My Vampire Bromance

Chapter 25: It's Always Been Him

But I didn't die. Instead, I felt a hand brush against mine. Feeling that I was surely doomed, I called out for Victor in my head. He didn't come. Then, between one breath and another, something interesting happened. Something unexpected. Thomas Langerty leaned in to kiss me. "What the hell?!" I barely knew the guy, yet here he was trying to make a move on me– I was totally unwilling. "What are you doing?" I asked him as calmly as I could. When he didn't respond, I backed away from him.

"What do you mean?" Thomas held a hand over his mouth, eyes wide and clearly wounded on an emotional level.

"I don't know you...like...at all!" I pressed my lips together as I watched Thomas internally struggle. It seemed he didn't know what to do. This was an awkward situation.

"But I thought you were...?"

I stared at his sad face, "Look, I don't know what I am, but I think we should leave it here. I'll walk myself." I looked to the side where the little black cat sat on the sidewalk, shaking his head no. No! What do you mean no!

We are so close, Phillip Kosier! the cat shouted back mentally at me.

"Ugh!" I pulled a hand down my face. Thomas's energy was like something I'd never felt before. It carried its own vibration, sending signals through my body, making me feel alive and pulsating with want. I tried not to look at him.

Vampiric compulsion, Victor said to me. Just go with it!

You're asking me to be unfaithful to you?! I could hardly believe it.

No, I am asking you to bring that boy out of the shadows so I can clearly see him! If it is the boy from last week, we've definitely got the killer on our hands!

I wanted to throw up. I pulled my literature book close to my chest and righted my glasses. I huffed and made for walking on by myself. My free hand was suddenly grasped by the blonde-haired boy beside me. "Please! I'm sorry. It's not safe! Let me walk you to your car. I promise, I won't make a move on you again. Just friends?" He sighed, "I need a friend. God, I thought you were...I'm so sorry."

I swallowed hard. Precisely what was Thomas Langerty thinking? "Fine, just keep your hands and mouth to yourself."

The two of us left the front of the library– me feeling defiled and Thomas feeling? I didn't want to know how he felt. But the longer I walked beside him, the more that haunting feeling of vampiric hunger hounded me. A taste began to bloom in my mouth– crushed sugared rose petals coated my tongue. What the hell is this? I did my best not to think about it, only focusing on Victor following us. I needed to find a way to bring Thomas's face into the light so that Victor could confirm that the vampire he'd seen the other night was indeed him. But how would I do that wandering through the slowly flooding campus walkways? Too many floodlights were out for comfort.

"Funny that so many lights are out, right?" Thomas pointed out as we walked past them.

"Not really," I said. There was something peculiar about the patterning of the lights that were darkened. Like someone was trying to hide something. One of them flickered above us, turning on as I walked under it.

"You don't like walking in the dark?" his question was oddly timed with the lighting of the overhead street lamp.

"I don't mind it at all. I just think it's odd they're all out in a cluster. It's like someone's hiding." At my words, all the lights flickered on. I jumped, taken aback at this apparent show of power. Had Thomas done it, or was it someone else lingering in the bushes? Again, the little cat appeared between one set of foliage and another.

He's trying to appeal to you while not making it obvious what he is. Get him into the light!

I nodded internally, slightly veering off the path towards the campus rose garden. The light danced around it, shining off the rainwater that had soaked the ground. Thomas followed me, silent, hungry. I wanted to be as far away from him as possible. The parking garage was only a stairwell away– then I would be up the stairs and in my car in no time. I took in a deep breath.

"It's pretty," Thomas said behind me. "Almost as pretty as you."

I grimaced while hearing Victor internally laughing. Then, turning, I saw Thomas Langerty's face in the dim campus lights. They flickered overhead, and the ones we passed returned to darkness.

"You look worried," he leaned down past me to grab a rose. "What's wrong?"

What's wrong? What's wrong?! The fact that he looked like a walking corpse was wrong! Thomas was too pale, too veiny. The energy off him was heady, like being sleep-deprived. The taste he imbued in my mouth was intoxicating and unwanted. I bit down my thoughts.

Thomas flicked his eyes above us at the lights; they dimmed before he looked back down at me. But it was too late; I'd seen it. Victor had seen it as well– I was sure, but he remained mute.

"It's been a long day," I said. "You know I have finals at eight in the morning. I uh... I need to go." I turned, expecting Thomas to reach out and snap my neck in two, but he followed me carefully, the lights flickering madly when we finally reached my car in the garage.

"This your ride?"

"Yeah," I pulled open the car door and threw my book inside. I was going to pass out from all the energy coming my way. A mixture of hunger, need, and sexual want. If this is what Victor felt when he fed, I had no idea how he exercised such restraint– it was maddening. I forced myself to sit down inside my car; my legs were too weak to continue standing.

"When can I see you again?" Thomas asked me.

"Uh, I don't know. Sometime. Sometime after finals." Never again. I choked on the fluid that had been building in my throat.

I'd felt this energy before in my house a few nights ago. On the walkway where I found the first girl dead. On the night my parents died in the car crash. I knew this energy well– well enough to be frightened of it. Yet, it seemed Thomas didn't know that I recognized his energetic signature as his eyes trailed my face and stopped on my lips– he looked up.

"It's a date then," he said. Then, winking at me, closed the car door and walked away, waving goodbye as he did so. I sat for a long time in the car before I started it. When I was finally ready, I drove out of the parking garage just in time to hear the campus alarm blare.

Heart beating fast, I turned to see Victor sitting at my side. "It was him, Phillip Kosier."

I bit my lip, trembling, "It's always been him."

"What do you mean?" Victor asked. His magenta eyes glowed softly as his hand reached out to touch mine on the steering wheel.

"He was there on the night my parents died. I recognize his energy. It's him...it's always been him." My hands began to shake.

Victor's hand gripped mine tighter, supporting me the best he could while I tried not to break down crying on the way back home.