A Dark Inheritance

What Now?

Chapter Two - What Now?

Jenine’s hands scrabbled at the hand around her neck, furiously trying to allow herself some air. She could feel her eyes bulging, and her vision was dimming around the edges. “Don’t make a sound.” His voice was clear and smooth as spring water running over river rocks. If she could breathe, that totally out of place thought would’ve made her laugh, but under the circumstances, she settled for an attempt at a nod. Slowly, he lowered her onto the ground - helping her sit down as she coughed and spluttered. He sat down, crossing long legs under himself, and faced her across the grass. She ran a hand along her neck, which still felt cold from his hand, and waited quietly. She would need to catch her breath before she could make her move, so it seemed like doing what he wanted was the smartest way to play this. Besides, she was curious about him. His eyes were the color and intensity of amethysts as he watched her, his face betraying no emotions. She tried not to notice, but she couldn’t help but admire his perfectly square jaw line, shock of jet black hair, and broad shoulders. They watched each other while she caught her breath. “You’re one of them.” He said finally. It wasn’t a question, but she nodded. “Would you believe me if I told you that you’re wrong about me?” He held her eyes. “Who are you?” She knew, but she wanted him to say it. He smiled, looking exquisitely beautiful and sad somehow, like he knew she knew and was disappointed that she’d asked. “I am Caspian.” When he said his name aloud, she shivered. “And what makes you think I’m wrong about you?” She asked, realizing that her breathlessness had nothing to do with the earlier choking and feeling incredibly stupid for finding herself in this situation. One of them wasn’t leaving this forest tonight, and fawning over how hot he was wouldn’t help her be the one to survive this. “I don’t kill people.” He said, softly. “Prove it.” She responded, quickly pulling a stake from the waistband of her yoga pants and rolling to her feet. He didn’t move an inch. She lunged at him and he grabbed the stake with one hand, knocking her off balance, but he remained seated and didn’t cry out even though she knew he had to be hurt. She stared at him. She was only 16 years old, but she’d been on a few hunts before and had never seen a vampire act like this. She narrowed her green eyes at him. “What do you want from me?” She hissed, her body tensed to strike if he moved toward her. “I want to show you something. I want to make you understand. Will you come with me?” 

Luke glanced over at Liv’s buzzing phone. “Are you going to get that? It’s been ringing nonstop, and I’m sure she’s just worried about you.” He put a hand under her chin so that she had to look him in the eyes. 

“No, I just don’t have anything to say to her.” Liv realized how petulant she sounded, but she genuinely didn’t know what she would say to her mother, even if she did answer the phone. She still couldn’t go back there. She didn’t want to face any of the things her mother had told her. She just wanted to go back to how things were before the stupid DNA test and the drawer full of vampire hunting weaponry and that awful conversation. 

“Well, do you have anything to say to me? You still haven’t told me what happened, and you’re not going to distract me with more s*x, Liv; I know something is really wrong.” He kissed her forehead.

She melted into his chest, but she shook her head. “I just want to forget about it for now, ok? I just want to be here with you.” 

He sighed. “I never could say no to you. How about breakfast? We could go by the diner, and you can eat your weight in waffles again.” 

“I kinda wanted to stay in bed all day, but if you’d rather watch me eat, I guess I can get there.” She grinned and sat up. “Do you mind if I take a quick shower?” She stretched her arms over her head, relishing the feeling of his eyes on her body. 

“Of course not - you know where to find it.” He gave her a playful smack on the butt when she stood up to walk to the bathroom. She walked out of the room nice and slow, knowing that he would watch. In the bathroom, she met her own eyes in the mirror. Somehow she didn’t look any different than yesterday. Same almond-shaped, preternaturally purple eyes; same waist-length wavy jet black hair; same little ski jump nose sitting above her slightly swollen pink lips. She ran her fingers through the knots in her hair, working her way slowly through the bird’s nest that had formed at the crown of her head. She turned the shower water up to scalding and let steam fill the room around her before stepping into the stream. Her pale skin instantly reddened and suddenly, without warning, tears filled her eyes. She sat down in the bathtub, letting the water run over her back as the floodgates opened. She didn’t know how long she’d been there when she felt Luke’s strong arms around her. He didn’t say a word, just held her close on the floor of the shower while she shook and sobbed. When the water started to cool down, he reached over and turned off the taps. He stood up, grabbed a towel, and wrapped it around her before scooping her up off the floor of the tub and carrying her back to bed. 

“I’m getting your sheets wet.” She said. “And you must think I’ve lost my mind.” She pulled the towel tighter around her shoulders. 

He sighed, sitting down opposite her on the bed. He reached over and used his thumbs to gently wipe tears from her cheeks. He shook his head, wet hair falling into his eyes. “Are you ok?” 

She could see the genuine concern etched all over his face. She looked down at her lap and shook her head. “Not yet, but I will be. I just have to wrap my head around what happened yesterday.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “My dad isn’t actually my dad.” She didn’t look up to see his reaction, and she wasn’t about to say anything crazy about vampires or vampire hunters or any of the rest of it, but she heard him gasp. 

“Well that is not what I was expecting.” He said after a long pause. “How did you find out?”

“AP Bio - remember the genetics unit fiasco?” She smirked, meeting his eyes. He nodded. “Well that made me curious, so I did one of those online ancestry DNA tests. And just like that, I realized my mom has been lying to me my entire life.” 

“And there’s no way it’s just some kind of mistake, right?” He held up his hands as if to say “don’t get mad - I have to ask.”

“She got weird and cagey about it, so I went through her things and found some unexpected stuff, so she admitted it. She met my real dad, got pregnant, thought her parents wouldn’t approve, and ran away with her best friend, the man who she pretended was my dad.” 

“Wow, Liv, that’s -” He broke off, clearly trying to find the right word. “That’s heavy. And I’m sorry you had to find out this way.” 

“You know you have no business being that hot and that sweet.” 

“Really though. I don’t know what to say or how to help, but I’m here and, no matter who your dad is, I love you.” He smiled shyly. 

She smiled back. “We should really get going before breakfast becomes lunch and you have to watch me eat my weight in french fries instead of waffles.” She started to stand up, but he took her hand and pulled her in close. 

“Even if you feel like you don’t know who you are right now, you’re the same person you were before. You’re still my favorite human on the planet. A badass soccer player. A terrible parallel parker. The most beautiful girl in the world.” He kissed her between each sentence, and she hoped he didn’t notice the catch in her breath when he called her human. She gave him a smile and tousled his hair as she pulled away and stood up. They dressed quickly, and took her car down to the diner on the main drag of their sleepy little town. 

Liv was a little surprised that the s*x and the shower and the crying hadn’t been enough hto clear her head. She was grateful that the diner was packed with people, so that she could fade into the background a bit, lost in thought while a group of Luke’s friends and their significant (or not so significant) others chattered around her. He kept a protective arm around her shoulders, and she could feel him glance her way every so often. She knew she was laughing a beat too late at every joke and responding to comments and questions that came her way in an unusually monosyllabic way, but she ate her waffle, bacon, and eggs with her usual gusto, finishing well before Luke, who slid a quarter of his waffle and a slice of bacon on to her plate with a sly grin just for her. She polished those off too and settled back with her head against his strong chest, taking a deep breath and trying to focus on the conversation around her. 

It was mid-way through the first semester of their senior year, so all conversation was focused on homecoming. Liv was the senior class president, so she and the rest of the student council had just finished all the preparations for spirit week, the pep rally, the homecoming parade, and the big game against their cross town rivals, working with the cheerleaders and the marching band to iron out all the details. Luke played baseball, but his best friend Robbie and his town brother Sam were the stars of the football team, quarterback and running back respectively. The two of them were the center of attention at the table, surrounded by a pack of admiring girls and the usual crew of guys who’d all grown up together. There were Robbie and Sam, golden haired like Luke and just as handsome, although quite a bit cockier; James, whose hair was nearly as dark as Liv’s own and with deep brown eyes that always looked a little bit mischievous; Grayston, thickly muscled with close cropped dirty blonde hair; and Chris, who had taken to wearing a Tim Riggins style ponytail in his brown hair. Robbie and Sam had been her next door neighbors as long as she could remember, and their moms were best friends, so she’d been around them since they were all in diapers. Growing up, she’d fallen in with the group of boys easily, and Robbie and Sam were still two of her closest friends. Neither of them ever had girlfriends for long, so the table was full of girls hoping to end up the flavor of the month in time for the dance. James and Gray had girlfriends, both of them the sort of interchangeable blonde cheerleader types. They were nice enough, so Liv couldn’t really complain. She could feel Chris’s eyes on her, a question behind their gray-green irises. She gave him a small smile, and laid a hand on his forearm. 

“Do you still think you can take Penny to homecoming?” Liv asked, leaning in close enough that the gaggle of girls around the table couldn’t hear her. 

He smiled. “Of course. I made you a promise.” He said, moving his arm away from her touch. 

Things had been weird between them for a few months now, ever since she’d told him that her best friend, Penny, had a huge crush on him. Penny was beautiful, and not just because Liv was biased. She had long strawberry blonde hair and big blue eyes, and where Liv was slim and athletic, Penny was curvy and graceful. She was a star on the volleyball team and one of the kindest souls Liv knew. Penny had had her eye on Chris for as long as Liv could remember, but she was shy and a little awkward with boys - a true girly girl, she didn’t spend most of her time hanging out with a bunch of dudes like Liv had. 

“If there’s someone else you’d rather take, you don’t have to ask her. I just think you guys might hit it off is all.” She searched his eyes, but he wasn’t giving anything away. 

“I want to ask her.” He said finally, but there was something in his tone that she couldn’t place. 

“Ask who?” Luke asked, tuning into their conversation. “And ask her what?” He titled his head in a way that reminded Liv of a golden retriever. 

Chris let out a long breath. “I’m going to ask Penny to go to homecoming with me.” A handful of the gathered girls around the table tried to hide their disappointment. Robbie chuckled. Chris tossed a blueberry at him. Robbie caught it in his mouth. Liv could swear she saw one of the girls at the table swoon, and she rolled her eyes. 

“What?” came a startled voice from behind them. Liv, Luke, and Chris turned to the source of the voice. Penny was standing, pink cheeked, long hair drawn back in a curly ponytail, just a few feet away from the table. Chris swore under his breath. Robbie laughed again. 

Luke, looking guilty, said “I’m sorry; I ruined the surprise.” He held up his hands in a gesture of apology. 

“Can we talk somewhere a little more private?” Chris asked Penny, standing up and moving toward her. 

Penny glanced at Liv, who gave a subtle nod of encouragement. “Um, sure.” She said, looking up at Chris. He was at least a foot taller than her, so he leaned down to put an arm on her back and steer her outside. Liv fought the urge to watch them talking, turning her focus on to Robbie. 

“What about you?” She asked sweetly. “Got anyone in mind for the dance? You’ve only got a couple of weeks to find a date you know. And I’m sure it’ll be a challenge with that mug of yours.” She smirked. 

He groaned. “No, I was thinking of having a Hunger Games style contest for it. The best woman wins.” He winks at her. “Think you’d compete, Hayes?” He has called her by her last name for as long as she can remember. He’s the only person who still does. Suddenly the familiarity of it brings tears to her eyes. “Woah, no need to cry; I’m all yours!” He jokes, but there’s a flash of real concern in his eyes. 

She forces a grin, and swipes quickly at her eyes. “Nah, just the thought of spending an entire evening with that ego of yours is making me want to cry.” She gives a quick shake of her head, so small no one else, not even Luke, notices. He inclines his head back toward her, sending golden curls down into his eyes. Not now. Her gesture said. Ten four. His said back. She smiled, genuinely this time, as he dramatically drew his hand to his heart in mock hurt. 

She tuned out again, wondering how Penny and Chris were getting along outside, but when she finally decided enough time had passed for her to take a peak, they were both gone. She felt a pang of something, but her thoughts were a jumble, tangled in her mind, and just like that she felt exhausted. She leans into Luke’s ear. “Want to get out of here?” She asks, her lips brushing against his ear. 

She can feel him shiver slightly from the contact. He nods. To the group, he says, “we’re headed home - see you at school on Monday.” As they walk out, he keeps his arm around her and whispers “stay the night?” She meets his eyes and smiles slowly. Maybe she can’t hide away with Luke forever, but for now, he’s a delicious distraction.