Back to You (42 page)

“What are you asking me to do exactly?”

“Nothing. Just let me do my thing. I’m going to try to provoke him into transforming at will for the first time in ages. Since he met you, he’s only transformed once a month. Habit or because of the moon, I don’t know why. But if he goes into the cage in this condition, the vampire will rip him to shreds.”

“This is playing dirty,” I accuse him. “I feel like we’re going behind his back.”

“I never said we weren’t. But we’re allowed to if it’ll save is life. I’m looking out for him, Stella.”

I nod. I have to try to help him in some way, it’s the least I can do. Vuk is a part of me now, and his pain is my pain. There’s no turning back.

Vuk appears a little way off to fetch us back. We bring the conversation to a hasty close. He leans on my arm, his skin scorching hot. He presses his cheek against mine then plants a big kiss on my head.

We all go back into the house and settle in around the crackling fire. Sparks fly around like red and orange bubbles against the black background. I bite into the sandwich Vuk has made and notice out the window that the sun has now taken its usual place behind the clouds.

Vuk passes me a can of soda. As he does his fingers brush my hand tenderly and his eyes get lost in mine.

“To our little Wolfeboro bonfire!” toasts Drake, raising his drink in the air. Vuk laughs, and touches his own drink to Drake’s.

It just takes two bites for Drake to finish off his sandwich. He greedily eyes the rest of the feast in the packed picnic basket.

“Here, Drake,” says Vuk. “I’m not feeling that hungry, why don’t you finish off my sandwich,” he calls, tossing it into the middle of our little threesome. I expect it to land on the antique rug, but Drake miraculously grabs it mid-air with the greatest of ease. He gobbles it down, then grabs the basket and digs in.

I watch him, astonished. How can he be so skinny with an appetite like that? I’ve lost count of the number of sandwiches he’s eaten not to mention the chips and huge bottle of Coke.

Vuk puts a hotdog on a skewer and holds it over the flames. We watch as its color transforms. When Drake has had his fill, he sighs and rubs his stomach.

“Jeez, I’m bursting to barf point!”

“Good,” says Vuk, “I was planning to take Stella for a quick run in the woods before going for a stroll around the lake. You up for it, little girl?”

“Sure,” I shrug.

“Right,” he replies. “See you in a while,” he says to Drake as he leaps up off the rug and brings the remains of the picnic back into the kitchen. He’s back in a flash, and he helps pull me up off the floor. Drake shoots me a knowing look as we head out the door. It’s still light outside in the clearing. Vuk smiles and swings me into his arms before he takes a flying leap from the top of the porch steps. He’s euphoric; I can tell by the way he runs, for the sheer fun of it, to feel the wind in his hair. This makes me so happy.

The Race

Vuk lifts me
onto his shoulders and begins weaving through the trees, laughing out loud. He keeps up the pace, one that a normal human couldn’t keep even on a flat road, never mind the fact that he’s carrying a 110-pound load.

He doesn’t say a word until we’re in the thick of the forest.

“You don’t really have to run, you’ll tire yourself out!” I cry.

“Running doesn’t tire me,” he replies almost arrogantly. His words come out effortlessly as he continues his lightning quick race against himself.

“Slow down.”

He runs even faster.

“That better?”

I can’t stand it when he behaves like this and he won’t listen to a word I say. But he knows me well enough to realize that I’m quite enjoying the fresh air and the leaves brushing through my hair as the trees race past.

His fingers dig into my legs, and with a roar he picks up the pace. The trees seem to melt into a green-gray fog surrounding us. I can see his muscles tense and relax to the rhythm of his feet. I bet he could have continued running like this for days on end. But a sick feeling in my stomach makes me poke him sharply in the arm. He comes to a halt, sliding me off his shoulders delicately. He places me on my feet on the solid ground and hugs me close to his chest. He tries to mask a smile. We begin walking slowly, silently, through the tress, hand in hand.

“What’s wrong?” He asks.

I shake my head.

“Nothing.” But he can see I’m lost in thought.

As I walk alongside him, I wonder if it wouldn’t be best to just turn on my heels and run far, far away. Suddenly the lake opens up before us. The only sound is the gentle lapping of the water on the lakeside stones.

“Do you think he might have seen, that he’ll come looking for you?” he asks me, almost hopefully.

“No.” I’m sure of that. “But if he did find out, Donn would be furious when I got back.”

Vuk looks deep into my eyes intently.

“Then don’t go back,” he whispers. He picks up a pebble and skims it into the waves.

“Jeff wouldn’t be too happy about that,” I mumble. I think about what Drake has in mind, and keep repeating to myself that whatever happens, it’s in Vuk’s best interest. But I still hate keeping things from him.

He keeps looking into my eyes, trying to understand what thoughts are troubling me. He comes to the wrong conclusion.

“Drake might not transform, you know,” he reassures me, hugging me close.

Not the way you imagine anyway…” I trail off, seeing his surprised look. “I mean, if he did transform, I doubt he’d be able to hurt me,” I add hastily.

He cradles my face in his huge hands.

“Of course he could. But none of us know what would happen if he tried.” He removes a hand from my face to pick something up behind him. I hear a slight snapping sound and the tree behind quakes. He has a brown cylindrical thing in his hands. He opens his hand to offer it to me––a massive branch of the tree, crumpled up, with the imprint of Vuk’s hand on it as if he had been pressing it into a piece of wet clay.

My mouth falls open in surprise. It only took him half a second to reduce that branch into a crumpled up piece of paper. I stand there in a daze as Vuk lets the pieces fall like raindrops from his hands on to the forest floor.

“I know how strong you are, there’s no need to destroy trees to prove it to me.”

“Well, what did you mean?” he asks, his voice laden with doom.

“All I’m saying is that he doesn’t want to hurt me, even if I know that he could.”

Instead of using words, he replies by wrapping one arm around me and pulling me in tight. His free hand clumsily sits on my hip. We walk along like this in silence for a few moments, Vuk racking his brain to ask me the thing that’s been playing on his mind.

“So, how are things?” Vuk takes in a breath, and then tries again. “What I mean is, are things back to how they were before Jason left, you know, before he…”

“Yes, if course,” I reply. I would have preferred to avoid this discussion and any kind of accusation or pretense. But I know that Vuk would let it lie, that he would want an official declaration of the state of things. His face crumples and flushes with indignation.

“So you’ve forgiven him for everything, just like that!” he says, kicking a piece of wood, which goes flying high above the bushes, crashing down noisily on the moss-covered rocks. It wasn’t intended as a question, I know, but I have to answer anyway.

“Yes…” my voice shatters into pieces, fading like waves lapping against the shore.

Vuk rubs his face roughly and strides off toward an aging tree, its gnarly roots spreading out deep into the ground. I fear that he is about to tear it from its ancient resting place, but thankfully he just picks up a stone and tosses it violently into the lake.

“Wow!” I laugh. “So wolves really do have superhuman strength,” He bursts into laughter too, but I can see that my words are still playing on his mind. He looks down at the ground, almost to stop me reading into his soul.

He walks over to a fallen tree and sits down on nature’s own bench, inviting me over to sit next to him with a toss of his head. I settle down in silence, my body tense. Vuk pulls me into his chest and rocks me gently, soothingly.

“Is it because he’s better looking than me?” His voice is suddenly cutting, his emerald eyes piercing me with mocking irony.

“Don’t act dumb, Vuk.”

“Then it’s money. I mean, in Donn’s case, obviously.” His voice trails off distractedly. My heart sinks at the desolate picture he’s painting in his head.

“I’m flattered that you have such a high opinion of me!”

“Don’t get pissed,” he snaps, and is about to add something, but stops when he sees my face. He softens. “I’m just trying to understand. This is driving me crazy.”

“I love him,” I shrug, unable to hold back the truth. “But not because he’s handsome, it’s an unconditional love. Is that so hard to understand?”

“Impossible,” Vuk grunts, exasperated. “What about Donn?”

“I care about him too,” I confess. “But it’s nothing to do with him being rich!” I emphasize the final word. “Actually, it would be better if he wasn’t. Then the difference between us wouldn’t be so noticeable, and he’d still be one of the most brilliant, adorable, and generous people I’ve ever met.”

Vuk rolls his eyes and mimes locking my lips with a key. I try not to laugh, but I can’t help myself. His eyes beg me to explain, even though I know it’s causing him pain, so I forgive him his sarcasm when he finally does speak.

“Please, Stella, enlighten me, I seem to be missing something here.”

“Like what?”

He bends down to pick up another stone, turning it over and over in his hand. His eyes remain fixed on it as he speaks up in a low voice.

“What’s the best reason you can come up with for loving someone like Donn Brooks?”

“You have to look behind the mask to discover the truth. You’re not objective, Vuk, you’ve got your prejudices against him. And Donn only shows you what you want to see. You think you know him, but you haven’t even seen a glimpse of what he really is. Neither have I, really. But there’s more, much more, to him.”

Vuk’s eyes darken. He starts throwing the stone nervously back and forth from one hand to another. Then he suddenly launches it in the direction of the lake with devastating force. The stone breaks the surface of the water almost out of eyeshot, and when it does, Vuk seems to have regained control of his emotions.

“Well, in any case, you
could
try looking among people of my species. I’m sure you could find the same reasons in me.” He gazes beyond my shoulders, a faraway look in his flashing eyes. He bites down hard on his trembling lip.

“Oh, Vuk,” I whisper anxiously, my hand running down his face. I feign a weak smile and he kisses my palm.

“At least
I’m
a human being, Stella,” his voice just the trace of a whisper.

It would be too easy to get upset at him. My face changes. There’s no way I can forget that night of the last full moon, which was also the period in which I first got to know Donn. It’s not easy to understand what went on between Vuk and me; a friendship going off the rails momentarily, or is it something more?

“Human beings can’t roll trucks over as if they were toys,” I whisper, no hint of accusation in my voice. I can see my words have hurt him, but I’m still too pissed to feel any remorse.

Vuk unfurls that smile. My favorite smile.

“Human beings, normal ones, run a mile if they see a vampire, Stella. And I never said I was normal, I just said I was human.”

“You’re not a human like me. But…”

“Right now, I’m more human than any vampire,” Vuk interrupts. “And it’s not the same thing. It wasn’t my choice.”

“Do you think Jason chose to become a vampire?” I laugh. “He never signed a contract, you know!”

“Maybe he didn’t, but Donn…” Vuk shakes his head, a callous smile on his lips. “He’s got some obsession with written contracts, pacts signed in blood, that sort of thing.”

“You could try to be a little more understanding toward him. You can’t imagine how different he is inside, Vuk.”

“It doesn’t matter,” he insists, his eyes boring holes in me.

“I don’t see why not.”

“He shouldn’t even exist, he’s a freak of nature. He should’ve died two hundred years ago.” He grabs my hand and pushes it close against his hot chest. I can feel his accelerated heartbeat through his t-shirt.

“You’re too much of a moralist, especially considering that you’re a werewolf!”

“Nah,” Vuk smiles mockingly. “And soon, you’ll see what the best reason is for loving me.” He snorts and nods to himself, leaning down to pick up another stone, effortlessly throwing it over a hundred yards into the lake.

I purse my lips, trying to look comprehensive, but I still have a bitter feeling in my mouth. The moment he’s referring to is the Council ceremony. Was Vuk planning to tell me? I’m not too sure about that. He doesn’t seem to notice my reaction, even though his eyes are searching my face.

“What are you thinking about?” he finally asks after a pregnant pause. I pull my face back to look at him better. “You,” I reply.

“The sun is shining on this glorious day, and you’re thinking about me?”

“Yep,” I sigh. I glance down at the cell phone I have just taken out of my pocket. “Hey, it’s time to go. Drake will be expecting us, he must be wondering where we’ve gone.”

“Yeah, we should get back before he alerts all the wolves,” Vuk laughs. The plural doesn’t escape my notice. He’s already mentioned his cousin, whose name I still don’t know. But I wonder who makes up the rest of the family, apart from Drake.

I climb back into his arms and try to get comfortable before he dashes off into the trees. I can hear the thud of the wet earth beneath his feet, the wind rushing through my hair. But that’s really all I feel right now.

He ups the pace as if he were escaping from something. Or maybe just from himself. If only he could get far enough away, he wouldn’t have to fight. He’s just getting lost in the distant silence, never to return.

I can feel his muscles working overtime, in perfect harmony as the miles slip by behind us. We’re going uphill now, far off the beaten track, but Vuk’s pace doesn’t slow. He leaps with agility from rock to rock, from one fallen tree trunk to another, perfectly balanced the whole time. The ride is smoother than a 4-wheel drive.

Clinging to his neck, I feel myself gradually changing into a different version of myself, the one that I was with Vuk before Donn’s arrival caused tremors in our friendship. I feel a little younger, a little more carefree, someone who can make a few slipups for no good reason. But I don’t feel at home in his arms. It’s too intimate being so close to me and I can’t help wondering if it makes him feel bad.

The run takes us in a roundabout way, through the forest to another side of the lake. Drake is lakeside, alone, lost in thought. Vuk heads toward him, slows down, and helps me slide down to the ground.

He sidles up to his brother and playfully grabs him by the shoulders. We all turn and wander back into a damp dark thicket in the woods.

The dense vegetation soon obscures our view of the lake. A few splashing sounds, probably from animals drinking or taking a bath, are the only clues that there is water close by.

We follow a narrow path through the forest which leads northeast, from what I can tell, into this heart of darkness, abounding with firs and maple trees, I’m guessing. I’m not quite the expert I should be on the names of the local trees, despite having lived here for years. The ones I do know are thanks to Scott, who always used to make an effort to drill the names into my head on camping trips.

Drake seems a little less broody now as he makes his way through the vegetation with leaps and bounds. His laughter echoes through the trees when I have to remind him more than once that my legs are only about three feet long.

A few drops of water filter through the protective cover of the forest; I’m not sure if it’s the early sign of a rainfall or if the droplets are just stagnated water from last night’s downpour. We pass under a recently fallen trunk, not yet covered in moss, leaning precariously on one of its neighbors. We stop for shelter under it. I pull my jacket tightly around me to protect me from the damp before leaning my head back to rest against the living trunk.