Legend of the Virgin Vampire

Worlds Collide

Thank god. Emily had told me to stay away from her, but she hadn't meant it. Not really.

I made to stand up, put Mom put a hand on my shoulder.

"I'll get it."

"No, it's okay, Mom. I'll get it."

But she made it to the door first. She opened it to reveal Emily on the porch, dressed head-to-toe in gray sweats, the costume of a much less attractive girl. But I didn't care. It wasn't her body that I wanted her for. It wasn't.

"Is Nathaniel here?" Emily said. She looked disgusted with herself for even asking.

"He's having dinner," Mom said.

"Would it be okay if I talked to him for a few minutes? It's about school."

"I suppose so. Come on in."

Emily's eyes found me, where I was standing in the living room. She said, "Could he just step outside with me real quick? I promise it won't take long."

"He's grounded, so he's not leaving the house. He'll have to talk to you in here."

"Oh," Emily said. "Okay."

She stepped into the house and Mom closed the door. Emily and I stared at each other while pretending we weren't staring at each other. She smelled so good. Not just safer than my mother, but correct. Emily's blood belonged to me. It took all my self-control not to push my mom out of the way so I could get to it.

"So," I said.

"So."

Mom watched us with a look of polite interest. I had to get Emily alone, but I couldn't figure out how.

"What did you want to talk about?" I said.

"I wasn't in school today, so I was hoping you could go over the stuff I missed. We have history and math together, right?"

"And chem."

"Yeah."

The classes we shared, even though Emily was a year older than me, were not because Emily was dumb. I'd been in an accelerated program most of my life. Supposedly it looks good on college transcripts.

I looked at Mom, as innocently as possible. "Is that okay?"

"It's okay."

"Good. Um . . ." I rubbed the back of my neck. "I can scan my notes and email them to you if you show me what you need."

"Yeah, that sounds good." Emily made a move toward the stairs. "Is your computer in your room?"

"Yeah, it is. Let's just go up, and---" I made to follow her, but Mom cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Nathaniel's not allowed to have girls in his room."

Of course I knew this rule, but I was hoping we'd steamrolled it. No chance.

"It'll only take a minute, Mom. That's where my stuff is."

"No. You help her downstairs or you don't help her at all."

I should point out right here that my mother is not normally suspicious and mistrustful to such a paranoid degree. This was all the result of me having a secret and her not knowing what it was. And she was right. If you think about it, she was right.

So I had to go up to my room and get my backpack, and then come back down and pretend to be going over notes with Emily in classes that neither of us cared about, all while my mother stood over us like the chaperone at a dance trying to make sure that we stayed a ruler length apart. I could practically feel the heat from Emily's skin, and it was all I could do to keep forming coherent sentences while she nodded and stared at my mouth. At my teeth. I could sort of keep them in, but it wasn't easy. I had to keep remembering Mom's chicken.