The Next Generation

  Sticking out his hand, he crisply said, “I’m Nika’s brother, Julian.”

  Hunter nodded as he took Julian’s hand. “Right, I remember you from the street. Hunter. Hunter Evans.”

  As the two men had a silent stare-down while they shook hands, Trey popped up on the other side of me. He looked around the lobby in a secretive way, like he was conducting a drug deal and didn’t want the authorities to bust him. In a whisper, he asked Hunter, “Hey…when exactly do you turn twenty-one?”

  While Hunter looked unsure how to answer that, I shoved Trey away from me. “Knock it off, Trey. He’s not old enough to buy you beer, and he wouldn’t if he was.”

  Trey pouted. “What about wine coolers? Those are practically Kool-Aid.”

  Arianna shook her head at him. “You need help. You know that, right?”

  Shrugging, Trey murmured, “I’m getting some munchies…anybody want anything?”

  He left before any of us even answered him. Hunter blinked, then returned his attention to me. Extending his hand, his voice soft, he asked, “Would you like something?”

  I grabbed his hand, tender and warm, and shook my head. No, everything I wanted was right here. A glow of happiness wrapped around me as Hunter walked us over to the ticket line. I felt Julian’s mixed state as he got in line with Arianna. He was both happy and worried for me, and he definitely didn’t trust my date. I exhaled in frustration over the fact that I had a chaperone—I really hadn’t wanted one tonight—but then I let it go. Roles reversed, I’d be right behind Julian, watching his every move too.

  A few minutes later, Hunter and I were seated in the dark theater, close together, but separated by the arm rest. I suddenly wished this theater had armrests that lifted, so holding hands wasn’t quite so awkward. Julian was two rows behind us, smashed in-between Arianna and Trey. Arianna had insisted on that seating arrangement, since she was convinced Trey would cop a feel during the movie. Or perhaps she was hoping my brother would.

  As the previews began, Hunter and I made small talk. He asked what my favorite food was. I gave him my human response, since I couldn’t exactly tell him that a steaming cup of blood was right up there with the best deep dish pizza in town. I also couldn’t tell him that I could hear his blood surging through his body, and while I would never, ever bite him…the sound was alluring, the bulging vein in his neck enticing. It just added to the attraction of him. But he would never know that.

  I laughed at a joke he made, painstakingly aware of just how close his head was to mine. While we weren’t as close as I would have preferred, we were a lot closer than we’d been at the library. I’d never been kissed before…not really. Not a man to a woman kiss, anyway, and just imagining his lips lowering to touch mine sent my heart into overdrive. I felt incredible, beautiful, and desirable as Hunter stroked my thumb with his while he talked to me.

  Julian sighed as the movie started, and I could feel how uncomfortable he was. I couldn’t help it though. I couldn’t stop the feelings surging through me, and I didn’t want to. Julian had felt something similar earlier today, when he’d been with Raquel in that closet, so I knew he understood. He understood and I understood. It sucked, but bonded feelings was the hand we’d been dealt.

  Sometime during the movie, I laid my head on Hunter’s shoulder. It brought his heartbeat closer to my ear and I reveled in the sound, in the closeness I felt. He tilted his head to rest it on mine, and I thought I could die happy right then and there. Then a spike of something went through me. Hatred. Anger. Betrayal. Pain.

  Dislodging Hunter, I jerked my head around to look at Julian. Hunter whispered, “What is it?” But in my concern, I ignored him.

  Julian wasn’t looking at me, but over and to the left of me. I leaned past Hunter to see what had my brother frazzled. When I spotted the problem, I really wasn’t surprised. Raquel and Russell were here, voraciously making out in the front row. My heart broke for Julian as I twisted to look back at him. He met my eyes this time. His face stony, he shot to his feet. Irritating everyone around him, he waded past the sea of knees to get to the aisle. He stormed out of the theater shortly after, Arianna following in his wake. Trey blinked, but stayed put.

  I was torn. My instinct was to go to Julian—to help him, protect him, comfort him. Sitting idly by, while he was hurting, felt wrong. But, leaving the serenity of my date was about the last thing I wanted to do right now.

  “Nika?” Hunter asked, his thumb running a circle over my skin.

  Sighing, I looked back at him. “I have to go, I’m sorry.”

  Hunter frowned, but nodded. “I’ll come with you.”

  Smiling, I nodded and let him help me up. I was sure Julian wouldn’t appreciate all the attention he was about to get, but well, I needed to be with Julian, and I wanted to be with Hunter, so my brother was just going to have to deal with the company.

  Julian was outside with Arianna when we got to the lobby. Twisting to Hunter, I cringed. “Would you mind staying here while I talk to him?”

  Surprising me, Hunter smiled. “I think it’s pretty amazing of you to put everything on hold to help your brother. Like I said before, family is everything.”

  He gently pushed me forward, then tucked his fingers into his back pocket while he waited for me to return to him. The smile on his face was full of pride and admiration, and I felt a little invincible as I headed out the doors to see Julian. The feeling left me as Julian’s mood darkened at my approach.

  “I’m fine, Nika.”

  Arianna was holding his hand; hers was white, he was squeezing back so hard. His face was tight, his eyes heavy with emotion, an emotion that was searing me with its intenseness. As the glass door closed, separating us from the lobby, I countered, “I know you’re not, Julian.”

  His eyes hardened when they met mine, then his grief broke to the surface and he completely fell apart. Face desolate, he whimpered, “Nick…she kissed me. She said she might like me. She said…maybe… And now she’s making out with him, and it’s like none of that ever happened. What does that mean?”

  Right at that second, I’d never wanted to drain someone of all their blood more in my life. Arianna apparently felt the same. Hugging Julian tight, her eyes shot daggers into the movie theater, where Raquel and Russell were probably still going at it. By the steel look in my friend’s expression, I surmised that Julian had filled her in on his unrequited feelings for Raquel. She was hurt and pissed.

  Feeling horrible for the misleading situation my brother was stuck in, I wrapped my arms around him. He groaned at the sudden female attention, and pushing us both back, he muttered, “I’m fine, really. I just need some air.”

  As if on cue, a light breeze swirled around us. A hint of blood was in the cool air, something no human would ever notice. Julian and I both inhaled. The scent was incredible, akin to smelling a BBQ down the street. Lips in a hard line, Julian locked gazes with me. “I’m gonna go hunt down something to eat.”

  By the fire in his belly and the look in his eye, I wasn’t quite sure what he meant by that. I knew Julian would never stalk a human, but, he might go after an animal…might let the beast take over so he could block out the pain. Absently, I wondered if he’d blur to the ranch, hunt one of our cows. Our grandparents would certainly let him. Halina would probably even join him. Of course, if he traveled away from the city, it would alarm my parents. They wouldn’t be happy if he went that far without their permission.

  I didn’t have to ask for clarification, though, since Arianna said, “I’m coming with you.” Julian looked about to protest, but Arianna stubbornly shook her head. “You shouldn’t be alone right now, Julian.”

  Seeing that he wasn’t going to be able to shake her, Julian finally conceded. “Fine…let’s just get out of here.”

  I gave Julian a final hug, whispering, “Talk to me later, okay?”

  He nodded, then told me to tell Trey he’d call him later. I waved after the pair as they started walking away. Julian was slump
ed over. Not happy, not sad, just…numb. Arianna was the exact opposite. She locked her hands around Julian’s arm and looked back at me with an ‘Oh my God!’ face. I wanted to tell her not to get her hopes up. Julian was emotionally wiped. Him agreeing to her tagging along wasn’t the romantic connection she was hoping for, he just didn’t have the energy to tell her no.

  Shaking my head, I turned around to find Hunter holding the door open for me. Pointing up the street, to where I could feel Julian retreating from me, he asked, “The kid gonna be okay?”

  I smirked at his comment as I passed by him. “That kid is my twin, and, yeah…” I glanced back outside as Hunter let the door shut, “…I think he’ll be fine.”

  Hunter grabbed my hand eagerly, like he’d missed holding me for the few minutes we’d been apart. My heartbeat sped up as his dark eyes sparkled at me. “Twin, huh? So, do you guys have some psychic connection, some special twin-bond?”

  I unintentionally laughed. God, did we ever. “Ah, I guess…maybe…if you believe in that sort of thing.”

  Beneath what he thought I was capable of hearing, Hunter said, “I’ve seen crazier.”

  We went back to our movie hand-in-hand. Getting back into our original seats, I noticed that Trey hadn’t moved much; he was still blankly staring at the screen, possibly not even seeing it. Raquel and Russell hadn’t changed much either, still attached at the mouth, much to the dismay of the people sitting around them.

  I pressed into Hunter as much as I could with that divider between us. When his arm draped over my shoulders, I sighed just as dreamily as the actress in the film we were watching. If it weren’t for the flickering of pain coming from Julian, this moment would have been perfect. I tried to block out Julian, but his emotions were soaring. A bit of guilt seeped into me that I was so high while he was so low, but by the end of the movie, Julian’s mood had improved. A trickle of amusement flashed through him from time to time, and I hoped whatever Arianna was doing to distract him kept working. I didn’t want my brother to be in pain. Not over Raquel.

  Once the credits were rolling, I waited in my seat until Russell and Raquel separated and left the theater. They hadn’t even watched the movie. What a waste. Russell could have saved himself some cash and mauled her in the backseat of his car. For Julian’s sake, I really wished he had.

  I glared at them as they walked by. Hunter twisted to see who my baleful stare was directed toward. Turning back to me, he asked, “Those two have something to do with your brother?”

  Immediately, I realized that all the drama that had played out here tonight was very high school-ish. I didn’t want to remind Hunter of my age, so I smiled and changed the subject. “Do you want to go for a short walk with me? I’d like to show you something.”

  His smile charming, Hunter nodded. “I’d love to.”

  He stood, then held out his hand to help me up. I hid a smile at his manners. That was another thing Dad would approve of. Trey was just exiting his row when we got there. He looked confused as he held his skateboard in one hand, and Julian’s abandoned board in the other. “Where is…everybody?”

  Keeping my face straight, I told him, “Julian and Arianna left halfway through the movie. Why don’t you call him and have them come back, so we can get a ride home from Arianna’s mom?”

  Trey nodded, baffled, and juggled the boards around so he could dig into his pocket for his phone. I glanced back at Hunter, apologetic, and rolled my eyes at Trey. Tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear, Hunter’s face shifted into embarrassment. “I really should be the one giving you a ride home. I sort of feel like a bad date for making you ride with a friend’s mom.”

  I shook my head, swinging his hand as we continued up the aisle. “That’s okay, this actually works out well anyway.” Especially considering that my dad would be ticked if Hunter dropped me off instead of Arianna.

  Hunter’s face darkened. “Yeah, it still feels ungentlemanly though.” A small smile lightened his features. “But, then again, I hadn’t planned on going out, and I only have my bike. I doubt you’d want a ride home on the handlebars.” As I was laughing, he added, “And I have to run an errand with my dad on the other side of town anyway, so yeah, I guess you’re right, this works…for tonight,” he amended.

  We stepped out into the night air, and I peeked up at the pitch-black sky highlighted by a moon shining so brightly, you’d swear the chunk of rock emitted its own light. Peeking over at Hunter, who was also appreciating the clear, moonlit night, my curiosity got the better of me. “You and your dad are running an errand in the middle of the night? What are you doing?”

  If my eyesight wasn’t as good as it was, I probably would have missed it. Hunter’s eyes tightened, his teeth gritted, but when he looked over at me, his face was perfectly relaxed. “It’s a family thing.” I nodded, accepting, but not understanding. My family did weird things at night too.

  Knowing I didn’t have much time left to spend with him, and really wanting to show him something before Arianna’s mom showed up, I put his family errand aside and tugged on our laced fingers so he’d follow me. The night was much cooler than the day had been, but I was still comfortably warm in my jacket, even with only a slinky, satiny top underneath. The air was fresh, the faint hint of blood in it gone now. Whatever creature had been wounded earlier was either downwind or had been carried off.

  Putting the circle of life out of my mind, I concentrated on the man beside me. It still surprised me some that he’d agreed to see me tonight. I was young and inexperienced. He was mature. Why he’d spend time with someone who still had a curfew was beyond me, but I was grateful, regardless.

  Not too far from the theater was the place I wanted to show him. Salt Lake City had parks and fountains everywhere. It really was a beautiful place to live. Since Hunter had just moved here, I thought he might appreciate a tiny bit of sightseeing, and since he’d enjoyed the water wall at the library, I thought he might like one of my favorite fountains.

  Holding his hand tight, I pulled him into a plaza highlighted with bright spotlights. His face was peaceful as he took in the quiet beauty around him. I led us to what appeared to be a solid wall jutting out of the cement, but as we got closer to it, it was clear that it wasn’t a wall at all. A never-ending cascade of water was spilling out of the top of the wall, creating a perfect, liquid curtain.

  Smiling, Hunter dropped my hand and stepped around to the opposite side of the fountain. Through the wall of water, I could see the hazy outline of his body. Reaching a hand to the curtain, he murmured, “Wow, this is incredible.”

  His finger poked through the sheet of water, disrupting the perfect flow as it split around him. I reached my hand out, threading my fingers with his as the water surged around us. I clearly recalled being here with Julian years ago and doing something similar. Of course, Julian had yanked on my hand and pulled me through the cascade of water, instantly drenching me. As Hunter and I locked gazes through the chilly fountain, I was certain he wouldn’t do that to me.

  Fingers still locked, we moved to the edge of the fountain, our bodies creating a wave of disruption as we went. When we got to the end, we let each other go, and I didn’t even care that my hand was red and stinging with the cold. As Hunter walked back around to me, his face lit from above by the moon, and below by the spotlights nearby, I only cared about the look in his eye.

  Walking up close, he reached for my wet hand with his. “Thank you for sharing this with me.” He leaned in closer, until our bodies were touching. The sound of the rushing fountain next to us was suddenly nothing compared to the pounding in my chest; I barely even heard it. “Thank you for spending time with me tonight. I really enjoyed it.”

  He lowered his head, and all I could think was, Oh my God…is he going to kiss me? Somehow, I managed to tell him, “I really enjoyed it too.”

  “Good.” His head tilted toward mine, so that our lips were a hairsbreadth apart. I stiffened, unable to move, dying for him to touch me. He di
dn’t get any closer, though. He held his body against mine, his mouth tantalizingly close. Even though I’d never kissed a boy, I knew I was about three seconds away from attacking him if he didn’t do something right now.

  Finally, he whispered, “May I…?”

  He didn’t finish his question…I didn’t let him. “Yes,” I answered, closing the gap between us.

  As his lips moved over mine, I was struck with how soft and gentle it was. His fingers came up to caress my cheek, and I had to forcibly tell my knees to not buckle. It was difficult though; I suddenly felt like taffy. After an eternity of our tender melding, he finally pulled away. Not ready to let him go, I stretched up on my tiptoes to find his lips again. He chuckled as our blissful moment continued. I couldn’t contain my smile anymore as we gave each other soft pecks of affection.

  After a moment, he finally pushed me back again. I frowned, still not wanting to stop. Stroking my cheek with his thumb, he shook his head. “I’d love to stay here with you, Nika, but you need to go find your brother and your friends.” I wanted to tell him that I knew exactly where my brother was—that he was pacing back and forth in front of the movie theater—but I didn’t.

  Sighing, I nodded. As I cupped my hand over his on my cheek, he added, “I need to go meet with my dad now anyway. Tomorrow?”

  I started to brighten at the prospect of seeing him again in twenty-four hours, but then my face fell. “No, I can’t. I’ll be gone all weekend.”

  Hunter’s face fell, too, which made me really, really happy. “Oh, okay. Monday?”

  I was nodding before he even finished his question. “Definitely.” Before he could stop me, I leaned up for another kiss. I just couldn’t get enough now. He chuckled again, but readily kissed me back. The sensation was so overwhelming, I had to remind myself over and over to concentrate on keeping my fangs up.