Neither (The Noctalis Chronicles 3)

“Don't worry, sweet boy. I'm not going to hurt her. I just want to get to know her. It's not often we find a parentless child.” Helena's tone is no longer that of a cute teen girl. She's the grown immortal, taking charge.

“I don't want to talk to you,” Brooke says. She's getting defensive and things are going to escalate.

“I'm staying with her.”

I glance at Tex, and we both realize that we owe him.

“We'll tell everyone that you went home sick.” He looks like he's going to say something, but then he doesn't. The cold look in his eyes is enough to break my heart.

“I'm sorry,” I say as Peter scoops me up in his arms for the run back to my car.

Jamie doesn't answer.

I cry all the way back to school.

Fifteen

Brooke

It was her. The girl I'd been looking for. Black hair, big green eyes. I knew the moment I saw her that this was the girl. The one I'd come to find. Jamie was right. Ivan was right. She was the kind of pretty that took a second to see. It wasn't obvious. She clung to the noctalis holding her, even after he set her down on her feet. Her voice was different than I thought, deeper than her small size suggested. This was the voice he'd fallen for. This was the girl I'd come to find.

Now that I'd found her, what was I going to do?

They had two other noctali with them, one who also had a Claimed, and one who didn't. I wasn't going to trust them farther than I could throw them.

His friends told me that he belonged to them. That he was theirs. Well, he was mine now. They didn't feel the way about him that I did. I could tell that once upon a time, he had loved this girl, Ava, but he had given up long ago. His heart was free and I had taken it. He was mine.

They finally backed down and left me with the other noctalis. Helena. The ancient one. I could smell that she had been immortal for a long time. It was an old smell of wisdom, time and dust.

“Well, you are young, aren't you?” she said.

“What do you want from me?”

“Nothing. I just want to get to know you.” Her voice was clear and soothing. I didn't want to be tricked by it. I didn't trust any of them.

“What brings you here? Did your mother bring you here? Or your father?” She wasn't talking about my human mother or father.

“No. I came alone.”

“How long have you been changed?”

“Two weeks.”

She fired questions at me, and I answered them with as few words as possible. Jamie stood by me, a warm pillar. He would not leave me. When Helena was done with me, she turned to Jamie.

“You have taken a dangerous path, dude.” He was surprised at her use of the modern slang. So was I.

“I'm not a moron.”

“I never said you were. Just that you seem awfully trusting of a person you've just met. Even if that person wasn't an immortal who wants your blood.”

“I've never touched him,” I said.

“I know,” Helena said with a smile. It looked so natural on her, but she'd had hundreds of years to practice. “But you are very young, and blood is still very new for you. I'm surprised you've managed to last this long. You must care for him.”

“I do,” I said without hesitation. Jamie must know that I felt for him. That I would do anything for him, even though I had only known him for such a short time. That didn’t matter. Time didn’t matter anymore, at least to me.

“I don't care about who she is. I care about her. The rest doesn't matter.”

“Are you prepared to give your life for that?”

“She's not going to hurt me.” He was so certain. It made me want to dance and laugh in the sunlight.

“Ah, youth,” Helena said, blinking a sigh. “Well, just in case, because your friends are worried about you, I'm just going to hang around for a little while.”

“You're going to babysit us?” I asked. I didn’t like the idea, but there was little I could do to stop her. I had not tried to attack another noctalis, but something told me that if we were in a fight, she would win. “Fine,” I said. “It's okay,” I said to Jamie.

“Are you sure?”

“I'm not going to hurt you, but even I can't stop wanting you that way. If something happened, I wouldn't be able to stop.”

“I think you would.” I knew he did, and that was the problem. He trusted me too much.

Sixteen

Peter

The situation with Jamie is unexpected, but I knew the moment we saw him that he was involved with a noctalis. It cannot be a coincidence. There is no reason that Brooke should end up in Sussex. There is something she isn’t telling us, and I hope Helena will be able to get it out of her.

I didn't tell Ava about my suspicions because she is so upset already.

“You're hiding something from me,” she says as we drive back to her house after school.

“It is nothing you need to worry about.”

“Nuh uh. You don't get to do that,” she says, shaking her head. “I have to share all my inner crap with you. I can't read your mind, but that's not an excuse to not tell me things.”

She is right, but I don't want to burden her further.

“I swear to God, Peter. Sometimes I want to strangle you.”

Her voice is angry, but really she is frustrated. I understand, but it is not going to make me tell her. “I am sorry.”

“No, you're not. You're being the big bad immortal who knows everything and I'm just the stupid human.” Her anger with me is not entirely directed at the fact that there is something I won't tell her. She's angry with herself and sad about her friend.

“I am sorry about Jamie,” I say, touching her arm. She flinches away from me. “Ava?”

“I just feel horrible, Peter.”

Tears gush from her eyes. She has only been able to hold them back for so long. I reach over to brush them away. She tries to push my hand away, but I don't let her.

“Pull the car over, Ava.” She obeys and I pull her into my lap, stroking her hair and letting her cry.

“I just can't believe how he looked at me. He's never looked at me like that. Never.” She rubs her face in my shirt. “I hate myself.”

“Shh, he'll forgive you. It is always darkest before the dawn,” I say, using her mother's quote. It elicits a laugh from her.

“You're almost as good as Mom at doing that.” She looks up at me with red-rimmed eyes. I wonder what it feels like to cry. I swipe my finger across her face and taste her tears.

“That would be totally gross if anyone else did that.” She sighs, putting her head against my chest again. “When is the drama going to be over? I mean, I can't see a day when it's just going to be the two of us. No crazy Mom, no worrying about Viktor turning Tex and now I have to worry about Jamie being a blood bank.” She covers her face with her hands and groans. “Why do these things happen?”