Page 7 of This Blood That Binds Us
But something was still wrong with my shoulder. No amount of hiding could change that. It had no pus, no redness. Just these weird little veins that kept growing.
Before I knew it, the professor was doing her rounds, grabbing up our warm-up assignments. My page was still blank as I reluctantly passed it to her. The professor eyed me with disapproval. Warm-ups were meant to be an easy grade.
Not one word could I memorize or write during the class. I pretended to write most of the time, while violently scratching up my paper and glancing at the door every five seconds. The feeling rolling around in my stomach was confusing. On one hand, I was terrified. Obviously. A potential psycho was walking around my campus, and I still wasn’t sure of how dangerous he could be. But anothersmallpart of me was relieved. If he was a vampire, then that meant I hadn’t hallucinated, and maybe—justmaybe—I could get a real answer about my shoulder.
My head hurt as much as my bite. That was the problem with fiction propelling itself into reality. Possibilities were quite literally endless. No matter which way I turned, I didn’t have a good answer of what I should do, and I had no one to ask. No mentor. No parents. My only friend was still ignoring my phone calls. I could go to the police, but what good would that do? I’d be safe, but would I just be putting a bigger target on my back? Was my shoulder problem even something a doctor could fix?
I counted the tiles on the ceiling. One by one, I counted them until my shoulders dropped from my ears, and I could take another breath. I glanced over at Mikayla, who was oblivious to my inner turmoil and picking dirt from under her nails.
The clock signaled five minutes till the end of class, and I prepared myself to go for the door. The only way I could make sure he wasn’t some weird mirage or a figment of my imagination was to find him. I was already standing when the professor signaled the end of class. I shoved my notebook in my bag quicker than I thought humanly possible. My heart responded to another troubling thought. Could something be happening to me? Could I be...turning...into a vampire?
That thought was enough to set my feet on fire. I had to get answers. I had to know one way or another if I had actually seen him.
“I’ll see you Thursday?” Mikayla looked up at me through her lashes, her eyes troubled.
“Yeah. See you then.” I slung the bag over my shoulder and dashed to the door.
I was close. High on adrenaline, I crashed into a man who came out of nowhere. Stumbling back in pain, I clenched my jaw, my entire arm throbbing from the impact.
“I am such an idiot. Did I hurt you?” A smooth voice cut through the static of chattering students.
A man with dark brown hair stood in front of me. His dark green Black Forest University T-shirt stuck out to me. I focused on two little words under the black bold lettering.Swim Team.
“I’m fine.” The words came out in one breath. My backpack had been unzipped, leaving my items scattered across the tile floor. Thankfully, the wooden stake hadn’t found its way onto the floor, but everything else had. Pepper spray? Check. Small wood cross? Check. TASER? Definitely check.
“Here, let me help you.” A broad smile danced on his lips before he hid it. With my only good arm, I shoved the scattered pieces of my disastrous life back into my school bag. “No, I got it, really.”
He held up my pepper spray with two fingers. “You do not want to forget this.”
His overall demeanor was calm, collected. Pieces of his brown hair cast a shadow over his blue eyes. The sides of his head were cropped but still had some length. He watched me with a worried expression, feet shifting in his high-top sneakers.
My focus shifted to the door. The pain in my shoulder was so intense it made me forget about my vampire problem for a second. I feared I had let too much time pass. Tracking him would be impossible without catching him in the hallway.
“Are you sure you are all right?” he said, brows furrowing curiously.
“Yes! Sorry, I’m really distracted today. Thanks for helping me with my stuff. I’m pretty sure I’m the one who ran into you.”
“It’s no problem. It’s Kimberly, right?”
“Y-Yeah. Do I know you from somewhere?” I was taken aback, having no idea how he would know my name.
He was unfazed. “I sit right over there.” He pointed to the chair in the far left of the room. “Don’t worry. No one pays attention to who they go to class with. Well, usually. I’m William.”
“Nice to meet you.” I smiled, trying to mask the embarrassing of the arsenal he witnessed in my backpack. I didn’t remember seeing his face, but I had never focused on memorizing my classmates’ faces.
“I was actually coming to ask you if you had the notes on the final assignment. I was gone that day, and you are one of the only people I ever see taking notes.”
“Oh, sure.” I immediately turned my bag around and dug around for my binder.
My attention wandered back toward the door, where I caught a brief glance of the same tousled blonde hair. The vampire was on the move. I dug faster, my sweaty hands struggling to grip the binder in one pull.
“I swear I’m not usually this...flustered.” I yanked the paper from my binder and handed it to him.
“Flustered? You? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” A toothy smile sprung on his face.
“Thank you. I promise to be more normal. Next time we talk...let’s just pretend it’s the first time we’ve met, okay?” I stumbled toward the door, dragging my still-open backpack behind me.
“Next time? Sounds like a plan.” He brought two fingers to his brow, saluting me as I left.
