Z Day -

  [Really? You’re still reading these? -Rhiannon]

  JAMES

  Shae disappeared shortly into my junior year, not long after the convention. It left me in a complete funk. The first month wasn’t too bad; I was used to her extended absences. But after spending so much time together over the summer, I’d started withdrawing.

  After the second month, I started to worry. She’d never been gone this long before, and I still had no way of contacting her. I didn’t understand why she was so reluctant with her information.

  My schoolwork started to suffer. I wasn’t paying any attention to my classes and then found I didn’t even care enough to go to school anymore. I’d still go to my first class of the day, JROTC, because it was the only one I enjoyed. Afterward, I sometimes just left school and took a bus to hang out at the mall until it was time to go home.

  My mother had relented and finally got me my driver’s license. I’d picked up an old beat-up car and had a part-time job at a grocery store. My mother had pushed me into getting the job, probably in an attempt to get some motivation going in me. I trudged through the job so I could afford to get around town, usually trying to track down Shae at any of our old haunts.

  My repeated school absences came to my mother's attention, who was unhappy for obvious reasons. When asked why I skipped school, I couldn’t really give an answer, at least not one that would satisfy her.

  After another month of skipping school, I was kicked out. I’d missed too many days to make up and was told I could come back the next semester, but it would be my final chance.

  My mother, fearing I might not go back and instead just drop out of school, sent me to live with my father. She hoped he could find a way to get me back into school.

  I changed jobs and started working at a movie theater near his house. My father didn’t pressure me to return to school and figured I’d get bored doing nothing and eventually decide to return on my own.

  The following semester I did go back to school, but not because I’d gotten bored. Shae had shown back up. When she found out what I’d done, her scowl was enough to get me to start going back again. Once I was back in school, Shae’s scowl returned to the devilish smile she would treat me to in our private moments.

  We fell back into our old routine, with her visiting me every other week or so. Time flew by, and while the school year ended, my studies didn’t. Shae stayed on me to do make-up work, summer school, and even take high school credit exams to get back on track with my education. It was hard, but thanks to the few credits I had passed during my first freshman year, I managed to make up for the time I'd lost.

  Shae and my father seemed to get on just fine. My father didn’t mind if I stayed out overnight if I gave him a heads-up about where I would be. My dad even offered to let Shae stay overnight at the house, in my room. We didn’t take him up that offer very often, but when we did, my father would always be so polite in the morning, knocking on the door and speaking through it rather than opening it.

  What cracked me up was the fact Shae and I never did anything when my father was home. We usually just sat up and talked most of the night. I guess my father expected me to be in the throes of passion just for having a girl in my room.

  My father was partly right; I couldn’t get enough of Shae’s company. When she was around, we just seemed to fit together. We grew closer over the summer. Shae seemed to be more open with me and more honest. I wondered if something had happened to her during her extended absence, but she wouldn’t talk about it. I didn’t care; I was still in love.

  Things changed after that. Where we had previously gone and done whatever she decided, now she asked me what I wanted to do. I usually deferred to her, but now and again, I’d think up something. Usually, I caught her by surprise with my suggestions.

  One random weekend, we woke up at 3 a.m. for no reason. I’d decided we’d go rent bikes and ride around Town Lake. We enjoyed the practically deserted bike trails and stopped to enjoy the sunrise. That had been a good day.

  But then it all changed, and it was my fault of course. My mouth filter had once again failed me, typical for a teenage boy. But to me, it still felt like the next logical step.

  We were at a cheap Mexican food joint that served cafeteria-style. You’d raise a little Mexican flag at your table when you wanted more. It was cheesy, but they had good sopapillas; so good Shae actually ate them. She still tended to not eat a lot when we were together. I wasn’t sure if she had a tiny stomach or she just didn’t want me to see her pig out.

  We had just started our second helping of those honey-drenched wonders when I said it.

  “Let’s get married,” I blurted out.

  I’d never seen her lose her composure before. Sure, an explosive laugh here and there, but never anything like this. It took me a minute to wipe the food pieces off my clothes from where she’d nearly choked on her sopapilla.

  “What?” Shae finally managed, waiving off a waitress who thought she was in need of the Heimlich maneuver.

  “I want to marry you,” I said slowly.

  She looked at me for a long moment. “You’re serious?”

  “Yes,” I said firmly. It had been rattling around in my head for months now, and somehow, the thought had finally escaped.

  “And you’re proposing to me in a Mexican cafeteria?” she asked incredulously.

  “Uh, well, yeah…and no,” I waffled.

  She shook her head and motioned for me to continue.

  “I don’t mean get married right now. I mean once I finish school. Then I could propose to you properly with a ring and everything,” my delivery was lame, even to my ears. I’d come up with so many ways to do this and now I’d gone and flubbed it.

  “You don’t have a ring either?” she said. “James…you don’t know what you’re proposing.”

  “Yes, I do,” I said with slightly more force.

  “No, you don’t,” she countered. “You have no clue what’s really going on here. Aren’t you happy? Isn’t it enough to enjoy what we have now?” she asked.

  “Yes, you know I’m happy; how could you not?” I took her hands. “And no, this isn’t enough for me.” It was the first truly adult thing I think I’d ever said in my life, and I meant it. “I don’t want you to go away anymore, or if you have to, I want to come with you. I don’t want to be without you, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to keep you with me for the rest of my life.”

  She took a long, hard look at me before she pulled her hands back. “James, you don’t know anything about me.”

  “I know enough, and I’d like to spend the rest of my life finding out the rest,” I said.

  “You just don’t know what you’re asking,” she sighed.

  “Of course I do. I’m asking if you want to spend the rest of your life with me…after I graduate from high school, that is,” I said.

  She snorted.

  “Yeah, that didn’t sound so great, but I meant it,” I managed.

  “Oh, I’m sure you do,” she patted my hands. “But it just won’t work. I love you. Goddess knows why, but I do. There’s just so much you don’t know.”

  “Are you married?” I asked.

  “What?” She looked taken aback. “Of course not.”

  “Hmmm. You’re not married, I love you, you love me…what’s the problem?” I asked.

  “You’re too young to get married,” she said firmly.

  “So, that’s never stopped your cradle-robbing ways before,” I countered.

  “Everything was going so well; can’t we just wait a while?” she sighed.

  “Of course, I said not for another year, silly,” I said as if she hadn’t heard me the first several times.

  Shae looked at me for a long moment. “As wonderful a thought as it is, I just can’t see it happening.”

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Why? Because you’re a vampire?” I asked dramatically.

  She froze, her hands clamping down on mine like a vice.

  “Hey, hey, OWW!” I yelped.

  She released me immediately, “What are you talking about?” Shae hissed.

  “Oh, come on,” I said, poking a hole nonchalantly in another sopapilla and using a bear-shaped honey jug to fill it. “I’m young and dumb, but I’ve read enough bad fantasy books to know the signs. The only thing I haven’t figured out is what clan you’re with. You strike me as Druhaj, but sometimes you act way too sophisticated for the street gang type.”

  I glanced at her just in time to see the terror in her eyes change to confusion. If I hadn’t looked up right then, I wonder how different my life might have been. That brief look of terror, something utterly alien in her eyes, started the tumblers turning in my head. Once they started, they just kept going. Things I didn’t know I’d been worried about suddenly became clear.

  A smile suddenly crept across Shae’s face. “James…” she started, the relief that had begun flooding across her face froze as she looked at me. “What?”

  I froze, that last sopapilla suddenly feeling like a lead weight in my stomach. I felt my face grow hot. “You’re not in a LARP, are you?” I whispered and saw that glimpse of terror return to her eyes.

  It took a long time for her to answer. She seemed to be in a mental debate with herself before she came to a decision.

  “How did you—” she began.

  I swallowed hard, my mouth having gone dry. I needed to lighten this up quickly, or I would freak out. “You see, I didn’t.” I was trying to be funny to cover my nerves. “You, uh, just confirmed it. I’M KIDDING!” I leaned back quickly as she looked like she was about to come across the table at me.

  Instead, she stole my sopapilla with a movement faster than should be possible.

  “Hey!” I cried.

  “Talk, or the sopapilla gets it,” her attempt at a joke fell just as flat as mine had.

  “Well, the blood stains after each of our more…private rendezvous for one,” I started nervously. “Still haven’t figured out how you’ve been doing it…you don’t have fangs that I’ve seen,” I glanced up at her briefly, “do you?”

  Shae shook her head. She was still watching me like a hawk. She pointed at her earrings.

  “I thought so!” I snapped my fingers, relaxing a little, but not much. “The first time I saw the red mark on my thigh,” I paused, realizing what I was saying, and my blush deepened. “Uh, the mark was the same size as your earring. I’d thought it had scratched me.”

  “Yes, they’re quite sharp,” Shae confirmed.

  I nodded. “But how did…”

  “My saliva is a coagulant,” she said flatly.

  “Wait, that would stop the blood flow; how’d you keep from closing the wound when you touched it?” I said, completely forgetting where I was. My excitement seemed to blot out the terror in my mind that was slowly creeping up on me.

  She looked at me and replied deadpan, “I sucked.”

  I nodded, relaxing a bit more. I was about to ask another question when she continued.

  “You didn’t feel the pain because of the surgical sharpness. Most of us carry something sharp like that. I can also touch your mind when I’m in contact with your blood,” she hissed quietly. “And yes, that’s why you lost time; I could do anything I wanted to you. I choose to give my tap boys pleasant euphoric memories.” She stopped when she saw my face fall. “Are you sure you want to keep talking about this?”

  All I could do was nod while a hundred things ran chaotically through my mind. *Is this real?* I thought.

  Shae sighed and put the food down. “Yes, there are others. I must feed weekly; taking too much from one would be dangerous. And no, you can’t ask me about them.” Shae’s face broke into a contemplative stare at nothing. She finally shook her head and dragged me outside by the wrist.

  I didn’t understand the first part of what she muttered next.

  “Is ceann de’s na h-óinseacha diabhail thú. This is not the way this is supposed to happen!” Shae growled.

  I had no idea what language that was.

  She stopped outside the car once in the parking lot, lost in thought. “I should just wipe your memory right now and go home.” She was pacing back and forth, her hands clenched at her sides in anguish.

  “You can do that?” I asked.

  “I said I can touch your mind, didn’t I? Weren’t you listening? You’re so smart; you just had to figure this out and complicate everything. Now, what am I supposed to do? Huh? Do you know what would happen if they found out you knew? There’s a reason people don’t believe in us, that we’re just movie monsters,” Shae said.

  “You’re not a monster,” I objected.

  “Shut up! You really have no idea what you’re talking about. I said shut it!” she barked, cutting me off. There was real anger in her voice.

  I bit off my reply as she continued to pace between the cars. I’d never seen her like this, nothing even close to this. I wanted to help but had no clue what to do.

  “Get in,” she ordered as she unlocked the car.

  We drove out 2222 away from the city and into the hill country. The road was known to be one of the most dangerous roads in the city due to it winding along Austin’s only ‘cliff,’ the remnants of an extinct fault line.

  After 15 minutes, I couldn’t hold back any longer, “Where are we going?”

  “Somewhere I can think,” she said.

  “Good,” I said quietly because I couldn’t think of anything else to say.

  She sniffed softly, almost like she could smell my anxiety. “I’m not going to hurt you, James,” she said resignedly. “I told you that I love you. I couldn’t kill you if I had to, even if it would make things much easier.”

  “Uh, thanks?” I managed.

  “Just…don’t talk for a while, OK?” she said softly.

  I shut up again and stared out the window, trying not to glance at her every 30 seconds. I started replaying past encounters in my mind and applying my newfound knowledge. It was obvious when you looked back on it, not that it made me feel any better.

  After a while, she pulled onto a small road with a metal arm bar. She got out and unlocked it before driving through it and securing it behind us. The sign next to the entrance read “Nature Preserve, NO TRESPASSING.”

  We drove another ten minutes into the hills before she pulled into a small clearing that overlooked the adjacent hill. When we got out of the car, the only thing around us was the sounds of nature and the clear night sky.

  She climbed up on the car's hood and sat, chewing on her thumbnail. I quietly sat on the other side of the hood, looking out at the dark scenery and trying not to say anything. The sun had set an hour earlier, but some rays still touched the twilight sky.

  “Oh, come here, I won’t bite,” she patted the hood next to her. “Much,” she added.

  I sighed and slid over, her joke breaking the moment's tension.

  Her arm snaked around me, putting her head on my shoulder. “Oh James, what am I going to do?”

  The confidence I’d had at the restaurant was long gone. I’d been so proud of myself for figuring this out. But now, when I looked down at the anguish on her face, I wished I could take it back.

  “What if I just forgot all about this? Pretended it didn’t happen?” I asked hesitantly.

  Shaking her head, “Wouldn’t work. Cat’s out of the bag now; there’s no going back,” her words were forlorn.

  “But you said you could erase my memories,” I said stupidly.

  “Yes, but it's not a precise practice. I don’t think I could live with myself after doing that to you. Not to mention, I can’t just erase my own memories now, can I?” she sighed.

  A long silence followed, stretching into an eternity.

  Finally, I couldn’t take the silence anymore and, as always, blurted out the first thing I could think of. “What about crosses, wooden stakes, stuff like that?”

  “What?” She looked over at me.

  “You know, the legends. Does stuff like that work on you?” I shrugged.

  She paused a moment, seeming to shift gears mentally. She blinked a few times before answering. “Well, crosses don’t mean anything, not even silver ones. Many of my kin enjoy wearing them to thumb their noses at the silly notion. From what I gather, it was more of a belief system anyway. You know, forcing your will on another…that is true power. If you can impose your will strong enough, certain people have been able to produce tangible results.”

  “As for stakes,” Shae continued. “Tell me what creature won’t die if you drive a stake through its heart, wood or otherwise? The same goes for beheading, drawing and quartering, etc. Pretty much once you rip someone’s head off, they’re going to have a really bad day.” She looked up to see how her words were affecting me.

  I guess my curious expression made her continue.

  “Come on, you’re not even trying. Let me run down the list.” She started ticking off fingers, “Garlic, love the stuff; I think that was just a marketing strategy by garlic farmers, and it worked. Inviting them into your home, nope. Flying, nope. Turning into bats, mist or anything else, not that I’ve seen. Running water, I love the ocean, and we've been swimming together. Coffins, only for those freaks with a morbid streak. Your home dirt, nah. We don’t really have to sleep that much to begin with. It’s not like in the movies where the sun comes up, and we become all ‘dead-like.’ But you already knew that one.

  “On the flip side, we’re tough. You can still shoot us, and we’ll go down with enough bullets, but it’s mainly blood loss that will keep us down. We’re much stronger than normal humans, but each of us is different, just like people. We are fast, not a streak of lightning fast, but enough to lose track of us if you’re not paying complete attention. With some practice, you can walk right up to someone without them noticing until it’s too late.” Shae stopped and looked at me.

  My eyes had gone wide, and my mouth was hanging open.

  “OK, information overload. Let’s call this for the night,” she said.

  “No,” I said after a moment’s hesitation. “Tell me more.”

  “Not so fast, tiger; I think you’ve got more than enough to chew on for one night. Sleep on it, and we’ll talk again tomorrow when you’ve had a chance to gather your thoughts.” She slid off the car.

  “But…” I started, knowing there was no way I would be able to sleep tonight.

  She turned back to me.

  “You never answered my question.” I fished the box out of my pocket and handed it to her. Inside was a thin gold ring entwined with a streak of black and the smallest diamond chip to top it off.

  “You were serious…you were going to propose to me in a Mexican restaurant?” she said in disbelief.

  “Well, no,” I said coyly. “I was waiting for the right time. I finally got the ring out of layaway last week. It just sorta slipped out…that’s not how I meant—”

  “James,” she shushed me. “You really don’t know what you’re getting yourself into here. What this really means.”

  “I don’t care,” I said earnestly. “I love you, I do know that. When you’re gone, I don’t feel whole; there’s always something missing, and it doesn’t go away until you come back.”

  “Me marrying you wouldn’t stop that. I’d still have to go away for my work,” she said.

  “I don’t care,” I lied. “As long as when you came back, it was to me.”

  “James…” she sighed.

  “Like I said, not right away. School starts up again in a week, and it’ll be my senior year. Once I graduate, I’ll be free to travel with you. When you go away, I can go with you,” I said.

  “I don’t think that will work…” Shae repeated.

  “Fine. You want to rock, paper, scissors for it?” I held up my hands.

  Shae paused, chuckling at the vampire LARP reference. “Goddess, I always hated that. I always wanted to put my ‘rock’ through someone’s face.”

  “Listen,” I tried again, gentler, not about to let this go. “You gave me a lot to think about and told me to sleep on it. You do the same. Take it home, try it on for a while, and tell me what you think. Like you said, we can talk more tomorrow.”

  After a moment, she sighed in defeat.

  I took her sigh as acceptance. “Great!” I slid off the hood of the car and stood next to her. “Just think about it, OK? Please?” I gently took her face in my hands and kissed her.

  It took her a moment to respond, but she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me in tight. She kissed me so hard I saw stars.

  “You’re hopeless,” she said.

  “And you’re beautiful,” I replied.

  She rolled her eyes. “Just get in the car.” Tucking the ring into her pocket, she pushed me away and slid behind the wheel.

  She was so lost in thought that I had to warn her to slow down as we approached the armbar at the bottom of the hill.

  My mind was also racing. Not only had she admitted she was a vampire, but she also hadn’t turned me down. I mean, she was trying to, but there was hesitation. I wasn’t sure how this would turn out, but I kept returning to the fact that she hadn’t said no. That had to count for something, right?

  Too bad Shae disappeared without a trace the next day.

  Owari Book 0