Aven's Dream Read online

  “You wanna drive home?” my dad asked.

  I swallowed and shrugged.

  “Maybe next time?”

  “You’re going to have to get some practice in before you take your test.”

  “I know,” I mumbled as I opened the car door.

  Will was already waiting by the time we got back to the house. I got out and met him at the curb. He pulled me into his arms the second I reached him.

  “That was awful,” I muttered.

  “I agree.”

  He wrapped his arm around me as we walked toward the house. As soon as I opened the front door, Darcy came bounding out. I scratched his head before walking into the kitchen where my dad was scooping out ice cream.

  “Aven? Are you going to share any of your ice cream with Will?”

  “No,” I grinned.

  “Sorry, Will. I guess you’re out of luck.”

  Will smiled as I snatched my bowl off the counter and kissed my dad on the cheek before turning to go upstairs. When we reached my room, I walked over to my computer to turn on my music.

  “Okay, so was Tyler Pitt as creepy as I thought, or … was that Fidatov sitting at the bar sending off massively scary vibes?”

  “That boy was a delinquent, but yes. Fidatov was there.”

  “Great,” I mumbled.

  I took out some three-by-five cards from my desk drawer for notes on the paper. When I walked back over to my bed, Will rose up.

  “We’ll work now, but tomorrow I would like to hear more about you. I’m done telling scary stories for now.”

  “Well, I’ve only been alive for seventeen years,” I kidded, looking down. “There’s not much to tell.”

  “You’re wrong,” he said, touching the edge of my jaw. “And tomorrow, all I wish to hear of is you.”

  Chapter 16: Question and Answer

  In the morning, I opened my eyes and found Will studying me. Lying mere inches from him on my twin bed, I stared back, overwhelmed by his beauty. His skin was as smooth as stone with a golden glow. He was so immaculate and perfectly still as I watched him. Even though his eyes seemed less vividly blue today, seeing him so close made me wonder how anyone could mistake him for human.

  And suddenly a question—no, the question—popped into my head, sending a current of electricity through me. I had asked before, and somehow Will hadn’t answered me. But part of me knew that I was opening Pandora’s box. Debating, I reframed my question as a statement, thinking that this somehow made it better.

  “You never told me how you became what you are … or have you always been like this?”

  Will’s features changed instantly, his silvery blue eyes hardening.

  “This isn’t a discussion we’re having.”

  “Why? It has nothing to do with me,” I countered, not understanding why he was suddenly so obstinate.

  Will returned my stare, his features unyielding, and before I could argue, he was up and pulling me from the bed. He stood me upright like a doll and took my face in his hands. Then he brought his lips to mine and kissed me until I lost track of time. I wrapped my arms around him and drew in a ragged breath as Will abruptly released me and gestured toward the bathroom.

  “Go,” he said roughly. “Get ready for school.”

  The look in his eyes told me our conversation was over. I glared at him briefly before retreating, not understanding why he had gotten so cagey. It wasn’t like he was a real vampire. At least I was pretty sure that he didn’t change people into what he was by biting them on the neck. Regardless, the thought made me shiver as I locked myself in the bathroom and stripped out of my pajamas.

  I got ready quickly, and when I met Will outside, his expression was pensive, but not angry. It looked like he was concentrating very hard on the road ahead when he had made it perfectly clear that he could practically drive with his eyes closed. Part of me wanted to pry—then I remembered a story from childhood. I couldn’t remember where I had heard it, because I couldn’t imagine my mom reading it to me when I was little. But it was there, floating around my subconscious.

  The tale of Bluebeard, the reclusive aristocrat who kept the bodies of his murdered wives locked in a castle room, warning his most recent bride not to go snooping. I had never gotten the moral of the tale. Don’t marry a psycho? Don’t trust a man who keeps secrets? If it was the second, then I was in trouble, because even after everything Will had told me about himself and Vladimir Fidatov, I knew there were still plenty of secrets locked away. Whether I wanted to know the truth—the whole truth, even if it is uglier than you can imagine, as Will had put it—was something I would only know after it was already too late.

  Either I would be okay with it, or I wouldn’t.

  When we got to school, Will walked me to Ms. Kluman’s room and kissed me softly before leaving. I could accept that there were things he didn’t want me to know, but after thinking I had already found out his biggest secret—what he was—the thought that there might be more frightened me. Sitting down, I promised myself I would focus on Trig, but it felt like I was pretending. Pretending my world was still normal. By the time Will met me outside after second period for nutrition, I was edgy and uncertain. As we starting walking to the same dark classroom, I looked up at him.

  “Are you hiding me away?” I asked.

  Part of me was still scared that he was ashamed to be with a mere mortal, even if the only witnesses were other mere mortals.

  “No, I am keeping you from the world you belong in, and I will be forever regretful of that.”

  I frowned.

  “I’m begging you, Aven,” he continued. “Give me a day’s reprieve. All I want to hear of today is you.”

  I blushed as I remembered his plea from last night, which I hadn’t taken seriously. He opened the door to the classroom and followed me inside. Hopping up on one of the desks, I watched him sit down across from me.

  “All right. But I warned you. There’s not much epic history in seventeen years.”

  “Your favorite sunset?”

  I frowned as the image of Will’s burning golden silhouette in the park flashed to mind, but I couldn’t bring myself to say it.

  “Laguna in the summertime,” I said. “I think I must have spent every day there during the summer when I was a little kid. I never wanted to go home. There’s a cove where we used to stay until the sun went down.”

  “Place you would most like to visit?”

  “Um, Italy, I think.”

  Will raised an eyebrow at my indecision.

  “I have a whole list,” I explained. “It’s hard to say where I would go first.”

  “Why Italy?” he asked, his expression giving the impression that my fantasy travels were of grave importance to him.

  “I saw a picture of Tuscany in a magazine. I loved the vineyards, the wildflowers, the old country estates …”

  Will smiled.

  “College?”

  “I’m going to apply to the school where my dad teaches.”

  “That’s all?” Will asked, perplexed.

  I shrugged.

  “I’ll get a break if I attend my dad’s university. Besides, I’m a year behind the honors math curriculum. I should be in AP Calculus, and math and science are all schools seem to care about. I’m not exactly Ivy League material. I’m good with a public school.”

  “What if money were no object?” Will asked.

  I frowned. I hadn’t given it any thought. I would go where my dad taught, end of story.

  “I don’t know.”

  My heart began beating faster in my chest.

  “Where will you be next year?” I asked.

  “For college?”

  I nodded.

  “I imagine wherever you plan to attend.”

  “Really?” I asked, unable to hide the shock in my voice.

  “Does that bother you?”

  “No! I just thought since you can go anywhere, do anything …”

  “And I would be doing it wi
thout the one I love—unless you came with me. I would happily go wherever you go.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Of course. I want to be with you for as long as you permit.”

  The thought jarred me. My boyfriend is more than two hundred years old, I reminded myself dizzily.

  “Wait. How many times have you done this? I mean, how many times have you gone to high school? College?”

  He laughed quietly.

  “Have I lost the battle so quickly?” he sighed.

  His eyes shone in amusement, and when I held up my hands in surrender, Will leaned forward and grasped them, intertwining our fingers before continuing his questioning until the bell rang for third.

  At lunch, when our group converged on the same table, Will chatted easily with Matt, and for once Megan sat next to Jeff and managed not to ogle Will more than once. Watching the people around me, I had an unfamiliar feeling bordering on a tentative sense of belonging. But everything in my life right now was so new, so fragile. I knew everything could change in a second.

  When Will drove me home after school, I sat down at the computer and searched for the local DMV office before calling to make the soonest possible appointment. Will raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything.

  “After I take the test, you won’t have to drive me everywhere,” I said brightly when I got off the phone.

  I didn’t mention that I was still secretly terrified of driving.

  “What if I enjoy the time with you to myself?”

  “Then I can drive you around for once.”

  Will frowned as I sat down on the bed.

  “You don’t think I’ll be a good driver, do you?” I demanded huffily.

  “I think you will be capable … for a human.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Human reaction times are much slower than ours.”

  “And you think my driving skills will be a bigger threat than someone trying to kill me?” I countered.

  Will’s jaw clenched, and he fell silent for several moments.

  “You wouldn’t miss my company, then?” he asked finally, a faint smile on his lips.

  I exhaled, relieved he had ignored my last comment.

  “I didn’t say I was going to drive everywhere myself,” I smiled back.

  “Then, until you get your license, is there any way I can convince you to let me drive you into Portland?”

  I looked over at him, appalled.

  “No way! It’s supposed to be a girls’ night. Go ahead—stalk me. I’m not going separately, though.”

  Will let it drop, which was good, because he wouldn’t win this argument. We worked separately until I got a text from my dad saying he was coming home. Will followed me downstairs, where I put together a masterful dinner of grilled cheese on sourdough with tomato and Gruyere cheese and sautéed kale on the side. Fifteen minutes later, when my dad walked into the kitchen, he gave me a hug and said hello to Will. As we sat down, my dad even pretended it was perfectly normal to have a dinner guest who never ate. Will “left” right after dinner. Then, after I had gotten ready for bed, my dad knocked at my door.

  “Yeah!”

  Walking in, he sat down on the edge of my desk. Reaching over, he touched the framed picture I had of the three of us with my mom’s old cat Popcorn sitting in my lap.

  “What’s up?” I asked, glancing toward the window.

  I knew Will was waiting to appear as soon as my dad went to sleep. Darcy whined as my dad looked around the room, and silently I wondered if my dad could somehow tell I had spent the week sleeping next to Will.

  “Dad, you’re making both of us nervous,” I said, pointing back and forth between Darcy and me.

  He looked down at my desk and cleared his throat.

  “There’s something I think we need to talk about.”

  I waited, my pulse rate skyrocketing as he studied the wood with an unnatural fascination.

  “Dad! Oh my god! You’re killing me.”

  He looked up, his face reddening.

  “I know it would probably be better if your mom were here to talk to …” He sighed. “The thing is … I like Will. I think he’s a nice kid—head and shoulders above David Pitt’s son. But you’ve been spending a lot of time with him, and—”

  “Whoa! Stop right there! Mom gave me the birds and bees talk in middle school,” I squeaked. “And I’ve known him for less than—anyway, we’re so not there.”

  I wasn’t about to mention how wildly out of control I felt in Will’s presence, or the fact that Will could scramble my thoughts with just a kiss. Or worse, that he could possibly drain me of all my energy if he wasn’t careful. But these were pieces of information I would never share with my dad. Ever. And judging from the look on his face, the only thing he could take right now was a calm assurance that I wasn’t doing anything stupid or reckless.

  “Aven, it’s just that I remember being your age, and he is your first boyfriend. I just want you to be safe, honey.” He paused. “I think he cares about you a great deal.”

  I couldn’t tell whether my dad thought this was a good thing or not.

  “Well, I’m here if you need me,” he said finally. “Goodnight, sweetheart.”

  “’Night, Dad.”

  I smiled and watched as he moved toward the door. As soon as he shut it behind him, I got up and tiptoed to the door. When I heard my dad’s door close, I exhaled and leaned back against the wood. The sight of Will reclined casually on my bed made me gasp and jump. His expression was clearly entertained.

  “Tell me right now that you weren’t listening to that,” I hissed.

  Will shrugged.

  “I can’t help that I have exceptional hearing,” he chuckled. “But he is right, you know.”

  “About what?” I grumbled, moving toward the bed.

  “I do care about you. More than he knows.”

  I swallowed.

  “You realize he would have an aneurysm if he knew you were here, right?”

  “But he doesn’t know, does he?” he whispered.

  I sat down on the edge of my bed, and the overhead light went out a second later. Leaning over, I turned on the lamp, my face still burning with embarrassment when Will appeared in front of me. It was bad enough that my dad had found it necessary to launch into a sex ed talk, but having Will listen in was more than I could take. On the other hand, it did open the door to a new, very interesting topic of conversation we hadn’t had yet.

  “Would you like me to stay?” he asked.

  I nodded, bracing myself for the question I was about to ask.

  “Have you—I mean, is it possible—”

  I stopped, blushing and unable to finish my sentence. Still, I was curious. More than two hundred years—it was impossible that he hadn’t had sex, wasn’t it? Considering he knew about my lack of experience, I figured it was equitable that I know about him.

  “Yes,” he said, surprising me.

  I nodded, not sure what to say. Again, the word disparity came to mind.

  “But what I said before is true, Aven. I’ve never felt this way for anyone,” Will said quietly. “That still doesn’t make it right to infringe on your life, or take anything away from you.”

  I frowned, suddenly losing the thread of his logic.

  “Wait, hold on! What does that mean?”

  He didn’t say anything for several seconds, and when he finally spoke, his voice was different.

  “It means I want things I shouldn’t. It means I shouldn’t be here now. It means I am only the better of two evils.”

  Will took my face between his hands, and his lips came down on mine a second later. I gasped when he pulled back. When I looked up at him, his eyes were blazing like blue fire. I could feel the same energy, stronger than I had felt before, pumping through my veins. Scrambling onto my feet, I wobbled on the mattress. I would have made a joke about finally being taller than him, but more than anything I wanted to kiss him again. Gras
ping his face between my palms, I touched my lips to his, so lightly that it felt like a spark of electricity. Then, without thinking, I bit his lower lip softly. Will growled, and suddenly my feet were knocked out from under me. I landed on the bed with no impact and blinked up at Will, who was hovering over me.

  “I want things I shouldn’t,” he repeated again before sitting up.

  “And what if I want the same things?” I smiled as I pushed myself up.

  Will shook his head and wouldn’t look at me.

  “You don’t know what you’re saying, Aven.”

  “I know exactly what I’m saying,” I countered. “I’m not saying I’m ready to have sex tonight. I’m saying I’m in love with you, and eventually—after I turn eighteen—I will want that with you. You’re not corrupting me. I can make decisions for myself.”

  I held up my hand and wagged my finger.

  “See. No purity ring.”

  I had been expecting Will to laugh, but instead he closed his eyes.

  “I’m not worried about corrupting you, Aven. I’m worried about killing you … or not being able to resist the impulse to take your humanity from you and turn you into what I am.”

  I stopped breathing and stared at him before my brain started working again.

  “Then … Oh, wow. You mean we if we … then—”

  I swallowed.

  “No more questions tonight.”

  I nodded, sensing this wasn’t the time to push things. Pulling back the covers, I shimmied between the sheets, and my lamp clicked off.

  “Are you staying?” I asked into the darkness.

  Will kissed my forehead.

  “Yes. Now sleep.”

  Right. Like that was going to happen. But I closed my eyes anyway, feeling my entire body buzzing with electricity. I suddenly had answers … and a lot to think about.