“Gemma, look, look!” Jillian skipped down the hallway toward me as I unceremoniously shoved textbooks into my locker. Her face was slightly flushed and she looked to be bursting with giddiness. “Connor sent me a Valentine’s gram!” she shrieked girlishly, waving a red and pink card in front of me.
I tried to keep the scowl off my face, but it was supremely difficult.
“I thought he wasn’t going to send me one, but then they delivered it during 6th period,” she gushed. “And look, it plays a song!” She went to open the card and I quickly slapped it closed between my palms.
“If I have to listen to that cheesy Lion King song one more time, I’m gonna scream,” I deadpanned. Seriously, who picked such a corny song to be on all the school Valentines? Thanks to the nameless musical non-genius, I’d been hearing snippets of the sappy song all day.
“Hey, don’t be hating just ‘cause you didn’t get one,” she said flippantly. “Besides, if Mark were a student here, he would’ve sent you one. That’s what you get for dating someone older than you.”
I grumbled sourly in response and turned to finish loading my locker.
“You always were grumpy when you felt left out,” Jill commented lightly.
I sighed. “It’s not just that. I’ve had a really crappy week, Jill.”
Her expression sobered up. “Not feeling well?” she asked in a small voice.
“That’s part of it, yeah.” I couldn’t really tell her the other part was that I was missing Rick and Mal big time. As promised, Mal had called to give me updates every day. Rick was doing well, but they still weren’t sure when he’d be back in school. No Rick also meant no Mal at school.
I hadn’t realized just how much I’d come to depend on them—not just for support, but for their friendship too. Jill and Conner were in a happy, lovey-dovey place that I didn’t want to intrude on and I just didn’t feel comfortable around my theater friends anymore. I still hadn’t told anyone outside my immediate circle about my condition, which meant I had to wear a mask when I was around other people—pretend everything was hunky dory—when really, all I wanted to do was mope or cry or scream.
So without my friends, I’d wandered the halls over the past week like a ghost, floating from class to class without much enthusiasm or purpose. I’d begun to do the bare minimum as far as classwork—just enough so that the teachers wouldn’t bother me. There just didn’t seem to be a point to studying anymore.
Now, depressed and lonesome, Valentine’s Day had arrived and the school was abuzz with teenage romance. I ran into couples in cute puppy love wherever I went and it was just making my attitude worse because not only did it remind me of my loneliness, it made me angry at what I couldn’t have. Seeing all these couples flirting and kissing felt as if I was Tantalus, starved and thirsty, standing in a pool of water with branches of fruit dangling before me, yet eternally unable to reach them.
I knew I’d willingly chosen to follow my predestined path, but that didn’t make it any easier to stomach the consequences.
“Hey, why don’t we hang out? Watch some Love Actually and eat tons of chocolate?” Jill suggested.
I smiled fondly at her. “I’m not keeping you from your plans with Connor tonight.”
“He’ll be here next year,” she shrugged. The subtext that I wouldn’t was left unsaid but it hung heavy in the air.
“I’ll be okay. Thank you though.” She shot me a skeptical look. “Seriously, I’ll be fine. I should get some sleep anyway,” I argued. It wasn’t entirely a lie. I should get more sleep since I seemed to be tired all the time, but in all likeliness I wouldn’t. It felt like I was wasting time whenever I slept.
“Okay, well call me if you change your mind. I really don’t mind,” she pressed. “Connor wouldn’t either.”
I stepped forward and pulled her into a hug that seemed to surprise her at first, but she quickly returned it. “I love you, Jilly Bean,” I whispered.
She tightened her hold on me. “I love you, too,” her voice waivered. After a long moment she stepped back to give me a watery smile.
“Go find that cocky boyfriend of yours and give him a kiss for me,” I joked.
“Why don’t you do it yourself, hmm?” Connor’s teasing voice spoke by my ear, making me jump. His characteristic roguish grin was in place as he tilted his cheek toward me.
I chuckled before leaning in to peck him on the cheek. His grin turned into a genuine smile as he wrapped an arm around my shoulder and tugged me in for a squeeze. “You should stop by the theater before you leave,” Connor suggested casually.
I shot him a confused look. “What? Why?”
He shrugged before removing his arm to greet Jill.
“Well thanks. I guess I have to run by the theater now,” I told Jill as I shot Connor a frustrated glare.
He flashed me an innocent smile, giving nothing away.
“Okay, see you tomorrow,” she said cheerfully.
I’d only gotten a few steps away when Connor called me back. “Oh, Fish!” he jogged over to meet me. “Here,” he said, pressing a small box into my hand. “Happy Valentine’s Day.” He kissed my cheek before jogging back to Jill.
I glanced down to see it was a box of conversation heart candy. When I looked closer though, I noticed they didn’t say the usual Valentine sentiments. No, these were risqué candy hearts. I laughed out loud as I read things like, ‘Cute Butt’ and ‘Lick Me’.
I shook my head in amusement, but flashed Connor a smile. He returned it with an affectionate and surprisingly non-suggestive wink.
When I got to the theater room I was slightly annoyed to find no one there. The room was open, which was a surprise since it was empty, but no one seemed to be in the auditorium. I made my way backstage, but I was pretty sure whatever reason Connor had told me to stop by was gone now.
Seeing no one in the hallways, I opened the door to backstage. The lights were off and it was pitch black. Just as I was about to shut the door, the lights faded up slowly to a dim yellow glow. I looked around in confusion, still not seeing anyone around. Movement caught my eye as Malcolm stepped slowly from the shadows. His golden brown hair shone as it caught the light and I could see his green eyes glinting all the way across the stage.
“What are you doing here?” I asked surprised.
He came to a stop before me and flashed a mysterious smile, but didn’t say anything. He reached forward and pulled me closer so I had to crane my neck slightly to see him
Mal leaned forward to run his nose teasingly along the line of my jaw. “I realized something the other day,” he whispered. His lips brushed the curve of my ear lightly making me shiver.
“Oh?” I asked with a slight wobble to my voice.
He drew back with a slight smirk. “We never got our waltz.”
I blinked blankly a few times before remembering how we would have been waltz partners in class months ago if not for Quinn’s jealousy.
“May I?” Mal asked politely, extending his hand in a formal invitation to dance.
A slow smile spread across my face as I accepted his hand.
The moment we touched, he swept me into his arms and began to expertly twirl us around the room. His leading was so practiced that I barely had to think of the steps and it felt as if we were floating; our feet hardly touching the ground before we’d already moved on.
Instead of looking away from each other as the dance traditionally called for, we held each others’ gazes, making it feel as if nothing but the two of us existed in the world. The corner of Mal’s mouth was quirked up in a small, admiring smile that made me feel appreciated, loved and utterly safe.
After a time, Mal stopped us gracefully. I had no idea how long we’d been dancing—it could have been minutes or even hours—but it still wasn’t enough for me. With a gentle grip on either side of my face, he drew me into a slow, sweet kiss. It was undemanding and unhurried, as if he was savoring everything about the moment. Again, he left me wanting more when he pulled away.
“There’s one more thing we’re doing tonight,” he said as he stepped back into the shadows. He came back almost instantly with a piece of fabric swinging from his index finger. After a moment of confusion, I recognized it as my swimsuit.
“Swimming? It’s February,” I pointed out, “and they don’t heat the pool after school hours.”
“I didn’t say we were swimming here,” he drawled with a smirk.
“Where’d you get my suit?” I asked.
His smirk deepened, but he didn’t answer.
I rolled my eyes. “Where are we swimming then?”
Unsurprisingly, he didn’t answer. “Come on,” he grasped my hand and tugged me after him.
“You just love being all mysterious, don’t you?” I sighed.
“Would you have been as interested in me if I wasn’t?” he quipped.
I tried to put on a serious face. “Probably not,” I nodded contemplatively.
He shoved me playfully as we headed toward the parking lot. “Good thing I haven’t gotten boring then,” he said sardonically.
“Good thing,” I agreed.
“You little joker!” he scoffed. “You think you’re funny, do you?” Suddenly he crouched down and lifted me off my feet to throw me over his shoulder.
“Hey! Mal!” I shouted, but it came out winded with his shoulder digging into my diaphragm. “What are you doing, you crazy psycho?”
He laughed as he adjusted his hold on my flailing legs. “Just teaching my girl a few manners,” he commented lightly. “It isn’t polite to tease.”
“Oh, no you didn’t!”
He flipped me around so quickly I got dizzy for a moment before plopping me down on his motorcycle.
I glared at him. “You—”
He cut me off suddenly by pressing his lips to mine. After a stunned second I returned the kiss eagerly, grasping fistfuls of his shirt and yanking him closer to me. I bit his lip lightly, making him grunt and dig his fingers into my sides as he gripped me tighter. He ran his tongue over my lip enquiringly, but I stubbornly denied him access.
He broke the kiss abruptly to scowl at me, but it lost some of its impact since he was breathing erratically. “What did I just say about teasing?”
“All’s fair,” I said cheerfully.
“In love and war?” he finished. “I disagree, my dear. I’ve seen men play more fairly in war than women ever seem to do in love.”
Momentarily distracted from our argument, I asked, “You’ve been in a war?”
“Several.”
I frowned. It shouldn’t have been so surprising since he was over 700 years old, but I’d never thought about it before. I really was so naïve; it made me wonder what Malcolm even saw in me.
“It’s how I got this,” he said, gesturing with a long finger to the scar running down his eyebrow and cheek. “I was fighting an English foot-soldier and took a lance to the face. I dodged at the exact right moment so the blade glanced off my cheek. Otherwise it might’ve gone through my skull or blinded me at the very least.”
I winced. “I’m guessing this was before you were changed? Since you have a scar from it?”
He nodded. “The Scottish Wars of Independence.”
“I thought that was in the late 12th century. How old were you?”
“The first war, yes. It started when I was only a couple years old. I joined the fight when I was fifteen.”
My eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You were fighting in a war at fifteen years old?”
“It wasn’t uncommon at all then. Remember, everything happened at a younger age. There were kings younger than fifteen who were ruling countries. Women usually had children already by that age.”
I shook my head in wonder. It was nearly impossible to imagine his childhood. “When were you changed?” I asked.
“Not long after this,” he pointed to his scar again. “Just a few months later I fought in a particularly big battle. It was the most chaotic I’d seen and far surpassed my level of experience, but I was fighting for something I believed in. I was willing to lay down my life for the cause if need be. Half way through the battle we were down by half of our numbers and were tiring quickly, but I came up with a plan that helped turn the tide in our favor. We won later that day with few additional men lost. Through my deeds I earned the respect of one of the men in particular whom I’d been fighting alongside—a vampire. He was a young vampire, but older in human years and quite experienced in war. He took me under his wing, so to speak, and we ended up fighting several battles together over the next few years. Seeing him in action, I realized he was something…different…very quickly. He was completely open, answering any questions I asked, and when I turned nineteen, he offered to change me. We’d become very close and a pivotal battle was being planned. I felt like I would be a better asset in the fight if I changed and he hoped that it would keep me alive through it.”
The sudden quiet after Mal’s long speech felt weirdly hollow. “What happened to him?” I asked quietly. It was obvious Mal had lost him at some point; otherwise I would’ve met him by now.
“He was killed in that battle.” Mal’s face didn’t give away any emotion, but I could tell that even after all these years the loss still pained him. “In a lucky move, one of the opposing soldiers managed to drive a lance through his heart,” Ma’s voice hardened slightly. “The same soldier who gave me this scar when I later sought him out for retribution.”
For a split second I could see the battle-hardened man beneath the surface before he snapped back to reality. “Enough of the past,” he smiled as he pinched my chin affectionately. “We’ve a pool to jump into.”
We pulled up to a recreational center a few minutes later and he dismounted. The entire complex was dark and obviously closed. I shot him a skeptical look. “Lose track of what time it is? I think they’re closed,” I said sarcastically.
Mal raised an eyebrow at me challengingly. “I know exactly what time it is.”
He held his hand out to me and I looked at him hesitantly, which made him smirk. He brushed a strand of hair out of my face that had fallen out of place when I removed my helmet. “Live a little, Gem,” he whispered teasingly, but when I looked up into his face he wore a serious expression.
Fair enough. What can they do to me when I only have a month left—if that—anyway? I took his hand and followed him to the front of the main building.
“Wait here. I’ll get in through the back and come open the door for you.” He kissed me quickly on the forehead and then he was gone.
Less than a minute later, the door opened to reveal a smug-looking Malcolm. “Easy as pie,” he bragged.
I rolled my eyes as I pushed past him. “The fact that you can break into a locked building so easily is not something to boast about.”
He shrugged. “It’s for a good cause.”
I huffed disapprovingly, but I followed as he led me past the dark reception area and down a hallway. He opened a door that I think was marked ‘pool’, but it was too dark for me to be sure until I walked through. Just enough ambient light from outside was filtering through the windows for me to make out the dim shape of a large lap pool.
Mal flipped a switch on the wall and the pool lights came to life, filling the room with a greenish blue glow.
“The changing room is there,” he pointed to a door marked ‘Girls’, “and your things are there.” This time he indicated a bench along the wall near me. “I’ll meet you back out here,” he said, shooting me a wink.
After changing into my suit, I returned to the pool to find Mal swimming a few leisurely laps. The sight of his toned back and muscles flexing caused me to stumble slightly as I made my way to the water.
The temperature was perfect and soothing as I waded into the water. I took my time, enjoying the blissful feeling I’d missed so much. When I made it in up to my neck, I lifted my feet to float on the surface and closed my eyes, delighting in the coolness of the water against my scalp. One by one I could feel every muscle in my body begin to relax and I nearly sighed in relief.
I felt Mal swim up to my side. “Feeling better?”
“Heavenly,” I moaned, making him chuckle.
“Good,” he whispered, as he swum around to kiss my forehead.
I opened my eyes and sat up as I turned to face him. He shot me a tender smile, making my insides warm up. I slid my hands over his shoulders and enjoyed watching as his eyes darkened with desire. Running my fingers through the fine hair at the nape of his neck, I pulled myself flush against him and wrapped my legs around his waist. He sucked in a ragged breath and I smiled, pleased with the effect I had on him.
“Gemma,” he said huskily, running his hands up my thighs before gripping my rear and pressing me closer.
I could tell he was majorly turned on, but instead of acting on it further, he remained still, drinking in my features as if memorizing everything he could. We stayed like that for quite some time, staring into each other’s eyes, motionless save for the occasional stroke of his thumbs across my hips or my fingers drifting through his hair. It was more intimate than any make out session could ever be. I felt almost as if—like our bodies, which were wrapped inescapably around one another—our souls were somehow intertwining as well. We didn’t need actions or words to express our thoughts and feelings; we just knew.
Eventually Mal broke the silence. “I know I’m disrespecting your wishes—I’ll only ask once—but I’ll forever regret it if I don’t try.” He moved his hands to cup my face and his intense gaze bored into me. “Are you sure you won’t change? Will you not reconsider?” he whispered desperately.
I struggled to keep my tears at bay, but it was no use. One hot droplet after the next began to roll down my cheeks as I looked at him apologetically. “I can’t,” I whispered brokenly. “I can’t.”
His expression was resigned and full of sorrow as he nodded and wiped my tears away with his thumbs. “Then know this,” he said in a silky smooth tone. “Even after you’re gone, I will continue to love you, Gem. Forever.”
I couldn’t get any words past the lump in my throat, so I just nodded shakily before leaning forward to touch my lips to his, savoring the moment as if it were my last.
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ATHOR'S NOTE: Sorry for the day late upload. Yesterday was 24 hours of travel to get home, but I'm back in the US of A! Uploads will be back to the usual weekly Wednesday schedule now. Only about 4 more chapters left, folks!