Falling Petals Chapter Five

“William is back?” Lisa gasped. I nodded and grimaced.

            “Apparently yes. I knew the deadline was coming up soon but I fully expected everyone to forget me.” I explained. Lisa frowned, thinking.

            “What about Jacob?”

            “I’m not sure. He’ll probably come back on the… tenth.” my mouth went slack.

            “Oh my god, but the tenth is…”

            “Graduation.” we said together, dismayed.

            “That’s not going to end well.” I shook my head.

            “What’s not going to end well?” Eric asked from the hallway, blinking at us drowsily in the dim morning light. Lisa jumped guiltily.

            “Lisa was trying to get me to have waffles for breakfast.” I lied smoothly. Elbowing Lisa, I laughed. She laughed with me. We reached out together, our powers building on each other’s as we gently pushed Eric into believing us.

            “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Eric chuckled.

            “That’s what I said!”

            “So who was that guy yesterday?” Eric asked, oblivious to my warning glare.

            “Oh. That was William. He’s- oof!” Lisa stopped, rubbing her side where I had elbowed her once again.

            “If you ditch with me I’ll explain later.” I offered.

            “Sure. I’ll go get Dad to call us in.” Eric grinned at me, the left. I turned to Lisa and we burst out laughing.

            “Wow, he’s sooooo cool! He has his dad call him in sick when he’s ditching. That’s so bad.” She said sarcastically.

            “I almost feel guilty about missing school. Then again, it’s not like I haven’t graduated before!” I giggled.

            “Senioritis?”

            “For the hundredth time.” I waggled my eyebrows. We burst into new peals of laughter. When we finally settled down Lisa looked up at me.

            “Come down to breakfast with me?” she pleaded, sticking out her bottom lip and making puppy dog eyes.

            “I don’t eat breakfast.”

            “Yes you do.” she bared her teeth and made fangs with her fingers.

            “Then my breakfast is right there.” I pointed to the minifridge.

            “If you come downstairs I’ll warm it up for you and put it in a glass with a sugar glazed rim.” Lisa offered, opening the door for me. I resisted for a moment but I knew I would give in eventually.

            “Race you!” I shouted. Laughing, Lisa bolted. I gave her a moment’s head start and then darted after her. It only took me a second to dash down the hall and the stairs and overtake her. I fell back so we both burst into the room at the same time. Panting and laughing hysterically we made for the table. It didn’t take us long for us to notice Anna was there already, picking at her food while she stared at the table. We ignored her, turning our attention back to each other. Lisa ran for the kitchen, shouting out the double doors over the chef’s angry voice as she punched the buttons on the microwave.

            “You are such a cheater! You totally let me win!”

            “No way! We tied fair and square!” I yelled back, sitting down as far away from Anna as I could possibly get. The chef shouted at Lisa mercilessly until the doors flew open and she came through them, laughing breathlessly.

            “Bon appetite.” Lisa said, plunking the glass down onto the table unceremoniously.

            “Ah, c’est excellente.” I fibbed playfully, sipping from the glass. Lisa chowed down her steak and mushroom omelet while I steadily drank my breakfast. She finished before me and bounced in her seat while she waited. Lisa looked up and scowled angrily.

            “Shadow. Please, I need to talk to you.” Anna pleaded. She had quietly made her way around the table until she was sitting right next to me.

            “Well, Anna, I don’t believe I want to talk to you.” I said, turning my glass around in my hands and inspecting it for flaws.

            “Shadow, please.” she begged.

            “No. You don’t deserve it.” I hissed. Standing abruptly, I stalked out of the room. Lisa hurried after me, rushing to keep up with my long strides.

            “Maybe you should talk to her.” Lisa said tentatively. I spun to face her.

            “After everything she’s done to me?” I tried hard not to yell, knowing it wasn’t Lisa’s fault.

            “I still think you should give her a chance to explain.” Lisa shrugged.

            “Fine. You go ahead and go to school.” I shooed her on. She smiled at me gratefully. I took a deep breath and went back down the hallway. I put a hand on the door and froze.

            “Come on Anfanasia. Please, you need to tell her the truth. She needs to know what really happened. She needs to know what we did and she has to know the other part of your curse.” a voice said, sending shivers down my spine.

            “William.” I breathed.

            “I can’t. She won’t even talk to me William. She won’t listen. Shadow and Lunnette both hate me now. What am I supposed to do, handcuff her to a pole and cram the truth down her throat while I hope she doesn’t choke on it?” Anna sobbed. Anger rose, fuzzing the edges of my vision.

            “If you have to. She needs to know!” William exclaimed.

            “William.” Anna murmured. I swallowed the scream that threatened and took another deep, calming breath. Then I pushed open the doors so hard they hit the wall.

            “Sorry, forgot my breakfast.” I said nonchalantly. I strode over to the table and picked up the glass, draining half of it slowly and with my head tipped back. I licked my lips slowly with my eyes closed, giving the appearance that the nasty liquid actually tasted good. I turned to face them with a slightly catty smile on my lips. The smile slipped from my face as the glass slipped from my numb fingers. The glass shattered on the floor, the crystalline tone ringing sweet in the silent room. Blood spread along the floor and I took a quick step back to avoid it.

            “Shadow, please, let me explain!” Anna said desperately. The strap of her nightgown was at her elbow. baring most of her full chest. The nightgown she was wearing was halfway translucent. William himself was bare-chested and half-soaked, like someone had poured water over his head.

            “You… you… bastard!” I shrieked. Shock was evident on William’s face while he backed up to avoid the synthetic blood as it crept toward his feet.

            “Shadow.” he choked out as reddish tears rose in his eyes. I stepped back again, holding up a hand.

            “Don’t. Please, just don’t.” I whispered. The I spun around and fled. As I ran for my room I slammed into a soft, warm barricade that sent me reeling.

            “Are you okay?” Eric asked gently, steadying me as I wobbled.

            “Yeah. Just a little to be out of here an alone with you.” I lied unsteadily, surprised when he didn’t see through it. Eric’s heart began to beat faster, making that scent that drove me wild more evident.

            “Well, why don’t we get going then?” he grinned widely. Pig. I thought, still caught up in William’s latest betrayal.

            “Lead the way.” I offered, gesturing toward the front door. Eric snatched up my hand and eagerly pulled me along. I grimaced behind his back, little pains shooting up my arm. Apparently I had pulled a muscle while I had slept the night before, though the pain radiated from the underside of my wrist. Eric opened my door for me and I slid into his car, folding my arms together carefully.

            “Where do you want to go?” Eric questioned, squeezing into the car on the other side.

            “Do you really need to ask that?” I raised an eyebrow at him, debating just letting him have what he wanted that afternoon and taking him so I could leave D.C., maybe even America, behind.

            “Nope.” Eric laughed. It grated on my nerves. He chatted about meaningless things as he drove the two minutes to get where we were going. As soon as we got there I burst out of the car, gulping in the clean forest air. The pond sparkled in the sunlight, casting a warm glow through the clearing. I kicked my shoes off and went up to the pond. I dipped a foot in to test the temperature.

            “Cold!” I gasped, jumping backward into Eric’s arms. He laughed, turning me around so I was facing him. I could feel his smile as he kissed me. I kissed him back with all the passion and anger I had been storing up for the last year. H seemed surprised, but he definitely was enjoying it. Eric slid his hand up my shirt. Breathing in deeply I shut my brain off, a sure sign that I was about to do something immensely stupid. We were quickly right back where we had been when William had interrupted us the day before. But this time it was Eric who pulled away, who rolled us over so I was on top of him.

            “I want you to bite me.” he announced. I froze and stared down at him with wide, shocked eyes.

            “No.” I shook my head fervently.

            “Don’t pretend you don’t want to. I see the way you look at me sometimes and the way your eyes turn red before you look away. I know you want it Shadow. And I know you won’t hurt me. Fire won’t let you.” Eric looked into my eyes that were slowly turning that same bloody red he had just mentioned.

            “No. I won’t risk it.” I tried to speak clearly around the growing obstruction in my mouth, those two delicate extensions of my bloodlust that longed for relief.

            “Shadow, please do it. I love you, and I want this.” Eric declared. My breath froze in my throat. I tried to laugh, a choked and helpless sound.

            “Eric, we’ve only know each other for seven days. Taking blood is more intimate for me than having sex. Don’t you think you should at least take a girl to the movies first?” I gulped and smiled waveringly.

            “Oh god, you’re right. I’m so sorry. I should have thought with my head instead of my…” he cut off suggestively.

            “Yeah, that would probably be a good thing.” I laughed uneasily.

            “So… do you want to go to the movies with me?” Eric inquired hopefully. I knew that if I said yes it would mean I was willing to have sex with him.

            “Can we double with Lisa and Steve?” I asked, making it a definite maybe. Eric’s eyes lit with joy though he frowned ever so slightly.

            “Sure, but aren’t they in school?”

            “The moment I text Lisa she’ll leave. And if I know my sister, so will Steve.” I grinned. Then I hopped up, walking over to the car for my phone. I typed a quick text so Lisa would drive to the movie theatre and then got in the car.

            “Harkins?” Eric queried. I nodded. My phone buzzed with Lisa’s affirmative, then we were gone.

*                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *                    *

            Three hours later we sat outside the theatre, laughing at the movie we had just seen.

            “Are they ever going to stop making those movies?” I giggled, leaning against Lisa on the bench.

            “Not as long as there are teenage girls in the world.” Steve chuckled.

            “Well what’s next? Sunset?” we cracked up, attracting the angry glares of a posse of tween-age girls who had seen the movie too and were gushing over it lovingly. We had just seen another of those stupid Twilight movies, which had gotten even worse once they finished doing the books the author had written. The one we had seen was Full Moon, where Bella killed her precious Edward and the Volturi single-handedly and Rosalie somehow got pregnant.

            “Oh hey, look, it’s Anna!” Steve exclaimed. Lisa stopped him too late, after Anna noticed him waving and started over. Desperate, I pulled my hood up and shoved my hair back to hide it. Thankfully I had changed my clothes before I came here. I directed my gaze to the ground.

            “Steve, Eric. Lisa. And you are…?” Anna probed none too gently.

            “This is Steve’s cousin. She’s visiting from Kentucky.” Lisa said quickly.

            “Can’t she talk?” Anna questioned rudely.

            “She’s very shy.” Eric shrugged. Lisa looked up at Steve and made a shooing motion with her hands.

            “Is Rose okay with this?” Anna spoke my name sarcastically.

            “Why don’t we go over there and talk about it?” Eric was the one who caught on, dragging Anna and Steve around the curve of the building and out of earshot.

            “What are you going to do?” Lisa asked urgently. I shushed her and let the black mist pour out. It had been fighting to get out since the day before and came easily when I called it. When it reluctantly cleared away, Lisa gasped. I lowered my hood and shoulder length copper hair fell free. My shoulders were broader and my stature more muscular. My chest had diminished to almost nothing and I was a little taller. When I looked up, she could see my little nose, freckles and huge grass green eyes.

            “That. What do you think?” I spoke with a thick country accent.

            “Um, how long have you been able to do that?”

            “Since I got Eric’s blood off William’s lips. Please don’t ask.” I pleaded, silencing Lisa even as she opened her mouth to talk. I stood up and walked over to where Anna, Steve, and Eric were talking.

            “Hi. I’m Taylor Overwood.” I smiled.

            “Really? How old are you?”

            “Well, I’m seventeen today. Eric was just bein’ a gentleman and escortin’ me while Rose is, well, otherwise occupied.” I twanged. The doubt vanished from Anna’s face.

            “Well, it was nice to meet you. I’ll be going now.” she replied politely. Steve turned to Lisa.

            “What the hell happened to her?” his voiced raised to a dangerously high level.

            “I’ll explain. Come with me.” Lisa sighed. She shot me one more grin while she dragged Steve away. Eric stared at me and I watched as he clenched and unclenched his fists.

            “Ready to go?” I cleared my throat, unnerved by the feeling of my voice coming through another throat.

            “Uh, yeah.” Eric answered shakily. I frowned at him and then smiled with no idea why I did either.

            “Well, let’s go the.” I laughed when he just stood there awkwardly. Eric visibly shook himself before smiling unsteadily and heading back to his car. We got in quietly. As he drove I caught him looking at me every few seconds. My confusion grew.

            “Do you want to come upstairs with me?” I asked him when he pulled to a park in front of the White House.

            “Sure?” Eric’s voice rose. I covered my mouth with my hand to smother a laugh.

            “Well come on then!” I actually did laugh when I turned at the door to find him gawking at me from the car. He hurried to catch up to me; he didn’t even to lock the doors of his car. I led him to my room and locked the door behind us. Eric stood in the middle of the room, looking lost and confused. I put my hands on his shoulders and stretched up to kiss him. Eric responded half-heartedly and pulled away when my lips blossomed open beneath his.

            “What’s wrong?” I asked, biting my bottom lip and hoping he’d give me the right answer. He did.

            “Shadow, I love you, and right now you look like someone completely different. I know that it’s still you in there but I fell in love with you as, well, you.” Eric shrugged casually but worry showed in his eyes as he waited for my reaction.

            “So you don’t want me to kiss you?” I questioned. He quickly gave me the perfect answer again.

            “Of course I do. But I want you to kiss me, not Taylor Overwood.” honesty and trust shone in his eyes. Giving in, I released my hold on my new form. The black mist enfolded me and the new face slipped away. When I pulled the black mist back in, Eric sighed with relief and kissed me passionately. Shocked, I almost lost my grip on my powers. I yanked up my guard and sank into Eric’s warm embrace. When he bared his throat for me again, I thought if William and bit. Drinking deeply as the cloying effect of his blood took over, I imagined he was someone else. My body immediately responded to the human blood it had been denied for so long. My pulse came stronger and my skin grew warmer, flushing. Eric carefully stripped our clothes off and-

            My phone rang shrilly. I wrenched myself away from Eric. He watched me lick the blood from my lips; breathing heavily, he wiped the blood from the quickly healing puncture wounds in his neck.

            “Just leave it. Please.” he said. With my mind still on that other boy, I was tempted to do just that.

            “I can’t. It’s my sister. Hey Lisa!” I picked up the phone while I tried to catch my breath.

            “O…kay. I do not want to know what you were doing.” Lisa laughed. I blushed and Eric looked at me inquisitively.

            “Not yet. What’s up?” I managed to inject a small amount of normalcy into my voice.

            “You need to get to the school right now. Somebody learned what you are. Meet me after lunch and I’ll take you to them.” Lisa spoke quickly and quietly like she was afraid of being overheard.

            “Wait, Lisa, what the hell are you talk-” the phone went dead, buzzing angrily in my ear. I swore creatively, a long string of words in different languages, many that had been forgotten over the years. Startle, Eric snatched my hands to stop me from beating at the pillow.

            “What’s wrong?” he asked urgently, stormy gray eyes searching mine. I took a breath, feeling my fangs draw in as my vision returned to normal.

            “Somehow someone found out about who and what I am and I bet I know who it is.” I breathed slowly in a failing attempt to calm myself down.

            “Who could possibly have any reason to even try to find that out?” Eric was confused.

            “Alicia.”

*                      *                      *                      *                      *                      *                    *

            “Come on.” Lisa directed me through the hallways half an hour later. I watched the room numbers, counting to cool my temper. We stopped at room 307. I tugged on the door, which I found locked. Lisa pushed me aside and knocked four times, two fast and two slow. I heard the near silent click of the lock as it was pushed to the open position. The door opened just enough for me to see copper hair and fierce green eyes set in an unusually pale face- for a human.

            “Just Rose.” Alicia said quietly. Her voice was much rougher now that she didn’t have a lot of people watching her, and barely audible. Lisa looked alarmed but I smiled reassuringly.

            “See you later Lisa.” I whispered. Then I squeezed through the crack in the door and shut it behind me.

            “You look great. Even better than normal. Who’d you eat?” Anna’s voice was flat, expressionless. I watched her move slowly to a space on the floor where she had cleared away the desks.

            “What do you want?” I asked, following her and sitting in front of her.

            “I know what you are. You’re a vampire. Which is why I need you.”

            “Well, I’m not exactly a vampire. I mean, in case you haven’t noticed,  I’m out in the daytime. Sunlight kills vampires.”

            “But you drink blood to survive. The synthetic kind is in those bottles in your backpack.”

            “Yes, I drink blood.” I said softly, glad she could not see the shame in my eyes.

            “If you drink from someone who’s ill, does it make you sick?”

            “No. Why?”

“I have cancer, and I want you to kill me.”

“No.” my answer came quickly. I expected her to argue but she started to cry. I put my arms around her and tried to comfort her.
            “They say that cancer can be a slow and painful way to die. But I know that if you bite me, I’ll be happy when I die. Please Rose. I don’t want to die like this.” Alicia sobbed into my shoulder. Pity and guilt stirred in my chest and brought pink tears to my eyes.

“I…”

“Please!” Alicia begged. I could tell she’d never asked for anything before and not had it immediately given to her. My heart warred with my mind, but one eventually won out.

“Okay. Don’t tense up and don’t fight me. Just relax.”

“Wait. One more thing. I saw you change how you look earlier. Grant me one last request?”

“Of course.”

“Tomorrow Eric is going to ditch school again but he won’t let you come with him. He’ll go to my house. Meet him there and make sure you look like me.” Alicia looked into mine, hers brimming with tortured honesty.

“I promise. Now shush.” I told her. Then I gently tilted her head back and bit. When her breath was stilled I licked the wounds to heal them. Then I walked out, leaving her body for someone else to find and not associate with me. I cleaned my lips and teeth thoroughly in the bathroom then went to go find Lisa and Eric. I found Eric first. He was sitting on a bench to the side that was mostly hidden with trees. I made my way over to him slowly. He looked up when I came near, listening to the reverberation of his blood in my veins. I sat down next to him and he took my hand.

“It’s later.” he commented, squeezing my hand.

“What?” I looked at him, confused.

“You said you would tell me who that guy was. The one from yesterday who attacked me.”

“Oh yeah. William. He’s a vampire. He came to tell me my parents were murdered.” I sighed. It was technically the truth. He had come to tell me that almost exactly a year ago. Remembering, I shivered.

“That’s horrible! By someone you know?”

“No. By some Angel wanna-be.”

“Who’s Angel?” he asked. My jaw dropped as I thought of the boy who would have known what I was talking about. I stared at him with blank astonishment.

“You know, the guy from Buffy? He got his own show that was way better? Totally adorable vampire who tries to make up for his sins by drinking only the blood of animals and killing bad demons and vampires? Played by David Boreanaz?”

            “Nope. Doesn’t ring a bell.” Eric shook his head. I spent the next hour explaining what happens in the first two seasons of the show. Then I kind of, well, skipped to the end.

            “No, no! Don’t tell me! I want to watch it myself!” Eric protested.

            “Alright. Alright. But I’m telling you, the last episode is going to totally piss you off because-”

            “No! Stop it or I’ll tickle you to death!”

            “Bring it.” I dared him. He growled playfully and tickled me with amazingly skillful hands. I squealed with laughter. Then I tickled him back. He was very quick to surrender.

            “You give?” I asked, running a hand down his chest.

            “I give, I give!”

            “I knew it!” I crowed. Eric pulled me on top of him and kissed me. He rolled, almost toppling us off the bench, and slipped his hand under my shirt. Biting his lip gently, I closed my eyes and imagined the heat of William’s kiss. When I opened my eyes again it was like my thoughts had called him to me. He was frozen mid-step with his mouth open wide. Anna was behind him, hurrying to catch up to up to his long-legged, brisk stride. When she followed his gaze she stopped dead, horror and pain stark on her face.

            “Shadow?” William’s voice wavered and tinged tears swam in his eyes. I shoved Eric off me and stood up, taking a step toward William. He stepped back just as quickly.

            “William!” I choked on the words I didn’t know how to say. William’s expression shifted from sorrow to rage. Anna’s mouth opened and closed silently. I held a hand out to William and tried to swallow the lump in my throat.

            “Why?” his voice broke. His beautiful black eyes turned flat, the gold disappearing. It was a sign that the bloodlust raged within him.

            “William, please, you don’t understand!” I said as the tears escaped.

            “I don’t understand? Then why don’t you explain how you weren’t just kissing that fool and his hand wasn’t just up your shirt!”

            “Oh? And why don’t you explain how you didn’t do what you did with her!” I glared at Anna. She backed up quickly and I noticed she was crying as well.

            “That’s it! You move out and ignore me for years. You try to kill me not once, but twice. You accuse me of the worst possible thing you possibly could. But I could have forgiven all that in a heartbeat. But then you go and do exactly what you so wrongfully accused me of!” William raged. He reached out and I flinched. Sorrow flitted across his features but he didn’t pull back like Anna did. He yanked hard on the silver chain around my neck. I knew it should have hurt when it snapped, but I didn’t feel it.

            “No!” I screamed, the tears falling so thickly on top of the haze of the bloodlust that I could barely see.

            “You could have stopped this!” William shook his head angrily. Then he gently took my hand and let the silver chain drop into it.

            “William.” I wrapped my fingers around his. He didn’t pull away, just gazed sadly into my eyes as I stroked his wedding band with my fingertips.

            “You can have this back when you let me tell you the truth.” he told me. William gently pulled his hand out of mine. He slipped the ring into his pocket, catching my wrist when I reached for it. The tears were unbearable as I made little whimpering noises like an abandoned puppy. William turned away and let me go. When he stepped back my legs gave out and I fell to my knees on the concrete sidewalk. Anna came over and put her hand on my shoulder. I snarled at her half-heartedly but she just kissed my forehead before running off after William. A broken-hearted howl escaped my throat as painful shivers wracked my body.

            “Are you okay?” Eric asked urgently. Is that all you can ever say? I thought angrily. He moved toward me but I scrambled away before he could touch. I bolted upright and looked around like a wild animal.

            “Don’t touch me.” I snarled. My fangs ran out and I felt my eyes turn red, so red, turning my vision an even deeper pink.

            “Rose!” Steve shouted. I spun on him with my mouth twisted into a feral smile. He flinched back with wide and frightened eyes.

            “Back off!” I hissed. Steve backed up into the building as I stalked forward, sniffing at the air daintily; fear scented the air, drawing out the vicious killer I had refused to be after I had met Samuel. The bloodlust raged inside of me, calling out the merciless death dealer I sometimes missed.

            “Shadow! Simmer down.” Lisa ran up from behind me, putting a hand on my shoulder an helping me to calm the tumult within bit by bit.

            “I’m okay. I’m okay.” I sobbed, gasping for air. My powers did not calm down, becoming a storm I could barely contain. Grimacing I sliced open the constantly healing cut on my arm and allowed some of the pressure to escape through the only outlet it safely could. My powers calmed and seemed to vibrate like a purring kitten. I sighed and clung to Lisa, crying unabashedly. She held me until I was almost deathly calm. Lisa was quiet as I explained what had happened, waiting patiently every time I had to stop as tears threatened. When I was finally done she spoke for the first time.

            “Take some time for yourself. I’ll be waiting at home when you get back.” as she said it the screaming started and I knew someone had finally found Alicia’s body. Lisa shot me an alarmed glance.

            “She asked for it, I swear Lunnette. Please don’t blame me.” I begged.

            “I know you didn’t do it out of malice. I know you better than that.” Lisa told me. She kissed my cheek then hurried off to find the source of the commotion. I took a halting breath and took off running. When I got to the forest I kicked off my shoes and left them. My path through the forest was swift and utterly silent. A forty minute drive passed in three. I burst into the clearing, breathing heavily and looking around with wide, cautious eyes. I noticed the storm clouds over my head, ready to burst, and stripped off my clothes. Raising my face to the sky I let the pelting rain cleanse me of every thought in my head.

            I made a vow right then. I swore that I would never fall in love again. My focus would be completely on the mission as much as humanly possible. The mission, then Lisa. After that I could worry about myself. Empowered by my decision and not realizing how badly it could and would fail, I awoke from my trance. Hidden and cushioned by my element, I let the new darkness enfold me. While I had been under the day had faded into night, the sun disappearing like a frightened fish intimidated by the sheer grace and beauty of the moon and the stars. I raised my face to the light of the moon while my body dried in the crisp, clean night air. Then I languidly pulled my clothes on and made my way back to the White House barefoot.