Page 19 of Norah

I’m still sitting on the sidewalk with Norah’s arm in my hand. Glancing around at the growing crowd, I know we need to leave now. She’s frozen beside me, so I wrap my arm around her side and haul her up. “She’s a bodybuilder. Much stronger than she looks.” Turning away from the chaos, I guide Norah along with me as I rush us back to my apartment.

“Ethan…”

A flash of anger makes my voice gruffer than I’d like. “We need to talk. You owe me that much.” Her mouth closes with a snap, and she’s silent the rest of the way to my place.

Once we’re back inside, I park myself in front of the door. Flipping all the locks and bracing myself, I turn to Norah. She’s standing a few feet from me, her expression tortured. “I’m not moving from this door. You’re going to talk to me, like you should have before.”

Impossible

NORAH

I really, really screwed up.

Not the part when I saved Ethan from being hit. I’d do that a million times over, even exposing myself, if it kept him from harm. Although it was all my fault, since he was running after me. But I fucked up majorly. Hiding who I am, running from him- all of it was terribly wrong.

When I woke from my nightmare and saw his shocked expression, and felt the sting of my teeth, I freaked out. There was no conscious thought in my mind; just the instinct of a wild animal to run.

I was wrong, so wrong.I hurt him in so many ways. Ethan deserves to know everything, and I owe him the truth. And when he tells me to leave, either from disbelief or revulsion, at least it will be Ethan that gets to decide. It’s time to tell him the whole story. So I take a deep breath, reach deep inside for some bit of courage, and talk.

“I’ll tell you everything. But I guess the best way to start is by telling me whatyousaw.”

He raises his eyebrows as if to say,are you serious?But he goes along with it. “Well, Norah, when you woke up from your nightmare, I sawfangsin your mouth. Fangs that definitely weren’t there yesterday. Then I saw you move across distances at a speed thatisn’t possible. You went from one side of the street to the other in less than a second. If that.”

This is so hard. I have to force myself to say the words. “I’ve never talked about this before, so I’m not sure how to explain things the right way. But… I’m not… There are things that are different about me. Like the fangs, I can usually keep them from showing, but they come out on their own when I’m scared or threatened. Or… I have to use them to… feed.”

I raise my eyes from the floor to gauge Ethan’s response, but his face is unreadable. “You saw how fast I moved; I can use extra speed or strength if I need to. But I never do, so people suspect nothing strange. Except for tonight, I mean.”

Taking his silence as a prompt to continue, I keep going. “You haven’t seen this, but I can heal really fast from injuries. I don’t… I don’t really know whatcankill me, but there’s a lot of stuff thatwon’t.” I close my eyes briefly at the memories of those first few months after my transition. Ethan releases a hiss, but doesn’t speak.

I glance at him, noticing his clenched jaw and furrowed brow. “But there’s something much worse.” I gulp and avert my eyes again.He’ll never love you once he learns the truth. But he needs to know.

“I have to drink blood. I can eat food if I have to, but I won’t survive without blood. It’s horrible.” My voice cracks. “I tried to only eat regular food, but eventually the pain of starvation was too much, and I gave in.”

“Norah…”

I hold up my hand in a gesture to stop. “No, let me finish. Please. Once I stop, I’m afraid I won’t be able to start again. I guess I’m a… vampire. At least it seems like that’s the closest description of what I am. I know it sounds insane, but I’m telling you the truth.

It was wrong to hide it from you for so long. I should have let you go. I knew it wasn’t safe for you to be with me. But I was selfish, because I wanted you so desperately, and I tried to convince myself it would be OK.”

It’s only a matter of time before he asks me to leave, but I want him to know I’m telling the truth. That I wasn’t lying or crazy. So I cast about my gaze for something to use as proof. Then I spot the letter opener over on the sideboard, near all the mail, and move towards it.

Ethan lunges from the door and grabs my arm, holding it as firmly as a vise. “No running.”

“I won’t, I promise.” Swallowing thickly, I say, “I’mso sorryI ran away. It was wrong, and I hurt you, and I am sotruly sorry.” With my free hand, I wipe away some rogue tears that escape. Ethan slowly releases my arm, and I snatch up the opener before he can stop me. In one quick slice, I open a six inch cut on my forearm, and watch the blood rush to the surface.

Ethan gasps, “What the- Norah! What are you doing?” His hand automatically reaches towards the wound, but I pull away.

Holding my bleeding arm as a demonstration, I notice some drops hitting the floor and staining the carpet. Shit. But the carpet is a distant concern while Ethan stares in awe as the sliced skin rapidly comes back together and seals, leaving no mark. “I just wanted you to see. It wasn’t a big cut, so it healed pretty fast. Deeper ones take longer.” I glance down at the stains. “Sorry about your carpet.”

His mouth is still open in shock, but quickly shuts as he inspects my arm. His eyes jump to mine and I search for fear, disgust, disbelief, but find none. Instead, I see a grim acceptance, and I’m sadly satisfied that Ethan believes me.Wants me?That’s another story.

He lets out a gust of breath. “How?”

ETHAN

It’s unbelievable. Vampires?Not possible.

Except it is.It must be. What I saw was no trick. The fangs, the speed, the healing- they were allreal. And even if I had seen none of it, I believe her. Even though she hid this from me, I understand why. Not because she didn’t trust me, or love me, but because she wanted to protect me.From her.

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