Blood Type (16 page)

“Don’t you dare say anything to
him!
” I said, advancing on John. His arm shot out, and he snagged me by the wrist, yanking me forward
off my feet
so that I was forced to sit on his knee.

“And why not?”

“Why not?”
I said, exasperated.

I struggled to get away, but John wouldn’t have it. He pulled me against his chest and wrapped his arm around my waist in a vice, the fingers of his free hand finding purchase in the space between my ribs so that I was left gasping for breath.

“Stop tickling me! I’m going . . . to pee . . . my pants!”

John let me go at once, and I bolted from his lap to the other side of the room, my hand at my chest to steady my racing heart. We were both laughing hysterically by then.

When at last we managed to calm down, John said to me, “Come to my house tonight. You can see for yourself that Ian is
not
a vampire.”

He got up then and came over to where I was standing with my back pressed against the counter, a false sense of protection against his roving fingers. He dipped his head to mine and began leaving a trail of kisses along the line of my jaw.

“And what about you?”
I said, my voice trembling under the weight of his lips. “How will you prove that you’re not a vampire?”

His lips curled into a smile against my cheek, and then he bent his mouth to the curve of my neck. His teeth bore down against the beating pulse of my heart under the fair, thin veil of skin, but not hard enough to cause pain or to draw blood.

Then
John
deposited
a soft kiss where his teeth had been only seconds before. “And who’s to say that I’m not?”   

October 27

“
The vampire’s
n
ame is Ian McAvoy,” I said without answering
how
it was
I knew about Watchers. “He attacked me two months ago. Someone
else
saved me.” 

Josiah’s eyes
widened a fraction before his
face regained the neutral expression of interrogator.
“And the person who saved you . . . human or vampire?”

“Does it matter?”

Josiah
took a bite of his doughnut and swallowed before answering.
“Maybe.
Maybe not.”

He sat back then and
laced his hands across his chest
.
A
trickle of sweat r
a
n down my back, despite the fact I was chilled to the bone and shivering. “
You’re hiding something
,” he said at last,
squinting one eye and
pointing a finger at me.

I swallowed hard and shook my head. “N-no
I’m
not.”
My hands
shook
, both from the cold as well as my fear of the vampire sitting before me, and I shoved them under my thighs to steady them. I cleared my throat but didn’t say anything more.

“You were searching for me,” Josiah said. “I could tell by the way you looked at me when our eyes met.
”

I floundered for a response.
“W-well, yes.
In a sense.
I mean, I d
-d
idn’t know for sure—”

Josiah held up a hand to stop me. “Someone told you about me, and that someone is another vampire.
And I think I
have a pretty good idea who it was.”

August 4

I expected a fight, but all
Mom
said was to have a good time with John and to be back before curfew.

“What about Zach?” I
hesitated bringing
up his name
. I didn’t want it to
remind her
why
she’d been upset in the first place.

“What about him?”
Mom
had her nose and attention buried in a stack of market comparables.

“You’re kidding, right?”

She looked up and removed her reading glasses, placing them
o
n the table
be
side
her
. “You’re seventeen, Blake.
T
hat’s plenty old enough to decide who
to date. Or don’t you agree?”

I wonder
ed
if
I was
trip
ping
head-first into
some trap I couldn’t see
. I ran my hand along the curved arch of the chair back, trying for casual. “Why the sudden change of heart?
I thought you didn’t like John.”
”   

Mom opened her mouth to
respond
,
only nothing came out.
The crease between her brows deepened, and her eyes darted to and fro, as though searching for the answer somewhere in the room. Finally
,
they came back to rest on me. “I’m not entirely sure.
But John Kelly seems like a respectable young man. I think he’ll fit in nicely around here.”

“And Daddy’s okay with it
, too
?”

She picked up her glasses again, waving them at me in dismissal before resting them on the end of her nose.
“
Absolutely, sweetheart
.”

“And Helen?
I
’m sure
Zach’s mom has an opinion
.
She has an opinion about everything.
”

Mom looked down at the papers and began
highlighting stats and other important stuff I didn’t really understand. “
True,
Helen has a great many opinions,” she said, “none of which you should
worry
about. I’ll talk to her and see that she understands the situation.”

When I just stood there with my mouth wide open, she glanced up at me again. “Don’t you have a date to get ready for?”

And so I dressed in a daze, wondering what had happened to my
real
mom, but not stupid enough to argue with her. If she was fine with John, then that was all that mattered to me.

John had left soon after his
surprise
visit
saying
that he had some things to take care of before
I came over
that evening. Still, he offered to pick me up and drive me to his house.

“I grew up
here
,” I’d told him with a laugh. “
I sort of know my way around
.” 

“Beautiful
and
independent,” he had replied. “I like that.”

But the truth was I didn’t want to risk jinxing my good luck by rubbing my parents’ noses in John’s presence. Despite what my mother claimed,
I thought
it best to
slowly
acclimatize Mom and Dad to life without Zach. Let them first get used to the
idea
of a new guy in my life. After all, I supposed that’s what he was: the new guy in my life.

John lived
at the edge of Collegetown
in
a sprawling white Victorian at the end of a row of
college
rental properties. Its twin-peaked dormers and spire of bay windows lent it at air of regal splendor in full light, but it had definitely seen better days. Sev
eral boards had come loose, and it
was in desperate need of
a new paint job
. Still,
I couldn’t believe
his adoptive parents had let him live in a place like that while still in high school
.
I’d be lucky if my parents let me move out before I was thirty.

I climbed the five plank steps leading to the expansive wooden door
and rang the
bell. As I waited, I noted the absence of mismatched furniture and crusty porch grill that
came
standard
with
every other
rental
this close to campus
. There were no plastic garbage bags of soda and beer cans waiting to be returned for spare cash. No old take-out containers filled with moldy food.
No cracked, plastic furniture on the lawn.
In fact, the place looked spotless.
Old, but spotless.

After a few seconds, Ian opened the door wearing nothing but a pair of faded jeans
ripped
at the knees
. A slice of cheese pizza dangled limply in his hand.
He
caught the way my eyes lingered longer than necessary on his chest before flicking back to his eyes
and preened like a peacock
.

“Like anythin
g
you see?”
he said, bracing one arm against the door and barring me from entering.

My cheeks burned, but I refused to
let on that he had embarrassed me
. “Are you going to make me stand out here all night, or are you going to invite me in?”

“
In a minute
.
”
He bent his head toward mine, so close that I thought he meant to kiss me. His lips grazed my ear
,
and the skin on my neck tingled as
his
breath
tickled
my jaw line
.
I held my own breath in an attempt to slow my heart rate.

“If I were a vampire,” he whispered, “would I do this?” He stood back then and deliberately opened his mouth wide. Then he took a mouthful of pizza, devouring half the slice in one bite. He wiped away a stray drip of oil from his chin using the back of his hand.
“
Mmmmmm
.
Extra cheese.
My favorite.”

“I can’t believe he told you,” I said, pushing past Ian as he broke out in laughter behind me. My heart
had yet to slow down
. 

“Don’t be angry
!” he called out as he followed. “
I’m flattered
, really
. Vampires are the epitome of good looks and sexual prowess, aye? You’ve paid me a great compliment.”

I reached the living room and spun
to face him
.
“Where’s John?” 

Ian sighed and pointed with his pizza crust across the room to a swinging door.
“
I
n the kitchen.”

I found John plating slices of pizza
at the kitchen table
. He looked up at the sound of my entrance. “Good. You’re here.”

“I can’t believe you told him
.
” I dropped my purse on the table and unscrewed the lid
of
a two-liter soda
bottle
. Then I
poured generous shots into three plastic cups already filled with ice, all
the
while refusing to meet his eye
s
. I was going for mad, but
instead I just felt stupid.

“Look at me,” John said. I looked up. John grinned, and my entire body flushed with heat. “Ian thinks you’re cute, and he doesn’t care that you dreamed he was some hideous monster. He only care
s
that you actually dreamed of him. Honestly, I should have kept quiet. That’s all he’s been talking about.”

I laughed through my nose, feeling somewhat better. “And he’s supposed to be the older
, more mature
one?”

“
Age is just
a state of mind,” Ian said, coming up from behind me to snag one of the plates of pizza. He raised a cup of soda to me in salute and drained the entire thing
at once
. He slammed it down with a grimace.

“
If that’s the case,
” John said. “
You haven’t
aged a day past adolescence.”

“Lighten up, brother. Where’s the fun in life if you’re so serious all the time?” Ian raised a brow at John and then pushed his way through the door.

“How long did you say he’s in town for?” I whispered, not wanting my voice to carry.

John shrugged. “
I have no idea
.”

Ian shouted
from the next room,
“I’m going to start the movie without you if you
two
don’t stop sucking face and get in here in the next one minute exactly
!
”

With
a shared smile
, we quickly loaded our arms with plates, cups, and napkins, and then we made our way into the living room.

“
The Lost Boys
?”
I said, my eyes landing on an open DVD case. “Is that, like, some spoof on Peter Pan, or something?”

“Or something,” Ian said from the floor where he
sat
with his back against the couch. He tilted his head to look up at me. “It’s only one of the greatest films ever made within the vampire genre.”

“Ah. I get it,” I said,
more
than a hint of sarcasm in my voice. “You’ve got quite the sense of humor, Ian.”

I sat next to John
on the couch
, snuggling close to him so that the lengths of our thighs
touched
. I was no fan of horror flicks—romantic comedies were definitely more my speed—but I snatched the DVD case from the table and read the synopsis on the back. The only vampires I could stomach looked more like Robert
Pattinson
than the actors on the cover, whoever the heck they were.

“Have ye seriously never seen it?” Ian said.

“Nope.”

“Well
, get ready. Y
ou’re in for a real treat.
We’re talking about quality acting.
” 

“All right.
But if this gives me nightmares,” I said to Ian, “I’m holding you personally responsible. I’ll hunt you down with a wooden spike and a vial of holy water.”

He
bared
his teeth
a
nd hissed
.
“I’d like to see ye try. Ye’re nothing more
than a wee mortal lass
,” he said,
deliberately
broadening his Scots accent.

“You think you scare me?” I said
, nudging the back of his head with my toe
. 

“All right,” John said. “Cool it with the vampire crap and start the movie already. Let’s see how vicious these bloodsuckers really are.”

I suppose at one time the movie had been gruesome and
maybe even
terrifying, but special effects had evolved dra
stically
over the last few decades.
I was only scared a little
.

“See? No bat feet here.
” Ian
yanked
off his sock and wiggl
ed
his toes to prove he had five perfectly formed phalanges. “And I don’t hang from the rafters when I sleep.”  

“That’s because you sleep in a coffin,” I said.

“Of course I don’t!”
Ian
looked thoroughly horrified at the idea. “I sleep in a bed, same as you. I can show you if ye like.” He waggled his brows suggestively.

“No, thank you,” I said, my cheeks burst
ing
with warmth. Ian was charming and handsome, a fact
I was certain
he knew and used to his full advantage.

“Are you hitting on my date?” 

“Well someone has to, brother. And you
just sittin
g
there, cold and limp as a dead mackerel.”

Ian stood
a
nd
vaulted the couch so that he was standing
behind me. He stroked a finger down my cheek to where the pulse thumped in my neck. “I think I’d like—”

John smacked Ian upside the head with a throw pillow. “Shut up, will you? And get your hands off her.”

Ian’s grin widened. “I think someone’s in love.
Johnny and Blake,
sittin
’ in a tree, k-
i
-s
ooph
!
”