8. The Almost Kiss

Juliet

My dad parked the car under a bridge. The high pillars keeping the overpass up were full of graffiti. There was litter everywhere. Louis opened the door and slid out on his side. He bent down and held out his hand to me. “Come, let’s go. Tonight, it’s just you and me.”

Skeptically I searched my mom’s face. I must have been frowning.

“It’s alright, Julie. Go with Louis. I trust him with your life.”

My mom was serious. The statement took me by surprise. But she knew how I felt about vampire men… Her words did put me at ease. Needless to say, something monumental was up! Louis was going to change my life forever. Taking his hand, I wondered who he was. What was his story? And what was he doing there? Effortlessly he pulled me over the back seat. I slid across the leather, and my feet hit the ground. He slammed the door a little too hard. Louis was wound up tight. I wondered what got him so frustrated. Half dragging me, we made our way up a bit of a hill. The road he was aiming for led away from my parents. Louis’s steps were precise, but I kept stumbling even though I usually was quick on my feet.

“Louis! What’s going on? Slow down.”

He didn’t adjust his pace or answer me. We walked down the road a while. His eyes went from our car to survey the area. I could see smoke coming from across the valley under the bridge. “The homeless community must be squatting there.” I pointed towards the grey drifting into the sky. Louis nodded, but it seemed like he didn’t care.

We had been following a high wall built next to the road. The moon shined from the wrong direction and created a dark shadow we could hide in. When we were out of sight from my parents and anything else he turned to me. Watched me for a moment and slowly came closer, gripping my upper arms. “Can I kiss you?” He asked with desperation. His eyes fixed on my lips.

“What?” I asked in disbelief. Then I lied. “No! Why would you want to?” He rolled his eyes, but they landed on my lips again. He pulled me closer to his mouth.

“I need to kiss you… You were begging for it in the car! It’s been two hours of….”

“What? No, I wasn’t! I need to eat.” I lied again, pushing him back. I knew what he would say. He easily retreated a few steps.

“Really? Are you going to play games with me? You were staring at me most of the way here... It was written all over your face.”

Why was he being such an ass? I wanted to kiss him so badly. If he wasn’t that pushy, I might have. My Juliet blush crept up my chest. Into my neck. That time it went to sit in my cheeks so fast. Not letting go of my arms, he followed the red blotches from my cheek to my neck into my chest and started laughing lightly. Angry, I pulled out of his grip, stomping off. I crept along the wall, hearing the voices of the homeless people. He grabbed my arm, pulling me in behind him. “Stay with me. Let me go in first.”

I pulled my arm free. I was getting angrier. Embarrassing me like that. Laughing at me, blushing. Pulling me around… I didn’t like the way he was treating me. Like I was some useless girl... I felt I needed to teach him a lesson. I waited until he was going to turn around... Vanishing just before he could grab onto me. Not that it would have helped. He wasn’t Chris.

He panicked. “No! Juliet!” He whispered. “Let’s first wait and see what’s what.” He was begging. It felt too good, getting back at him. I didn’t want him in there with me anyway. It was my parent’s idea, and they left me with him.

“I still don’t trust you. Even if my parents do. Why did they suddenly give you authority over me anyway?” Louis was unsettling me. He was in our house. In our car and under my skin. Determined to show him, I left him there like a real teenager. “If you treat me like a child… I will act like a child.” I spat at him. I knew he couldn’t hear me, so I spoke my mind. “You showed me the paper with the photo on it. I will find Jenny. I will prove to you that I can take care of myself. I don’t have to be so dependent on others.”

“Juliet!” He pleaded. “I’m sorry. I made a mistake laughing at you.”

“No, you’re not,” I rebuked him. “You’ve been taking the piss out of me the whole day."

He wasn’t feeling around like Chris had that morning. Louis’s hand was nervously rubbing his forehead. Had it really only been a few hours since the most significant event of my life? And only a few later, another one? Of course, we wouldn’t even be there if I hadn’t lied to my parents.

***

A few moments later, I was walking through a row of tents. Cardboard boxes propped up everywhere with bricks and old furniture. The few dogs who were faithfully guarding their owners barked at me constantly. Dogs, cats, and werewolves could see me when I was invisible.

I walked along the rows of people sitting together, talking. But it produced no Jenny. I had to walk to the end of the row. The last drum was lit on fire, giving some heat and light to an empty evening. No one was around it but a woman sitting on an old broken chair. “A loner. It must be her.” I moved closer, recognizing the clothes she was wearing. And the red hair from her mug shot. Jenny lifted her head eventually to drink from a bottle. She still wore some of the same bruises.

I sat down on my haunches across from her, waiting for an opportunity where Jenny could “disappear.” I was listening intently to every sound. Every conversation the people were having. Heard Louis’s footsteps above me, walking back and forth, muttering how stupid I was. I snickered and smiled, wondering how he would punish me for my behavior. I rubbed my forehead where he had flicked me earlier... Thinking about him so close to me made my thoughts go down that road again. His lips on mine… My indignation rose, “He had almost kissed me! What the hell?!”

I heard my parents’ car driving around us, crisscrossing through the streets. They would be near the whole time. My head snapped up when I heard the tapping of expensive shoes. Something that didn’t belong was walking up the road and past me. Dressed well in a three-piece tailored suit. Black shoes shining. A brown leather bag in his hand. I frowned but jumped up to follow him. “You, my friend, are up to something.” He made his way down the alley. It got quieter and darker. The buildings were narrowing as he kept walking. I kept Jenny in the back of my mind, listening to her sipping on her bottle. Seemed like she was going to take her time with that vodka. I might as well see what the guy was up to.

The other side of the alleyway came out at another main street surrounding the community. It was well lit. Clean. Women were standing leaning on the wall, talking. There were men in cars parked along the road. Pimps, customers. Both? Smoke from the cigarettes of a group of young men assaulted me as I walked past. I could do with a smoke. The drugs in their pockets seemed and smelled the same Jerome stank off. They laughed as Mr. Tailored passed them without a word or even a second glance. He had to have been a regular. Good paying customer on both fronts.

The girls gathered around him. He waved them off and swore at them. They quickly turned away and let him be. My eye caught the neon sign flashing the word vacancies. It was a motel. I sighed. The stranger was not so out of place anymore... He had just used the alley to separate his car from his destination. He was here for a hooker. I was still curious to go after him and see what a guy was up to... But being there for a prostitute… he was dodgy at best, and I had Jenny to watch.

I turned and heard a whelp. It came from the bag Mr. Tailored carried. It made me stop dead in my tracks. My head snapped around, focusing on sounds from the leather. Did I hear that right? A cry from a cub? Had it not been years since there have been any baby werewolves? Another small cry. I had no choice. If it was a baby, I had to save him. The child might not be a vampire, but I couldn’t live with letting someone kill a werewolf cub. I turned back again to follow him inside. Louis appeared, running down the street. What the heck was he doing there? Was he circling the block or something?

Louis pretended to be just another customer, excited about his appointment, following Mr. Tailored inside. Confused, I stood staring at the door for a second. Had Louis heard it too, the cub? I might not trust him yet, but he was older and would know what to do. Should I follow them to help if Louis got in trouble? Jenny got up from her chair. The sound pulled me back into the alleyway. She was coming closer into the darkness. Going in behind a dumpster to relieve herself. The smell of her blood masked even the pee. It dawned on me why I was there. There wouldn’t be a better time. I had already left Louis’s side. Not making any plans for what I was going to do. Two hours of lecturing laid in front of me. If I didn’t drain Jenny, it would be no school for a week. We would have to do it all again.

“Damnit!” I kicked at a stone. My foot went flying through it. “Stupid rock!”

Jenny was pulling up her pants, tightening the button at the top. I was already walking quickly towards her coming out of my vanished state. I had not seen the group of guys on my right opening a door. They cussed loudly at seeing me appear out of thin air. Making loud noises around me. Circling Jenny and me. She was pushed up against me. Louis’s face flashed in my mind. I glanced back over the shoulder. “Where are you when I need you,” I yelled.

Their language was disgusting, and they smelled of sweat and booze. Cigarettes in hand, the one flicked his bud at me. I hit it off me as it came closer. I thought about Jerome and my self-defense classes. These guys were older and bigger than even the instructor I was training with. Jenny was waisted, slurring her words and stumbling as she tried to get out of the arms of one of the guys. I was on my own. I panicked, knowing Louis was inside the hotel. “Fake it till you make it,” I thought while drawing in a nervous breath before speaking. “Well,” I said, “You guys have two choices.”

“Oh, she wants to make demands. Let’s hear her out.”

“You can leave and let me and Jenny be. Or… you can die.”

They laughed. I took it personally. “How am I going to hide three bodies? Louis didn’t tell me where to put them after….” I said loudly.

That kinda got their attention. They moved closer, but it wasn’t because of me. “Four, you mean. What about Jenny?”

My shoulders slumped. I was so relieved to hear Louis’s voice behind me. He walked over, swung me around, and flicked me on the forehead. I threw my arms around him, squeezing him tight. He didn’t move and placed his hands on my waist. “Okay, okay. Were you really thinking you would be able to take on all three of them?”

“Die trying, right? I… would have just disappeared again if they got the upper hand.”

“A nifty trick you have there. We’ll have to talk about that one….”

The three men were staring at this scene playing out in front of them.

“Hello, we’re still here. Do you think we wouldn’t be able to take on this little girl?”

Ignoring them, Louis challenged me, “You say you can fight. Let me see.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Don’t you want to play the hero? Seeing that you’re here and all.”

The other two grabbed my arms. Louis wouldn’t stand it and kicked the one guy on his chest. While he was falling… Louis grabbed the remaining wrist tugging on me. He flung him off, twisting the man’s arm and breaking it. He wasn’t shy about his vampire face, and the men were freaked out as he put them all down.

“No one said you could touch her!” Louis bellowed.

The last guy behind us bolted, but he was too slow. Louis grabbed him by the collar. He twisted his shirt in his fist. Got a proper hold of and pushed him down on his knees. Louis used his other hand to snap his neck. With a ‘crack,’ the guy went limp. The constant wailing and complaints of the other with the broken arm had not stopped. “Can you shut this guy up, please! He is going to draw attention.”

Louis kicked him. He skidded, in-between the two dumpsters, with so much force that the thud echoed. The crack of his skull was audible, and I cringed, closing my eyes. Still one left, I wondered how that poor guy would die.

“Do you want that one? Then Jenny could have the night off?”

Relieved, I nodded. Jenny had passed out. Somewhere in the last few minutes, she had hit the ground. I didn’t want to manifest in front of Louis… My skin would pull back so tight that my lips would lift. Protruding my fangs that grew twice the length of the others. Pointy, hairy ears would cover the side of my head. My nose would change into two long dark slits up the center of my face. Nails growing long, ugly, and black. The white of my eyes would turn to night. Soft white spiral rings would replace my blues. The eyes are probably the only thing I didn’t mind.

Louis walked over to the man, begging for his life. Stepping on his torso, he held him down. It didn’t take much for me to work up my venom to fill my veins and bring on my manifestation. One bite left any human paralyzed. Louis waited patiently for me. “What’s wrong?” He finally asked in a soft voice when I didn’t move.

“Nothing,” I lied.

Jumping forward, I lunged at the man and bit into his neck, finishing it quickly. When there was no movement under Louis’s foot, he stepped back, watching me. Painfully aware of his gaze, I stopped feeding for a moment. I was uncomfortable. Louis turned and started picking up the bodies. Dumping them in the blue steel next to us. I relaxed and gorged myself. I wanted to start stretching my feeds, so that we didn’t need to hunt so often.

After finishing, I sat up. Blood dripping down my chin. I wiped my mouth on my sleeve and then my hands on my pants. Louis picked up the last body, tossing it over the rim when I was done. He took out his phone and called my parents. “It’s the blue one.” He said to my dad, cutting the call right after.

“Someone will be here to pick up the dumpster in a minute. We have to go.” He forcefully grabbed my wrist, tugging on my arm to move with him.

I pulled myself free. “You have to stop doing that.” He paused with his back to me, breathing in deeply. His eyes lifted up to the sky. I knew he was irritated. I just didn’t understand why.

Why are you here? I wanted to ask. What the hell is going on? You just killed three guys for me, and we’re not going to talk about it. I couldn’t speak my mind. “You can’t just touch me when you want to.” He still didn't say anything, and I pushed past him as I did earlier in our house. I bumped my shoulder into him, trying to get his attention.

I was almost at the end of the alley when he pulled me back into a shadow and shoved me against the wall. My heart was beating faster and faster with every step he took toward me. I felt his legs against mine. I looked up at him. His skin wrinkling along the T-junction of his face.

“I will always ask. When it comes to that… But the rest of my behavior I can’t account for… So, can I kiss you now?” His face lowered, coming closer to mine. It felt like my heart would burst out of my chest. Boys never knew how to set up a scene. Louis, on the other hand, wasn’t a boy. The last time I felt like that was with Marcus. Seeing his face again in a flashback. I had to decide. I swallowed hard, staring at Louis’s lips. “You want to… why don’t you?”

I shook myself and pulled free. “No.”

He pushed me back against the wall. He took his sleeve in his hand and wiped my cheek. “You smudged blood all over your face. You’re like a little child.” I didn’t like anyone belittling me… Calling me a child was the last straw. I flipped, hitting him across the cheek. He didn’t dodge me, although he could’ve. My hand planted and moved his face to the side.

Still manifested, my frustration had gotten the better of me. The venom and the blood were too potent in my veins. He smirked and laughed lightly. “See, now I know how far I can push you.”

“Why? Why do you keep pressing my buttons?”

His eyes became strained, and his nails dug into my shoulders. He pressed himself tighter against me. “You didn’t eat!” I said softly. “You could still finish.” I gestured to the dumpster, my face and his only inches from one another. I felt so uncomfortable with my vampire face… Him seeing me like that. Guiltily he pushed himself away from me, shaking his head. “That’s not what I’m hungry for. Can’t you see what’s happening?”

My breathing was ragged. “I’m not stupid, but you treat me like I’m going to fall at your feet… You obviously want to get off… I’m sure you have no lack of partners. You probably have many women waiting for you to call with your looks. Maybe you should stay and visit the motel. You’ll feel better.”

His head snapped to me, and he snarled. I nodded nervously. What the hell was that? No one had done that before… I transformed back to human as the authority made me submit. I didn’t like the feeling.

“What happened with that guy and the werewolf cub?” I changed the subject. He didn’t answer me. I threw my hands up in the air. He wasn’t going to tell me anything. I vanished as tears burned at the bridge of my nose. If he didn’t trust me either, I would find out for myself.

“Juliet!” He tried his authority again. “For f- sake, stop doing that. It’s annoying like hell!” I didn’t reappear. His power didn’t work on me when there was no threat.

“Okay, I’ll tell you! Just don’t leave without me.” He begged.

“I don’t believe you!” I screamed. “If there is one thing I can’t handle is being treated like a child. Or a whore.”

Louis’s eyes scrunched up together. He was livid… That made me happy.

***

Louis

I knew she wasn’t going to show herself again. I pushed her too far. I didn’t treat her at all like I wanted to. I had never been in a relationship. And Juliet wasn’t going to be the easiest of women…

So much for the blind date… Frustrated, I wanted to turn to follow her. I knew where she would end up. If she didn’t get answers from me, she would make sure the cub was okay. I headed for the hotel, but a truck turned into the alley, stopping me.

They were there to pick up the dumpster. I retreated into the shadows transforming back into my human face. I stayed and made sure they got the right one and left without problems. It was quick. A few minutes after stopping, they were on their way again.

Thinking back on my meeting with Samuel six months ago, I never thought my life could change so quickly. I was stuck for so long, wondering all over. Alone. I had no one.

Juliet didn’t know why I was there. I couldn’t tell her. She thought I was only lusting… that is why she wouldn’t cross that line.

I had not given her the “love at first sight” experience I wanted to. It was moving in the right direction in their home and on the way there. But I had to open my big mouth… I was on my way to stuffing up any further chance I had with her. She wanted to be in control… I didn’t think she was that strong-willed. I walked up the stairs to the room I was surveying earlier. I couldn’t enter it then. Didn’t have Juliet’s power of invisibility. Glad she had it. Wondered what things she got up to being able to go wherever she wanted. She could be standing next to me… How did anyone find her when she was like that?

Her parents were worried and kept messaging me. They coddled her for too long. Let her grow up sheltered. Protected… How would she ever adjust to the storms to come? The yelp from that bag was definitely a werewolf cub. A shiver ran up my spine, thinking about it. A baby in a bag… being transported like that… I couldn’t let it go either.

Standing in front of the door, I knocked loudly. “Open up.” I heard footsteps on the other side approaching the door. The key turned, and a woman stood on the threshold. I frowned. That was not the guy with the bag. I peeked over her shoulder, surveying the room.

“You want to join me, handsome?” She said, rubbing my chest and running her hand up to my neck. “My customer just left.” Pausing, I looked down at the woman and her bare chest. She took my hand and pulled me inside, closing the door behind us.