The Purity of Blood: Volume I (23 page)

“No, not
really.
 
We never had any of that kind of
stuff in my family.”

“I would imagine
so.”

I peered up at
him as if that was a strange thing to say, but he didn’t seem to notice as he
leaned over and glanced down at what was left in front of me.
 
I pushed the last few apple slices his
way.
 

“Are you sure
you don’t want to try some?
 
They’re
really good.”

“No, thank
you.
 
You do seem to like apples don’t
you,” he smiled.

“Yep.
 
They grow out on Long Island too.
 
I remember going apple picking with my family
when I was really little.
 
It was fun.
 
I heard you can do that around here
somewhere.
 
I need to find out where and
go while they’re still in season.”
 

I finished the
last slice and took a big gulp of soda.
 
He was watching me intently again with that way of his.

“How about
checking out the arcade area?” he suggested

We got up and headed over to the other side of the festival
where the carnival games were set up.
 
We
were silent again.
 
I had no idea what he
was thinking, but I was still pondering his
I
may have limited experience with women
comment.
 
What could he possibly have meant by
that?
 
As incredibly good looking as he
was, I’m sure he had no trouble getting women to do anything for him … or to
him, without anything more than asking nicely.

About half way to the arcade I
stopped short in the crowd and stood motionless for a moment.

“What’s wrong?”
Daniel asked.

“Nothing.
 
I just thought I heard a familiar voice.
 
Never mind,” I replied, trying to sound
nonchalant.
 
Daniel gave me a look as if
he could tell I was lying, but didn’t say anything.
 

I had heard a
voice,
his
voice.
 
I’d have known it anywhere, but I’d deal with
him later.

“Come on, I’ll
win you a prize,” he said as he smiled and looked down at my hand.
 
I think he wanted to take it … but he
didn’t.
 
Instead after a moment’s
hesitation, he looked up into my eyes and nodded his head to continue on.
 

While we walked
along, I realized that throughout the entire evening he’d never touched me
directly with his skin.
 
Strangely it was
as if he realized I knew there was something different about him and he didn’t
want to emphasize it.
 
I rolled my eyes
at the thought.
 
I had to hold back
saying
believe me, Buddy, that’s just one
item on a very long list of strange things I don’t understand about you.

First we tried
the ring toss.
 
I didn’t get any hooked,
but Daniel – got them all.
  
The carnie
gave him a dirty look as he handed me a large stuffed giraffe.

“Gee,
thanks.
 
Just what I always wanted.” I
muttered as I gave Daniel a sarcastic smile

“What are you
talking about?
 
I think he’s cute.”

Next to us a
little girl was trying her luck.
 
She
didn’t hook any rings and turned towards us with a heartbreakingly disappointed
look on her little face.
 
I handed her
the giraffe and watched as she instantly brightened up.
  
After she thanked me, she ran over to her
mother to show her what she’d won.

“I hope you
don’t mind,” I said to Daniel as I turned back to him.

He smiled as he
shook his head no and indicated towards another game.
 
Daniel won them all and I won – none.
 
They were rigged, I was almost certain of it.
 
How he won, I wasn’t quite sure, but I’d
figure it out eventually.

Our last stop
was a shooting game with air rifles.
 
Finally, one I thought I might be better than him at.
 
When our turn came, the carnie handed me the
rifle and I handed it off to Daniel.
 
I
wanted him to go first.
 
He did very well
and won a small prize.
 
When he handed
the rifle back to me, I felt its weight in my hands and quickly examined
it.
 
Holding it up, I looked down the
barrel at the sight.
 
Yes, this one
was
rigged.
 
The site was out of alignment just enough to
throw you off.
 
I held it up and aimed
towards the target.
 
Compensating for the
rigging, I held my breath as I squeezed off my first shot.
 
A bull’s eye.
 
I had five shots to go and shot them off in quick succession, all bulls
eyes.

With a bit of a
smile on my face, I handed the rifle back to the carnie only to see Daniel
staring at me.

“Well, you’re
good at everything else,” I said rather defensively.
 
“Can’t I have one thing I’m good at?”

“You never fail
to surprise me,” he murmured with a cryptic smile.

“Is that a bad
thing?”

“Most of the
time – no.
 
I rather enjoy it.”

“And the rest of
the time?”

“Well, it can
also be a little exasperating at times.”

“Gees, now you
sound like my father,” I replied with a teasing smile of my own.

“Obviously a
very intelligent man.”

I rolled my eyes
and turned to walk along.
 

“So, I hope
you’re having a good time,” he said pleasantly.

“Sure.
 
Any place with apple pastries is fine with
me.”
  

I’d been with
him for a while now and still wasn’t sure what to make of our evening
together.
 
A date?
 
I couldn’t tell at this point.
 
How was I supposed to know?
 
Other than the prom, I’d never really been
out on one before.

Then through the
sounds of the music and laughter I heard the voice again.
 
This time from behind me to the right, about
twenty feet back.
 
He wasn’t talking to
me, but I could distinguish the timber of his raspy smoker’s voice easily
enough.

“I’ll be right
back,” I said to Daniel.
 
“I’m going to
go visit the ladies room.”
 

I indicated in
the direction of the portable facilities towards the back of the school.

“Alright” he
said.
 
Then he started to move as if to
come with me.

“Why don’t you
take a seat here?”
 
I pointed towards a
bench. “And I’ll be right back.”

Surprisingly, he
did as I suggested without comment.
 
Seizing the moment, I headed off in the direction of the voice which
luckily coincided with the direction Daniel thought I should be going in.
 
When I caught sight of him, he was heading
into the shadows behind the portables.
 
He wasn’t alone, he was following someone.
 
I didn’t recognize her, but she was young and
pretty and headed towards the cars by way of a dark path around the back of the
school.
 
Not a good idea, I thought to
myself, and once out of Daniel’s line of sight, I broke into a run and easily
caught up to him.
 

They were in the
shadow of the school just around the building in the back alley.
 
As I rounded the corner he was reaching
towards the girl, her eyes wide with fear and panic.
 
Without warning, I ran up and kicked him hard
in the back causing him to fall on his knees with a thud in front of her as a
guttural sound escaped his lips.
 

“Get out of
here,” I said to her calmly.
 
She ran off
without saying a word, but a thank you was in her eyes.

When she was
gone, I turned my attention back to the source of the voice, the man I’d
knocked unconscious with my crutch.
 
In
obvious pain, he was squirming to get up from the grass.

“You again?” I mumbled.
 
“Come on, man.
 
This is getting
old.
 
Didn’t you learn your lesson the
first time?”

A few minutes later, as I
smoothed my hair back into place – well as back into place as my mess of red
hair was ever in, I emerged from the shadows.
 
When I took a step into the light, Daniel suddenly appeared in front of
me.

“Where did you
come from?” I asked anxiously.
 

He’d startled
me.
 
I didn’t like that.

“You took too
long.”
 

When I didn’t
reply, he looked me up and down appraisingly until he stopped where my right sleeve
met my shoulder.
 
Raising a finger, he
pointed to a small tear in my sweater.

“What happened
to you?” he demanded.
 
He went from
friendly to pissed in a nanosecond.

I looked at the
tear.

“I must be
getting old,” I muttered to myself trying my best to blow him off.
 

Suddenly there
was a faint moan and a thud from the shadows behind me.
 
Daniels ears instantly perked up as his head
snapped up to look over my shoulder.
 
Then without hesitation, he pushed me behind him, placing himself
between me and the sound.

“Stay right
here,” he ordered with almost a snarl as he quickly stalked off into the
shadows.
 
He emerged a minute later only
to look at me with horror in his eyes.
 
If history held any precedent here, it was probably more revulsion than
anything else.

He pointed to
the shadows.
 
“I’m asking you again.
 
What happened?”
 
He was angry, really angry with me.
 
So angry, his voice was deathly low.
 
If our evening had started out as a date, I
doubted it would end like one.

“Don’t worry
about it,” I said as casually as possible, not wanting him to make a big deal
out of what he most assuredly would.
 
“Some people just don’t want to learn their lessons the easy way … I
wonder if I get a dozen of those turnovers, how long they’ll keep?”

Unable to look
at the stunned look on his face, I turned and started back towards the
carnival.
 
I didn’t have to turn around
to know he was standing motionless behind me, but I kept going.
 
It wasn’t that far, I could always walk back
to campus.
 
Maybe that would be for the
best anyway.
 
No, I wouldn’t look back.

A moment later
he caught up with me and we walked for a minute, side by side in silence as we
rejoined the crowded festival.
 

“That was the
same guy, wasn’t it?” he said quietly, not looking at me as we walked along.

“Yes.”

I stared
straight ahead.
 
I could barely hear him
over the music and voices of the crowd around us.

“Why do I get
the feeling you’re not going to tell me what happened?”

He was trying to
sound calm, but underneath it was easy to see he was anything but.

“Because you’re
very perceptive.”

He
humphed
in response.

“He’s not dead is
he?” I asked in a small voice.

“No.”

“I didn’t think
so.”
 

I stopped.
 
We were standing in a quiet corner now.
 
I was staring at a ride, at the happy faces of
the kids whirling around inside it.

He didn’t say
anything for a moment, but then very quietly said “You have no idea what it
took for me to not finish the job.”
 

I stared up at
him open mouthed.
 
He was completely
serious.
 
He reached out again, offering
me his arm, and for some unknown reason, my traitorous body took it.

We walked around
aimlessly for some time, mostly with a silence between us.
 
All evening the festival had been filled with
loud music emanating from a small stage at its center, but suddenly the music abruptly
stopped making our silence seem awkward again.
 
I looked at my watch.

“It must be
getting late,” Daniel said.

“It’s a little
after nine thirty,” I muttered.
 
Where
had the time gone?

“I should
probably be getting you back.”
 

Then without
further discussion, he began to steer me towards the car.

When we got
there, he opened the door for me.
 
This
time I actually waited for him to do so.
 
I guess I was too modern to understand why, but I could see this made
him more comfortable, and to be honest, I kind of liked it to.
 
Sliding without a word into the driver’s seat
beside me he closed his door.
 
Then he
put the key in the ignition, but paused before turning it.
 

“What I can’t
understand is … I don’t think that guy came after you tonight.
 
I think you went after him.”
 
He stopped, not exactly waiting for an
answer, but just to gather his thoughts.
 
“What I don’t understand is why.
 
Why you would run after danger.”