As if he were watching himself in a dream, Michael saw his hands grip Nakano’s arm, one hand wrapped around his wrist, the other clutching his elbow. The veins in Nakano’s arm throbbed as it was brought closer to Michael’s waiting mouth as if the arm was just as eager to be bitten as Michael was to feed. All he had to do was open his mouth and bite down, and the hunger would be quenched, the pain that had spread through his entire body would cease. It was unconscionable what he was thinking of doing, biting into the flesh of another human being, but he was about to do it. And he would have if Nakano had not spoken. “Just imagine that it’s Ronan.”
That name brought him back to reality. A reality that he simply couldn’t deal with, that he simply couldn’t comprehend. A reality he didn’t want to make worse. “I can’t,” Michael said, his fangs disappearing. “I can’t do it.”
Think before you speak, Kano; everything you say needs to create trust, a bond between you and this unsuspecting pawn. “I understand,” Nakano lied. “You need time. Why don’t you try and sleep?” And so Michael did. Unfortunately, when he woke, the hunger still clung to him as it did now, but so too did an idea. As long as he could remain strong, like St. Michael perhaps, stronger than the hunger, and not feed, maybe he could change back to what he was, human, mortal, and not become this creature like the one sitting next to him now.
Michael looked over at Nakano sleeping so peacefully, looking so innocent. The irony of the situation made him laugh out loud.
“What’s so funny?” Nakano asked, rousing from his nap.
“Nothing,” Michael said, shaking his head.
Pulling his eyeshades off, Nakano pressed him further. “Fess up, Michael. You haven’t cracked a smile since we left home.”
Michael gazed out the window and searched for a response. “I swore I’d never go back to Weeping Water and yet here I am.”
“Don’t sweat it, mate, you just have to remember not to limit yourself,” Nakano said, with one eye following the handsome male flight attendant as he walked down the aisle. “Because guess what. You no longer have limitations.”
There it was again, that pain. “Speaking of limitations,” Michael said, “how long does it take to get used to these contacts? They’re not the most comfortable things in the world, you know.”
It was Nakano’s turn to laugh. “You can blame your father for that.”
“My father? What’s he have to do with anything?”
“They’re a product of Howard Industries,” Nakano blurted out, now fully focusing on the flight attendant whose outfit was obviously designed to show off his fantastic physique.
“Nakano,” Michael said, raising his voice to gain his attention. “Why would my father’s company be making contacts for vampires?”
Backpedal, Nakano. Don’t let this newbie screw up your last chance to impress Brania and her old man. “Did I say that? One of your father’s companies makes tinted contacts, a novelty item, that’s all. Our people were positively gobsmacked when they discovered the contacts could perfectly conceal our eyes without losing any of our enhanced vision.” Now, where did that hot attendant get to?
Now my father’s company is involved? It’s just one complication after another, isn’t it? “They block out the sun’s rays too, right?” Michael asked. “That’s why you can walk outside during the day.”
Don’t say too much, Kano, just keep it simple. “You catch on quick.” No need to tell him that we can only walk in the sun on Archangel ground. Best to reveal that bit of information after he decides to become part of our race. Nakano glanced at his watch. Local time was 5:25 A.M.; sunrise was in less than an hour. “Let’s go over some ground rules before we land,” Nakano said. “I don’t do funerals; never liked them before and now I find them extraneous.” As a member of the immortal world, Nakano considered death a means to an end, a necessity, not something that should be celebrated or honored in any way. But once again, he kept his thoughts to himself and merely smiled. “Extraneous. How’s that for a vocabulary word? Betcha McLaren would be impressed.”
Michael understood Nakano’s aversion to funerals. This would be his third in the past six months and he still wasn’t getting used to them. “Not a problem; you can stay at my house all day.”
With the windows shut and the shades completely drawn, Nakano added to himself. “Sounds like a plan, mate.”
Michael never thought Nakano would consider him a mate. And he never thought he’d relish returning to the simplicity of Weeping Water, even if it was just for a few days. Even if it was just to see his grandmother buried.
He remembered the last time he saw her, the night he left to fly to London. She didn’t say much, she never did, but he felt that when she said good-bye to him, she was saying good-bye to a piece of her life, a piece that she would never get back. Hopefully, she’s with his mother now and they’re saying the things to each other they never got to say while they were alive. He wondered what he would say to them when his time came. Would he rush into their arms as he hadn’t done since he was a young boy or would he just wave to them from the other side of a stream as they each went their separate ways? Or would he never get the chance to see them again because as a vampire he would not have an afterlife?
Alarmed by such a disquieting question, Michael pressed his forehead against the window; the cold began to temper his fear. He closed his eyes and pushed such philosophical thoughts from his mind. He wanted to deal with something much more tangible. Like land. When he opened his eyes, he saw that land was getting closer. It looked like he could jump out and easily set foot on top of one of the buildings, and who knows, maybe he could. Nakano said he’d be amazed by how powerful and agile his body would become. Imperious and almost invulnerable. There they were, philosophical thoughts again, inconceivable notions just like the ones that filled his conversations with Ronan. Ronan. Why did you do this to me? And why aren’t you sitting by my side?
Finally! Nakano smiled back at the flight attendant and unbuckled his seat belt. “ ’Scuse me, mate. Before the tires hit the runway, I’d like to become a member of the mile high club.” Standing in the aisle, he leaned over to Michael, not noticing his eyes were about to spill over with tears. “Always been a little fantasy of mine.”
These days, Inishtrahull Island was like a fantasy land. Barren, unpopulated, windswept. Ronan remembered how different it was when he was a child growing up here with his family and, of course, the others. He knew they were different, undeniably special, and he knew that someday when someone loved him strongly enough, he would be altered so he could become just like them. Until that time, he had to be satisfied being human among the undying. And he was.
He climbed the mountains, played on the beach, swam in the ocean, and waited for his chance to drink from The Well. When that time came nearly three years ago, he was overjoyed. His family had suffered such pain when his father was taken from them that he was thrilled he could give them, especially his mother, a reason for celebration. One hand placed on the rim of The Well, the other holding the hand of the man he thought would be his soul mate, was, up until that time, the happiest day of Ronan’s life. He had no idea that man would ultimately betray him and his people. And he had no idea he would be given a second chance at eternal happiness. Until he met Michael.
“Michael.” Ronan closed his eyes and whispered, hoping the wind would carry his voice across the ocean to Michael’s ears. “Please come back to me.”
“If it’s truly meant to be, he will.”
Ronan heard the girl’s voice but didn’t recognize it. He did, however, recognize the face. “Phaedra?”
“Hello, Ronan.”
Involuntarily, he looked all around the beach, not really sure what he was expecting to see and in fact he saw nothing. They were the only two people on the island. What was she doing here? In his homeland. His bewilderment was evident. “You vampires think you’re the only nonhumans roaming this earth.”
He knew it. He knew this young girl who fit in effortlessly with their crowd, the girl with the unblinking stare, wasn’t to be trusted. “What do you want?”
She smiled as a cool breeze rustled through her curls, her toes digging into the sand. “Relax. I can’t hurt you. But I can help you.”
For the first time Ronan noticed that her eyes were not quite blue, more blue-gray, like fog. “Like you’ve helped Michael?”
Phaedra smiled at Ronan. Gay, straight, human, whatever, he really was an extraordinary-looking creature. Then she sighed. Human emotion, whether it be crying over Penry’s death or feeling pangs of desire over a handsome face, was something she never thought she’d experience. Life really was the way she was told it would
