The Purity of Blood: Volume I (6 page)

“Miss Donnelly,
to what do I owe the honor of your visit? You’re not thinking of dropping my
class are you?” he said in a soft velvet tone.

Somehow, I
managed to say “No.”

“Good.
 
I’m glad to hear it.”
 
He actually smiled at me.
 
“More often than not, my chosen students
elect not to continue under my added attentions.
 
But I’m glad to hear that’s not the case with
you.
 
Actually, I’d have been surprised
if it were.
 
So again, what can I do for
you?”

His face wore a
pleasant expression that was completely foreign to me.
 
Those eyes had never looked at me before
without some perceived sinister aspect behind them.
 

“I have a
question about the paper you assigned in class.”
 

He leaned back
in his chair and motioned towards an empty seat across the desk from him.
 
I sat down, for some reason eyeing the chair
suspiciously.

“Go ahead,” he
said, patiently waiting for me to continue.

“I’ve had a hard
time picking a topic for my paper and thought I’d ask your advice.
 
I have three different ideas I’ve been
throwing around.
 
Since it’s important to
me to do a good job, I was hoping you might give me a little advice on which
one I should choose.”

He smiled again,
looking somewhat pleased at my question.
 
Again, I could not make him out.

I gave him a
brief overview of the topics I’d been considering and paused, waiting for his
response.

“Well, you
really couldn’t go wrong with any of them” he said “but since you asked for my
advice I’d go with Byzantine architecture and
Hagia
Sophia.
 
I think it would best suit your
style.”
 

I wasn’t exactly
sure what he meant by that but decided not to pursue it.
 
I got up, thanked him and started for the
door.

“It was very
nice to see you, Sara,” he said with a sincere tone as he stood behind the
desk.
 

Eager to leave,
I hastily thanked him again and left.
 
After I closed the door behind me as quickly as I could, I exhaled,
leaning against the wall for support.
 
Why was I reacting this way?
 
He
had been perfectly pleasant and cordial.
 
Why did that unnerve me so much?
 
Something about the way he had looked at me throughout the whole
encounter left me feeling exposed and I didn’t like that feeling at all.
 
Yet being alone with him like that … I don’t
know.
 
Something seemed different about
him.
 
Maybe it seemed like he’d let his
guard down, or maybe it was his smile.
 
But for some bizarre reason I couldn’t begin to understand, I think he
liked me.
 
Problem was, I just wasn’t
sure how I felt about that.

Suddenly I heard
footsteps echoing down the deserted hallway.
 
Startled, I looked up to see a tall, amazingly well-built man standing
at the far end of the hall.
 
He was staring
at me, frozen in place like a statue.
 
His shadowy blue eyes were locked on me like missiles, and for a moment
I just stared back at him.
 
I don’t think
he was breathing or even blinking for that matter, but then again neither was
I.
 

The expression in
his furrowed brow scared me.
 
The way he
looked at me felt like a cross between the way you’d look at a Martian if you
saw him walking down the street and how a man looks at a shiny new sports car
on the showroom floor.
 
Whatever it was,
it shook me to my core and all I wanted to do was to act on some primal urge to
flee.
 
Like a tidal wave had suddenly
washed over me I was hit with the overwhelming need to run as quickly as
possible.
 
And breaking his visual hold
on me, I turned on my heel and hurried down the hall in the opposite direction.
 
Oddly enough, it wasn’t fear I was
feeling.
 
To be honest, I’m not sure what
it was, frustration maybe, or anger.
 
I
didn’t like anything that flustered me that much.
 
And standing there in front of the
Professor’s door, I felt my wits being scattered to the four winds.

Seizing upon the
quickest exit, I opened the door of the stairwell and quickly darted through
only to hear Rodney’s nasally voice from behind echoing down the hallway saying
“Hi, Daniel.”

DANIEL

It
had been more than a day since I’d seen that girl with the
flaming red hair in the hallway, and as hard as I tried, I still couldn’t get
the image of her out of my mind.
 
She had
to be the one he’d warned me about, the one I wasn’t supposed to have any
contact with.
 
I hadn’t told him I’d seen
her, but what did it matter, I knew he was already aware of it.
 

I was ashamed of
my reaction.
 
I’d mistakenly thought I
possessed some measure of self-control, but when tested; my darker half reared
its ugly head without warning.
 
How could
I not have seen it coming?
 
After all
these years, all I could do was stand idly by and watch as, without a whisper
of a warning, it quickly took greater possession of me.

Instead of
leaving the office together as we usually did, I’d left early.
 
I needed to drive.
 
I wasn’t sure where I was going, only that I
needed to put distance between myself and the space she occupied.
 
And so leaving New Paltz behind, I headed up
the mountain unsure of my destination.
 

As it had been
all day, my head was full of her.
 
I was
trying my hardest to chase the memory of her out of my mind, trying to
concentrate on nothing but the pavement as I raced up the switch backing
roads.
 
It was working to some
degree.
 
The alarmed looks of passing
motorists and the occasional pedestrian as I sped by were a small
distraction.
  
But not enough.
 
Not nearly enough.

I’d decided to
leave town.
 
I had to get out of New
Paltz at least for a while.
 
There was no
other way to shake the desires that had formed in my head without the aid of
both time and distance.
 
When I’d told
him of my plan, he’d made no objection.
 
He knew it was as necessary as I did, but I could tell it made him
unhappy.
 
I hoped I hadn’t been a
disappointment to him.
 
Of anything, that
was the last thing in the world I wanted to do.

I closed my eyes
for the briefest of seconds only to find her there.
 
That red head of hair whirling away, those
brown eyes looking right through me.
 
If
only they’d been the problem.
 
I could
have avoided her eyes.

The sun
disappeared, only to be replaced by the moon rising low on the horizon.
 
By the time I finally pulled down the private
gravel drive leading to the house, it was starting to get late.
 

We’d bought this land I couldn’t remember how many years ago,
but only recently built the house.
 
It
had cost us a small fortune to build in such a remote location and into the
solid rock of the cliff as we had.
 
But
the house was one of a kind, and made our self-imposed semi isolation all the
more enjoyable.
 

After parking the car in the
garage, I got out.
 
But I could feel
something was wrong; it hung in the air like a thick fog around our home.
  
As I closed the car door, the muscles in my
neck and shoulders tensed up in reaction to whatever it was.

When I walked
inside, I heard sounds of activity coming from his room at the back of the
house.
 
Slowly navigating the hallway, I
made my way to their bedroom and stopped in the doorway.
 
He was quickly, almost frantically, throwing
items into a suitcase.
 
Hearing my
approach, he looked up to see me watching him in confusion.

“Thank God your
back,” he said as he tossed a pair of pants into the case.
 
“I have to leave.”
 

I could feel the
waves of anxiety rolling off him.

He looked
flustered.
 
Had I ever seen him look
flustered before?

He closed the
lid on the case and quickly brushed past me as he walked down the hallway,
suitcase now in hand.
 
He was visibly
agitated; a state I rarely saw him in.
 
Something had happened, but what?

“Where are you
going?”
 
I could hear the alarm in my
voice as it cracked.

“I can’t tell
you that.
 
It’s best that you don’t know
the specifics right now.
 
All I’ll say is
that someone important to me is in danger and I have to go while there’s still
time.”

“Is it mother?”
I asked, praying the answer would be no.

“No, she’s fine.
– At least she was last time I heard from her.
 
No, this is someone else.
 
I have
to leave now. – Look, I know it’s sudden but the worst of our kind is involved
and I’m the only one who can take care of the situation properly.”

Situation?
 
What situation?

I was in
shock.
 
This was very unlike him.
 
He wasn’t usually the cagey type, well at
least not with me.
 
I stood there in
silence not knowing what to say or how to react.
 
Surely after all our years together he’d
explain his actions to me.

“I need you to
do me a great favor, Daniel.
 
I am forced
to entrust you with the safety of something of great value to me, something I
want you to protect with your life.
 
I
know it won’t be easy for you, but I have faith that you’re strong enough to
find the will within yourself to do as I ask.”

“What?
 
What is it?” I stuttered out.
 
Eyes wide open, I was standing perfectly
still.

“A blood hunter
has been on campus.
 
I believe he’s
spotted her.
 
I know you have many
questions, but I can’t answer them now.”
 
He stopped, taking a deep breath.
 
“I’m trusting Sara to your care, Daniel.
 
She is
more
important to me
than you could possibly know, and her life may be in grave danger.”

“But she’s the
one you told me to stay away from, isn’t she.”
 
I could barely get the words out of my mouth.

“I know.
 
It’s dangerous for you to be around her.
 
I’ve done my best over our years together to
shield you from this sort of thing.
 
I
only hope that I’ve prepared you well enough.”
 

He picked up his
bag and started for the garage door.
 

“I don’t know
how long I’ll be gone, so I’ll need you to cover my classes in my absence.
 
I’ve already called the Dean.
 
I told her I’ve been called away on a family
emergency.
 
She knows you’re more than
qualified to teach in my absence.”
 
He
started for the garage door.

“I don’t
understand.
 
What’s happening?
 
First you tell me to stay as far away from
her as possible, and now you want me to look after her?”
 

It made no
sense.
 
He made no sense.
 
The center of my life was making no
sense.
 
This
was not possible.
 

“I can’t … No, I
won’t do it.
 
I’m leaving town tomorrow!”

He stopped in
his tracks, his look deadly serious.

“Yes you can,
and you will, Daniel.
 
You
will
guard her with your life.
 
She is more valuable to me than you could
possibly imagine, and I am holding you personally responsible for her safety
until I return.
 
I think you know I would
never ask this of you, son, if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.”
 
He smiled a reluctant half smile.
 
“I need you, Daniel.
 
Now more than ever.”
 

He picked up his
bag and disappeared into the garage.
 
A
moment later, I heard his car start, followed by the sound it made as it raced
up the driveway towards the road.
 
Then
he was gone, leaving me alone in the stillness of our empty house.

Unable to move
from where I stood, I just stared at the closed door he’d left through.
 
None of it made any sense.
 
If Sara was going to be in danger from
anyone, it was going to be me.
 
How on
earth was I supposed to protect her when just being around one of her kind was
enough to bring out every dark impulse I’d ever struggled to repress?
 
And struggle as I might against it, I knew at
my core I was an evil thing, quite possibly incapable of completing his request.

I turned and
looked out the solid piece of glass that made up the back wall of the living
room.
 
Any trace of the sun now gone, it
was a wall of black.
 
Circling the room,
I dropped down onto the sofa, still taking in the emptiness of the view.
 
I hadn’t felt this alone in a long time.
 

Where had he gone?

Why couldn’t he trust me enough to tell
me?
 

What could
possibly be so extraordinarily special about this girl … well, beyond the
obvious … that she warranted our protection?
 
Questions flooded my mind, but none with corresponding answers that made
any sense.
 
My trust in him was absolute
and I would try to do as he asked, but I was by no means as certain of the
outcome as he appeared to be.

She was odd even
for your average human female.
 
She
didn’t dress or style herself in an overtly feminine way.
 
And yet there was something unmistakably
female in the way she carried herself and looked out through those deep brown
eyes.
 
Of course, it wouldn’t matter what
she wore, with curves like that, she’d always look like a woman.

Tomorrow I would
have to see her again.
 
But before then
I’d have to find a way to be in the same room as her and not have my face
betray the longing that burned through every fiber of my being.
 

I wanted to kill
her.