NEWBORN: Book One of the Newborn Trilogy (28 page)

Swiping his blond hair to the side of his
forehead, he smiles enormously at me. Geez, those teeth are so
white, so perfect. “Is that right?”

“You know it is,” I tell him. “Either way
you’re coming back with me.”

He scowls at me. “Why’s that?”

“Because,” I answer, “I don’t need my jacket
and I don’t want to carry it!”

Stowing his wand in the pocket of his
tangerine robes, Gabriel frowns. “I see. I’m your bellboy, am I? I
suppose I had this coming. Still, it’s a stiff thank you for making
you perpetually comfortable.”

“Thank you,” I tell him as he picks up my
jacket and backpack.

“I don’t suppose there’s any
other
reason you want me to come to your dorm, is there?”

Geez, it’s like he knows…

“Maybe,” I respond. “Well, kind of. Sort of.
Yes. My friend Kiri has been dying to meet you ever since I told
her about you. She seems to have a knack for spot – err – spotting
eccentric
men.”

“She thinks I’m gay,” Gabriel says without
missing a beat, his hand finding my back and guiding me forward,
across Red Square in the direction of dorm building C. “You
mentioned this earlier.”

“I did? I can’t remember.”

My wizard friend snorts. “You were
distracted.”

“She wants to meet you,” I continue. “Kiri is
good at telling – well – she thinks of herself as sort of a –”

Geez, how do I say this?

“She thinks I’m gay,” Gabriel translates.
“Prides herself on having an outstanding gaydar. She dared you to
bring me by. I get it.”

“Oh,” I say dumbly. “That’s – uh – good.”

I feel inarticulate right now. It’s a pet
peeve of mine – when I’m trying to describe something and it fails
completely and then someone else swoops in and describes it
fantastically in one line. I hate it! I hate it! I pride myself on
my writing ability, and speaking – like writing – is an art of
synthesis.

Geez, I’m an English major for crying out
loud.

I ask the wizard, “How goes the hunt?”

My backpack on his shoulder, my jacket under
his arm, and his tangerine robes glistening in the sun, Gabriel
fails to meet my eyes. “Oh, that,” he says, his tone disarming,
“Not the best, Nora, to be honest.”

I’m determined to trap his gaze. “Why not?
What’s going on at their hideout? Have they been killing humans?
Tell me!”

Relax
, instructs my alter ego,
before you give yourself an aneurism!

Off with your head!
I yell at her.

Gabriel shakes his head. “No attacks I know
of since the most recent against the Newborn. That one didn’t take
place around here – it happened in mid Washington. Everything’s
confusing me.”

“Why?” I push him. “I don’t understand you,
Gabriel. You’re trained to be in these situations and yet you can’t
figure it out. You always boast about your abilities so much – now
that is confusing!”

Did I go too far? Apparently not.

His forlorn expression becomes an airy grin.
“Boastful? I can’t begin to imagine myself as that. Sure – I talk –
I make words with my mouth. But boasting? As for my training, I
don’t know,” he admits, his grin slipping, “I thought I could
handle anything. This present situation is trying me.”

“Maybe I can help,” I tell him. Geez, I hope
I’m not being too opportunistic. Actually, who cares? “Tell me
what’s wrong and maybe I will be able to think of something. Please
tell me, Gabriel!”

Turquoise eyes find me at last. “Oh, fine
then.”

He must really be desperate. I hadn’t
actually expected that to work. “Yay!” I exclaim. “Thank you! Thank
you!”

“Don’t make me regret this,” he adds sourly.
“Well, here it is: I can’t find the Newborn. Can’t find him
anywhere. And I’ve looked everywhere. Remember when you asked if I
saw him? In the forest?”

I nod my remembrance.

“That time,” Gabriel continues, “I wasn’t
worried because I only saw a fraction of their number and assumed
the Newborn would be part of their coven. I assumed he’d come
around. He hasn’t! It’s as though he never came to Olympia! But the
Bureau of Beast Control is positive he’s somewhere on the Olympic
Peninsula… They’re not pleased with me, Nora,” he adds, sounding
depressed.

I take his hand. It’s warm and tense, and
only becomes warmer and tenser when I make contact. But he relaxes
and continues speaking, his voice calming my heart like a trickling
stream.

“They don’t believe me,” he remarks. “The
Bureau thinks I’m lazing around. It’s as if they don’t know me! I
bet they have new management or something. I wouldn’t know! They
don’t tell me anything anymore! It’s as though they’ve left me here
in the desert to rot! I hate them sometimes!”

He’s breathing heavily after this rant. I
almost want to giggle but I shelve it. I’ll get in trouble. But
seriously – the desert? We’re in Olympia, Washington. It rains
here. Like, a lot. It’s many things – temperate, cool, cloudy,
green – but not a desert. Should I correct him? Fuck, why not.

“When you say desert,” I begin, “you know
it’s –”

“I mean a desert
socially
,” Gabriel
intercepts. “I’m all alone out here. I’ve got nothing and nobody.
I’m beginning to lose who I am in this barrenness. I feel like I’m
going crazy here. I’m not sure how much longer I can stand it!”

Shitballs on a stick.
That wasn’t
complimentary.

“What do you mean ‘all alone’?” I repeat
angrily. “You’ve got –”

“I mean
wizards
!” Gabriel interrupts.
“Witches. I know I’ve got you, Nora. I’m grateful to you. But it’s
not the same as being around my own kind. I miss dueling. I miss
staying up late, drinking old red wine, getting into longwinded
discussions about what the Puridites are going to fuck up next. I
miss it all so much!”

I huff, “I’m sorry I’m not enough for
you.”

“That’s not what I said!” is his terse
response. He pulls his hand from mine. “We were talking about the
Newborn. You asked me about other stuff and now we’re here! How
does this always happen?”

“It doesn’t,” I correct. “I
thought
your life may have improved since I came into it. I see I’m
mistaken. Oops – my bad. I shouldn’t make such brazen assumptions
without consulting you first!”

Gabriel swipes his blond hair to the side of
his forehead in agitation. “You – you’re… ugh!” He can barely
express his frustration. Who’s inarticulate now, I wonder? “Forget
I said anything,” he says at last. “I see we won’t get anywhere
with this. At least not anywhere positive.”

“I can’t forget everything you say!” I
exclaim. Geez, I wish he’d figure it out. I’m not a computer you
can reboot! Sighing with more oomph than I normally would, I ask,
“When are you taking me to the vampire coven?”

Gabriel splutters, “Now you want to come to
the vampire coven!”

“Of course I do,” I tell him. “I made the
plans originally, don’t you remember? You’ve been putting it off.
Doing your ‘reconnaissance work’ as you call it. I guess I
shouldn’t be surprised,” I add nastily, gazing up at him. “That’s
not the only thing you’ve been putting off, come to think of
it.”

Expression impermeable, Gabriel follows me in
the direction of dorm building C, the red tiled steps of Red Square
falling behind.
Oh fuck!
I meant to go in the Daniel J.
Evans library for a book on Colonel Burr and Benedict Arnold’s
campaign in Canada during the Revolutionary War. Oh well.

“I will take you with me,” Gabriel says at
last, “to the vampire coven. One condition, Nora. You
must
agree to it. Here and now. No refusals. No rain checks. Just agree
and we can make plans.”

“Sure thing,” I say. “Don’t worry about it.
I’ll agree to anything – I want to come. So what’s the
condition?”

“That werewolf can’t come,” he answers.

“I can’t agree to that. I promised him he can
come.”

“You’ll have to break your promise,” Gabriel
says. “Either that or you’re not coming. Take it or leave it,
Nora.”

He’s starting to annoy me. “You know,” I
begin, “I can go out walking in the forest and look myself. You’d
have to come or else I’d probably be killed. Or you could leave me
to die. Then how would you feel? You’re not calling
all
the
shots here. If I want Wolf to come he’s coming. That’s it.”

“It’s not coming,” Gabriel hisses.

“
He’s
not coming!” I correct
furiously. “
He’
s not coming. Not ‘it’s not coming’! Wolf is
not an
it
. He’s a
he
. He’s a living, breathing being
with thoughts and feelings. You’re superhuman, too, Gabriel. Go
figure you’re calling him weird. You’re such a fucking
hypocrite!”

Gabriel ignores me. “Where is
it
,
anyway?”

He! But I know it won’t get through. “I’m not
sure,” I say sadly, “still hasn’t shown for class. I wonder if
something’s hap –”

“Fantastic!” Gabriel interrupts happily.
“Then
it’s
not even an issue. You can’t find
it
. So
you can’t ask
it
to come. Let’s get along again, because
either way your werewolf friend won’t be joining us.”

I give my wizard friend a sidelong glance.
“Are you jealous?”

Gabriel chokes. “Jealous! Of a witless
half-breed? Of a beast? Don’t be stupid, Nora. There are few
creations lower than the werewolf. There’s vampires… and I’m out.
I’ve got nothing else. Werewolves are second lowest.”

I whisper to myself, “Bigot!”

“What?” Gabriel asks. “Sorry, didn’t hear
you?”

“You’re a bigot!” I shout, tearing my hand
from him. “You’re a fucking bigot, Gabriel, and not much else!
Grossly predictable, too!”

Crossing my arms, I turn away from him. He
walks around till he’s facing me. I’m astonished to see an enormous
grin splashed across his features. “Grossly predictable? You’re
calling
me
predictable? We’ve already had this fight! Here
you
are playing it out again. As for me being a bigot,” he
continues slyly, “we’ve already agreed that’s true. So I don’t see
what the problem is!”

Shitballs!

This isn’t fair! I
want
to be mad at
him. But that is some beautiful hair. Those are some beautiful
eyes. Is his smile eating me alive? A grin breaks across my face,
and before I know it I’m scooping my hair behind my ear and looking
at the cement. What am I supposed to find there? The answer to my
easiness?

“See?” Gabriel says. “We don’t have problems.
We don’t need bigotry around. We also don’t need werewolves!”

Unable to respond to this, I take his hand
and lead him the rest of the way to my dorm building. It’s
embarrassing, the extent to which I lose my senses while looking
into those turquoise eyes.

What’s worrisome isn’t that I lose my senses
around him, but that Gabriel is somebody you need to keep your
senses around. It’s not a matter of safety. I worry how much
control he has over himself. He seems to lose himself occasionally,
and it worries me when at its worst – for instance, when talking
about murdering vampire children. The glee in his face at these
times is unsettling.

Leading him up the steps of dorm building C,
I knock on the door. Kiri is haphazard with her schedule. She seems
to change it up all the time. Turns out she’s home. Pulling the
door open, Kiri stares at us for a moment, her eyes alive behind
sharp glasses and beneath bobbed hair.

“Come in!” Kiri exclaims.

Gabriel gestures me inside before following
up the rear and shutting the door behind him. Kiri goes to sit on
her bed beside her enormous cello leaning against the wall. Gabriel
and I sit on my bed.

“So you’re Nora’s boyfriend!” Kiri says
excitedly. “I’m so glad to finally meet you! I’ve heard so much!”
She’s definitely too excited. Can I blame her? He’s gorgeousness
incarnate. I forgot to tell her.

Gabriel glances at me. I can tell what he’s
thinking:
What did you tell her about me, Nora? You better not
have told her too much!
“Hi,” Gabriel says to Kiri, his
thoughts distracted. “It’s nice to meet you too.” He can’t add he’s
heard so much. Because he hasn’t. Except for Kiri’s hunch about
him.

“I love what you’re wearing!” Kiri’s voice
adores as she addresses him. “Fantastic! Where do you find
something like that? Are you part of the theater department? Are
you a theater major?”

Geez, is this how she finds out people are
gay? By asking if they’re theater majors? I dearly hope her
technique is more refined.

My wizard friend looks taken aback by her
interest. He recovers quickly. “A little shop in a suburb north of
Boston. And no and no,” he answers. “Haven’t been to the theater in
years, as it happens.”

Kiri nods, her eyes wide. I can almost see
her gears turning. “Wow, that’s surprising,” she remarks, “I go a
few times a year. Anyway, what’s your major? Nora told me you’re a
student here.”

“I dropped out,” Gabriel tells her,
surprising me with his honesty. “Didn’t feel like doing the work.”
Honesty again. “They’re allowing me to keep my dorm until the
semester is over. Otherwise I’d have to go back to Baltimore and I
don’t want to. I – uh – like it here.” At last a lie. His
expression is a dead giveaway.

Kiri continues nodding as though unable to
stop. I know what she’s thinking, too: how did Nora land this guy?
“Please, make yourself comfortable,” she says, her eyes sliding
over the backpack hanging from Gabriel’s shoulder and my jacket
wrapped in his arms. “I’ll be leaving soon, anyway.”

“Where are you going?” I ask in surprise.

Kiri frowns in my direction. “Nora! I’ve told
you like 500 times, I’m going home for the weekend. I’m all packed
and everything,” she adds, gesturing to a couple duffle bags on the
floor by her desk, both looking ready to burst. “All laundry,” she
says happily, “all for my mom to do! I’ll be too busy playing with
my dog! But before I go, I want to play you something.”