far as her shoulder blades before it was out of her reach. Taking a deep breath, she reasoned that she should just wait for Rylan to get back. He would take perfect care of her. Hadn’t he proved it? Juliet’s face twisted in discomfort that had nothing to do with her pounding head.
Why couldn’t she let herself fall in love with Rylan? But there was something inside her that revolted at the concept. She couldn’t do it. She squirmed and bent herself in half until she got the zipper down. Relieved, she tossed the dress aside. Next, she removed her pantyhose that was hopelessly run up one leg and threw them into the wastebasket.
She needed sweats. She needed warm, comfortable, unglamorous sweatpants. In her drawer, there were still a few items from before her wardrobe purge and she was glad of it. She put on neon blue track pants, a plain gray long-sleeved shirt, a short-sleeved t-shirt over top that had a gigantic blue star in sequins across the chest and green and blue striped slippers.
Then she hopped into bed, just as Rylan’s knock came.
“Hi,” he said pleasantly, as he entered the room and kicked the door shut behind him. “I think I came up with a plan for getting rid of your visions when we kiss,” he said as he bolted the door.
Juliet pulled the covers over herself. “What?”
“I think we should have sex,” he said, pulling a condom out of his pants’ pocket.
Juliet swallowed her shock and motioned for him to come to the bed. “Give me your hand,” she ordered. He did as he was told and she put his fingers to the swelling bump on the side of her head. “I’m not really in the mood, but besides that, I don’t want to. I’ve never had... you know... sex before and I want it to be really special.”
“I just saved you from a vampire. What could make it more special than that?” he reasoned, unreasonably.
“Well, I could be healthy and unhurt,” she offered.
“I’ll get you some Tylenol. No big deal.”
“No,” Juliet said interrupting him. “I have only known you for a month. Don’t be so impatient.”
“I’m not impatient,” he denied.
“Then, don’t push this. I need to learn so much more about you before I know if our relationship can be like that.” Juliet took a sudden leap she hadn’t planned to take and said truthfully, “And I’m deeply sorry, but I need to sort out my feelings for Seth.”
Rylan’s face went from charismatic with a dash of recklessness to furious and nothing but reckless in less than a second. “I thought that was over.”
“You’re great, Rylan. Everything you have done and said has been pretty much perfect since that night I brought you home. It’s true, you’re wonderful. You saved me from real danger tonight. You’re hot and you look amazing with your shirt undone a bit. There’s something about you that’s fascinating and mysterious and I can hardly take my eyes off you. So, there’s not a thing wrong with you—you’re perfect. I’m just not sure that we’re right for each other. And I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Are you saying you want to break up?” he asked through clenched teeth.
“No. What I’m saying is that, I’m fragile—you knew I was fragile—and I want to go very, very, very, very slowly. I don’t want to break up. I want us to spend more time together, but I’m not ready yet, no matter what fantastic thing happened tonight.”
Juliet put her arms around him and brought him into an embrace. She wanted to reassure him and let him know that he could still have her heart, but he had to wait until she was comfortable. His arms tightened around her, and they held each other. His body was chilled and so she grabbed one of her blankets and pulled it over his shoulders. When she leaned forward to see if the blanket covered his whole back, she saw something dark and metal sticking out of the back of his pants.
“What’s that?” she asked, reaching for it.
“Nothing!” Rylan refuted and jumped to his feet.
“No, really,” Juliet said, getting out of bed and chasing him. “It looked like you had a gun in your pants.”
“It’s my wallet,” he retorted.
Juliet gawked. “You carry your wallet in the waistband of your briefs? Yuh-huh. Besides, I saw the handle. Why do you have a gun? That’s really freaky. Why would you bring a gun with you to my dorm room? During a date? At the same time you’re asking me for sex? Oh... Rylan…” she moaned, her brain turning in circles she had never imagined her brain could turn in. “Were you going to rape me?” she whispered, her hand on her chest.
“No!” Rylan said, pulling the gun from his pants and flipping it open to show the empty chambers to her. “It’s not loaded or anything. I just have it in case of an emergency.”
“What kind of emergency?” she wailed. “Get out!”
“Wait! You don’t understand.”
“Get out NOW! I’ll call security,” she said, picking up her phone.
He snatched it out of her hand. “I can’t go until you listen to me. I have it for a reason, but it’s not that bad of a reason. This is just a game.”
“Give me BACK my PHONE!” she shouted, reaching for it.
“It’s just a game we play. You run and I try to catch you.”
“It’s a game? What the bloody hell are you talking about? Get OUT!”
Rylan didn’t respond, instead he moved from his position and turned to peer out the window. Juliet stopped, too. She heard music. Not ordinary music. She heard something special, like angels singing. She and Rylan chased to the window and flung it open together.
Standing on the snow-covered lawn, was Seth. He was wearing a black trench coat and a dark red scarf. There he was, singing in public. Other dormitory windows were sliding open, but no matter how much noise there was from shocked students, Seth’s voice floated above them.
There were so many roads I had to travel
So many demons I had to fight
To find my way back to your arms
And the destiny we carve together
I sing for you
Juliet turned without saying a word and dashed out of the room and down the hall to the staircase. She jumped down the steps, two and three at a time. It must have been a moment before Rylan realized what was happening, because Juliet had already made it down two flights before she heard him barreling after her at the top of the stairs.
“Don’t go out there!” he yelled down to her.
And as the day turns into night
What we’ve done turns my blood
But I want to be with you
No matter how many times my heart stops
I sing for you
Juliet didn’t stop. The only thing she needed to know was that Seth was there. He had come and there was no way his song wasn’t for her. She had to get to him. She had to get away from Rylan and his gun. Security might not be helpful, the police would take too long, but Seth, she could trust him completely. She had been wrong all along. Seth was the one who she was safe with, not Rylan. Seth would protect her.
She didn’t wait to catch her breath and pushed herself through the double doors into the lobby.
So welcome into my arms
I’ll accept the pain of loving you
If you’ll accept the way I breathe
And the way I die for you
I sing for you
Out the front doors and into the snow, she ran. Rylan was right behind her and caught her elbow at the exact moment the first snowflake fell on her flushed cheek.
“Seth!” she hollered.
Seth spotted her and sprinted toward her.
Rylan pulled out his gun and put it to Juliet’s temple. He covered her mouth with his free hand and yelled, “Stay away from us!”
Seth obeyed and stopped dead in his tracks.
Juliet struggled hard. She bit Rylan’s fingers and when he pulled away in pain she cried out, “It’s not loaded. Help me!”
Seth needed no further encouragement and rushed to them. Grabbing Rylan’s free hand, he twisted it painfully and wrenched it away from Juliet. She broke away from the two of them and stood a safe distance behind Seth.
“Still human, eh?” Seth said coldly as Rylan’s serious e