“This is different,” she said, jumping up from her chair and jumping onto the couch next to Michael. “This doesn’t have anything to do with the V word.”
Michael tried to stop himself from laughing, but couldn’t. “The V word?”
Failing to find the humor in her euphemism, Saoirse replied, “Would you prefer I use the proper word? Because I can, you know. It rolls off my tongue right easy.”
“Oh shut up!” Michael said, playfully hitting Saoirse in the arm with an embroidered pillow. “Look, I get why you don’t want to tell Ronan that you have a boyfriend, he’ll get all big brotherly and stuff, but you can’t keep it a secret forever. You have to tell him some time.”
“Well, I was planning on making the big reveal the night of the Archangel Festival,” Saoirse said as she braided a few strands of her hair. “But David the arsemaster canceled it.”
This was news to Michael, news that was really disappointing. “No Festival! Why not?”
“Because it’ll outshine his daft Tri-Centennial shindig,” she replied, releasing the three strands of hair and watching them spin.
Now it was Michael’s turn to pout. Wrapping his arms around the pillow, he held it close to his chest. “But that’s kind of our anniversary, me and Ronan.”
“Anniversary?” Saoirse asked. “Of what?”
Thinking back to the first night he and Ronan spent together, Michael was reminded yet again that there were certain memories that should absolutely remain private and secret. “Um, well, never mind.”
Proving that she could read minds even if she didn’t possess the power of telepathy, Saoirse grabbed the pillow and whacked Michael in the head with it. “That is downright goppin’!” she exclaimed, her face scrunching up as if she had just smelled something foul. “You calendar that?”
Wrestling the pillow from Saoirse before they got thrown out of the library, Michael tossed it onto the wing chair. “Officially changing the subject now,” he declared. “Have you seen Diego? We’re partners on a history project in Willows’s class, and we have to do some research.”
Saoirse halfheartedly looked around the room and shook her head. “No Fuente presente,” she joked.
With or without his study partner, Michael had to enter the bowels of the library and start doing some actual schoolwork; the time for chatting with his favorite blonde was over. Well, almost. “I’ve got a great idea!” he announced. “Let’s go on a double date. Me and Ronan and you and the mystery boyfriend.”
Before she responded, Michael knew she loved the idea. Her clutching his hands and jumping up and down kind of gave it away. “I love it!” she squealed. “We’ll go into Eden and hang out somewhere and be all adult-like. It’ll be cracking!”
She was a handful, but she really was a lot of fun. Hopefully, her boyfriend was worthy. “And don’t worry, I’m sure Ronan is going to get along with this guy,” Michael said. “Whoever he is.”
Flopping onto the couch like it was her bed, Saoirse laughed. “You know me, I never worry.”
Which is exactly why Michael was worried. Just as he was about to leave in search of a book on the Franco-Prussian War, Michael suddenly remembered something else that caused him concern.
“Where’s Ruby?” he asked. “Aren’t you supposed to be with her during your free period?”
“Not since the creation of the Ulrich Doctrine,” Saoirse announced.
“What?”
Braiding her hair again, Saoirse translated. “The charter that Fritz drew up christening himself Ruby’s bloomin’ twenty-four-hour-a-day chaperone,” she said. “He’s gone a bit potty over that one, I must say.”
Luckily Saoirse was more interested in her hair, so she didn’t see Michael’s alarmed expression.
Well, there wasn’t anything that he could say or do that would convince Fritz to ease up on his courtship of Penry’s sister; Fritz was determined to make her his girlfriend. Walking into the library, Michael consoled himself with the fact that just because Ruby wasn’t human, didn’t necessarily mean that she wasn’t also harmless.
As hopeful as that thought was, it was wrong.
Looking at the girl from behind, Brania thought she was looking at herself. Same wavy hair, same auburn color, same curves. When the girl entered a clearing in The Forest and wasn’t shrouded in tree shadow, Brania realized there were some differences. This girl’s hair was much redder, much more like the color of Brania’s hair when she was a young girl, and her shape, while womanly, wasn’t nearly as voluptuous as hers. Still, from her current point of view the girl was attractive and would probably make a delicious meal.
Hunger pains ripped through Brania’s body, determined to make her act. Usually she had control over her cravings, but now it took every ounce of restraint not to act like a cheetah and pounce on the unsuspecting girl, gently brush aside her red hair, and pierce her neck with her fangs. Take her blood, take her body, take her life. Before she realized it, Brania was right behind the girl, her fangs longing for release, her own body desperate for blood. So desperate that if Ruby hadn’t turned around at that exact moment Brania would have devoured every drop of her blood in one inhuman swallow.
“Hello, Brania.”
Clutching her own throat in surprise, Brania stepped back. It wasn’t the resemblance that alarmed her— besides the color of her hair and the shape of her body the similarities ended—it was the fact that Brania didn’t know what kind of creature she was; all she knew was that she wasn’t human. Other than that, she hadn’t a clue. Her eyes were completely white; not a pigment of color invaded either socket. Her skin was beyond translucent, and when she reached out her hand, Brania saw that it was covered in a shimmery substance. Her entire body was outlined in a white glow, making her look ethereal. The fact that this being knew her name made Brania think she was probably sinister as well.
“How do you know me?” she demanded.
Ruby smiled, her red lips parting slightly to show teeth that didn’t contain fangs, but were whiter than any Brania had ever seen before. “I’ve known you your whole life,” she replied, even though her lips didn’t move. “It’s so nice to finally meet David’s daughter.”
So that was it, she knew David. If that were true, she had to be sinister, no doubt about it. “How do you know my father?” Brania asked, her voice losing all of its calm. “Answer me!”
This time Ruby laughed, but her body didn’t move, and if her eyes laughed along with her voice Brania couldn’t tell; they were still pure white, the color of total absence. “I’ve known your father for a very, very, very long time,” Ruby said. “And now I’d like to get to know you.”
When Ruby touched Brania’s hand, she felt the world around her disappear. Gone was The Forest, gone was this strange girl who claimed to know her father, gone was everything except a white canvas.
For a few seconds she felt like she was floating within a cloud, protected, hidden, comforted, and then she hit the ground. Immediately, she tried to get up, but her body refused. She felt that her own flesh was rebelling against her, but she quickly understood that it was merely being controlled by someone else.
Looking down at Brania, Ruby was disappointed. She had thought that Brania would resemble David a bit more. Ah well, the girl wasn’t as young as she looked; age did change the body somewhat, even when that body belonged to a vampire. She did wish Brania’s hair were less auburn and more of a true red, more like the coloring of her hair. And David’s.
She began to walk in a circle, and Brania noticed that when she moved a white light appeared behind her like a laser beam. What power that beam possessed or signified, Brania had no idea. She just knew it wasn’t normal. When Ruby had traveled once around Brania’s body, she stopped and stepped back so the light could connect and create one complete circle in the air. She raised her arm and, as if it were connected, Brania’s body also began to rise, not stopping until it was level with the circle of light.
Unable to move even her eyelids, Brania was consumed with fear. She was one of the most powerful creatures who walked the earth and here she was immobilized by some girl without eyes, incapable of doing anything except staring up into the bit of sky that was still visible and not blocked out by the trees. Whatever this thing was, she was stronger than Brania, much stronger, so along with her fear, Brania also offered her respect.
There was a sudden noise from within the wood, just a rabbit scurrying away, uninterested in the spectacle, but enough to distract Ruby. When she turned, the spell was lost. The light disappeared, and Brania fell to the ground, her body hitting the dirt hard, her mind losing consciousness. The sounds of The Forest grew louder as Ruby watched Brania’s motionless body, the wind, the chirping, the rustling, just the sounds of nature, sounds that would continue no matter what Ruby chose to do. But looking down at Brania, she remembered what David had
