Chapter 45. William
william
William imagines how this must look to Lorena. He only hopes her prejudice will not outweigh her trust again.
“What the fuck?” she asks, her gaze jumping back to him, an accusatory intensity in her eyes.
William gives Salma a chance to answer, but when she stays quiet, he says, “Salma asked me to—”
“Bite me,” she finishes for him. “I—I was afraid to tell you.” She approaches Lorena. “I want to be his Familiar, too.”
It is hard for William to discern the cocktail of emotions on Lorena’s face as she stares at her friend. Betrayal and surprise are the most evident, but she also looks concerned and disappointed.
“Why?” she asks Salma at last.
“Nate and Cisco couldn’t compel you because you’re William’s Familiar, and I don’t want them to compel me, either.”
William is impressed by Salma’s quick thinking.
“Sal, that’s not going to happen,” says Lorena, concern taking over as her main emotion. “William isn’t going to let any vampires get close to us.”
“What if he’s the threat?” asks Salma, staring hard at him all of a sudden. “I don’t want him to erase my memories.”
“He won’t. I told him not to.” Lorena looks up at William, her gaze sharp and not at all soft and sunny like it was this morning. “Tell her you won’t.”
“I will not alter your memories,” he says to Salma, “as long as you do not pose a risk to me.”
“Why don’t you want me to be his Familiar?” Salma asks Lorena, a hint of annoyance in her voice. “It just means he can have two sources of blood instead of one, which helps you out. And it’ll guarantee me that my mind won’t be messed with. What’s so bad about that?”
“They’ll kill you,” says Lorena with ice in her voice. “If other vampires realize you can’t be controlled, they’ll kill you.”
Salma frowns. “Then … they’ll kill you.”
“I will protect her from any harm,” says William. “It would be harder to do if I had to protect more people.”
Salma takes a deep breath. “Just forget I asked then,” she says, staring at him without blinking, like she is trying to transmit a secret message.
“It is forgotten.”
As much as he does not like lying to Lorena, he also knows better than to come between her friendship with Salma. This issue is for the two of them to work out.
“I’m going to head back to the room with Sal,” Lorena says to him. “I’ll be by later.”
Since she does not look at him as she turns to go, he worries that she is pulling away. It makes something twist inside him, and all he wants is to know that her feelings for him have not changed.
Yet the answer will have to wait.
Neither friend speaks until they reach the bottom of the tower, then William hears Salma say, “Please don’t be mad at me.”
“Why wouldn’t you tell me?”
“I don’t know. I was embarrassed, and I thought you might take it the wrong way. Like I wanted to steal your boyfriend or something.”
“I don’t see any bite marks on your neck,” says Lorena. “Why is there blood?”
“I put it there,” admits Salma. “I thought the fresh blood would tempt him, so he wouldn’t think it over too hard.”
“Is that why his fangs were out?”
The two of them are farther now, and William darts down the tower to keep listening.
“Yeah, I think the blood did that. But … he resisted. He said he wouldn’t bite anyone without talking to you first.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. He’s fang-whipped.”
“Very funny. You really scared me.”
“I’m sorry,” says Salma. It sounds like they have stopped moving. “I’m worried about you, Lore. You might never be safe.”
“The other vampires need Will more than he needs him. They stand to lose too much by harming me.”
“There’s another way, though.” Salma’s voice is now a whisper, and William edges even closer, until he can spy on them.
“What?” asks Lorena.
Salma takes her hand. “He could change you.”
William grips the wall so hard that paint chips fall to the floor, and his fingers leave indentations in the stone.
“No,” says Lorena, freeing her hand from Salma’s. “Maybe someday, I don’t know. But not yet. Not now.”
William takes off to patrol, not wanting to hear more.
He is not sure how Lorena’s answer makes him feel. He is both disappointed and relieved, and the contradiction is making it hard to figure out what he wants.
Racing through the forest at full tilt, he can hardly believe that for one brief moment after his meeting with Lenny, he actually thought he was free and facing a future of his own choosing. Possibly even one with Lorena.
He runs for so long that he misses dinner. When he finally climbs back inside the manor through the opening in his room’s wall, she is there.
Tonight, Lorena wears a tiny red dress, the color of blood, that makes it hard for him to think straight, particularly with its plunging neckline.
“Where did this come from?” he asks, his gaze trailing down to the hemline, which ends far above her knees.
“The forbidden drawer,” she says, and he can hear how much faster than usual her heart is beating. “Salma got it for me for my eighteenth birthday. I didn’t think I’d ever have a reason to wear it.”
“What is the reason tonight?” he asks, a smirk overtaking his face born from inappropriate thoughts. “Are you trying to seduce me, Miss Navarro?”
“Maybe,” she says, her flush darkening her skin.
“Okay,” he says, sitting down on the couch, arms extended across the seat back as his body takes up most of the space. “I am all yours.”
She smiles as if she likes the sound of that. “The way you’re sitting is called manspreading,” she says, coming closer without joining him.
“You mean vampirespreading.” The urge to reach for her is so strong that he locks his fingers behind his head. “How speciesist of you.”
She keeps moving in until she is standing between his knees. “I’m not sure you’re ready for this.”
“I guess you are all talk then.”
She drops one of her shoulders, and the silky red strap of her dress slips down her arm. When she lowers her other arm, the second strap follows.
The glossy garment now hangs on only by her breasts, and she rests a knee on the cushion between his legs. When she leans forward, the fabric slides off her torso entirely, pooling at her hips.
William stiffens. He could not move if he tried.
All the times he pictured what her body must look like, he never came close. He cannot hold back the small growl at the back of his throat as he takes in her full figure.
Her hands find the hem of his sweater, and he lets her pull it off him. She studies his bare chest as intimately as he studied hers. When she runs her soft, warm fingertips along the ripples of his abs, he feels a titillating sensation across his body, like he is being tickled.
He did not know his skin remembered how to feel sensitive.
“May I touch you?” he whispers.
In response, she takes his hands and places them on her breasts. She gasps softly from the cold as he cups and massages them.
When at last Lorena moans, it makes William feel so good to bring her pleasure that he cannot believe he ever sought to cause her pain.
brEAKFAST ON Monday is the first time William sees Tiffany again.
“Carter!” booms Trevor when she approaches the table. “Cramps finally let up?”
Tiffany looks around in alarm as other students turn to look at her, while Zach elbows his roommate. “Shut up, man. That’s not funny.”
“No, it is not,” says William, getting Lorena’s plate and standing up to hand it to her. She is wearing the skirt version of the school uniform for the first time, and he is so distracted by the view that he forgets what he was doing.
“Thanks,” she says with a small smile, taking the plate from him. Then she follows her roommates to the buffet table. When she returns, William stands up again and pulls out her chair.
“Is it Time Period Day or something?” asks Trevor, sounding annoyed.
“No, it’s Lorena-and-William-are-official day,” says Salma with a huge grin as she sets down her plate.
Neither Trevor nor Zach seems surprised or excited by the news, but Tiffany shoots Lorena a glare that could melt ice.
William recalls that Salma was not crazy about her best friend being close with a vampire at first, either, but she got over it.
Yet something tells him Tiffany will not come around as easily.
“Speaking of Time Period Day, we should probably meet at the LUB tonight,” says Zach, glancing at William when he says it and looking away quickly.
Has Tiffany told him something?
“Fine,” says Trevor, sounding much less enthused about their secret hideout than usual.
“Actually, let’s work in the computer wing,” says Lorena, looking to her roommates to back her. “We might need to research.”
“Good point,” says Salma.
Zach’s and Tiffany’s eyes meet, but given that they look at each other often, it is hard for William to be certain of the meaning behind it.
He knows neither Lorena nor Salma will forgive him if he messes with Tiffany’s memories against her will.
However, should she present a problem, she will be leaving him no choice.
“WHY DO you think Count Dracula turns Lucy?” asks Director Minaro near the end of English class.
“He was in love with her,” answers William, looking at Lorena when he says it. He cannot get enough of the way blood rushes to her cheeks when he says or does something that pleases her.
Today, he is sitting next to her in the back row—a change-up orchestrated by Salma.
“Got over her real quick and went for Mina,” says Tiffany from her new seat in the front row. Zach is next to her, in William’s old chair.
“His heart is as fickle as Romeo’s, who went from Rosalind to Juliet,” she goes on, casting a backward glance at William. “Didn’t you dress up as him for the Halloween dance?”
“I did, though I fail to see the connection. Also, you are wrong about Dracula—Mina is a means to an end. He wants to turn her to avenge Lucy’s death.”
“And why does he fall for Lucy, a human, in the first place?” demands Tiffany. “Is it because she’s beautiful and pure and he wants to corrupt her? Doesn’t the age difference basically make him a pedophile?”
“Neither Lucy nor Mina were prepubescent children,” notes Minaro, “so that term would not apply. Be that as it may, we get your point.”
Lorena takes William’s hand, as if to reassure him she does not feel that way.
Yet the vampire cannot ignore the truth of how despicable he is being.
He is doing to Lorena what Grandsire did to him—cheating her of a real future.
By staying here, he is depriving her of making real connections with living, breathing people.
She deserves so much more than a sentient corpse.
“TIME PERIOD Day is just one week away,” says Ms. Floreville on Friday after class, during the final history club meeting of the calendar year. “Are preparations going well?”
“Yes,” says Salma. “We’ve met in the library every day this week, and we’re all set.”
“Except that we put in a second request for a menu tasting,” says Trevor, “but the dining staff is continuing to be difficult—”
“Let it go,” says Lorena with an eye roll. “I printed out all the recipes, with photos of the meals, and they said they have everything they need.”
“What happened to those two college kids who were supposed to help us?” asks Trevor, who in William’s opinion insists on being difficult.
“Did they not speak with you the day they came?” asks the instructor.
“No. They just talked to Lorena and William, but the rest of us didn’t get any help.”
“I can ask Director Minaro about that, but if help is what you’re after, then look no further,” says Ms. Floreville. “What can this historical expert help you with?”
Trevor shrugs, and it is clear that rather than needing help, he is in need of attention.
“Well, let’s do a final review of what you all have so far,” says the instructor.
“I’m in charge of the games,” says Trevor. “Chess club is setting up some tables, Coach is putting together a curling area on the lawn by the garden, and I’m using the PE field for a soccer match that’s Loyalists versus Patriots.”
“Soccer didn’t exist in the 1700s,” the instructor reminds him yet again.
“I’m overseeing the other activities,” says Salma, swooping in and sparing everyone more of Trevor’s complaints.
“Art club will be offering to draw people’s portraits.
Drama club will put on an abbreviated production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The band will be playing what they’re describing as a modern take on Mozart. ”
Ms. Floreville looks at William to hear his update next. “I have compiled and delivered the list that Director Minaro requested of twenty ways to add to the ambience—”
“Zach and I have to go to the newsroom now,” says Tiffany, standing up. It seems to William like she cannot stand to listen to his voice. “We’ve got both a newspaper and an eighteenth-century newsletter to get out next week.”
“I did have one question,” says Zach before getting to his feet. “I want to take photos for the yearbook and newspaper. Will that be a problem, since the camera would be anachronous?”
Ms. Floreville looks genuinely stumped. “Let me get back to you on that. And unless there are more questions, I’ll let you all get after it.”
William gives Lorena a quick kiss and says, “I will see you at dinner.”
He is going to patrol, yet first, William tails Tiffany and Zach to the newsroom, careful to stay out of their view. Something is not sitting right with him, and he needs to know if he is only being paranoid.
Neither of them speaks the entire walk, and when they enter the newsroom, William stands outside, listening.
He hears the typing of multiple keyboards, so he knows Zach and Tiffany are not alone. William tunes out all the other voices, until at last he hears Zach ask, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” says Tiffany, and it sounds like the two of them have joined the sea of typing. “I’m just ready for vacation to start. I need a break from this school and everyone in it.”
There is a pause, and then she adds, “I don’t mean you.”
“Good,” he says.
Then all William hears is their typing.
For now, all he can do is hope his instincts about Tiffany are wrong.