Back to You (45 page)

He looks at me, grinning broadly, sheer pleasure oozing out of every pore. I bet he’s glad to see me sharing a tender moment with his little brother. I smile back, glad that I’ve gotten to know the real Drake, the good Drake.

Vuk looks distracted. He seems to be leaning his ears toward the window. My eyes search the landscape, trying to understand what he might have heard. It looks like a scene from a postcard––the banks of the lake are visible, and the forest of the White Mountains stretches out as far as the eye can see. The snow-covered peaks are closer and brighter than I imagined.

“Well,” laughs Drake. “Time for humans to be getting home.”

Vuk links arms with me and leads me to the front door, followed by Drake. I try to give him my most normal smile.

“See you next time!”

“Bye,” he nods politely. He seems reserved in the way he says it, almost as if he knows what to expect the next time he does see me.

“Get in the car,” says Vuk hurriedly, as we hear the howls of a pack in the forest getting closer. The wolves are coming home. His cousins, I guess. And judging by the number of barks I can hear, there are more than just two of them. Maybe the other cousin, the one whose name they won’t mention, is among them.

We jump into the pickup and Vuk puts the wheels in motion within seconds. As we’re heading down the drive, Vuk turns to me.

“How are you doing?”

“Fine,” I reply, my eyes flashing with pride, because it’s true, I really do feel fine. “I’ve seen worse than what I saw today.” I’m not scared of him and I want to drive that point home. He breaks into a kindly smile.

“Not very credible, though, little girl.”

I glower silently by the window, ignoring his comment.

“But I mean it, I won’t let you go to the ceremony!” I snap, surprising myself with how hoarse my voice is. He fumes, obviously not agreeing with me, as he stares at the road ahead.

“Vuk?” I try to clear my throat in silence.

“What?” he says, trying to keep his tone measured.

“Are you ok?” He doesn’t reply. “What is it?” I plead.

“Getting into the cage doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to die!” he roars, his breath almost coming out of his nostrils, he’s fuming so much. We look daggers at each other. I close my eyes, trying to block it all out, trying to ease the pain.

“I hope so,” I mumble, and lean back against the headrest, suddenly exhausted. I sit motionless, fighting the urge to take him in my arms, to try to convince him not to fight, to comfort him. But I keep a hold of myself. I look around, but it’s too dark to make anything out except for the silhouette of a thousand trees as we head toward Medford in silence.

Compromise

Vuk suddenly breaks
the silence.

“It’s the right thing to do, Stella! The only way!” His eyes stare at me proudly, but with a trace of uncertainty.

Oh hell! I grit my teeth, trying to come up with an earth-shattering reply. “It doesn’t seem like a very good solution to me,” is all I can manage to spit out.

“Every little thing I do leads to you getting hurt,” Vuk sighs.

“Stop talking bull,” I roll my eyes.

“It’s true! But I don’t want to, I want to stop hurting you!” His voice breaks on the final words. My body is paralyzed, I feel numb from the neck down.

“What are you saying?” I cry. I feel a suffocating knot forming in my throat.

“Look, let’s cut it out!” Vuk smiles to eliminate any nastiness from his words. “I have to get back to take over from Drake and you have to get to work at Scott’s. So say whatever you wanna say, but just get it over with. But nothing you do say will change my mind, so you may as well just get used to it.” The intensity of the golden light flaring up in his eyes scares me. I take a deep breath; my throat is so dry I don’t even know if I’ll be able to utter a sound.

“Sorry if I’m being clingy or selfish, but I care about you, can’t you understand?” I want to shout it out loud, but I can barely manage a whisper. As I look into his eyes, I’m overcome with the realization that my words have been spoken too late, much too late.

“Do I have to spell it out for you how much I’d miss you? Can I tell you that, or do you want to decide what I say as well?” My voice is becoming increasingly high, hysterical. Vuk betrays no emotion, and just holds my gaze.

“It’s pointless, Stella. I understand, but you can’t convince me not to do it.” His face is the picture of serenity, only his eyes flicker with misgivings.

“This is my fault.” My voice is more unwavering now. He shakes his head slowly.

“You can’t take the blame for it, it was my decision. I’ve made your life more difficult. I should have stepped aside much earlier on, but I didn’t, and you’ve ended up hurt because of me.” He breaks off, his eyes with a faraway look. “Plus…a good fight will be fun, let off some steam, you know?” Vuk’s emerald eyes melt, a slight smile turns up the corner of his lips. I can’t believe he’s turning this whole thing into a joke.

“Yeah, sure. This is just some fun!” I yell incredulously, the blood seeming to burn in me like acid as it rushes through my veins.

“Say what you like, but you’re not the only one capable of making sacrifices!” The gold in his eyes turns to liquid again, they seem to burn into mine. “I’d never let you face a situation like this alone. Never.” His face is face contorted, his jaws wide apart. He seems barely human.

I close my eyes, a wave of nausea rushing through me. His words swirl through my mind like a tornado.

“Please don’t do it.”

Vuk smiles tenderly at me, leaning over to plant a delicate kiss on my earlobe.

“Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing,” he reassures me in that placating tone of his.

I search around for words to say, but settle back into an uneasy silence. He waits, patiently. I need to keep my wits about me, keep a rational head on my shoulders.

“So what’s this all about?”

“I just want to make myself useful. Now, the end!”

The blood drains from my whole body at those words.

“I mean,” he hurriedly adds, “that’s enough about this whole cage fight thing.” He smiles, but only his mouth is in movement, his emerald eyes are still unsettled.

I try to find a sense to all this, but all I can see is darkness and I don’t know which way to turn. I must be in shock. And this silence is driving me even crazier.

“That ceremony involves me and me only. I don’t want to see your ugly face anywhere near it!” I yell, the rage I want to transmit coming out as a heartfelt plea. When he does finally look at me, that golden in his eyes seems somehow frozen.

“It’s too late for that,” he whispers slowly.

I suddenly become aware that I recognize the song on the stereo. I find my head moving in time to the music, as if trying to eliminate all other thoughts from it. The evocative notes of
Another Alternative
fill the air, a soothing balm to the tense atmosphere. We both drift away on the closing bars of
my
song. I reach my fingers over to his arm to inspect what’s left of his wound. The pink, slightly raised scar has almost disappeared completely.

“You know that this decision is unacceptable,” I say.

“But it’s my decision, and I never said I was reasonable.” He takes a deep breath. “Now is the right time. How long do you think we can stay in Medford if we don’t fix things with the bloodsuckers of the Council?”

“You said
we
…” I say breathlessly, nestling into him.

“I meant me and you,” he specifies, running his free hand through my hair.

“Then I’ll come into the cage with you!” I’m trying to get a rise out of him. But he just laughs.

“The cage is no place for you, Stella.”

“Isn’t a best friend supposed to stick by her buddy’s side?”

“Sure, but every rule has its exceptions.” He sounds sincere.

“What do you choose…me or the ceremony? One or the other? You decide.”

“Hmm…out of the two?” Vuk acts like he’s thinking it over seriously. Then he unfurls that crooked smile of his, the one I love best.

“You, obviously! But I’d rather lose you and know that you’re alive than see you dead and be holding you in my arms.” He suddenly sounds more grown up than me for the first time. I search his face, incredulous. It takes him a moment to realize. “What is it?” he asks. I don’t reply.

“Listen, Stella,” he says. “What’s important is that I’m at the heart of the action, I could make all the difference.”

Vuk continues to babble on, but I let his talk become background noise and close my eyes to block everything out. I can hear the blood thumping in my eardrums, faster than usual. His voice becomes even more distant.

When he does finally stop talking, I get the impression that I’ll never be able to convince him, even though I’ll use every tool I have at my disposal to stop him offering himself up as a sacrifice––even if it means not being able to settle his brother’s debt with the Council.

The lights of Medford suddenly begin to shine through the windscreen, and Vuk turns off to head to the bar. Scott and Tyler are loitering by the entrance, as if they were waiting for us to turn up. They eye us warily. Scott’s face betrays no emotion as he stands still, his eyes fixed on Vuk. Thank God Jeff isn’t here, too.

Vuk is fuming, I can tell, as he parks the pickup. Tyler’s topaz eyes, full of hatred, are also looking Vuk’s way.

“Right, I’ll get going,” I mumble, hurrying out the vehicle. But Vuk calls after me.

“You had your say about me going to the ceremony. But you didn’t ask them what I think about
you
going.” The words come tumbling out of his mouth, rapid as machine-gun fire. “I don’t think you should go,” he says, his voice broken in two. “Stay with me, just a little bit longer.” He glances at the alleyway by the bar. I follow his gaze, but all I see is Scott’s Jeep parked in its usual place. He mumbles something incomprehensible to himself. Maybe he’s commenting on Tyler. But why does he keep looking at Scott’s car, if both Scott and Tyler are standing by the entrance?

“Sorry, Vuk,” I sigh. “But I really have to go. Tyler and Scott are waiting for me.”

Vuk snorts, his face darkening. He turns again to the dark, empty alley, a menacing look on his face.

“Next time Jason is away and if Donn’s not on the warpath, I’ll come see you again in Wolfeboro.” I smile. “But I have to work now.”

Vuk replies with a nod in my direction and a dirty look at Tyler.

“That’s a cute way to say that Jason’s off hunting…”

“You guys go hunting too, Vuk,” I caution him.

“Yeah,” he grunts. “But we eat meat and they drink blood! At least our behavior is relatively human.”

“Look, I’ll come back to Wolfeboro, but you behave yourself in the meantime, ok?”

He gets that arrogant look that I can’t stand, but with that crooked grin that I adore. He reaches over to give me a goodbye hug, his eyes flickering over to the bar doorway. I glance over, too. I try to ignore Tyler’s interfering expression. Vuk’s eyes are searching the alleyway again, a more serene look now crossing his face as if there’s nothing there anymore for him to worry about. I wriggle out of his grasp and slide out the car.

“Be careful, though,” he calls after me. I get the feeling that he’s not referring to Tyler or Scott. He hurries out the vehicle to accompany me to the door.

“Hey, Scott, hey, Tyler,” I call out in my most enthusiastic tone as I walk up.

“You fall over, Vuk?” asks Tyler, stifling a laugh, nodding at Vuk’s wounded arm, which he is cradling against his body. “I hope no one else got hurt.”

Vuk just shakes his head, irritated.

“Of course not,” I hurriedly answer. I turn to Vuk, wanting one last lingering look into those deep emerald eyes before he leaves. I see his anger melt away.

I dash into the bar and take my place behind the counter. Scott has already vanished into thin air and I see Tyler taking giant strides toward me. He looks almost unrecognizable to the Tyler I saw outside. The severe, unfriendly mask has been taken off and replaced by one brimming with joy. He is beaming. And he looks proud of himself, too. This is the second time he’s managed to shake Vuk off. As he passes me, he sniffs at my hair; it smells of my usual cherry shampoo.

“Hey, Ella May!”

“Hey there, Tyler. Where’s Scott?”

“Holed up in his office,” he shrugs. “His nose in the balance sheets.”

Such human concerns are weirdly reassuring, it’s comforting to know that life goes on as normal in some places. I wish my own problems were of the simpler kind. Tyler’s continues to look at me with those golden eyes.

“I don’t know how to thank you, Stella. Not only have you saved me from death by boredom, you’ve also saved me from getting a two-hour lecture on business management for the bar. Scott was on some kind of responsibility trip earlier.” The relief is written on his face.

“Cool. Glad I could be of some use,” I smile. I look around the bar and notice that it’s strangely quiet.

“Where are your pals, Tyler? I mean the hikers.”

“They took their kids and some friends camping in the southwesterly forest for a birthday party. Remember how Scott used to take us camping for my birthday on summer vacation?”

“Sure I do! July 24th, right?”

“That’s right.” Tyler looks pleasantly surprised.

“All that open-air stuff. I could never keep up with you guys.” I squirm, noticing his constant, almost imperceptible, sniffing. “What is it?” I finally ask, irritated.

“Don’t get offended, but… it’s not the first time you smell of dogs.”

I grimace, not really sure how to reply to this comment. I sometimes think he knows about Vuk’s secret. He shrugs and we both get on with our work in silence, the only noise being the clink of the bottles and the scrape of the newly arrived crates scratching the counter.

But it’s not an uncomfortable silence. Tyler and I have never felt the need to fill the time with pointless chitchat. Like Scott, he’s watchful. He takes in everything that goes on around him in that discreet manner of his. I wonder why he’s developed this spontaneous hostility toward Vuk, the same antagonism that Donn seems to feel toward Jason.

“Is something wrong?” he asks in a low voice, glancing around to make sure no one’s listening.

I don’t mind the question; I know when he probes, it’s not for the sake of idle gossip like it is with Jamie. I know he actually cares about me.

“Is it that obvious?”

“Not really. I mean, not to everyone,” he says in a reassuring tone. “You look worried, but you don’t have to tell me about it if you don’t want to.”

I’m about to explain that I’d rather not talk about it, but then I take a deep breath. I have too many secrets that I have to keep bottled up inside, ones I can’t talk to other humans about. I’ve never talked to Jamie about this kind of thing, it would be against
the rules
. But right here, right now, that’s just what I want to do––talk to a friend about it. A normal, human friend, or at least I think he is. I want to pour my heart out and have a shoulder to cry on, like any other ordinary girl.

“It’s Donn Brooks, I don’t know if…” Just saying his name brings butterflies to my stomach, but I look at Tyler’s liquid amber eyes and manage a smile. I can’t believe I’m telling him about Donn, someone he probably doesn’t even know! I never before realized how starved I was for intimate human conversation.

“Right, I know him,” he says. “Scott mentioned him, his…sweet nature,” he adds jokily. “He said that he was no better than that loose cannon Vuk Wolf.” Tyler says this with a comic imitation of his uncle. “So what’s the problem with this Donn?”

A gentle wave of sadness washes over me. I convince myself that Tyler’s objectivity, outside of this chaotic world of vampires and werewolves, would help me put things in the right perspective.